The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (72 page)

  “Most of them had nothing of value to add. But I did learn something quite interesting about Parker. He has been reduced in rank to that of a captain and was given command of a ship. As of now, Parker is heading back to Roscadia to provide support in an effort to learn more about the hive.”

  “They sure are moving fast with him. Looks like High Command is taking the hive far more serious than what we originally imagined.”

  “Yeah. So let’s see what type of Intel Shackley can provide us with.” Sayaka said.

  Sayaka tired to contact Shackley, but couldn’t. His secretary would not even answer her. Sayaka than decided to contact mayor Fletcher.

  “How may the good people of Raspberry serve you today?” Mayor Fletcher said with a smile.

  “Can it. Where in the hell is Shackley?” Sayaka said. She was a little ticked off by the way in which she is being treated.

  “He was skiing and he um… hit a tree. He’s fine but he is um… in a coma.”

  “Really. What’s the name of the ski resort?”

  “It’s um… the name of the resort is um… I’m so terribly sorry but I forgot it’s name. I’ll have to get back to you on that Sayaka.”

  “Omori. Call me Omori. Where is his secretary?”

  “She’s um… was sent home because of Shackley’s um… accident.”

  “What’s the name of the hospital that he was taken to?”

  “It’s um… hold on a sec.” Henry Fletcher said as he put her on hold.

  “Don’t you put me on hold! Hello!? Dame kisama.” Sayaka said. She was pissed off by the mayor’s apparent lying. Thirty seconds later Fletcher hung up on her which made her even more upset.

  “Do you think that I should call that kisama back up again?” Sayaka asked Joseph.

  “Naw. He’s obviously hiding something. And since we have no idea who he is cooperating with, we should show a greater degree of caution.”

  “Who do you think we should let handle it, Colonel Blackburn or Captain Maxwell?”

  “Let’s wait until Maxwell gets here. I have an idea on how we can shed some light on all of this.”

  Lenkov then told Sayaka his idea. She made some changes to it. Their plan may shed some light on the mystery of Infernus, the hive, the strange behavior of mayor Fletcher, or it may not. It all depends upon events beyond their control after Maxwell gets there. But they had to deal with a problem closer to home first.

(8)

  Colonel Blackburn was at his office in the EOD Defense Force base on the northeastern side of the landmass that both Raspberry and the medium size city in located on. His forces once numbered 7,800, and although the Marines, Space Core and Special Forces reduced those numbers down to 4,200, his forces still gave them hell. Blackburn still has enough confidence that his forces can take on at least 5,500 of any, or all three of those military forces, including Project 21.

  Colonel Blackburn’s orders come directly from High Command. He has high hopes that maybe he could join High Command one day. His only regret is that in order for him to join he must be part-civilian. Both Joseph and Sayaka has a clear understanding of High Command of both Project 21 and the EOD. They said that it is, “man by those who are part-military officers, part-bureaucrats, part-politicians and all around assholes.” They also said of it that it is, “the single most dumbest thing that the human race ever adopted from any ET civilization.”

  When any military become as large as a nation it will start to develop all the problems of a nation. It may have whole families serving in it, but it will also have criminals serving in it. High Command is suppose to solve that by creating agencies (like the FBI, CIA, EPA, IRS, etc.) within the military. Thus High Command typically have about one-to-three million people serving in it.

  Project 21 High Command has 3.2 million people serving in it, and the EOD High Command has 3.8 million serving in it. And both are just as equally as bad as the other. The only real difference between the two is that the EOD High Command is vastly more efficient at keeping secrets. It’s the sole reason why there are more people serving in it.

  While Blackburn was at his office he got a call from Lenkov. Every since the two of them arrived at Golden Hyperion, that is the first time that he heard from either Lenkov and/or Omori. He knows that it had to be very important, but he will not allow it interfere with his mission.

  “Fleet Captain Lenkov, what pleasure do I owe this call?” Colonel Blackburn asked.

