The Saga of Emiko Station - Complete

[Just Jim]

53 minutes ago, AmiableRogue said:

How? I can't even get a ship to Mun, or dock a station, or anything. Tell meh how!

Also, how do you make the red and blue glows? mods?

 

Watch every Scott Manley video you can find.  Seriously, I'm not trying to sound like a smart-butt.  I am a huge fan of Mr. Manley, and I learned pretty much everything by watching and studying his videos.

As for the colored lighting, that's stock.  When you are building a vehicle in the VAB or SPH, you can right click a light to get sliders to change the color.  But you can only adjust them in VAB and SPH, once you launch the vehicle the lights are set.

[GarrisonChisholm]

28 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Watch every Scott Manley video you  can find.  Seriously, I'm not trying to sound like a smart-butt.  I am a huge fan of Mr. Manley, and I learned pretty much everything by watching and studying his videos.

As for the colored lighting, that's stock.  When you are building a vehicle in the VAB or SPH, you can right click a light to get sliders to change the color.  But you can only adjust them in VAB and SPH, once you launch the vehicle the lights are set.

I played for 7 months before I discovered this.

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, GarrisonChisholm said:

I played for 7 months before I discovered this.

yeah, same here... I thought it was a mod for the longest time.

Soooo, I have Part Two written on paper, but it's going to take me a few days to make a couple new ships and get everything put together, so please be patient.

Here's a preview to mess with your heads a bit... lol....

And I don't really see any reason to start a second thread for part two.  I'll just change this ones title when its ready, OK?

[Commander Zoom]

"Mommy, where do little saucers come from?"

[BluK]

I created an account just to tell you how great this story is 

I can't wait to read more.

[Just Jim]

1 hour ago, BluK said:

I created an account just to tell you how great this story is 

I can't wait to read more.

Wow... seriously?  I'm really flattered!  

Welcome to the forum!  Stay a while and have a look around. 
You'll find there's a lot of good people here. 
And some other really great stories in the mission reports.

[KerbalCorgi]

I love this! This is excellent writing! Suspense, adventure, I love it! 

[TopHeavy11]

I'm not saying it was a aliens, but it was aliens. Or Krussia. Or a rouge employee. One of those three.

[Just Jim]

Chapter 11
Aftermath

 

In the days that followed, assistance poured into KASA from other companies and agencies, in the form of both personel and materials to help rebuild the tracking station. Soon a scaffolding was erected, and work began in ernest. It was hoped the new building would be up and running in a matter of weeks, and the crews were optomistic. 

All but Gene Kerman. Gene had become moody, and stopped talking to everyone around him. It was clear the disaster had affected him greatly, despite the fact no-one had been seriously hurt, and he was often seen looking down at the shattered building as if he has lost a family member.

While construction was going on, Werhner von Kerman and the R&D staff were also hard at work trying to construct a temporary tracking tower, what the construction workers dubbed his "Tower of Power". Not nearly as powerful or manuevaerable as the stations three tracking antenna's, it was a hock-job at best. The idea was to link up to one of KASA's keostationary satellites, establish a link, and from there reestablish the network, and hopefully communications to the stations and the chariot.

But von Kerman was trying to channel an immense amount of power thru a set of antenna's clearly smaller than intended, and there had been, well, difficulties...

Almost beyond hope, Gene prayed for some sort of miracle as another tower test attempt overheated, this time exploding so powerfully it knocked down a scaffold almost 200 meters away. 

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over.....

Go to chapter 12
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim

[Mister Dilsby]

Love that scaffold.

[Just Jim]

Chapter 12
Visitors and Ghosts

 

As they journeyed south, Jeb and the Chariot team found themselves in beautiful but rugged country. Several times they stopped to refuel while Bill attempted to fix the main antenna. But many of the components were quite literally melted, and it looked hopeless.

Still the team made good progress, and after a few more days they got a ping on the ore scanner. Several kilometers further south, Jeb adjusted their course while Bill and Bob rode shotgun, and argued.

"I'm telling you", Bill started, "That thing was a visitor... an outsider. You saw it, how can you say it wasn't alien in origin?"

