Project Intrepid (Chapter 61 - The Sirens Of Moho)

[Ultimate Steve]

@insert_name, thanks! Good to know people are becoming interested

This is the final post on page 1! Perfect, imgur just finished uploading...

EDIT: Nope, we're on page 2!

Edited June 23, 2016 by Ultimate Steve

[Ultimate Steve]

Part 12:

Spoiler

"All right! First order of business, re-dock the TASC!"


"Yes, I can see again!"
"Great, Shercott! Enjoy the view, Jool window is in 130 days."
"130 days? But that's - "
*static*
Meanwhile, on the far side of the Mun, the Intrepid began its burn for LKO.



"This is Jebediah Kerman. We are now in a 400 kilometer parking orbit, awaiting delivery of the Duna lander."
"Okay, Jeb. You might have to wait a bit, though."
===========================================================
Tedfry Kerman, or Thedney Kerman as the Flat Kerbin Society called him, or Tomfurt Kerman, as the monolith calls him - was sitting in a Cupola module on the KSC's biggest rocket yet - the ITV 012.

How on Kerbin did he let the monolith convince him to do this? He should turn back now. However, this was perhaps the only way he would know for sure if the Flat Kerbin Society was wrong.

With a roar, all 36 Vectors fired up and lifted the colossal beast off of the pad.

"All systems nominal - engine shutdown in 3... 2... 1..."

"Uh... mission control be advised. Engine cutoff results in explosions."
"Roger that, Tomfurt."
The KSC had hired him right off the bat. It was hard to find any true pilots any more. He was glad that they hadn't looked further into his background - he was formerly an FKS pilot, after all.

"Mission control, we are not going to make it to space today. The beast is too heavy."
"Roger that. Bail out now."
The Monolith had gone to great lengths to conceal Tomfurt's identity. Tomfurt also understood nothing about the math behind the rockets he piloted - he grew up believing it was all a lie. He was told that the ship had eleven kilometers per second of delta V, but he had no idea what that meant. He did understand "bail out," though.


He hit the water hard. When he resurfaced, he had the strangest feeling: he was enjoying this.

"ITV-013 go for launch!"


Well, that surely didn't work. The ITV-013 was - wait! I haven't told you about the 012 yet.
The 012 was a complete redesign from the 011. Twice the delta v, ISRU, more controllable, and it looked 5000% cooler! The second version, the 013 had drained most of the fuel from the ship itself so it could reach orbit, and ditched a third of the Vector's because the TWR was then too high. It also added sepratrons and more fuel to the boosters.

However, the Vectors now needed literal tons of struts to keep them from shearing off.

On the fourth attempt (ITV 013-D) The ship rose off of the pad, carrying Tomfurt skyward.

Even the leader of the Flat Kerbin Society, when he later looked at this image, had to admit that it looked positively epic, even though he thought it was CGI.

"Houston, is that my shadow?"
"Yes, Tomfurt. That is the ships shadow."
"Why doesn't the exhaust have a shadow?"
"I have no idea." (Is there a mod for this?)

The ITV-013 began picking up speed and experienced shock heating on ascent. Those Vectors really pack a punch.


"Main engine shutdown!" Shouted Tomfurt.
"Main engine cutoff, Tomfurt," said Houston.
"Right. Aproaching highest point - "
"Apoapsis."
"Yes."
"Are you really qualified for this job?"
"Are any of us?"
"Good point."

"Okay, we've restarted the engines, and - wait..."

*eye twitch*
"Tomfurt, hold on. I'm going to do something."
"Creepy monolith? AAAAAAH!"
"Wait, nevermind, it will be easier to fix it later."
"Who are you talking to, Tomfurt?"
"....Nobody."
"Tomfurt, cut off your engines now!"
"Uh... I'm out of fuel."
"Really? Just now?"
"Yeah."
"Tomfurt, guess what?"
"What?"

"You've just orbited the world's heaviest SSTO!"
=====================================================
"Alright, Tomfurt, I'm going to do something. You know how that ore tank broke off? I'm going to fix it."
"How?"
"Using some of the little magic I have left to demonstrate my abilities. I just need to push this button, update HE, input co-ordinate and...  Oops!"
"What do you mean, Oops?"

"Uhh, let me try again."
*protip - don't go to crazy with Hyper Edit. Bad things happen.

