KSK

You're very welcome! And I did enjoy the bits of Jeb's character you wrote into the last chapter - especially the part about him coming to work on the bus.

Sorry about the wait folks but at long last - the next chapter is up... More Boosters The grin disappeared from Jeb’s face. “Me?” Nelton glanced at Ademone, who was keeping her expression carefully composed. She leaned forward, picked up her glass of water and took a sip. “An idea you borrowed from Jeb,” she repeated. “Indeed,” said Lodan. “He had a considerable amount of help with its execution of course.” Lodan dipped his head at Geneney. “But I believe the original idea was his.” Geneney’s face cleared. “The KIS?” “Correct,” said Lodan. “A group of students and enthusiasts who took a minuscule experimental rocket engine and, by dint of sheer dogged determination, turned it into a fledgling space program. Who managed to parlay their one successful flight into a whole audacious enterprise which succeeded in putting the first kerbals into orbit. A highly unlikely proposition on the face of it but, against all reason and probability it worked - because you were able to rally your fellow kerbals to your cause for little more than food, lodgings and their own chance to fly into space.” Lodan leaned forward. “I believe we can do something similar again.” “Two successful flights,” said Geneney faintly. “We did manage one all-up test before Kerbal 1.” Nelton made no attempt to hide her disbelief. “That’s it? That’s the big idea? The world has moved on, Director.” She threw Geneney an apologetic look. “The KIS was an incredible achievement, as many former Rockomax kerbonauts would agree. But spaceflight is a business now and running it all on handshakes and shoestrings?” Nelton lifted her hands. “I don’t see it.” Geneney downed the rest of his coffee and blotted his mouth. “Do we have any choice?” he asked. “Requisitioning isn’t going to work and if we try restarting Starseed in the normal way, I’d give our good Director about half a day of liberty after the first bill lands on a Council desk.” He shook his head. “Kerm knows how its all going to work KIS style though.” Jeb pinched the bridge of his nose. “We could run it down the supply chains,” he said at last. “Start with the big contractors like Stratus, get them onboard first and take it from there.” He looked up. “You remember Pioneer 1, Genie?” “For lots of reasons. Which one were you thinking of?” “The one where we were talking about rockets without capsules.” Jeb turned to Lodan. “The night the Kerm crisis broke,” he explained. “I was wondering who would care about spaceflight with their Groves going up in flames. Gene thought that plenty of people would, except that the rockets wouldn’t be going so far and they wouldn’t have capsules on top.” Jeb’s expression turned grim. “I decided that they could get those rockets from somewhere else. I figure most of our suppliers would still agree with me - and if they don’t, they can take their business somewhere else!” Ademone stirred. “I don’t think we’ll need to resort to that.” She looked at Lodan. “You always do choose your words carefully, Director.” Lodan raised an eyebrow. “Food,” said Ademone. “Guarantee that and we’ll have more volunteers than we know what to do with. Especially if we make it clear that the families of any volunteers get fed too.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Play up the saving the world angle for the idealists, convince the rugged individualists that they, and not the good-for-nothing, paper-pushing government are going to be doing the saving…” “Keep the media out of it,” said Jeb. “They’re bound to pick up on it sooner rather than later but we don’t put any official stories out. Right, Genie?” Geneney nodded. “Keep it personal. Back in the early days we did all our flight planning in one of the local bars.” He grinned at the expression on Lodan’s face. “Well that didn’t hurt. But mostly it let everyone in Barkton come and find us if they wanted, ask any questions they liked. Once we started flying in earnest, there was a pretty good chance they could come and meet some of the new kerbonauts too.” “Bob started up a weekly lecture series for the more serious folks,” Jeb added. “We did a ton of outreach work, ran tours of the Space Centre - whatever we needed to do to keep the public on board.” “Including the part where Jeb persuaded Adelan to carry a pair of wedding torcs into orbit,” said Geneney. Lodan placed his cup back onto its saucer. “That,” he said, “is a side of Jebediah’s personality that I would hear more of.” “Nothing much to say,” grumbled Jeb. “He was good lad, wanted to give his lady something a bit different for their wedding, and we’d more or less worked through the early problems with the booster. So I asked Adelan to carry his torcs on Moho 4. Bill engraved the couple’s names on the backs - did a good job too.” “A suitably important contractor I presume,” said Ademone. “Actually no,” said Geneney quietly. “Just someone we met at Jorfurt’s one night. Said that watching the Moho 4 launch was the last thing he’d be doing before going back to his Grove to get married. I think his train ticket and those torcs were about all he had to his name at that point. Jeb promised to replace them if the originals… got lost.” Geneney leaned back in his chair. “However, it