"Because I only saw it from a distance, "Bob countered, "And something... something was odd about it."

"Everything was odd about it." Bill laughed uncomfortably. 

"Seriously, Bill, something just felt, wrong... but I can't put my finger on what..."

Bob's voice faded as they crested a small hill, and saw something both shocking, yet somewhat familair.

It was another saucer, similar to the one they had found near the North pole so many weeks ago. But this one was glowing.

"No, wait.... Jeb," Bill called out, "Slow down, they're two of them!"

In front of the large half-buried saucer was a smaller glowing red one! Similar in design, and the exact same color as the rover they had encountered earlier, it sat just a couple meters from the much larger one.

"Not visitors?" Bill whispered over his radio. Bob said nothing, just watched as they slowly crept closer, until they got aproxomitely 100 meters from it, and it began to retract it's antenna.

"I think we've been noticed," Bob whispered, "It's taking off!"

And the small saucer lifted off, climbing higher and higher until they lost sight of it. Not wanting to stay around, the team took one last look, then turned and headed back to their original landing point.

When they returned, they found, to their surprise, a shuttle lander was waiting for them. But as they drew closer, Jeb began to feel uneasy... something wasn't right.

Bill noticed it as well, "Why is she powered down?"

Jeb stopped about 20 meters from the craft and frowned. The solar panels were retracted, the ladders retracted. Even if it had been brought down remotely, the onboard computer should have extended the solar panels automatically to keep the batteries charged. 

Something felt very wrong.

"Val, do you think you can hit that small hatch ladder from here?"

Val laughed, "Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, Boss." And swinging her jetpack control from her side, she EVA'd across to the stationary ladder below the lower crew hatch with ease.

But once inside she found nothing, the shuttle was indeed empty.

As she climbed to the cockpit Bob and Bill joined her and started to power the ship back up. Manually opening the solar panels, Bill soon had the batteries recharged and Val switched on the radio. But before she could say a word she heard Captain Piper Kerman of Emiko station's empassioned plea coming across the speakers.

"Jan... Har, do you read? Mun shuttle one... do you read me... Jan, please, answer me! JAN!!!"

Val wasn't sure how to respond, "Emiko Station, this is Mun Shuttle One. Piper, this is Valentina, I read you."

"Val???" Piper sounded confused, then said in a scared, nearly inaudible whisper, "Val.... oh, oh no... Val, please.... is Jandolin or Harfield onboard with you?"

A cold chill suddenly gripped Val, something was indeed horribly wrong. 

And hushed whisper she answered, "No, Piper, no-one was here... We found the ship empty. Piper, what has happened?"

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over.....

Go to Chapter 13
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim
spelling, of course... lol

[Just Jim]

Chapter 13
Piper's Tale

 

Two hours later, a stunned Valentina called everyone back to the Chariot.

"We have a situation, people," she said in a voice that worried the others. Val was always the playful daredevil of the team, but now she sounded scared.

Once assembled back in the Chariot, she relayed Captain Piper's tale.

Unknown to the Chariot team, not long after they were attacked by the strange red rover, the entire communications grid went black, and soon after that Jandolin and Harfield, who had been dispatched to meet up with the Chariot, were abducted.

Bill gasped, "Abducted? How.... is she sure?"

Val shook her head, "Let me finished."

After they disapperared, Piper was able to restablish limited contact with Captain Zelcia aboard Kerbin station, and then Captains Jadsy and Katlyn, aboard both Mun and Minmus stations. But the signals were weak, and they lost contact when they went behind Kerbin or one of the moons. Clearly the satellite network was inoperable, dispite the mounting evidence there had been no solar flare.

For the next two days Piper took her shuttle out as far as she dared from Emiko station, in hopes of finding something, anything, that could help her find her lost friends. In the brief time they had spent together on Emiko, she had grown quite fond of the young couple, and it tore her apart thinking something bad had happened to them. But on her third day out, Piper saw something from the corner of the window, and running to the rear cockpit, she saw to her horror, that she was not alone.

Panic gripped her, and for several minutes she couldn't move. Whatever it was, it was big, really big. And it glowed with a horrible red.... Could this be a real Kraken? But as the minutes passed, Piper realized the strange, horrific object wasn't moving. In fact, it looked like it had backed off several meters.

