Flashfictionfridayofficial Prompt 140: Setting Heaven On Fire. 937 Words.

Inspired by fantastic B-Movie Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and as such I warn you that this is not scientifically accurate. At all. But I love this movie so, so much.

Spoilers for S2E19, S3E9

John yawned and stretched. He rubbed the back of his neck, it was stiff from staring at the sky all night. But it was a small price to pay to watch the meteor shower. He looked beside him at the loud snore, smiling fondly. Alan was curled up asleep. He'd tried to say up all night, but he hadn't managed it. There would be more opportunities over the next few nights. They were due a long run of meteor strikes forecast.

Deciding that 4am was early enough to warrant going back to bed if he was quick – if Scott caught him he would not only read him the riot act, his brother would also prevent him going back to bed – John shook Alan awake and helped the very groggy teen back to his room before collapsing in bed.

He didn't sleep for long.

His wonderful fish of a brother decided, in his infinite wisdom, to wake John. Rather rudely. Via a glass of water.

When John opened his eyes it was to the browns of Gordon and his ridiculous grin. Despite the rude awakening that smile was infectious.

'Wakey wakey Spaceman!'

'Ugh, Fish. Not everyone is like you.'

'It's a beautiful day and you promised swimming.'

'Now?'

'Of course!'

John sighed. He knew Gordon wouldn't leave him alone now, so he got up and ready, grumbling under his breath the entire time. When he got to the pool Scott was also there, but there was no sign of Virgil and Alan. That was no surprise at all.

While the fish swam his laps John and Scott simply floated, chatting quietly about nothing in particular. They'd been in the water for almost an hour when the klaxon sounded.

Three dripping brothers were joined by two half-asleep ones and one disapproving Grandma.

'EOS? Report.'

'There is an Oxy-Baker atmospheric cleaning machine that has strayed into the Van Allen radiation belt over the Antarctic and is in danger of exploding.'

'Ok. What kind of damage could this cause?'

'In of itself, it is not an issue but with the meteor showers Earth is experiencing, if one of those hit the collector it could be catastrophic. With the toxic waste the collector has, it could do anything from cause toxic fumes to an explosion.'

'EOS, you n-n-need to move F-F-Five up and over t-t-to the northern hemisphere for s-s-safety.'

'FAB Brains.'

'S-S-Scott. You need to get there a-a-as soon as possible. One should be strong e-e-enough to tow the collector, it w-w-will only be a short journey to safety.'

'FAB Brains, I'm on my way.'

'What about Two?'

'I d-d-don't want to risk Two yet.'

They listened as Scott shot through the sky.

He wasn't fast enough.

A stray meteor struck the collector as it came into One's sight. It exploded, and as everyone watched, the ripples of the explosion set the Belt on fire.

Scott had never turned One around so fast, but he wasn't fast enough. The shockwave buffeted his ship, but the fire choked out the engine, and One dropped. He ignored the yells of his brothers as he ran back to do a hard reset.

'Come on, baby. Come on. Don't do this to me. Come on! YES!'

He punched the controls and headed home. He watched the sky as he flew.

'It's like heaven has been set on fire.'

He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but there were agreeing murmurs from his family. They stayed quiet while he flew, and he didn't need to know that they were already looking for solutions.

Scott rushed into the lounge to see all his brothers pouring over the holo-table. Floating alongside was Professor Moffat and her team, Tycho Reeves and many more people Scott didn't know.

They debated for hours. Some felt that the belt would burn itself out. Technically the belt shouldn't have caught fire – there was no oxygen or fuel that a fire needed – but the collector had added those necessary elements.

Others felt that, and in Scott's view more importantly this included Brains, Moffat and Reeves, a hit from an explosive could cause the fire to extinguish, like it had when Virgil and Kip Harris had needed to stop the fire at the hydro-methane reserve.

'W-w-we'd need to make a far larger concussive grenade, and we would n-n-need to launch it from Four f-f-from the Marianas trench for the correct trajectory.'

'Wait – we can't use One or Two?'

'N-n-no, Scott. The r-r-radiation and the fire w-w-will interfere with everything.'

'I'm game. Four has the ability.'

'How long to build the grenade?

'Two hours. We have all the components and with John and Brains helping me we'll be done in no time.'

Scott clapped Virgil on the back, leaving them to get on while he and Alan went and prepared food and copious amounts of coffee.

Exactly two hours later and Four was already fitted and waiting to go. Virgil was talking Gordon through last minute instructions, as there had been some disruptions to communications, and they watched as Four set off.

Gordon made it to the Trench in record time. Getting Four into position and firing the grenade.

The world watched.

They tracked the missile as it arced into the air. Virgil's calculations were precise and it exploded exactly as predicted.

There was a very bright light and…and…and the fire went out.

Gordon could hear the cheers from home, and since they were still connected to the world's top scientists he could hear them too.

'I think we should celebrate.'

'Oh, what did you have in mind, Gordon?'

'How about a day off rescues and a barbecue on the beach?'

'Sounds good, little brother. Come home.'

'FAB, Scott. I'm on my way.'