A burst of flame surged into the air, soaring high above the target house, while a second smaller pillar of flame rose in the front yard.

Briefly, the pilot saw something glint silver from the flames as it passed over the house, then smoke hid it from sight.

“Harp two has a tone,” the pilot of the attack helicopter announced. The Maverick missiles slung in pods outboard from the helicopter had caught the UFO in a radar lock and were ready to launch.

Did they really want to fire at the damn thing? Who knew what kind of reply they would get from the aliens? The Blackhawk pilot debated the question for the time it took the pilot of the attack helicopter to announce his readiness.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The choice came down to a simple matter of loyalties. He fought for his country and he knew his country. He did not know the aliens from Adam. They had come to this place to destroy all traces of the encounter, and now it was time to start.

“Engage,” he replied neutrally.

White light flashed from either side of the lead Apache as the altered air-to-air Mavericks launched and streaked ahead of the slow-moving helicopters.

They were close enough now to see the separate columns of smoke rising from either side of the house. Like an airborne leviathan, the UFO broke out of the smoke heading towards the attack force.

Like intelligent fingers of death, the Mavericks ran to the target and converged on the UFO.

“Break right,” the pilot ordered as he watched the flight of the missiles.