hidude398

Chapter Eight: Spy Games Two weeks later and three days later, Neilfred started up a BL1 touring blimp and steered his way towards the island. Wernher had custom fitted stealth features onto all large blimps, and staff were once again free to take large vehicles out of the HNSC. He steamed towards the Island, not tarrying in the open water where his radar signature would be more visible. On the way, he tried to call his Krussian friend. The Krussians lived on the peninsula which jutted into the West Bay, and their space tech had proven invaluable to Hexis and its program. His call was instead patched in on Alexei's vacation line: "Hello, comrade. Alexei is not home right now. Likely shooting in rocket for motherland. Will be back to office later. Call again then." Neilfred laughed at Alexei's new voicemail. He changed it weekly. Today, it appeared Alexei was embracing the old Krussian internet meme. He decided to heed Alexei's voice and call later, instead focusing at the task at hand. Landing at the airfield, he started the BL1's drill and ISRU before calling Valentina. "Val. Gene sent me." "I know. Ready to take my protégé back to the HNSC?" "Yup. Tell her she can come on over to my blimp. I'm fueling for the return trip. This thing doesn't have much of a fuel margin, so I'll be here a little while. If you're hungry, I've got some pretty good snacks in the back somewhere." "Thanks, but I've got plenty." "Alright. See you in a week, commander." "See you in a week, captain. By the way, Jeb and I owe you at least two rounds of hydrazine for pulling me out of the drink by that stupid BL4 two times in a row." "No problem, and no arguments here. See you later." "Peace." Agalotte ran towards the waiting BL1. In the past two weeks, she had picked up a new love for early morning physical exercise and the challenge of piloting. She was still dead-set to become a senior scientific advisor, but the past two weeks had given her considerable skill. Carrying her belongings in a cadet's duffel bag, she hurriedly boarded the BL1. Gene was waiting when they arrived. "Agalotte. Get in the rover. We need to talk away from listening ears." "Ok? What's going on?" "I can't say, not out here." Agalotte hated the tone Gene's voice was carrying. It scared her to see such a great man so frightened. Gene's rover drove straight through the VAB main doors and into the freight elevator which was normally reserved for lifting trucks and fuel tanks to higher levels of the VAB. At the top floor, he opened the door and motioned for the young girl to follow him. He pulled a brass skeleton key out of the inside of his spacesuit, and unlocked a small door in the side of an exhaust vent. Agalotte followed him into the cramped space. Gene closed the door behind him, and turned a knob behind Agalotte. Suddenly, a small drum light flickered on, and Agalotte could see that she and Gene were standing inside a small cylindrical cage attached to a cable. "Hold on" Gene said, before switching another knob behind Agalotte's back. They began descending down the inside of the main ventilation shaft. "Sorry for the cramped space," Gene remarked, "but I needed to be sure that nobody could hear us, bugs included." "What do you mean?" "I found a bug in my telephone at the desk where I hold conferences. Only the higher-ups are allowed in that room. Not even janitors can go in there, and the tapes are clean. Nobody tampered with the recording equipment either. It's VCR, it'd be easy to tell if they did." With a clang, they reached the bottom of the shaft. Gene opened the gate behind Agalotte and the two backed their way out of the shaft. "What you're about to see is neither to be repeated or recorded. Nobody except me, Wernher, Jeb, Bill, Bob and Valentina know this place exists. We were the original founders of this organization, and they've been with me since the beginning. The fact that you're here now speaks not only volumes as to your ability, but also to how well they trust you. Over the past few weeks, while you were away training on the island, I re-read your personnel file. I also sent agents to your house. They visited your parents, old friends, ex-boyfriends, anyone who had a connection with you in the past 15 years. That said, they personally reported everything to me. You have my stamp of approval. You're an upstanding Hexian, a scholar, and an explorer. Valentina can attest to your skill and aptitude. I do not give my trust easily, Agalotte, but in the past few days you've earned it." With that, Gene turned on the light, revealing an underground room, circular in shape. On one wall, a tube poked through under a computer. It was covered with an easily removable aluminum grate, and Agalotte could feel air coming in from the tube. "Agalotte, remember when the HNSC was nothing more than an amateur rocket club?" "No, I was just 5 years old. You guys forget you're all in your forties, save Jeb and Val. Wernher's even older." "True. Sometimes time escapes me. Nevertheless, I have a question. Do you remember gazing on the mission patches inside the astronaut center?" "It was amazing. It was almost as if every astronaut was gazing back at me from the past." "Hold still." Gene threw a final switch, lighting up the center of the room. In the middle was an ancient looking computer terminal. "This was the emergency egress room for the original launchpad. In case of emergency, astronauts and the remaining tower crew would come down here in order to escape an explosion. It was built right after the government integrated the Amateur Rocketry Club into their scientific research program, the Centralized Scientific Bureau. Eventually, bureaucratic and political decisions turned the Hexis Space Agency into the Hexis Joint Space Command, partnering our civilian space center with the navy and the airforce. This room is a remnant of our pre-partnership space center, back when our focus was exploration first and foremost instead of peacekeeping first, exploration second. I had this computer terminal installed so that in an emergency, the crew could interface with the server complex below the pad. Today's events have forced me to play my cards early." "Sir?" "My original plan was to conceal a gun and some explosives inside a bio-experiment bag and sending it up to the KSS with you. I was going to brief you during the 2-day rendezvous procedure by having you seal the orbital module from the descent module and speak to me over the dm's comms. However, finding out that we have a mole this deep in the organization means that you need to know some critical information earlier than planned. I'm sending a senior engineer with you on the Soyuz, as you know. I have an uneasy feeling about him, and I want you to keep an eye on him. If it turns out that he has Kermunist ties, or if he tries anything, you and your pilot are to seal him inside the small orbital observatory. I'll send a crew of two Naval officers to escort him back here for confinement and interrogation. I don't want to endanger you, so this next part of the mission you will not mention, not even to your pilot, who I personally briefed somewhere else today. Aboard the Progress module I sent up are a weapon control module, an impact wrench, a flare dispenser, and a single block of C4 explosive. You are to go on an 'unplanned' and setup everything EXCEPT the C4 when you get my signal on comms. When you hear the radio message, "The dawn has arrived," you're to attach the C4 and set the timer for sixty minutes. At this point in time, another pilot on the ground, who will go unnamed for now, will maneuver the Progress into an intercept with a target. All you need to know is that there are no people aboard the target, it's too small. If the engineer traveling with you hears about what you're going to do, if he is a Kermunist mole, he'll almost certainly try to stop you, so only your pilot can know when you're going to make your EVA. Is everything clear?" "Yes sir." "Good. For your protection, I'm going to do something I've never done before." "Sir?" "This is a Hexis Navy N-9 Pistol. It's been modified so it can fire in the vacuum of space. If you're attacked by the engineer, I don't want you to be overpowered or killed." "I can take care of myself, sir, and that gun makes me nervous." "I want you to take it to the range today and get comfortable with it. I know you can take care of yourself, it's not like I didn't go through your entire history in the past 15 years. However, the man I'm sending is 113 kg, 182cm, and a master in Krav-Maga. I'll send you on a potential suicide mission when Eeloo catches fire and melts. Do you understand me?" "Yes sir. I don't agree, but I'll do as you say. You're in charge." "Good. You have a good head on your shoulders, Agalotte, and I'd like you to keep it there. If there were any other way, I'd do something else. But as I said before, events today have forced my hand." The two stepped back into the elevator and said nothing on their ascent. Gene dropped Agalotte off at the astronaut center, before heading off to his office. He walked inside and sat down at his desk. Wernher slipped in. "Hydrazine, Wernher? It's been a long day, and this is good stuff. Straight from the fields of Krussia." "Not today, Gene. I honestly don't think you should be drinking right now, given the circumstances, either." "It's just one, today Wernher, and of all days, today I feel deserving of a rest." "Nothing happened to you today, Gene." "Sit down. Today I told my two new agents about how I found a bug in the conference room telephone." "Hardly cause for your Jeb-like behavior, sir." "Look at my window." "There's nothing wrong... my god. Gene. You don't mean to say?" "I'm afraid I do. Had I not spilled my coffee all over my carpet and bent down to pick up my mug, I wouldn't be sitting here right now." "Did you look to see who did it?" "No. I crouched behind my desk and called one of my specialty extraction teams. They dressed as a cleaning crew in order to deflect suspicion and suppress the hysteria that armed men storming a building tend to create. I was carted out of the building under the shroud of a cleaning cart." "What's the plan, Gene. The Kermunists are in deep, and I fear that they are only getting sloppy because they know that they can afford to." "We proceed with the launch tomorrow. We can't afford to take any more time eliminating that satellite. If all goes as planned, we conduct a strike as soon as the orbital laser is down in order to allow our more-high profile, high-altitude bomber to attack. With any luck, we'll push the Kermunists out of the Eastern side of the crater, maybe even deeper. Once we start bombing them, I'm going to start outfitting krussian ekranoplans for an invasion." "Gene. You're beating the war drum. This can't end well for anybody." "I know. But after the orbital attacks on us, I can't afford not to attack. I have MILCOM biting my heels, and the Hexis Congress is jumping at the bit. I'm afraid that we're going to be going to war, and I'd rather risk as few of our lives as possible if I have no other choice. So I say again, Wernher. Do you want a drink?" Wernher leaned over the desk and picked up Gene's flask. Grabbing a glass off of Gene's desk, Wernher tilted the bottled over and poured himself an entire glass. "Maybe this isn't such a bad idea," Wernher remarked, before he and Gene closed the sunshades in order to further discuss Gene's plans for an unwanted war.

