My name is Jake.

Sometimes. The rest of the time, it's Staff Sergeant Berenson. Soon it will be Warrant Officer Berenson, if I can keep my nose clean long enough for the paperwork to go through.

For over half my life, I've been utterly convinced that my purpose in life is to fly. Commercial planes were my vehicle of choice when I was little. My Grandpa G used to take me up in his little two-seater Cessna. The regional airport we flew out of was less than a mile from the big municipal one, and as Grandpa G taught me (unofficially) how to fly his prop plane, I would admire the larger aircraft that circled overhead. The 757s and the DC-10s, mostly. I told my grandfather with all the conviction a 10 year-old could muster that I was going to be a pilot some day.

As I got older, Navy fighter planes became my obsession. I knew without a doubt that when I grew up, I was going to fly one. I learned everything I could about them, collected models of them, read books about them. I had posters of engines on my ceiling when most guys my age had centerfolds of Pamela Anderson. I applied to the Naval Academy as soon as I got out of high school. They rejected me; in all my furor for studying aircraft, I'd forgotten that English and chemistry all those other classes factored into my GPA.

The Army took me after the Navy wouldn't and promised me a chance to go to jump school, become a paratrooper. It was the fastest way to get me into the air and I took it without ever looking back. My friends say I have a bad habit of leaping without looking. I like to tell them that free-fall is the only place I feel at home.

I still plan to fly, though. Now the obsession is with helicopters. I had a plan, a solid plan this time, for how to get myself into the pilot's seat of one.

"I don't get it. Why didn't you just do all this the first time you joined?" Marco, my best friend since childhood, didn't understand the finer points of my plan.

To give him credit, a few of them baffled me as well.

"Because I was too busy jumping out of planes to fly one," I told him. "And then after that I was trying to be an officer. And in any case, that's not the point. Major Hart finally approved the packet and sent it in, so I should be out of here in a couple of months."

We were at the mall food court, the same place we'd been hanging out since we were twelve. For almost a year, I'd been stationed at a base less than an hour from my hometown, so visiting Marco had become a regular event again.

Marco leaned back in his chair, balancing it on the back two legs as he checked out girls that were nearly a decade younger than him. He'd been comically short until he hit a growth spurt in the last year of high school. Even after that, he barely breaks average. He makes up for his stature with an easy, grinning confidence, though. One which he matches with an easy, confident grin most of the time. His long hair, sharp wit, and pretty-boy face add together to make him the bane of mothers everywhere.

"We'll all be heartbroken until you return," Marco mocked.

I was about to point out that Marco had never been heartbroken over anything in his life, but that wasn't true. I'd been there the whole time Marco had to carry his dad, after his mom died when he was eleven. He knew more about that subject that he liked to let on.

"I'm sure you'll find something to distract you," I said instead, following his gaze to a group of girls sitting a few tables over. "Dude, they're like fifteen."

"Now, Jake, a fine, upstanding officer-to-be shouldn't be thinking such dirty thoughts," Marco told me, wagging one finger in admonishment. "I was just observing the environment, after all."

I just rolled my eyes at him. He was impossible to argue with when he thought he was being funny. "You almost done? I've got to get up early tomorrow."

Marco looked down at the trash that was leftover from his dinner and shrugged. "You're in the army. Don't you always have to get up early?" He picked up his tray and headed toward the trashcans and I followed with mine.

"Doesn't change the facts. It's a long drive back to base."

We headed for the mall's exit, companionably silent. As we were going down the escalator, Marco suddenly jumped up to the step behind me. "Oh, shit. Pretend I'm not here."

I stepped out of the way, not about to play party to Marco's games. "Who's gunning for you this time?"

"No one. It's Tobias."

I had no idea who he was talking about until he pointed at a scrawny, sandy-blond man in glasses near the exit. He looked vaguely familiar, although I couldn't begin to guess why.

"He doesn't look too bad. I bet you could take him."

"He's not out to fight me. He's one of the new guys at the shop."

I furrowed my brows and looked at the guy again. He didn't look like a mechanic.

Marco, never one with an educational bent, had bounced around from one job to another after high school, trying out such wildly divergent careers that I was pretty sure he'd been part of every profession out there except the oldest. And some days, I wasn't even sure about that last one. For the past six months, he'd been working at a car shop, using his computer skills to work on their newer cars.

"So what's wrong with him? He doesn't look like a car guy."

"He's not. I got him the job working the front desk and now I can't shake him. Seriously, the guy has no friends. It's kind of pathetic."

I rolled my eyes and just kept walking toward the exit. The man, Tobias, looked engrossed in the advertisement he was studying, but as we pulled even with him he glanced up and locked eyes with Marco.

"Hi, Marco. I didn't know you had tonight off."

