The Athena Operation

by Dalton Cortner

  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. 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 Seraph and his comrades were to get any rest tonight, it’d be on the cold concrete. But none of them could fathom sleep at the moment. Not after what they’d seen.

  Ret sighed. “I know what you mean. I ain’t seen much action, but Jesus, this is bad. I’m just trying to push forward, best I can.” He spat on the ground. “It’s all I can do.”

  Drever shifted his position on the crate. “I’ve seen a lot of shit. Fought a lot of bad people. Never would’ve thought the seythra were capable of this. Fuck no. They were one of the first species we met.” He turned to Seraph. “I’d have bet my life that you humans would’ve done this before the seythra.”

  “What the hell’s their endgame?” Ret asked. “Kill everyone and make the universe a master-race of seythra?”

  “They aren’t going to kill everyone, kid,” Drever replied. “Nah, that ain’t the goal. They want power. Authority. I don’t know much about the seythra or their political or religious beliefs. Hell, don’t think anyone does, but they want power. Nah, I bet you that this goes on for about a week, then people are gonna naturally submit to them. Once they got all the people bowing down to them? Shit. What’s left? They damn sure got the numbers, and most people ain’t gonna keep fucking with them after they destroy a few more planets. That’s what I’d do, anyway. Part of me can’t blame ‘em. The Confederate Chamber’s going to shit, and look at the galaxy, the fuckin’ universe. What’s poverty up to, forty percent? Fuck them.”

  “But the government’s been fucked up for, what, twenty years now? Why now? It doesn’t make any sense,” Ret replied. He thought Drever’s convictions were just the musings of a used-up mercenary.

  Drever sighed. “If I know one thing about the seythra, it’s that they plan. They plan this shit out, mark all the details out. I ain’t much of a strategist, but they are. I remember one time; I was pitted against this group of four. Just me. Left arm’s shot to shit, and I’ve just got one mag in my pistol. I’m figuring, shit, there’s four of ‘em, they’ll just come at me. Even if I get one or two of ‘em, it’s a win for them in the end; they got me.” Drever drew a sharp breath, chuckling a bit. “And those fuckers, let me tell you. I’ve been in gunfights. Over fifty. But these were the smartest fuckers I’ve seen. They sent two guys above onto the catwalk to distract me, and then one guy came from the front, and another guy snuck around from the back. They had me from every goddamn angle. I was this close to death.” Drever held up two of his fingers a half inch apart. “I was shot six times, beat to fuckin’ hell, and I guess they got tired of kicking the shit out of me, wanted me to go slow. Managed to pull myself out of there, but fuck, I was just about done after that.”

  “Does it matter why they’re doing it?” Seraph chimed in. “They’re doing it, that’s what matters. They need to be stopped. This isn't just a mission, it's a fight for survival. We’ll die trying to stop them if we have to. But we’re going to try.”

  Drever chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it. The wrong way.” He stepped down from his crate and stretched. “Gonna find something to eat. Don’t go wandering too far.”

  Ret shot a glance at Seraph. “He’s a character, isn’t he?”

  Seraph said nothing. The
re were far more pressing matters at hand. He considered the plan for the following day, but he couldn’t help thinking that their efforts were futile. He lay down and tried to sleep, but his mind was racing with combat scenarios, and images of his own death would not leave his mind.

  Seraph finally managed to fall into a light sleep. A few hours later, the loud chatter of civilians and the sound of gunshots pulled him out of his slumber. He jerked up, disoriented, and turned to see Ret shooting an assault rifle beside him. Seraph was still in a daze when Ret pulled him behind a stack of crates for cover.

  “Got a wave of seythra, come on, Seraph!” Ret shouted over the roar of gunfire. Ret fumbled with his holster and tossed his pistol to Seraph.

  Seraph cocked the gun and glanced out from the cover of the crates. A seythra spotted him instantly and fired upon him, forcing him back into cover.

  Seraph planted his back against the crates. Something caught his eye as he glanced down to his right. The Sergeant from the day before lay dead in the street, his arm blown off and lying a couple feet from him. The rest of his body was littered with gunshots and blood stains.