turned out that one of the fellows on the next table over was a very big contractor indeed and he was suitably impressed by Jeb’s offer.” Nelton shook her head. “Good story but you’re crazy if you seriously think that a nice gesture or two will be enough to get Starseed back on track.” To her surprise, Jeb just grinned. “Crazy as a gronnek with its paw in a trap, as one old ‘kerb told me once at great length. He was a great old guy - listened to everything we had to say but clearly didn’t believe a word of it. That’s okay, he was far from the only one - just a bit more open about it. We could respect that.” Jeb looked Nelton in the eye. “Two months later to the day, we launched Moho 1. We made that work, Flight - we can make this work too.” “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Nelton caught sight of Ademone’s warning look. “But as Geneney said…” She stared down at the tabletop for a moment. “Fine. You manage to sweet-talk the biggest crowd of volunteers in history - into doing what?” Lodan leaned forward. “I believe Jebediah and Geneney have already discussed this between themselves.” He looked at Jeb. “Would you care to share your conclusions?” —————— “Kerm - there it goes again.” “Thrust is dropping. C’mon engine - c’mon!” James flicked a glance at the helium pressure gauge. The needle stuttered again then began a remorseless steady decrease. “Losing helium pressure, Flight - descent engine thrust dropping to match. How’s that guidance update?” He turned to the kerbonaut standing beside him and mimed pulling a ripcord. Calley nodded and began tapping at her computer keyboard. “Still convergent, Pioneer but it can’t hold. Recommend mode 2 abort, minimum safe orbit.” “Copy.” James’ eyes darted from the engine readouts to his navball and back. “Heliu…” The master alarm shrilled in his ear. “Punch it, Calley!” The lander cabin lurched under his feet, followed by a rapid-fire hammering from the RCS thrusters. The craters outside shot into view, oscillated for a moment, then settled. “Engine armed! Ignition!” James stared straight ahead through the cabin window as the ascent engine cover rattled under his feet. Beside him, Calley’s eyes were locked on her computer display. “C’mon, c’mon….c’mon! You beauty! Got a periapsis, Flight. Few more seconds should do it… and shutdown!” “That’s a good burn, Pioneer. Bill - what have you got?” “Descending to retrieval altitude on your mark, Flight. Burn program confirmed and loaded, CSM attitude is green. I have the checklist figures for circularisation once FD is on-loop.” “Copy, Bill.” “I can’t be sure without the lander guidance data, Flight but I don’t think our phasing will be much good.” “FD concurs, Bill. Let’s get you down to thirty first and we’ll take it from there.” For the next several hours, the cabin was filled with the steady cadence of kerbonauts reading off checklist items and confirming strings of numbers with the flight dynamics team at Mission Control. In the lander cabin, James and Calley helped with the calculations but could only listen to the flurry of activity from the command module that marked each of Bill’s burns. “Residuals nulled, Flight. I think that’s done it.” “That’s affirmative, Bill. Nicely co-elliptic and your systems are looking good. Okay team, let’s call it there. Nice work.” James’ navball froze and the cabin light over his head came on, washing out the luminescent glow from his instrument panel. He dug his fists into the small of his back and stretched, slipping his boots out of their restraining loops. Calley turned and opened the door behind her, blinking as she stepped out of the dimly lit simulator cabin, onto the floor of the Kerbonaut Training Facility. She twisted her helmet clear of its neck ring and set it to one side before peeling off her headset and running her fingers through her sweaty hair. Across the room, Bill was climbing out of a separate simulator. Calley turned her head at the sound of footsteps behind her. “Hi, Tomcas. What’s the verdict?” “Not bad at all. Couple of things to go through but I’ll be letting Gene know we can move onto the ascent and rendezvous aborts next week.” James began stripping off the outer layer of his spacesuit. “Good to hear, Sims - sounds like we’re back on schedule. Any news on the capsule?” Tomcas grinned. “Heat shield’s been finished for a while, Jim. Last I heard, they had Bob and Camrie cooped up inside working through the post-installation electrics and environmental checks.” “The lander’s looking just fine though!” said Calley, stripping off her own outer suit. “That rover fixed to the descent stage, all folded up as neat as you like. Can’t wait to see how it goes on the Mün!” She caught a glimpse of Bill’s face. “Kerm. Sorry, Bill - getting carried away with myself.” “No need to apologise,” said Bill mildly. “I did mean it when I said that Munar orbit is good enough for me.” His eyes lost their focus. “Besides, the science planning team finally approved the Quiet Time radio experiments. The chances against hearing anything are astronomical and I doubt we’d pick up anything anyway with the antennas we have but we can’t get all the way out to the Mün and not try.” “Ohh, congratulations - which stars did they choose?” said Calley. “Cherint Prime and Proxima Cherint. No surprises there. Nearest stars to Kerbol and