The Athena Operation (3 page)

CHAPTER 6: SKIES WILL BURN

It was a long ride home, and both Seraph and Sadhis spent the time lost in their own thoughts. Seraph’s focus was already far away from the mission he’d just completed. He could think only of his upcoming break from assignments, and he couldn't wait. With the threat of discharge on his mind, a vacation was strongly desired.

Sadhis, on the other hand, was replaying the day’s work in his mind, obsessing over what he could've done differently. He’d violated his own principles. He’d been caught off guard, and he’d had to act on instinct, not on intellect. He couldn’t help but feel like his poor planning was responsible for the high death toll of this mission.

Seraph turned to Sadhis and broke the long silence between them. “What’re you thinking about? What you could've done differently?”

Sadhis didn’t look at Seraph. “No, no. Just. . .”

Seraph interrupted. “Don’t lie to me. I know how you are. But think about it. There was nothing we did wrong. There was no way the outcome could’ve been any better, based on what little we had to work with.”

Sadhis sighed. Seraph tried to understand Sadhis’s perfectionistic tendencies, but they weren't realistic for military operations. Seraph knew that all that mattered was getting the job done, even if it was messy. There was no use trying to save everyone, because you will fail every single time.

**

“Lahen is calling.”

Both Zane and Aven hurried to the holographic video display to greet Lahen, the third and final piece of their operation. A hooded robe covered the seythra's face, but the two knew Lahen was smiling. Without hearing from him, it hadn't felt like the operation had truly started.

“Lahen, it's good to see you,” Zane said.

“And you both, my friends. The transmission was received exactly when we anticipated. I come with urgent information. Two soldiers encountered the operation before we had anticipated. We need to expedite priority target A as soon as possible. We can't possibly continue at the prior pace and expect the Confederate Military to not notice.”

Zane shifted uneasily. “We aren't possibly ready for that. Elaborate, Lahen. What's happened? What soldiers?”

“I can't say more, not on an airwave that could be tapped into. I know it sounds impulsive and possibly paranoid, but these are high-ranking military officials. We need to place our faith in the operation and trust that it will play out just as we desire, even if we speed it up.” Lahen's image stuttered before disappearing completely.

Aven shook his head, eyeing his human partner. “My confidence hasn't wavered, but this changes quite a bit. Your thoughts?”

“I trust Lahen's judgment, and my faith lies with the operation. But we aren't ready, Aven. This is going to throw the whole operation off.” Zane exhaled.

Aven walked to a window, staring out into the void of space. “We have our goals, and we have the operation. We can handle any possible situation.”

“Very well. I'll have the order passed along immediately. It should only be a few days before Lahen can join us in person.” Zane closed his eyes and sighed.

Aven tilted his head. “Let's not place too much faith in Lahen. I approve this as a precautionary measure against a threat he's deemed as real, but let's not forget you and I have equal say as well.”

“Agreed,” Zane said. “But he's the one on the inside. He can properly gauge a threat. I just hope there aren't any problems. The operation
has
to work.”

Aven smiled. “Don't worry, my friend. It will. One last thing, can you have them bring the Titan up? I want to inspect it myself.”

Zane's eyes widened. “Aven, the Titan is nowhere near completion. What could you-”

“An inspection, Zane. That's all. Like I said – we need to be ready for any situation.” Aven turned to face his partner.

Zane hesitated, but nodded. “Yes, I'll pass it along as well.”

CHAPTER 7: VIDRON

The planet of Vidron never failed to impress Seraph.

Vidron was a behemoth of a world. The contrast of brown and blue was visible from several planets away. A small halo of white gas surrounded it, layered atop the many blots of yellow that were Vidron’s biggest cities.

Vidron was home to the Confederate Military’s numerous training bases. No matter what brought you to Vidron, it felt important as hell, a feeling underscored by every species having military bases and representatives on the planet.

Vidron was also home to the Confederate Chamber, which had served as the governing body of the Triangulum galaxy for fifteen years, since 2084. The Chamber consisted of a panel made up of three of the highest ranking military and government officials. The galaxy, and universe, hadn't been particularly accepting of the change, and many still opposed them.

As quickly as their ship docked Seraph and Sadhis were shuffled through the security checkpoint by seythra guards. A flash of their military tags allowed them to pass through without incident.

