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Year 312-chapter 17-Do Not Go Quiet


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Chapter ten

 

"If I am not mistaken, You four are the surviving crew of the zephyr? The kerb at the desk spoke in a thick russian accent. 

"yes" Jeb replied. The question had made him feel guilt for poor Anzer and Mazee all over again.

"I assume your rover driver filled you in on the basics on the way over here?

"yes" Jeb repeated.

"leave us." the kerb behind the desk motioned for the guards to exit the room. his voice lowered to just over a whisper. "And are you aware of our current... situation?"

"no" 

the kerb looked over his shoulder, as if checking that all the guards had left. "Rockomax is pulling a huge illegal mining operation. They've got a blockade of ships surrounding the planet. Nobody gets through alive. But a few days ago, we realized that they made a miscalculation. For a few minutes on the day after tomorrow, there will be a opening in the blockade. That's your chance to escape. Note that if you neglect to take this chance, you will be stuck on Eeloo indefinitely." He let that sink in. Jeb envisioned living the rest of his life on this dammed rock that killed two of his friends and stolen his normal life, if you can call a kerbonauts life normal.

 

 

"We'll do it."

End part 1

annnnd we've broken the two page barrier!

Edited by The solid fuel chemist
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On 1/9/2017 at 10:25 PM, superstrijder15 said:

Woo! that were some great posts @The solid fuel chemist! I Hope you keep writing.

yeah, storms knocked out internet for a week. sorry about that. should get back to regular postings now. Oregon has such mild weather all the time so a foot of snow and two inches of ice is unlikely and people around here just aren't used to it. we had to drive from our middle of nowhere house by mt hood into portland and the streets are completely empty. oregon usually has problems with traffic so it really did feel like a ghost town.

 

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chapter 10

Part two

 

Jeb and the others were taken via a small shuttle up into a orbit that barely cleared Eeloo's highest points. There, they rendezvoused with, no ones surprise, a colossal space battleship. Jeb had always envisioned such things as smooth tapered cylinders, but this one had bits sticking out and a big bulbous streamlined bridge. large hanger doors stuck out the sides. two thick chunky wings stuck out the back and sides and proudly displayed their weaponry. Printed on the side in huge block letters were the words EGS SUPER STRIDER.

 "I cant believe there going to give up the strider for this cowards march" their pilot remarked. "Imagine the conversation". "hey, what do you want to do with our last remaining battleship? oh lets give it to cowards and throw it at the impenetrable blockade, cause that's the best use for it"

 

"I thought that we weren't going to be engaging any ships?" Val asked.

"As soon as we leave this parking orbit, Rockomax will calculate our trajectory and realize their mistake. Now they wont be able to move the battlestations to a intercept, and that's why the president thinks this is a good idea. But any ship smaller than a cruiser has the acceleration to intercept us on our way out. This means that we are running strait into a fighter, bomber, and destroyer nest. It's not gonna be pretty or fun. You better be lucky, cause were gonna need all that we can get"

Bill just smiled. "when Jeb's on board, you don't need luck"

Edited by The solid fuel chemist
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chapter 11 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbttZVTSJRU(some nice background music for you guys)

Everyone was on edge. The ship was about to intersect the swarm. Jeb stood by in a fighter, and Bill was his tail gunner. Bob was taking a position among the ship gunners. And Val was taking a role the bridge. the swarm loomed ahead of them like some monsteros black cloud. their battleship looked downright puny compared to massive amount of ships bent on ripping it to shreds. 

