The National security advisor, a sixty-year-old African American man and former senator from Virginia had extensive experience in areas of national defense and politics. He'd spent twenty years as an officer in the Marine Corps, and later another eight years in the Senate, part of that time as the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

It was widely accepted that if he'd decided to run in the last presidential race, he'd be sitting in the oval office instead of reporting to the current President. Fortunately for his good friend President Daniel Anson, Jeremiah Baker had no interest in the Presidency. He did, however, have every interest in doing all he possibly could to help the current administration succeed.

Navy Admiral Atkins, also of the Joint Chiefs, began the introductions.

“Administrator Williams, I can say that this is the first time I know of when NASA has come here with a problem related to national security,” began Admiral Atkins.

“I wish I didn't need to, but unfortunately that isn't the case. I want to begin by letting you all know that the information I've collected has been triple-checked. We’ve been trying to disprove our own findings for a couple of months now,” stated Williams, as he handed out the documentation he'd prepared. “The basic fact is this; there's a comet heading towards Earth, and there's nothing we can do about it. It's still several hundred million miles away, but it's moving extremely fast.”

A look of bewilderment flashed across the other men's faces before Admiral Atkins spoke up. “Don't take this wrong, but we've all heard this before. In a few months, after word leaks out, someone will realize there's been a mistake in a calculation and—”

“Not this time Admiral,” interrupted Williams. “The whole reason we've waited this long to say something is because we wanted to make sure this is absolutely certain. There are no doubts; this has been verified by three different teams.”

“Please excuse my ignorance, Mr. Williams,” the Admiral began, “but like I said, there have been similar stories about asteroids and meteors in the past. While I have some knowledge of comets, asteroids, and meteors, could you give us some background?”