She ordered the crew to the forward cargo lock. Six of them, in suits, grunting and sweating in zero-G, unbolted the batteries one by one. Each battery was a chunk of potential momentum.
“Reaction confirmed,” Mira coughed, smoke filling the bay. “We have lateral delta-v. Twenty meters per second and climbing.” action reaction and momentum conservation
She saw the problem. Their initial momentum was forward at 100 m/s. The side-jolt added lateral momentum. But the ship was now slowly rotating—the ejected mass had imparted a torque. In ten minutes, the bow would be pointing at the swarm. They’d fly sideways into the rocks. She ordered the crew to the forward cargo lock