[Updated September 27th] A Planet Divided: The Story of the Kold War

[Tw1]

Bob's 'secret' for a little while.

In the meantime, it appears that I'm running out of bandwidth for Photobucket. Does anyone know a better photo hosting site? I'm experimenting with Flickr, but I wonder if there are any alternatives out there.

Imgur. It's easy, and I have had no bandwith problems.

[grockstar124]

Imgur. It's easy, and I have had no bandwith problems.

Yeah, I use Imgur also. Works like a charm!

[Mitchz95]

Loving the story so far!

[grockstar124]

Great story so far I check everyday for chapter 3... Please go on with the story!!!!!!

[Krevsin]

the pictures don't work, but the story itself is great!

[CalculusWarrior]

Great story so far I check everyday for chapter 3... Please go on with the story!!!!!!

the pictures don't work, but the story itself is great!

grockstar124: Don't you worry, the first part of Chapter 3 is being written as we speak! I foresee it coming out perhaps some time tomorrow evening or maybe Friday, I'm rather busy IRL at the moment. Glad to know you're enjoying the story though!

Krevsin: Apologies about the pictures! The pictures in the first post should all work; I appear to have forgotten to update the rest! I shall do that right away.

[wasmic]

A thing that I really like about this story is that it is not a blatant kerbalized ripoff of the RL cold war.

[Maxilica]

Damn! This thing is good! Can't wait for chapter three!

[CalculusWarrior]

You've asked for it, and here is Part 1 of Chapter 3, Watchdogs. Enjoy Danford's sudden encounter with the news!

---

CKFN: 6 Months Later

---

As Danford Kerman walked out of the supermarket, his thoughts were light and carefree, reflected by the casual smile he wore as he carried his bag of groceries. That changed to a frown of confusion, quickly to a wide-eyed moment of terror as he spotted the large semicircle of reporters and television cameras arrayed around the exit of the store. Less than a second passed before he was swarmed with reporters shouting questions, cameras flashing, and cameramen sticking their equipment in awkward places. As Danford was slowly engulfed by a growing pile of kerbals, a newscaster appeared in the foreground, and began speaking.

"Welcome back to Firesvar News. In the recent turn of events following the declassification of the CKFN Space Program, the previously little-known leader of the program, Danford Kerman, has been propelled into the spotlight. We have yet to find out what his plans are in response to the recent USKK manned missions,"

At this, the broadcast cut back to the studio, where a well-dressed kerbal began narrating.

"Merely three weeks after the launch of Latona I, the USKK launched a kerbal of their own into orbit, presumably aboard a modified version of their Aether 7 launch vehicle. While our space program did strike back, launching Jenfry Kerman aboard Latona II, within the past three weeks there have been no less than two kerballed launches from the USKK. Not only that, the rival space program has expanded their base of operations, renovating their Space Centre, as well as constructing additional launch sites across their country. Now, with the declassification of the space program, we can finally ask the Director of Operations himself the question which has been on everyone's minds: What does his program plan for a response? When will the CKFN see a rocket launch? We now return to our reporter on the street, to see if Danford is available for comment.

However, the chaos on the street had not abated much. The news cameras still showed Danford struggling through the raging tide of newscasters. It seemed like every news channel in the CKFN was here in this tiny grocery store's parking lot. Fortunately, the Firesvar News reporter was more acrobatic than most in the industry, vaulting over a pair of independent studios attempting to get a wide angle of Danford, who were then bowled over as the Firesvar cameraman pushed through to follow.

"Danford! Danford! Can you comment on the USKK's recent launches? Can you state when and how your program will respond? What are your plans for future exploration? Who will be the next kerbal in space?"

Danford managed to shrug off these questions, and as a gap in the wall of newscasters opened up in front of him, he made a mad dash to his car, still clutching his battered bag of groceries. Reaching his vehicle, he wasted no time in getting in, even as the reporters banged on the sides like creatures from a horror film. Even as he drove away, several reporters tried to chase him on foot.

Now that their story had escaped, the reporters began gathering up their equipment, and the view switched back to the studio, where the reporter began speculating on Danford's refusal to comment.

---

Turning off the TV screen, the three present members of the Advisory Council leaned back in their chairs and started chatting among themselves, mostly about the newscast and this turn of events. However, within a matter of minutes they were interrupted by the door to their room being kicked in.

SLAM

Danford Kerman stood there, his hair a mess, clothing rumpled and torn, and his battered bag of groceries still clutched in his left hand. He had eyes for only one kerbal in the room, Bilcas Kerman. Without even a pause for breath, he began shouting as he stalked over to the Communications Minister.

"Only one kerbal on Kerbin could possibly declassify the program and have the gall to neglect to tell me. Why did you do this, Bilcas? Why? You know I don't like this sort of public attention, in fact half the reason I agreed to take this job was because it was classified! I've got a job to do, I can't constantly be giving interviews, or have the media following me around all the time! Do you know how hard it was to find a store which sold my favourite apples? THEY WERE ON SALE, BILCAS. ON SALE."

Danford continued this rant for an impressively long time without drawing breath (he was part of choir in high school), but eventually he needed to pause, otherwise risk passing out. Bilcas took full advantage of this momentary respite to respond. "Take it easy Danford. Declassifying the entire space program was unexpected, I know, but it was costing us a fair amount of money to keep secret, and honestly, your rockets aren't much different than the USKK's. Besides, they share details of their space program with their citizens and its worked out fine for them so far."

"But the media…Bilcas, you just painted a target on my head. They're bloodthirsty; they're all going to want interviews, guest appearances, answering every little question they care to ask--I don't have time for that, I'm trying to run a space program!"

General Geofnard, who until now had been sitting in stunned silence at Danford's tirade, spoke up. "Do what I do, just give 'em a couple of good interviews, then just send a subordinate out to answer any further questions they have. They generally are pretty happy with that."

Bilcas continued. "The General speaks the truth, Danford. And while the increased media coverage may not be the easiest thing to live with, it should increase inspire kerbals to support their country, increasing national pride, as well as popular opinion about the space program, once you show them your lovely pictures!"

Danford, recognizing that Bilcas was not backing down, sank into a chair, burying his head in his hands. "Tell me the truth, Bilcas. Did you do this just to spite me? And where's the President? I'd like to get his take on this."

"What an absurd accusation, Danford! Everything I do, is for the good of the people of the CKFN!" responded Bilcas haughtily, but his eyes spoke a message much different than his words. "The President is away in West Jhazi, apparently there is a bit of…concern regarding the recent cabbage legislation. Not to worry, I already spoke with him about the declassification and he's all for it. Anyway, the budget has a surplus, since we're no longer keeping the program under wraps. I might be able to add that to your salary--it would make you a very wealthy kerbal."

So this is Bilcas' game, thought Danford. Trying to bribe me into submission. He was having none of that. "No Bilcas. Add the surplus to the space program's budget. The rockets need the money a lot more than I do."

"Heh. Maybe that will finally be enough for the program to start making progress."

Unfortunately for Bilcas, this was exactly the wrong thing to say. Danford erupted in rage again. "Progress? You want to see progress?" he shouted, leaping from his chair, startling the General and Bilfrod (who had been sitting in terrified silence ever since Danford had stormed in). "Schedule a press conference, at the Space Facility. I'm going to show you progress, more progress than you've ever seen!" Danford stormed out of the room, as sudden as he had entered, closing the door violently behind him.