It was a bit unintentional, and the laser is temporary. However, In my headcanon, it's that the suit gave them an extra layer of security. For example, in the deserts of Ketri, the daytime temperatures can get extraordinarily high, so the suit protects them from their working conditions, and if any of them were ever assigned to a base in the Arctic, they'd need the suit's onboard heaters.

Chapter Seven: Agalotte "Valentina, you're the luckiest Kerbal alive. I've never seen someone so well-off after slamming their head into a large metal object and passing out. You seem to have escaped with minimal damage. Of course, you still have a concussion and massive bruising on the back of your head, but you'll get better eventually." "When can I go back in the field?" "Valentina, you've suffered a head trauma. I can't really be sure, but I'm signing medical leave orders for you for 3 weeks. If you have a vacation you'd like to take, now's the time to do it. We can talk again in three weeks and get another X-ray, but as it stands, you should just be glad you don't have a broken skull or vision problems." "Ok. Anything else?" "Avoid any vehicle that goes fast. That means no SR71s to your vacation spot, you're taking a charter plane or something similar. I don't want you to come back in three weeks and hear about how you've been breaking the sound barrier by the SPH tower." "Sir, do you think I'm that irresponsible?" "No, but I deal with male test pilots on a day to day basis. It's a legitimate concern with you pilots." "Fair enough. Have a good day, Captain." "You too, commander." Valentina strode out of the medical building and boarded a bus. The bus pulled away from the medical wing of the R&D department and drove towards the Astronaut complex. She took the elevator to the third floor, and walked up the stairs to the roof. Looking out across the ocean, she saw a water strider speeding towards the island group nearby. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned around. "Hey Jeb!" "Hi Valentina. What'd the doctor say?" "No good news, I'm afraid. No physical exertion for the next 3 weeks. I'm on leave starting noon." "Well, I have some leave saved up. Let me go talk to Gene, I'll see if he'll give us an island-hopper." "That would be nice. I've been wanting to take a vacation with you for a while now." "Okay. I'll go talk to Gene." Jeb turned around and walked down the stairs to the ground floor. Valentina looked out across the sea again. She went downstairs and packed her bags before taking the bus to the SPH. Jeb was there already, loading his things onto an island hopper and conversing with their pilot, 2LT Stelby. She was a hopeful spaceplane pilot candidate, and the HNSC was helping her with flight time in jet aircraft by allowing her to ferry passengers. Forty five minutes later, Stelby found herself wishing the vacationing couple well. She glanced out her window one final time before leaving the two to themselves. Back in the HNSC, Agalotte opened her desk drawer. Despite working inside the Wind Tunnel building, Agalotte was a biomedical student studying the effects of space on plant life. She was attempting to determine how well plants would grow in the low gravity environments of space and Duna in order to determine how best to feed the upcoming mars projects. She soon found herself boarding a bus over to the medical building. Inside, she went down a hallway into an airlock. She donned a Biohazard suit and sprayed herself with disinfectant before entering the pressurization chamber. The chamber filled with steam before the airlock opened, allowing her access to the clean room. Every plant she was currently studying was kept in a carefully controlled environment, free from disease, foreign biological matter, and extreme temperatures and humidity. It was a hassle to don the suits, but Agalotte appreciated the reliability her and her instructor's methods provided. Removing a potato from the soil, she measured it and took its weight before slicing it open. With a flourish, she used a set of test tubes to sample the cores of both halves before plugging each tube with a rubber stopper. Returning to the airlock, she depressurized the small annex and entered the gear room. Removing her suit, she put the two tubes in a box and boarded the next bus to the micro-science lab. There, she stamped her box with a bold label that read "TRANSMISSION ELECTRON" and wrote her instructor's name and her Experiment/Trial ID on the side. Then, she took the bus back to her office. Sitting at her desk, she opened her emails. She was surprised to find an email marked CLASSIFIED LV2: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, OPEN IMMEDIATELY. Those types of emails were rather rare, so she excitedly opened it. HNSC SCIENTIFIC COMMAND: LV2, CLASSIFIED AGALOTTE, as you well know, we've reviewed your application to study the effects of microgravity on plant cell biology. We know that you're a cell biologist, and at first glance SCICOM thought that your application was macrobiological in nature, and was denied as the effects of microgravity on plant life has been well studied in regards to entire organisms. However, your instructor has informed us that your experiment is, in fact, microbiological in nature. With this in mind, SCICOM has approved your experiment for launch to the KSS. However, at the moment, there exists no efficient system for food production in microgravity. This said, SCICOM has decided to slate you for launch to the KSS in order to develop a food production system. As you are a scientist, not much will be expected of you in regards to astronaut training. It is estimated that you will be trained for 2-3 weeks in regards to your duties. You will be aboard the station for a grand total of 3 months if all goes as planned. We are allowing you two days of leave in order to prepare your sleeping quarters and clean your office for an extended absence. Report to the astronaut training center at noon on Y2D220. SCICOM recommends that you talk with a senior astronaut or naval officer in regards to your upcoming launch. If you do not wish to accept this mission, reply to this email as soon as possible. Agalotte quickly replied back with a letter stating her intention to carry out the mission. She then called Bob. "Hey!" "Hey Bob. I need your help." "You sound worried." "My experiment proposal was accepted, but SCICOM wants me to carry it further and launch to the KSS." "Do you want to?" "Absolutely, but Bob, I'm scared." "You'll be fine. You've got a good head on your shoulders, and you already know a lot about the Soyuz rocket. Almost too much for a microbiologist" "I guess that comes alongside minoring in aerospace. Do you have any recommendations?" "Yeah. Talk to Valentina. She and Jeb have the record for most hours in space. I think the two turned it into a competition." "Thanks Bob." "No problem. Fly safe, Agalotte." Agalotte called Valentina next. "Hello?" "Hi, this is Agalotte, the scientist you met?" "Yes?" "I was calling you to let you know that I've been slated for my first launch, and Bob told me to call you." "Oh, congratulations! I'm assuming you know that I'm staying on the island where the astronaut training complex is, right?" "I do. Any recommendations?" "Come over as soon as you can. I'll help you through training. These next three weeks are going to make your head spin." "Ok. Anything else?" "Pray that you don't get spacesick." With that, the young scientist found herself sitting aboard an