The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (65 page)

  “Copy that.” Ellis said.

  “Now let’s go and inform everyone.” Vaistll said.

  “Everyone front and center for a debriefing!” Ramirez said over the helmet-com.

  “Listen up everyone! We have a very long trip ahead of us. We’re leaving and headed to a monorail. Ellis, Wexler and Moriarty has volunteer to check out the security station along the way. Let’s hope that they find something useful. I also want White Team to know that while they were at the check point, Red Team found six tons of food and water down at the shopping center. I have some good news and some bad news about Galactic Prime. The good news is that we finally heard from them and they know of our situation. The bad news is that they have a EOD Commando unit on board. Let’s get this show boat on a roll and move our base camp.” Vaistll informed everyone.

  Everyone of them knew two things about where they are going, they are headed to a place which will greatly increase the probability that they will eventually encounter the EOD forces, and they are going there without enough weapons and ammo.

  For each member of White Team, Hayes included, they were at a crossroad. Should they, or shouldn’t they rebel? And they already knew the answer. If they don’t rebel then they will die. If they do rebel they will die. In both cases they will die at the hands of the enemy. White Team’s desire to rebel was over before it even begun. Not one of them will ever mention it.

  When Task Force ZH-3C got to the monorail they immediately began to set up their communications. They pick the mass transit terminal because the building was big enough to hold the communicational array. They also discover that the monorail ran underground and headed in the direction of the pier but it was uncompleted. It ran for fifty miles.

  “Ma’am, our communications has been set up.” Nakada informed Vaistll.

  “Alright. So tell Taylor and Ramirez.” Vaistll said. She waited until Taylor and Ramirez got there before she contacted Mad Dawg.

  “We tried to contact you earlier.” Mad Dawg said.

  “When?”

  “About two hours ago.”

  “We were setting up our communicational array at that time. How are things going on up there?”

  “So far so good. We now have strong reason to believe that we’re dealing with one Commando and not a unit. We are also starting to believe that it might be a human-hybrid.”

  “Do you have any Intel on those anti-air guns?”

  “I’m afraid not. They must be using camo-netting.”

  “Understand. Three of my people went to check out the security station nearby.”

  “You don’t think that they will find anything do you?”

  “No. But against all hope we can still pray that they may find something useful. We’ll get back to you if they should find anything important.”

  “Alright. Do you have any idea on how long it might take?”

  “Perhaps four to six hours. It’s a long trip.”

  “Okay then. Hope to hear from you later with some good news.”

  “Yeah, same here. Bye.”

  “Take care.” Mad Dawg said.

(6)

  Mad Dawg just finished talking to Vaistll. Thirty minutes later he got an urgent call from Lieutenant Murphy. From the tone of Murphy’s voice, and where he was, it told Mad Dawg that it was extremely urgent. Murphy was at the Weapons Storage area.

  “You better have some good news for me Murphy.” Mad Dawg said. He was in no mood for hearing any bad news.

  Murphy didn’t saying anything. He only gave Mad Dawg binoculars and then pointed out of the large plasma door. The door led into outer space.

  “What am I suppose to be looking at?” Mad Dawg asked. Murphy didn’t say anything.

  “All I see is… space… junk.” Mad Dawg said. He then started to noticed something and he didn’t like what he thought he might be seeing.

  “What the fuck!? That better not be what I think it is!?” Mad Dawg said. He then realize what he was seeing and it really pissed him off.

  “Is that our fucking weapons drifting out there!?” Mad Dawg yelled at Murphy. Murphy only nodded his head.

  “Fuck!” Mad Dawg screamed. He then threw the binoculars out the plasma door. What really pissed him off was the fact that the weapons (in crates) were going to fall into Golden Hyperion’s atmosphere in about two-to-three hours. They had no way to recover them.

  “Goddamn it to all fucking hell! I want you to find that fucking asshole and kill him!” Mad Dawg yelled at Murphy.

  “Sir, I did an inventory check and our helmets equip with night vision is missing. I believe that…”

  “Save it Murphy! I don’t care how you do it, but I want that sonofabitch DEAD! And don’t call me. Don’t come to the bridge. I don’t want to hear anything from you other than you got the mother fucker. I want him dead as of today. Got it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “And Murphy…” Mad Dawg was saying while he was standing in the hallway. “…I mean it.”

  “I know sir. And it will be done.”

  Thirty minutes later, while he was on the bridge (still fuming), Mad Dawg heard over the com-system that a security team saw the Commando. But he moved too fast for them to get a good look at him.

  “I hope that sonofabitch comes here. Then I’ll have the pleasure in killing him myself.” Mad Dawg said. And he really meant it.

  Fifteen minutes later Mad Dawg heard over the com-system that the security team had just lost the Commando.

  “McNair!” Mad Dawg called out.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Get those SOBs on the com RIGHT NOW.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Sergeant Chester here sir.”

  “Find that fucking asshole if you know what’s good for ya!”

  “Yes sir.” Chester said as he left.

  For sixty-five minutes Mad Dawg was pacing back and forth on the bridge like a cage tiger. He then heard over the helmet-com one of the security teams mentioned that the Commando was in one of the maintenance duct. Mad Dawg then quickly went over to the com station and barked orders (as well as cursing) to them. He was determined for someone, anyone, especially himself, to kill their unwelcome guest. He was getting sick and tired of his baby girl dying of a thousand cuts.

  Before Mad Dawg was promoted to Captain his wife was in a car accident and their three year old daughter was lost. When he was given command of Galactic Prime, his ship became his little girl. His wife felt the same way. Everything that the Dragon Clone is doing to Galactic Prime, to Mad Dawg it is being done to his daughter.

