rlin

Haven't been on the forums in a while and decided to catch up on this. Wow. What a turn of events. Given how this thread has been gravedug before and you are still active, is there any chance of this being revived?

I feel for you. My RP-0 install takes an hour to load (actually more than that), and there are lag spikes for me that last minutes at a time. Even my somewhat laggy 1.1.3 install seems fast. We will wait for more PI!

Oh no! She went to the locked room behind bars!

Chapter 1 A First Flight, and New Beginnings Many a kerbal looked at the ruins that was once the Kerbal Missile Testing Center, and thought of how its destruction could have been prevented. The area, after it was bombed, had become irradiated to the point of becoming inhabitable, and it stayed that way for decades. Only now did anyone think of how it could be rebuilt. Jebediah Kerman was just one of the many kerbs who worked to rebuild it, and establish it as a civilian space center. Never before had such an endeavor been made. But it certainly was possible. From the surviving blueprints of an experimental cockpit, and a small SRB, a parachute, as well as a design for a cardboard fin, the Jumping Flea came forth. It was quite a tiny craft, and its only purpose was a carnival ride. Still, when von Kerman decided to analyze the rocket, he saw the opportunity in it. And so, after munths of petitions and letters, the government agreed to clean up and refurbish the KMTC, and repurpose it for a space center. They informed the kerbs that the reconstruction would take years, and that they would rebuilt the R&D center, the VAB, and the Launch Pad. And so the extensive reconstruction took place. The irradiated topsoil was removed and replaced. Geiger counters were placed in certain points in the area to track the most radioactive areas. Buildings were restored one by one. The debris was removed by crane, leaving behind only the foundations and the skeletons, which were removed. Then the rebuilding started. Five years later, the new Kerbal Space Center was in a workable condition. The VAB (including that concrete sculture, but nobody payed much attention to it), R&D building, and the launchpad were rebuilt, the topsoil was completely replaced, and the Tracking Station was almost done. However, the safety board still advised everyone to wear hazmat suits when they were outside. Plus, everyone had to cram in the R&D building until the barracks that would soon become the Astronaut Complex was finished. Mission Control also had to be in R&D until its building was rebuilt. The researchers put together a small rocket called the Flea. It was designed to collect data of the area around the area, as substantial data on Kerbin had been lost in the Great Archive Fire. It wasn't much, except it was. Especially because of some canisters found while dumpster diving that contained a mysterious goo. Jeb, naturally, flew the first mission of the new space program. The transcript of the launch went something like this: JEBEDIAH KERMAN <T-10>: I'm bored. When do we launch? GENE KERMAN <T-6>: In... say, 15 seconds? JEBEDIAH KERMAN <T-3>: I'm not waiting that long. [PRESSES STAGE] SYSTEM TELEMETRY <T-0>: Receiving "STAGE" signal. Activating booster." JEBEDIAH KERMAN <T+1>: WHEEEEEE! GENE KERMAN: <T+3>: JEB‽ Needless to say, Gene was not too happy. At least Jeb pointed his rocket straight up, and so didn't land far away from the launch pad. After the Flea 1 mission, as it was called, another Flea was launched with Valentina Kerman on board, who actually followed launch protocol. She flew the rocket at an angle, as her mission required her to do. It let the researchers get more data. She then landed, and made the first splashdown in the space program's history. Val climbed out of the hatch, and took her helmet off. She inhaled the fresh ocean air, which was more enjoyable than the suit. All and all, it was a nice time for the rocket scientists, but they were about to attempt something even more ambitious. They planned on taking the first steps out into space, and return safely.

Why. Why haven't I seen this before?