island hopper, waiting for takeoff. She had plenty of flying experience in small planes, but she had never before been to space. Her pilot thought that it would be hilarious to subject the poor kerbelle to some serious G's, and immediately after he retracted the gear, he kicked the two Juno engines to the max. That day, a new speed record was set for the Island Hopper, and Agalotte wound up using not one, but two airsickness bags. She enjoyed the trip once her lunch was gone, however, and laughed at the hotshot pilot flirting over the intercom. She finally arrived at the island, and stepped off to see her home for the next few weeks. She walked over to the commander, who was standing next to Jeb. "Sir?" "Hi! I was just explaining to Jeb what you're doing here. I love coming to the astronaut training center on breaks. It's such a quaint little place. You'll love it here!" "Thanks for the welcome. What's first?" "Go ahead and report to the cadet quarters and get your equipment in place. Then meet me by the mock Soyuz and we'll do a little training." "Okay." Agalotte walked inside the cadet quarters. They were completely empty, but signs of the past crews which had trained before her were still present. For every crew that trained here, a sticker holding their mission patch stood affixed to the wall. She gazed in awe at the pictures hung in the radio room of the original Mercury 9, Kerpollo 11, and Minmus Expedition 1. She sat down at a computer console and booted it up. She found her bunk assignment and placed her gear inside, before closing the door and walking to the Soyuz Trainer. Val and Jeb were waiting at the entrance to the trainer. "Go ahead and climb in. Take the pilot's seat, today we're gonna go over emergency escape procedures." "Ok," replied Agalotte, "are you coming with me?" "Jeb's going to sit next to you, and I'm going to control the scenario from the external computer." Agalotte climbed in and sat herself down, and Jeb followed her. Sealing the capsule from the outside, Valentina said "Good luck." before the windows went black and starry. Val's voice came in over the intercom. "Today you will be training for an emergency evacuation of the KSS. You have successfully entered the craft and sealed the docking port. Assume you're alone, and your pilot isn't present. The checklist is tucked into the seat cushion. This excercise is timed. The faster you complete it, the better your score. Most trainees get a C or D in timing and accuracy this first go-around, so don't worry. You'll be doing drills like this quite a bit. Start by booting the craft." Agalotte quickly ran through the startup procedure. In less than 15 seconds, she had the computer navball up and the undock screen open. Deftly moving at the controls of the simulator, she undocked the craft before maneuvering the simulator so that the craft was directed away from the KSS. She got around 250 meters away before aiming the ship retrograde in its orbit. She pushed the throttle to the max and entered a ballistic trajectory. "Good job," Jeb remarked, "most people don't do so well their first time. You've managed to get at least a B+ on that undocking, maybe more." Agalotte deftly staged away the orbital and service modules. The trainer shook to simulate the shock of reentry, and Agalotte piloted the capsule by spinning it to change its trajectory to land. She staged the parachutes at 10 kilometers, and moments before touchdown, the capsule shook again to simulate the firing of the landing rockets. Valentina rushed from behind the computer when Agalotte stepped out of the simulator. "That was incredible. I've never seen a rookie fly so well. Are you sure that you're a scientist and not a test pilot?" "I'm afraid so. Jeb, what was my final score?" "87. You broke the 1st run high-score. I think we won't be here for three weeks." The three ate a hearty meal that night to celebrate Agalotte's achievements. Back in Ketri, Bob was reading over SCICOM's amendments to Agalotte's experiments. Everything made sense, except for the flare dispenser and a block of C4 that was to be sent up on a Progress supply module. Bob couldn't figure out why on earth a group of scientists would need military flares and high explosives. At the HNSC, however, Wernher was sitting in Gene's office, explaining something very sinister. "You see Gene, at first I thought that my hypothesis was insane. I could hardly believe that this could happen." "What are you talking about, Wernher?" "Back when the missile hit the HNSC, the R&D department had a break-in. We didn't find any evidence of theft, but a lab was trashed. We didn't think to check the computers, it just looked like vandalism. We wrote it off as a [REDACTED] with nothing better to do. The missile hit had us distracted, so we figured one of the ground crew just drank a little too much hydrazine and committed a crime of opportunity. This morning, however, one of the IT guys phoned me. He'd been upgrading our malware detection systems, and he found something connecting to an unknown IP address in Krater Bay." "What do the Kermunists have to do with this?" "Just listen. The Navy shares its R&D computer system with us, just like they share their military astronauts for civilian operations. We didn't find the trojan at first, because it wasn't accessing our files, it was accessing Naval R&D through our computer. Since nothing was changing on our end, we didn't know what was going on, or something like that. I'm not a computer engineer, I'm a rocket scientist for heaven's sake. However, when the IT department looked through the backup system log, they found that our mystery man in Krater Bay downloaded a file containing the blueprints for an aerial laser." "But those plans never worked." "That's because we tried to power them with an airplane generator. But look at the data I collected on my submarine trip with Val. Val was deep enough that the sub couldn't be harmed, but shallow enough that we could be picked up on conventional radar. Val didn't know that I had a radar system installed on the sub. It was small, but it helped increase our signature to be the size of a plane or BL4. To an automated system, we looked like a fairly large watercraft. Look at these temperature spikes, Gene. Every 45 minutes, the water temperature increases by about the same amount one would expect if the water was being bombarded by a high powered laser. Thankfully, the water dissipated the effects of the beam, but if you look at the cloud coverage, the outliers aren't outliers at all. It all forms a beam dispersion/temperature ratio." "What you're suggesting is impossible." "No. Think Gene. If this were a plane, I'd agree. You'd deplete your battery too quickly. But every 45 minutes, through cloud cover, Gene." "Oh my god. The Kermunists built a nuclear-powered, orbital anti-craft laser." "Exactly. And then they attacked the HNSC directly. If we want to avoid all out war, we need to keep this quiet. Agalotte hasn't been briefed on her task yet, but when she flies the KSS in a few weeks, we'll brief her on the way. We're already loading a Progress with supplies. The plan is to use remotely control the Progress and use it to attack the orbital satellite. I used the orbital data I gathered on my expedition to pinpoint its orbit and allow the tracking station to lock onto it." "I hope this works, Wernher. We're in bind if it doesn't. Who's going to fly the progress remotely, though?" "Why, only the most famous commander in the force! Who else?"

