A crescent first-quarter moon hung in the sky. Not full, but very bright.
A moonless, windy night is the time for killing; with a bright moon overhead it's definitely not a good moment to launch a night raid, but the bright moonlight was a useful supplement for reconnaissance.
The drone had dual low‑light and thermal imaging cameras; with the help of the bright moon, every detail of Ohalaham Village stood out, presented extremely clearly on the monitor.
Ohalaham Village was an oasis in the desert. On all sides of the village stretched unbroken desert—no fields, nothing—except for a major highway linking Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Long, long ago, Ohalaham Village had been a vital trade relay station in the desert. Like all ancient desert villages that had once prospered, Ohalaham Village had long since declined, but traces of its old glory were still faintly visible. Now only a few hundred villagers remained, yet the village covered a very large area.