Senate election week meant the streets were jam packed with even more political business than usual. Seraph wove through the crowd, headed toward the military command center, and Sadhis followed, still lost in his own thoughts.

They walked through the dark side of Vidron, past run-down buildings covered in graffiti, through alleyways full of homeless. As they came near the military command center, they passed the massive seythra military post. The size of seythra’s military rivaled all others in the galaxy combined. Every other species had relocated their primary military outposts to Vidron, but for the seythra, Vidron was merely a secondary outpost.

“Should we let the chamber know about the seythra back on Torca?” Sadhis asked.

“They'll get it all in debrief tomorrow,” Seraph said.

The seythra had more of Seraph's respect than any other species. The othal's endgame was diplomacy, and they were good at it, but also arrogant. The fesar only cared about their own species and didn't hide the fact that they'd be pushing for independence soon. Seraph also wasn't particularly fond of humanity, despite being human himself, given how selfish they could be. The seythra stood their ground and commanded respect, but also earned it through their accomplishments. It was hard to dismiss them as anything but the best the universe had to offer.

Seraph and Sadhis reached the military command center, fronted by three massive stone statues of each of the Confederate Chamber members. Their towering figures stood over 300 feet tall, watching over the city. Past them, gray pillars lined the front of the building as armed guards made sure everyone entering was on official Confederate business.

Seraph and Sadhis nodded to the guards as they flashed their badges and entered. The lobby was bustling, despite the late hour. Seraph and Sadhis headed for the admission desk.

Sadhis smiled to the receptionist, a female othal. The othal came in almost as much diversity as humans, with the females having soft, smooth light blue skin and the males with a rough, deeper blue skin. They lacked hair, though had small, round spikes sticking out of their head. Most stood seven or eight feet tall.

“Lieutenant Sadhis Loxai, and . . .” Sadhis waited for Seraph to state his name and rank. “. . . Commander Seraph Aydrian, reporting for a debrief,” Sadhis said.

The receptionist nodded, throwing a flirtatious glance at Sadhis. She began typing their information into her computer. After a moment, she handed them each an access card.

“Your debrief is set for tomorrow. Your room tonight is floor forty-three, room four thirty-nine, it’ll be the last door on your right. Commander Aydrian, same, but yours is the second-to-last on the left. Room four twenty-eight.” She smiled.

Sadhis nodded to her, and smiled back. “Thank you.” He turned to Seraph. “Alright, let’s go.”

**

Seraph sat on the stoop leading up to the military command building, a cigarette clasped between his lips. He stared out at the gigantic city before him. He was tired, but he had a few minutes to spare to take in the magnificent view. Vidron was truly a marvel, a diamond in the rough that was the rest of the universe.

Seraph was about to crush his cigarette and head back inside when a woman screamed off to his far right. He stood up and ran toward the scream and found a man pressing a pistol to a woman’s head. The woman screamed again. A small crowd had gathered and was watching the scene, and the commotion had drawn half a dozen soldiers from the building. Seraph flashed his badge and signaled for the soldiers to fall back, not wanting the low-ranking security guards interfering. He studied the man. The human wore a black beanie, along with a leather jacket and fingerless gloves. A stand-out from the Vidron regulars, who decked themselves out in fancy suits or military armor. Probably a tourist who’d stayed out past curfew. Seraph pulled his handgun from its holster and approached the man slowly.

The man whipped around to face Seraph. “Don’t come any closer,” he warned. He wrapped the woman in a headlock and pulled down the hammer on his gun.

Seraph held up a hand. “Easy now. Let’s just talk this out, eh?”

“No! Don’t you understand? We’re starving! You and all of them, you’re killing us!” He clenched the gun tighter. “You don’t fucking care.”

Seraph tried to keep his voice even. “Where are you from? My people can help. Who are you? Tell me what’s going on.”

The man pushed the gun harder against the woman’s temple and glared at Seraph. “You won’t do anything,” he said. “None of you have ever cared about my people. I’ll show you what happens when you fucking leave us for dead.” Seraph tried to react, but the man was faster. There was a loud crash as the man shot the woman through the head. Her body fell limp and slid to the ground.