both reasonably Kerbol-like themselves? It’s where I’d start.” Bill smiled. “A couple of the keener members of the planning team wanted me to try listening to Zyrix too, as our next nearest neighbour, but that would take too much time out of the observation and photography schedule.” Calley smiled back. “And I don’t see them ignoring Kerbin’s first kerbonaut photographer when he tells them that. That’s a thought though - how much training did you do for Kerbal 1?” Bill blinked. “There wasn’t really anything to train for. I took my camera along in the first place because there wasn’t going to be any piloting to speak of. The only controls in the entire capsule were the emergency hatch jettison and the manual backups for the decouplers and chutes. Bob taped the heights for drogue and main chute deployment next to the altimeter and the decoupler timings were just a matter of waiting for the engine noise to stop and pressing the right button if the automatic systems failed. No need to work from the flight clock even.” Tomcas clapped a hand over his suddenly rumbling stomach. “And it seems that my flight clock is telling me its lunch time. You folks want to grab something before the debrief?” “Sounds good,” said Calley, “I find that performance reviews are always best done on a full stomach.” The Pioneer 7 crew and Tomcas’s simulation team arrived at the half-empty canteen just in time to find everyone standing up to leave amidst a great clattering of cutlery and scraping of chairs. Tomcas spotted Derny squeezing past and tapped the chef on the shoulder. “Hey, Derny - what’s happening?” Derny glanced over his shoulder. “Oh - hi Tomcas. Jeb’s called a general meeting. No idea what about.” “Jeb’s called the meeting?” “Yep. Surprised me too. Hardly seen him around the place for Kerm knows how long.” Tomcas waited for the canteen to empty before darting in and snagging a packet of ration cubes from their stand. He ripped the top off and stuffed one of the chewy, dark cubes into his mouth before hurrying after the others. They slipped inside VAB 1 behind the rest of the crowd, James closing the side door behind them. Tomcas saw Jeb standing on a makeshift podium with Geneney, Ademone, Nelton and, he was astonished to see, Director Lodan. A squawk of static stilled the room and Jeb hastily adjusted his microphone. “Can everyone hear me at the back? Okay.” Jeb cleared his throat. “Thanks for coming, folks. We’ve got a bit of an announcement to make, so rather than hold you up listening to me, I’m going to pass you straight across to Director Lodan and I’d ask you all to give him your full attention." Lodan accepted the microphone from Jeb and surveyed the rows of faces staring back at him. Here goes nothing. “Good kerbals - Kerbin has a problem.” A stifled cough from the back of the crowd was the only sound to be heard in the vast assembly building. “We all heard President Obrick’s bold solution to that problem and we all know that solution has stalled in the face of worldwide events. I believe the time is right to get it back on track.” Lodan paused. “I am therefore cancelling the Endurance 2 space station and replacing it with one that is better suited to our immediate needs. The new station - and I am open to suggestions as to what to name it - will be constructed from modules designed for the Starseed colony ships. At present those modules exist on paper only and paper modules will not get us to Duna. We need flight ready hardware and we need the manufacturing and supply lines to produce it in quantity. The new station will be our test program for all of that. Bill nodded to himself as Lodan continued. “More importantly, construction of the new station will also be our test program for assembling the colony ships in space. As you’ll be aware, on-orbit assembly on that scale is a challenge that the space program has barely begun to address thus far and represents an unacceptable failure potential for Starseed. Good kerbals - that failure is not an option. Now, before we get into the details, does anyone have any questions? A forest of hands shot up. Jeb jumped down from the podium and handed over his microphone to the nearest questioner. Lodan listened, smiling humourlessly at her tone of voice. “Indeed. Cutting right to the point then, I chose to make this announcement in Barkton for a reason. For the moment, Starseed will be critically dependent on volunteers. A vain hope one might say, were it not for the fact that we know it works.” Lodan’s gaze swept the crowd. “The Kerbin Interplanetary Society - all of you here today - are living testimony to that. Yes?” Ademone stepped forward amidst a growing rumble of voices. “With the Director’s permission, I also have an announcement to make.” She waited for Lodan to dip his head. “As of today, on behalf of my board of directors, I am hereby placing the entire facilities, assets and personnel of the Rockomax Corporation at Director Lodan’s disposal. Moreover, as of today, the Rockomax board and senior management, myself included, wish to give notice of their volunteer status and will remain on that status until such time as the KSA sees fit to rescind it.” A faint smile crossed Ademone’s face. “A long time ago, a bold kerbal persuaded me to join him in building the first cooperative project between Rockomax and the Kerbin