The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (92 page)

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. One was in here and the other one was in your bedroom. When I entered, the one in here told me to go into the bedroom and let the other one know that I was here. I think the one in the living room found whatever they were looking for. They then waited for you to come in.” Taylor said trying not to lose his temper.

  Before Ramirez could respond Vaistll came in. Her assigned quarters was practically above Ramirez. Each one of their assigned quarters was very close to the elevators, but not on the same floor. The AI in the elevator would not let them travel to each other’s floor without permission. Clearly, someone wanted them to be in Ramirez assigned quarters at the same time. But why his?

  “Ma’am, I think that they planted a bug in a rooms.” Taylor said after she came in.

  “Either that or he talked.” Ramirez said which deeply angered and hurt Taylor’s feelings.

  “You damn bloody yank!” Taylor angrily said.

  “Ma’am, they knew what we were planning in here. Lenkov let on that he knew that I wanted to send a coded message to HQ.” Ramirez said quickly before Vaistll could say anything.

  “So why do you think that Taylor talked?” Vaistll asked Ramirez.

  “Because Lenkov wanted me to thank him.” Ramirez said. Vaistll smirked and shook her head when she heard that.

  “So you automatically jumped to the conclusion that he’d talked?” Vaistll asked Ramirez.

  “Ma’am…” Ramirez was saying.

  “Don’t forget Alex that Lenkov is a former police detective. So he probably was using some trick to see which one of us would squeal. I use to watch detective shows a long time ago on Earth. They do, do that, you know.” Vaistll said.

  Ramirez knows that she is right and it hurt him to have question Taylor’s loyalty like that. He truly is sorry, but ever since he boarded that ship his old feelings/fears about being part of the EOD started to haunt him. When he was part of the EOD he learned to be suspicious of everyone in effort to hide his true motives. And now he realize that because of those feelings/fears it is causing him to question his friends loyalties.

  “I’m sorry sir. I’m sorry for suspecting that…” Ramirez sincerely was saying.

  “Just drop it.” Taylor said with his feelings still hurt.

  “But sir I…” Ramirez was saying.

  “Look how long we’ve known each other. I’ve always trusted you. If you truly are sorry then don’t let them come in between us like that.” Taylor said.

  “What did you tell Lenkov, Alex?” Vaistll asked.

  “I didn’t tell him anything. I just let on that we’ve dropped whatever we were planning. He then told me to return back to my quarters until further noted. As I was leaving, he told me to thank Taylor.” Ramirez responded.

  “Do you think that this type of a ship has some type of a AI Big Brother on board?” Vaistll asked Ramirez.

  “I suppose so. If it is true then it would be something that the EOD would never admit for security reasons.” Ramirez responded.

  Vaistll then looked up and said, “Alright. Tell Lenkov that we’ve quit trying to rebel against him. If he treats my team with respect, then we will be like the Marines and fully cooperate with him.”

  “Come to the bridge.” Lenkov said through a unknown speaker in the room.

  When they got to the bridge Lenkov motion for them to come to him. Everybody on the bridge was waiting for Mad Dawg to report in after he went inside the tunnel. They lost the video feed after Mad Dawg and his forces went inside the tunnel.

  “Stop being blind to other people’s loyalties. If you continue on this current pathway it is conceivable that far too many people will die of a unnecessary and untimely death.” Lenkov said to Vaistll, Taylor and Ramirez.

  “Sir…” Vaistll was saying.

  “Save it. Captain Maxwell…” Lenkov was saying.

  “Yes sir.” Captain Maxwell responded.

  “Captain Adnrwal, Commander Taylor and Lieutenant Commander Ramirez cannot leave the bridge until we hear from Captain Burton.” Lenkov informed him.

  “Yes sir.” Captain Maxwell responded.

  Three minutes later, the bridge received a message from the stealth base that the computers there are no longer detecting that the core tunnel is partly in control of the LMPG. Although Captain Maxwell could have given the order to deactivate it, he said nothing so that both Lenkov and Omori could give the order instead.

