Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-CHAPTER 21 pg 18--He's a docking wizard! (there had to be a twist?)

[StupidAndy]

finally someone who doesn't think the pats are cheaters...

[Just Jim]

Man.... this is just getting too good. I got a little misty eyed reading those last couple frames...   

Edited January 20, 2017 by Just Jim

[Zhetaan]

Sorry for any truly wild speculation, @Kuzzter, but I was intrigued by the fragment of a quote in the thread title.  I know for a fact that I took it too far, but then again, I felt inspired to write something fun, and, well, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  They also say that flattery will get you into the Malebolge, so don't touch the pavement.  It's gross.

 

... Aaaaanyway, it took a bit of a search, but I believe I have found a good source for the rest of that title quote.  It was quoted in turn in a lecture on the subject recorded years later; given the contents, I can only assume that the audience consisted primarily or solely of Command-track cadets close to graduation.

 

 

Spoiler

Quote

Enter the GENE

GREGMORE. O that we now had here
    But ten of those Kerbs in Intrepid
    That do no work to-day!
 
GENE. What's he that wishes so?
    My cousin Gregmore? No, my fair cousin;
    If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
    To do our planet loss; and if to live,
    The fewer kerbs, the greater share of SCIENCE!
    Harv's will! I pray thee, wish not one kerb more.
    By Jool, I am not covetous for Funds,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my N.O.M.S.;
    It yearns me not if kerbs my white-vests wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
    But if it be a sin to covet science,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a kerb from Intrepid.
    Harv's peace! I would not lose so great of science
    As one kerb more methinks would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Gregmore, through my wing,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
    Let him reenter; his mission report shall be made,
    And Funds for recovery put into his purse;
    We would not die in that kerb's company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.
    This day is call'd the feast of Kerbin.
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
    And rouse him at the name of Kerbin.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Kerbin.'
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
    And say 'These wounds I had on Kerbin's day.'
    Old kerbs forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he'll remember, with advantages,
    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words-
    Shirley the Admiral, Bobak and Dongun,
    Wernher and Newdun, Samantha and Orange Marker-
    Be in their flowing koffee cups freshly rememb'red.
    This story shall the good kerb teach the cadet;
    And Kerbin--Kerbin shall ne'er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of Kerbals;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlekerbs in Intrepid now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
    And hold their kerbhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That flew with us upon Saint Kerbin's day.

 

The astute among you will notice that, though similar, this version of the St. Kerbin's Day Speech bears significant differences from the currently-read renditions of Wernher v. This best-guess reconstruction of the original, historical St. Kerbin's Day Speech was created for modern audiences as part of an effort to create a more history-driven, nonfiction drama, but unfortunately, the production has been delayed.

The problem is that even this version is not without some controversy:  for example, many modern scholars often consider Gregmore's part a fictional addition because no contemporary recorded his presence on that fateful day.  Furthermore, it is equally true that Intrepid faced its own share of problems at the time, but given the plotspeed lightspeed delay, the stress of the situation, and the sheer awe of witnessing the orbital launch of the Enterprise, it is possible that the Gene did not know, forgot, or--given the stakes of what he was about to do and was about to ask those with him to do--simply could not afford to consider the problems occurring more than fifty gigametres away when he was about to confront one that was only fifty kilometres away.  One account rather gruesomely suggests the Gene concluded the speech with the claim that, should the Kerbulans win victory, they would cut off the Kerbfleet officers' two thumbs that they could never write a science report again, but this version is considered apocryphal.  Instead, the most popular accepted historical theories suggest that the Gene, though he secretly sorely desired the happy company of his Joolward kerbpatriots, understood the true gravity of his trajectory and that the only way to meet the challenge before him was to prove to his band that true greatness can only be forged by the courage one summons from within.  There was no Jeb to keep a cool hand on the flight stick, no Val to keep a cool head at the conn, no Bob to voice his--admittedly redundant--concerns, and certainly no Bill to weave his mysterious--and possibly entirely imaginary--persistomancy over the problem and make it all suddenly change its inclination.

Therefore, even if our guesses are wrong and the Gene never gave any such speech, the content of it nevertheless mirrors well enough, in my considered opinion, his actual considerations of the day that we may glean quite a bit of useful information from it.