Did it, could it, possibly know she had spotted it? Was this thing intelligent? Fingers shaking, her eyes never leaving the Kraken, as she now thought of it, she reached down and punched in the co-ordinates for the shuttle to return to Emiko, and to her amazement, the Kraken let her.

"Guys," Vanentina looked around at each of them, "Piper said it's still there, positioned about half a kilometer from the station. She's terrified that it's just waiting for her to leave.

"And her worst fear is Jandolin and Harfield may already be trapped on that thing"

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over.....

Go to Chapter 14
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim

[Crystal_Mace]

I just noticed how much the sinister red lighted ship resemble symmetrically built Reavers.....yikes!  {:0

[Just Jim]

20 hours ago, Crystal_Mace said:

I just noticed how much the sinister red lighted ship resemble symmetrically built Reavers.....yikes!  {:0

Cool, you spotted the 2nd little shout-out I built into the story.  One other was Jonny Quest (The robot spy, obviously), and the other two I threw in no-one has noticed, or spotted, yet.... lol.

[Just Jim]

Chapter 14
Thompberry Kerman and the Tower of Power

 

 

Back on Kerbin, things were finally starting to look up. Amongst the numerous volunteers pouring into KASA to assist in the disaster was a somewhat reclusive scientist from Zaltonic Electronics named Thompberry Kerman, who caught Dr. von Kerman's attention when he casually glanced at the temporary tracking tower and said with utmost confidence, "It won't work like this..."

Intrigued, von Kerman replied, "Oh? Explain"

Thompberry set down the equipment he was carrying and explained, "You're obviously trying to set up an electro-magnetic transducer field, but it's positioned all wrong, and going to overheat if you don't negatively charge the ore tanks."

"But the resonance field, "von Kerman began

"Can be controlled using a modified probe core..." Thompberry finished.

"And the magnetic variance?"

"Can be controlled remotely using a modified fly-by-wire system."

"Fascinating," von Kerman whispered, while the other techs looked on in confusion. None of this made any sense to them, but von Kerman seemed to grasp what the awkward looking scientist was proposing and asked, "Can you get it to work?"

Thompberry looked at the machine, then back at von Kerman, "Give me three days."

And for the next three days Thompberry had many of the tower's parts removed, replaced, or re-wired. 

Several of the R&D senior techs looked on with concern. Much of it made no sense to them, and a few began to question Thompberry's sanity, and von Kerman's judgment. But test after test went successfully, so they kept their opinions to themselves and waited to see what would happen. And on the morning of the third day, Thompberry walked calmly into Dr. von Kerman's office and announced,

"It's ready."

Because of prior incidents, Gene had all the construction equipment moved to a safe distance, and the scaffolding around the tracking station taken down, and by late that evening everything was ready. Insisting everyone else stay back, Thompberry walked to a small rover, and rode out to the tower.

Calmly he strapped himself into the command chair, and began to switch on the controls

Reaching over, he switched on the fuel cells, which began to hum and then whine with power, and the heat began to vent skywards behind him.

Smiling in satisfaction, he threw the main transducer switch, and watch as the coils began to glow red and then white, and the tower began to roar with power.

Confidently he monitored the coil temperatures, waiting until they reached critical. Then he threw the main circuit, and the entire tower surged with energy.

From his position, Thompberry yelled over the roar of the engines into his microphone, "We have a signal, repeat, we have a signal!!!"

And positioned in a geostationary orbit high above Kerbin, Comm-Sat Charlie began to come back to life, and was soon sending out a signal to the rest of the satellite network.

Watching from the main R&D building, the entire staff cheered, and Gene Kerman smiled for the first time in many, many days.  This character Thompberry had come thru, and things were finally looking up. As he walked out to congratulate him, Gene even considered offering him a permanent position at KASA.

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over.....

Go to Chapter 15
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim

[Crystal_Mace]

YaaY!   I was going to say there is no problem that couldn't be solved by engineering....except there's also no problem that can't also be caused by engineering....so I guess it would be most correct to say there is no situation good or bad that cannot be caused by engineering! 

