As soon as the jump drive engaged, Commander Roger Davidson knew that something was wrong.

The jump bubble materialized and consumed the Feynman as expected, but the ripples weren't quite shaped correctly, and the space on the other side definitely wasn't in the same region of space as Terra, the colors were all wrong -

The bubble collapsed, but it collapsed asymmetrically, and suddenly the Feynman was jolted sideways and set spinning as if impacted by a huge something -

strange stars streaked past as the jump drive disengaged, and Davidson's crew held on desperately to their seats as the Feynman's flight control system fired off maneuvering thrusters, trying to null the ship's angular momentum.

It was like a twisted carnival ride, spinning them around with malicious intent, the most harrowing two minutes in recent memory, as they tried to hold on and not be flung free and hold on and hold on, and yet they could feel the ship slowing down gradually, the flight control system slowly, but steadily, accomplishing its task with ominous-sounding creaks of metal alloy.

But finally, Davidson could get up on unsteady feet and look around.

On the viewscreen in the distance was a blue supergiant that was definitely not the reddish-orange star known as Sol.

The door to the command deck opened and the chief scientist, Dr. James Wheeler, walked in. Commander Davidson turned to acknowledge him. "Doing all right?" he asked.

Dr. Wheeler nodded. "We're all right. A little shaken up by the jump, but otherwise fine."

"Good." Davidson allowed a small smile, then his expression turned stern. "What the hell happened with the jumpdrive?"

"As to that," Wheeler sighed, "we have no answers yet. We are analyzing the data and will report with conclusions when we have them."

"Understood," Davidson acknowledged. "If you have a science team to spare, we would also like answers on where the hell we are."

"Already on it," Wheeler told him.

The viewscreen beeped once. They turned to look as the ship's hyperspectral scanners analyzed everything in sight on every possible electromagnetic frequency, as data readouts began popping up.

Blue supergiant, 25 solar masses, approximate age 22 million years. Five planets: two close-orbiting rocky planets rich in heavy metals, one large rocky planet with an atmosphere of ammonia, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, and two gas giants, one orbiting so close that the outer layers of gas were burning off, and the other orbiting so far out the scanners could barely pick it up. Two asteroid belts, both between the outer gas giant and the rocky planets, rich in metals and ices. Far, far out, the comet cloud, rich in hydrogen-bearing rocks and ices.

A resource-rich solar system, all theirs for the taking. It was remarkable that they had never catalogued this place before.

A quick inspection of the stars was all they needed to explain why. The stars were all wrong. The stellar cartographers would need to determine exactly where they were, but one thing was clear: they definitely weren't in Kansas anymore.

"Gravitational analysis is picking up additional planetary bodies, composition unknown."

Wheeler nodded in acknowledgement, not really concentrating. The jump drive was his focus at the moment. The jump drive had been his project for the last ten years; it seemed odd that it had malfunctioned so.

He walked slowly around the place where the jump module had been mounted. Seeing the places where the power conduits had overloaded and blasted apart because of the intense stresses, he frowned. Had his team miscalibrated the system?

In the back of his mind, he knew he was on the verge of discovering interstellar travel if his team could just nail down what it is they had actually done. He turned away and went up to a computer console, opening up a data analysis program, looking at the data from the thousands of sensors they had placed all around the jump drive.

Someone called out, "Dr. Wheeler, unidentified radiation spike in system. ...Dr. Wheeler, you really need to see this."

Sensing the distress in the scientist's voice, Wheeler got up and walked over to the console. When he saw what the hyperspectral scanner was showing him, his face turned white. He radioed the command deck.

"Wheeler to command deck. Unidentified radiation signature... It looks like an incoming jump."

On the command deck, Davidson stood up from his chair, taking in the information. "Scan for anything artificial in the system. Power up the weapon systems. Get me a range estimate on that jump signature."

A flurry of activity on the bridge and in the science labs as the urgency of the situation set in. After some time, Davidson heard Wheeler reply, "Jump signature is anywhere between 1 AU and 25 AU distance. Additional jump signature detected, between 1 AU and 20 AU distance."

"Too far away for us to maneuver," Davidson said to himself. Addressing Wheeler, he said, "Get the jump drive operational ASAP."

"We'll see what we can do," Wheeler acknowledged.

