The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (74 page)

  “Jesus! How many insiders did you guys have there?” Mad Dawg asked. Neither Joseph nor Sayaka committed on that. They only smiled.

  “Our other insider was a Mafioso by the name of Caleb J. “Little John” Minitello. Little John’s father was the mafia boss for the Vegas star system. Little John’s uncle, a mafia boss, was once the mayor of Roscadia. Little John’s blood was found at Parker’s house. According to the police report, Little John was either stabbed repeatedly or was cut open. A crooked cop later saw Little John driving Parker’s car with Parker and someone else in it. The height of that other person had to be Mrs. Ydxx’od’omaa. That was the last that anybody saw Little John.” Lenkov said.

  “Let me put it to you this way: Little John never would have travel without some form of protection. Little John knew that there was another insider there, but did not know who. It was Parker who came up with the idea on how to join the EOD. But he had to go to the mafia with it in the belief that they would know how to join us. That would explain why Little John would go there. Knowing that Parker wanted to join the EOD, and knowing that there was another insider at Roscadia he naturally would have let his guard down. But he would still have brought a gun with him. It wouldn’t take much for someone like Mrs. Ydxx’od’omaa to overpower him.” Omori said.

  Mad Dawg was slowly coming around to accepting what they were telling him was the truth. Why would they lie to him? If they were lying then what were they hoping to gain? If Mrs. Ydxx’od’omaa had all of those skills in her, including those skills from Special Forces, and if there was another type of a symbiote at Roscadia, it would explain a lot.

  “Let’s suppose that Little John did have a symbiote in him. Wouldn’t it explain a lot? Parker and Mrs. Ydxx’od’omaa may have been in cohorts with one another, but why would Little John join them? His family runs a criminal network. But if he did join them then it would explain a lot. Little John’s blood at Parker’s house, Little John’s behavior and why he would choose to disappear after the fact. Let me ask you this, seriously, who in the EOD, Project 21, or any other agency, is as good as that person who stole that Ultra Class vessel?” Lenkov said. The thought of the hive being that good had a chilling effect upon Mad Dawg.

  “Oh my god!” Mad Dawg said.

  It all started to make perfect sense to Mad Dawg. How else could it be explained? If there was a second symbiote, and Little John had it in him, then it would explain how and who stole that ship. Who else could it have been? Nobody could be that good. Plus the person used unknown tactics.

  What Mad Dawg was especially afraid of is the thought that the hive has EOD technology that comes from the future. No one could stop it. It would consume the whole galaxy. The effect that it had upon him was profound. Mad Dawg no longer cared about doing his duty, or his ship, he had something far more important to care about – his wife.

  “Is there anything else that you wanted to tell us about that ship?” Omori asked.

  “I thought  that both of you knew what it did to my ship and the fact that it’s here in this star system.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Then the question becomes why is it here? And why did it provide you’re ship with assistance when you asked for it? Just how many of your people were on that ship?” Lenkov asked.

  “There was not that many of my people on that ship. There was a seven man unit, two doctors, some scientists and engineers. Both doctors were not suppose to be there but someone hacked over computer to have them go there. Whoever did it, was as good if not better, than you Sayaka.” Mad Dawg said.

  “You wouldn’t by any chance have their techniques on a hard drive, would you?” Omori asked.

  “Yes I do. In order to overcome what you did to our computers, I had to reinstall the computer core OS. In a effort to help others to overcome your techniques, including Little John, or whoever it was, who hacked our computers at Roscadia, I had the entire computer core OS and software copied to a backup computer core hard drive.” Mad Dawg said.

  “You can return back to your temporary quarters. We’re going to contact either Captain Parker and/or his recruiter in order to find out what precisely happen to Little John.” Lenkov said.

  Mad Dawg, without saying a word, got up to leave. He suspected that they already knew the true fate of Little John, but he just wanted to leave. It would give him the chance to think about what they said. He also wanted to take a hot shower so that he can feel better physically.

  “How are those robotic helper hands?” Omori asked in a curious manner.

  “Fine. Why do you ask?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “Who do you think made them?” Omori responded.

  Mad Dawg stood there in the doorway for a moment looking down at his hands. He wanted to tell her thanks, but he couldn’t. His pride wouldn’t let him. He looked at her struggling to tell her.

  “You’re welcome.” Omori said. Mad Dawg acknowledge it and then left.

  “So what do you think?” Joseph asked Sayaka after the door closed.

  “He’s beginning to see things our way. After he think about we said for awhile, we should tell him what happen to Little John. But do you think we should try to see how far we can take him down our pathway?” Omori asked.

  “If we continuously play the role of good host, and keep on giving him the type of Intel that we have been, I’m certain that he’ll probably start to see things our way. It also wouldn’t hurt to fix his ship. So let’s see how far we can take him.” Lenkov said. Sayaka nodded her head in agreement.

  Over the course of the next few hours Mad Dawg was doing a lot of thinking about what Parker did. At the same time, Joseph had Chester (accompanied by a armed guard) with several EOD engineers go over to Galactic Prime. Chester had to cooperate with the engineers as they removed the computer core along with the backup. He also had to assist them as they started to make repairs to the ship. When he was allowed to return back to the ship, he found out that he was given a room with an armed guard. He was then told that he had to talk to Mad Dawg about them repairing the ship.

  “Chester… what are you doing here?” Mad Dawg asked when Chester came to see him.

  “Sir… I think that they were trying to recruit me.” Chester said after the door shut and he came near to where Mad Dawg was.

  “Why do you think that?”

  “First of all sir, when Ms. Omori asked me to surrender she was wearing a black-and-white dress. She looked very beautiful and…” Chester was saying. It caused Mad Dawg to laugh out loud.

