Saw a light in the valley moving back and fourth directly over the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It left straight up when two F/A-18 fighters left the runway on take-off.

On my way into work around 5am pst on approx. 12/15/94, I drove over a hill on a main road from Aliso Viejo, CA into El Toro, CA and saw a light in the valley moving back and fourth directly over the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The point at which I first saw this thing was just before I crested the rise, I was angled to the sky and could not yet see the valley ahead. What caught my attention was this very bright but quite small light that was moving from my left field of view to the right, then instantly left again. The stars were clear and bright that morning I remember and there were no clouds. I first thought it was a police helicopter looking for someone close-by, not an uncommon sight in Southern California. Then I got to the top of the slight incline and the valley spread out before me with all the city lights intact. Directly ahead and just to my right (approx 10 miles) on the valley floor is the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS).I know excacly where it is because I like to watch the jet fighters take-off in the late morning and afternoons. They NEVER take off in early am due to residential noise abatement ordinances. Anyway, this light was NOT a helicopter and was maneuvering directly over the MCAS. I pulled over and watched this thing clearly for a couple minutes. It was not at high altitude and my best guess would put it at 1000 ft. It moved too fast for a plane, from the distance I was to it, it had to be going VERY fast to cover the arc it was maneuvering in. I have seen the Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels at this Air Station Perform and they never covered as much ground so quickly as this thing did . It made many 90 and 180 degree turns and stayed over the base. After only about two minutes of watching this light I could see fighters taxiing on one of the the runways. The light-object left nearly straight up (@85 degree angle to my left) when two F/A-18 fighters left the runway on take-off. As I said, the fighters NEVER take-off in early am. I watched them go airborne! , they quickly turned and accelerated in the direction the light was a few moments before then slowed and continued @ north-west and out of sight. I stayed about another 15 minutes but they did not come back, either plane or UFO.