Davidson turned to the helm officer. "Lieutenant Odin, put us in heliocentric orbit."

Odin acknowledged, punching in commands. The lights dimmed slightly as the ion engines fired up.

Davidson looked up at the viewscreen as the scanners finished their analysis of the thing that had jumped in first. Davidson stood up. On the viewscreen was a zoomed-in view of the silhouette of an alien-looking warship, surrounded by dots that were behaving like fighter drones.

They know we're here, Davidson thought, horrified. We're a science vessel, not a warship. We're completely outmatched.

Somewhere above the command deck, the capital-ship missile launcher warmed up its electromagnetic launch rails.

"How are we doing on the jumpdrive repairs?" Davidson asked.

Down where the jumpdrive was installed, Wheeler turned away from directing a team of five technicians to respond. "We're putting the finishing touches on the repairs. We should be able to make intrasystem jumps relatively soon."

"Good." Davidson nodded approvingly, even though Wheeler couldn't see him. "News on the enemy ship?"

Wheeler shook his head. "It's pretty much stationary, and has been for the last few hours - excuse me, Commander, I'm needed."

Davidson sat down again, pondering his options. He did not want to use the capital-ship missile launchers; this was a first-contact scenario with a powerful and warlike alien race. He had no idea if they could communicate at all; almost certainly they would not be able to talk.

Wheeler radioed back. "Jump signature, it's the warship, closer this time by about 400,000 km. From these range estimates, I put them at about three and a half AU."

Davidson considered momentarily. "Time lag of half an hour." He frowned. "Start broadcasting the Gray code, multiple radio frequencies. 256 baud, 8 bits. Show them that we're capable of communication."

His heart pounded loudly in his chest as he noted that if the enemy was going to take aggressive action, they had had plenty of time to prepare.

A light enveloped the CC as the ship jumped forward. Once it cleared, the weapons officers keyed in their targets.

"Target acquired, ready to fire in five-"

"WEAPONS HOLD!" Petty officer Louisa shouted, with her arm outstretched, as though trying to stop the other officer from pressing the button.

The CC was still.

"What is the meaning for this?" Browlier asked angrily. Shaking slightly, she stood forward.

"Sir, officer Telm was not reading a message from the other ship, he made it up."

"Can you back that up, petty officer Louisa?" Browlier asked, with a little less anger.

"Yes sir, the signal we received was white noise, there was nothing in it."

"Liar!" Came a shout from the second level.

"Stand down all weapons until my order. Keep our position, and recall all launched fighters. Officer Telm, please step forward so we sort this mess out."

"I'm sorry, sir." Telm said with a sneer. "But I don't think I will." With that, he bent down, and pulled a small pistol from a hidden area. He aimed at the commander and fired two bullets, turned and fled within a second. The CC erupted in panic, and Telm disappeared in the commotion.

The two bullets hit Browlier, first in the stomach then the second right above the heart. The force threw him backwards. Ridgeston, and many others ran forward to catch the commander. The rest had ducked down to avoid any other fire.

By the time Ridgeston caught the commander he was unconscious. People were shouting, and the noise was unbearable.

"Get the doctor up here now!" Ridgeston shouted. Blood was covering her hands and pooling on the floor. Browlier was looking very pale as Ridgeston gently laid his head on the hard floor. She looked terrified.

"Assemble teams of four and search the ship." She said a little shakily. "Man your stations!" she added. People scurried about doing their jobs. Ridgeston focused on Browlier. She put pressure on both wounds, but it had little effect as blood continued to pool. Footsteps sounded outside, and for a brief second, she thought Telm had returned, but it was the doctor assigned to the ship. He came rushing through and stopped he he reached them.

"What the hell happened?" The doctor, Niyle asked.

"He was shot by a crew member." Ridgeston said. The doctor kneeled.

"Keep putting pressure, when I say, lift and I'll place bandages on the wounds." Niyle explained. She nodded and he rummaged through his bag. He pulled a length of bandage from it and told the colonel to lift her hands. She did and Niyle placed the bandages and she pressed down again.

"Ok, keep that in place, I'll send for my team and we'll take him to the ER." Ridgeston nodded. The doctor called out for an officer to send for his team. It was a short wait before three men jogged in carrying a stretcher. They lowered it next to the commander and they all pulled him onto it. One of the medics took over applying the pressure, leaving the colonel standing alone.

