(GM's note:  Carni, Haibane, I'm sending a tidbit of info your way.  The rest of you are relaxing at Khe Sanh up to this point, but now everybody knows the fecal matter is heading towards the fan.)<br/><br/>T - 15 hours.  A recorded conversation at an undisclosed location.<br/><br/>“I thought we couldn’t see the drive flares, as you call them.”<br/><br/>“We couldn’t easily, nearly all the emission was in the infra-red which we have only quite recently begun paying observational attention to. We believe that they were operating under blackout conditions to get as close as possible and seem incapable of true invisibility but,“  A pause.  “Have you read Kelly Johnson’s recent report?“<br/><br/><br/><br/>“I have. This Stealth technology he refers to?“<br/><br/>“Yes. We have sent the most powerful radar pulses that we possibly can at the formation, and have gotten no signal back at all.  But the energy emitted by their engines and power plants, that’s something  they can do little about except to use as little power as possible and ensure that the emission is in wavelengths we do not monitor as a rule.<br/><br/>“So what changed?”<br/><br/>There is a lengthy pause.<br/><br/>“Speaking as a former naval aviator and current astronomer…..My professional opinion is that they have now gone to full military power.  They have initiated combat maneuvers.”<br/><br/>“Jesus Christ!  Are they shooting at us now?”<br/><br/>“We know they shot at somebody.  The engagement over the North Pacific ended with the destruction of one vehicle and the bat-out-of-hell retreat of the other.  We had no trouble tracking it, the victor was boosting at 5 Gs and is still boosting at 2.”<br/><br/>“I assume that's a lot.”<br/><br/>“Yes.  As soon as the formation detected the firing, the lead vehicle launched at least twelve missiles at the victor of the fight.  Those have all ceased boosting.  Well, we can’t see their dive flares anymore.  We assume the target took them out, it seemed to be deploying countermeasures as it ran.”<br/><br/>“The lead vehicle.  Why not the entire formation?”<br/><br/>“We don’t know.  When they get here I might ask them.”<br/><br/>“That’s not funny, Admiral“<br/><br/>“I’m not laughing, Mr. President.  They are maneuvering quite dramatically now.  However, they will still arrive at the original time.  They seem to be engaging in evasive action.”<br/><br/>“It strikes me that whoever they are shooting at is somebody whose reaction to what they are about to do is a matter of concern to them.”<br/><br/>“That would explain why they broke concealment. This second faction could be allies, or at least well-disposed to us, sir.”<br/><br/>“Maybe.  Or maybe they just want to call dibs.”<br/><br/>There is a rustling of papers.<br/><br/>“Send the Telex.”<br/><br/>Another voice responds. “Yes, Mr. President.”<br/><br/><br/>The telex was sent at T-14 hours, 55 minutes.<br/><br/>Blocky, angular text, unimpeachable authentication codes, the recipients were quite literally, everybody in  the world whose military and political authority mattered. Many who received the Highest Priority message doubted the sanity of the authors.  None doubted their sincerity.<br/><br/>THIS IS A WAR WARNING. POTUS HAS DIRECTED ALL US MILITARY FORCES WORLDWIDE TO ASSUME DEFENSE CONDITION TWO.  ATTACK  AGAINST TERRESTRIAL TARGETS IS IMMINENT.  PRECISE LOCATION AND NATURE OF TARGETS ARE UNKNOWN.  HOSTILE AGENT EXECUTING THE ATTACK IS UNKNOWN.  CAPABILITIES OF ATTACKING FORCE ARE UNKNOWN. SIZE OF ATTACKING FORCE IS UNKNOWN.  METHOD OF ATTACK IS EXPECTED TO BE VERTICAL INSERTION OF FORCES INTO TARGET AREA WITH  NO OVERLAND OR AIRSPACE TRANSIT.  ORIGIN OF ATTACKING FORCE IS UNCLEAR BUT IS KNOWN TO BE EXTRATERRESTRIAL IN ORIGIN, POSSIBLY EXTRASOLAR IN ORIGIN.  THIS IS NOT A DRILL THIS IS A WAR WARNING.<br/>