Jeb watched the range close, as did literally everyone else. For those tense few moments all was silent. When they where within 2 kilometers of each other, the silence was shattered as both sides guns lit up. It took a few seconds for the projectiles to reach the opposing sides, and in those few seconds what they were really doing sunk in. Bill spoke up. "Are you sure this is such a good id-

"WHOOOOO HOOOOO!"

they say that in space no one can hear you scream, but somthing told bill that rockomax sure did hear jeb's battle cry as he switched on the VTOL engines on the bottom of the craft and swung it thru the enemy swarm, launching rockets and taking out one ship after another. They where so close that the enemy failed to get missile locks on them and in those first few runs jeb and bill scored 14 kills. The other fighters soon copied this tactic and the now weakened front edge of the swarm was easily annihilated by the many guns of the Super Strider. The destroyers started unleashing a onslaught of torpedoes, only to have them destroyed by Bob and his fellow gunners. But with the guns occupied. It was getting harder and harder to keep the bombers at bay. One after another bomber got through and the ship started taking damage. To no one's surprise, they went immediately for the bridge. Val tried her best to remain at her station, but the concussion missiles equipped by the bombers were adept at causing damage to interiors of ships. With fire and smoke all around her she persisted, knowing that the outcome of the battle depended on the battleship maintaining its course and heading, even if the entire top half of the ship lost pressure. Val stared out the front window, and saw a bomber heading strait for her. The pilot had ejected. Explosives had been taped all over the hull. Val had just enough time to reach for her helmet before the bomber exploded in brilliant suicide just before reaching the bridge. A fighter streaked thru the debris and Val could have sworn that she heard a distinctive "YEE HAH!" as the craft flashed by. From the bridge Val watched as the lone fighter single handedly shot down half a dozen bombers, did a loop-de-loop, and proceeded to eviscerate a destroyer with Rockets. With less torpedoes inbound, the Super Strider had guns available to return fire. The helpless destroyers fell one after another and with nowhere to resupply, the bombers retreated soon after that. And with no clear means of causing damage to the battleship, the remaining fighters attempted to retreat but where chased down and destroyed. They had done it. the barricade had fallen.

Edited by The solid fuel chemist
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On 1/21/2017 at 0:54 PM, superstrijder15 said:

2 things:

1) It's really engaging writing this kind of scenes, and I understand that spelling isn't top priority at that moment, but I'd advise you to check for jeb and bill instead of Jeb and Bill.

2) Did you just name a battleship after me?!?! :0.0::D:cool:

yes, this will be a recurring theme of this story as i am really bad at making up names. Enjoy your battleship, but I cant make promises on its survival...mwhahahaha...

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7 hours ago, The solid fuel chemist said:

as i am really bad at making up names.

I know that problem. Luckily I also read a lot of books, which supply new names all the time. Also I use serial names a lot: Something 1, then 2, then 3, for good measure the one isettle with will be something 2B 29+ or something.

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33 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

I know that problem. Luckily I also read a lot of books, which supply new names all the time. Also I use serial names a lot: Something 1, then 2, then 3, for good measure the one isettle with will be something 2B 29+ or something.

Oh so I'm not the only one with naming trouble? :) I normally name mine after their purpose. My first airplane is named Airplane 1, for example, a failed engine change to KS-25s is 1.1, and a derivative of it with wing changes is 1.0.1.

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7 hours ago, 53miner53 said:

Oh so I'm not the only one with naming trouble? :) I normally name mine after their purpose. My first airplane is named Airplane 1, for example, a failed engine change to KS-25s is 1.1, and a derivative of it with wing changes is 1.0.1.

That is how my designs get named. One of my minmus miners ended up with design name Minmus ISRU Full V3.2 W/ Launch 50+ V3 Xtra strut. When I want more poetic names I tend to involve the purpose too, for example here are some blockade runner names:

  • Defiance: defies the blockade
  • Hammer: breaks through it
  • Hermes: fast as the god of messengers
  • Lightning: another play on the fast theme
  • etc.
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14 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

That is how my designs get named. One of my minmus miners ended up with design name Minmus ISRU Full V3.2 W/ Launch 50+ V3 Xtra strut. When I want more poetic names I tend to involve the purpose too, for example here are some blockade runner names:

  • Defiance: defies the blockade
  • Hammer: breaks through it
  • Hermes: fast as the god of messengers
  • Lightning: another play on the fast theme
  • etc.

