[AAR] Dauntless - The Grand Tour

[NASAFanboy]

The Dauntless - A Grand Tour Mission

Before I begin, I will tell you that my definition of "Grand Tour" simply means to have visit the SOI of every planet and moon, not the surface. Because of this, there will be landings on only one or two celestial bodies - Eve and Laythe. Moho, Minimus, Jool, Pol, Tylo, will all be restricted to flybys due to structural limitations - you will see why in the first chapter when we present the vessel that the crew of four (Jebediah, Bill, Nedbob, Adam) will inhabit for the next decade or so. Also, please note that the mission is one-way. I also give credit for Czoleketmuss for the layout style and his wonderful AAR that has inspired me to write my own. Now, since that's out of the way, let's begin.

CHAPTER PORTAL

SABATOGE

MUN AND MINIMUS

Chapter One: Launch

- "Dauntless STS-103-J, do you copy? All systems are reading normal; does that reflect the telemetry being shown on your equipment?"

- "Roger that Mission Control, we copy. Mission Commander Jebediah here. We're ready for launch. And yes, all systems are normal."

- "Affirmative. Are the landing capsules secure?"

- "Yes, yes they are."

- "This is Mission Specialist Adam speaking. All ion engines are still attached."

- "Of course, Mr. Obivous. They're welded."

- "Mission Control here, break it up you two. T-1 minutes to launch. You're all strapped in, right?"

- "Roger that, CAPCOM."

- "Mission Pilot Bill here. Boosters should work fine, right?"

- "Yes. Yes, I think they should."

- "Engine ignition. We are preparing to fire the boosters. Get ready for a gentle little push. Engine ignition; you're off!

- "****, little push? It feels like a fat Kerbal just mistook me for his be....ahhhh...."

- "Didn't copy that Adam. Don't swear. CAPCOM out, you should achieve orbit shortly."

- "Come on CAPCOM, Adam's a newcomer to this spaceflight bu-CAPCOM? You there?"

- "CAPCOM left. Atleast whoever voices the role left. He went to the bathroom. This is FLIGHT."

- "FLIGHT, this is Bill. Could you check my pulse?"

- "Negative. Beginning gravity turn."

- "FLIGHT, this is Jebediah, we have structural flunc-fluc-structural flucutations in the first stage. The SRB's are shaking themselves apart."

- "Considering there isn't a LES system, try your best to restore control. Turn on SAS."

- "SAS on, still heavy vibration in stage one but not as bad. SRB's just seperated - shouldn't be a issue anymore."

- "Copy that. CAPCOM is back."

- "We're starting the turn."

- "Apogee is rising. You've passed the border into the upper atmosphere at 20,000M."

- "Thank you. Can't wait until we're in space."

- "First stage seperated. Second stage ignition."

- "I'm cutting the second stage engine for a coast to Apogee."

- "We're thirty minutes away from Apogee. Jebediah out."

- "Thirty minutes? C'est kidding!"

- "Darn it, twenty five seconds!"

- "Mission Control here. We will bring the main ship computer online once you are safely in orbit."

- "Roger that. I approve. Hey, where did you pack the snacks? Nedbob Kerman, over."

- "Second deck, below flight station. First cabinet left of the book storage. Stay still, we're firing the second stage again to circulize and get you guys on a escape velocity. You'll flyby the Mun then swing by Minmus on a gravity assist."

- "This is FLIGHT. Stay still guys, there might be a few G's."

- "Orbit achieved, you guys are good to go. Activating ship computer, give us a second."

- "Mission Commander Jebediah here. Could someone onboard the shuttle please hand me the mission profile booklet?"

- "I'll get it. Here you go."

- "Jebediah here, I'm going to tell you guys the Mission. We'll swing by the Mun and Minmus on a trans-Eve trajectory, make our way to Moho with our ion engines, perform a perihelion oberth burn near the Sun, then head out to flyby Duna, Dres, and Eeloo, then arrive at our final destination, the Moons of Jool."

- "I'm going to open the payload bay."

- "Looks good, two capsules and a small habitat. Over."

- "Jebediah, hand me a blanket. I'm going to take a nap."

- "All right buddy. All systems good, good night."

*****

Edited April 7, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

CHAPTER 2: SABATOGE

- "Nedbob! Get up, now!"

- "Wha?"

- "Get up, now! Hold on, I'm talking to FLIGHT."

- "Jebediah! Immediately adjust your course, we have a ASAT missile heading your way."

- "What?! How?"

- "Just do it! Some terriost group launched a ASAT missile at you from the ground, and we need you to move out of the way. It's unguided, but it's going to hit you in around a hour. Adjust your course immediately. Cancel the lunar gravity assist, we'll have to fly past it at just the edge of its SOI, from a distance. It'll extend the transit by several months, but we can't have the shuttle destroyed. Here, let me patch in the news to your television screen."

- "InterPol, Homeland Security and the government of the United Proviences have confirmed a report of an Anti-Satellite missile firing several miles from the border of the former Great Union. The insurgents suspected for the cr-

- "Damn. Do we have a tracker on the missile?"

- "All we know is were it's going to hit, an that's your position, a hour around now. We can't do anything about it, so you'll have to adjust your course."

