Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-CHAPTER 21 pg 18--He's a docking wizard! (there had to be a twist?)

[Probe 1]

(Role play mode engaged)

Well, looks like they encountered anomaly #12(A-12), otherwise identified as "Vallhenge". According to the 'Tissue Box' unmanned mission, A-12 is made of materials not found anywhere else on Vall, therefore meaning that, if it formed naturally, it either is the shattered remnants of a comet, or after something from beneath the surface of Vall knocked the shattered pieces of Vall's surface upwards, creating the known formation, which then had its atomic structure changed by radiation from Jool, which was normally blocked by Vall's exosphere, which A-12 stretches past. Assuming that it was constructed by extrakerbinal life, then they just brought it from somewhere else, but we have concluded that it is unlikely that it wasn't formed by natural forces, so don't get too excited.

(Role play mode disengaged)

Hope you enjoyed the museum.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Probe 1

[superstrijder15]

Nimzo must have the highest like/post rating ever on the forum! 7/1 

[Dman979]

50 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

Nimzo must have the highest like/post rating ever on the forum! 7/1 

Check out @Badie- 228 to 28.

[KAL 9000]

@Nimzo Kerman Whatever happened to Mortimer's wrath? Also, @Kuzzter, we must have MOAR Kerbfleet after Jool Odyseey.

[superstrijder15]

2 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Check out @Badie- 228 to 28.

Okay,he wins, but still is really high, and I think Badies posts would be longer as he is staff.

[Dman979]

37 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

Okay,he wins, but still is really high, and I think Badies posts would be longer as he is staff.

*she.

And yes, they both have insane rep:post ratios. Even Kuzzter's is ok, but the low number of posts make them impossible for anybody except newer members to achieve.

And @Nimzo Kerman, I too am looking forward to the rest of Mortimer's Wrath.

[Darth Badie]

4 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Check out @Badie- 228 to 28.

Really? hahaha 

[greenTurtle1134]

4 hours ago, Badie said:

Really? hahaha 

I've calculated that 8 people or more must like this post to maintain the ratio. Get repping!

 

 

(then)

 

 

Theory/Prediction regarding the Kerbulan issue:

After a long battle in which Kerbfleet grapples with the fact that the Kerbulans love death and destruction, both ships have exhausted all offensive weapons (Kerbulans their missiles and Intrepid's improvised torpedoes using probes). The Kerbulan commander (not sure if it's going to be Counter-Val or Counter-Bill or someone else) taunts the crew of the Intrepid and rams his/her ship into the Intrepid. The crew escapes, and after a brief emo scene in which Val urges Jeb to abandon her, Val spacewalks to safety as well. The Intrepid is destroyed, but Kenlie, knowing that the Kerbulans would not pass up an opportunity to destroy the Intrepid, has positioned the ship so that ramming it resulted in a retrograde burn for the Kerbulan capital ship; it loses control and burns up in Jool's atmosphere.

This is based on:

1. The Kerbulans have never grappled spaceflight for exploration, so they would not know about orbital dynamics.
2. Kenlie is told about stalemates a few chapters back, thus he will think of sacrificing the Intrepid to ensure that the Kerbulans burn up.
3. There was a long discussion about Intrepid abandonment protocols a while back; by Comic Reasoning this means that said procedures will be used.
4. This comic has heavy references to Star Trek, and in one Star Trek movie they defeat Khan by using his ineptitude at space flight (the "two-dimensional thinking")

...I hope I didn't ruin it for you, @Kuzzter.

 

 

(also)

 

 

On 9/29/2016 at 0:18 PM, Mikki said:

@SQUAD could create a special tiny location on [REDACTED], for memorizing a cool forummember giving lots of fun to many fans.
I vote for "Kuzzters butte", like the "Kerbonauts butte" location on Minmus.
I`m not native english speaker and i am not sure what "butte" means... does it mean what i think?

I'm tempted to Kopernicus out a new terrestrial planet just so I can put a "Kuzzter's Butte" on it. Great comic!

Could do a "Ruins of the Intrepid" too... hm...