:D That's a long name! Why does it have 50+ though?

 

I normally take my poetic names from real spacecraft, though so far that has only been the space shuttle and Coumbia for two space shuttle-style craft. I may be a huge fan of the space shuttle.

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41 minutes ago, 53miner53 said:

Why does it have 50+ though?

A brief breakdown:

  • Minmus: destination
  • ISRU: mission goal: landing a feasible ISRU/tanker to fill interplanetary missions
  • Full: will mine and haul
  • V3.2: third major overhaul, second saved small changes(the saves happen whenever I find this need to be tested by launching)
  • W/ Launch: Has a launching booster attached
  • 50+ Launcher rating of over 50 tons (costum built launcher capable of lifting at least a streamlined 50 tons payload to orbit according to mechjeb)
  • V3: the third itteration of launchers
  • Xtra struts: I added a bunch of struts
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35 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

A brief breakdown:

  • Minmus: destination
  • ISRU: mission goal: landing a feasible ISRU/tanker to fill interplanetary missions
  • Full: will mine and haul
  • V3.2: third major overhaul, second saved small changes(the saves happen whenever I find this need to be tested by launching)
  • W/ Launch: Has a launching booster attached
  • 50+ Launcher rating of over 50 tons (costum built launcher capable of lifting at least a streamlined 50 tons payload to orbit according to mechjeb)
  • V3: the third itteration of launchers
  • Xtra struts: I added a bunch of struts

Wow. That is a detailed naming system.:o

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Chapter 12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk(its official, background music is awsome. :cool:)

 

Jeb stood at the helm of the battleship, staring out at space. What would he find out there? Many others on board wondered the same thing. Rockomax had been holding Eeloo for so long, not many people had been out around the system much. He stared at the void, much the same way as when he had left on missions to other planets. Strangely, it was the same feeling. Just instead of venturing into the unexplored, he was venturing into the unknownJeb felt... renewed. It was if all the planets suddenly took back the exploration done there. He was starting over. It was time for a new adventure. Upon realizing this. He stood up straighter. Perhaps it was his destiny, to be a explorer, a wanderer. And with this newfound mindset, Jeb remembered that wreak on the surface, Property of Duna Security Force. And he gave the order.

"Set course for Duna"

"Aye Aye, Captain" Bob tried to find a map screen, but instead came upon a warp drive control panel. "Wernher, you sneaky little kerb." 

He put in the coordinates, hit the big red button, and Eeloo swiftly faded into the distance. 

Jeb expected a growing red speck. He got a growing green speck. For a second he thought they were accidentally going towards kerbin, But their arrival soon wiped away that possibility. Where red regolith and canyons once stood, there was now a vast system of Crater lakes and huge river deltas. The ice caps had shrunk and turned to water ice. And the green! it was everywhere. Only slight hints of red peeked in the biggest plains. Clouds were smattered across the globe. Huge city's were placed under just as large asteroids in duna stationary orbit, hinting at the existence of space elevators.

"by kraken, its beautiful!" Val exclaimed. 

Ike was covered in clear connected domes, almost like bubble wrap. Its dark side was lit up spectacularly. Spacecraft, seen as only points of light, buzzed about the system, Jeb looked at all of this. 

"Ladies and gentlekerbs, i believe we have some work to do"

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  • 2 weeks later...

sorry no chapters in a while. School was eating all my time and my weekends are spent skiing and going to robotics tournaments. (in case anybody asks, i participate in the VEX competition and our robot is a hanging bulldozer with a very long extensible blade that can dominate when it comes to stars) Things are setting down now that the second semesters started tho so expect a chapter sometime this weekend.

wait... tho is a word now?! autocorrect didn't underline it...