Chapter Six: It All Comes Together 24 hours later, the commander found herself finally coming towards the BL4. In the back, Wernher was sleeping like a baby, snoring and such. He had come down with seasickness a few hours ago, and Valentina was glad he'd fallen asleep. Nothing against the poor rocket scientist, but he'd caused quite a mess, and she had to come close to the surface in order to extend a periscope and refresh the cabin air. Now that he was asleep, and not losing his lunch inside a confined space, Valentina could finally focus on piloting the small submarine. In Wernher's capsule, an alarm was counting down from 45 minutes, with only 1 minute left on the display. Valentina began her final preparations to drift to the BL4 and rose to the surface so she could see he target. She slowed the engines to a crawl and extended the snorkel to refresh the cabin air. A beeping noise lured her to the cabin in the back. Wernher's stopwatch on his desk was frantically beeping, alerting everyone who could hear that there were only 20 seconds left in its countdown. Valentina was only left to wonder for a moment as to why Wernher had purchased such an alarm clock, that would beep before it actually went off. Wernher woke to Valentina shaking him, pointing to his clock. "What's the timer for, Wern..." She was cut off by the sound of a THUD followed by the sound of grating metal. She heard Wernher mutter [REDACTED] before the sub's floor suddenly tilted over at a 90° . Valentina saw Wernher's shocked face, and then slammed into the back of the crew cabin. Valentina awoke to light streaming in through the top of the command module through the tunnel to the bottom of the crew capsule. Her eyelids fluttered as she came to. "Aghhhh." "Shhhh, Val. It's ok. Don't move, just trust me, ok?" "Wha--- What happened?" "I'm not sure. If I can see the engine, I'll know." "How long have I been out?" "About a day or so. I've been doing my best to keep you still and supported. The First Aid kit is a bit limited, I'm afraid." "Do you have a way out?" "I think so, but you needed to be awake in order for me to get us home." "What's the plan?" "First, I'm going to hoist you into the seat in the command capsule. Once I have you strapped in, I'm going to close the partition between the command and the crew modules. The airlock isn't functioning, so i'll just have to flood the crew cabin." "Wernher. How deep are we? I can't let you go on a suicide mission." "Valentina, I'm going to let you wake up a little bit more. We are maybe 2 feet underwater. Sunlight and blue sky are visible in the command module window. All I have to do is slip on my helmet and swim out." "Then what?" "The backup electronics aboard the BL4 should still work. Our 4 RTGs are offline, I can't get any power aboard this piece of junk." "Alright, I'm with you. Let's do this." Once Wernher had Valentina's consent to his plan, he lifted her up into the command module of the sub. She was surprisingly light, but the bulkiness of the pressure suits they were wearing made maneuvering her into the capsule an arduous process. Once he had her in the seat, he reached out to the strap. Grabbing him, Valentina swung him around into the seat and buckled him, before dropping down the hatch into the crew module and sealing it behind her. Wernher quickly undid the harness, but not in time to open the hatch. Banging on it, he bellowed: "COMMANDER! WHAT ON KRAKEN'S GREEN KERBIN ARE YOU DOING?" "Sorry sir. I don't have a choice." "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? OPEN THIS HATCH THIS INSTANT!" "I'm afraid I can't sir. You have information vital to the Hexis Department of Defense. I don't have a clue what's happening, sir, but I need to ensure that the information you carry gets back to Gene. That means I can't let you go into a freezing, oxygenless, and potentially radioactive environment. I'm sorry sir, but the mission is too important." Valentina paused, and for a moment, Wernher didn't say anything. Then, he called out: "Val." "Yes?" "Seal my papers inside a waterproof bag, and put the metal slide rule on the table inside one as well." "Okay. Anything else back here you don't want soaked?" "That's it. I don't agree with this one bit, Commander, but I obviously don't have a choice." "Thank you, sir. I really hate doing this, if there were any other way, I'd let you go." "I know. By the way, Val, just in case those RTG's are open and spilling out radiation, I just want you to know that it's been a pleasure serving alongside you." Valentina saluted Wernher through the hatch. Inside the command module, Wernher heard her click on her helmet. He switched on his suit's short-range radio, and connected it to Val's helmet. "Ready?" he called into her helmet. "Roger that, flooding the module now." Valentina crawled through the open internal door of the airlock and looked at the external door which lead to the unknown. "It's not going to let me open the exterior hatch without flooding the airlock, and the airlock won't flood without closing the interior door." Wernher sat and pondered for a moment, before he spoke up. "Open the maintenance hatch." "Roger that." He heard a thunk below him, and Valentina spoke again. "I see the airlock computer, a fusebox, the deadlock switch, and five pipes. Each pipe has three valves, one manually operable and two attached to the deadlock and computer systems." "Take the wrench in the toolbox to the left and use it to break open the deadlock on each pipe." "Okay." Wernher heard a rummaging sound followed by metal bouncing off metal. Suddenly, he heard a CRUNCH and the sound of aluminum being twisted free. "I have the deadlock pressure switches free." "Okay, close the valve labeled 'Ballast.'" "Wernher?" "What?" "Nothing says 'Ballast.'" "Val?" "It's all in Krussian. Why the [REDACTED] is it all in [REDACTED] Krussian?!?!" "What?" "Everything is labeled in Krussian." Racking his brain, Wernher tried to remember which pipe vented what, but couldn't. "Valentina, we're in a bind. If you can't open the hatch due to pressure, and we can't call for help, we're gonna either suffocate or die of dehydration. And if you accidentally open the ballast and external water lines at the same time, then the ballast tanks will flood, we will sink, and then we'll get crushed under pressure or get stranded on the seafloor." "I don't like any of those options." "Neither do I." Valentina was suddenly hit with a burst of inspiration. "Wernher, I'm going to close every valve." "Huh?" "The external door is only held closed by the mechanical locking mechanism and pressure from the water outside, right?" "Yes, but I don't see your point. That piece of information is only useful if you can flood the capsule without pressurizing the ballast tanks. As it stands, I managed to jettison the lead to keep us afloat when you flood the crew compartment." "I'm taking the physical approach. You need to improvise more, Wernher." With that, Valentina picked up the metal chair that had fallen against the rear bulkhead when the sub crashed, and sent it flying into the glass of the crew compartment window. It cracked, and then the pressure of the two feet of water above it were enough to cause it to implode. In seconds, Valentina was completely submerged. Thankful for her helmet lights, she turned them on and floated over to the now equalized airlock. Disengaging the manual locks, she opened the hatch and swam out of the sub as it listed over and floated on the surface upside down. She climbed onto the back of the sub and radioed Wernher. "This is incredible. The entire engine is just... gone. However, there are traces of slag and metal which melted and re-cooled on the side of this ballast tank." "This isn't how I thought we'd do it, but you've just confirmed my theory. Is your suit's dosimeter going off?" "Thankfully, it appears as if the RTGs didn't break. As it stands, my best guess is that without the engine's fuselage that they were mounted to, they sank to the ocean floor. I think we got very lucky. Had they melted, I think you and I would be glowing right now, lead ballast tanks be [REDACTED]." "Okay. I know you just got knocked out yesterday, so take the swim over to the BL4 easy. Now that we know that you won't be well-done by the time you reach the blimp, you can go ahead and take your time." "Okay. I'll get you out of that locked box as soon as possible. There's a drill in the pilot's seat, go ahead and make yourself an air-hole in the roof." "Will do. Why didn't you go through the roof?" "The glass on the front of the sub isn't as weak as the glass in the crew cabin, and the original plan was to go through a malfunctioning airlock that we knew how to operate." "Fair enough." With that, Valentina began to swim the 300m to the BL4. About five minutes later, she made it to the BL4. "I really need to work on my stroke. I'm going on vacation with Jeb as soon as I get back." She was upset, but not very surprised, to discover that the electrics had completely drained in her absence, even though she clearly remembered shutting down the entire balloon. Breaking out the emergency generator, she wired the radio to it and began to turn the crank. Thirty minutes later, the portable batteries were full, and she turned on the radio. ***BZZT*** "Hello? This is CDR Valentina to HNSC Emergency Channel." "This Emergency Channel. Gene's on the line. We've been trying to get in touch for the past day. Our satellites were picking up some serious interference." "Our radio was dead, and there was a possibility that the RTG systems had broken." "Is everything alright?" "No. I got knocked unconscious, and Wernher is locked inside the command module of the SE1. The crew cabin is flooded, and the both of us likely need medical treatment." "Roger that. We'll send a Medivac Mallard. Anything else we should know?" "I'm not sure. You need to talk to Wernher, though, he has some vital information." "Understood. Stay put. Don't try to swim back to the SE1. Don't try to move too much. The doctor says that you should hold still and drink plenty of fluids. He wants to inspect you for brain injury when you get back." "And Emergency Channel?" "Yes Val?" "Tell Gene that Wernher says to use Prototype #008-47B." Valentina turned off the radio and settled in. For the second time, Gene scrambled a Mallard to Val's location, but this time, under much more trying circumstances. He personally saw the fitting of prototype #008-47B to the top of the aircraft. The flight and retrieval was rather uneventful. When the Mallard finally taxied to a stop, two ambulances rushed out to the pad, sirens screaming wild. Kerbals dressed in EMS gear jumped out and grabbed both kerbals, gently loading them into gurneys. They all stood back, before a kerbal in a white medical officer uniform walked up, holding a box in his left hand connected by a wire to the baton in the officer's other hand. He ran the wand over the bodies of both kerbals, noting the numbers. Shouting out "CLEAN!" he walked to a tent set up twenty feet away. The two kerbals were unceremoniously loaded into the ambulances, and as they were wheeled away, Valentina thought she saw the apprentice she had met on the bus consulting with the medical officer before she felt a prick in her arm and the whole world went black.

