The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (71 page)

  While everyone was on the monorail, as it was leaving to head to the city, all of them were very tense nervous and scared. They know what would happen as soon as they get to the city. Someone would see them, that person would either run or scream, and then everyone would know that they are there. Their mission would then be as good as over. They couldn’t leave their friends. They had to run the risk and take the chance.

  When they got to the city they neither heard nor saw any activity. It was 12:43 when they arrived at the monorail station. Both White and Green Team was ordered to clear and secure the building. Green Team moved out first. After Green Team finished searching the level that they were on, they gave the all clear signal. White Team then moved out and took up Green Team’s position. Green Team then left and searched another level. Both teams repeated the action until the whole building was searched and secured. There was nobody in the building nor could they see anyone outside the building.

  “Ma’am… none of this makes any sense. According to the calendar, this should be a typical working day. There should be people here both inside and outside the building.” Ramirez said when both White and Green Team finished searching the building.

  “Do you have any ideas that could explain it?” Vaistll asked.

  “No ma’am.”

  “Alright. Let’s move our gear out of the train.”

  Fifteen minutes later, while White Team was monitoring for any activity outside the building, Cole said something that sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

  “I see movement!” Cole shouted.

  “Friend or foe!?” Taylor asked.

  “I can’t tell sir! But they’re headed our way!” Cole responded.

(6)

  A major fire broke out on Galactic Prime. The fire started in  the barracks and then consumed it. Ten Marines were killed and 22 were injured in the fire. The fire started when a group of Marines decided to burn something in an effort to have light in the barracks.

  “Is there place where we can put the Marines? Especially a place where we can give them light?” Chester asked Robinson.

  “The only place where we can put them in is either one of the large storage areas, or the mess-hall.”

  “What about in the hallways near the critical areas?”

  “I would have to take a look at the wiring of the area, but it is possible.”

  “Alright, get on it right away.”

  “Sir, I know what you are going to say, but you should still consider heading back to Roscadia. This ship cannot take anymore abuse like it has been.” Robinson said. Robinson left when Chester didn’t say anything.

  “You know… I’m starting to think that maybe we should return back to Roscadia.” Chester said to his best friend.

  “Then why don’t we?”

  “I would feel horrible in leaving Task Force ZH-3C behind. It might get us killed.”

  “Staying here could get us killed.”

  “I don’t think so. For all the damage that Dragon Clone did to this ship, it could have did far more damage than what it did. It could have killed us all, but it didn’t. Why?”

  “Maybe we were getting too close to killing it so it had to leave quickly.”

  “I don’t think that’s the reason. It moved too fast for us and it obviously could see in the dark. So why did it leave the ship? Why not just stay behind and kill off more of us?”

  “Because it was following orders.”

  “I know that. That’s obvious. But why leave the fight?”

  “Maybe that’s it.”

  “What?”

  “Maybe they didn’t want us in the fight helping Task Force ZH-3C.”

  Chester thought about that for a while. It did and it did not make sense. The destruction of the five drop-ships was all that it would take to keep them out of the fight. Infiltrating the ship is just outright mean-spirited and wasteful. Although the EOD is mean-spirited, that does not mean everyone within it is. Chester knows that neither Joseph nor Sayaka is mean-spirited. But the EOD High Command is a horse of a different color. Chester realized that the EOD High Command is the one who gave the order to infiltrate the ship and they probably did it just to be mean-spirited.

  “If the captain doesn’t cheer up soon, and if one more thing happens, we’re going back to Roscadia to get this ship fix.” Chester said to his friend.

  “What about Task Force ZH-3C?”

  “Pray for them.”

  It didn’t take long for that “one more thing” to happen. And when it did, it was so bad that they would have refused to come back to Golden Hyperion. When that one more thing happened, they never left. It was not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t.

(7)

  Joseph and Sayaka was in the Command Room and they just finished talking with their contacts in the EOD. What they learned only deepen the mystery for both of them, and neither one of them like what was being implied. Nothing that they learned dispelled any notion that there was a conspiracy against them, nor did it said that there wasn’t. They needed more information. Information that their contacts cannot provide them with.

  From D’Esporito they learned that there are eight other places like that of Golden Hyperion. The situation with those places have already been resolved. Five of those places resulted in a EOD defeat, but D’Esporito said he has no idea of what happened to the victors. Even in the case where the EOD has clearly won the day, he still has no idea of what happened to the victors. D’Esporito said that both the Council and High Command gave orders to hush up everything.

  D’Esporito is a Central Command Officer, a rank that is higher than that of a Fleet Admiral. As a CCO officer D’Esporito is in command of all branches of the military. As a District Commander he is responsible for each divisions of the military - science, personnel, logistics, etc. D’Esporito has every right to know what happened to those EOD forces, he has every right to know what type of equipment was used and in what manner, he has the right to know if any experimental weapons and/or equipment was used, and both the Council and High Command told him nothing. None of the CCO officers know anything, they were kept in the dark. To Joseph and Sayaka it’s obvious that it is all connected to one place – Infernus.

  Vice Admiral Kennett said that he provided support for a group of transports vessels heading to one of those Golden Hyperion places. It was a place called Angel Red. Kennett said that those transports were carrying core boring machines. Typically a core boring machine are used on any asteroid and/or moon that is at least one thousand miles in diameter. Since they move at 16 mph, it would take at least two weeks for it to go a mile, and 30 years for it to go one thousand. Golden Hyperion is roughly five thousand miles in diameter and Angel Red is 3,500 miles. Kennett said that when the EOD finished with the drilling they brought in more transports. This time the transports were manned by more non-intelligent androids and the cargo was kept a strict secret.