[something]

That's the principle of Chekhov's gun. Everything in a plot must be relevant otherwise it will be kind of a let down  (Chekhovs argument was: You cannot place a loaded gun on stage if you're not going to use it.) This principle is intentionally disregarded sometimes - with some promiment films in the theatres featuring such loaded but not used guns. Generally that leaves you - the viewer - with a certain feeling that not all issues have been solved.

[Dman979]

15 hours ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

Theory/Prediction regarding the Kerbulan issue:

After a long battle in which Kerbfleet grapples with the fact that the Kerbulans love death and destruction, both ships have exhausted all offensive weapons (Kerbulans their missiles and Intrepid's improvised torpedoes using probes). The Kerbulan commander (not sure if it's going to be Counter-Val or Counter-Bill or someone else) taunts the crew of the Intrepid and rams his/her ship into the Intrepid. The crew escapes, and after a brief emo scene in which Val urges Jeb to abandon her, Val spacewalks to safety as well. The Intrepid is destroyed, but Kenlie, knowing that the Kerbulans would not pass up an opportunity to destroy the Intrepid, has positioned the ship so that ramming it resulted in a retrograde burn for the Kerbulan capital ship; it loses control and burns up in Jool's atmosphere.

This is based on:

1. The Kerbulans have never grappled spaceflight for exploration, so they would not know about orbital dynamics.
2. Kenlie is told about stalemates a few chapters back, thus he will think of sacrificing the Intrepid to ensure that the Kerbulans burn up.
3. There was a long discussion about Intrepid abandonment protocols a while back; by Comic Reasoning this means that said procedures will be used.
4. This comic has heavy references to Star Trek, and in one Star Trek movie they defeat Khan by using his ineptitude at space flight (the "two-dimensional thinking")

...I hope I didn't ruin it for you, @Kuzzter.

Hmm. It sounds plausible. Let's go through the reasons why it might not be correct.

1. How will the respective crews get home?  Although we all know that the Intrepid kicked down the door to Jool, it's much harder to do that on an EVA pack from LJO.
2. In order to ram the Intrepid at maximum speed, the Kerbulans would have to have a highly eccentric orbit, while the Kerbals would need a circular orbit near perijool. That involves a prograde burn, not a retrograde burn. (Someone with orbital mechanics experience, please help here.)
3. We haven't met the Ghost yet.

On the other hand, I can see it being correct for one major reason- @Kuzzter hasn't repped it yet. He normally gives some acknowledgement of theories, unless they're close to what he has planned.

 

[something]

There's still a loaded gun on the stage: The crew rescue back on Kerbin which the Kerbulans have intel on. We know as well that their intelligences planned something with a rescue pod.

To me this sounds like a hostile take-over rather than destruction. Also, Kerbulans seem to kill each other but not themselves which basically contradicts plans to ram the Intreprid with their ship.

We do know from @Kuzzter that the Kerbulans are based on the Romulans - not the Klingons. After all the Kerbulans still suspect some form of weapon on the Intreprid which they like to acquire.

[Dman979]

2 minutes ago, something said:

There's still a loaded gun on the stage: The crew rescue back on Kerbin which the Kerbulans have intel on. We know as well that their intelligences planned something with a rescue pod.

To me this sounds like a hostile take-over rather than destruction. Also, Kerbulans seem to kill each other but not themselves which basically contradicts plans to ram the Intreprid with their ship.

Your two points seem to contradict each other. By preparing a rescue pod, Evil Bob can escape the ship if there is a ramming.

[something]

I am merely thinking of a decoy. They put a pod somewhere and let the Kerbals 'rescue' it. Once the Kerbulans are on the Intreprid they're basically controlling it.

[Deddly]

I'm saying this as a fan rather than a moderator. It's good to remember that @Kuzzter doesn't like people using knowledge of the shows he is parodying to foretell what is going to happen. He likes wild speculation though, so how about the Intrepid burns up in Laythe's atmosphere and everybody dies, The End.

[Emperor of the Titan Squid]

On October 10, 2016 at 8:11 AM, Kuzzter said:

Well, we did tour the WH gardens yesterday but didn't see any family, oh well. Spent about an hour in Air&Space and will probably make a longer visit today...one of the exhibits I enjoy most is the scale model of the solar system outside the museum; stand at Jupiter, the size of a marble, and see the orbits of the inner planets and the bocce ball sun down the block. Turn around to see just how far out the outer planets are, the distances are mind-boggling! 

