Avenging Angels (The Seraphim Chronicles Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Nicholas Adams
good soldiers to have on guard duty.
“Alright, let’s make our way to the precipice,” Evangeline ordered. The squad fanned out so they were standing side by side and began to walk toward the edge of the sinkhole. Harper could be heard singing under his breath ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ over the channel and the entire team chuckled at the way he could relieve the tension in the air. The sun-bleached rock formations looked like sandstone versions of the Earth’s polar glaciers and, according to her atmospheric analysis, it was even colder than the polar continent in winter.
When they reached the edge, Evangeline launched a sensor beacon down into the sinkhole. It scanned the walls as it fell and relayed the data to Evangeline’s topographic map. The dimensions were far too consistent to be a natural sinkhole.
When the beacon reached the bottom, the final scan showed a large hangar door set into the side of the chasm wall, large enough for a small shuttle if it could descend through the opening on the surface. The scans confirmed her suspicions as to why they travelled to that particular lifeless rock in space. There was someone down here. Who they were, and what they were doing there, remained a mystery.
Evangeline encoded a visual burst to the Chiron.
“PREPARING TO DESCEND INTO SINKHOLE. SCANS CONFIRM IT WAS ARTIFICIALLY CONSTRUCTED. ”
Graham sat at his large wooden desk. His quarters aboard the Centaur class cruiser were decadent by military standards. However, as an ambitious man with hopes of one day obtaining the position of Mars at Olympus, he indulged in a few fineries. Even among the Spartan requirements of military service. If he were right about the intelligence that led to their mission, he would be off the Chiron with a promotion before it reached Earth’s orbit.
Evangeline’s HUD flashed a short message.
“GOOD HUNTING.”
FOUR
Evangeline stared down the wall face. “Well, it’s not like a freefall from a drop ship, but it should still be fun,” she said to herself. The hangar door was below and to her right. She launched herself off the edge with a boost from her engines and started falling toward the center of the chasm. The rest of the team followed her lead and maneuvered into a semi-circle facing the hangar door below.
The descent to the bottom took an agonizing ninety seconds. The six pairs of engines loosened the dust and small chunks of rock from the walls as they dropped further into the gaping hole. Swirls of rust-colored clouds blasted past Evangeline’s cockpit and up above the surface. She imagined it looking like the blowhole of a stone whale from the surface. The team touched down at the bottom, shut off their engines, and activated their searchlights.
Small bits of debris rained down causing their lights to bounce back against Evangeline’s eyes. The canopy glass darkened in response to her pupil’s dilation. Once the dust settled, and Evangeline could see to the sidewalls of the sinkhole, she discovered that the floor was smooth, constructed from the indigenous rock, as if carved to its existing condition. There were still charred areas from rocket engines burning the rock during take-off. Across the bottom of the chasm was a pair of hanger doors. It was obvious, from the clunky fabrication, that they were ancient.
It looked like someone placed them against the wall of the sinkhole and pushed inward as if it was made of clay. The seam between the rock wall and the door was flawless. Evangeline doubted a piece of paper would be able to slide between them. The massive doors, twenty feet wide and ten feet high, looked old, beaten, and neglected. The only illumination at the bottom of the chasm came from their searchlights.
“There doesn’t seem to be any power down here, Captain.” Weston spoke into her headset. “Dunbar, do you detect any power signatures running to those doors?”
“Scanning…” Dunbar’s voice
“Alright, let’s make our way to the precipice,” Evangeline ordered. The squad fanned out so they were standing side by side and began to walk toward the edge of the sinkhole. Harper could be heard singing under his breath ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ over the channel and the entire team chuckled at the way he could relieve the tension in the air. The sun-bleached rock formations looked like sandstone versions of the Earth’s polar glaciers and, according to her atmospheric analysis, it was even colder than the polar continent in winter.
When they reached the edge, Evangeline launched a sensor beacon down into the sinkhole. It scanned the walls as it fell and relayed the data to Evangeline’s topographic map. The dimensions were far too consistent to be a natural sinkhole.
When the beacon reached the bottom, the final scan showed a large hangar door set into the side of the chasm wall, large enough for a small shuttle if it could descend through the opening on the surface. The scans confirmed her suspicions as to why they travelled to that particular lifeless rock in space. There was someone down here. Who they were, and what they were doing there, remained a mystery.
Evangeline encoded a visual burst to the Chiron.
“PREPARING TO DESCEND INTO SINKHOLE. SCANS CONFIRM IT WAS ARTIFICIALLY CONSTRUCTED. ”
Graham sat at his large wooden desk. His quarters aboard the Centaur class cruiser were decadent by military standards. However, as an ambitious man with hopes of one day obtaining the position of Mars at Olympus, he indulged in a few fineries. Even among the Spartan requirements of military service. If he were right about the intelligence that led to their mission, he would be off the Chiron with a promotion before it reached Earth’s orbit.
Evangeline’s HUD flashed a short message.
“GOOD HUNTING.”
FOUR
Evangeline stared down the wall face. “Well, it’s not like a freefall from a drop ship, but it should still be fun,” she said to herself. The hangar door was below and to her right. She launched herself off the edge with a boost from her engines and started falling toward the center of the chasm. The rest of the team followed her lead and maneuvered into a semi-circle facing the hangar door below.
The descent to the bottom took an agonizing ninety seconds. The six pairs of engines loosened the dust and small chunks of rock from the walls as they dropped further into the gaping hole. Swirls of rust-colored clouds blasted past Evangeline’s cockpit and up above the surface. She imagined it looking like the blowhole of a stone whale from the surface. The team touched down at the bottom, shut off their engines, and activated their searchlights.
Small bits of debris rained down causing their lights to bounce back against Evangeline’s eyes. The canopy glass darkened in response to her pupil’s dilation. Once the dust settled, and Evangeline could see to the sidewalls of the sinkhole, she discovered that the floor was smooth, constructed from the indigenous rock, as if carved to its existing condition. There were still charred areas from rocket engines burning the rock during take-off. Across the bottom of the chasm was a pair of hanger doors. It was obvious, from the clunky fabrication, that they were ancient.
It looked like someone placed them against the wall of the sinkhole and pushed inward as if it was made of clay. The seam between the rock wall and the door was flawless. Evangeline doubted a piece of paper would be able to slide between them. The massive doors, twenty feet wide and ten feet high, looked old, beaten, and neglected. The only illumination at the bottom of the chasm came from their searchlights.
“There doesn’t seem to be any power down here, Captain.” Weston spoke into her headset. “Dunbar, do you detect any power signatures running to those doors?”
“Scanning…” Dunbar’s voice
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