Edited by The solid fuel chemist
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On 23-1-2017 at 11:22 PM, 53miner53 said:

Wow. That is a detailed naming system.:o

It is mainly insane amounts of accretion, as well as the fact that I tend to play like on weekend then not for a week or month. So I will have to be able to choose the correct vehicle out of a list of 20+ different missions each having like 10 vehicles, after multiple months. If I were expecting to fly a whole mission in one weekend I'd not make such a long name. Also, once in orbit the Launcher bit should be removed, making it a lot shorter.

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Chapter 13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ1y_Z6Bc0M (okay. background music is now a tradition for this thread.)

Bill strapped himself into the seat of their shuttle. The Super Strider was being left in orbit for repairs and Jeb was flying them down to the surface. They where about to start their deorbit burn when Bill spoke up. "Jeb, set the landing coordinates to 20 degrees west, 1 degree north." Jeb looked back at bill, and smiled. "roger, inputting the coordinates." After the burn, the shuttle underwent some reentry flames and upon diving below the clouds, they where met with a vast evergreen forest. the shuttle glided to their destination and set down birdlike in a small clearing. Bill stepped out of their craft and breathed in the deep smell of fir needles and pitch. He looked around into the depths of the forest and saw nothing but trees and fog. But when he stepped around to the other side of the shuttle, he saw it. tattered, leaning, and covered in dead fir needles. the walls, that once kept out the oppressive near vacuum of Duna, now welcomed in the fresh air through several dry rotted holes. one of their old sample shovels was tangled in the roots of a nearby tree. Only the rover had kept its shape over the centuries. The others soon followed Bill over to their old base. They entered it and rediscovered the building that had been their home for those many months. Val still had a (very tattered) poster taken by a probe orbiting Jool nailed to one of her walls. The sofa that they would all watch The Saga of Emiko Station on sunday nights was largely intact. Jeb found some of his old love letters and embarrassingly hid them in a bush. Bob coaxed their old computer back to life and took his collection of XKOM games and put them on a flash drive. After looting their old home of all they could find, they walked back to their shuttle with booty in hand.

"So, where to next?"

Jeb stared at a nearby snowcapped mountain. "well, seeing as none of us have gotten any exercise for 217 years, How does skiing on duna sound?"

Edited by The solid fuel chemist
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9 hours ago, The solid fuel chemist said:

OK, ive know what the chapter is going to be like and i have to write it down before i forget. Screw the weekend! Update tomorrow here we go!

oh, but people in europe will probably get it tuesday.(time zones)

 in the course of 5 hours i somehow got 7 notifications...you know who you are...

Spoiler

but seriously, thanks for the rep.

 

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Chapter 14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnPB_uOUPxI (you know the drill, some background music for you)

 

the four kerbs stood at the mountaintop. they had planted two small flat stones upright in the snow. Up there, all alone, they held a memorial ceremony for Mayzee and Anzer Kerman. when it was over, Bob let out a cry of anguish and threw a rock of the cliff much farther than anyone had ever seen the nerdy scientist throw. Or, at least, the crew thought it was a rock. But Jeb had been a fighter pilot. He was adept at noticing things from a distance. What he saw Bob throw made him feel a fresh wave of guilt that almost brought him to tears. It was a small square box, very similar to  the one Jeb had in his own pocket. Bob had lost somthing much more than a crewmate. Jeb couldn't imagine what that must feel like. When they were getting back into their shuttle. Jeb asked Val to fly. He made eye contact with Bob, and in those eyes that were usually associated with a screen or a microscope, he saw such sadness, such depression. He wondered what relationship Bob could have possibly had that could do this to him...

217 Years earlier...

Bob and Mayzee where working in the lab of the Zephyr. They had just entered Eeloos SOI and the entire suite of science instruments had sent their data back to the lab for processing. 

"Bob, can you take a look at this seismic scan for me? I think the accelerometer has gotten too sensitive."

"Hmm, I don't think so. Bill and Anzer just went through a full inspection of the science instruments. Eeloo's just... way more seismically active than we thought. This should give the guys at RnD somthing to think about for awhile."

"seriously?"

"What?"