Chapter Five: No Rest For The Weary "Gene! Spy satellites have picked up something strange in the Ketri Region! We all remember the missile attack last month, right? We found something!" "Okay, send me the briefing. Good job Linus. Tell the boys in Research and Intelligence that this is good work." "Right away sir. Linus out." Gene leaned back in his seat and began to read the intelligence briefing before him: At Y2D190, around noon, satellite imaging picked up 2 ominous shapes on the desert soil. Despite only having a top-down angle, analysts were able to identify what appeared to be a stationary ICBM launcher. The launcher is surprisingly close to the FOB in the area, and, combined with CDR Valentina's reports of ominous holes in the side of her BL4, Analysts believe the other shape to be an anti-air gun of some sort. The image is depicted below: Before further action is taken regarding the matter, it is the professional opinion of LTC Linus that a long-range, high speed surveillance flight be conducted. Given that the FOB is located 3.4 km from these two objects, LTC Linus further recommends that the base be placed on lockdown, and further resupply flights suspended until further notice. The greenhouse at the FOB should produce more than enough food for the time being. Gene picked up the phone by his desk and dialed CDR Valentina. "CDR Valentina, who is this speaking?" "This is Gene. I'm uploading flight plans to your computer. Keep this quiet. I don't want anything getting out about this, especially given its involvement in the downing of your BL4 and its location near the base. Do you understand?" "Roger that. Any special requests?" "Yeah. They're in your flight plan." "Valentina out." With that, Valentina began fueling an SR71. Ten minutes later, CDR Valentina and FE Moina were cruising over Ketri. They suddenly heard the sound of an explosion. Panicked, FE Moina pulled up the vessel displays, but there weren't any problems. Curious, Val aimed the camera towards the two targets, before starting to laugh. "Look at those fools! Those rebels overheated the reactors on that AA gun! They had no clue what they're doing!" Valentina took some pictures, and turned back towards the base to report her findings. On the way back, the mood was so jovial, Valentina forgot to watch her altitude. She drifted to over 30,000 meters before her engines flamed out. Swearing, she restarted them when she was back inside the silk. Then the two laughed some more. When they landed, however, the two quickly sobered up as they saw the look on Gene's face as he walked from his rover to their plane. "Gene. What's going on?" "Val. You remember what brought down your BL4?" "I remember having to ditch it. What I can't figure out is how something silently poked holes in the fuel tank like it were made of cotton candy." "We have a situation, and we think that the two events are connected." "What's going on?" "An hour ago, something just randomly blew through the ceiling of the tracking station, mission control, and administration." "Was anybody hurt?" "72 kerbals are now in the ICU at the Hexis Military Hospital and Trauma Center. Most of them took shrapnel, but every place something metal went in or bounced off is surrounded by burn marks." "Is everyone going to be OK?" "The doctors think everyone will recover within two months, except for one kerb. He was working on a tracking dish. It's amazing he's still alive. The doctors think that had he not been wearing his helmet, he would've completely fried. As it stands, he nearly cooked in his spacesuit. Doctors think it will take him a year to recover. Wernher has a theory, but he needs you to test it." "What does he need me to do? I want to make these [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted], lousy, no good [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] pay." "Valentina, as it stands, Wernher has suggested that you ferry him to the site of the downed BL4 and allow him to remove the backup flight computer. The black box we recovered isn't showing anything out of the ordinary, so maybe the backup flight computer can help. He also wants to do a thorough visual inspection, so you'll need to assist him. I keep telling him that he needs to take care of himself, but that 65-year old is convinced that he's still 25." "Roger that, Gene." "And Valentina?" "Yes Gene?" "Watch your language around superior officers. Godspeed." "Thank you sir. Wernher and I will report back with our findings." With that, Valentina climbed aboard one of the many base shuttles, leaving Moina to finish the storage of the SR71. Gene walked inside Mission Control to assist with the cleanup effort. On the ride over, Valentina texted Jeb: "Hey. Rough day, huh?" "Yeah. I don't really want to talk about it." "That's ok. My brave rescue-kerb needs his rest anyway." "XD. Any info declassified enough for a Test Pilot to hear?" "I wish. There's hardly any info at all." "Oh well. Keep your helmet on and stay safe. <3 Jeb." As Valentina roved along, she noticed that every member of the ground crew was now wearing their helmets, even though the temperature was balanced enough that the suit's heating and cooling elements weren't required. Recalling Gene's description of the incident involving the burns and the helmet barely saving the poor worker, she wondered what could have caused such large scale damage without making a sound. Most certainly it couldn't be a kinetic or explosive weapon, unlike the attack last month. A young Kerbelle, maybe no more than 20 years old, poked her in the side. "What's a famous commander like you doing taking the shuttle? Don't you have a limousine or something?" "Only for Press Conferences. Otherwise, I'm like every other Naval Aviator here. Who are you, anyway?" "I'm Agalotte. It's been a pleasure to meet you, sir!" "Thank you. Are you a ROTK member?" "No, I'm an Apprentice scientist on loan from the Hexis National Aerospace University. I'm studying under one of Wernher's students." "Good luck then. Maybe I'll see you on a mission one day." "Maybe. This is my stop. If you ever need me, I work inside the wind tunnel offices." Valentina got off at the East entrance to the main R&D building. She walked to the third floor and followed the hallway down to find a receptionist at her desk, typing an email to another receptionist in the building. The girl waved her hand, barely looking at Valentina: "Go on in, he's expecting you." Valentina heard the buzz of an electronic lock, followed by a pneumatic woosh as Wernher's door slid open. "Valentina! It's been what, 3 weeks? You hardly visit anymore!" "Sorry Wernher. It's not because of lack of wanting, I can assure you." "Really, it's of no consequence. We've known each other for what, ten years now? I remember the day you dropped your application on my desk for the Astronaut Korps, back when this was still a naval aviation post. It's crazy to think that in just ten years, the space program and the navy have linked so closely together. Back when I was a lad, this type of cooperation between the military and scientific branches of the government was almost unimaginable. Now, look where we are." "Wernher, I saw it all happen too. I hate to interrupt your monologue about the history of the Hexis Aeronautical Division of the Navy, but we really do need to go if we want to reach my old BL4 by sunset." "Fair enough. I'm assuming you've already been briefed on our current safety protocol regarding activity on the base until this mystery is solved once and for all?" "Yup. No helmets are to be removed out-of-doors if at all possible. Heat-resistive clothing is to be worn by all personnel working out-of-doors for extended periods of time. Crew working far away from the base should ensure that their in-suit fire suppression systems are up to date." "Good. I think I know the cause of this incident, but we need to be sure." With that, Wernher lifted a metal briefcase from his desk and sealed his helmet. Striding through his door, he called out: "Sherri! Forward all my calls to Gene, and send away any other visitors today!" With surprising speed for his age, Wernher strode down three flights of stairs and practically leaped into the waiting car. Fifteen minutes later, Valentina found herself sitting in the cockpit of an SE1 Submarine, gliding under the surface. "So much for making it by sunset." "If my theory is correct, Commander, you'll be quite glad to be under the water and not exposed in the air." "You still haven't told me what this is." "I'll tell you if I'm right. If I'm wrong, this will be one of my most absurd hypotheses ever created." "Well, I hope you're right. Every time you are, you also have a solution to back yourself up with." "I hope I'm right, too. The alternatives to my hypothesis are rather frightful, and would likely turn the world on its head." "That bad?" "How bad do you think breaking the laws of physics is?" Thirty minutes into the journey, Valentina's external temperature gauges began to register a slow increase of heat in the water above the sub. Wernher simply grinned and motioned for Valentina to dive down. He flicked a switch in the crew cabin, extending a small thermal periscope ten feet above the craft. He logged the temperature data for the next four hours. Retracting his periscope, pulled up the weather data over the past two hours, and compared the temperature changes with the weather. Deep in thought, he pulled out the slide rule that Gene had given him years ago and began to calculate. Graphing the temperature spikes, he calculated the time between the end of one spike and the beginning of the next, and compared the maximum temperature of the spike with the cloud cover percentages measured by a group of Hexis Weather Satellites above him. The spikes began around every 45 minutes and lasted for around a minute. "Valentina, I've found something. We only need your BL4 to prove my theory correct now." Valentina smiled, put the sub on autopilot, and fell asleep. The small craft still had a day until it reached its target, and Val was beginning to feel like a little kid on Khristmas eve waiting to find out what Wernher's theory was and what had been causing all this trouble.

