Title: The Athena Operation by Dalton Cortner
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis
In a future where wars and poverty are quickly on the rise, the universe has hit its ultimate enemy: itself. Once known for their dedication and loyalty to the good of the universe, the seythra, a strong-willed alien race, have attacked and declared war on the rest of the universe. Now, throwing their immense numbers against the opposition of the Confederate Military, hope is dwindling. Trust between factions, races, and planets are weakening by the moment. What caused the seythra to rebel? Why can they no longer be reasoned with? And most importantly, can anyone stop them in time?
Seraph Aydrian, an infamous soldier one reprimand away from termination, must lead an army of soldiers, mercenaries, and civilians against the seythra assault and not only stop the chaos and destruction, but uncover the dark and sinister motives that are driving the murders.
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About the Author 
Dalton Cortner is the author of The Athena Operation, a sci fi novel. It is his first published work. The idea first came to him in 2010, and took many different shapes and forms throughout the writing process.
Dalton was born in Wichita, KS on September 14th, 1993. He didn’t start writing until he was about 10 years old. It was the discovery of online role playing that led him to writing his own fictional stories, creating worlds, and devising characters.
He currently resides in Harrisburg, PA with his fiancée and is hard at work on his next story.
Connect with Dalton: Website | Twitter
Excerpt
“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.”
