The Athena Operation by Dalton Cortner Read Free Book Online Page A

his waist. It was a standard issue, one-time use syringe that would ease the pain and help seal the wound. He walked over to Seraph. “You look like you could use this,” he said. Seraph nodded and Jirani injected the aceso into the area around Seraph’s wound.
    Seraph winced, and closed his eyes as the aceso entered his bloodstream. The area went warm, then faded to numbness. Seraph moved his arm around and found his mobility improved. His aim would be the better for it.
    Seraph nodded to Jirani. “Thanks.”
    “It’s no problem.” Jirani tossed the needle onto the ground.
    “What are you two? Confederate Military?” Drever asked.
    Seraph nodded.
    “Going to be,” Ret said. “I was just wrapping up my last week of basic. What about you?”
    “Not military. Mercenary,” Drever stared back at Seraph. “So, what’s your plan?”
    “We’re trying to reach the military rendezvous. We need to see what the military’s orders are, and how we’re being organized.” Seraph got down from the desk and began to load shells that Ret found into his shotgun.
    Drever scoffed. “Fuck that, we need to get the hell out of here. This is a war zone. You’d be lucky to make it a quarter to whatever rendezvous before being shot down. This whole city’s going to be rubble within the day. You’ll never make it.”
    Seraph stared him down. “This is Vidron, home of the Confederate Military force and the Confederate Chamber. We just need to get the other military outposts to rally their troops and help push the seythra back.” Seraph loaded the final shell into the shotgun and cocked it.
    “No fuckin’ way. First, this isn’t the only place this is happening. The seythra are hitting every goddamn military outpost, that’s why Vidron’s the first hit; they know the military power is here. They’re systematically disabling our defenses. Even if they weren’t, it’d be a fuckin’ suicide run trying to get there. No, we need to get the fuck off of this planet and worry about surviving.”
    Ret dismissed him. “We have to at least try. The Chamber may be there. We need to fix priority on getting them to safety.”
    “No, not anymore.” Drever stared at Ret dead in the eyes. “You’re just a survivor. We all are. Who we were doesn’t matter. The Chamber is just three people. They're not worth saving. Our only goal is to make it to tomorrow. Think any differently, and you’re going to get killed. I guarantee that much.”
    Seraph wanted to be like Ret, to push on even though it looked bleak. But Drever’s words rang true to him. Seraph was, after all, a survivor above all else.

 
    CHAPTER 10: FADING LIGHTS
     
     
     
     
    After taking a breather, the four exited the building and traveled south. Two miles away from the military command center, still in the heart of Vidron, flares and tanks blocked the streets as commanders scrambled to form a resistance. There were two sergeants and two admirals, all othal, trying to organize what little soldiers they had and trying to calm the small crowd of civilians.
    The area seemed mostly under control. It was away from the central battle, which seemed to be moving in the opposite direction. Two buildings on opposite sides of a large, open area were still standing, and the sides of the buildings were lined with tanks In general, it was the safest area they’d seen yet.
    Jirani jogged ahead of the group and began talking to one of the admirals. Seraph guessed he was asking about the status of West Koss. Drever and Seraph walked up to one of the Sergeants, while Ret stopped and tried to assess the status of the resistance troops.
    Seraph nodded to his fellow soldiers. “What’s the word, sir?”
    The Sergeant directed a group of civilians into a nearby building. He turned and nodded to Seraph and Drever.
    “We don’t know yet. The Confederate Chamber’s nowhere to be found. It’s chaos. We’re having trouble even organizing an attack outside our little safe zone here.