SLAM

---

CKFN: 1.5 hours later, Facility for Space Research

---

Like flies to rotting meat, the reporters swarmed toward the Facility. Danford watched them arrive, marvelling at the fact that there appeared to be even more than had been at the grocery store. While he most definitely disliked the kerbal, Bilcas certainly knew how to get things done.

As the crowd gathered, Danford led them into the VAB. While small in size compared to the USKK's, it was still larger than most buildings in the CKFN, and more than sufficient to build the Aether line of rockets. A pair of technicians' eyes widened at the sheer number of kerbals approaching, and they quickly scuttled away. Danford had firmly told the reporters that he would not be answering any questions until they had reached their destination, which made the journey mercifully quiet, if a bit awkward. At last, they arrived at the main chamber of the building, where all the rockets were designed, built, and tested.

Engineers, scientists, technicians, and ground control staff were everywhere within this massive room. Some were building what looked like the lower half of a rocket, others were testing responses of aerodynamic fins, still more were assembling a large rocket engine, some were cutting away at sheet metal, and at least six kerbals were napping, in specifically-chosen noise-free positions. The room almost seemed to characterize chaos itself, but as Danford's group entered, the various hammering, sawing, machining, and snoring gradually came to a halt. Silence filled the great room, as the space program's staff stared at the CKFN's entire news industry.

Clearing his throat, Danford spoke. "Greetings all. I trust you've had plenty of time to speculate about the future of the CKFN's space program, and as to what our response to the recent USKK launches will be. I'm here to throw all that speculation away, and show you our plan for yourselves."

At this, he gestured to the largest knot of staff in the centre of the room. They stood back, revealing the project they had been working on, a small capsule, roughly the size of a minivan.

The reporters seemed almost taken aback as they all rushed to take pictures and video of this spacecraft. Evidently, none of them had expected Danford to actually have anything in response to the USKK.

One reporter asked Danford a question, much less pointed than the ones that he had been receiving recently. "Danford, can you tell us exactly what we're looking at here? What is this spacecraft you've been working on?"

"This here is the next logical step in space exploration. Our first two flights of Aether were certainly productive and yielded a great deal of science and information, but we ran into difficulty when communicating with the pilot, and having him or her perform the experiments. With this two-kerbal design, we should be able to include a kerbonaut with scientific training to do experiments, while the pilot flies the spacecraft."

"Incredible! And how long will this stay in space for?" asked another kerbal.

"We've dramatically increased the life support functionality on this version of the spacecraft," responded Danford. "She should be able to remain in space for about a week, with both kerbals living comfortably on board. It is unlikely that we'll ever need to perform a mission of that length, but it is good to have the ability to last that long."

By now, the reporters had gotten over their initial shock at seeing the spacecraft, and were beginning to bombard Danford with questions again. "Will your current rockets be able to lift the capsule?" "What is the expected range of the spacecraft?" "What do you plan to accomplish with it?"

"The capsule will be heavier than the Aether spacecraft, this much is certain. However, we have extended the body of the rocket used to lift that ship, as well as added more power to the engines. This will allow us to easily lift the spacecraft into Kerbin orbit, going higher than any spacecraft has ever gone before. It possesses an integrated propulsion system, which runs off four smaller engines, rather than the single LV-909 we were using on the Aether spacecraft. This allows us to retain the engines upon reentry, giving us the ability to prevent the capsule from being blown off-course on landing, like the Aether was, on both occasions it flew."

"You mentioned advanced life support. What steps have you taken to avoid its systems being fried by the same radiation that messes with your probes?"

At this, Danford grimaced. Evidently, Bilcas had declassified all of the space program's reports. Fortunately, he had an answer.

"Since kerbals tend to be vulnerable to radiation too, we have thoroughly rad-proofed the entire spacecraft. This allowed us to place our most advanced computers onboard, which lets us perform even more data collection and analysis while on-orbit. Additionally, it helps our pilot out, as attempting to gauge angular velocity by using a sextant is apparently quite difficult. (the crowd chuckled at this) We intend to use this spacecraft as a stepping stone on the eventual journey to reach the Mun, by researching and testing the technology and hardware required to make that journey."

The assembly of reporters broke into applause, their questions momentarily forgotten, or rendered obsolete by this new announcement of the CKFN Space Program's target: the Mun!

However, the reporter from Firesvar News had one last query. Stepping forward, they asked Danford, "And what is the name of this spacecraft?"

Danford answered simply. "Caelus."

---

After this speech, the media dispersed. Their questions were answered, and they all wished to return to their respective studios so that they could broadcast the news to the entire CKFN.

Danford sat in his office, utterly exhausted. He had attempted eating one of the apples he'd purchased earlier in the day, but found it to be bruised all over. Still, he had accomplished something he'd previously thought impossible: sating the media's desire for information.

Reading a report on the reception of this surprise broadcast from the Space Facility, Danford realized that the people of the CKFN supported the space program as much as, or even more so than the USKK's population. He'd already seen interviews of random citizens expressing their approval of Caelus spacecraft, as well as his policy towards the exploration of space so far.

Maybe Bilcas was right, but not in the way he intended. Danford mused, watching the sun set. The people do need an ideal to look up to, but that ideal isn't a faceless government telling them what they should believe, but perhaps it needs to be a vision for exploration, a call to discover what lies beyond our tiny planet. Maybe this space program can inspire the people of Kerbin to do great things.

Unfortunately, it appears that KSP Forum posts can only be 100 000 characters in length (have I written that much already?), so I'll be unable to update the original post as I've been doing. I'd still like to keep all the text of this story together in one place for new readers, so let me know what sort of format (external site/document, links to the posts, external site, some combination of the above?) would work the best for everyone.

Hope you're all enjoying the story!

Edited July 4, 2014 by CalculusWarrior

[Mitchz95]

Nice! What mod changes the appearance of the Caelus' lander can?

[KSK]

Oh yeah!

I'm picturing the combined kerbal Press Corps as something like a pack of five year old humans on a sugar rush. They'll most likely break things but only out of excitement, excess enthusiasm and sheer weight of numbers! Ambushing a kerbal with a bag of fresh snacks was a bit mean though.

Loved the message at the end. *Raises glass* - here's to the Caelus, to all that build her and all that fly aboard her.

Strange that you're having problems with character limits. Not something I've encountered with First Flight thankfully and that's comfortably over 100K characters. One thing you could try (assuming you're not using it for something else already) is to post new chapters as entries on your forum blog and then use this thread for comments and links to new chapters.

[ExplodingRocketShips]

How did you get the FASA Launch tower and the rocket to KSC2's Launch pad? That's interesting.

[CalculusWarrior]

Mitch: It's quite the long story, but I had installed the Kerbal Renaissance Compilation, which changes a whole bunch of things, including the pods and several engines (it's just a TextureReplacer config). However, I found that the newer version of Better Atmospheres gave nicer-looking visuals of the planet Kerbin, so I uninstalled Renaissance, then installed BA, but kept the changed pods. However, the changed pods will not be universal, as I find it hard to believe that the USKK and CKFN would have the same-looking technology, despite being separated by half a planet. As such, the CKFN launches will use the new pods, and the USKK ones will use the normal pods.