"Okay, we're in orbit!" shouted Tomfurt loudly. Under his breath, he whispered, "Whatever that means."
"Okay, Tomfurt. According to tradition, you get to name the ship!"
"I do?"
"Yes. What do you want to call it?"
"I think I'm going to call it..."

"The Magician!"

Note: I had more written, but there was a freak ctrl-z accident and it deleted a third of it, so I decided to divide this batch of screenshots into two smaller parts.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Ultimate Steve

[max_creative]

Needs moar boosters. And struts. And the irsu needs to be replaced. And he needs to work on his piloting skills. And I'm still ready to launch. And the V2 looks awesome! And I'm saying "and" too much. And that ship is really long. And 36 vectors is nothing compared to the 96 of Just A Tiny refueler... And I really hope that still works. And that is super awesome! And I'm still ready. And !

[Ultimate Steve]

Part 13:

Spoiler

A short time had passed when Tomfurt/Tedfry/Thedney decided to plot a course to Minmus to demonstrate the refueling ability of the V2.

"Wait!"
"What's going on, Gene?"
"Somebody forgot the engineer!"
*facepalm*

"There's no way something launched from the KSC would reach it in time! And Tomfurt's antenna isn't pointed at us right now! He thinks everything is ok!"
"Wait," said an anonymous intern, "why do we need an engineer?"
"Without one, the mining will take 25 times longer."
"Oh."
"We'd have to launch from the desert to even have a chance of catching it!"
"Well," said Wernher, "when I was out in the desert trying to investigate the anomaly, I came across another underground shelter and passed along the concept of space explortation... They were very interested and decided to give it a go. Jesse base, do you copy?"

"Jesse base copies. Initiating countdown, liftoff in 3... 2... 1..."


"Jesse base, how did you build a rocket that fast?"
"We didn't. We've been building it for the past week."
"Oh, so great coiencidence that it was on the pad today?"
"Naw... that was the OVAA. Outdoor vehicle assembly area. It wouldn't have been finished for another week..."
"Well, who on Kerbin would fly an incomplete rocket?"


"Commencing burn in 3... 2... 1..."
"Hey, there!"
"AAH!"

"Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?"
"I am Milvy Kerman. I'm your mining engineer."
"How did you get onboard, though?"
"I launched."
"Wait, you weren't like, a stowaway, or anything?"
"Nope. I launched, like, four minutes ago."

"KSC sent you?"
"Yes. Sort of."
"Okay, go check the mining equipment or something. I'm trying to do a ten minute burn which I started about four minutes too late."

"That doesn't look right."
"You aren't a real pilot, are you?"
"I am a pilot."
"Okay, "pilot," just plot a correction burn, in about 15 minutes."
"Right, I was totally going to do that."
"Anything else you'd like to tell me, "pilot?" I'm probably going to find it out, anyway. It would be easier if you'd just tell me right away."
"You'd find out anyway?"
"I'm descended from a long line of mind readers."
"O...kay."
"So?"
Tomfurt paused, and then decided to tell her.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Probably not."
And so, Tomfurt told her. Something inside of him said he could trust her. He told her about the monolith, the samples, and everything.

"I can't get over how... round... it is."
"You know, most Flat Kerbiners wouldn't believe even this."
"That's because I'm not one of them anymore."


Eleven days later, the Magician arrived at Minmus.

"Why don't you do the landing, Milvy?"
"Why?"
"I may be a pilot, but just a plane pilot. Used to the flat Kerbin model."
"Right. Sure, I'll land it, Tomfurt."

"We're coming in..."

"Tomfurt, open the bay doors!"
"Roger that."

"Engage thud VTOL!"

"Slowly... slowly... easy does it..."



"We're landed!"
"Yes!"
Me: I think that's the biggest thing I've ever landed on another celestial body!"
"Great flying, Milvy! Shall we begin drilling?"

"Nah, the ore's terrible here. I'm gonna fly her Eastward a bit."


"Aaaand, landed again! Deploy drills!"


"Milvy, I'm gonna go EVA for a sec, okay?"
"Sure."




Me: Woah, that's trippy!
Ignoring the spacetime rift, Tomfurt set out to do what the monolith had instructed him to do.

"One down, seventeen to go."

 

The Story of Project Intrepid will continue...

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Ultimate Steve

[Mister Dilsby]

  Hide contents

The Story of Project Intrepid will continue...