It's something I haven't worked on in a while but would like to get back to: a long duration explorer ship like Intrepid, but without the hangar and air wing. Hoping to get back to it as Jool Odyssey winds down  

Where is it going? Dres? Moho? Eeloo? Back to somewhere youv'e already explored? If the intrepid's crew is stranded in LJO, they might be rescued by the cruiser WIP!

Edited October 11, 2016 by Emperor of the Titan Squid

[Mister Dilsby]

5 hours ago, Dman979 said:

On the other hand, I can see it being correct for one major reason- @Kuzzter hasn't repped it yet. He normally gives some acknowledgement of theories, unless they're close to what he has planned.

Wow, I must have achieved some crazy levels of fame if people are guessing based on which theories I repped. Either that or people have no idea what to do in a week with no comic

Reallu,  I rep things that amuse me. That's all. If I didn't rep something though, it doesn't mean that it didn't amuse me. But it could!

2 hours ago, Deddly said:

He likes wild speculation though, so how about the Intrepid burns up in Laythe's atmosphere and everybody dies, The End.

Now that amused me. Also it would be a lot less work for me than Plan A, 

[greenTurtle1134]

5 hours ago, Dman979 said:

On the other hand, I can see it being correct for one major reason- @Kuzzter hasn't repped it yet. He normally gives some acknowledgement of theories, unless they're close to what he has planned.

@Kuzzter must now rep it, to quell this suspicion. Or would that be interpreted as him trying to cover it up?

Again, sorry if I was right and I ruined it for you.

[Mister Dilsby]

6 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

Again, sorry if I was right and I ruined it for you.

Hmm... If you really thought that was a possibility, then why on Kerbin would you post such a thing and ruin the story for everyone?

But I think it's fair to say that no one will connect ALL the dots between all the clues and foreshadowing and Chekhov guns etc etc. So speculate away!  In any case I don't comment on the veracity of fan theories for what will happen next, ever. And I like the posts I like, for no reason other than that I like them. That's it. 

4 hours ago, something said:

We do know from @Kuzzter that the Kerbulans are based on the Romulans - not the Klingons. After all the Kerbulans still suspect some form of weapon on the Intreprid which they like to acquire.

Well, really they're a mashup of Romulans and Mirror Universe with a little Klingon thrown in  

[Deddly]

Poor Kuzzter, I think we just overloaded him with speculation about his forum activities.

Ooh, he posted in "Project Intrepid"! Let's decypher the deeper meaning

[greenTurtle1134]

11 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Hmm... If you really thought that was a possibility, then why on Kerbin would you post such a thing and ruin the story for everyone?

Because if it was in fact not correct, I wanted to see the community's reaction. And as I am not experienced in this sort of thing, I saw very little probability that it was correct. Probability of messup times potential downfall caused by messup greater than or equal to probability of success times potential benefits of success. Did the logic, weighed the benefits.

If it was in fact correct, PM me and I'll go die in the Mohole or something.

[Angelo Kerman]

@Kuzzter If Bill has been detecting a disturbance in the Persistence, some of that might be due to an update to Wild Blue Tools. Download the KSP 1.2 update here. Have fun, looking forward to reading more of your stories.

[greenTurtle1134]

10 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Hmm. It sounds plausible. Let's go through the reasons why it might not be correct.

Here is my response to these.

10 hours ago, Dman979 said:

How will the respective crews get home?  Although we all know that the Intrepid kicked down the door to Jool, it's much harder to do that on an EVA pack from LJO.

I was thinking maybe one of the boats will have undocked and survive. Maybe the Qwammer? Or maybe the Dres cruiser will fast transfer to Jool and pick them up. Crew capacity and life support strain might disallow this though...

Mention of Dres will now cause @max_creative and @SpaceplaneAddict to cover the thread in all caps.

10 hours ago, Dman979 said:

In order to ram the Intrepid at maximum speed, the Kerbulans would have to have a highly eccentric orbit, while the Kerbals would need a circular orbit near perijool. That involves a prograde burn, not a retrograde burn. (Someone with orbital mechanics experience, please help here.)