Interplanetary Society. That project was the CORDS program and it proved that two radically different organisational cultures could work together for their common good.” The light caught Ademone’s face. “The CORDS program was the first step on the road to Pioneer 4. For as that same bold kerbal told me; what matters is that we tried. What matters is that future generations will be able to look back at a time when we were magnificent.” Ademone bowed her head then looked up, steely eyes radiating determination. “Rockomax stands with the KIS again. Together we will make this work.” A tight look of approval crossed Bill’s face at Ademone’s words but, as the questions from the crowd continued and the scale of Lodan’s plans became clear, his heart began to sink. Mentally, he began adding up the number of launches needed to build the new station, a cold certainty settling over him like a cloud. He looked at Calley and saw the same cold certainty and resignation in her expression. James’s face was unreadable. Bill mimed pulling a ripcord and both his crewmates nodded slowly. “…that’s correct. Most of the volunteers won’t ever get near the spacecraft they help to build. Theirs will be the hard, unglamorous work of reforging the necessary chains of trust between companies and kerbals around the world. We expect - and Kerbin requires - no less of them…” “…Not immediately. Restarting R7 development will happen but the immediate priority will be to accelerate Type 6 production to meet the demand for more boosters.” Lodan saw a lone raised hand near the door and craned his neck trying to spot its owner. “Yes?” “We can help with that, Director.” Jeb froze. Oh Kerm take us all. Surprised murmurs rippled through the crowd. From the podium, an astonished Lodan watched a parting wave flowing from the back of the assembly floor, row after row of figures stepping aside to let the Pioneer 7 crew through. Bill cleared his throat. “We’ve got two spare boosters here that you’d be welcome to use.” The cavernous assembly building fell utterly silent. On the podium, Geneney and Ademone exchanged startled glances and Lodan’s normally imperturbable expression slipped a notch. He raised his eyebrows at Geneney and was answered by a slow nod. “The offer is appreciated, Bill. Your crewmembers - may I ask…?” “We’re with Bill,” Calley called out. “Bill speaks for us all, Director,” James’ quiet tones carried to the far corners of the crowd. Lodan opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. “Then I accept your offer, Pioneer 7… I accept it with heartfelt thanks.” —————— Elton sighed to himself, flexed his leaves, and slipped his fibres through the invisible zones of toxins that marked the boundary between his territory and Jonelle’s. Immediately they began to tingle, then burn with a prickling heat, the sparks marking Jonelle’s defensive echelons of soil-borers making glittering beelines for him. His own sparks twitched in response, momentarily lured by a trickle of pheromones that he couldn’t quite suppress. As always, his instincts flared, skeins of microscopic nodules along his fibres swelling, poised to unleash their own chemical arsenals on the intruders. Then Gerselle’s face swam before him, pale and unmoving, and the nodules subsided. Elton pressed on through the rapidly intensifying barrage, ignoring the scorching lines of fire cobwebbing across his outer roots and steering directly for the heaviest concentrations of effectors and counter-toxins that revealed Jonelle’s own fibres. The ripping jolt as he brushed against them flattened every root hair for kilometres around, a boiling fury that clawed at his mind even as the second wave of beetles clawed at his own effectors. He held his ground, letting Jonelle rage at him, projecting calm reassurance in return. As always, the assault grew too much to bear. Elton held out a last, lingering image before breaking the link and making an orderly, stepwise withdrawal. At each step he paused, nodules leaking out just enough of their contents to reveal a glimpse of his own potent weaponry. The thin trail left, or so he hoped, the unmistakeable message to Jonelle that this retreat was no sign of weakness but a deliberate decision not to fight. As his scarred and burning fibres pulled back into the cool, damp earth of his own territory, he hoped for both their sakes that his message would be heeded this time. —————— Enely trudged across the yellowing and wilted village green, grocery bags swinging at his side, trying his best to ignore the angry comments following him. Transferring both bags to one hand, he waved at a huddle of suspicious-looking villagers, who watched him go by before turning their backs on him. As he drew closer to Gerselle’s hut, yellow grass turned to brown, dotted with sickly, mildew-dappled flowers. The gardens around the hut, once decked out in bold primary colours that only a kerblet could love, was in equally bad shape. Stringy knotweed mats ran riot, broken by clumps of hookwort that were slowly but surely gaining a foothold around the larger bushes. Enely stopped to inspect one of them, noting the aphids crawling over the brown-tipped leaves. He glanced up at the pristine Kerm branches overhead and frowned. The door swung open with a squeal of un-oiled hinges, eliciting another sigh from Enely. One more task to add to