Definitely one of the top land-a-giant-ship-called-Intrepid-on-Minmus-and-do-mining moments of all time! Also loved the 'kerb on a stick' desert launch, and dialogue between the mining engineer and the 'pilot'  

[max_creative]

"Open the bay doors..." I think I've heard that before... 

That landing looks so awesome! For takeoff, you could just fire the mains and accelerate along the flats, or you could vtol upwards, then use rcs to turn, and then fire the mains. Option 2 is safer.

Also, the Infinity II is now ready to launch...

[Ultimate Steve]

@Kuzzter Oh, the coincidences!  Kerb-On-A-Stick. Hmm... I now have a new term to add to my Kerbal dictionary! Thanks!

@max_creative I'm not going to tell you how I took off until the new chapter comes out. I will say that I had to do a 55 minute burn. No telling where I burned to yet, but, oh, I'm going to have to do at least five more of those burns in the near future. The ship looks cool, but it has barely 1 TWR on Minmus.

And I did the calculations for the Creativity. For the Jool burn, at x4 warp, it should only take 10 minutes, but the 1.7 seconds per second lag tells otherwise. If it can withstand x4 warp. Oh, fun times ahead!

[Ultimate Steve]

Part 14: The tale of many burns!

Spoiler

"We're going to Moho and that's final."
"But it's MOHO, Tomfurt."
"So? We have, like, eight Kilometers per second of Delta V."
"More like thirteen, because we have 7500 ore onboard."
"Exactly!"
Me: But I've sent eight missions to Moho, and only one worked!
"Seriously, Milvy. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Being stranded near the sun and burning up?"
"Point taken. We're still going to Moho."
"The window is fifty days away!"
"Closer than the other windows. We've been mining for fifty days, anyway."
"We are not going to - "

" - Moho."
"Too late. We've taken off."



"Minmus is beautiful."
"Not to mention we could crash into Moho!"
"We have plenty of fuel."
"Too much fuel! We won't have any TWR!"


"We may have a problem, Milvy."
"Yeah. It's called a pilot that wants to go to Moho."
"No, it's called that mountain."
"Pull up! Pull up!"


"Oh, this is going to be close..."
"Cross your fingers!"
"Brace yourself!"




"Phew. That was close."
"And MOHO IS WORSE!"
"Calm down. We'd need to go to Moho eventually. You know... for the monolith..."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Not to mention we somehow need to get a surface sample from a gas giant, a boulder that doesn't exist, and the sun."
"Okay, when you put it that way, Moho seems like a safe place.


"Okay, engineer. Can you do me a favor and plot a course?"
"This is a bad idea, but okay. Four burns. Minmus escape into elliptical Kerbin orbit, Kerbin plane change, Kerbin escape, and mid course plane change. For, like, five kilometers per second."
"See? Easy as pi."
"Pi is infinite."
"Uh, I meant pie."
"Pie doesn't exist anymore. Remember the war?"
"..."



"Okay, now just the escape burn, then the plane change in 100 days."
"But first, we wait for the window."
"Yes. You ever played "Krakenball?""
"Never heard of it."
"Kerbopoly?"
"Nope."
"Human Space Program?"
"I've heard of it."
"Well, let me see your Kpad!"
===========================================================
30 days later...
===========================================================
"Wow, Mars is sooo hard to get to. Maybe if I cheat the antenna delay, and - "
"Guess what? My Saturn Space Station is now complete!"
"Showoff."
"Moho Maniac."
"I did manage to crash Buzz Aldrin into Mercury."
"I landed Alan Shepard on VENUS! And MARS!"
"Thanks for showing that to me. I would have died from boredom if you hadn't."
"The burn is coming up."
"Yeah."


"Hold on, estimated burn 55 minutes?!?!?!? You know what this means right?"
"We get to stand on the bulkheads?"
ME: 55 MINUTES?!?!?!?"
"Nope. Time for a musical montage!"
"Can I choose the song?"
"Sure."
"Okay. This one looks interesting."
"What is it?"
"It's called "The Final Countdown" from the Human Space Program extended universe."
"Okay, let's hear it!"
=========================================================

Da Da Da! Du!

Da Da Da Du Du!

Da Da Da! Du!

Da Do Da Du Du Da Du!

Do Da Du!

Do Da Da Du Du Du Du!

Da DOOOOOOO DO DA DO DO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We're leaving together...

But still it's farewell...