Exploding: That is an entirely different mod. When I saw that authors had come up with more bases around Kerbin, I was overjoyed and immediately installed that (we may see more variety in locales in the future). It utilizes Kerbtown, which allows you to launch your craft from different locations, launch towers and all. KSC 2 was already a preset there, so this worked a lot better than my previous method, which was just to HyperEdit the ships to the launchpad.

[The Jedi Master]

Did you name that chapter intentionally? Because I've been playing that game pretty obsessively since it came out.

[CalculusWarrior]

Did you name that chapter intentionally? Because I've been playing that game pretty obsessively since it came out.

I wanted something news-related for the title, and with the game just having been released, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!

[Mitchz95]

Any ETA on the next chapter?

[CalculusWarrior]

The writing is mostly done, I just need to actually fire up KSP and take the pictures. I'll most likely next be able to work on it tomorrow evening, so it should be up then. However, to tide you over, I've put the story so far onto an external site (just a basic Google Site, HTML is not a skill of mine), and the story in its entirety can be accessed from there. I'll continue to post the new chapters in standard replies like I've been doing, but only the first two chapters will be available from the first post. To get the rest, you'll have to go here: https://sites.google.com/site/koldwarstory/

[xenomorph555]

Really great story, lovin it!

Slight problem I noticed was in the latest chapter, you mixed up Latona with Aether.

"While small in size compared to the USKK's, it was still larger than most buildings in the CKFN, and more than sufficient to build the Aether line of rockets."

"Our first two flights of Aether were certainly productive and yielded a great deal of science and information"

"The capsule will be heavier than the Aether spacecraft, this much is certain."

"rather than the single LV-909 we were using on the Aether spacecraft. This allows us to retain the engines upon reentry, giving us the ability to prevent the capsule from being blown off-course on landing, like the Aether was, on both occasions it flew."

Other then that this is great and refreshing from the same, old us vs ussr stories. Keep up the good work

[CalculusWarrior]

The next chapter is out at last! It's a long one, so strap in. Not only does a rocket launch, but Jebediah gets to do some flying!

---

USKK: Jebediah Kerman's Personal Retreat, twenty minutes earlier.

---

Jebediah jogged towards his plane. Being the Director of an entire Space Program sure did have its perks, a private jet was only one of them. This launch facility had been constructed as a backup to the main Space Centre while renovations were underway. Now that they were complete and main operations had been moved back south, Jeb had decided to make this base his own special getaway, where he could plan the future of the Space Program, meet with important bigwigs, and most importantly, get some flying in once in a while. At the moment, he was indeed indulging in the latter, as the launch of the USKK's newest kerballed mission was about to commence and he needed to get down to the Space Centre quickly!

Climbing the ladder, Jeb gave a thumbs-up to the ground crew. As the pit glass slid shut over his head, he powered on the instruments and began the preflight checklist. As the jet engine spooled up, he pulled on his helmet. This was always his favourite part of the launch; the vibration of the plane gently increased in frequency, whispering to him of the journey ahead.

Flight! To think that barely a year ago, kerbals could only stare up at the sky wistfully, dreaming of touching the Mun and the stars. He marvelled at the ability of the scientists and engineers that had made this all possible, not to mention the others. The entire Space Program would have been nothing but a tiny government-run sideshow (much like the CKFN's) if the large corporations of the USKK hadn't pooled their resources and funded his dream.

A crackle in his earpiece brought him out of his reverie.

"You ready to fly, Jeb?" asked the ground controller.

"Roger that, Tower. All systems are green, and engines are spooled up," he responded. Upon receiving clearance to head out, Jeb disengaged the brakes, taxied down the runway, and took off into the clear blue skies.

---

"Big J to KSC-1, Big J to KSC-1, do you read me, over?"

"*sigh* Hi Jeb." The voice of the ever-suffering Gene came over Jeb's headset.

"Jeb? Who is this Jeb? On the radio, you have to refer to me as 'Big J', remember, over?" replied Jeb, trying to get a rise out of the kerbal.

"Yeah, sure. 'Big J', what's your status? …Over?" Gene responded, somehow pronouncing the quotation marks.

"So glad you asked, KSC-1, I'm flying high and fast, it's a beautiful day for a launch! How's Jorfred doing, over?"

"Oh, I can put you through to him personally." Some static came over the radio, "There you are, Fred."

"D-director Jeb! It is a pleasure to speak with y-you, sir!" The kerbonaut sounded quite nervous, though whether for the launch or simply the opportunity to talk with the space program's Director, Jeb wasn't sure.

"There's no need to call me 'sir', just call me Jeb. How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing well, sir Jeb! I'm all set to head into space. It's going to be my first time up there, and I'm worried I'm not going to do a good job!"

"Don't worry, Jorfred. You'll do fine. Gene, what's the status on the rocket?"

"She's ready to launch, the countdown stands at ten minutes, and we're ready to proceed as soon as you get here."

"Perfect. Keep me updated."

---

Five minutes out from KSC, Jeb's earpiece crackled to life again.

"What's up Gene?"

"Uh…you're going to want to see this, boss."

"See what? What's going on? Is Kaether IV still operational?"

"Yes, the rocket's fine, but it's…well…we picked up a CKFN news broadcast."

"So? They're always covering useless stuff. Like cabbage sales! Who cares about cabbages anyway?"

"This time it's different. They're covering footage from their space program."

"Their space program? But it's a secret government project. The only way they could be covering footage is if…"

"They declassified the program. Somebody in the CKFN wants attention."

"I'll say. They must be getting desperate for funding. So what's the subject?"

"I'm not sure. Right now the Director of their space program is leading the news crews into their VAB."

"Heh, he's probably trying to pass off whatever collection of junk they're working on as their next rocket!"

"Ha ha, judging by the state of that place, it doesn't look like you're too far off! Wait, they're focusing on some sort of capsule…what's this?"

"Gene?"

"It can't be…oh good SQUAD it is. They're working on a spacecraft--that can carry two kerbals!"

"What? Two kerbals?" Jeb sat back in his seat, letting the full enormity of this piece of news wash over him. Having a second kerbal on a mission would enable tremendous new opportunities for missions. The second pair of hands could operate experiments, take pictures, even pilot the spacecraft while the first kerbonaut was busy. The idea had been tossed around by his scientists and engineers, but no one had dared build such a design, as the current generation of rockets was barely powerful enough to lift one kerbal.

Gathering his wits, Jeb reactivated the comm. "When are they expecting to launch?"

"Within the month. What should we do, boss?"

"I don't know Gene…I just don't know." Jeb pondered his options. On one hand, he could launch Jorfred right now, and claim a total of four kerballed missions to space. However, launching a single pod right after the CKFN had announced their larger, more advanced model smacked of ignorance and failure. On the other hand, he could hold off launching until they had developed a two-kerbal capsule of their own, but that might take too much time. What to do?

"Boss, the boys in Mission Control are getting anxious. They want to know how we'll proceed."

As Gene's voice entered his ear, Jeb dropped below the clouds, seeing the Space Centre directly beneath him, with Kaether IV sitting on the launchpad, Jorfred secured away inside.