the list. Pulling off his boots, he walked over to the kitchen counter and began unpacking the groceries before the muffled voices from inside Gerselle’s sleep room caught his attention. Frowning, he stepped lightly over to the door, threw it open and was confronted by a defiant Joenie and a guilty-looking Adbas. “Come on, Joenie. You know you’re not meant to be in here.” Joenie scowled at him. “Came to see Mummy.” She scuffed her feet against the floorboards. “I’m bored. Everyone runs away from me outside.” “Please tell me you haven’t been talking to Jonelle, Joenie. You know you promised Jont… daddy, that you wouldn’t do that.” He was answered by a long-suffering eye roll. “Course not. I told you - we just came to see if Mummy had woken up.” “Joenie didn’t do anything, Mr Enely,” said Adbas earnestly. “I’d make sure she didn’t.” I don’t think you’d be able to stop her, young one. Enely hid his amusement behind an approving expression, carefully ignoring Joenie’s mutinous look. “I know you would, Adbas - thank you.” Adbas grabbed Joenie around the waist in a sudden, clumsy hug. “Maybe your mum will wake up tomorrow, ‘Nie.” Joenie blushed dark green and threw a mortified glance at Enely. “I told you not to call me that in front of the grownups!” she hissed at Adbas. “Come on - let’s go!” At that moment, Meleny emerged from the moss room, narrowly avoiding being bowled over by the fleeing kerblets. Enely kept his expression carefully neutral until they were out of sight before turning to Meleny with raised eyebrows. “I heard them,” she replied. “She’s sensible enough not to try anything and Adbas would stop her if she did. Try to stop her,” she amended. Enely nodded. “Did you know that Adbas has a special name for her?” Meleny chuckled softly. “Nie you mean?” She saw Enely’s expression and rolled her eyes. “They’re kerblets, Enely. Did you never have a nickname when you were young?” “No, never.” Enely looked slightly abashed. “Amongst the Hazachim, such things are…personal between newly-weds, or soon-to-be-weds.” “Well they’re both far too young for that, although I’m pretty sure Adbas is soft on her.” Meleny glanced at the clock. “Anyway, it’s time you were speaking to Jonelle - I’ll leave you to it.” “Thank you.” Enely waited for Meleny to leave the room before lying down on the spare bed. Shivering despite himself, he glanced at the floor around the bed, remembering the eruption of hideously transformed healing vines Then he lifted his head up to the waiting leaf cluster. Hello, Jonelle. <Enely> The young Kerm’s voice was flat. <I want to talk to Joenie, not you> I’m sorry, Jonelle. I think Joenie wants to talk to you too but you know I promised Jonton not to let her. I could get Patbro to talk to you again if you like? <Don’t want Patbro. I want Joenie. Want Gerselle more but she isn’t here. Don’t think she’s coming back> Sorrow chased away Enely’s frustration. I want Gerselle to come back as well. The Communion link made any platitudes meaningless. But I don’t know if she ever will. <I will keep her alive but I will also talk to Joenie. Now> Enely’s mind reeled under the blow. For a moment there was certainty and a fleeting puzzlement. Why shouldn’t Joenie be allowed to Commune with Jonelle? In fact why wasn’t she already Communing? He felt his legs swinging sideways off the bed, eager to obey. Then his mental barriers, honed from constant use, snapped back into place. Please don’t do that, Jonelle. He sensed anger and frustration followed by a wheedling slyness. <not talking to Joenie makes me sad. I can make all the kerbal plants sick when I’m sad. Lots and lots of them, not just the ones by my roots> No! Alarm spiked across the link followed by a torrent of images. A team of chainsaw wielding kerbals cutting down Kerm trees, their heavily padded protective suits and bubble helmets impervious to the needle-tipped vines lashing at them. Terrified kerbals fleeing as Jonelle’s own vines erupted around Gerselle’s bed. The same kerbals, fear and anger in their eyes, watching him walk past. The kerbals are already frightened by you, Jonelle. If you hurt the plants they’ll be frightened enough to kill you. A stunned silence echoed around the mindscape. <I am Kerm. It is right that kerbals should be afraid of me> Confusion rippled down the link to Enely. <but not Gerselle. That would not be right. Or Joenie.> Unseen, the ground began to bulge around Enely’s bed. <I protect Joenie. I don’t want her to be afraid> I know. Enely did his best to project sympathy and reassurance. I know it’s confusing and I know somebody who can help you. Before he could shape his thoughts around Elton’s name, the mental image gave him away. <No! Not the big Kerm> Jonelle’s mental tone turned savage. <Big Kerm keeps attacking me but I am stronger! Tell it to stop. Keep away from me, stop showing me stupid picture!> Picture? said Enely in surprise. What picture? Can you show me, Jonelle? The mindscape cleared. His own mental image of Elton appeared: an ancient Kerm on a hilltop, the elaborate, multi-story hut around its trunk sheltered by sparkling branches. The image drew closer, revealing a shimmering gauzy fabric draped over them. Then it drew closer still and Enely saw that the fabric was made up of thousands of silverlace butterflies, shining in the dawn sun. << Chapter 84 Chapter 86>>