And maybe we'll come ba-a-ack...

To Kerbin, who can tell...

I guess there is no one to blame...

We're leaving gro-o-ound....

Will things ever be-e the same AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN?

IT"S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
===============================================
"Aww, it only lasted one verse!"
Me: I'm so glad I don't have to do that again - wait. THE PLANE CHANGE IS 2.2KM/S?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
===============================================
But, luckily, there was more to be done before the burn. Like another long burn with a 556 part ship.
Me: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?
But first, the crew needed to be selected for the Jool mission.
Me: Okay. I don't have to do it right away, then.
==============================================
"Okay, we have the crew!"

"There is a pilot and an engineer already aboard the Creativity. We decided on 3 pilots, 3 scientists, and 2 engineers."
"Let me guess, Wernher. This craft was designed by Jeb."
"What? All of the other designers were busy working on the - "
"Guys! The Flat Kerbin Society has made a move!"
"Oh, no. What sort of move?"
"Hold on - we're safe. They are trying to fly to the "wall" at the edge of Kerbin. Little do they know that it is actually the south pole."
"Well, knowing them, they'll find a way to say we're hacking their compasses."
"If they ever get there. All of their planes are exploding, by the looks of it."
"Anyway, back to the crew! Podpont and Angie are recruits, straight out of Kollege. They have demonstrated very excellent plane flying schools. Bobwig is a mining engineer known for his invention of radiation-bypass ventilators. Mojorie is from the country of Karniaire, and is well known for her theories about negative gravioli particles. However, all of her papers are in Karnieries, and haven't been translated yet. Miteny is just an ordinary Goo-ologist, and we don't know much about Gemma. She just showed up here one day.

"Did I mention I was scared of heights?"
"Mojorie? I am also scared of heights!"
"Well, Bobwig, I am commander of this vessel, and I order both of you to stop shouting!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
"Not you too, Miteny!"
*beep* Wow, Bobwig. You don't know about the sound dampeners on the hatches?"
"Nope. I do now, though, Angie."

"How in the world is this actually working? I mean, Jeb designed it..."

"Bill quickly added struts when he wasn't looking."
"Ah. But wasn't he busy working on the - "
"Houston, we have a problem!"

"We're going too fast!"
"Uh... Jettison the SRB's!"
"But they are still on fire!"
"Just do it!"





"Allright, crew! Brace yourself!"
Me: What are you talking about it's just a bit of - LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Seriously, there's a conspiracy! ALL of my dockings happen at sunrise!

"Okay, everyone is onboard!"
"Now, we wait 30 days."
"Whatever will we do?"
"Hey, I found this really cool Kpad game called - "
"Human Space Program? Don't do it! It will frustrate you to the very end!"
===============================================================
30 days later...
===============================================================
"I put Yuri Gagarin on the Sun!"
"Well, I put Neil Armstrong on Pluto!"
"Well, the burn is starting in two seconds!"
Me: I'll spare you the boredom and do the second verse of "The Final Countdown" here. I had to do 3 kick burns and it took me, like, an hour.

We're heading for Jo-ool...

And still we stand tall...

Cause maybe they've seen us...

And welcome us all!

With so many light years to go...

And things to be found! (To be fo-o-ound)...

I'm sure that we A-ALL miss her SO-O!

DUN DUN!

DUN DUN! DUN!

It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!
===================================================
"And now, a whole two years to perfect my Mars mothership!"
"And my Jupiter mothership!"
"Noobs. I'm landing rockets on BARGES! DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Sorry to break it to you, Bobwig, but I'm designing a suborbital re-usable rocket. And it's already flown four times."
"And I'm going to design the world's biggest rocket to colonise Mars."
"Well, I figured out how to install the "Star Trek" mod. I'm gonna go visit Vulcan!"
"I personally prefer the "Star Wars" mod."
"Still, I prefer the challenge of landing a rocket on a barge."
"What if there was a Flat Kerbin Society, but for Human Space Program? What would they say to that?"
Me: Do not read the comments on SpaceX's videos. Do not read the comments on SpaceX's videos. Do not read the - Oh, whatever.
My Conscience: You know arguing with conspiracy theorists is futile, right?
Me: Once you get them hooked on KSP, no power on Earth can convince them space is fake.

 

[max_creative]

"Hey guys! Look at this! In HSP there is a guy named Elon Musk who sometimes plays a game called Kerbal Space Program!" 

