A short story inspired by Train's "Drops of Jupiter", amalgamated with a creative writing prompt "The asteroid was hurtling directly toward Earth..."
"Natalie, what is your status?" A voice rang over the intercom.
Natalie's thick, white-gloved hands were trembling. But it was her ragged breathing that Lucas could hear over the intercoms. Loudly.
"Natalie, come in, over." Lucas changed to Camera View 2. Natalie had stopped touching the Earth Communications Panel 6 and was looking away, one hand on a rail, the other was clearly clenched.
"Natalie, do you need assistance?" Lucas waited again.
"Lieutenant Greer!" Lucas stood to attention before his superior, Captain Deans, saluting. "What is taking so long? Are we on-line yet?"
"No, Sir. Commander Whitaker is still working on it," Lucas hoped she had returned to her work, but stood perfectly still as Deans approached the intercom.
"Commander, you have exactly ten minutes of reserve left. We don't have time to watch the show. Get your arse back in here as soon as communications have been restored, is that clear?" Captain Deans was a no muss - no fuss kind of military man. This wasn't supposed to be an asteroid mission. In fact, Lucas was sure they wouldn't be there to see what kind of damage the asteroid was likely to do to their home world.
So much for the mysterious activity near Jupiter. Their galactic neighbours, the Hydraxins, were farming for hydrogen and helium in Jupiter's atmosphere. Under the Hydrax-Earth treaty, they were allowed to farm for 1 million gallons of atmospheric chemicals once every three months, after notifying the local envoy of their presence - in exchange for refined bio oils that helped fuel every vehicle on the planet. But unbeknownst to the envoy crew, their communication had been damaged by a pebble sized mini-asteroid. That was when they realised they were in the path of an asteroid. It wasn't until they had recovered from minor damages, and blasted approximately Five thousand miles away that they had Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Swan, calculate the trajectory of the giant.
"If she keeps on the path she seems to be on right now and moves around the Sun, as I suspect she might, we're looking at about ten months before impact with Antarctica. The gravity would be enough to pivot the giant through the atmosphere and out the other side. But it would be like slicing through the flesh of a soft ripe peach with a basketball. That's how fragile our world will become under such force."
After Lieutenant Swan's apt description, Deans didn't need any more convincing. They had to get communications back up, asap.
"Yes, Sir," Whitaker responded, over the intercom.
"Get Lieutenant Swan on the ringer. Tell him to get his arse to the bridge. We may need to visit our little friends and get a tow back to Earth," Deans turned and left for the bridge. Lucas sighed. He didn't feel comfortable going to Hydrax. He'd been there once, a few years back, to renew the peace treaty with a diplomat. Not really as a body guard, since he wasn't even allowed to possess his firearm.
"Brian?" Lucas called over the intercom.
"I'm busy, what is it?"
"The Captain wants you on the bridge. I believe he specifically requested for your arse. I think he expects to see it seated at the pilot console. He probably wants you to translate for him. He mentioned visiting little friends."
"I think the Captain puts far too much stock in the fragile treaty, sometimes. But I will be there as soon as I can. I am trying to improve our engine capacity."
"Whatever. Just get it done and get to your post. We don't have time for playing around," Lucas said. He didn't like Brian. They went through their military training together, but that's as far as their similarities went.
Natalie finally came through the decompression chamber and Lucas noted how badly covered in sweat she was. As soon as she was able, she collapsed onto the grey panelled floor, blood in her hair and in her ears.
... To be continued...
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