  “Seraph!”

  Seraph heard Ret call his name and snapped back to reality. He turned to see Ret and a few other soldiers hopping the crates and moving up. They threw themselves against the seythra, forcing the attackers to fall back. Seraph was quick to follow.

  Seraph and the others moved to the side of a building. Seythra snipers fired on them instantly. Ret pulled a spare magazine from his holster and tossed it to Seraph while the two soldiers reloaded their weapons.

  The first of the two soldiers was in a near panic. “This is bad, this is fucking bad,” he moaned.

  Ret tried to stay calm. “We need to circle around. Flank them the best we can. It’s our only shot. Our people are getting fucking massacred out there.” Ret watched as more civilians were shot down in the streets. The few soldiers scattered around the compound provided little defense.

  “It’ll never work. They’ve got the numbers and they’ve got us covered on all sides,” Seraph said.

  Ret steeled himself. “No fucking way; we can’t give up. We’ve got to flank these mother fuckers and-”

  “Ret!” Seraph yelled over the roar of gunfire.

  Ret started at a rebuttal, but the bang of a shotgun cut him off. The door to the building in front of them blew open. Drever marched out of the entrance. He turned and chuckled when he saw the four men in front of him.

  “About time you showed up. We need to move. Get your asses in gear. We’ll hold out here until we can make our escape. Now!” Drever turned on his heel and ran back into the building. The two new soldiers followed.

  “Ret, we have to fall back. We need to stick with Drever and the other soldiers,” Seraph pleaded.

  Ret sighed. “We’ll take cover here for now. But we’re not staying.”

  Seraph nodded, but he was not convinced he could make such a promise. He turned and ran inside the building. Ret stared after him for a moment, then followed.

  CHAPTER 11: POGROM

  Once inside, Ret and Seraph hurried up the stairs to join Drever, the two soldiers they had been fighting with, and a half dozen civilians in a central room. From what Seraph could tell, this had been an office building for the company Vesquire, a financial investments firm. Desks were overturned, and corpses were strewn across the floor. The smell of air fresheners and ink was befallen by gunsmoke and fresh blood.

  Ret turned to Drever. “So what’s the plan?” He picked up a bolt-action sniper rifle that was resting against a fallen soldier.

  One of the civilians spoke up. “We got ahold of a radio about ten minutes ago, and someone put in a request for immediate extraction. The Confederate Chamber’s fully aware of what’s going on. Evacuation shuttles should be here within the hour.”

  Seraph glanced out of one of the shattered windows. “Sounds too risky,” he said. “They try to land anywhere near here, they’re going to get mowed down. They’ll be totally outnumbered.”

  “We have to take our chances. Getting out of here is the only way any of us are living to see tomorrow,” Drever said. He stopped to spit on the ground. “I don’t like it, but it’s the best we’ve got.”

  “Where is this radio?” Seraph asked.

  The civilian sighed. “Fucking thing’s broken. Got dropped in battle.”

  Another civilian, an othal, glanced back and forth between Drever and Seraph. “What, so we’re riding on false hope that they’re still fucking coming?”

  Seraph tried to sound reassuring. “This is the Confederate Chamber, top of the top. I sure as hell won’t be taking my chances out on the streets.”

  Ret loaded a fresh magazine into his sniper rifle. He took cover near a window and positioned his rifle so he could see through the scope and survey the area. The gruesome massacre was magnified, projected just for him.

  Ret watched as a female seythra decapitated a young woman in the middle of the street. “Jesus….”

  Ret lowered his rifle. His hands were shaking too much for him to aim.

  Seraph came up behind Ret. “We can’t do anything for them right now,” Seraph said. “Staying here, laying low, that’s our best bet.”

  Ret looked like he was about to explode. “It’s not fucking right. They have no way to defend themselves. They’re civilians.”

  Seraph tried to keep his voice level, but he was getting frustrated. “We just need to hold out as long as we can. Once we get an evac, we can deploy countermeasures, and-”

  Ret ignored Seraph and started to raise the rifle out the window.