She looked up and felt the crushing, damning weight of responsibility as everyone around the CC was staring at her, waiting for her to give her first executive order as the comannding officer. For a moment, a brief moment she considered running and hiding. But something held her in place. The silence hung heavy in the air, and as each second passed, it got thicker. Then she started to hear a buzzing. She couldn't pinpoint it directly, and it grew in volume. Suddenly she found her voice. It cut through the air, and sounded dull and lifeless and wholly lacking in confidence.

"Uhh, get me a link through out the ship." To her, it sounded pathetic, as though it had been spoken by a child hiding in fear. "Also, give me a status on the vessel outside." The buzzing grew even louder and colonel Ridgeston felt as though no one was going to obey her orders. Then finally, an officer nodded, indicating that she had a link through out the ship.

Speaking over the buzzing, she addressed the ship. "The commander has been shot by officer Telm. Commander Browlier is still alive, and Telm escaped in the confusion. I urge everyone to report his whereabouts if you have seen him and to not approach him. That is all." She said. The buzzing grew louder, and from all around the weight seemed to get heavier; it was all she could do to stop herself from collapsing. It felt like no one was moving. She waited, keeping her eyes steady and staring at the radar screen above her head. The stench of blood made her dizzy and mixed with the sounds and feelings, she thought she would drown.

"What is the report on the ship?" She asked.

Davidson did some mental calculations, staring at the picture slowly becoming sharper as the hyperspectral sensors did a second pass over the enemy ship. He thought he saw energy discharges consistent with explosives coming from within the large ship's hangar bay.

He frowned. Was it a common practice of these strange aliens to detonate explosives in hangar bays?

He punched in a few commands, zooming the viewscreen in on the picture. One of the alien beings was piloting some sort of mechanical walker, surrounded by lifeless shapes and thermally scorched metal.

He raised an eyebrow. Was it a common practice of these strange aliens to slaughter each other to establish dominance?

The viewscreen suddenly beeped, indicating an anomalous event in the system. Davidson ordered a visual. Somewhere in the system, a splash of color, the characteristic sign of a ship jumping in.

Davidson gritted his teeth. He had enough trouble staring him in the face; he didn't need another set of problems.

"Status on the jumpdrive repairs," he demanded.

"Final inspection underway," Wheeler radioed back. Davidson nodded to himself, satisfied, trying not to look at the strange anatomy of the alien beings crewing the other vessel, trying to ignore the wrongness that was octopus-like heads and crablike legs and all the other horrible things the hyperspectral sensors were illuminating.

"Jumpdrive energizing," Wheeler radioed in, "targeting one of the asteroid belts, far side of system. Brace yourselves."

Davidson made sure he was seated securely as the entire command deck buckled up.

A bubble of distorted space swallowed the Feynman, almost serenely, and then smoothed out to reveal empty space.

Of Darkness and Rocks.7

Lieutenant Zarnen had just landed and was ready to have a shower and get some rack time. After ordering the two unruly pilots under her direct command to check their flight data, she walked casually towards the pilots quarters. Along the way she fantasized about what she would do with her time off when she got home. She thought of spending a weekend on one of the two moons around her home planet. Both were made for luxury outings, and it was about time she had some good off time. She neared the rooms when she thought she felt a small shudder along the floor. She paused for a second to see if it repeated. It did not so she opened the door. Only a couple of pilots were inside who paid her no attention.

She walked over to the showers and once inside stripped off and entered a cubicle. A few moments later she lost her self in her thoughts and was shaken out of them a mere minute later.

She heard some shouting, then the unmistakable sound of machine gun fire.

"What the hell?" She muttered. She turned the water off and picked up her towel and wrapped it around herself and grabbed her pistol from the holster and cautiously walked to the door. Just then she heard a call through the ship intercom.

"OFFICER TELM HAS HIJACKED A WALKER AND IS ADVANCING TOWARDS CC! HE IS TREACHEROUS AND HAS MURDERED SEVERAL CREW MEMBERS! DO NOT APPROACH!" Colonel Ridgeston shouted. She repeated the call.

