Deep in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain lay the headquarters of NORAD, where a situation was developing.
"Sir, I'm picking up a zombie at altitude 150,000. It appears to be reentering," an Air Force technician reported from his console.
"Can we identify it?"
"Negative It's not one of ours, and the Russians and Chinese are checking in clear."
"Very good, Sergeant. Keep an eye on it; notify if there are any changes."
"Yes, sir."
The lieutenant to whom the sergeant reported alerted a colonel to the situation, who in turn alerted a general. A general with very interesting connections...
"It's got to be another event like Roswell. The characteristics are all there. Alert the President and move to DEFCON 3. Get the Russians on the phone, too," he instructed a subordinate.
High up in Earth's stratosphere an Eriarti scoutship was making a re-entry run that would bring it out directly above Area 51. Aboard the Virgo, the bridge crew noted the situation immediately.
"Sir, it looks like something big is re-entering Earth's atmosphere," the crewman at Operations reported. "Our monitoring of low Earth orbit indicates nothing that big due to re-enter."
Jon Lataro had the bridge watch. "Anyone else in the neighborhood?"
"No, sir. We're picking up a faint and crude warp signature at Alpha Centauri, but that's about it... wait!" the ensign said as an alarm started bleeping on his control panel. "We've got some unusual energy signatures here, sir! They're consistent with an Eriarti craft!"
"Go to red alert," Lataro ordered. "All hands to battle stations! Captain to the bridge!"
The alert had passed down from NORAD to Area 51. The general at NORAD had personally contacted the officials in charge of Area 51 and notified them of the situation.
The Director of Area 51, a man named Baker, nodded his head as the general spoke. "Understood, General Hastings. We have another Roswell craft inbound. This time we're getting it intact!"
No sooner than the call terminated than two advanced aircraft were hauled out of their hangars. These aircraft, designated Aurora, were the direct product of another UFO encounter almost sixty years earlier.
Meanwhile, as the Russians began their own deployment, DEFCON 2 was declared, just in case the Russians decided to take advantage of the situation...
"What's going on?" Captain Maruu asked as he stalked onto the bridge, straightening his tunic.
"It looks like the Eriarti followed us through the mirror. They're homing in on Earth right now. Our monitoring of Earth's comm traffic indicates that both the Americans and the Russians are on full alert. Each appears to be accusing the other of an unannounced launch. The Chinese are starting to get jumpy as well; we're seeing Chinese fighters crossing into Siberian and Taiwanese airspace."
"Prophets help us," Maruu said. "Our presence may have inadvertently started World War Three on Earth..."
What the Virgo crew (and the vast majority of Earth's population) did not know was that the response had been staged well in advance by the governments of the United States, Soviet Union, and Communist China decades earlier when the possibility of an alien attack had first been taken seriously. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation had continued its commitment to what was known formally as Action Plan Alpha.
Under Action Plan Alpha, the three major powers would deploy as if ready to go tooth and nail against each other. In reality, they were preparing for a major force integration plan, the purpose of which would be to provide complete coordination against an alien attacker. Nowhere, however, in Action Plan Alpha was there a contingency to notify either the United Nations or major media outlets until after the integration was complete and the foe positively identified.
Nor, for that matter, were most of the military rank-and-file notified. Thus, when a Chinese fighter appeared over Taiwan, an antiaircraft gun crew stationed at Taipei International Airport immediately fired on the fighter. The fighter's wingman fired an air-to-ground missile at the gun crew, and what was intended as a protective measure was suddenly read as an overt act of war...
"Mr. President, I know China's attacking Taiwan, but we have to hold at DEFCON 2!" General Hastings protested on the phone. "This situation isn't what it seems... I can't tell you that right now, sir, but I assure you that this situation is absolutely not what it seems! Looking Glass will be ready if needed. Get the Kitty Hawk battle group into the Taiwan Straits, say what you want to the press and the UN, but by all means we must keep this as a diplomatic and not a military situation on our part!" Hastings refrained from slamming the phone down on the most powerful man on the planet as he picked up another phone.
"Mr. Davis, get me to Mr. Baker immediately."
[Baker here, General.]
"Have you got Aurora on the ramp yet?"
[The Auroras will be deployed in ten minutes, no sooner]
"I want those birds in the air posthaste, and they'd better live up to their billing, mister, because if they don't your replacement may well be a cockroach in about 48 hours at this rate..."
A long pause. [Acknowledged.]
The Auroras were rushed into the air almost before the preflight checks had been completed.