"Really? Cool! Let me try!" 

"Oh my gosh it's just like what we are doing right now!" 

"Wow! KSP is better than HSP!"

 

Later in KSP in KSP... 

"AAAAA!!! Look out for that Minmus mountain!" 

"Engines to full! Pull up!" 

"I think we have done this before..." 

 

[Ultimate Steve]

@max_creative Well, if they dig deep enough into the HSP extended universe...

Also, Part 15:

Spoiler

"BEHOLD! THE AMAZING - "


"Houston, you realize that's getting old, right?"
"Well, I think it's appropriate for this launch. It is truly amazing."
"Why are we doing this launch again?"
"Jeb wants to do a Duna mission. You can't argue with Jeb."
"What payloads are we sending up?"
"A mapping satellite, two bases, a lander with a rover, and a plane."
"And why is this launch so "amazing?""
"This is supposed to be a re-usable booster."
"Why aren't we using a regular booster?"
"Everything here was designed by Jeb. The engineers are busy designing the - "
"All hands, prepare for liftoff."



"Wait... you're going to land the first stage?"
"Bobwig's idea. Said he got it from "Human Space Program...""

"Uh... it's coming down over R&D!"
"Yep. The scientists want to analyze it."
"But R&D is destroyed..."


"Well, now it's destroyed more."

"Ah! So this was the launch of the MapSat?"
"Yes, it was."



And so, the day went on and on with many launches. The first one was a bigger version of the standard refueler.


Emphasis on the "was."

While Jeb was redesigning the refueler, the Duna and Ike bases were launched.


The dockings went well. The bases were mostly identical habitation modules. The only difference is that one had parachutes.


"Wait till you see the plane!"
"Why did we need a plane again, Jeb?"
"Because planes are awesome!"
"Tell me at least three practical reasons."
"They're faster than rovers, have longer practical range then rovers, and we needed something to balance out the MapSat."
"..."

"Who in the world designed that lifter?"
"Me."
"I should have known, Jeb."



"So now, we only need to launch the lander and the refueler, right?"
Me: AAAGH! THE BURNOUT IS REAL!
My Conscience: Just do something else for a while. Like design a miniplane.
Me: Okay.

My Conscience: Better?
Me: Yep.

"Shercott!"
"Yes, Captain Jeb?"
"Don't call me that. Jeb is fine."
"Yeah, Jeb?"
"Get out of the lander. We're jettisoning it."
"Why?"
"Because we need a different one for Duna."
"Okay."
====================================================================
Gidrien's log. Day 139. Still no scientific reason for the strange telepathy between Shercott and I. I had a miniature negative gravioli detector in my pocket at the time and it recorded the gravioli blast that appeared to give us the telepathic powers. Honestly, it's kind of annoying.

Fortunately, you only hear it if you want to hear it. Except when we are sleeping. Then, our dreams sort of combine. Into Nightmares.

The gravioli detectors are behaving strangely when both of us are near them at once. I attempted to build a machine in the old lander to reverse the effect, but I think I made it worse.

It changed the lander, somehow. It had an aura of pure gravioli around it. If that was even possible. All the more reason to jettison it.

Just now, though, I'm a bit scared of the lander. And I don't know why.

I just am.



===================================================================================
After one failed attempt where the rocket flipped,

And one where Jeb forgot the decoupler,

Eventually, the Duna and Ike lander arrived at the Intrepid.


Now, all that remained was the refueler.

"JEB!"
"Yeah? Who are you?"
"WHY IN THE MOHO DO YOU NEED SUCH A GIANT REFUELER?"
"Who are you? And could you stop yelling?"
"I am Mortimer."
"Aww, not you again. I thought you were still underground."
"That rocket is six times more expensive than it should be."
"We have an unlimited budget."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - "
"Mort, old friend, wait till you see what the engineers have been working on. It's a - "
"Warning. Resonant Frequency Alarm."

"Okay, so I can't use SAS. This is Fun! And very wobbly."

"Wobbly enough to tear a nose cone off."


"And, clawed!" Now, to Duna!"

Me: How about another musical montage?
My Conscience: Do you know any songs other than "The Final Countdown?"
Me: Yes. They just don't have words.
My Conscience: Just skip over the burn in one screenshot.
Me: Sure.