Seraph and the officers behind him opened fire. The man’s body was torn apart by bullet holes. He hadn’t even aimed the gun at Seraph or any of the soldiers. He had meant to be a martyr. The sounds of gunfire started to cease behind Seraph. He let his gun clatter to the ground.

Seraph stared at the woman’s body.

“Goddamn it,” he whispered.

One of the soldiers came up and placed a hand on his shoulder. Seraph’s eyes met his.

“You tried,” the soldier said.

The soldier’s words stung him like a bullet wound. He had done just that. Tried. But failed in the end. Seraph stared back at the body of the woman and shook his head in disbelief.

The Confederate Chamber would have his ass for this. Not only did he get into an affair that he should’ve let security handle, but it was his fault she died. The Chamber didn’t appreciate his methods for handling missions, and the fact that this hostage situation ended badly wasn’t going to do him any favors. They were looking for any excuse to discharge him.

His methods had once benefited the Chamber, but ever since they’d decided that he was a liability, he’d been kept under close watch, working back-end, pointless missions like the ones on Torca.

He shifted his focus back to the woman. She was dead, and it was his fault.

CHAPTER 8: MAINSPRING

The last thing Seraph wanted the next morning was to be woken up early. He’d spent at least an hour after the hostage situation lying in bed, replaying the scenario in his mind. Seraph would tell himself that there wasn’t a way he could’ve saved the girl, but deep down, he knew that to be false. If he would’ve sacrificed his own ego and let the soldiers move in, if he hadn’t hesitated to take that shot…

Eventually he’d fallen asleep, but his dreams all circled back to the dead woman. He knew Sadhis thought him heartless, but he cared just as much about innocent lives as Sadhis did. He saw the whole greater than the parts that made it up, willingly giving death to ten if it would save a hundred.

A small rumble had woken him up. The entire military command building was shaking gently. He opened his eyes halfway and brought his hand to his face to block the light streaming in the window. Another rumble, this time much louder, caused the building to shake violently. Seraph leapt from the bed and slipped on his standard issue military shirt. He scrambled to grab his pistol from the bedside table.

As soon as Seraph began walking through his doorway, the building shook again, so hard that Seraph was nearly thrown to the floor. It took him a moment to realize that the building was beyond shaking now; now it was falling, swaying as it collapsed floor by floor. Seraph was thrown against a wall as the building swayed. The floor collapsed and he went crashing down to the room below. He dove to the right as debris came raining down from above him. Chunks of concrete, wood, and plaster crashed around him. Screams came from all sides of him. Smoke engulfed the area.

Seraph crawled across the room and dove under the bed. The building continued to fall around him, and it was all he could do to curl into a fetal position and try to outlast it.

Seraph closed his eyes. He had no sense of how much time was passing, but eventually, the building stopped shaking and it grew silent. Seraph lay there a moment, unable to believe it was over, unable to believe he was alive. After a few minutes, he crept out from under the bed. He crawled out of the rubble pool surrounding him and stumbled across the large pieces of concrete and debris, turning to look at the wreckage. He looked around to find a way down. He knew the building couldn’t stand much longer. He opened the door of the room and saw that the building’s frame was nearly all that remained. Somehow, part of the staircase was still standing. Seraph shimmied down the wrought iron stairs as fast as he could. A few floors from the ground, the staircase started to sway, and Seraph decided to jump.

He hit the ground hard and winced as he rolled onto his side. He pushed himself up and stared at the wreckage. Most of the building had been torn away. Seraph gathered bits and pieces of the story from frantic survivors. They had been attacked. Missiles and heavy gunfire had ripped into the building. Seraph was shocked that he had survived. The sheer sight of the building now in ruins struck him hard in the gut.

Survivors limped out of what remained of the building’s center, but far more bodies lined the wreckage than were emerging. Most of the people inside had been crushed to death.

He looked for anyone familiar. Sadhis wasn't in sight. Everywhere he looked there was chaos. People were screaming and running around looking for loved ones. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw three seythra soldiers marching in the distance. At least a dozen civilians were running in front of them, trying to get out of the city. The seythra raised their assault rifles and mowed the innocents down in one fluid motion. Seraph’s jaw dropped in horror. He ran to take cover behind a large piece of rubble. The seythra were a half mile away and advancing. Bodies were beginning to line the streets.