Do the KSP aerodynamics simulations accurately represent ground effect at this point in time, or am I going to need to rely on lift alone for now?

But was it "landing on the landing wheels reverse mun escape style, but on phobos" outlandish? Save on fuel by not using it to actually land!

Chapter Four: Jeb's Salvation Hours later, CDR Valentina found herself strapped into a command module next to Flight Engineer (FE) Moina. Running through preflight checks, she recalled Gene's parting words before she had stepped into the waiting bus to the launchpad: "Please note that although the Salvation is easily capable of reaching the orbit required to reach the Katya, we've never actually flown a rocket like this before. If something goes wrong, there's no launch escape tower, either. I consider it a failure on the part of the lab boys, but Wernher was insistent that the solar panels required atmospheric shielding. That said, most of the flight systems are automated, so you really can't mess it up." Despite his attempts at reassuring Valentina, Gene had trouble reassuring himself that launching an untested lifter system was the best idea. However, the fuel pumps that operated the pipeline under the HNSC were still being tested, and Engineering was reluctant to bring the pump turbines past 30% capacity until they could verify the new turbines were thoroughly stress tested, so the normal asparagus staging was out of the question. The lab boys had solved that problem by attaching solid boosters onto a liquid core instead. The rocket was predicted to fly slightly slower than most launches from the HNSC, but a longer-burning second stage had been assembled to make up for the lower base speed once the craft left the atmosphere. Valentina finished inputting the flight pattern data that Mission Control had given her, and engaged the autopilot. Moina brought up a graphical representation of the craft alongside a staging screen, and selected the bottom four engines. With a start, the two kerbelles felt the engines kick to life, and a moment later, a loud explosion confirmed separation with the launch towers. The lifted off into the sky, powering towards Katya with a prejudice. As they orbited, waiting for their rendezvous, Moina and Valentina began discussing the finer points of web censorship and online image hosting. "Y'know, Val, it's really stupid for people to do things like set up massive firewalls. All it does is make people angry. 90% of the time, whoever set up the firewall is worrying about something that's a non-issue." "I have to agree, Moina. Last week, I was posting on the Human Space Program forum while waiting on the little FOB. Believe it or not, the web connection there is routed through the Hexis National Military Academy. Turns out, the HNMA blocked imkur! Something along the lines of it containing unsavory and corrupting images which our future soldiers didn't need to see. I don't think the admins were thinking about all the benefits web hosting offers, just jumping to conclusions about the honor that their students had. It's almost as if they expect their students to trust them, but they don't trust their students!" "Oh well. At least there's dropboks. Believe it or not Val, I've been using it to post on that forum ever since the HNSC routed its web cable through the HNMA. You'd think that a planet this big would have more than one institutional internet provider, but nope! Turns out the only government ISP is HNMA. The Academy is full of the nerds who enjoy running it, so they monopolized govt. ISP without even meaning to, and it just stuck." Hours later, the Salvation uneventfully docked with the Katya. Val's smile was recorded by the ship's internal cabin cameras: Val turned on the intercom, bounding with joy. "Jeb? Can you hear me?" "Loud and clear. It's good to hear your voice again. How was Ketri?" "Absolutely boring and pointless." "I'm going to have to cut off the intercom now and EVA over. Love you." "Love you too." Jebediah opened the hatch at the end of the station, near where the AGU held the assembly near to the asteroid. Carefully, he maneuvered himself into the void, and allowed the capsule to close behind him. As he maneuvered through the ring which had been his prison for the past five weeks, he could only wonder as to when kerbs would be back up to the station. He drifted down to the end of the structure and knocked on the door of the Salvation. He heard the sound of helmets being clicked on, and with a hiss, the capsule depressurized. When the capsule door opened, he saw one of his favorite faces on the planet. "Hey Val. Too long?" "Too long. Welcome aboard!" With that, Val yanked Jeb inside the capsule and shut the door. With a squeak, the handles locked into place, and moments later, the capsule repressurized. Val worked swiftly once Jeb and Moina had buckled back in. Maneuvering over to the flight commander's seat, she input a few final commands into the computers of Katya and Salvation before finally navigating to the Docking Controller. Hours later, the trio found themselves suspended beneath a group of parachutes, finally home.

Hey, I didn't check to see if this is already been posted, but the MK1 cockpit (not the inline version) is broken. Visually, the door (ironically labeled "do not open in flight") has been swung 90° outwards so the inside of the door faces up and the outside faces down, exposing my kerbs to the dark vacuum of space. Also, the "docking mode" screen has been flipped inside the front panel assembly, and the top buttons of the top screen in the IVA facing forward are usable but hidden, making it a fun guessing game to try and find the function you're after. Dev plz nerf, lol.

Yup, the HNSC was repaired. However, the docking ports on the Katya are unfinished, the original plan was to have a mast which extended past the solar arrays. I had to design a ship which was an actual rocket, unlike the spaceplanes I think I'm going to use when it's finished (They'd probably collide with the solar panels as the station is now). That said, the rocket I built hadn't been tested before, so when I finally get around to posting that chapter, you'll be reading about me launching a rocket which has never been tested before. I just threw something together and held my breath.

I'm not the only one here who forgot the Espedaillac was a thing, right? Riiiiight?????

A Message from the Author: Due to issues with imgur being blocked on school computers now, these are going to be more spread out, as I have to transfer the pictures in order to upload and link them. Also, sorry for the delay, but I've been sick the past few days, so updates to the story are fewer and further between. That said, I'll drop a tiny spoiler in saying that the holes in the blimp Valentina and her crew noticed are going to be revisited. Feel free to speculate!

Banned for putting the kids out.

