“That’s a negative on kill shot, Fox-1. We still have movement.” The mechanical voice had a touch of urgency this time.

The pilot looked back at his targeting screen. “Impossible on a miss, command. Confirm miss.”

“Computer says you had good strike rate, but target is not down.” There was strain in the voice over the radio. “Target has stopped and is now removing pack. Suggest immediate missile deploy.”

The pilot banked hard, coming in on another run. He knew there was no way a normal human being could have survived even a single strike from a huge 3.6 ounce M56 round. He should have had a hole the size of a hubcap in his chest.

It didn’t matter; the next weapon he chose to deploy on the single, slow moving target was an AGM-84HK SLAMER. It was a precision-guided, air-launched cruise missile specially designed for striking both moving and stationary targets. To add to its accuracy, the pilot could control the SLAMER all the way down.

The pilot’s targeting system locked in.

“Target acquired and locked.”

“You are go on launch, Fox-1.” The voice had regained its confident edge.

The pilot pressed a small button on his joystick, and the shining spear shot away from the plane.

“Bird away.”

The 500-pound destex-packed warhead would destroy anything it hit, and it never missed. The SLAMER rapidly picked up speed, arrowing forward and then down. From the air, the explosive force of the strike seemed small as the pilot banked away. As he looped back around, he tilted the Strike Eagle, and looked down. There was nothing there but a blackened crater.

“Target destroyed, confirm, command.”

“Confirmed, target destroyed. Good day’s work. Bring it home, Fox-1.”

“Roger that, command. Coming home.”

*

General Shavit continued to look at the screen for many minutes. The satellite image had drilled down to a perspective of only a few feet from the ground. Nothing remained larger than a few smoking fist-sized pieces of debris, and it was impossible to tell if they were biological or something other. He pressed a button on his comm. unit, and was put through to his bio-defense unit.

“Send a cleanup crew. I want every scrap from that site brought back here for analysis.”

Shavit sat back, sucking in wheezing breaths. So close, he thought. Too close.

*

The cleanup crew was on site within the hour and moved as quickly as they could manage in the bulky radiation suits. The residual HREs were high, but containable, and they were easily identified and secured in lead lined casing.

The biological remains were less easy to identify, as many of the fragments were nothing but splintered bone or flesh charred down to flakes of ash. However, outside of the impact crater, some blackened lumps of meat were found, and bagged to be sorted and tested back at base.