"Bugger that." Zarnen said to herself. She stole into the rack room and crept around to her area. The two other men had left. All she could find were some pants and a bra. Sighing she put them both on. Mechanical footsteps sounded and receded. She poked her head out and could see the two pilots who were in the room when she entered lying on the floor riddled with bullets. Blood splattered the walls and ceiling. Steeling herself she, stepped out and jogged down the corridor. The walker had moved on and left seven bodies in total. Settling into a grim mood, she made her way to the nearest weapons locker. There she found plenty of guns, which everyone knew would do nothing but make a loud noise against the heavily armored walker. She did find a box of hand grenades, and three small squares of c4. She grabbed them all and put them in the bandolier she found on the wall. Leaving her pistol behind, she left.

Zarnen followed the walkers footstep. She heard people screaming and running, and thankfully, she had come across no more bodies. She was gaining on the walker and from the sounds of the heavy footfalls of the three ton war machine she gathered it was right around the turn. A memory flashed through her mind of the basic training she had register for the walker, specifically the highly augmented hearing they provided, and the sudden realization forced her to stop and jump backwards. As she did, bullets started churning away at the wall opposite to where she would have been directly in the way. Cursing, she jumped to her feet and started sprinting. The walker had changed direction and was now advancing on her. Quickly formulating a plan, she changed her own direction and headed for the nearest launch tube.

Behind, Telm could not get a lock on the fleeing woman. He kept walking on, trying to close the distance. He tucked the two weapons systems in and started a sprint, when an explosion almost knocked him over. When he gathered him self he took a step and saw a grenade being thrown at him. This time he was ready for it and it only shook him. That didn't bother him, but the damage the explosives were doing were worrying.

Zarnen threw the second grenade then turned and fled. It exploded behind her, but she was already far away. She ran through the maze of twists and turns all the way to the launch deck. The crew here were working away with worried looks on the faces. They were watching the door as she burst through.

"Clear the deck!" She shouted. The crew scattered and he was left alone within seconds. Around her the Vultures were ready to be launched. She went to the nearest and opened the first blast door. Leaving it open she looked around and saw what she was looking for. A pipe roughly the width of her own leg. She took her pants off, leaving her in the barest of clothes then pulled the pants over the pipe. It looked convincing enough, so she put it on the ground in the airlock and placed it so that it looked like she was hiding.

Looking around she saw that several people had not left and were watching her with confused faces.

"I need one of you to open this hatch when I signal, the rest of you need to leave." She explained. They quickly left leaving a young rookie behind. "Stay hidden, and when you press it, hold on." She said.

Zarnen looked around and a perfect hiding spot; an upturned container. She positioned it and as she heard the foot falls approaching, she quickly ducked down.

The walker rounded the corner. Both the rookie and the lieutenant stayed silent. The walker scanned the room and saw nothing but abandoned work material. It walked into the room, shaking the floor with every step. It scanned the room constantly and when it lined up with the first airlock, it saw a leg just visible. It stepped closer with the machine gun ready. Another step, and it heard a soft click. Then the alarms started blaring. It turned and saw the women who had fled from it rush towards it. Then the room become a rush of wind as all the air was sucked out. Distant thumps indicated the blast doors had slammed shut.

Zarnen slammed the three clumps of c4 on the walker and struggling against the strong rush tried to turn and run. The walker swung around and struck the lieutenant, sending her flying. She hit the wall opposite and felt some ribs crack. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she clenched the detonator in her hands and pressed the button. There was a loud whumph and the walker was flung backwards. With the air rushing out, it was caught by the currents and dragged through the open door way. Everything not bolted down was also swept out, and within moments Zarnen felt her self being tugged toward the door. Letting go of the detonator, she tried to grasp anything within reach. She felt the horrible sensation of free fall as she slid faster but a second later her hand grasped the landing gear of the nearest Vulture. Clutching it for dear life, she started heard the distant sounds of explosions fading and the sound of the machine gun firing on full auto. Telm was firing everything in the launch tube.

Then the air stopped rushing and Zarnen felt the cold and passed out.

Davidson exhaled in relief as the space smoothed out around them. The jumpdrive had worked.

"Situation report," he demanded.

"All systems normal," Wheeler radioed back. "Jump capacitors recharging, ETC one hour."

"How does the system look?" Davidson asked.

"We're on the far side of the system," Wheeler explained. "We're just outside the inner asteroid belt. Picking up three new planetary bodies, rocky, no atmosphere."