This is great! Wasn't really too sure about a Kerbal racing story before I started but now? I'm sold. I don't know much about motor racing so I can't speak to the accuracy of the technical stuff but the quantity is spot on and I like the way you work it into the story. And the racing - woahhh that's vivid! Jeb's first race with Phil? Those Gs hurt, man. Looking forward to the next chapter!

S'up @Azimech

Reason for not going to space today number 246: Rocket was getting a bit cranky and needed a nap.

There's an Amazon joke and also a Barn comment in there somewhere. I shall resist. Hope Chris B has it right and that the fit checks are going to plan!

102:43:32 Armstrong: No problem. 102:43:33 Aldrin: 60 degrees, up at 4. 102:43:35 Aldrin: 67, three and a half up. (Pause) 102:43:42 Aldrin: Okay, you're pegged on hype...

Currently cooking dinner with the launch theme from Apollo 13 playing in the background! Love the music, hope it doesn't turn out to be a bad omen.

Now that's what I call a rocketship! All fingers firmly crossed for the static fire. Toes too, when I can spare them.

So there's going to be a little jailhouse rock then? Oh - I can't unhear "Whoa-oh-oh-oh, spraying a pie!" now so thanks for that! Fortunately I wasn't reading over breakfast otherwise 'spraying a coffee' might have been more appropriate. Somebody also needs to tell Bryce that 'Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard, me.'

And then they accelerate to attack speed. Man those pilots have got some serious reflexes. Also: "I've got a plan Artoo!" "Beeble, beeble - bleeep?" "You bet! How about we pull up out of this trench, flip over and come in head-on at the exhaust port. We'll be moving pretty fast - you think you can get a torpedo lock in time?" "Bleeep, bippity, beep. *raspberry*" "Yeah, what am I saying. You're an astromech droid with electronic reflexes. No sweat, right." "Bleeeeep. Beep, beeppity, beep." "No - I don't know why the General chose this dumb approach vector either. OK, let's do this!"

In other news, Falcon Heavy static fire delayed due to freak snowstorm.

You live and learn. Thanks @Geschosskopf! Edit - and a quick shout-out for the first panel in that last strip. In space, the floor is where you want it to be! #SometimesItsTheLittleThings.

Kerbfleet engineers are familiar with pop-rivet guns right?

Precisely. As I said, 'victory' does not need to be a the victory of the conquering army.