  “Are you aware that a EOD Troop Development helicopter left carrying a motorcycle and a Dragon Clone on board?”

  “Of course sir.”

  “Are you aware of my objections to that?”

  “Yes sir. Beg your pardon sir, but what is your point?”

  “It has been brought to my attention that you have made a critical mistake concerning that tactic of yours.” Lenkov said.

  Colonel Blackburn was shocked when he heard that. The words “critical mistake” is something that High Command don’t want to hear when determining an applicant for possible hire. Lenkov knows that, but not Blackburn, and Lenkov knows that Blackburn don’t know that. Lenkov also knows that vengeful officers use those words when they want to ruin someone chances at joining High Command. Lenkov also knows that Blackburn don’t know that.

  “What!? How do you figure sir!?” Blackburn said.

  “You have viscerally suggested the tactic, over my objections, to High Command. You have use your contacts within High Command to supercede my authority to support the said tactic. You have perform these actions in cognizant that the Dragon Clones are experimental and you therefore did not listen to either my, or Sayaka’s recommendations. And as a result of your incompetence, an experimental and a highly dangerous Dragon Clone has been captured by the enemy.”

  “Sir I-I-I…”

  “You listen to me and you listen to me well. Right now I am very busy. I am willing to forgive you of this grievous action, but I need for you to do something for me.”

  “W-W-What is it sir?”

  “I need you to tell High Command of what happen. Tell them that I will assist you in the repatriation or termination of the said Dragon Clone. I then want you to immediately call me back.”

  “Yes sir.” Colonel Blackburn said under his breath.

  Colonel Blackburn then called High Command and told them what he did. High Command warned him that if he don’t resolve the issue he will be demoted and possibly face imprisonment. Blackburn realize that his chances at joining High Command is next to nil. He now knows that he has no other choice but to do as Lenkov says.

  “I did as you suggested sir. And they told me to cooperate with you fully.” Blackburn said.

  “This is what I want you to do. Send one-fourth of your men to the old regional capital. Have a small group to get into position north of the city. I want them to ONLY to force down, not, repeat NOT, to destroy the helicopter. Once the helicopter has been forced down, have the unit to head to the monorail station. They need to give enough time for the Task Force to send a unit to the monorail station. Once your men get to the station they must head to 5
th
& Main – the mini-mall that is. The mini-mall has a underground pathway that leads to the monorail station. Your men must take that pathway so that they can come up underneath the unit. Have your men eliminate the unit accept for one and then interrogate the individual. Then have the rest of your men to arrive at the station to prepare for a counter-attack. Do you understand your orders?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Don’t mess this up.”

  “I won’t sir.”

  “I want you to know that I have to contact High Command to let them know of your orders.”

  “Understood sir.” Colonel Blackburn said under his breath as he hung up.

  Colonel Blackburn sat there for a few moments feeling like a horse just kicked him in the gut. His future, the promotion that he thinks that he will receive when Golden Hyperion is resolved in a EOD victory, is looking far less likely to occur. His life is ruined. Blackburn will do everything that he can to repatriate the Dragon Clone even if it means the complete destruction of Task Force ZH-3C.

  “He took the bait.” Joseph said to Sayaka.

  “And like you said, the rest of Task Force ZH-3C is heading to that monorail station.”

  “They better like those weapons that High Command left for them.”

  “I’m certain that they will.”

  Joseph and Sayaka waited as Task Force ZH-3C unknowingly waited for the appending attack. They heard over the com-system the fate of Colonel Blackburn’s men. Those who took the pathway that led to the monorail station, expecting one unit, found three units and was wiped out. They were outgunned and never stood a chance.

  For Task Force ZH-3C they had to endure one wave after another until the 1,000 strong force was eliminated. Four-fifths of Colonel Blackburn’s men lost their lives. For Task Force ZH-3C they owe their lives to the EOD High Command for leaving behind those EOD weapons. Weapons that are far superior than what they had. As luck and skill would have it, no one in Task Force ZH-3C lost their lives. It was all over for Colonel Blackburn’s men when Blue Team got there.