  When Mitchell and her team converted the intercom system over to the helmet-com, all helmet-com messages were sent to the bridge. As she feared, they permanently lost the intercom system. It’s just one more reason why Mad Dawg is getting so pissed off.

  Mad Dawg then spent the next forty minutes, cursing at the security teams for losing the Commando yet again, and most important of all (to Mad Dawg), they still haven’t kill the Commando. He spent the rest of that time pacing and waiting patently for any good news. But none came. Instead there was only more headaches for him. He then heard the alarms going off that indicated there was an explosion.

  “What the fuck just happened!?” Mad Dawg yelled. His voice was starting to get a little hoarse from all that yelling.

  “Hold on a sec sir.” McNair said.

  “Boy don’t you dare tell me to ‘hold on a sec’.”

  “Sir! It’s Storage Area E-1!” McNair said after 30 seconds.

  “What!?” Mad Dawg screamed.

  “Get Murphy… correction… get Mitchell on the com right now!” Mad Dawg yelled out again.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Mitchell here sir.” She responded after 15 seconds.

  “Get your ass over to Storage Area E-1 right now! And you find out what was destroyed!”

  “Yes sir.”

  Mad Dawg had to wait for fifteen minutes before she finally contacted him. While he was waiting he was cursing off and on at her taking too long.

  “Sir, this is Mitchell.”

  “What the fuck took you so long!?”

  “Sir… all of our backup equipment for our critical systems are destroyed.”

  “McNair!” Mad Dawg yelled causing McNair to flinch.

  “Y-Y-Yes sir.”

  “Get Murphy on the com immediately!”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Murphy here.” He said after five minutes.

  “Took your sweet time Marine.” Mad Dawg said.

  “I’m sorry sir, I was in one of the maintenance ducts and…”

  “Put a sock in it boy. Didn’t I ordered you to kill that asshole?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Then get a move on it!”

  “Yes sir.”

  Forty-five minutes later Mad Dawg got a call from Vaistll. And she had some good news. Although Mad Dawg was happy for her, he was too pissed off to care. He couldn’t wait for his unwelcome guest to stand and fight. And he’s fixing to have his wish come true. And then Mad Dawg is going to regret it. Be careful of what you wish for Mad Dawg.

(7)

  “We found weapons and ammo! A whole warehouse full of them!” Ellis yelled after they got back.

  Most of the team was stunned and speechless when they heard that. Seeing how Ellis, Wexler and Moriarty was behaving only confirmed that it was indeed true. But they still couldn’t believe their run of good fortunate. They all started to believe it when Wexler handed them a crate full of weapons.

  “Ellis, Wexler, Moriarty… front and center.” Ramirez said. It was like some weird dream to him.

  “You wanted to see us sir?” Ellis said.

  “Yes. Did I hear you correctly? Did you said a ‘whole warehouse full of weapons’?”

  “Yes sir. I couldn’t believe it myself.”

  Ramirez was too speechless to say anything further. In a way it didn’t make any sense to him. Why should those weapons be left behind? When Lenkov and Omori is around the EOD Defense Force is always on their best behavior. Was there a traitor amongst them?

  “You see…” Vaistll was saying to Taylor. “…it was good luck to let the three of them to do that exploring after all.”

  Taylor didn’t say anything. Like Ramirez he was too speechless and flabbergasted to say anything. He did understand that those weapons should not be there. With Lenkov and Omori there, someone just got themselves killed. Or maybe, as Taylor deeply feared, both of them intentionally left those weapons and ammo there. But why? Taylor was too afraid to know. But that is the only thing that would make sense – the weapons were intentionally left there.

  “Ma’am… I think we should go there and have a look.” Taylor said.

  “Why?” Vaistll asked.

  “Because Lenkov and Omori might be behind the reason why those weapons are there.” Taylor said low enough to were he could not be overheard by anyone but them.

  “You three don’t mind going with us? Do you?” Ramirez asked Ellis, Wexler and Moriarty.

  “Sir, knowing who could be behind it, of course we should go.” Ellis said.

  “Sir, I don’t mind going, but I don’t feel like driving.” Moriarty said.

  “If you want to rest… you earned it.” Ramirez said to Moriarty.

  “I know, but I still want to go with my team.” Moriarty said.

  “Alright. So I guess we will be taking all of Red Team with us.” Ramirez said.

  “Who else should we bring then?” Taylor asked.

  “Green Team. Blue Team needs some rest because as soon as we return, I want them to follow that monorail on foot.” Vaistll said.

  “Why Blue Team?” Taylor asked.

  “Because of the problems that we’ve been having with Hayes. Besides… rather we want to admit it or not, Sanchez is a better officer.” Vaistll said.

  “Do you want to contact Mad Dawg before we leave, or when we get back?” Ramirez asked.

  “Let’s get it over with now.” Vaistll said.

  “Alright.” Ramirez said. They then left and headed over to the communicational array to contact Mad Dawg. They could tell something was seriously wrong when Mad Dawg responded.

  “Okay… give me the bad news first, then the good news.” Vaistll said.

  “No good news… only bad. That fucking ugly ass freak is killing my baby girl. He threw our fucking weapons out into space and then… And then he destroyed the extra equipment for our critical systems. It is as if though our critical systems were destroyed. We’re getting close to finding the fucker. What’s up on your end.” Mad Dawg said. He was still fuming, but he was showing her some respect.

  “There were a warehouse full of weapons and ammo at that security station.” Vaistll said.

  “Good. Then it’s not a total loss on our part either. Anything else?”

  “After we collect those weapons we’re gonna to kick some ass.”

  “Outstanding. Save some for us.” Mad Dawg said. He then discontinue the call.

  “Well… goodbye then.” Vaistll said.