Davidson nodded. "Scan as much of the system as you can; I want a full report ASAP. Odin, keep us in the asteroid belt. Minimize course corrections; we don't want to be emitting too much energy if we don't have to."

Acknowledgements on the command deck as the Feynman's ion engines energized for what would hopefully be a quick burn to establish course, and then the Feynman would drift, blending into the stars, watching silently.

And eventually, Davidson would leave the command deck and crash in the rec room. He was still shaken up by the encounter earlier; he needed rest.

In his quarters, Davidson reviewed the tactical report. The rec room had been too bright and loud for him; he needed a bit of quiet. He pored over the readouts and pages, trying to understand the nature of his new enemies.

About the large fighter-carrier, they knew almost everything. The octopus-god people had built the ship solidly. The weapon emplacements were designed to destroy any ship foolish enough to close to engagement range, and evidently the tactics they would employ would rely on jumping into optimal range and obliterating anything nearby, with the fighters and bombers to finish them off.

His own people knew better. Fighters and bombers were expensive and fragile, and cannons and railguns had woefully limited ranges. The time-honored method of missile combat was superior, because missiles were cheap and compact for the destructive power they offered and could engage targets at several hundred thousand kilometers, and lightspeed weapons like lasers, particle beams, and relativistic ion cannons would suffice against targets too fast for missiles.

As long as he could keep range, the fighters would pose no threat; they were designed for dogfighting and were thus limited by the endurance of their pilots. The bombers could prove more problematic, as the Feynman was not a nimble target and could be engaged from arbitrary range with dumbfire munitions, but as long as he were given at least a hundred kilometers of spacing, he was confident that the particle beam turrets could stave them off at least long enough to jump out.

The most deadly trait about the particle beam turrets was the armor-piercing capability they afforded; the particle flux they generated was so high as to make any defense impractical. Any personnel caught in the blast would instantly collapse of radiation poisoning, and any electronic equipment would fry immediately. At higher power, any solid material would melt from the thermal effects, and if they could score a hit on the main reactor in the right place, they could induce a potentially disastrous plasma leak.

He moved the file aside and looked at the other file in front of him. About the most recent arrival, they knew almost nothing. All they had was a hazy silhouette, and what he saw deeply troubled him. The fighter-carrier was intended to control space. This new ship was built to kill.

Lieutenant Jaren had been given his orders. His Eagle(bomber) was ready to exit the ship and jump to his coordinates. In his wing he had another Eagle as back up to confirm any findings they had and to support him if needed. Jarens crew consisted of his back up operator lieutenant Larne and three scientists, all specializing in space analysis. In the second Eagle was the two pilots and a team of four marines.

Jaren sat in the pilots seat and quickly checked the gauges. He was satisfied with the readings and reported in to flight control.

"Control, this is Eagle one-one-zero, we're ready to head up to the launch bay." He said into the intercom.

"Control, this is Eagle one-two-zero, I can confirm the same status." The other pilot said. There was a pause.

"Eagle Wing one, I copy that. Prepare for ascension. And good hunting Eagles." The red lights surrounding Jaren in the ascension tube turned green and the Eagle jolted. They slowly lowered as the recon ship rose higher. Somewhere above the hatch opened. Only a minute passed before the landing deck came into view. Nearby, the top of another recon ship slowly came into view.

With a small bump, they stopped their upwards movement. Jaren engaged the engines and waited only for a moment for them to properly start. The Eagle shuddered slightly, and lifted off. The second Eagle rose and joined in formation. They made their way down the seven hundred meter landing pad and exited at speed. They sped towards the minimum jump distance.

Jarens co-pilot typed the coordinates into the input console. Jaren verified them and he pressed the jump button. A light filled the cockpit and when it cleared, he could tell they were in a different place instantly. The blue star was now far in the distance, and a very bright star was now in their view screen.

"Eagle one-two-zero, verify integrity." Jaren ordered.

"We're at 100% sir."

"Sir, I'm picking something up." One of the scientists said. "It could be an asteroid or something else, it's over five hundred meters long. I'll send the coordinates." Jaren said nothing but looked at them and veered towards the location.

Jaren edged the Eagle closer towards the object. He had primed the torpedoes and was ready to fire them if needed.

"Scanning object now." A scientist said. There was a moments pause while he typed on the console. "It is just an asteroid, six hundred and twenty meters across. From what I can gather, it is heading in system." Jaren sighed in relief and thanked the scientist.

