The Athena Operation (17 page)

He followed the trail into the mechanical room, then into a separate room which held the spare seythra chips. Inside, the Titan lay sprawled across the floor, wounded and still.

Aven moved through the room carefully. “I know you’re in here” he shouted. “You idiots left a trail.”

A door swung open across the hall and Seraph stood in the doorway, pointing his pistol at Aven’s back.

Aven whipped around. “This ends here,” Seraph yelled.

Ret and Vinnor appeared behind Seraph, guns at the ready. Seraph let loose a round of bullets just as Aven darted behind a door for cover. Aven was fumbling with his gun when he heard a rustling sound behind him. He turned to see the Titan stirring. It scrambled to its feet and bolted through the door into the room Seraph was shooting from. The Titan slammed into Seraph and knocked him to the ground. Seraph’s gun fell to the floor and the Titan seized it and fired a shot into Ret’s chest. Ret crumpled to the floor. Aven appeared behind the Titan. Vinnor was firing shots from behind the door, but all of his bullets went awry.

Aven grinned. “You’ve failed, you stupid son of a bitch.”

Just as Vinnor went to take another shot, a stray seythra from the other side of the room shot him in the side. He fell to his knees as blood soaked his shirt. He stared up at Aven. He winced as he tried to speak. “You son of a bitch.”

Aven laughed and turned around to motion to the Titan. The moment he turned, Seraph slashed him across the face with a knife. Aven cried out. The Titan grabbed Seraph and twisted his arm until he dropped the knife. Aven screamed at the Titan to stand down.

“You’re a valuable asset, and even more, you could prove useful on the right side.” Aven threw him to the Titan. “Bring him.”

The Titan smashed its fist into Seraph’s face, knocking him out. It picked Seraph up and carried him out of the room.

Aven threw a glance at Ret as they left. The kid was bleeding heavily from the chest. He and the doctor would die soon; there was no question.

Aven closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Everything was taken care of.

Phase two could commence, and the Athena Operation carried on.

EPILOGUE

Every breath hurt. Ret opened his eyes to a bright light above him. He squinted and raised a hand to his face. The pain was devastating.

He struggled to reach into the back of his holster. He pulled out his aceso shot. He injected it into his chest, and the pain subsided a bit. He was going to need serious medical attention soon, but right now, he had to get out of here.

Ret wobbled to his feet and cringed when he saw Vinnor’s body, soaked in blood. He nudged the elder human, but he didn’t move. As far as Ret could tell, he was dead.

Ret stumbled back into the throne room and looked around at all the bodies. Tears filled his eyes as he saw Drever’s among them. His hope that there was someone left to save faded with every body he saw. He hadn’t seen Seraph’s yet, but he was sure it was coming. He forced himself to turn away.

He saw Zane Silver crawling just outside the room. The man was still alive. Ret reached down and helped Zane to his feet.

“T-Thank you,” Zane whispered.

Suddenly, Sadhis and Kyla entered the area, both armed with pistols. Sadhis gasped and moved toward Ret.

“B’yon . . . are you okay? Who is this man? Where’s Seraph?”

“I can’t explain now . . . b-but we need him,” Ret motioned to Zane. “Seraph is gone . . . I’m trying to f-find him . . . Where’s the ship?”

“The ship’s destroyed,” Kyla said. “Seythra destroyed it when we returned. We barely made it out.”

Zane pointed to a door on their right. “Escape pods . . . through t-there . . .”

Sadhis took the lead.

The group managed to make it to the security terminal that held the escape pods. Zane told Ret where to find the emergency medical kit, and Ret did his best to wrap everyone’s wounds. Sadhis fired up the escape pod, but Ret refused go before he could use the terminal to view the camera feeds around the ship.

“Kid, e-everyone’s dead . . . we have to g . . .” Zane closed his eyes.

“I have to know,” Ret scanned through all of the cameras throughout the entire building.

Ret went into the archived footage and set it back about fifteen minutes. On the holographic screen, Aven had taken the Titan and Seraph to an area of the ship that broke off from Trini 5010 and took off as its own ship. Lahen had joined them just before they took off.

They were long gone.

Seraph was still alive. Ret was going to find him.

He turned off the security feed and limped into the escape pod. Zane, Sadhis, and Kyla followed. Sadhis plugged in the coordinates for Danae Pilus and the pod escaped off into the universe.

The trip was long, and Ret couldn’t help but feel selfish that he was alive. Drever, Vinnor, Maxen, Diam, they were all dead. Kyla wouldn’t continue with the mission. All he had now was Sadhis, and hopefully Seraph. He would stop at nothing to find him. He was willing to use Zane however he had to in order to get Seraph back and destroy the operation once and for all.

He would make sure the Athena Operation crumbled. He’d deliver the bullets to Aven and Lahen personally.

They made it to Danae Pilus without a hitch. The bunker hadn't been hit, and Ret felt a flicker of hope. Zane collapsed mid-flight and was immediately treated by a medic when they reached the bunker. Lylo and Tameron were still alive, and the number of citizens had doubled since the crew was last there. Ret felt a wave of relief.

Sadhis almost collapsed when he saw his mother among the refugees. Ret watched as they embraced each other. He couldn’t help but smile.

Kyla came over and stood beside Ret. “I think I’ve changed my mind,” She said. “I want to help. Maybe not on the frontline, but I want to be part of this.”

Ret smiled. He’d always hoped she’d change her mind, but he’d never expected it.

He nodded and shook her hand. “We’d be honored to have you.”

Ret spoke with Lylo and described the events of the mission. Lylo agreed that locating Seraph was a priority, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that they had no resources for such a mission. Ret was disappointed, but he agreed to focus first on building a base of operations. Resource management was a primary issue, as was garnering enough support to launch a resistance. Once they had a system in order, they could organize enough force to find Seraph. Ret would see to that.

Just like Seraph wanted, they would formulate a counter attack. Build up an army, train them, create a place for people to salvage hope and find refuge.

He only hoped Seraph would be fortunate enough to have time on his side.

Ret stared at the sky as it slowly turned to dusk. “Hang in there, Commander. We’re coming for you.”

Dalton Cortner is the author of “
The Athena Operation,”
a sci-fi novel. It is his first published work. He currently resides in Harrisburg, PA with his fiancée and their dog, Lacey.