  “No!” Seraph grabbed the rifle from Ret’s hands. “We’re already in enough danger thanks to Drever clearing out this building with a goddamn shotgun; the last thing we need is the seythra knowing we’re in here.” Seraph shoved the rifle back into Ret’s arms. “You’re smarter than that. Just hang in there, kid.”

  Ret slumped down against the wall. Outside, the sound of gunfire and the screams of civilians carried on into the night.

  About an hour and a half had passed and things were quiet inside the Vesquire building. Drever sat in a chair, sharpening a knife. Most of the civilians were quiet, sitting or sleeping. Seraph had patched up his gunshot wound the best he could with what little medical supplies the group had amassed. Ret found himself unable to focus on any task. The images of dying civilians marred his mind. He could almost feel himself succumbing to the horror.

  Seraph stared at one of the civilians, a fesar woman. He thought again of Sadhis, of what might have happened to him. It was difficult to believe that only twenty-four hours prior, the two were on a distant planet on a scouting mission. Had Sadhis been killed? Realistically, Seraph had to believe that Sadhis was lying face-down on the cold concrete, a minor casualty of this extermination.

  The fesar woman broke the silence in the room.

  “So, it’s been almost two hours. This isn’t good.” Her voice began to crack. Tears began streaming down her face. “My husband and son are out on Mars! I need to get to them! We need help!”

  Drever glared at the woman. “Hey, lady, shut the fuck up. There’s nothing we can do until they get here.”

  “No, you shut the fuck up, you bastard! I’m not wasting my time sitting here waiting for some goddamn rescue that isn’t coming!”

  “Enough!” Seraph yelled, shooting a fiery glance at the fesar woman. “You’re going to alert the seythra, the last-”

  Seraph was cut off by a loud sniper shot.

  The fesar woman slumped to the ground. A bullet had ripped through her head, spilling blood everywhere.

  Ret stared wide-eyed at the corpse. “Oh fuck…”

  “They fucking know where we are!” Ret leapt behind a desk for cover.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Drever shouted. He ducked under a desk and raised his shotgun.

  “Hey! Easy guys!” One of the other soldiers whispered.

  Ret didn’t listen. “That won’t fuck
ing help, they already know where we are! We need to get the fuck out of here before they start dropping fucking bombs in here!”

  Everyone fell silent as the doors downstairs blew open.

  The seythra were inside.

  Drever leapt over the desk behind him and moved to one of the side doors. Seraph planted his back against the wall near the door adjacent to the one Drever was covering. Ret pulled one of the desks closer to him and used it to prop up his rifle. He had a decent view and would be able to provide solid cover fire for both Drever and Seraph. The other three soldiers in the room grabbed their rifles and took cover.

  The civilians cowered in fear behind a small barricade of desks as seythra gunfire grew louder.

  All at once, the door near Drever was blown in two and a pair of seythra rushed inside. Drever pulled the trigger on the first one he saw, and the shotgun blast blew the seythra in half. Ret caught the second seythra in the chest. Suddenly, Seraph’s door flew open and four more seythra barreled into the room. Seraph shot the first one in the head. The second dodged the spray of bullets and slammed the end of his gun into Seraph’s face, sending him to the ground.

  Ret frantically adjusted his aim and fired on the seythra closest to Seraph, hitting him in the arm and throwing him off his balance. Drever opened fire with his shotgun, finishing off the remaining enemies.

  Seraph saw something fly through the doorway amidst Drever’s gunfire. It took him a moment to see that the seythra had thrown two grenades into the room. Seraph dove behind a desk and shouted at the civilians to take cover.

  “Grena-”

  Seraph’s warning was cut short at the sound of the explosion. The entire room shook. The blast blew large holes in the floor and through the walls and the room filled with smoke. Seraph fell backward behind the desk, his pistol slipping from his grip as he fell through one of the holes in the floor.

  CHAPTER 12: VERLIES

  Seraph awoke in a fit of pain. He moved to stand, but the pain that shot up his left arm stopped him. His hearing started to fade back in. There was gunfire in the distance.