'Understanding the trajectory' also means knowing that the orbit bends back around; for every periapsis, there is an apoapsis, and our great Herr Flightdirektor did not earn his job without knowing this.  There is a certain deeper acceptance of the truth of the mission and the risks required to complete that mission that the Gene absolutely must have had, at a level that put to shame even Val's subtle understanding of the burden of command, that put him in a position to consider this mission--perhaps the most difficult to complete in his entire career--the easiest to attempt.

On the one hand, consider the Command track training.  Even the venerable Order Zero is sometimes wishful thinking.  No matter what choice you make, sometimes the price of that choice is your own sweet life and the safety of your craft.  Sometimes, it costs you your command and crew, too.  But in the face of it, the act of dying is trivial--and the consequences of death, though by no means trivial, are certainly unimpeachable.  No Kerbfleet Captin who found final rest in a glowing crater or an expanding cloud of debris ever had to face court-martial, even for obviously bad decisions.  Oxymoronically, the simulations of death in the pursuit of science only pained those who trained with them ... because they lived through them.

On the other hand, consider the Flight Director.  How much greater the burden must be for those left to live!  I quote, 'It might surprise you to know that there is no General Order designed to prevent stupidity, negligence, poor design, boneheadedness, nincompoopery, dereliction of the senses, or, to put it more generally, being kerbal.'  I add for the sake of clarity that there is also no force in the universe that can relieve you of the consequences of being kerbal, and the Gene--Shirley not alone in this!--was painfully aware that although he often did not need to personally face those consequences, the burden thereof nonetheless came to rest personally upon him.

On the gripping hand, consider that the loss of the Tracking Station, though tragic, finally robbed the Gene of his ability to function on the ground as Flight Director.  This freed him to take action--to invoke, if you will--a sort of Order Negative One:  he could, and would, do his level best to ensure that if the Intrepid's crew invoked Order Zero to be brought back, there would be a Kerbin to bring them back to.  Yes, he almost certainly expected to die that day--likely within the hour.  However, as we discussed before, death is trivial!  Sometimes, the most important thing a commander can understand is that there are times when death is trivial or even inevitable, but failure is not an option.  If that means offering up a rousing speech to your people, to tell them, in another light, why they should don shades and a smile and follow you cheerfully down to plant a flag on the surface of the sun, then so be it.  And to anyone who doubts that the Gene knew most intimately that in this case, in this specific case above all others, where threats were at the door and had already killed his friends and colleagues, where they were most likely about to kill him, where in spite of this he and his were the only thing left protecting that which all of his people held most dear, that there was no longer any time--no longer any room--for no-win scenarios, I put the question:

Who do you think wrote the Kerbahashi Maru?

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Zhetaan

[Mister Dilsby]

@Zhetaan that was pure, pure genius. Well done sir, I thoroughly enjoyed both the speech and the analysis  

[Cydonian Monk]

2 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

@Zhetaan that was pure, pure genius. Well done sir, I thoroughly enjoyed both the speech and the analysis  

Agreed. Now I'm waiting for @Zhetaan to break down Gene's post-fight speech in which he claims "For I am Kerbal, you know" despite possibly neither of his parents being so. I guess we must now wait until the day be Gene's.....

[Dman979]

@Zhetaan that was amazing.

3 things I really liked:

10 hours ago, Zhetaan said:

many modern scholars often consider Gregmore's part a fictional addition because no contemporary recorded his presence on that fateful day

10 hours ago, Zhetaan said:

There is a certain deeper acceptance of the truth of the mission and the risks required to complete that mission that the Gene absolutely must have had, at a level that put to shame even Val's subtle understanding of the burden of command, that put him in a position to consider this mission--perhaps the most difficult to complete in his entire career--the easiest to attempt.

10 hours ago, Zhetaan said:

And to anyone who doubts that the Gene knew most intimately that in this case, in this specific case above all others, where threats were at the door and had already killed his friends and colleagues, where they were most likely about to kill him, where in spite of this he and his were the only thing left protecting that which all of his people held most dear, that there was no longer any time--no longer any room--for no-win scenarios, I put the question:

Who do you think wrote the Kerbahashi Maru?

