/sci/ - Science & Math

>>14493412
>14 September 2060
>Twenty-four hours later the Deep Space Resources RQ-12 was within 1,000 kilometers of the PLA Space Force Vessel 20 that established the farthest end of a supply chain corridor. As the Deep Space Resources craft followed a trajectory toward Asteroid 6107 it would cross paths with Vessel 20 in what was collectively called the 9th Sector of the asteroid belt.
>”Are you watching them?” demanded Cover.
Gen. Alighieri stared at Neil Cover, her eyes flashed with anger as in the middle of her control room a holographic projection visualized the 9th sector including the Deep Space Resources craft, Vessel 20, and several nearby asteroids. She looked Neil in the eyes, her gaze turning from red hot to ice cold. She could have him thrown out of her command room, instead she tilted her head slightly to the left and stated icily, “I see the same projection you see Mr. Cover.”
>”Ma’am,” Neil corrected himself. He didn’t mean to be rude. Tensions were high and he was a ball of nerves.
>A radio dispatch came through from the AAAF spacecraft, “U.S. command center please be aware, we will be conducting routine waste ejection. This is a flight safety warning to avoid the 9th sector of the belt for the next 15 minutes.
>”Are they throwing their garbage at us?” Neil cover screamed, as simultaneously rubble, leftovers after mining a nearby asteroid tumbled out of the aft airlock of Vessel 20.
>”Mr. Cover if you cannot control yourself, you will be removed from my command center,” asserted Gen. Alighieri.
>”Orbit analysts,” she requested, “please give us the conjunction distance and the risk of collision.”
>”Initial orbits indicate that it will all miss the Deep Space Resources craft by at least 5 kilometers,” the Chief Orbital Analyst reported. “It’s a shot across the bow.”