Chapter Three: 32 Days Later Thirty two days later, Valentina climbed into the rover at the base and prepared to take a lonesome journey home. She had been given orders to return as soon as possible to the HNSC by Gene himself. She waited until nightfall, when the desert temperatures began to fall, making travel much easier and reducing the likelihood that her rover's engines would overheat. The crew she had ferried over unloaded the remaining equipment that Valentina wouldn't need, and bid her adieu. Peeling across the desert, Valentina was determined to get home as soon as possible. She knew something was going on, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Oh well," she remarked, "I'll find out when I get home." She arrived at her airship at around three o'clock in the morning. Before she left her rover, she disengaged the fuel cells and parked it nearby. She did a full walk-around of her airship, and was disgusted to find that one of her landing gear had been destroyed by vandals. "Even if it isn't terrorists, this whole region is just full of wonderful people." Muttering under her breath, she was relieved to find that the airship hadn't been broken into, and she was especially happy when she found that all the fuel was still present. She clambered aboard, eager to return home and see what Gene had been fussing about. She made great headway across the desert, and was quite excited when she reached the shores where Ketri bordered the West Bay. Fifteen minutes into the flight, her low fuel light came on, as well as the tank breach alarm. Sixty kilometers from the FOB and its refueling outpost, she had no choice but to continue steaming across the bay. Remarking to herself, "Just what I needed, a critical tank failure," Val crossed her fingers and pushed the craft further across the bay. Her engines cut out at 0343 in the morning, with no land in sight, in the middle of the West Bay. "Kraken crap," she commented to herself, "this is about to get interesting." At 0350, the HNSC received a distress signal from Valentina's BL4. The transcript reads as follows: "This is HNSC Emergency Channel, please identify yourself." "Emergency Channel, this is HN5095, Buoyant Lift Type Four Aircraft, Pilot In Command Valentina Squawking an out of fuel mayday" "Roger that. Do you know your current position?" "Negatory. Navigational systems seem non-responsive, as does the throttle and cabin pressurization. I've activated the emergency homing beacon." "Understood. HN5095, Gene wants you to ditch the blimp and await rescue. We'll dispatch a seaplane to your location the moment we have a confirmed location, understood?" "Understood" Val set the BL4 down as gently as she could and prepared to wait. At the HNSC, construction companies had restored the facilities in a record time. The VAB stood tall once again, and the SPH was back in business. At 0411, a Mallard taxied onto the runway and ran through the final preflight checklist. The plane lifted gracefully into the sky and turned towards Valentina's downed airship, powering its way out of Hexis and towards the West Bay. Moving as quickly as he could, CPT Neilfred pushed the Mallard to its limits in the hopes of getting one of the most beloved Commanders in the service out of contested waters as quickly as possible. Soon, CPT Neilfred found himself flying along the West Bay, with Commander Val's airship barely visible on radar over the horizon. He began to lower his altitude and speed in preparation for a water landing. Neilfred glided peacefully along, readying his cockpit for landing and radioing the BL4. Aboard the BL4, Valentina was furiously kicking the air conditioning unit in an attempt to shut it off. Unfortunately, the electrical controls for the BL4 were located inside one of the now submerged parts, and as the BL4 was never designed to land in water, had shorted out, causing the air conditioner to malfunction and chill the cabin as much as it could. With a great thud, Valentina managed to break the fan control unit free of the vent, and leaned back, enjoying the newfound lack of frigid air blowing against her face. Neilfred, meanwhile, entered a steep glide slope in order to avoid overshooting Val. At 0448, Neilfred touched the plane down and maneuvered over to Val's BL4. Val EVA'd and swam over to the waiting seaplane. As they left, she could see a multitude of holes in the bottom of the airship. "Strange," she commented, "those holes weren't there when I inspected the airship." The flight back to the HNSC was uneventful, and Gene sent a dune rover out to greet Valentina. Ten minutes later, she found herself at the front of the Mission Control Building. "Gene." "Valentina. We think we have a way to bring Jeb home."

Banned for not being a fried potato, cut into long, skinny blocks.

Chapter Two: More Than Three Weeks Valentina was too busy overseeing the cargo to hear the radio transmission in the blimp. She didn't really trust the people she had ferried out, since she hadn't met them, but she was surprised to see a friendly face. Jumping in the air, she nearly lost her composure as a wing commander. "Bob! What are you doing here? I thought Scientists weren't allowed to enter Ketri, it's so dangerous!" "Valentina, you sound exactly like Gene when I told him I was taking my protégé out to the FOB. We're going to help out two scientists already there with something special." "Ok then. If you brought your protege, where is Millie? We need to catch up on the ride over." "Millie's sitting inside the cabin still. Do you want me to get her? We can help poor Cergy unload the BL4." "Sure thing. I'd like to get to the FOB before day, because there's a chance that it could get messy here. I'm sure the rebels heard my landing, we were so heavy it was hard to set the BL down gently." Valentina lined the crew up and counted them off, ensuring all five Kerbs were present, then had her unknown passengers announce their names. "One:" "Val, it's Bob. "Two:" "Millie here!" "Three:" "SSG Cergy, Corps of Engineering, Sir!" "Four:" "PFC Edtrey, Corps of Engineering, Sir!" "Five:" "ENS Calrie, Naval Aviator Brigade 2!" "Alright. I'm CMD Valentina, from Naval Aviator Brigade 3. If we want to get to the FOB before we have visitors, I suggest that we all get these crates loaded." As the crew continued the arduous process of loading crates into the Dune Buggy, Val climbed inside the BL4 and began to shut everything down to preserve it until it was needed again. With the rover finally loaded, Val turned of the lights of the BL4 and boarded the rover at sunrise to make headway for the FOB. Valentina began to slowly and arduously maneuver the laden buggy across the foothills, but made little headway. It was two days before they had traveled the 4 kilometers in the buggy, and to make matters worse, the buggy had no antenna of any type, so the crew couldn't contact their homes, the FOB, or listen to the radio. Valentina decided that next time, it didn't matter how many bullets she had to fly through, she wouldn't ever load a dune buggy in such a way ever again, however, she was grateful that she had managed to avoid a firefight in the buggy, since it was lightly armored and only had a single turret. When she finally arrived, she expected a hero's welcome for bringing the much need supplies, however, the commander of the FOB was the only one she saw, and she didn't like the look on his face. "Bill. You don't look very excited. I thought you'd be happier to see us, especially with those new generators we brought." "Val, it's been a rough two days since we last talked. You need to come inside, we need to talk." "I don't like the sound of that." "You're gonna be even more upset after what I tell you" With that, Bill walked inside one of the housing units and motioned for Val to follow him in and get outside of the sweltering heat. Taking off her helmet, Val and Bill sat down. Bill turned on a television screen, and entered the password for the base's computer screen. Val looked up at Bill, who sat down and began to shake his head. Teary eyed, he motioned for Val to watch the screen and pressed play. With a buzz, the radio crackled to life. Val watched intently, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach, determined to find out why Bill was so upset. Tonight, on Khannel 5 News, we bring you an update to the attack on the HNSC. For our Viewers now tuning in, two days ago, a missile barrage struck the Hexis National Space Center. Using satellite photography and atmospheric sensors, the Skyshield corporation has tracked the origin of the missile to an area in the mountainous regions of Ketri. The progression of the attack is as follows: At sundown, Y2D153, an atmospheric anomaly was detected. Investigators witnessed a bright white glow streaking across the desert sky, and an amateur astronomer captured an image of a solid rocket launching into the stratosphere. Two minutes into the flight, the rocket pitched onto its side. After the solid rocket booster burned out, the rocket jettisoned its fairing and began a burn towards the HNSC. Ten minutes later, it aimed itself at the VAB and began to burn one final time. Witnesses report seeing multiple objects fall off the rocket and explode into thousands of small orbs at ~1000-2000 feet. These orbs, packed with explosives, destroyed the fueling systems of the SPH. The main body of the rocket continued to burn for the VAB until the motor burned out. The resulting kinetic impact leveled the building, bending multiple steel beams into massive curves, and flattening the central construction zone. Among the systems now offline, asides from vehicle production, are the fueling systems for the SPH and Runway, high-speed internet communication to the Katya station, and CIWS-R Praxis Runway Defense Systems. Until the communications blackout can be repaired, there will be no launches into space. Among the casualties stand 54 workers in serious condition, 167 with major injuries that did not require hospitalization, and one Kerbonaut currently aboard the Katya station, now stranded for at least a month until a rescue craft can be sent into such a high orbit. Valentina leaned back in her seat. Her heart was thumping so hard she could hear the blood flow in her ears, and for the first time in a very long time, she began to cry. She barely whispered "Jeb." under her breath, before running down the corridor and locking herself inside a bunk room. Up in orbit, Jeb looked out the window. He had just received a radio broadcast informing him of his situation. Gazing out, he muttered, "Sure thing. Just three more weeks, that's all. You can come back in just three weeks! Oh well, I guess I can't blame the HNSP too much." He floated down to the galley and made a sandwich, before opening his card deck and setting up a game of solitaire. "How ironic," he remarked under his breath. "A perfect game for a perfect situation."

