On the verge of tearing apart - KSP-Based short novel

[Columbia]

~~It was an unusual, day, as dark as the Mun at night. Kerbin has been storming, with winds and gusts coming from all directions, sending rockets and aircraft whole miles off course with their power. Kerbals had never anticipated to see this kind of climate - cold, wet and stormy. Answers were demanded for why Kerbin has gone nuts.

"Hey, Wern, so what exactly do you plan to do? Kerbin's gone completely nuts on weather, and tons of designs are failing. We never anticipated this."

"I don't know, Gene." Wernher Von Kerman, the lead Research and Development rocketry scientist, was gazing out the window. The skies were gray and dark, raging with ever-strengthening howls of wind. Climate Change? Probably not. A new Kerbin season? ..Maybe. Kerbals were accustomed to gusts randomly blowing, but not at this rate.

"Hey, Barden. Call the R&D labs. We'll have a meeting."

Wernher, with a stern look on his face and, with all seriousness, started to speak. "All right, listen up! Kerbin seems to be storming, and we don't know why. It could be Climate Change or anything. Now, what I'm thinking, is that we report this to the Weather Bureau. Maybe we can work something out.. send a probe to research this or something similar."

Immediately, a message was sent to the Kerbin Weather Bureau, and sent a handful of their smartest scientists and geologists to the Space Center to work on this joint experiment.

"Now, the storm has been deteriorating for days now, and is at an unusual scale. Now, maybe we can send a satellite or a plane to find what is happening at the center."

"At this rate, it seems to be a Tropical Cyclone. High wind speeds, extreme devastation. Happens rarely in Kerbin's oceans, but is still a threat.", muttered Seefrey, another experienced weather geologist looking at the statistics.

The whole team looked at him in shock. This kind of storm? It's going to be chaos!

"We don't know when the highest points will strike, but it's going to be most likely in a week. I recommend sending a site observation plane - it's the most effective way."

"Alright, R&D, let's set to work! Contact passing stations and satellites, and gather all the data you can."

Wernher stormed into Mission Control, where Gene and his crew were managing a Space Observatory in orbit. He went to Gene, and stated sternly; We're going to be hit in a week by a full-on Tropical Cyclone."

"What do you plan on doing, then?!"

"I want you to send a plane into the eye of the storm.

"Are you kidding? Conventional planes would rip apart at that rate!"

"Send some sort of bomber, then! I'm not some sort of pessimistical creep!

~~~~~~~

Day three since storm

A strong, rugged jetliner was sitting on the runway, with its four turbofans running.

"Typhone 35, requesting takeoff clearance from Kilo Sierra Charlie, Runway Nine-r."

"Typhone 35, Cleared for takeoff Runway nine. Maintain heading 135, fly to flight level 90."

In minutes, the big jet's four engines roared, growling in aggression as Jebediah, the most veteran pilot in the Space Center, opens the throttle. It speeds down the runway, and lifts off and away, fading into the dark clouds as it went by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Typhone 35, visual contact with Storm eye, spinning at estimated 10 m/s tops."

"Confirmed, Kilo Sierra. Take caution."

"Final Storm Approach checklist: "

"Autothrottle? Disabled. " "Flaps? Set to two. "

The aircraft was ready to approach the swirling storm.

"Spoilers! Armed.

And then, the aircraft was govered in grey clouds. It started to vibrate violently due to the extreme forces from the raging wind.

"Bob, watch the descent rate. We're going in!"

The aggressive storms were howling, fiercely raging in anger. It seemed to have no mercy on the aircraft, which was laughably puny compared to the sheer size of the swirling cyclone.

"Bill, you assist with the throttle. Don't let the aircraft go below 250 knots."

"Kilo Sierra Charlie, aircraft is shaking. Please confirm when we start tracking storm."

"Typhone 35, confirmed. Start tracking the storm's statistics."

"Affirmative! Starting tracking process."

"Radio Antenna?"

"Currently being deployed."

"Autopilot?"

"Disengaged."

"Alright, let's go fight this storm."

The storm tracking was what enabled them to know the information of the coming storm, such as signal number, and average speed.

Back at KSC, Scientists and mathematicians were diagnosing the signals coming from the aircraft.

"Wait.. it says here that the wind was at least 10-20 knots! It practically means the storm's going to reach in three days at most!"

"Any words on signal?"

"Signal number.. five? What?! That's too extreme!"

This would've meant certain devastation for anything in it's path, especially a small plane fighting it's way through.

They needed to get it back immediately, or it would be on the verge of tearing apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bill, slow down! We're exceeding speed limitations!"

The aircraft seemed to be as vigorous as ever, shaking with so much force.

"Typhone 35! Turn around heading 270, Maintain speed 200 knots. Return to base."

"Confirmed, Kilo Sierra Charlie. Flight level 120."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the aircraft was turning around still in the storm, a sudden bang seemed to hit the aircraft. At the same moment, Jeb noticed that an engine was losing power.

"Flameout in engine three!"

"Kilo Sierra, unable to maintain flight level 120. Requesting lower altitude. Single engine failure."

"Confirmed, Typhone 35. Turn heading 180, divert to Insular Airfield."

"Typhone 35."

"Jeb, what do you plan to do? We just lost an engine!"

"I'm going to fight this storm. If we die, we die as hardworking Kerbals who paved the way for the good of the Kerbal race."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Confirmed visual with airfield! Final Approach commencing."

"Typhone 35, cleared to land at airfield runway. Contact 118.7. Good luck."

As the distressed aircraft eased in towards the runway, a sudden Ground Proximity Warning sounded, indicating that the aircraft's descending too low, too fast.

"Pull up, Jeb!!"

The aircraft bounced hard on the runway. Jeb was nearly injured.

"Come on, come on!! Brakes!"

The aircraft was careening down the runway at aggressive speed. Bill was holding the throttle and keeping the brakes engaged. Bill was holding down the brakes, and Bob was watching speed.

"Thirty knots.. twenty.. ten.. Full stop!"

The three went silent for a short while after the extreme, merciless journey. Then, a sigh of relief cast across as they cheered in their success.

~~~~~~~~~~EPILOGUE, DAY 6

Everyone was ready. They had gone to a shelter to prepare for the worst. All of a sudden, the winds started to heighten frighteningly, swirling at extreme speeds. It was terrifyingly chaotic.

Hours passed and the winds started dying down. It was becoming brighter by the minute, until the Sun was visible.

The worst was past. Everyone relievingly clapped and celebrated as they survived the worst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is dedicated to the victims of storms and typhoons, especially in the Philippines, where many have lost their lives in tragedy. May they rest in peace.