 

I don't think you took it too far at all. Even though I hated English class, I do remember talking about allusions. And my God, did you ever pick this one apart. Nice work!

 

[Noname117]

Perfect timing for me to get caught up again. Looks like we're near the climax.

[Mister Dilsby]

Spoiler: This isn't what it looks like...

Spoiler

...unless it is. OOH RAH!

[GDJ]

Churchill said it best:

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

[Dman979]

16 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Spoiler: This isn't what it looks like...

...unless it is. OOH RAH!

Is it two more Sarge Kermans and a rocket-powered rover?

[Mister Dilsby]

10 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Is it two more Sarge Kermans and a rocket-powered rover?

Since you ask, there are not three of them, none of them are named Sarge nor do any of them hold the rank of Sarjint. However they are in a rover and indeed there are rockets involved  

[Noname117]

Those look like kerbals operating missiles...

[Deddly]

Interceptors?

[Cydonian Monk]

21 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

None of them are named Sarge nor do any of them hold the rank of Sarjint.

It would appear one of them is named SAM and is rather Mobile.

[Mister Dilsby]

3 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Interceptors?

Ehh, it's worth a shot. Two shots, actually. 

1 minute ago, Cydonian Monk said:

It would appear one of them is named SAM and is rather Mobile.

LOL--too bad 2LT Sam Kerman (aka Glide Three) is already engaged elsewhere, would have been a nice pun  

[Dman979]

4 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Interceptors?

I like the idea, but it still seems too violent.

Atmospheric Rendezvous Rockets?

[Mister Dilsby]

Just now, Dman979 said:

I like the idea, but it still seems too violent.

Atmospheric Rendezvous Rockets?

Yeah, something like that...it'd be a real stretch to imagine that Kerbfleet has anything already designed and tested with the intent of rendezvousing with an aircraft at high mach. But it would also be a real stretch to image that Wernher, Bobak and company wouldn't try to mount some kind of air defense as long as the VAB and SPH are still intact. 

Also, I've been dying to include more KSMC in the story, and this is a golden opportunity to do so  

[Zhetaan]

It looks like nothing so much as Range Safety to me.  Violent or not, rockets are still flying bombs when something goes wrong.  Ejection systems are nice but they don't do anything about the other 99% that's about to fall on Mission Control.  Having a way to confront--destructively if needed--an uncontrolled rocket doesn't even rate special attention; it's a basic necessity.

[Dman979]

6 minutes ago, Zhetaan said:

It looks like nothing so much as Range Safety to me.  Violent or not, rockets are still flying bombs when something goes wrong.  Ejection systems are nice but they don't do anything about the other 99% that's about to fall on Mission Control.  Having a way to confront--destructively if needed--an uncontrolled rocket doesn't even rate special attention; it's a basic necessity.

You must be a highway worker, out filling plotholes.

[Mister Dilsby]

7 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

You must be a highway worker, out filling plotholes.

Hm. Range safety...it makes a heck of a lot more sense than what I came up with, I gotta tell ya.

[GDJ]

45 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Interceptors?

YES. Lots and lots of them. Shoot enough to blot out the sky, then fight in the shadows.

(Kerbal version of "300"?)

Edited January 20, 2017 by GDJ

[0111narwhalz]

I prefer the term "anti-missile missile." It makes me happy in the same way as "electronic counter-countermeasures."

[something]

My calculations seem to yield a dV between 2400 and 2900 m/s. Apparently the rover engines are not designed to go to space, which raises serious questions. Why would Kerbfleet need rockets that cannot go to space?

[Deddly]

12 minutes ago, something said:

My calculations seem to yield a dV between 2400 and 2900 m/s. Apparently the rover engines are not designed to go to space, which raises serious questions. Why would Kerbfleet need rockets that cannot go to space?

Maybe it's not enough to get to orbit, but that's surely enough to get to space, as a sounding rocket, no?

[something]

Unfortunately I am not able to launch KSP in the next days, so I cannot recreate those missiles. I am a bit surprised about their lack of tailfins...