  “You know captain…” Lenkov was saying to Vaistll. “…I was thinking about sending your team on a very important mission, but I decided not to. I just can’t trust you or your team. So I decided to send Colonel McIntyre instead. Which means, that it might be the last time that any of us will ever see him again. I wonder what Mad Dawg would think about that?”

  “Sir, that’s not…” Vaistll was saying.

  “Can it! You had your chance and you blew it! I’m sending him and if he dies than it will be YOUR fault. Not another word captain.” Lenkov said with his voice slightly raised. He then pushed a button on his chair to activate the intercom. “Colonel McIntyre, come to the Conference Room on the bridge immediately.” Both Lenkov and Omori stood up and headed to the Conference Room. Omori looked at Vaistll and said, “Pray for the colonel.”

  When McIntyre got to the bridge he noticed the way Vaistll, Taylor and Ramirez was looking at him. McIntyre is not stupid. He knows that Lenkov must have said something to suggest that he may die. He also knows that Lenkov is not like other EOD commanders who would kill someone like him without just cause.

  “Whatever it is, the answer is no. So find someone else to do it.” McIntyre said as he came into the Conference Room.

  “Don’t you want to hear what we have to say?” Omori asked him.

  “No, not really. Look, I know that you two want me to be your errand boy. So you two can just forget it.” McIntyre responded.

  “I would send Task Force ZH-3C, but they don’t understand the nature of the enemy like you do.” Lenkov said.

  “Still not interested.” McIntyre responded.

  “The mission is not dangerous. We just want you to check out something for us.” Omori said politely.

  “Well in that case… get one of your people to do it.” McIntyre responded.

  “We would, and believe me we would, but it requires someone with your experience. We can’t even guarantee that the place would be free of hostiles. There shouldn’t be any there, but we have no way of knowing. And that is why we need someone with your experience. There is only one person on board with your type of experience and that is Jaguar 42R.” Lenkov said.

  “Then why don’t you get him to do it?” McIntyre asked.

  “Because Mad Dawg needs him on the assault upon the core tunnel. We suspect that the warehouse in the tunnel could be a cloning facility. If so, then they could be cloning Demon Xs.” Lenkov responded.

  “Does Mad Dawg know that?” McIntyre asked.

  “Of course. He wanted some payback for the lost of his ship. When he read the report on what may be in the tunnel, and how I wanted to send an extra 500 troops and some Dragon Clones, he didn’t like it. He said that it was a job for him and his boys and not…” Lenkov was saying.

  “Yeah, that sounds like him.” McIntyre, interrupting him, said.

  “You have to understand that I have no way of knowing if Jaguar 42R will survive. But if Mad Dawg succeeds in disabling the LMPG then it would greatly improve all of our chances in going home. So he needed someone like you to go with him, even if he refuses. This mission that we want you to go on is too important to wait.” Lenkov said.

  “Like I said, ‘the mission is not dangerous.’ All we need is Intel. It is at your discretion to kill anyone there.” Omori added.

  “Alright. What do you want me to do then?” McIntyre asked.

  “Do you have any Intel on what a Flip Jumper is?” Omori asked.

  “Nope. Never heard of them.” McIntyre responded.

  “They’re a specialize type of a android that I created. I don’t know if High Command knows of their existence, but I could be wrong. If that is that case, then they’re keeping them Top Secret. Most likely Red Booking them.” Omori mentioned.

  “So, what makes them so special?” McIntyre asked.

  “Here. Read this technical schematic on them.” Omori said as she handed him a PDA.

  “Holy shit! Damn you’re smart!” McIntyre said in complete astonishment at how smart she is.

  “There’s more. At the laboratory there is a safe with a red positronic brain in it. If you find it, please bring it back to me. Please understand, that brain can give any android self-awareness and emotions. I should have taken it with me, but I didn’t.” Omori said, almost pleading with him.

  “Why didn’t you?” McIntyre asked.

  “Because I made the mistake in trusting them.” Omori responded.

  “Here’s a PDA with all the Intel that you need.” Lenkov said.