[Just Jim]

7 hours ago, Crystal_Mace said:

YaaY!   I was going to say there is no problem that couldn't be solved by engineering....except there's also no problem that can't also be caused by engineering....so I guess it would be most correct to say there is no situation good or bad that cannot be caused by engineering! 

hehe  I would hang that on Bill's office wall... if I knew where it was... lol...

[TopHeavy11]

Zaltonic Electronics working with KASA without a contract? Inconceivable!

[GarrisonChisholm]

1 minute ago, TopHeavy11 said:

Zaltonic Electronics working with KASA without a contract? Inconceivable!

"I do not think that word means what you think it means."

 

(Obligatory post )

[Mister Dilsby]

What a contraption! I think you may have invented 'kerbpunk'  

[Just Jim]

7 hours ago, GarrisonChisholm said:

"I do not think that word means what you think it means."

 

(Obligatory post )

wait... which word???

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

What a contraption! I think you may have invented 'kerbpunk'  

kerbpunk.....  yeah, that's about right.... lol...

[GarrisonChisholm]

The interjection "inconceivable!" is generally pronounced by a fan of the movie The Princess Bride, to which my response is the obligatory quote from the movie.

 

I would wager strongly that this was TopHeavy's intent.

[Just Jim]

3 minutes ago, GarrisonChisholm said:

The interjection "inconceivable!" is generally pronounced by a fan of the movie The Princess Bride, to which my response is the obligatory quote from the movie.

 

I would wager strongly that this was TopHeavy's intent.

 

ahhhhh.. gotta admit, I don't think I've seen it

[Just Jim]

Chapter 15
Flyover

 

High over Kerbin, Piper Kerman was watching the kraken thru a cabin window, thinking to herself, "I will get you out of there, my friends", when a loud beeping startled her back to reality. Quickly she scrambled into the command pod, and to her relief, saw the navigation systems were back online. The signal was weak, erratic, but definitely there, and thru her headset she could hear the faint voice of mission control at last.

Back at KASA, Gene quickly called a briefing, knowing Thompberry couldn't hold his contraption together forever. In a matter of minutes the senior staff was assembled, and the captains of the stations, along with Jeb and the crew on the Mun, were patched in by radio.

Gene started, "Look people, time is of the essence, so we need to be as brief as possible. This is the situation..."

And for the next 40 minutes Gene, then Kerenna, Piper, and finally Jeb, each told of their encounters with the strange red objects, each more shocking than the last.

When Jeb had finished no one said a word, until Walt Kerman from PR whispered, "Could this really be a first contact?"

Surprisingly, it was von Kerman who answered, "Let's not be too hasty.  Something doesn't add up..."

Gene spoke next, "Visitors or not, I want everyone back on Kerbin, ASAP."

Again dr. von Kerbin said, "Wait.... Captain Piper, tell me, since your initial contact with this kraken of yours, has it made any aggressive action against you?" 

"No, sir," Piper answered thru her radio, "I'm watching it right now. It's just sitting there about half a klick off my port."

Then von Kerman smiled, and asked, "Tell me captain, you said the first time you encountered this object, it was attempting to sneak up behind your shuttle. Now I want you to think carefully, when exactly did this kraken ship stop and begin to back off?"

Piper didn't have to think long, "I was heading back to Emiko station and caught what appeared to be something moving in the cockpit reflection. I set the forward cockpit on autopilot and went as fast as I could to the rear cockpit. But when I got there I saw that.... thing, coming up on me fast. Instead of wasting precious seconds trying to get back to the front, I sat down and switched control to the rear cockpit. That's when the kraken hit it's thrusters and slowed down, then backed away. From then on it's been following me, not getting any closer than about a half a kilometer."

Von Kerman sat back and closed his eyes, deep in thought, then to everyone's surprise, he began to chuckle.

"Oh, that's good... that is just beautiful....." he laughed and sat forward in his chair, "You don't see it, do you? That ship is a drone, and without her knowing it, our intrepid captain Piper has apparently disabled it!"

At the same time everyone asked, "Disabled it? How?"