- "Roger that. Is the ship computer online?"

- "Certainly I am, Commander. Let us move quickly, there is no time to waste."

- "Great. Evil AI's, terroists, and a grand tour. This mission has gotten interesting."

- "Shut up, Nedbob."

- "Beginning adjustment burn. Fuel low on second stage, less than 50%."

- "Ow! Hey, computer, atleast give us a warning, can you?"

- "I do sincerely apologize for any misunderstandings in the past, and I will give you notice in the future."

- "Atleast the computer has manners ."

- "This is FLIGHT. I request that you turn your heat shield toward the sun. We aren't sure about what type of missile it is, except that its unguided. It's not following you, and you should have a thirty kilometer berth"

- "Thirty kilometers? That's too close for Bill."

- "Bill refers to him in the third person now? That's new."

- "Yes, Bill does. Anyways, back to busniess. I'll turn the head shield toward the sun, and close the cargo bay. We need to present as small of a target as possible. A single piece of sharpnel from the blast could destroy the Dauntless easily."

- "Roger that, Bill. Go ahead."

- "Should we eject the second stage?"

- "Negative. It's on its last, oh, fourty percent of fuel, but we'll need each and every unit of dV we can get if we're going to get to Eve. We need to conserve the xenon gas for the ion engines."

- "Oh well."

- "The missile is ten minutes away."

- "Analomous object detected. Three hundred kilometers and closing. Should we send a signal?

- "Don't. Maintain radio silence."

- "Oh boy, this is intense."

- "Adam, try to reduce our heat emissions. We don't know what guides the missile."

- "Got it. We've shutdown our radiators, but we can't stay like that for long times."

- "Only for this ten minutes."

- "Payload bay closed."

- "Jebediah, this is FLIGHT. Hello?"

- "I'll pick it up."

- "Do not communicate. Maintain radio silence."

- "Object is fifty kilometers away."

- "Oh great. To be killed by a ASAT missile, never expected that one. Sure, I could get into accident sometimes and Werhner would yell at me, but ASAT? Never expected that."

- "Hey, you see that?"

- "What, Bill?"

- "No, there was a flash."

- "Jebediah? Missile has denotated, are you and the Dauntless crew safe? Hello?"

- "Hello, this is Jebediah Kerman, we're safe. Over."

- "Heh. Structural issues, rockets, and now a terriost plot. What will the next few hours bring?"

*****

Edited April 7, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

CHAPTER 3: MUN AND MINMUS

- "So, hows it feel to be the farthest Kerbals from Kerbin right now? We're around a thousand kilometers farther than the old record with the Munshoot Program."

- "I don't know. The Moon is beautiful from here. Amazing."

- "I agree."

- "My friend Bob always said that sunrise from space is the most beautiful thing you will ever see. It's amazing, watching the sun ignite the glowing blue curvature of Kerbin. That was around a year ago, until the poor fellow killed himself in a training accident. Couldn't even get his remains."

- "Sorry to hear."

- "The ion engines are still in working order. We will use the attached upper stage to burn to Eve transfer and for course corrections on the way. We get to Moho on ion power."

- "Roger that. Did you file your status report with FLIGHT?"

- "That's a negative."

- "We are exiting Munar SOI in ten minutes."

- "Thank you, computer."

- "Should we EVA?"

- "That's a negative. We can't afford to waste our monopropellant tanks, we need them for emergencies and operations other places."

- "Ok."

- "We approach Minmus in three days, right?"

- "Aye."

- "Beginning course correction burn to Minmus."

- "And there goes some of our precious fuel."

- "It's worth it. We need the gravity of Minmus to fling us out of Kerbin's SOI."

- "Mun SOI has been exited."

- "Computer, orient ship toward Kerbin and take a picture."

- "Wow. It's so small."

- "We're officially the farthest Kerbals from Kerbin, and will keep up this record since we're going interplanetary. I'll guess we'll set a record that's going to stay for a loooong time."

- "How long has the mission lasted?"

- "We just passed the 24 hour mark."

- "Next stop, Minimus!"

******************

- "Yep. We've secured the record, all right."

- "Bill?"

- "Yes?"

- "Run the first experiment rack."

- "Roger that. TIme to start growing crystals and plants and the whatnot."

- "You got the seeds packaged?"

- "Yes. I'll get settled in the labratory and start working."

- "Kerbin is like a pinprick from this distance."

- "I agree."

- "So, I once had a girl back down on Kerbin once. Ran off with another fellow when I was on a space mission."

- "That must suck."

- "Certainly did, no kidding."

- "Computer, prepare for the Minimus escape and Eve transfer burn."

- "Yes sir. Three minutes toward burn."

- "Bill! Get strapped down, we'll pull a few more G's."

- "Yes sir!"

- "Starting burn toward Eve."

- "Second stage is out of fuel."

- "Computer, has the burn completed?"

- "Yes."

- "Computer, ejected second stage, NOW!"

- "Second stage ejected."

- "Activate ion engines!"

- "Ion engines activated."

- "Start the course-correction burn to Eve!"

-"Starting burn."

- "Let's do this!"