The asteroid base Ukusa hummed quietly as it always did, a fragile dome of light nestled against the dark rock. Inside, scientists and engineers moved with practiced calm, their paws tapping across consoles, voices low but steady.

Dr. Amara’lan-Tho, chief scientist, stood at the viewport, watching the mining shuttles glide between nearby asteroids. Beside her, Rinn’vorr-Be, the station’s engineer, adjusted a holographic readout of ore yields. Ukusa was small, but it was the hub for dozens of mining outposts in this sector of the Päft Belt.

The stillness was broken by a sharp tone. Alarms rippled through the dome, crimson lights flashing.

“Warning: structural instability detected. Object approaching trajectory.”
Amara’s ears flicked. “Report!”

From the comm pit, a navigator called out. “A fragment has broken off the asteroid Shimmer. Estimated mass: twelve tons. Impact course—directly with Ukusa.”

The room went silent. A twelve-ton fragment would crush the dome like glass.

Rinn’s paws flew over the controls. “If it hits, we lose the station. We have to divert it.”

 
Within minutes, Ukusa’s small shuttle Faylen-3 launched from the platform. Rinn piloted, with Amara strapped in beside him, her instruments glowing with telemetry. Their mission: redirect the fragment before it struck.

The asteroid shard shimmered ahead, spinning, jagged edges glinting with reflected starlight.

“Thrusters online,” Rinn growled, guiding the shuttle close. The fragment tumbled, unpredictable, threatening to smash them as well. Amara’s voice was calm but firm: “Match its spin. If we can attach stabilizers, we might nudge it off-course.”

With careful pulses of the shuttle’s maneuvering jets, they aligned alongside the fragment. Amara fired harpoons—slender lines tipped with magnetic anchors—into its surface. The shuttle jerked as the lines went taut.

“Now!” she called.

Rinn engaged the engines. The shuttle strained, vibrations rattling the cabin as the fragment resisted. Slowly, agonizingly, its trajectory shifted, drifting wide of Ukusa’s dome.

 
Back at the station, the crew watched the monitors. The fragment passed harmlessly, vanishing into the belt. A cheer erupted inside the dome.

Exhausted but exhilarated, Rinn set the shuttle back on its landing pad. Amara unstrapped, her fur still bristling with adrenaline.

“That was too close,” Rinn muttered.

Amara allowed herself a small smile. “And yet, we learned something. The ore veins in Shimmer… they fracture under stress. That knowledge could save miners’ lives in the future.”

As they stepped back into the dome, the hum of Ukusa resumed—steady, enduring. A fragile outpost in the vastness of space, saved not by weapons, but by courage and cooperation.

Ukusa would continue to shine, a beacon of Reban ingenuity among the drifting stones of the Päft Belt.