Marco plastered on a grin that looked genuine, but which I knew to be fake. "Hey, Tobias. What are you doing here?"

"Shopping." He twitched his arm, brining attention to the bag he was carrying. It had a logo from an arts and crafts store across the side. "Hey, aren't you Jake Berenson?"

I blinked a few times, at a loss for what to say. "Um, do I know you?"

"We went to high school together."

"That's...oh." High school was eight years ago. If I'd known this guy then, I'd long since forgotten him. I thought desperately for something I could say that wouldn't sound insulting. "I thought you looked a little familiar."

Behind Tobias' back, I saw Marco roll his eyes. Then he grinned wickedly at something behind me.

I whipped around just in time to stop my cousin, Rachel, from grabbing my shoulder. "Jumpy as ever, I see," she laughed. "Still haven't calmed down from your last trip to the sandbox?"

I let go of her hand but declined to answer. Rachel had never taken my career choices seriously. Then again, Rachel had the tendency to look down on everyone who didn't work ruthlessly to graduate from one of the toughest law schools in the country and then make junior partner at her law firm in only two years. She ended up looking down on a lot of people. They let her get away with it because she was leggy and blond and gorgeous. Being related to her, though, I didn't feel the need to act enthralled.

Next to her stood Cassie, her best friend. My ex-girlfriend. I'd spent an entire year in high school convinced I was going to marry Cassie, only to have a falling out with her just before graduation. If my life depended on it, I couldn't say what that fight was about. Something so insignificant and stupid that the reasons had long since faded but the awkward feelings remained. She wouldn't look me in the eye and I didn't attempt to make her.

"Hey, Rachel, Cassie." Marco stepped in to fill the sudden tense mood. "We haven't seen you guys in years."

Not exactly true. I saw Rachel most years at Christmas. And I'd seen Cassie right after my second overseas tour. Alone. In my old room, while my parents were out.

I hadn't told Marco about that and I was willing to stake everything I owned that Cassie hadn't told Rachel.

"Who's your friend?" Rachel asked, eyeing Tobias. Marco made introductions while Cassie and I stood to either side of the group, trying to ignore each other.

"Where are you parked?" Marco finally asked. "We'll walk together."

"Are you still trying that lame ladies' man routine?" Rachel made a face that on anyone else would have been a sneer. "No one here's going to fall for it."

Marco just laughed and shrugged. "Be awkward for you if we really are parked next to each other then, won't it? Are you still driving that flashy yellow mid-life-crisis of yours?"

I saw Cassie try to cover a grin, but Rachel just frowned and turned on her heel to head out the door. The rest of us followed her since, as Marco had hinted, there was only one parking lot through that exit. I fell behind the group and Cassie drifted back to join me, almost, but not quite, naturally. The silent tension between us was thick enough to cut with a knife until I blurted out, "Are you still living with your parents?"

Immediately I regretted the question, but she took it in stride. "Yeah. It helps to be close to the Center, in case there's an emergency."

The Wildlife Rescue Center used to be known as Cassie's Barn. In the past few years it had been expanded thanks to increased state funding, and now it included three shiny new buildings. Cassie and both her parents were all vets, even though Cassie had just gotten her license. Eight years seemed a long time to study to do something she'd been doing with her dad since she was old enough to walk upright, but I wasn't about to voice that thought.

I'll never know what alerted me. Probably some slight noise, or some sort of percussion effect from the ship's landing. Whatever the reason, I suddenly stopped and looked across the street. A derelict office building stood there, some doomed project that had been in construction for five years. Every few years someone bought it and then abandoned it again, until the only things consistent about the place were the homeless that squatted there and the overgrown landscaping.

The other stopped a few feet away when they noticed I wasn't followed them anymore.

"Jake, man, come on. What happened to your early morning?"

"Stay here," I told him, distracted by what I thought I saw. Something back there was glowing. It wasn't the normal yellow/white glow of florescent lighting or flashlights, but a blue one. I thought I heard the faint sounds of an engine winding down, but I couldn't be sure. It was like no engine I'd heard before.

I checked for traffic almost as an afterthought and jogged across the street for a better look. Every instinct I had screamed that something was wrong, and that I should find out what. Never leave an unknown threat at your back.

The glow came from around the corner of the three-story building, just out of sight. I flattened myself against the near wall and looked around the edge. There was the strange blue glow, hovering a foot off the ground for no reason that I could see. It cast strangely shaped shadows across the ground despite the fact that there were no obstacles. It almost looked like light spilling out of a door, but there was no door anywhere near it. There was nothing near it.

"Hey, Mr. Paranoid, what are you doing?"

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard Marco behind me and I spun around to shush him. "Something's over there."

"Something like what?" Marco started to walk around the corner of the building, but I grabbed his shirt and yanked him back. Not before he saw the blue light, though. From across the parking lot, I saw Rachel, Cassie, and Tobias coming up as well. I motioned for them to stand flat against the wall behind me.

