Free The Athena Operation by Dalton Cortner Page A

fucked, kid! You either survive or die trying. You wanna go risk your ass and die trying to get to the Chamber? Then fuckin’ go! But I’m going to survive!”
    “It doesn’t matter. We can’t go hide forever. We have to try and stop it.” Seraph knew he’d rather be fighting the seythra than holing up underground on some third-world planet.
    “Great. You fuckin’ idiots are going to get me killed.” Drever shook his head and walked away.
    A loud crackle from the ship’s radio seized their attention. The message was broken and heavily distorted.
    “-elp. C--derate Cha-r . . . -till alive . . . -skirts of Vidro- . . . -Kaken’s Industry-”
    The radio fell silent. Ret tried to revive the signal, but it was dead.
    “Did you guys get that? The Confederate Chamber, they’re still in Vidron by the Kaken Industry Plant!” Ret smacked the radio, trying to revive the signal.
    “Kid, let it go,” Drever said. “If that ain’t a baited radio message, and it is legit, you’re talking about a fucking suicide run.”
    Ret turned to Seraph, his face lit with hope. Seraph shook his head. As much as he didn’t like it, he knew that the odds were Drever was right on both accounts.
    “Ret, I’m sorry, but Drever’s right. It’s just too damn risky. Look, standard protocol states that in the case of severe disaster on Vidron, the Confederate Chamber is to be immediately evacuated to Danae Pilus. There’s some sort of underground building there where all the major government officials and politicians are supposed to go. If we want to fight this thing, we have to start there, with or without the Confederate Chamber. Someone there will have information.”
    Drever sighed. “Well it’s not as bad as half the plans you idiots have come up with so far.”
    Ret groaned. “Fuck! Alright . . . alright, we can go!” He buried his head in his hands. Neither Seraph nor Drever said a word.
    Ret's shoulder and chest throbbed with pain. He raised his head and stared out one of the windows at the fading image of Vidron. He couldn’t help but imagine masses of people begging for help as they were mauled by gunfire.
    He wouldn’t be there to help them.
    Seraph moved up to the cockpit and took a seat behind the controls. He turned to his comrades. “It’ll take days to reach Danae Pilus at normal speed. We’re going to have to engage the hyperdrive to get there if there’s any hope of saving . . . whatever’s left of Vidron.”
    Seraph glanced over the screens that displayed alerts and statistics. He did his best to recall the training courses he’d taken long ago.
    “Ship’s sustained twenty percent damage, probably random seythra fire. But our right wing has taken a bad shot. It’s still good, but we should watch it. Last thing we need is to go down in the middle of fuckin’ space.”
    Seraph navigated the menus filled with technical jargon he couldn’t even pronounce until he came to information about the hyperdrive.
    “The Knex Drive is at a thirty percent charge. Hang on.” Seraph tapped away on the keyboard attached to the main terminal. Ret came up behind him and glanced over his shoulder.
    “It’ll drain us to get to Danae Pilus,” Seraph said. “We can do it, but we’ll be at a two percent charge after arriving. If there’s seythra, or if we get attacked by god-knows-what, we’ll be fucked. Won’t be able to get out of there quick enough on this thing’s normal speed alone.”
    “Just do it,” Drever said. “Ain’t like we’re riding on much else anyway. Hell, we’ll all probably be dead this time tomorrow.”
    Seraph figured that, again, Drever was probably right.
    “Alright, we’re off. Autopilot’s got it from here. Hope to god that’s the right call.” Seraph ran his hands through his hair as the Knex Drive sensor lit up. The ship transitioned to hyperspace.
    **
    “You are nearing your destination.”
    The ship’s computerized voice startled Ret and Seraph, while Drever continued to