"Houston, this is Jeb. The Intrepid is on its way to Duna!"
"Great burn, Jeb!"
"What's next on the list?"
"Correction burn for the Magician, the Eeloo window, another correction burn, and then the Dres window."
"Great! Do you think the engineers will have finished building the - "
*STATIC*
"Jeb?"
"I'm all right. There was a gravioli surge and - wait. We have an instrument malfunction. The old lander is telling us that it is on an escape trajectory from the sun."
"It has to be a malfunction."
"Unless..."
=============================================================
The monolith sat there. In about nine different places. He had sensed something. Not only were the magic particles acting up. Well, the Kerbals referred to them as "negative gravioli particles." Something had happened that the monolith had not sensed in a long time. The Falcon was leaving the solar system. There was only one entity that had the kind of power that it took to accelerate objects to that magnitude of speeds. This could only mean one thing...

The Kraken had awakened.

 

 

The story of Project Intrepid will continue...

 

[max_creative]

Warships ready to launch to destroy the kraken (although it might make @Galacticvoyager mad)! Right after I finish that star destroyer I was working on... 

[Planetace]

1 hour ago, max_creative said:

Warships ready to launch to destroy the kraken (although it might make @Galacticvoyager mad)! Right after I finish that star destroyer I was working on... 

You have angered me, and thus an entire galaxy is now preparing, trillions of warships are being produced every second... This is a warning for you to pull back those warships, or the multiverse wormhole gate will activate, and they will enter the universe of KSP...

[max_creative]

20 hours ago, Galacticvoyager said:

You have angered me, and thus an entire galaxy is now preparing, trillions of warships are being produced every second... This is a warning for you to pull back those warships, or the multiverse wormhole gate will activate, and they will enter the universe of KSP...

I'm just kidding about attacking the kraken with warships. All hail the kraken! 

@Ultimate Steve, I have a small rescue ship ready to launch in case you need rescuing. Super tiny. It's only about as big as sph...

[Planetace]

Just now, max_creative said:

I'm just kidding about attacking the kraken with warships. All hail the kraken! 

@Ultimate Steve, I have a small rescue ship ready to launch in case you need rescuing. Super tiny. It's only about as big as sph...

The warships are retreating, but that was a warning in case you were serious...

[Ultimate Steve]

Warships and Krakens and Rescues, Oh my!

Part 16 doesn't really mean much to the story, just me doing burns and launched and stuff. I'll try to make it interesting, but there'll be one hole I'll have to write myself out of.

Okay, begin writing! Part 16:

Spoiler

"Haha, Milvy! I made it to another galaxy! One far, far away!"
"Because you've been time warping for the past twenty days, Tomfurt."
*ding*
"Oh, that must be the plane change burn."
Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*1 hour later*


"Okay. Back to Human Space Program!"
"I think I've been doing too much of it recently. I'm sort of going into a trance, or something. On my latest launch, I installed my accelerometers upside down."
"Okay, then."
===================================================
"Wernher, thank goodness I found you!"
"What do you need, Gene?"
"Are we going to do anything about the Eeloo window in five days?"
"..."
"DARN! That's not enough time to do a Minmus refueling run! We'll have to launch one full of fuel."
"Actually, we don't need it full. Maybe 3/5 full."
"Still, it will be difficult."

"Okay, crew! Are you ready for launch?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Snacks are go!"
"So is HSP!"
"Aye Aye!"
"I'm nervous."
"Wait, what?"




"Okay. We still have five days. That was a low TWR problem, so add more vectors!"
==========================================================================
Now, 3 days before the Eeloo window, the ITV-014b prepared for launch.



"Uh, guys? Two of our solar panels ripped off."
"Fine, keep going."
"Wait, we're going to Eeloo. How are we going to mine with solar panels and no RTG's?"
"Just keep going."


"The antennas got in the way of the exhaust and exploded!"
"Everything will be fine."
"But we won't be able to scan for ore then!"
"We have scanning equipment?"
"Yeah. New stuff. The Magician didn't even have it."

"I hate to break it to you, but we're out of fuel."
"KEEP GOING!"

"The ore tank broke off again!"
"KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"You realize that this mission is doomed, right?"

"KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!!"
"Mort, stop yelling."
"ONWARDS!"
"We're descending!"

"We're in the atmosphere! The situation is looking grim!"
"These ships cost over a million funds each. You better get it to orbit!"
"We don't have any escape system!"

"We're going down!"


"We're losing stuff!"

