31. Riker – January 2158 – Sol

Riker and Homer execute their assault on the four Brazilian probe ships pursuing them around the sun, destroying all four through a coordinated strategy of baiting them into using their missiles. They then navigate to the far side of Earth, where they encounter the two remaining Brazilian ships under the command of Captain Matias Araújo, engaging in a desperate multi-pronged missile battle that leaves Homer's ship damaged but both Brazilian vessels ultimately destroyed.

Riker and Homer have drawn four of the six Brazilian probes into pursuit on a calculated trajectory around the sun. They deploy busters (small combat craft) as bait to exhaust the Brazilian vessels' missile reserves before attacking with cannonballs launched from rail guns. The strategy succeeds, destroying all four pursuing ships with a loss of busters and ammunition but no major ship damage. The two Bobs then go dark, shutting down all systems and drifting for two days behind Earth to avoid detection by the two remaining Brazilian ships. Upon power-up on the opposite side of Earth, they approach at high velocity. Captain Araújo hails them with hostile intent, revealing the Brazilians are a last-ditch war effort with a replicant captain transplanted into the probes. The Brazilians launch missiles in two waves. Homer's ship (Heaven-6) is damaged by a nearby explosion and goes offline, while Riker destroys most incoming missiles through a combination of rail gun fire, busters, and clever deflection tactics. Riker then destroys two Brazilian ships directly—one through ramming interception and a buster strike, the other by calculating its trajectory around an asteroid and firing a steel ball through it at near-relativistic speed. Riker's roamers repair Homer's ship over three days. Investigation reveals the Brazilians were herding four asteroids on a collision course with Earth, targeted at China in revenge for the destruction of the Brazilian Empire. The solar system shows signs of massive nuclear war, with multiple asteroid impacts and no detectable radio signatures or reactor activity on Earth's surface. Riker reprograms the asteroid drives to divert them into long-period orbits that will miss Earth. As the fourth asteroid passes safely by, Riker and Homer receive an unexpected hail.