Looking at the rocket, Jeb was struck with an idea. Coming to a decision, Jeb spoke. "We're scrubbing the launch. Get Jorfred out of the ship, but don't dismantle it just yet…I have a plan."

---

USKK: Two weeks later

---

Things were as hectic as ever in the VAB, as the countdown ticked once more towards launch. Gene Kerman strode through a knot of scientists inspecting gauges and readouts plugged into the rocket, which had been wheeled back into the VAB. Approaching the Lead Engineer, Gene spoke up.

"Danbro! How are the systems coming along? You said they'd be done by this morning!"

Turning around, Danbro replied. "Not a problem, bro. We're just having a bit of difficulty with the electric systems, the added pod draws too much power. Burmy here was suggesting we just add more batteries," he gestured to the kerbal to his immediate right, whose suggestion evidently was popular, by the amount of nodding and thumbs up given by the surrounding crowd.

To tell the truth, Gene did not know (nor care) how this rocket worked. It was his job to make sure they got into the sky, nothing more. So it was with feigned knowledge he replied: "Sure, sure, that would work well. Attach those batteries and make sure we are good to launch before 3. I want this ship in space before dark."

"Roger that, bud!" Danbro said with a smile. Turning back to his group of engineers, he motioned them into work.

Gene continued along, looking up at the rocket. Fundamentally, it was not much different from its original model, the Kaether IV. While most of the systems hadn't changed, the most striking addition was the welding of an additional pod upside-down on top of the original. More changes were the boosters along the bottom of the ship, which widened its base significantly. Spotting Bill, along with another couple engineers next to one of the boosters, Gene rushed over, checking his clipboard. It was Jebediah's idea to add larger, higher thrust boosters to the original Kaether rocket in order to lift the additional pod. These newly-designed 'Solid Rocket Boosters' suited his plans very nicely.

"What's the status on the SRBs, Bill?" Gene asked, feeling proud that he knew the acronym for the boosters. Knowing the lingo for parts was very important for if he was to appear knowledgeable about rockets.

"Hi Gene. They're good to go, but Desdan here wants to add more struts to make sure they're properly secured to the rocket on liftoff. I say that the decouplers are more than strong enough, and besides, we're dumping them about 90 seconds into flight, so they won't have much time to vibrate loose. What's your opinion?"

More policy choices! What did people think he was, a rocket scientist? "Uh, how long will attaching the struts take?"

"Anywhere from two to six days. We don't have the necessary parts on hand, so we'd have to order them specially."

While Gene did not understand much about rockets, timetables were his forte. "Nope. That's too much of a delay. We're already behind schedule enough as it is. Bill's right, Desdan."

Desdan looked crestfallen, but Bill was thrilled. "Perfect! Once Danbro finishes with the electrical systems, we should be ready to roll the rocket out to the launchpad!"

Even as he spoke, Danbro's posse advanced towards the rocket, with AAAA batteries and what looked suspiciously like duct tape in hand.

---

USKK: Three hours later

---

Gene was satisfied. From his usual position in Mission Control, he noted that the rocket had been rolled out ahead of schedule, and all systems checked out.

"Jorfred, Erdrin, what's your status?" he asked, toggling the comms.

"Roger that Control, we're strapped in and systems are reading good" came the voice of Erdrin, the kerbal sitting in the lower pod.

"Excellent, all systems are go on this end, preparing to restart the countdown."

The big countdown timer at the front of the room restarted from its position at 5:00:00, and it was at this moment when Jebediah walked into the room, still in his flight suit. He had evidently just returned from his private island.

"So glad you could make the launch," said Gene, with perhaps more than just a touch of sarcasm.

"Sorry!" Jeb responded, with his usual enthusiasm. "A couple of CEOs from our sponsorship group wanted to talk. They were saying something about 'increasing public visibility' and 'profit margins', but it's not important right now. We've got a rocket to launch!"

"That we do," said Gene, turning back to the staff in Mission Control. "Alright people, double and triple-check those systems! We're now at three minutes to launch!"

---

Jorfred switched on his internal communicator and radioed his partner.

"Say, Erdrin, how are you doing?"

"Good, I'm excited to go back to space! How about you? You sound nervous."

"Uh…nope, I'm just excited too!"

Jorfred quickly turned off the comm. To tell the truth, he was nervous, but didn't want to reveal it to his partner, or Harv forbid, the Ground Control team. They might take him off this mission! He'd already been denied that chance once before, and he was going to space today, yessiree. However, sitting in the upper capsule was not much fun. Since Erdrin scored lower than he in the centrifuge, he'd be riding upside-down the whole way up, and thus taking more negative g forces.

He'd asked around, questioning kerbals who had also experienced negative g's what it was like. Unfortunately, the experiences were universally negative. One kerbal had explained in excruciating detail the discomfort you felt as you were dragged out of your seat, the straps digging into you as if an invisible hand was attempting to pluck you from your capsule. And Jorfred would have to endure this for the whole way up!

Already he was getting sore from sitting upside-down in the 1 g of Kerbin's gravity. He couldn't imagine what the launch would be like. As the radio informed them that one minute remained on the countdown, he began cursing the engineers and scientists who had decided to place the pod this way. 'Increased protection upon reentry,' they had said. 'It just looks nicer,' they said (Indeed, Danbro had commented at length on the importance of a good hourglass figure). Jorfred knew that if they'd taken extra time to refit the interior so that he was sitting right-side-up, it would have resulted in the CKFN launching their twin-kerbal pod first, and that certainly couldn't be allowed. Though it was quite difficult to feel very patriotic when sitting upside-down in a tiny capsule, straps digging into one's chest.

Then came the crackle of the radio Jorfred dreaded.

"Twenty seconds until launch"

Well, at least he was going to space. From the stories the others told, as well as the pictures they brought back, it ought to be incredible.

"Fifteen"

Still, he wished he was at least facing the right way up, though in zero-g he wouldn't have to worry about that, right?

"Ten. All systems nominal"

He was glad that he didn't have to worry about piloting the ship, Erdrin was taking over that job since she'd had more experience flying rockets. She'd actually been in orbit twice in the last two months, and was the natural choice for piloting an as-of-yet untested rocket. All he had to do was grin and bear it.

"Five"

"Four"

"Three"

Jorfred squeezed his eyes shut.

"Two"

"One"

His world erupted into one of noise, vibration, and pain. The shaking alone was nearly unbearable, it caused his headset to start vibrating its way around his helmet. Not that he paid much attention to what was being said over it; the deep bass rumble from the rocket engines combined with the endless shaking served to drown out all other noise. But this all paled in comparison to the sheer pressure being applied to his back. Forget the invisible hand, this felt like a hydraulic ram forcing him forwards in his seat.

Opening his eyes did not improve the situation. The interior of the capsule was a blur; the vibrations of the main engine prevented him from focusing on any one point inside the ship.

His eyes feeling like they were about to escape his skull certainly did not help his vision. More worryingly, though, Jorfred began seeing black spots encroach upon his field of view. His vision slowly darkened, as it became more and more difficult to draw breath. The straps keeping him in his seats were like twin brands burning across his chest, but even that pain began to dull as his vision faded. His last thoughts as he drifted away were worries about whether he'd ever get to see Kerbin from space.

