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Hello, everyone! This is a mission report, but with a slight twist. This is a spinoff of the popular mission report The Duna Enterprise. The timelines diverge at the last chapter , which lead to events resulting in the fading of Kerbals' spirit of exploration. The KSC now only launches communication and Kerbin observation satellites. The once famous Kerbal Space Program, which had been a household name back in the day, is now mediocre at the best. Will the KSC fade into the darkness or will it rise up once again? Find out, in this mission report! The Mission, Controlled!!! Table of contents: Chapter 1: Initiation Chapter 2: Trial by....fire? Chapter 3: The Administrontium Chapter 4: The Herd Mentality Chapter 5: Cleaning the Pipes Chapter 6: Old-timer Mortimer! Chapter 7: The Moho Mystique Chapter 1: Initiation Year 233, International Geology and Chemistry Conference "And hence I believe, that such a mineral could exist. If not in our planet,then somewhere else in the solar system." Dr. Rover D Ude Kerman finished his presentation. The younger scientists took down notes as fast as possible, while the elder, more experienced ones murmured in disagreement. "I think I speak for the majority of us, but Mr. Rover, such an hypothesis is just a good piece of fantasy in my opinion. A mineral with such volatile properties could not stay stable for too long, and its chemical structure would eventually break down. I think it's time for you to get off the stage and allow cooler minds take over." One of the senior scientists spoke up, condescension dripping like venom in his voice. "That's what you said about Karbonite, when you could not find any appreciable quantities in Kerbin. But a simple software tweak in the resource scanner orbiting the Mun and voila! We found Karbonite aplenty. The point, is that you need to widen your view, if you wish kermanity to flourish. Now, anymore questions or opinions?" The scientist sat down disgruntled. Another younger scientist raised his hand. "Sir, I am Linus Kerman the Third, geologist, Kerbin Research Institute. If this mineral that you speak of, this Karborundum, really exists somewhere in the solar system, how do you plan to prove it's existence? With the aid of our 'capable' and 'innovating' space program?" Linus' statement got a few chuckles, as the Kerbal Space Program was, gently speaking, quite mulchy at the moment. Dr. Rover ignored the youngster's immature jibe."The truth will come out, sooner or later. I have complete faith that Karborundum will be found, if not by this generation, then the next." Even though those were the words of a kid who was yet to see the world, they sure brought back some bad memories, from thirty years ago. Year 233, Kerbal Institute of Social Studies It was the summer of Year 203, thirty years ago, the attempt to land a crewed vehicle on Duna by a private company failed catastrophically because of a damaged retro rocket. The new found spirit of exploration was dampened heavily. That was also the day when the Tech Tree was completed. It was concluded that the primary purpose of KSC has been achieved and now it was time to implement all the knowledge to Kerbals' daily life. Budgets and careers were cut, subsequently and KSC became a jobs program, On this wretched day, heavy sighs from all over the planet caused the CO2 levels to jump about 2% higher than normal. "The Agony of Duna", that's what they called it. That was the day I, Nanba Kerman was born. And right now, I am being yelled at the headmaster of the school I am currently teaching at. "You are fired." The Headmaster's voice echoed in his office. No, it was more like a million headmasters speaking together, in perfect sync. "Come again?" "You are fired! Launching soda bottle rockets with students when you are supposed to be teaching is unbecoming of someone in your profession!" "I was trying to make the class more lively!!" "Of course. And the fact that it hit the janitor square on the face was just a coincident, right?" "Well he asked for it..I mean,Exactly! It was an accident! You believe me, right? So, about the job?" I was blabbering whatever came into my mind at that point. "You are still fired. You have 20 minutes to clear your locker." He handed over a check. "There's your severance pay. Now, please be thankful that I did not call the police and get out of here!!!" He finally erupted like a volcano of rage. I always like it when he does that, but not when I am on the receiving end. 20 minutes later, I was standing at the school gates. The entire student body was by the gate, wishing me good bye. They said all sort of sweet stuff, like how I was the teacher they had the most fun with and how I did not seem to know much about history. I could only look at them, tears in my eyes, and warned them not to follow my example of slamming the janitor in the face with a soda bottle rocket. Well, how the heck was I supposed to know about history anyways? I am a mechanical engineer, Kod Damn it!!! I got home on a lonely bus ride. My mother was very happy to see me back. Father was his usual, grumpy self. I picked up the newspaper and started looking for jobs almost immediately. Three weeks later I am still jobless. Its not like I am not qualified for jobs, its that I am overqualified for the most of them! The mood back home is tense. Even mother, who was happy to see me back after all these years is a little bit tense at dinner tonight. It even showed in my share of dessert! I was only served three mini-boongas, compared to mother's seven, and father's eight.. "Umm..I will start looking for more jobs tomorrow..so about the mini-boongas.." I was about to shamelessly grovel for a couple more of those sweet fruits when an advertisement flashed on television. "We need young, fresh, vibrant Kerbs to be the new face of the KSC! Preferably Mechanical engineers, with some Organizational knowhow. Call this number to book a seat in the interview process!!" A toll free number flashed on the screen that I memorized automatically. My Kod, this was it! A real job, tailor made especially for me!! I looked down, and found two more mini-boongas in my dish. My mother was smiling, and my father appeared less grumpy. I made that call, and then I made a face. I am not sure what sort of a face it was, whether I was happy or crying, but it was a face with maximum wrinkledness.