Luke's death ties in well with Obi-Wan's 'strike me down and I'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine' line from Episode IV. More generally, Luke is now a legend to that new generation of Force users. He's the Last Jedi that saved the Rebellion through nothing but pure mastery of the Force. And because he's dead, he'll always be remembered for his strengths, his triumphs and what he was perceived to stand for. The weaknesses and failures will be conveniently forgotten. In other words Luke is a martyr, dying for what he believed in and all the more inspirational for it. As for the Jedi and the Sith. Bear in mind that we've only ever seen the Jedi from their own point of view and very rarely from anybody else's. It's slightly trite but one person's Freedom Fighter is another person's Terrorist. We don't ever find out how the Jedi came to be guardians of peace and justice for over a thousand generations, or what their version of peace and justice really entailed. Justice is another notoriously slippery concept. Even on Earth, concepts of justice vary quite widely - imagine extrapolating that to a Galaxy of thousands of star systems and hundreds of sentient species. Now I'm quite prepared to believe that the Jedi ideals didn't include outright rule by fear and blowing up planets with super-weapons but at the end of the day, being the arbiters of peace and justice in the Galaxy does mean that you're imposing your will on the Galaxy. Likewise we only see the Sith in one light and we only really see one extreme example of the Sith. As Obi-Wan said, the truths we cling to depend very much on our point of view. So, yes, the films present the Jedi as the Good Guys and the Sith as the Bad Guys but you don't have to think about that for very long to see that it's a simplistic generalisation at best, presented from one point of view. Consider the Sith Code for example: Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken. The Force shall free me. Now those middle three lines are certainly consistent with the Sith ethos that we see in the films - personal power at the expense of everybody else. It's by no means the only one though. Through Passion, I gain Strength. This could equally well apply to the Rebel Alliance. They have their cause to fight for and it gives them strength. Through Strength I gain Power. A bit of a truism - and power to do what? Power doesn't necessarily mean power over others. It could be the power to inspire (as Luke became). It could be power over ignorance and fear. Through Power, I gain Victory - again victory doesn't have to be the victory of the conquering army. And the last lines are really ambiguous. They imply an overcoming of personal limitations but without knowing what those limitations are or what a person does once they've overcome their limitations, it's hard to see those lines as unambiguously good or evil. In fact you could you could apply almost of all of that Code to Luke's personal journey in the Original Trilogy and latterly in Episode VIII. He certainly overcame his limitations as a Force user and in the end the Force did free him, as it did to Yoda, Qui-Gonn, Anakin and Obi-Wan. Luminous beings were they - not crude matter. Now look at the Jedi Code There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. I see a couple of interesting points straightaway. The Sith Code is very personal - it's all about the individual. The Jedi code is not - its an absolutist statement of the way things are. Which is strange because according to Obi-Wan "Only the Sith deal in absolutes." Not only that but their absolutist code is consistent with my earlier comment about the Jedi imposing their will on the Galaxy. It's also not too difficult to put a sinister interpretation on the Jedi Code in the same way that you can put a sympathetic intepretation on the Sith Code. The peace of the Jedi is the peace of a droid army - emotionless, ruled by passionless logic, with every individual in their correct place. TL: DR, I think any characterisation of Jedi values as Peace and the Sith values as Murder, is a bit simplistic. Edit: Also most of this is just me thinking aloud. Its been quite interesting and it was your comment ( @Cheif Operations Director) that got me started on it. So thanks for that!

Almost all of the technical stuff, particularly launch and Munar orbit insertion. However, my version is to the real thing what fruit juice is to fruit. Hopefully it's retained most of the flavour but it's become rather compressed and somewhat mangled in the process. In general the Apollo flight journals were an utterly invaluable resource for writing about the Pioneer program (and a fascinating read in their own right), especially the journal for Apollo 10 (aka Pioneer 3) which had a pretty complicated flight plan. The wonderful thing about playing KSP though is that I could read the flight journal and actually have this mental picture of what was going on and what all the various burns were doing. Likewise there's a bit of the next chapter where I used KSP as a research tool - the procedure described was (fortunately) never carried out during Apollo, although it was planned for and I found a reference to those plans. However, I obviously didn't have a detailed primary reference to refer to, so II cobbled together a quick spacecraft in KSP, sent it out to the Mun and spent some time playing with maneuver nodes till I had an idea of what burns would be needed and how they would affect the spacecraft attitude. The whole "Pioneer 1, your trajectory and guidance are Go" line is lifted wholesale from the Apollo 8 flight journal and it's still one of my favourite lines. Just the right level of technospeak combined with the implication that these sort of guidance and trajectory requirements are still far from routine. Sherf and Wernher's "space-grade vacuum cleaner" is fairly obviously inspired by the DIY air filtration unit that the Apollo 13 crew had to build. But again, there was no direct source to rely on, so I had to figure out the details of that particular procedure for myself.