This is a science mode save from my KSP 1.1.3 install, which is so congested with mods that I can't update it. I warn you: It's very picture-heavy. Mods: Table of Contents: A First Flight, and New Beginnings Prelude A Remnant of the Past A lone figure stood in front of some buildings. Or what was left of them, anyway. The ruins that they left behind was a shadow of their former glory. What was once a busy complex, filled with activity, was now rubble and dust. Radioactive rubble and dust. And it had been that way since the War. Since a nuclear bomb fell on the buildings, razing them to the ground. The area, even now, was to dangerous to enter without a hazmat suit. And it was the only testament to how advanced the kerbals once were, a constant reminder of the time that entire cities could be wiped off the face of Kerbin with a single bomb. This place, once a missile launch site, was a memorial to all who were killed. But nobody dared come close to it, due to the dangers of going there. Only one picture of the mushroom cloud that resulted from the bomb survives, and the old technology used to take the pictures meant that the picture's colors were not particularly bright. Unfortunately, some very important information was stored under the basement of one of the buildings. All the important information on how to launch a rocket without lots of explosions were stashed under the building. Fortunately, the basement was stored deeply enough to not be destroyed by the bomb or falling rubble, but the fire control system was disabled. Due to the large amounts of radiation in the area, nobody was there to maintain it. And when a fire ignited in that basement, it took hours for the fire crews to don hazmat suits, dig through the rubble, find the basement, and put out the fire. And they only arrived just in time to save 5 blueprints. All others burned to ashes. After the fire, the surviving blueprints were moved out of the basement for further study, and was eventually published. The world had done some odd things with them, including using them to create a carnival ride. But nobody ever revisited the site. Until now. The figure started poking through the ruins, examining what was left. The extent of the damage completely destroyed the interior, leaving behind a very damaged exterior. Piles of that highly contaminated rubble was piled up. The granules in the rubble ranged from gravel to dust, which had a tendency to blow away and irradiate wherever it landed. The area still posed a significant risk to the general health of kerbals because of such radiation. The grass still looked green, though it was dead, and was burnt to ashes in areas closer to the detonation site. And afterwards, the radiation stunted and slowed their growth, leaving a patchwork of red, yellow, brown and green away from the detonation site. The site of the detonation was white from ashes, brown from dirt, and had very little green from grasses trying to grow. The figure walked to a nearby building, which was once the barracks for the kerbals who controlled the launches. Now, it was a skeleton, dust, and a toilet that somehow survived the blast. Even less fragile structures folded in the heat. The figure then arrived at the building that was the site of the Great Archive Fire, as it was now called. It, like all the other structures, were not spared. Concrete was torn like cardboard. Metal structures had bent away from the direction of the blast. The building where all the missiles were built left behind a massive shell that hinted at its former monstrosity. No longer did kerbals work here and aided the war effort. No one had survived, and none of the buildings did, either. Not even the concrete sculpture between the tall building and the hangar survived. It was not able to do anything. But that was about to change. One might wonder who the figure who explored the ruins was. His name was Jebediah Kerman. And he was one of the ambitious kerbals working to rebuild the center.

...and when I thought "late" just meant he didn't arrive on time. Oh well.

Well, I finally caught up on about 6 months of the story. *phew*

Well, it seems like the Admiral has survived.

Oh? Surely those words were said by the Admiral at the start of the battle.

This is pretty much an old post, but you seem to have invalidated it.

I just caught up! RIP Gregmore!

So they did. Apparently they did not want the tech going there. I'm getting back on topic. No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

...The saucer survived. I don't really care about the stardive.

The Star Trek Enterprise has survived plenty of crashes (somehow). I hope this can too.

watches the expression of dawning understanding on both Vals' faces That was priceless.

Wait! You forgot to kill the kerbs in orbit of Kerbin too!

...And so they lived happily ever after. Except the asteroid, I mean. I can see Mort's erased smile, replaced by a frown. It took plenty of close looking, though.

...And somehow makes me think of this: https://xkcd.com/1532/ (alt-text) https://what-if.xkcd.com/137/ (the part about the RTGs) The Kerbal Union might have some trouble on that one.

I'm secretly hoping that the debris (discarded warheads and fuel tanks, along with pieces of the asteroid) will hit Barbarry's house and RDF HQ.

You're back!

Whoa! Weird.

I wonder how our space pirates will get ahold of those tubes... Wow. It survived crashing into Eve.

Don't they have a nighttime AA post for air raids? Wouldn't they have noticed an unscheduled flight? And wouldn't Gene have a sidearm?

The boulder? Uh oh.