Seraph pulled his pistol from its holster. This felt like a bad dream that he couldn’t manage to wake up from.

There was a rendezvous point about twenty miles south in a smaller, secondary command base. That was the go-to point in the event of a catastrophe. There was also another military command building in Rotcher, which was forty-five miles due east. The Rotcher command center would no doubt be more fortified, but right now, he wasn’t sure if reaching it was feasible.

He turned to go to the other side of the debris, and saw a figure behind him. He pulled his pistol up and aimed it.

He relaxed his grip when he saw that it was an othal child. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. Seraph lowered his gun, and motioned for the child to come closer. Suddenly, the child’s head exploded, sending a spray of blue blood everywhere.

As the boy’s body fell to the ground, a seythra holding a smoking shotgun advanced on Seraph. Seraph raised his pistol and fired several shots into the seythra’s stomach. Seraph charged forward and tackled the seythra to the ground. Seraph brought his pistol up and fired a final shot into the seythra’s head.

Civilians ran by him, darting in every direction, chasing ghosts of friends and family. Gunfire rang out in the distance, and Seraph thought he heard more explosions coming from far away. Seraph stared at the body of the seythra, enraged. He wanted to rip him limb from limb.

Gunfire rained all around him, halting his thoughts. He grabbed the seythra’s shotgun and went to retreat behind the debris, but a huge blast obliterated the cover and sent him crashing to the ground. He was quick to get back on his feet, and he took off up the steps leading to what remained of the military command building. A few scattered gunshots landed near his feet, but he managed to reach an alley nearby without getting hit. He rounded a corner and took cover against one of the walls, out of breath but stable.

The digital ammo counter on the top of the shotgun read that five shells remained. He held his breath, keeping the weapon aimed at the corner he had just come around. Bombs were dropping from orbit and destroying buildings adjacent to him, but he kept his gun fixed on the corner, waiting for whoever was shooting at him to round it.

A shot rang out from behind him. A sharp pain grazed Seraph’s right shoulder, and he fell forward, dropping the shotgun. He turned to see a seythra approaching him with an assault rifle. Seraph’s left hand moved towards his right hip, reaching for his pistol. The seythra fired a warning shot next to him. Seraph raised his hand to surrender.

“Don’t!” The seythra yelled. “I’ll kill you! Hands where I can-”

The seythra was interrupted by a gunshot from a pistol. The seythra slumped forward and crashed to the ground, dead instantly. Standing behind him was a human teen dressed in a Confederate Military vest over a long-sleeved t-shirt. He was wearing a beanie and had a sniper rifle over his shoulder. He approached Seraph cautiously. He put his revolver into his left hand and extended his right to Seraph, trying to help him up. Seraph winced at the pain in his shoulder as he grabbed the boy’s hand.

Seraph grabbed the shotgun from the ground and turned to the boy. “Who are you, and what the hell’s going on?”

“I’m Private Retton Johnson, Ret for short.” Ret took a moment to glance around, making sure they were safe. “I just came from Rotcher’s military command base. I was with a group of about twenty soldiers. The Lieutenant and Colonel were killed about six miles east, and I got split up from the rest of the group. You’re the first soldier I’ve encountered since I got here. Everyone else is dead. This shit’s bad.”

Ret had a scar running on the side of his face, from temple to chin, but it looked like an older wound, certainly not fresh. Gauze hugged his right forearm under his shirt, white stained red.

“You seen a fesar? Yellow skin, black spots?” Seraph asked.

Ret shook his head. “No, I just-”

A sudden burst of gunfire interrupted Ret. Ret dove to the ground and turned around. Seraph pulled his pistol out, aiming down the alley from the direction Ret had come. Both Ret and Seraph let loose gunfire into two seythra who were coming down the alley. Seraph’s shot cut right through one of the seythra’s skulls. Ret hit the other seythra in the arm, but his revolver began clicking immediately after. He quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the return fire. Seraph brought his pistol up and fired several shots into the seythra’s chest until the seythra fell backward to the ground.

“Move up!” Seraph shouted at Ret, quickly moving to the pair of seythra they’d just taken out.