I was thinking that the Intrepid and Kerbulan Attack Cruiser were already in almost the same orbit, circular, and trading missile fire; then the Kerbulans accelerate from about 2 km away, and hit Intrepid. You're not going to get much velocity, but I'm expecting the Kerbulan capital ship to be around the same mass as Intrepid so there's still massive amounts of momentum. Yes, it's more efficient to use an eccentric orbit and let orbital mechanics do the heavy lifting, but that's kinda the point - the Kerbulans don't know orbital mechanics, they only know fire and death - and they pay for it.

Come to think of it, this is more likely around Laythe - smaller body = lower orbit = less time for Kerbulans to course correct, so it's plausible they could crash while celebrating their victory, and also Intrepid is more likely to be in low Laythe orbit than low Jool orbit.

10 hours ago, Dman979 said:

We haven't met the Ghost yet.

He probably arrives in a new, high-tech command ship a few chapters down the road, and (using force if necessary) takes command of the Jool Assault Fleet from not-Val.

8 hours ago, something said:

There's still a loaded gun on the stage: The crew rescue back on Kerbin which the Kerbulans have intel on. We know as well that their intelligences planned something with a rescue pod.

Wait, what was this? You mean the not-Kenlie's story about the rescue? Was there anything to indicate that that is something important Kerbulan intel is looking at? Or did I miss something?

[max_creative]

HELLO THERE! 

Maybe there happens to be another Jool 5 ship orbiting Jool when that happens! Armed with missiles! And science labs! Oh wait. Kerbulans have missiles and no science. Kerbals have science and no missiles... 

I'm guessing the Kerbulans are bad shots. They would probably just use the probe at RAMMING SPEED to destroy the Intrepid. Missiles are pretty hard to aim. Ramming is just like using the whole ship as a missile, but a ship is way bigger than a missile. The Intrepid looks strong enough to take quite a few missiles. But if they hit the vtol engines, the bridge, or the main engines, then we might have a problem... 

16 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

He probably arrives in a new, high-tech command ship a few chapters down the road, and (using force if necessary) takes command of the Jool Assault Fleet from not-Val.

This is not the Jool 5 ship you are looking for... Oh wait. Wrong force... 

Jeb: hey, why is there a ship attempting to rendezvous with us? The onboard tracking station says it's called the phantom. Or ghost. Or zombie. Something like that! 

Bill: oh no. Ready the mass accelerator cannons! 

Hey... Maybe the ghost will be reveled on Halloween! That would be cool! 

Edited October 12, 2016 by max_creative
AT LEAST IT WASN'T ALL CAPS!!!

[waterlubber]

I wonder if the Borg will make an appearance. Or perhaps Bill is really a Q because of his save file editing powers.

[insert_name]

50 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

Here is my response to these.

I was thinking maybe one of the boats will have undocked and survive. Maybe the Qwammer? Or maybe the Dres cruiser will fast transfer to Jool and pick them up. Crew capacity and life support strain might disallow this though...

Mention of Dres will now cause @max_creative and @SpaceplaneAddict to cover the thread in all caps.

I was thinking that the Intrepid and Kerbulan Attack Cruiser were already in almost the same orbit, circular, and trading missile fire; then the Kerbulans accelerate from about 2 km away, and hit Intrepid. You're not going to get much velocity, but I'm expecting the Kerbulan capital ship to be around the same mass as Intrepid so there's still massive amounts of momentum. Yes, it's more efficient to use an eccentric orbit and let orbital mechanics do the heavy lifting, but that's kinda the point - the Kerbulans don't know orbital mechanics, they only know fire and death - and they pay for it.

Come to think of it, this is more likely around Laythe - smaller body = lower orbit = less time for Kerbulans to course correct, so it's plausible they could crash while celebrating their victory, and also Intrepid is more likely to be in low Laythe orbit than low Jool orbit.

He probably arrives in a new, high-tech command ship a few chapters down the road, and (using force if necessary) takes command of the Jool Assault Fleet from not-Val.

Wait, what was this? You mean the not-Kenlie's story about the rescue? Was there anything to indicate that that is something important Kerbulan intel is looking at? Or did I miss something?

I'm pretty sure that the kerbulans have knowledge of orbital mechanics. Otherwise how could they get to jool and then rendezvous with the commsat?