Without a Shadow of Doubt
From the oral history of Major General Vlailolo (Duke) Tosi, U.S.M.C. (Ret.)
We’d been in secret contact with the Matriarchy since 1952, so we knew the bogey had to be Europan. On entering our airspace, a smaller craft separated, and both were pulling eighty gravities before landing. Only a Europan crew, with their distributed circulatory systems, could survive that acceleration.
The smaller vessel landed in Bexley, and that town was swarming with FBI within 48 hours. Interest quickly focused on Schaefer's 5 & 10 where agents attempted to apprehend the alien and several armed, deranged children. The alien died in the fracas as did old man Schaefer and all seven children.
The larger vessel landed in Southern Ohio's Hocking Hills, a heavily wooded and sparsely populated area shot through with caves. I was just a 2nd Lieutenant fresh out of the Academy, but it was my job to lead my heavy weapons platoon into those hills to "locate the enemy, assess the situation, and take appropriate action."
We mapped the ship base and surrounding bivouacs, and registered the 81s without firing. As soon as Command informed me of events in Bexley and the aliens' plans for conquest, I radioed "fire for effect." The survivors offered no resistance, and we took great care to ensure the integrity of the rebreathing equipment they required in our atmosphere.