  “What, they’re not on Golden Hyperion?” McIntyre asked after he notice which moon in the Omicron Ultra star system the Flip Jumpers are at.

  “They’re too dangerous to be here, especially since they are a proto-type.” Lenkov responded.

  “Any other questions?” Omori asked.

  “Will I still be your errand boy when I’m finished with this one?” McIntyre asked.

  “Not unless you want to go on another mission.” Lenkov responded. The three of them then got up to leave. Lenkov and Omori went to a restaurant on the ship, to get a bite to eat.

  Four minutes and fifteen seconds before McIntyre arrived at the docking port at the laboratory that he was sent to, Jaguar 42R gave the Emergency Order and the situation with the Demon Xs was resolved. McIntyre had no problems in landing his shuttle craft. Nor did anybody asked him for identification as he approach the lab complex. The lab itself appeared to be deserted, but as with his experience with the EOD he knows that looks can be deceiving.

  When McIntyre got inside the lab complex he could tell that someone has been in it no more than six months ago. The last time that Lenkov and Omori was there was 81 weeks ago. He could tell that there is no security personnel there, only scientists and/or engineers. It wasn’t surprising to him that there are no security personnel since they probably don’t know that Lenkov has betray the EOD.

  The PDA that was given to him had notes that stated that the EOD High Command off-and-on would order Lenkov and Omori out of the star system for different reasons. (In a couple of cases they were given three months vacation. In another case, Lenkov was told that he was going to be promoted to commodore.) In each case they were gone for three-to-four months. The last time that they were told to return back to the star system they were order to stay until their mission is over. That was 16 months ago. It is undeniable that each and every time that they were ordered out of the Omicron Ultra star system someone from the EOD High Command came to Golden Hyperion. Whatever it was that they were doing was kept Top Secret, even from Lenkov and Omori. Whoever came, would always leave before Lenkov and Omori would return. Mostly within two weeks.

  McIntyre first stop was the security station. The security station had a video camera system instead of human operators. Most places like the one he is at is no different. He was able to extrapolate that there are eight people there. For some reason, some of the cameras were off-line. McIntyre did try to bring them on-line but couldn’t. The notes that he was given told him that there are no cameras where the Flip Jumpers are being kept.

  When McIntyre got to the storage area of where the Flip Jumpers are being held he noticed that they are gone. He then left and headed to the cargo bay to find out where were they taken to. The cargo bay computers confirmed his worst fears – they were taken to Golden Hyperion. After he downloaded the information to his PDA he left and headed to the lab where the red positronic brain is being kept.

  “So what’s the problem?” Stirling asked Meikle. Both of them was trying to reverse engineer the red positronic brain and was having trouble with the software. They found the brain twenty-seven weeks ago after they finally decrypt the code on the safe.

  “The problem is, we have got to be the most stupid people in the universe. We’ve been working on this damn thing for almost seven months and we still can’t crack this damn software encryption. It’s like it has a mind of it’s own.” Meikle responded out of frustration.

  “You got that right.” McIntyre said out loud as he came in and killed everyone. (Although he could have come in earlier, he waited outside listening in on their conversation.) After he shot everyone, he noticed that one of them was still alive and was headed to a security console on the wall. McIntyre got off a few rounds, but missed. The engineer managed to push a button causing the alarms to go off for twenty seconds. McIntyre then shot and killed the engineer.

  “Shit.” McIntyre said after he heard a very familiar eerie howl/growl. The worst part for him is that he has only one handgun, a knife, and some explosives in his backpack.

  McIntyre neither ran nor left the floor. Instead he took a chair and a metal plank from the room and put it in the hallway and then waited for a Demon X to come. When one came, McIntyre stood there and did nothing. The Demon X let out a roar when it saw him and then ran to him. McIntyre then shot it in the throat causing it to fall on it’s back. He then quickly holstered his weapon, took both the chair and the metal plank over to the Demon X’s position. McIntyre then used the metal plank to partly roll the Demon X on it’s side and then put the end that he was holding on the chair. He then squatted down and placed a pressure sensitive explosive under the body of the Demon X.