Around Summer of 2002, I was on the back porch of my (now) ex-mother-in-law's home, looking southward. It was getting dark and to the south west, a golden yellow light (perfectly rounded, not jagged or fuzzy) slowly appeared. It was joined by between 6 and 7 other lights over just a few minutes, at different positions, in a line but not perfectly straight.After a few minutes the lights had fully reached their maximum brightness, then one by one, starting with the first light to appear, began to move in separate directions. They would make sharp, deliberate turns and change direction, but didn't intersect each other's paths. They moved slowly but consistently as they went, never stopping, jerking or accelerating/decelerating. There was also no noise. They faded out before reaching any horizons or background structure which would have covered them from view.At the time, my ex-in-law looked at me and told me if I said anything, she'd deny she was there when it happened. She never talked to me about it again, even denying it in front of my ex-wife when I mentioned something had happened outside.I hadn't given it much thought since then, until I joined the Army in 2009. I have seen dozens of different aircraft since then and flares in combat zones. Nothing I have seen comes close to what I saw that night. I do not believe they were helicopters (too quiet and stable, wrong light setup) or plane (held position perfectly without drift).Last year I reviewed a documentary online of lights in the sky. Other than not moving in a similar pattern, the footage was identical to what I saw that night, down to the same golden yellow glowing color. To date I have never heard of anything else being reported from that time, but then again I have only looked online and not in-depth.