  “Starbase VXN-2212/O, this is Captain Maxwell. My ETA is 19:16 hours your local time.” Captain Maxwell said.

  “Understood.” Lenkov responded. He then discontinued the call and then called up Blackburn.

  “Colonel Blackburn… your men failed. You are hereby instructed to inform High Command of your disgrace. We’re going to send someone there to relieve you of command. Inform High Command of my decision.” Lenkov said to Colonel Blackburn. He then hung up.

  Ten minutes later Lenkov received a message from High Command informing him that they approve of his decision to remove Blackburn. But they never got the chance. Blackburn committed suicide than to endure the pain and humiliation of being removed. Captain Dawson called up Lenkov to inform him of Colonel Blackburn’s death. Lenkov than told him that someone will be sent to take command.

  “Half of our problems have just been neutralized. And before 24 hours have passed the other half will be eliminated.” Joseph said to Sayaka.

  “And from Andromeda… all of them will learn why they call us… the Hammer of Doom.” Sayaka said with a smile.

  Andromeda refers to a planet that both of them found when they were being pursued by those who made the mistake of underestimating Joseph at being a Fleet Captain. Andromeda is a second Earth and was uninhabited when they got there. After they got rid of their pursuers, they claimed the planet for their own. They were able to smuggle in everything that they needed to build a city called Black Elixir. It was Sayaka who named the planet and Joseph named the city after Sayaka’s company.

  Whereas the Council and the EOD High Command went to the extreme to hide Infernus, both Joseph and Sayaka had a far more efficient way to hide Andromeda. Joseph and Sayaka pursuers were afraid that if they used their communications than Sayaka would hack them and cripple their ships. That gave Lenkov a huge advantage. Knowing that their pursuers will be using their sensors, Lenkov used that against them. He then tricked the crew of one ship to leave their ship. He than snuck up upon them and boarded their ship and eliminated the crew. Lenkov then had his men hide the ship. He then repeated the move with the remaining pursuing ships.

  With the lost of their ships, the pursuers had no other choice but to surrender. Especially since they were tricked into going to a lifeless moon and Lenkov waited until they almost ran out of oxygen. A sad lesson that they, and others, had to learn when they underestimate both Lenkov and Omori. Since neither Joseph nor Sayaka is a murderer, they gave their pursuers a choice: do actually as we say or be sent to a EOD prison.

  Lenkov gave them an ultimatum, he said, ‘You are nothing more than criminals. Your lives are not worth a damn. If you should die, than who cares. But to both of us you do have some value. You can help us to hide this world that we just found. What’s in for you? Your lives. The place of your defeat can be the place of your rebirth. Help us to conceal that world and we will make it worth your while. Any ship without our permission, regardless of who owns that ship, who dares to stray into this sector is yours. You can keep the booty, but not the ship. We will give you advance tactical knowledge and weapons. But as for your ship, Sayaka will replace it’s brain with one that is loyal to us. Betrayal to us, or trying to circumnavigate our control over your ship, will mean that your ship will self-destruct. So what do we want from you? By any means necessary make certain that nobody knows that planet exist. Failure to comply in any way, shape, or form, will mean that your ship will self-destruct. If you choose not to do this than we will have you kill and make it look like you died from some alien virus. Than we will quarantine the planet. The choice is yours. Make your life or death decision.’

  The pirates complied and because of it, looking for Andromeda has become the last thing on anyone’s mind. Hiding Andromeda from astronomers was far more easier. Astronomers use computers to scan for planets and Sayaka hacked them to hide Andromeda. No one, not even the EOD, suspects a thing. It is a legacy of Infernus. Both Joseph and Sayaka had at times (when it bothered them) talked about how to hide a planet more efficiently than the manner in which the EOD did.