"It looks like it was thrown from the second asteroid belt by the main sequence star." Jaren commented. "Input the coordinates, jump us closer." He ordered, while powering down the torpedoes.

Across the system, above a blue-green planet, two small transport ships slowly broke through the solid cloud cover. Two red contrails could be seen across the sky by the locals on the planet.

In a small village nestled between two large mountains, a group of beings lived. They were simple folk, who lived to hunt, eat and mate. They were slouching creatures, who had four arms and two feet. How they walked caused them two use two arms as a second set of legs, but when threatened they could stand on two feet and use all of their arms.

One such creature was on look out, looking for any signs that the animals that bad attacked the village a few days ago would not return. They were massive creatures with wide mouths and giant claws, who would bound on their prey and rip them apart. The last attack had killed three good huntsman, and wounded a child and mother. They would eventually be ok.

He looked up in the sky and saw it burning. Panicking, he called out. The nearest sentry came closer and stood on his hind feet, making him almost eight feet tall.

"The sky is burning, what should we do?" The first asked, using the intricate sign language consisting of all four arms.

"Tell the chief, I'll stay here." The second said. The first turned and ran to the tallest building. Inside the chieftain who was taller then everyone else was sitting in his resting area. He looked up with the sunken eyes of their species.

"The sky is on fire!" He said. The chieftain rose and quickly ran outside to see.

"Tell everyone to get weapons and meet here!" The chieftain said. The sentry ran away and spread the word.

The two fireballs slowly faded away and they were replaced by two shiny birds. They didn't move in any way that seemed normal. The sentry had gathered as many people as he could and there were now crowded around the chieftain.

"Stand your ground and fight this doom away!" He said. The crowd dispersed and stood at the edge of the village closest to the metal birds. The chieftain secretly though that if they overcame this then they could use that metal to make better weapons and they would be able to hunt better and invade the other villages and be feared across the land. He took his position in the line between the buildings and the birds, which came closer. They were getting very big. This instilled fear in the people gathered. What kind of demon could spawn from fire and grow to enormous sizes? A rumbling could be heard which rattled their bones.

As the metal birds came within landing distance, the chieftain saw that the back of the birds were on fire, maybe that was why they were making so much noise, they were in pain. They were almost touching the ground now. Over the roaring of the hurt birds, an even louder roar filled the air. It was the creatures attacking again. Fear struck even the chieftain, these birds were the heralds of the monsters. He called out to his people to stay strong. He was proud when they only took a step back and looked on. He prepared his own weapons. In his left hands, he had a stick with some rope which could propel another longer stick forward a great distance and quite fast, and in his other hands he had the great axe which marked his position as leader. He had gained many kills with this axe and he was prepared to gain many more.

Aboard the transports the pilots had seen the village and decided to land there. Upon close inspection they could see around fifty odd looking humanoid creatures with four arms and were heavily muscled. They seemed to form a line between them and the village. Crude weapons could be seen. The two transports landed.

At the rear, a ramp lowered. Before anyone there had time to do anything, massive twelve foot creatures had leapt aboard. Several had landed on the walkers crashing them into the ground, while the other unprotected personnel were set upon and ripped apart. Thirty of these creatures had poured into the ship. Then suddenly a machine gun opened up, tearing into the soft under side of the creature and spraying blood everywhere. The other creatures were startled and this gave many the opportunity to aim their own guns and fire. The sound of so many guns in a small area finally broke the will of the creatures and they turned to flee. Ten or more had been killed. The rest had escaped so quickly it left some people wondering what the hell happened. The squadron leader called out.

"Everyone form up, I think they will be coming back." He said. None of the walkers had taken severe damage, so they all stood and gathered outside. The dead bodies inside were left for the other crew to handle. A loud roar filled the air, freezing the hearts of all who heard it.

"There are coming back!" Someone shouted.

"Form up in front of the locals, they should have some experience with these creatures, don't do anything to threaten them." The leader called. The walkers set off, with the locals looking wearily at them. They readied their weapons but didn't do anything. In the distance, dust was being thrown into the air no doubt by the creatures now coming. The walkers reached the locals, who were close to attacking.

"Stop!" The leader shouted. The line of walkers stopped and turned. They raised their weapons and aimed at the horizon.