"The Force requires neither obedience nor obeisance. The Force simply is." Thinking a bit more about @Cheif Operations Director's notion of strength in the Force coming from training, isn't that partly the point of Episode VIII? The Jedi failed because ultimately they became too attached to ritual (expressed through training and tightly prescribed ways of using the Force) rather than faith (expressed as an instinctive connection to the Force). So strength in the Force became seen as an ability to do certain things in the correct way and to do them well in that way. But ultimately that isn't true strength in the Force of the kind that Rey has, Anakin had and "Broom Boy" seen in the final minutes of the film presumably has. Moreover, for the Jedi, their rituals and their training became their faith. They lost their central fire; the core of what they once were. And once the core died, the hollow shell that the Jedi Order became, was swept away. More importantly, it cannot be rebuilt on the same empty, prescriptive rituals. In the end, Luke realised this, hence his statement that the Jedi must end and his disdain for the arrogant idea that the Jedi are the sole guardians of the Light side. Not that any of the above is particularly original thinking I'm sure.

Snarks about Luke aside, I'm not sure that needs to be true. Force training seems to me to be more about learning to consistently tap into the Force than developing strength in it - which is a pretty slippery concept anyway. Most of Luke's training was about getting past his self-doubt and arguably most of that self doubt was down to Obi-Wan's depiction of the Jedi as this legendary force for good in the Galaxy. Kind of difficult to see yourself in those size boots unless you have a colossal ego and for all Luke's other flaws, excessive ego wasn't one of them. Whereas for Rey - and young Anakin for that matter, using the Force didn't come with a lot of preconceptions - so they just did it. If you like, they just did - there was no try. The Force is also something to guide your actions as well as obey your commands (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Episode IV). I don't have any problem with the notion that the Force itself can be the greatest teacher. After all, the very first Jedi presumably didn't have any other teachers to rely on. Finally, as we saw with Anakin, the Force also seems to be capable of creating avatars of arbitrary strength when needed. Or I could be completely wrong.

Episode IV. Had to be persuaded by Force ghost mentor figure to actually use the Force at all. Only avoided getting smeared across the trench by Vader because Han saved him in the nick of time. Episode V. Utterly failed to sense large carnivorous life form. Escaped by Force pulling his saber so fair play there but then showed all the survival instincts of a stunned womp rat by wandering out into a blizzard. Fortunately Han just happened to be passing by again. Went on to further distinguish himself by ignoring the advice of his Jedi master and going off half-trained (and half-cocked) to confront Vader. Got comprehensively pwned. Episode VI. Continuing his winning streak of ignoring his training (a Jedi uses the Force for defence and knowledge), manages to rescue Han. Fairish play. Only avoids becoming a crispy Padawan kebab at the Emperor's hands because dear old dad has a last minute change of heart. Post Episode VI. Subscribed to the 'Obi-Wan' school of expert Jedi tutelage. Gave his most promising student a hefty shove along the path to the Dark side before watching his other students fall. Pre-Episode VII. Retires to ancient Jedi temple with raging case of imposter syndrome and a generous side of existential guilt, served with a hearty stew of self-loathing. And this comes as a surprise?

"It's a UNIX machine - I know this stuff."

Have a great holiday season folks! Cheers, KSK.

To be clear, you can obviously have whatever opinion you like about microtransactions but your comparison to tyranny was ridiculous. That's what was wrong with your last line. Also for clarity, I have the same objection to this general habit of many people on Internet forums, of instantly reaching for the metaphorical nuclear option in any discussion. 'I disapprove of X' becomes 'X is evil'. It's polarising, lacks nuance and shuts down meaningful debate. In the context of this thread at least, micro transactions are a way of monetising one form of entertainment content. Even if one feels particularly strongly about them, equating them to a tyranny is ludicrous, shows a limited perspective and is frankly insulting to those living under actual persecution or oppression. This is the 'tyrannny' of a child being told that no he can't have all the toys in the store. It isn't some great call to arms for a noble cause.

Well you know how that old saw goes. Red car in flight - space nerd's delight. Red Planet by morning - that's not boring.

Possibly. Probably. Definitely. Amazing. Nothing you said in that last line is correct. Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned saying, two wrongs don't make a right.