  Rear Admiral Mizuguchi said that he participated in a embargo with strict orders not to let anyone, not even a EOD ship, to pass without proper clearance. For matters of security he, along with all other Admirals and Captains evolved in the embargo, had  to take on a representative from High Command. That individual selected the location of their destination and then deleted the location. Mizuguchi said that the representative was caught deleting all of the names of the EOD ships that was destroyed. He also mentioned that he has no idea as to why they had to impose that embargo. The representative told him nothing and refused to cooperate.

  Commodore Bonfacio, who is the only contact that provides security for High Command, has said that on 22
nd
of April, 2253  the Council signed a decree, but he don’t know what for. The only thing that Bonfacio knows about that decree is that it is ultra secret. He said that they created it because they found something, but he doesn’t know what they found. Bonfacio said that soon afterward the Council found a “special place to prepare for the awakening.” When asked what was the awakening referring to, he said that he had no idea. It’s obvious that the special place had to be Infernus. What else could explain it? Neither Joseph nor Sayaka had any Intl on what the awakening could be.

  Major General Labrune said that he was ordered to send a Colonel to a place that High Command considered so top secret that he was not allowed to know where it was. The Colonel reported that all enemy forces have been destroyed and that she is returning back to base. But none of her forces made it back. Labrune said that he was told that a group of pirates ambushed them and killed all of them. He then pressed Lenkov for the information on their fate. When Lenkov told him the truth, and that he can back it up with Mizuguchi, Labrune became enraged at the lost of the Colonel by EOD forces.

  Lieutenant General Byrne said that he had to evaluate a type 1 civilization who was on the verge of inter-stellar travel. Byrne said that they had only one space colony that was nothing more than a vast library of their entire history. He never mentioned anything about the library in his report because it was an automated library. Byrne said that he later learned that the inhabitants destroyed themselves when the nanoprobes that they created consumed their planet.

  Colonel “Brown Dust” Durante was the only one in the group without a conscience. A true killer who won’t ask questions. An unfeeling uncaring predator that achieves his goals by any means necessary. But it is Joseph and Sayaka, not the EOD, who understands him very clearly. Durante is what Joseph and Sayaka calls a “thinking killer with stealth ambitions.” What they mean by a “thinking killer” is: he may appear to follow orders blindly, but he’s well aware of the consequences if he should ever get caught be the enemies of the EOD. What they mean when they say that he has “stealth ambitions” is: he keeps his ambitions to himself because he knows not everyone would support him if he told them what his ambitions are. Joseph and Sayaka knows that if he is ever captured by the enemy, and they give him immunity for his crimes that he committed, and they gave him something to please his ego, he WILL betray the EOD.

  Durante said that he had to liquidate a group of scientists who High Command claimed betrayed the EOD. Being the thinking killer that he is, Durante said that he remembers that those scientists worked upon creating a group of non-intelligent androids to man a ship, and then another group that can create a factory that could mass produce nanoprobes.

  “What do you got on your end?” Joseph asked Sayaka after he finished telling her what he learned from his contacts.

  “I had Hoffman (Parker’s secretary) to do a clean-up and clear-out.” Sayaka said.

  Clean-up refers to Hoffman destroying any evidence on her (and Parker since he betrayed Project 21) true identity.  Clear-out means that Hoffman must leave Roscadia and head to a safe house.

  “She said…” Sayaka continued. “…that she contacted Little John’s father and had him contact some crooked cop and then had him to collect all information and evidence on Little John’s disappearance and had it sent to her. She then had the mafia burn down Parker’s home to destroyed any evidence that may have been left behind.”

  “So what did you learn from her?”

  “A large amount of Little John’s blood was found at Parker’s house. The police report said that by the looks of it, either Little John was stabbed repeatedly or someone cut him open. They also found a knife with Little John’s blood on it. The knife belong to Parker. But the strange thing is, another crooked cop said that he saw Little John driving Parker’s car later in the day. He said that there was someone else in the car. But he didn’t get a good look at who it was.”

  “Any description of the person?”

  “Not really, other than the fact that the person was well over six feet tall.”

  “Isn’t Captain Adnrwal over six feet tall?”

  “Yes.”

  “Aren’t her people suppose to be between six-four to seven-four?”

  “Yes. Are you saying that, that person who was with them was that person with the hive in them?”

  “If Parker wanted value, and he had access to that person, than what would he do? Would he let that person out and try to convince them to come with him?”

  Sayaka didn’t say anything, she only shook her head in disbelieve at Parker’s stupidity.

  “Did the cop say where they were headed?” Joseph asked Sayaka.

  “He said that they were headed to the Project 21 headquarters.”

  “Did he mention why they were headed there?”

  “Nope. They didn’t mention it and he didn’t ask. But the cop did say that Little John was listening to heavy metal music, a type of music that he always hated.”

  “So, one of the other two was listening to it.”

  “Not hardly. Parker hated it and the cop said that Little John acted like he was the one who picked it.” Sayaka said. She then noticed that Joseph had the look that he just realize something.

  “What?” Sayaka asked Joseph.

  “What if Little John was infected with the hive?”

  “If that’s the case then shouldn’t Parker be infected as well?”

  “Not if the hive can select who to infect. What about your contacts? What did they say?”