---

Jorfred was floating in the ocean. No wind, no waves, just bobbing along gently, so gently. Save for the occasional squawk of an annoying seabird in his ear, that is. As his mind slowly began to come back to reality, he realized that he was in fact not doing the backfloat on a sunny Kerbin afternoon, but instead in a cramped, dark capsule, hovering above his seat. Wait…where were his straps? In a daze, he fumbled around, only to find that one was still over his shoulder, but the other had snapped cleanly away from where it joined with the capsule. Lousy engineers, he grumbled to himself. Now that he was more awake, he did a quick once-over of himself. He was still clad within his flight suit, rated for only high-altitude flight, not the hard vacuum on the other side of his capsule's walls. While the suit looked fine, his body did not feel well at all. He ached all over, and his eyes wouldn't focus right. He had a killer headache, to match the two pains down his front where the straps had been. He wouldn't be surprised if he found himself sporting bruises for a very long time after he'd landed.

Looking through the window, he spotted the planet Kerbin. He'd seen the pictures, but they always lacked a certain…something. The yellow-spotted dark blue curve outside his window was magnificent, made more so by being the only home he, and indeed every other kerbal throughout history had ever known. Despite knowing that pictures wouldn't fully capture the sight of the planet, he began searching for his camera…only to be met with a stabbing pain in his side. He'd only been given a basic first aid course at the Kerbonaut Training Centre, but he knew enough to self-diagnose a broken rib. Great. Just great, he thought to himself. But before he could get to patching himself up, the calls of his partner reached him over his headset, the 'annoying seabird' of earlier.

"Calling all frequencies, this is Erdrin Kerman aboard the Uranus I. My crewmate is not responding, and am out of contact with my ground station. Repeat, this is--"

"Erdrin, don't worry! I'm fine!" reassured Jorfred, slightly hoarsely.

"Thank SQUAD you're alright! You've only been out for about ten minutes, but I didn't realize it until we had passed out of range of Ground Control. I don’t blame you for passing out though; that takeoff was much rougher than usual!"

"Well, other than a few bruises and a headache, I survived!" Jorfred purposely neglected to mention his other injuries, just in case she and Control decided to end the mission early. He was going to tough this mission out! Who knew when he'd get another shot at this?

"That's good to hear. Anyways, we should be about fifteen minutes away from passing back over USKK territory, we should be able to get a signal then. Did you receive much of a briefing of what we're supposed to be doing up here? I think somebody stuck a thermometer or something on the side."

Nursing his side, Jorfred tried to recall. He'd been too excited to pay much attention at the time. "Uh…not that I can remember, no. I think this mission was planned just to beat the CKFN's launch. It's pretty much the Kaether V with an extra capsule thrown on top. I'm glad they decided to change the name though."

"Really? I liked how they added a 'k' to the front of the Aether's name, it was a clever touch; it showed that it's a kerballed version of the Aether probe!"

"True, but now it seems people are starting to add 'k's to every single word out there. I even saw an ad for 'konuts' the other day!"

"Hey, if it keeps people interested in the Space Program, I don't mind. At least we don't have to resort to press conferences like the CKFN did!"

"I agree, that looked like a madhouse." Jorfred realized they were passing over that very nation right now. Despite being over one hundred kilometres away, he still felt uncomfortable talking about it, fearing those newskerbals may be listening in. "I wonder if--ow!"

In Jorfred's efforts to look for his first aid kit, he had inadvertently and very painfully discovered that he had also damaged his left knee in some way.

"What's wrong, Fred?"

"Er…nothing. Just banged my head on the side of the capsule."

"Wow, you're out of your straps already? I didn't even unbuckle until my second mission--I was too scared."

"Heh…it was sort of a spur of the moment thing, y'know?"

"Totally, being out of your seat is amazing. You can't maneuver much in these capsules, but it feels like flying!"

"…It sure does," Jorfred certainly did not feel like he was flying. He'd braced himself in his seat to prevent any aggrivation of his injuries. Fortunately, the rest of him was undamaged, his vision had improved, and even his headache was starting to fade. He did see the truth in Erdrin's words, though. Up here, far above the clouds, above the petty squabbling of nations, one felt truly free. He gazed at the lights of cities below, trying to imagine each individual kerbal going about his or her daily life. Did they even pay attention to the skies above? Did they see the stars through the clouds, or even dare to dream of visiting them one day? Based on his past experiences, he estimated that the majority did not, but there were a certain few who put all logic aside and looked up with a passion.

Jorfred had always been one of those few kerbals, and look where he was now! The journey had certainly been hard, long, and painful (most especially so recently), but it had most certainly been worth it. As the Space Centre came back into range of their antenna and communication began in earnest again, he gazed out the window one more time and stared at the endless vista of stars.

Edited July 7, 2014 by CalculusWarrior

[xenomorph555]

Brilliant!

[grockstar124]

Cool ! I assume the current missions are like the first Gemini missions. Keep it up!

[DuoDex]

The next chapter is out at last! It's a long one, so strap in. Not only does a rocket launch, but Jebediah gets to do some flying!

---

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5507/14398126573_dd5ee2c824_t.jpgUSKK: Jebediah Kerman's Personal Retreat, twenty minutes earlier.

---

Jebediah jogged towards his plane. Being the Director of an entire Space Program sure did have its perks, a private jet was only one of them. This launch facility had been constructed as a backup to the main Space Centre while renovations were underway. Now that they were complete and main operations had been moved back south, Jeb had decided to make this base his own special getaway, where he could plan the future of the Space Program, meet with important bigwigs, and most importantly, get some flying in once in a while. At the moment, he was indeed indulging in the latter, as the launch of the USKK's newest kerballed mission was about to commence and he needed to get down to the Space Centre quickly!

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Climbing the ladder, Jeb gave a thumbs-up to the ground crew. As the pit glass slid shut over his head, he powered on the instruments and began the preflight checklist. As the jet engine spooled up, he pulled on his helmet. This was always his favourite part of the launch; the vibration of the plane gently increased in frequency, whispering to him of the journey ahead.

Flight! To think that barely a year ago, kerbals could only stare up at the sky wistfully, dreaming of touching the Mun and the stars. He marvelled at the ability of the scientists and engineers that had made this all possible, not to mention the others. The entire Space Program would have been nothing but a tiny government-run sideshow (much like the CKFN's) if the large corporations of the USKK hadn't pooled their resources and funded his dream.

A crackle in his earpiece brought him out of his reverie.

"You ready to fly, Jeb?" asked the ground controller.

"Roger that, Tower. All systems are green, and engines are spooled up," he responded. Upon receiving clearance to head out, Jeb disengaged the brakes, taxied down the runway, and took off into the clear blue skies.

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---

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"Big J to KSC-1, Big J to KSC-1, do you read me, over?"

"*sigh* Hi Jeb." The voice of the ever-suffering Gene came over Jeb's headset.

"Jeb? Who is this Jeb? On the radio, you have to refer to me as 'Big J', remember, over?" replied Jeb, trying to get a rise out of the kerbal.

"Yeah, sure. 'Big J', what's your status? …Over?" Gene responded, somehow pronouncing the quotation marks.

"So glad you asked, KSC-1, I'm flying high and fast, it's a beautiful day for a launch! How's Jorfred doing, over?"