Ret followed, loading his remaining rounds into his revolver. The seythra Ret had been shooting at was severely wounded, but still alive. He gurgled as black blood spilled out of his mouth and onto the concrete. Seraph used his foot to push away the seythra’s rifle, then knelt beside the dying male.

“What the hell is going on? What do you want? Why are you doing this?” Seraph shouted.

His questions were met only with gurgling noises as the seythra choked on his own blood.

Ret came up on the adjacent side, shaking his head. He’d already fought through his fair share of seythra; he wasn’t about to waste time interrogating one, let alone one that couldn’t speak. They’d made their intentions clear enough. Ret cocked his revolver and aimed the gun at the seythra’s head.

“Rot in hell.” Ret spat square in the seythra’s face. He then fired a shot directly into the seythra’s skull.

Seraph winced and looked away.

Across the road there was a loud bang, followed by a huge explosion. The buildings on either side began to crumble and crash to the ground with colossal force. The ground shook and Ret and Seraph were thrown backward.

“Christ!” Seraph shouted. He scrambled back to his feet.

His shoulder was aching The bullet had only grazed it, but had grazed it good. The bleeding was minimal, but the throbbing pain all over his body was going to slow him down soon enough.

Seraph turned to Ret. “Guess our only shot’s the secondary military command post?” Seraph tried to sound hopeful, but he was convinced it had been overrun.

“That’s where I’m headed. I think it’s our best shot,” Ret replied.

Seraph could tell that he, too, was trying to hold out hope.

Ret picked up the seythra’s assault rifle, checking it for damage. He still didn’t have a full grasp of everything going on. It felt like the apocalypse. He tried to disguise as much of those feelings in his voice as he could. Seraph saw right through it, but understood.

Seraph and Ret emerged from the alley and kept to cover the best they could. In front of them, three othal lay together, two of them dead. The third was missing her entire left arm. She moaned and wailed. Seraph thought her scream was one of the most horrifying sounds he had ever heard. Seraph almost thought to grab her, to take her with them, but he chugged past her with Ret on his heel, pushing forward. They jogged to a small corner, keeping a watchful eye.

Down the road, a large battle had broken out. A seythra group were holed up in a large apartment building, firing down on a mixture of soldiers and civilians. At least a dozen bodies were lying in the street.

Ret stopped and turned to Seraph. “We have to help them.”

Ret’s words echoed in Seraph’s mind. Vidron needed to survive; it was the most important planet in the universe. But Seraph also knew that they needed to organize a resistance. They needed the strongest forces and the best tactics to fight a war of this scale. Firing assault rifles in the streets was one thing, but the sooner they got to the military command post, the sooner they could organize bombs to drop from orbit and plan an aerial strike to counter attack. Both sides registered as necessary to Seraph.

Seraph closed his eyes, letting the whole world fall away for a moment. He exhaled, and made his decision.

He pointed at the building the seythra were holed up in.

“We need to enter from the back. Let’s cross here, get the jump on them. Watch our six!”

The idea was almost comforting to Ret. He’d heard of Commander Aydrian, and he felt confident following his lead straight into the heart of hell.

They both moved across the street. A few stray bullets from the seythra landed near their feet. Seraph hoped that they were unintentional, as the element of surprise was all they had going for them at this point. They ducked into the alley and inched their way down, backs planted against the wall.

They rounded the corner and found a small group of seythra guarding the rear entrance to the building. Seraph took cover behind a dumpster. Ret knelt and raised his assault rifle in one fluid motion and opened fire. Two of them went down instantly. The remaining four returned fire, and Ret scurried behind a series of crates for cover. Seraph tossed the shotgun to the ground and pulled his pistol from its holster. He peered out from cover and fired three shots toward the seythra. A storm of assault rifle shots forced him back behind the dumpster.

Two of the seythra advanced on their position. Ret fired the remaining shots in his magazine at them, but only one of the bullets grazed one of the seythra. Ret tossed the rifle aside and pulled out his revolver. Seraph grabbed the shotgun and fired on both of the seythra in rapid succession. His first shot took off one of the seythra’s legs entirely, and his follow up shot ripped right through the seythra’s gut. Ret tackled one of the others and used him as a shield. Bullets from the remaining duo of seythra descended on Ret’s seythra shield, and Ret charged forward. As bullets began to penetrate the corpse, Ret threw the body aside and took cover behind the building.