Cassie and Tobias complied, but Rachel stopped a few feet out, crossed her arms, and glared at me. I wasn't in a mood to deal with anyone's shit, so I stepped over to yank her closer to the wall. She started to protest then thought better of it, looking more worried than offended. Our family was full of women who would tan your hide for disrespect; she knew I wouldn't manhandle her without very good reason.

I held one finger up for silence and we all heard it: the sound of hooves. Thunk. Thunk. Tha-clunk. Whatever it was, it had an uneven gait. I risked another glance around the corner of the wall. There was a ramp descending down from the bottom of the blue glow. A four legged creature was walking down it, but all I could see were the feet.

Walking down the ramp. Down from nothing. The same nothing that cast shadows and hid the creature from view.

I flattened against the wall again and looked at the others, shaking my head slightly. I had no idea what was going on. One by one, they all stepped up to peek around the corner.

Cassie was the one who said what was on all our minds. "It's...an invisible spaceship."

If I hadn't seen it (or rather, not seen it) with my own eyes, I would have laughed at her. But as impossible as it was, it was also the most reasonable explanation. There was something solid over there. Something that also happened to be completely invisible, except where it blocked out the light.

For once, Marco didn't take the opportunity to make a quip. He was just staring dumbly out into the dark. I would have given anything to have him make some joke at our expense, point out some trick of the lighting or some obvious fact that we all missed. But he had nothing.

Tobias was still looking around the corner, and after a moment he stepped away from our hiding spot, closer to the invisible craft. I noticed too late to grab him. "He's hurt," Tobias said, and we heard him take off running across the pavement.

I cursed under my breath and ran after him. Couldn't let him face whatever was over there alone, even if I had only known the guy a few minutes. Or twelve years, depending on who you asked.

The rest of the creature was visible now. Undeniably an alien. He looked like a centaur, almost, with blue fur covering his body. A centaur with no mouth and two extra eyes mounted on top of his head. Two extra eyes that were easy to miss, since everyone's attention was drawn to his tail, stretched out over his head and topped with a wicked looking blade. I kept my eyes on that tail, trying to judge how far it could reach, as I drew close to Tobias and yanked him back.

"Knock it off, he's hurt." Tobias tried to pull out of my hold, but I wasn't about to let go. Only after he'd commented on it a second time did I notice that the alien's flank was torn and streaked with blue blood, with jagged-edged objects sticking out in a few places. I knew shrapnel when I saw it. I knew wounds, too. Unless the alien kept his version of an appendix there, it was very, very bad.

Cassie gasped behind me and tried to run forward, but I caught her with my other hand, keeping everyone out of reach of that blade. An injured enemy could often be the most dangerous, the most desperate.

"We're not going to hurt you," Tobias said, still trying to knock my hand off his arm.

{I know.}

The voice sounding in my head startled me into jerking, almost pulling Cassie off her feet by accident.

{Don't be frightened. I'm not here to hurt you.}

"We're not sca- Jake let go. You're hurting me." Cassie grabbed my middle finger and yanked it back, until pain made me realize what I'd been doing. I let go of her and Tobias, but I stayed back when they both rushed forward. Sometimes you just can't stop people from doing something foolish.

The alien staggered as Cassie tried to get a good look at his wound. His back leg on that side didn't seem strong enough to hold him. Cassie reached out like she was going to try and support him, but she had no idea how to. You can't exactly offer a shoulder to lean on to a horse. "I have a kit in my truck," she said, talking too fast. Probably to keep her teeth from chattering. "I'll go get it. You just stay right here, we can fix this. I'll go and come right back and-"

{I am dying.}

Something about the way the alien said it made me relax. He sounded resigned. Accepting. Unafraid. Not at all like someone who would lash out in his last moments.

"No you're not," Tobias protested. He reached out steady the alien when he swayed again. "Cassie, go get it. We'll stay here. Or is there something we can use on your...um, your ship?"

The alien shook his head. {Don't. I am dying. You know this.} The two fixed eyes on his face were looking directly at me as he said it, though the extra two roved around the parking lot non-stop. Constant vigilance. I recognized another soldier, even one in so different a uniform.

I nodded at him very slightly to show I understood. "Can we do anything for you?" I asked, stepping forward at last.

He shook his head. {I've come to warn you. There are others, not far behind me.}

I glanced down at his bloody side. "Others like you?"

{Not like me. They have come to destroy you.}

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((A/N: I dislike ff net's system for answering questions asked in the reviews. I don't have a way of answering them in a publicly viewable format. Please direct questions to this site: www-dot-formspring-dot- me/Libby0 where I can answer them for everyone to see. Unless you don't want it answered publicly for some reason.))