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"Oh, I can put you through to him personally." Some static came over the radio, "There you are, Fred."

"D-director Jeb! It is a pleasure to speak with y-you, sir!" The kerbonaut sounded quite nervous, though whether for the launch or simply the opportunity to talk with the space program's Director, Jeb wasn't sure.

"There's no need to call me 'sir', just call me Jeb. How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing well, sir Jeb! I'm all set to head into space. It's going to be my first time up there, and I'm worried I'm not going to do a good job!"

"Don't worry, Jorfred. You'll do fine. Gene, what's the status on the rocket?"

"She's ready to launch, the countdown stands at ten minutes, and we're ready to proceed as soon as you get here."

"Perfect. Keep me updated."

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---

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Five minutes out from KSC, Jeb's earpiece crackled to life again.

"What's up Gene?"

"Uh…you're going to want to see this, boss."

"See what? What's going on? Is Kaether IV still operational?"

"Yes, the rocket's fine, but it's…well…we picked up a CKFN news broadcast."

"So? They're always covering useless stuff. Like cabbage sales! Who cares about cabbages anyway?"

"This time it's different. They're covering footage from their space program."

"Their space program? But it's a secret government project. The only way they could be covering footage is if…"

"They declassified the program. Somebody in the CKFN wants attention."

"I'll say. They must be getting desperate for funding. So what's the subject?"

"I'm not sure. Right now the Director of their space program is leading the news crews into their VAB."

"Heh, he's probably trying to pass off whatever collection of junk they're working on as their next rocket!"

"Ha ha, judging by the state of that place, it doesn't look like you're too far off! Wait, they're focusing on some sort of capsule…what's this?"

"Gene?"

"It can't be…oh good SQUAD it is. They're working on a spacecraft--that can carry two kerbals!"

"What? Two kerbals?" Jeb sat back in his seat, letting the full enormity of this piece of news wash over him. Having a second kerbal on a mission would enable tremendous new opportunities for missions. The second pair of hands could operate experiments, take pictures, even pilot the spacecraft while the first kerbonaut was busy. The idea had been tossed around by his scientists and engineers, but no one had dared build such a design, as the current generation of rockets was barely powerful enough to lift one kerbal.

Gathering his wits, Jeb reactivated the comm. "When are they expecting to launch?"

"Within the month. What should we do, boss?"

"I don't know Gene…I just don't know." Jeb pondered his options. On one hand, he could launch Jorfred right now, and claim a total of four kerballed missions to space. However, launching a single pod right after the CKFN had announced their larger, more advanced model smacked of ignorance and failure. On the other hand, he could hold off launching until they had developed a two-kerbal capsule of their own, but that might take too much time. What to do?

"Boss, the boys in Mission Control are getting anxious. They want to know how we'll proceed."

As Gene's voice entered his ear, Jeb dropped below the clouds, seeing the Space Centre directly beneath him, with Kaether IV sitting on the launchpad, Jorfred secured away inside.

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Looking at the rocket, Jeb was struck with an idea. Coming to a decision, Jeb spoke. "We're scrubbing the launch. Get Jorfred out of the ship, but don't dismantle it just yet…I have a plan."

---

USKK: Two weeks later

---

Things were as hectic as ever in the VAB, as the countdown ticked once more towards launch. Gene Kerman strode through a knot of scientists inspecting gauges and readouts plugged into the rocket, which had been wheeled back into the VAB. Approaching the Lead Engineer, Gene spoke up.

"Danbro! How are the systems coming along? You said they'd be done by this morning!"

Turning around, Danbro replied. "Not a problem, bro. We're just having a bit of difficulty with the electric systems, the added pod draws too much power. Burmy here was suggesting we just add more batteries," he gestured to the kerbal to his immediate right, whose suggestion evidently was popular, by the amount of nodding and thumbs up given by the surrounding crowd.

To tell the truth, Gene did not know (nor care) how this rocket worked. It was his job to make sure they got into the sky, nothing more. So it was with feigned knowledge he replied: "Sure, sure, that would work well. Attach those batteries and make sure we are good to launch before 3. I want this ship in space before dark."

"Roger that, bud!" Danbro said with a smile. Turning back to his group of engineers, he motioned them into work.

Gene continued along, looking up at the rocket. Fundamentally, it was not much different from its original model, the Kaether IV. While most of the systems hadn't changed, the most striking addition was the welding of an additional pod upside-down on top of the original. More changes were the boosters along the bottom of the ship, which widened its base significantly. Spotting Bill, along with another couple engineers next to one of the boosters, Gene rushed over, checking his clipboard. It was Jebediah's idea to add larger, higher thrust boosters to the original Kaether rocket in order to lift the additional pod. These newly-designed 'Solid Rocket Boosters' suited his plans very nicely.

"What's the status on the SRBs, Bill?" Gene asked, feeling proud that he knew the acronym for the boosters. Knowing the lingo for parts was very important for if he was to appear knowledgeable about rockets.

"Hi Gene. They're good to go, but Desdan here wants to add more struts to make sure they're properly secured to the rocket on liftoff. I say that the decouplers are more than strong enough, and besides, we're dumping them about 90 seconds into flight, so they won't have much time to vibrate loose. What's your opinion?"

More policy choices! What did people think he was, a rocket scientist? "Uh, how long will attaching the struts take?"

"Anywhere from two to six days. We don't have the necessary parts on hand, so we'd have to order them specially."

While Gene did not understand much about rockets, timetables were his forte. "Nope. That's too much of a delay. We're already behind schedule enough as it is. Bill's right, Desdan."

Desdan looked crestfallen, but Bill was thrilled. "Perfect! Once Danbro finishes with the electrical systems, we should be ready to roll the rocket out to the launchpad!"

Even as he spoke, Danbro's posse advanced towards the rocket, with AAAA batteries and what looked suspiciously like duct tape in hand.

---

USKK: Three hours later

---

Gene was satisfied. From his usual position in Mission Control, he noted that the rocket had been rolled out ahead of schedule, and all systems checked out.

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"Jorfred, Erdrin, what's your status?" he asked, toggling the comms.

"Roger that Control, we're strapped in and systems are reading good" came the voice of Erdrin, the kerbal sitting in the lower pod.

"Excellent, all systems are go on this end, preparing to restart the countdown."

The big countdown timer at the front of the room restarted from its position at 5:00:00, and it was at this moment when Jebediah walked into the room, still in his flight suit. He had evidently just returned from his private island.

"So glad you could make the launch," said Gene, with perhaps more than just a touch of sarcasm.

"Sorry!" Jeb responded, with his usual enthusiasm. "A couple of CEOs from our sponsorship group wanted to talk. They were saying something about 'increasing public visibility' and 'profit margins', but it's not important right now. We've got a rocket to launch!"

"That we do," said Gene, turning back to the staff in Mission Control. "Alright people, double and triple-check those systems! We're now at three minutes to launch!"

---

Jorfred switched on his internal communicator and radioed his partner.

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"Say, Erdrin, how are you doing?"

"Good, I'm excited to go back to space! How about you? You sound nervous."

"Uh…nope, I'm just excited too!"