"You say that like, On half of your experiments."This should give the guys at RnD somthing to think about for awhile.""

"Well, maybe its because of this beautiful girl that keeps distracting me from good words to say"

Mayzee snorted and gave Bob a kiss on the cheek. "Best leave you to your work then."

As Mazee walked away, Bob smiled. He, literally the nerdiest most unpopular kid in school, was on a rocket ship going to the far reaches of Kerbol. And on top of that he was chief scientist and had the girl. Was there much left to ask for? Things where going absolutely perfect. And it was from this day until the fateful landing day that Bob Kerman started having nightmares.

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  • 3 weeks later...

sorry no updates in a while. been incredibly busy and had to do a lot of yard work after this windstorm blew down a ton of branches. but one cool thing is that i'm moving to serbia when the next school year starts. I'll be going to a international school in belgrade for pretty much until college.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Chapter 14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIODdfGHRF0 (you know the drill by now, also i'm baaaaaaaack!)

A  couple hundred years of exposure to solar radiation. mutation of preserved flesh cells in most vulnerable areas of kerbal genome, a rather radiation resilient species. tiny electric discharges due to static in ring system enabled cells to maintain comatose state. Complete widespread mutation of subjects cells. Subjects lungs become capable of processing water vapor, a abundant resource in Eeloo's rings. A passing spacecraft, most likely the Eelian battleship EGS Super Strider mixes the debris in the ring system, allowing a massive static shock to be built up. This shock discharged into the heart, and after a few tentative convulsions, began beating steadily. The kerbals eyes fluttered open. After quickly realizing the faceplate was smashed, the subject began to instinctively reach for the patch kit, but reasoning got the better and the subject realized that they were breathing...something. Anzer Kerman recalled the now fabled tragedy that had occurred in orbit all those years ago, his last memory being his vision fading as he watched Mayzee...no..."NOO!" he shouted to no avail. This still was space after all. He checked all around him, hoping to see some sign of civilization. There was no reason to assume that he had been asleep for any large amount of time, and although this only strengthened his misconceptions, he spotted a space suit floating not 100 meters away. He used the ring debris to move to the suit, and when he arrived, his worst fears were confirmed. there were multiple holes in Mayzee's suit, including the faceplate. even if the proper mutations had been made, Anzer figured, (he was smart enough to know that the radiation had likely saved his life.) there was no way the organs could support life. She was dead. Anzer would have wept, but the tears simply turned to snowflakes and floated off. In his rage, he remembered Gene's message to him before they left on their final voyage. About the rumors of how the militarist faction North Kerbin Dynamics had been contracted by the Flat Kerbin society to prevent the Eeloo landing at all costs. Anzer was not currently in a open state of mind and immediately jumped to conclusions. The eruption was not cryovolcanic, it was a attack. In Anzer's now twisted mind, he saw the fall of the space program, stoned to death by a malicious public. He saw the Flat Kerbin Society, with their North Kerbin Dynamics minions, nuke the entirety of the planet. Seeing the sprawling city's under him, he jumped to yet more conclusions and saw the multi billionaires that drove the Flat Kerbin engine see a entire suite of planets, ripe for financial exploitation, and with almost no resistance from the now shattered space program, gain the majority of political power. All of this, of course, was highly unlikely, but Anzer was so filled with rage he didn't really care. As the Zephyrs disciplinary officer, he carried a now antique pistol at his side. In the distance, he spotted a one man mining ship harvesting ice from the rings. Anzer undid the safety on his firearm and started to make his way over to the unsuspecting miner.

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It seems that in your long absence you forgot the knowledge of using the Enter key. Awesome song though.

On 23-4-2017 at 6:38 AM, The solid fuel chemist said:

started to make his way over to the unsuspecting miner.

Nice EVA fuel, it still works after <how many was it again?> years! Well, or he is using the gun as a thruster. Also cool how this guy can now breathes vaccuum. The big question: Can he still breathe air?

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