Dr. von Kerman pulled up a schematic of the Emiko shuttle. "Observe, this shuttle is unique in it's design, in that it has both a forward and rear cockpit, thereby giving it access to both a docking port and claw to work with."

"I'm still not following you, Werner" Gene admitted.

"Gene, think.  This Kraken, if that's what were calling it now, this drone, was quite apparently designed to move in behind a ship and capture it with the crew unaware until it's too late.  Quite effective, and terrifying." 

He laughed again, "But the Emiko shuttle has it completely befuddled. This is how I know there is no captain onboard, only a computer. A computer programed to move in behind a ship...."

Realization suddenly filled Gene's face, and he also laughed, "Oh, I see it now. That is good. The Emiko shuttle has no front or back, and this kraken's computer, it's caught in a paradox!"   

Laughter filled the room.

After everyone quieted down, von Kerman said, "Captain Piper, I hate to have to say this, but I believe you would be safest staying where you are and monitoring this machine. Are you sure Harfield and Jandolin are aboard?"

"No sir, I'm not," Piper replied, "But it's certainly big enough, and we've searched everywhere else.  I just don't know where else they could be."

"Logical," von Kerman said, "Will you be alright up there just a little longer?"

"Yes, sir, I want to stay. That thing and I have a score to settle."

Gene spoke next, "Jeb, I still need you and the Chariot crew back home.  The rest of you, I can't order any of you to stay where you are..." But silence was his answer, as he knew it would be.

Linus Kerman, from the science department, spoke next, "I think it would be wise to determine if these are, in fact, aliens we are dealing with, or if this is some elaborate hoax."

Across the radio, Bob chimed in, "My thoughts exactly."

Gene thought for a moment, then made a decision, "There is only one other location on the planet capable of launching a vessel that sized. Before we go any further, I think we need to take a look at Zaltonic's abandoned space center."

At the end of the table, Kerenna stood up, "I'll go, sir"

Gene smiled, "No, Kerenna, you've been thru enough already. Let Val go when she get's back."

Kerenna remained standing. "Sir, with all due respect, it will be 2 days at least before she splashes down, and we need that information now. And no-one knows that plane better than me, even Val. Plus Dr. von Kerman and I have made some modifications to the newest model. I'll be alright."

Gene frowned, "I don't like it, but your right. The sun is rising. Suit up, and good luck."

As quickly as possible, Karenna's plane was rolled to the far end of the runway, and with the sun rising at her back, she lifted off and headed west towards the Zaltonic Space Station.

Once she had cleared the mountains she turned to a heading of [***Information classified***] and flew on for [***Information classified***] hours.

When she was within 100 kilometers of her target, she dropped to treetop level, and with the sun still at her back, did her best to stay below any possible radar net until the very last moment.

But as she cleared a ridge and the old space center came into view, their worst fears were confirmed.

"Mission Control, this is Banshee, I have the station in sight," Kerenna's voice came over the radio, "Station is not, repeat, not abandoned! I am counting two... no, three saucers and what appears to be a... noooooo..."

After a second she continued, "Mission control, there is a large sauce on the pad, much bigger than the others. We may have a mother ship!" 

"There is also something, I can't make out from here, near the vehicle assembly building. I also see what appear to be lander drones near the tracking station. Wait, there's movement..."

"Mission control, the tracking station is online, I repeat, the tracking stati..... bzzzzzzlttttttt" And her radio went dead.

Several heartbeats later she was heard again, much fainter than before. 

"Emergency batteries.... electronics fried..... can't maintai..... tell von Kerman.... he was right..."

There was a sudden roar, then dead silence.

At mission control everyone sat stunned, someone began to weep. 

One by one the others joined in, unable to hold back their grief at the awful truth...

Halfway across the planet, Kerenna Kerman's jet had just exploded.

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over.....

Go to Chapter 16
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim

[Mister Dilsby]

Well then, it's an invasion! That Mothership being on the pad suggests to me that Team Red can at least build and launch from the old Zaltonic site, even if that isn't their main pad. Seems like first priority for Team Blue is to get an asset in there to take a look that can't be disabled by whatever EM pulses they're shooting from the tracking station. Also, wondering if they will be able to capture the 'frozen' drone and bring it down for study, safely. Good stuff!