Jorfred quickly turned off the comm. To tell the truth, he was nervous, but didn't want to reveal it to his partner, or Harv forbid, the Ground Control team. They might take him off this mission! He'd already been denied that chance once before, and he was going to space today, yessiree. However, sitting in the upper capsule was not much fun. Since Erdrin scored lower than he in the centrifuge, he'd be riding upside-down the whole way up, and thus taking more negative g forces.

He'd asked around, questioning kerbals who had also experienced negative g's what it was like. Unfortunately, the experiences were universally negative. One kerbal had explained in excruciating detail the discomfort you felt as you were dragged out of your seat, the straps digging into you as if an invisible hand was attempting to pluck you from your capsule. And Jorfred would have to endure this for the whole way up!

Already he was getting sore from sitting upside-down in the 1 g of Kerbin's gravity. He couldn't imagine what the launch would be like. As the radio informed them that one minute remained on the countdown, he began cursing the engineers and scientists who had decided to place the pod this way. 'Increased protection upon reentry,' they had said. 'It just looks nicer,' they said (Indeed, Danbro had commented at length on the importance of a good hourglass figure). Jorfred knew that if they'd taken extra time to refit the interior so that he was sitting right-side-up, it would have resulted in the CKFN launching their twin-kerbal pod first, and that certainly couldn't be allowed. Though it was quite difficult to feel very patriotic when sitting upside-down in a tiny capsule, straps digging into one's chest.

Then came the crackle of the radio Jorfred dreaded.

"Twenty seconds until launch"

Well, at least he was going to space. From the stories the others told, as well as the pictures they brought back, it ought to be incredible.

"Fifteen"

Still, he wished he was at least facing the right way up, though in zero-g he wouldn't have to worry about that, right?

"Ten. All systems nominal"

He was glad that he didn't have to worry about piloting the ship, Erdrin was taking over that job since she'd had more experience flying rockets. She'd actually been in orbit twice in the last two months, and was the natural choice for piloting an as-of-yet untested rocket. All he had to do was grin and bear it.

"Five"

"Four"

"Three"

Jorfred squeezed his eyes shut.

"Two"

"One"

His world erupted into one of noise, vibration, and pain. The shaking alone was nearly unbearable, it caused his headset to start vibrating its way around his helmet. Not that he paid much attention to what was being said over it; the deep bass rumble from the rocket engines combined with the endless shaking served to drown out all other noise. But this all paled in comparison to the sheer pressure being applied to his back. Forget the invisible hand, this felt like a hydraulic ram forcing him forwards in his seat.

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Opening his eyes did not improve the situation. The interior of the capsule was a blur; the vibrations of the main engine prevented him from focusing on any one point inside the ship.

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His eyes feeling like they were about to escape his skull certainly did not help his vision. More worryingly, though, Jorfred began seeing black spots encroach upon his field of view. His vision slowly darkened, as it became more and more difficult to draw breath. The straps keeping him in his seats were like twin brands burning across his chest, but even that pain began to dull as his vision faded. His last thoughts as he drifted away were worries about whether he'd ever get to see Kerbin from space.

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---

Jorfred was floating in the ocean. No wind, no waves, just bobbing along gently, so gently. Save for the occasional squawk of an annoying seabird in his ear, that is. As his mind slowly began to come back to reality, he realized that he was in fact not doing the backfloat on a sunny Kerbin afternoon, but instead in a cramped, dark capsule, hovering above his seat. Wait…where were his straps? In a daze, he fumbled around, only to find that one was still over his shoulder, but the other had snapped cleanly away from where it joined with the capsule. Lousy engineers, he grumbled to himself. Now that he was more awake, he did a quick once-over of himself. He was still clad within his flight suit, rated for only high-altitude flight, not the hard vacuum on the other side of his capsule's walls. While the suit looked fine, his body did not feel well at all. He ached all over, and his eyes wouldn't focus right. He had a killer headache, to match the two pains down his front where the straps had been. He wouldn't be surprised if he found himself sporting bruises for a very long time after he'd landed.

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Looking through the window, he spotted the planet Kerbin. He'd seen the pictures, but they always lacked a certain…something. The yellow-spotted dark blue curve outside his window was magnificent, made more so by being the only home he, and indeed every other kerbal throughout history had ever known. Despite knowing that pictures wouldn't fully capture the sight of the planet, he began searching for his camera…only to be met with a stabbing pain in his side. He'd only been given a basic first aid course at the Kerbonaut Training Centre, but he knew enough to self-diagnose a broken rib. Great. Just great, he thought to himself. But before he could get to patching himself up, the calls of his partner reached him over his headset, the 'annoying seabird' of earlier.

"Calling all frequencies, this is Erdrin Kerman aboard the Uranus I. My crewmate is not responding, and am out of contact with my ground station. Repeat, this is--"

"Erdrin, don't worry! I'm fine!" reassured Jorfred, slightly hoarsely.

"Thank SQUAD you're alright! You've only been out for about ten minutes, but I didn't realize it until we had passed out of range of Ground Control. I don’t blame you for passing out though; that takeoff was much rougher than usual!"

"Well, other than a few bruises and a headache, I survived!" Jorfred purposely neglected to mention his other injuries, just in case she and Control decided to end the mission early. He was going to tough this mission out! Who knew when he'd get another shot at this?

"That's good to hear. Anyways, we should be about fifteen minutes away from passing back over USKK territory, we should be able to get a signal then. Did you receive much of a briefing of what we're supposed to be doing up here? I think somebody stuck a thermometer or something on the side."

Nursing his side, Jorfred tried to recall. He'd been too excited to pay much attention at the time. "Uh…not that I can remember, no. I think this mission was planned just to beat the CKFN's launch. It's pretty much the Kaether V with an extra capsule thrown on top. I'm glad they decided to change the name though."

"Really? I liked how they added a 'k' to the front of the Aether's name, it was a clever touch; it showed that it's a kerballed version of the Aether probe!"

"True, but now it seems people are starting to add 'k's to every single word out there. I even saw an ad for 'konuts' the other day!"

"Hey, if it keeps people interested in the Space Program, I don't mind. At least we don't have to resort to press conferences like the CKFN did!"

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"I agree, that looked like a madhouse." Jorfred realized they were passing over that very nation right now. Despite being over one hundred kilometres away, he still felt uncomfortable talking about it, fearing those newskerbals may be listening in. "I wonder if--ow!"

In Jorfred's efforts to look for his first aid kit, he had inadvertently and very painfully discovered that he had also damaged his left knee in some way.

"What's wrong, Fred?"

"Er…nothing. Just banged my head on the side of the capsule."

"Wow, you're out of your straps already? I didn't even unbuckle until my second mission--I was too scared."

"Heh…it was sort of a spur of the moment thing, y'know?"

"Totally, being out of your seat is amazing. You can't maneuver much in these capsules, but it feels like flying!"

"…It sure does," Jorfred certainly did not feel like he was flying. He'd braced himself in his seat to prevent any aggrivation of his injuries. Fortunately, the rest of him was undamaged, his vision had improved, and even his headache was starting to fade. He did see the truth in Erdrin's words, though. Up here, far above the clouds, above the petty squabbling of nations, one felt truly free. He gazed at the lights of cities below, trying to imagine each individual kerbal going about his or her daily life. Did they even pay attention to the skies above? Did they see the stars through the clouds, or even dare to dream of visiting them one day? Based on his past experiences, he estimated that the majority did not, but there were a certain few who put all logic aside and looked up with a passion.

