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

Where did you soldiers come from? Who are you?”
    “Not a soldier,” Drever said. He sounded offended by the assumption. “Just trying to fight the good fight.”
    The sergeant scoffed. He turned to Seraph. “What about you?”
    “Commander Seraph Aydrian, and that’s Private Retton Johnstone back there,” Seraph said. “We came from the Koss military command center, which is now in ruins. We were thinking of trying to reach the secondary military command-”
    The Sergeant shook his head. “No good. We just received word that four of the five military command centers in Vidron are down. The only one left standing, and I use that term loosely, is one-hundred ‘n four miles east of here, in Hizor. And there’s no way in hell anyone would make it that far.”
    “So, what’s the plan?” Seraph asked.
    Ret walked up and rejoined the group.
    The Sergeant glanced back and forth between the three of them. “We fortify here. Just this block. We have to make this location safe. Secure and expand through the next twenty-four hours. The wall of vehicles behind me keeps us from any attacks from the south. The buildings on either side have snipers in them, and this main street we’re on, we’re going to build another wall of vehicles in the same line. I’m short on soldiers, so I need all of you to walk the perimeter.” The Sergeant pulled out a digital datapad and began typing.
    Ret looked discouraged. “So what? We hide here until the seythra decide to stop dropping bombs?”
    Drever rolled his eyes. “You got a better idea, kid?”
    The Sergeant stared straight at Ret. “We aren’t hiding; we’re taking a stand. Look around. Civilians are either lying dead in the streets or looking for their lost family members. We’re extremely limited in our military numbers, and we can’t strap civilians with guns and expect them to fight.”
    Jirani came back to rejoin the other three. He looked solemn.
    “They’ve uh, they lost contact with the West side of Koss three hours ago. I’m . . .” Jirani closed his eyes and put his hands on his head, trembling. “I have to go. I can’t watch. . . I can’t stand here and do nothing.”
    Seraph nodded, patting Jirani on the shoulder. “Alright. You do what you need to do. I hope you find them, Jirani. I honest to God do.”
    Ret and Jirani exchanged a handshake. Drever said nothing.
    Jirani loaded a fresh magazine into his pistol. He cocked the gun and headed straight into the war zone. Seraph knew Jirani’s chances were slim. Chances are he wouldn’t even make it to the West side of Koss, let alone find his family. But Seraph knew that, in spite of his own will to survive, he would be doing the same thing in Jirani’s position.
    For the next several hours, things were as quiet as they could be in a full-fledged war. A few other soldiers had turned up at the fortification zone and had, on the sergeant’s orders, helped clear out another building.
    Drever, Seraph, and Ret kept to themselves for the evening. When Seraph had fixed up his wounds the best he could, he tried to rest. He was exhausted, but sleep wouldn’t come. He couldn’t get the images of the day out of his head. He’d seen chaos and war before, but this was something entirely different. This was a massacre. Seeing children burn alive, watching people bleed out in the streets that were supposed to be the safest in the galaxy, it all struck him to his very center. If Vidron was falling this quickly, what hope was there for the rest of the universe?
    Ret cleared his throat gently. “Are you okay?”
    It took Seraph a minute to realize that Ret had spoken.
    Seraph stared out in the distance. He shrugged. “I’ve been a soldier most of my life, but this is just a whole other scale.” He shifted his gaze to a family walking by.
    Seraph and the others sat in a circle, each on a crate. The beds went to women and children first, and they had filled up the first hour Seraph, Drever, and Ret had arrived. If