  “Yeah I bet. Chester… you’re an ignorant fool. You know that.”

  “What!? All I’m saying is…”

  “Yeah I know what you’re saying. You saw how beautiful she is and then she had you eating out of the palm of her hand.”

  “No sir that’s not true!”

  “Of course it’s true. You’re single.”

  “What does that have to do with anything sir!?”

  “Plenty. Do you seriously believe that she dresses up like that just to ask someone to surrender? Shut up! Let me finish. She only dresses up like that because both her and Joseph knows that it can have an effect upon guys who are single. As for married guys? If they’re happily married then they typically have the attitude of look but don’t touch.” Mad Dawg said. Chester laughed a little at the thought of him desiring Sayaka.

  “Sir, no offense, but that’s bullshit. I don’t fancy the thought of having her. I don’t fantasize about her!” Chester said. He was deeply annoyed by the thought of having sex with Sayaka.

  “So… you’re telling me that you would NEVER want to have a woman who is as beautiful as she is? Is that what you are saying?”

  “No sir that’s not what I am saying.”

  “So you do fancy the thought of having a woman, not Sayaka, but a woman who is as beautiful as she is. Is that right?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Now you know why she dresses up like that. Because there is a small part of you that desires to have a woman as beautiful as she is. It’s a form of distraction. Distracting you from being successful in your negotiations.”

  “In other words, she is a cold heartless manipulative bitch.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far. It was Joseph who came up with that idea. If the rumors are correct, then he came up with as a form of a joke. Look Chester… the best most efficient way to negotiate with them, when she pulls that stunt, is to show her respect and to let her win with class. Why do you think it’s better to let a happily married man negotiate with them?”

  “You mean someone like you sir.” Chester said.

  When Chester said that it reminded Mad Dawg that his depression is partly to blame. He started to feel bad about the way in which he feels, but he needs a miracle in order to make him feel better. And he’s fixing to get it.

  “Sir, they also took me and some EOD engineers over to Galactic Prime and they took the computer core and the backup computer core.” Chester said.

  “So. What does that have to do with them trying to recruit you? Taking the computer core is standard procedure. Both sides does it. It’s done to prevent anyone from using the ship after it’s abandoned. The only time when it’s not done is when the ship has value.” Mad Dawg said.

  The computer core and it’s software is not considered valuable. When the alert that signify that the crew is surrendering was announced, all important data was automatically erased. Both sides does that. It’s done because it gives the crew extra time to sabotage any equipment that is deemed too valuable to fall into enemy hands.

  “I already know all of that sir.” Chester said.

  “Then what is it that they have done to convince you that they are trying to recruit you?”

  “They wanted me there because they wanted to know what type of damage that was done to the ship. They were there to repair the ship. And from the looks of it… to make it combat ready.”

  Mad Dawg was too confused to say anything. Why in the universe would they repair Galactic Prime? Yes it’s obvious that they want something, but whatever it is it must be extremely important. If it’s not treason that they want, then what?

  There was a small part of Mad Dawg that felt better. A feeling that said that his depression is coming to an end. But the confusion remained. He couldn’t help but to think about why did they repair his ship and what do they want.

  After several moments passed by they heard the doorbell ring. Chester went to the door to answer it. The guard assigned to watch him told him that it was time to leave. Chester then left with the guard and was taken back to his assigned quarters. When they got down the hallway, the guard posted at Mad Dawg’s door sent a text message to Sayaka. She then sent a message back and the guard then told Mad Dawg that both Lenkov and Omori wanted to see him.

  “What do both of you want to talk about this time?” Mad Dawg asked both Joseph and Sayaka.

  “We just learned the true fate of Little John. There was a second symbiote, but it was dead. It seems that Ms. Adnrwal’s sister gave Parker a jar with a liquid in it called, Liquid Death. She said that it’s supposed to have the capability to bring the dead back to life. It is also some form of a weapon where it can kill with the most smallest of drops. First of all let me tell you the following, to the EOD, as you probably already know, it’s useless as a weapon since we have poisons that are far more efficient than that.” Lenkov was saying.

  “What about the possibility that it can bring the dead back to life? Are you saying that particular part of it is useless?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “You already have the answer to that. The EOD doesn’t save lives, it takes them.” Omori said quite bluntly. The bluntness threw Mad Dawg off.

  “But it’s life giving properties could greatly improve the quality of life.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “You must understand the following. As you probably already know both of us are not true killers. So we’re ruthless, but we’re not evil.” Lenkov was saying.

  “So what’s the difference?”

  “Ruthlessness has it’s limits, evil does not. Evil would have kill you and your crew without mercy. Ruthlessness doesn’t care if you live or die, but it will not kill you when it can give you a chance to surrender.” Lenkov said.

  “Ruthlessness has a better understanding of life and death than goodness.” Omori added.

  “That’s bullshit.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Have you ever directly or indirectly kill someone who deserved it?” Lenkov asked.

  “Haven’t we all?”

  “But would you give them their lives back?” Lenkov asked.

  “No.”

  “If you bring back the dead of those who never deserve to die, then it would become a fad. Once it becomes a fad then those who deserve to die will come back as well. Don’t forget that it’s in human nature to abuse power. Now imagine giving the corrupt and powerful that type of power over life and death. What’s more, you don’t know how it would effect those being brought back. It could turn them into something far worse than what they were before.” Omori said.

  Mad Dawg knew that she is right, but the lost of his daughter, and the thought of bringing her back to life, prevented him from accepting that Sayaka is right. He wanted to say something but couldn’t. Both his heart and his head was strongly conflicting with each other.