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Jorfred had always been one of those few kerbals, and look where he was now! The journey had certainly been hard, long, and painful (most especially so recently), but it had most certainly been worth it. As the Space Centre came back into range of their antenna and communication began in earnest again, he gazed out the window one more time and stared at the endless vista of stars.

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I like your avatar. The link on the first post is NOT molto bene. We can't click it.

[CalculusWarrior]

Thanks, the link has now been fixed. Also, I've completed the next chapter (in between playing 0.24 )!

---

CKFN_flag by CalculusWarrior, on Flickr

CKFN: Several hours later

---

Danford Kerman wandered through the halls of the space facility. He was still in shock at the speed at which the USKK managed to get a two kerballed spacecraft launched. The Caelus was still at least a couple of weeks away from launching! By C7's beard, how did they get a ship together that quickly? He would have to push the engineers extra hard to get their capsule ready for launch. Maybe they could cut a few corners on production, or reduce the number of unmanned tests. After all, the rockets launched so far were very well-built, and maybe the extensive testing was just slowing the program down? He'd have to talk to his engineers.

As luck would have it, as he walked by the break room, Danford saw a bunch of engineers sitting around, watching TV and drinking coffee. He was about to speak up and let them know of his decision, then he saw what they were watching. He'd seen the launch of the USKK's rocket earlier, and realized he was now looking at the landing. Uranus I had evidently orbited for a few hours before reentering.

Coming closer, he overheard what the engineers were saying to one another.

"Me? I'm surprised the ship even got up there in the first place. Using SRBs on a kerballed launch? It's insane! Unless you're really clever, your thrust to weight ratio is going to be all wonky."

"Yep, TWR leads straight to the g-forces on the pilots. Judging by how fast that thing went up, I'd say they experienced about ten at max Q."

"Ten gees? No way, they couldn't have pulled more than seven."

"I recorded the footage then measured the rocket's acceleration. It definitely hit over one hundred metres per second per second."

"Dilbrett, only you would record our rival's rocket takeoff footage, then measure the screen to figure out its acceleration profile."

"Hey, I was curious! Besides, you know what they say about 'knowing thine enemy' and all that"

"Quiet you two! The capsule just landed."

"Pff, they didn't even position the parachutes correctly. Look, the whole thing just fell over!"

"And look at that weld! It looks like they just strapped another capsule and SRBs to their original 'Kaether' design. Amateurs."

"Explains how they managed to launch so quickly."

"I'm more concerned for the kerbal inside. I mean, surely they didn't just weld a stock capsule on, upside-down, to their original design?"

The camera zoomed in on the spacecraft, and one could very clearly see that the kerbal inside was inverted.

"Well, I'll be…" said the engineer who had just spoke, in astonishment. The other engineers began talking quickly among themselves.

"Has anyone even thought of doing an upside-down launch?"

"Never, the negative gee forces would be too much, and that's with a standard launch vehicle."

"Minus ten gees…ouch."

"Yeah, that kerbal's never going to fly again."

While the screen showed that both hatches had opened on the capsule, only one of the two kerbals had emerged. The upper kerbonaut still remained inside the capsule. The recovery team's expressions shifted from smiles at the safe return of the spacecraft to concern, as they swarmed around the kerbal, lifting him out of the capsule and onto a stretcher. The news camera appeared to be too far from the landed capsule to see much more of their actions. A hush fell over the CKFN engineers as they watched.

The lead engineer, Dilbrett Kerman, spotted Danford, and made his way over to him.

"Danford! It's good to see you! I was actually going to head on over to your office with my opinions on the Uranus! To make a long story short, the USKK's rocket quality is certainly not improving."

Danford was shocked. "What? They've launched nearly double the amount of missions we've managed to! And in case you didn't notice, they just beat us at our own game!"

"Ah ah ah, I said quality, not quantity, and that makes all the difference. To be frank, the USKK builds terrible rockets, and this one is no exception."

"It looks pretty capable to me"

"Fine. Relatively terrible is a better way to describe it. Basically, while their rockets do work, they just don't have the engineering skill to get them working well. To be fair, this hasn't mattered so far; the current rockets are pretty much glorified fireworks. But as the rockets edge into Project Jupiter-sized vessels, I guarantee to you that things like today are going to go wrong."

"I told you, the Advisory Council will never approve Project Jupiter. It's best to just forget about it for now." Despite his dismissive words, Danford was interested what Dilbrett was saying.

"Yes, yes, but my point still stands. We can't keep launching these small ships into orbit. Besides, the USKK is still having issues. You may not have bothered to check, but I listened to the communications from the capsule, and there were a number of other things going wrong with the spacecraft."

"Like wha--wait a minute. Only the USKK ground control can listen to those broadcasts. How in Harv's name did you manage that?"

"If the ship's passing overhead and you know what frequency band to listen at, it's trivial. But that's not important right now. The kerbonauts on board reported flickering lights, fuses repeatedly blowing, that sort of thing. While it may seem like a minor issue, and was dismissed as such by USKK ground control, there is actually a more insidious explanation."

At this, Dilbrett held up a black-and-white photo, showing the interior of the USKK's VAB, where a team of engineers was installing a pair of batteries. Danford wasn't even going to ask where his Head Engineer had obtained this.

"As you can see, they're just sticking these batteries inside without any real care to where they go. I know you're not an electrical engineer, but let me just say that doing that is bad. Really bad."

"So their problem is that they stick batteries in places randomly?"

"Their problem is that they have no idea what they're doing. One can very clearly see from their very first rockets, that they build something, launch it, see what went wrong, then fix that problem."

Danford was confused. "How is that a problem? It seems like it's a perfectly valid approach."

"Indeed, for small, inexpensive prototypes, like their initial sounding rockets. It's fast, cheap, and gives concrete results. However, for larger ships, if you rely on your main design to do your testing for you, let's just say you're going to have a bad time."

"I'm sorry Dilbrett. I see where you're coming from, but I don't understand how this relates to the CKFN. From what you're saying, the USKK is just going to have more problems like today. I can't do anything about that. Likewise, you seem to have all this figured out. Just keep doing what you've been doing, it's been working well so far!"

"You have more power than you realize, Danford. You've got the President's ear, and have made a major mark on this nation so far. But you have to realize that we are forced to go where he tells us to. Rumor has it that the President wants to move up the first launch of the Caeulus because of what happened today. We're still two weeks off from our first unmanned test; please do all you can to give us that time. If we're forced to launch earlier, kerbals will die."

If his head engineer's earlier words hadn't convinced Danford, it was this frank statement, combined with the silent plea within Dilbrett's eyes, which won the kerbal over.

"I'll do my best, Brett. But you've got to give me results."

At this, Dilbrett's somber expression changed to a broad smile.

"Oh, don't you worry sir. I'll give you the show of a lifetime."

Edited July 20, 2014 by CalculusWarrior

[Tw1]

That last one was an excellent chapter. Poor Jorfred though....

Nice use of bases on Kerbin for the last chapter. Are you playing on transferring this story to 0.24? I have had my story saves working fine now most of the mods have updated.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Tw1

[Darthzeus]

Nice, I like how your craft are Kerbalized replicas, rather than just replicas, as are most peoples