CHAPTER ONE: HEATWAVE UT: 0145 Jebediah woke up to the sound of a gentle beeping down the skyway inside the command module. He unbuckled himself from the seat he had been napping in, and scampered to the command module as quickly as possible. Swiftly unlocking the pod’s computer, he entered his encrypted password for personal communications and was greeted with a familiar face: “Hey, Jeb.” “Hey yourself, Val. What’s kicking on Kerbin?” “You know how it is. Mom’s breathing down my neck as usual, Autumn is on her fishing trip, and I’m stuck here crossing the West Bay into Ketri. How’s Katya doing?” “I’ve only been here for a week and I’m already getting tired of this rock. I can’t wait to get down from here. I mean, it’s cool that I’m on a space station strapped to a captured asteroid, but, Val, to be honest, it’s boring up here. Especially without you.” “Good thing you only have three weeks to go. Let’s take a waterstrider to that island when you get back, okay, Jeb?” “Sure thing Val. This is Katya Station, signing off with love.” And with that, Jeb turned and floated blissfully down back into the cabins to continue preparing the Katya for the 24 tourists she would be holding soon. He accessed the terminal inside his cabin, and began preparing the station’s systems to come online fully, floating without a care above the troubled blue marble he called home. On the surface, Valentina prepared to steam towards the Ketri region. War-torn for years on end, Hexis had established a small outpost inside a crater in order to assist other members of the West Bay Defense treaty. Valentina had been given orders to carry a large cargo of supplies, power units, and rations to the small forward operating base in order to assist the refueling operations there. For the last six months, the region had been relatively quiet, thanks to an increased presence of Ketri Government Defense Forces, and WBD member nations hoped that the quiet would continue. In order to assist the KGDF, they had established the Joint Aerial Forward Operating Base and Command Center, providing the local forces with air support in their mission to restore peace in the region. An hour after she left, Valentina decided to tune in the radio. Although the insurgents in the region didn't know it, Hexis had decrypted a signal from a rebel-controlled radio tower and built a decoder for that channel, allowing the WBD to spy in on coordinations carried out by rebel leaders, and for the P.R. department of Hexis to create counter-propaganda. The crew in the back of Val's BL-4 listened intently in order to gain some foreknowledge of the situation they were about to enter into. Moments after Valentina turned on the radio, the following exchange was heard: "This is Rebel Thunder to Warbird, Rebel Thunder to Warbird, please copy." "This is Warbird to Rebel Thunder, you are [*STATIC*] engage. Good luck Rebel Thunder." Suddenly, the channel filled with static, and Valentina quickly had to shut the radio off to protect her hearing. The incident remained on the crew's minds, and despite the fact that nobody asked about the transmission, not a single recruit wasn't thinking about the transmission for the rest of the flight. Val landed a few kilometers from the base, in order to aid the camouflaging of the airship from potential rebel planes. The base already had a rover waiting, and Val began to unload her cargo into it. Had she looked up, she might've seen Rebel Thunder as it reentered the atmosphere, streaking across the night sky towards the Space Center.

COMMANDER VAL: THE HEROIC TALE OF THE GREATEST WING COMMANDER IN THE HEXIS NAVY Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Heatwave Chapter 2: More Than Three Weeks Chapter 3: 32 Days Later Chapter 4: Jeb's Salvation Chapter 5: No Rest For The Weary Chapter 6: It All Comes Together Chapter 7: Agalotte Chapter 8: Spy Games Chapter 9: No Plan Survives First Contact Transmission Log 1: Read it HERE Chapter 10: Knights and Rooks Transmission Log 2: Read it HERE Chapter 11: Change In Initiative Transmission Log 3: Read it HERE Chapter 12: Survival Floating Chapter 13: Last Stand/The Phoenix

No Catbeth, you had him about as covered as a solar panel without a fairing.

I think this is a universal human (and kerbal) theme of existence. Nevertheless, your writing style is on point.

Am I the only one who feels sorry that Camwise and Gemxy didn't work out? I mean, yeah, Camwise is a Kerbal, which is the dictionary definition of suffering, but it's kind of sad that he never really got the chance to explore that relationship before being ripped away again.

Album: LRB1 Supersonic Bombardment Vehicle Mission Report LRB1 (Long-Range Bombardment Class, Mk1) Mission Report: At 1200hrs, SSGT Cerby Kerman became separated from her squadron of anti-tank trucks in a sandstorm in the Kertri Foothills. She proceeded to follow the mission plan in an attempt to catch up. She radioed for help, but her group had already accomplished the objective and was proceeding to the shore for exfil. Cerby and her team decided that the best course of action was for Cerby to drive through the foothills towards the Eastern Shore in order to avoid an armored battalion 15km north, protecting a contested region. Cerby encountered a flipped Crater Crawler at ~1700hrs, and used her targeting pod to identify the vehicle. She identified a squadron of 10 enemies, composed of three fireteams and a High-Value Target. Squadrons 1 and 2 were attempting to flip the crater-crawler, while squadron 3 patrolled the crater. SSGT Cerby decided the best course of action would be to escape and evade, as she had little chance of defeating 10 enemies with anti-tank rockets and a PDW if they fanned out and surrounded her. She used her targeting pod to send the GPS coordinates to the LRB squadron. LRB squadron scrambled an experimental LRB1 manned by 2LT Burbrett Kerman in order to prevent the enemy from successfully righting their Crawler and continuing on their way before a subsonic bombardment jet could reach them. During takeoff, Burbrett experienced a sharp pull to the right which nearly sent his plane into the R&D department. However, he avoided catastrophe with a rapid recovery, and proceeded with the mission. At T+60s, Burbrett shutdown the 2 auxillary "Panther" turbofans and proceeded on his JX-4 Whiplash engine. He reached a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 before being forced to slow the craft by 200 m/s in order to allow the radiators to properly dump excess heat. At T+9m, Burbrett activated his auxillary turbofans and disabled the primary turboramjet. He proceeded to deploy the airbrakes in preparation for his bombing run. At T+9m 45s, Burbrett attempted to center his bombsight on the Crawler, however, the experimental nature of the JRB1 prevented him from properly centering his target. Despite this setback, at T+10m 2LT Burbrett radioed bombs away. At T+10m 22s, 2TL Burbrett radioed in a good effect on target, and SSGT Cerby confirmed. Although many structural parts of the Crawler remained, Cerby confirmed that all 10 enemy combatants were dead. She proceeded to steal the encryption algorithm used by KSTE forces before leaving. 2LT Burbrett flew back at speeds around Mach .9 on only his auxiliary engines in order to conserve fuel. Cerby transmitted the data on the chip she stole from the crawler before rendezvousing at the eastern shore for exfil. Top recorded speed: 1124m/s (MACH 3.3). A higher top speed could have been achieved, but the radiators went on strike until they got higher working wages, so Burbrett, our loyal pilot, dutifully kept the plane intact by keeping the speed lower than the melting point for the wings. He received an extra juice box at lunch for his actions. Max heat: 18455. As it turns out, it's very hard to bomb a target if you have an excess of control surfaces, so all the bombs hit a tad to the left of their intended target, however, 8 JDAMS still packs a punch. Funds: 47,589. Includes the price of spacetape holding everything together. Does not include the 4 funds worth of snacks Burbrett bought from the vending machine before he launched. NOTE: SCORES ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST THOUSANDTH Score Calculation: A = (826/622)*50=66.399 B=(18455/60209)*30=9.195 C=(96617/47589)*20=40.605 A+B+C= 66.399+9.195+40.605 Total = 116.199

-81 - 19 away

@Murican_Jeb Banned for being located on a retired, obsolete, and scrapped aircraft carrier.

Hi! I'm a long time player, but I never took time to join the forums until now. I'm a big fan of BDArmory and mods in general.