The silence was sickening. The entire crew had been sitting still without talking for the past hour. Running silent still wasn’t enough; the enemy was still aware of their presence. Sitting there mocking them like a child verbally abuses defeat. There was only one option left; they had to get out to contact fleet command.
“Commander, only the one knows we are here. I suggest we send out single craft to distract it while we surprise it from above.” the pupil officer whispered as quietly as he could to his commander halfway across the deck.
The commander nodded in agreement and sent word of the plan down to the pilot deck. “We salute your sacrifice. You will not be forgotten amongst our ranks. Peace be with you on your most dangerous mission.” Two thuds reverberated throughout the ship, he just sent two pilots to their demise. The enemy now pre-occupied with the new threat lost awareness of the stealth ship above. “Now,” the commander ordered sternly.
It was an average night in Bellfeild county. The midnight blue sky was dotted with thousands of glowing white orbs. The moon was at half crescent and radiating pure light onto the fields below. On this particular night, a single cow had wandered to the very fringes of the pastures. Staring off into the open fields beyond, it had fallen asleep. Only to be abruptly awakened by two pesky glow bugs. It swatted at one.
A greenish light now surrounded the cow in a perfect cylinder. For reasons the cow could not comprehend, it was stunned. She tried to move back to her group, but was unable. She wanted to cry for the farmer, but was silenced. The light, now blinding, began to rise. The cow was in utter terror and yet amazed. The feeling of rising into the air with the free birds. She had just cracked a smile when she entered pitch blackness. Now being able move again, she cried out in terror.
“I want that specimen alive! Stun the creature.” Two darts glided past the scientist’s head. The enemy collapsed. “Perfect, now I can begin my research.”
The commander ended the funeral with a prayer to God. Having done so many times in the previous wars of Galinteld, he immediately switched to the task at hand. No glimpse of remorse in his tone. “Prime minister, that planet you requested us to scout.”
“Yes?” The prime minister responded intriguingly.
“We met enemy scouts, we lost two of our pupil pilots and we have eight of our master deckhands in the infirmary. Though not actually in the immediate fight, they sustained massive joint fatigue from holding their places for so long. Our scientist reports that the creature is of a master scout status. They have far superior senses than the humanoids Scout Craft 79B reported. They were spread in natural formations around the house. We believe they are stationed at night when the humanoids retreat to their fortresses.”
“I see. This affair will be handed up to the Ministry of War. Did it ever attack?”
“Like I said, we lost two of our pupil pilots…Despite the amounts of sugar tranquilizers we induced it with, it reacted very violently before we used salt capsules. It was in a cage at this point so none of the Ministry’s infantry was injured.”
“You are to send that specimen directly to the Ministry of Science. The Minister of War is issuing orders to invade the planet. He has requested you find valuable techniques for getting past these scouts. He also wants your pilots trained in how to fly with them about and send a full report of ALL your attempts…Bolden the titles of your attempts that worked. You are given the title of Field Mission Director. You are limited four attempts every other four nights. Do you understand your responsibilities?”
The commander grinned, “I accept this Holy Mission to further expand the influence of His Majesty.”

The farmer headed out feed his livestock. Still groggy from last night’s uncomfortable sleep, he rubbed his drooping eye lids. He was about to start the tractor engine when he noticed he was short one cow. He frantically called to his son to herd up all the animals while he secured the hole in the fence.
“I checked the fence Pa. There aint no sign of hole. Not even a possum could get in with that barbed wire you put in last week.”
Stunned, the farmer left the chores to his son and headed into town to get the latest word from the diner.