"The engines are getting dangerously close to - "

"We've lost an engine!"
"I'm going to go have a panic attack over there."
"Okay, Mort."
*BAM* *BAM*
"We've lost 2 - "
*KA-DA-BANG!"
"Nope, ALL of the nukes!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Okay. Okay. Calm down. How am I going to survive? How am I going to keep the crew alive?"

"Step one - engage dramatic music!"
Me: Go and turn on some dramatic music, readers.
"Step two: Dump most of the fuel so we're lighter!"
"Captain, we can't do that!"
"Yes you can. Press that button on your console with the "H" on it."
"Roger. Fuel dumped."

"Step three: Open the cargo bay doors for more wing area!"

"Step four, pump remaining fuel forward. Step five, adjust Thud thrust limiters to compensate for the missing two!"
"The odds of us surviving are about - "
"NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!"

"Gear down, Thuds on, nose down, flying backwards."

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"















"How in the actual Moho am I not dead right now?"
"..."
"Can I do that again?"
====================================================================================
But, remember, there was still an Eeloo window in three days. There had never been a mission to Eeloo, and the workers only had to rebuild half the ship. So, the engineers fixed the problems and tried to launch again. This was the ITV-015.

But the workers rebuilt it again. It was now only a day and a half from the Eeloo window. It exploded again. Then they rebuilt it with about fifty more struts. It exploded. The photographer went on strike. The rocket was only about 10% destroyed, so a launch was attempted a mere three hours before the Eeloo window. The rear engine block exploded. Luckily, the engineers were very motivated. A mere two minutes before the Eeloo window, they re-attached the engines, an added about 100 more struts.

Me: How in the world did it get to be almost 400 parts?

"We appear to be taking off, finally!"
"Good. Execute gravity turn to sixty six degrees!"
"It will be done, my commander."

"There goes the window!"
"Don't worry, half an hour won't make a difference!"

"We forgot to add RTG's!"
"The fuel cells will suffice."
"But that violates the law of transfer of - "
"Shush."



"Those look soo cool. I wonder if we could bring them all the way to orbit and use them as tugs, or something."
"Hmmm..."
"Okay, plotting Eeloo transfer!"
===================Some time later=====================

"This'll be a long one!"
"A long burn, or a long trip?"
"Both."
"Eh, we've got Human Space Program. We'll be allright."
Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Not another long burn!"
=====================================================================
And, next up on the alarm clock, another long burn!
Me:

Okay, Jool correction for the Creativity burn complete! Now for that beast we all know...

"Moho."

I'm splitting this one up into two as well. It's a big batch of screenshots. As for that hole I need to dig myself out of, I haven't gotten that far, yet. I still can't believe I survived that crash.

[max_creative]

4 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Warships and Krakens and Rescues, Oh my!

Yes... And inter-dimensional supercruisers... Just a normal day here at Creativity Aerospace... 

[Ultimate Steve]

Part 17:

Spoiler

"Aaaand, I have landed on Pluto!"
"Congratulations, Tomfurt."
"What have you done recently, Milvy?"
"Been staring at Moho."
"IRL?"
"Yeah. HSP's graphics are great, but they can't beat this."
"Wait, aren't we supposed to be doing something important to the mission right now?"
"I don't think so."
"Wait - Oh, no. We were supposed to start the capture burn ten minutes ago!"
"Thrusters to MAXIMUM!"
"Uh, yeah. Whatever that means."
"Says the "Pilot.""




"And, we have reached orbit!"
"We are go for landing!"
"Wait, already, Milvy?"
"Yeah, why waste time, Tomfurt?"
"Right. It would be great to be home in time for the next window, whenever that may be."


"Wow, that terrain is looking VERY close, Milvy."
"It's possible I may have miscalculated the time we would need to slow down."
"That doesn't sound good. Should we, uh, switch to the VTOL engines or something?"
"Nah. Those don't have very much fuel in them. Just pitch up a bit."

"Uh, why aren't we going up, Milvy?"
"Uh, do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"You're starting to freak me out, Milvy."
"The bad news is that with the nuclear engines our TWR is not more than one on Moho."
"Which means?"
"We are falling, and we can't stop."
"Well, turn on the VTOL engines!"
"They don't have enough fuel to give us enough time to slow down."
"Well, WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS?"
"The good news is that we have that monolith on our side."
"But he can't hear us, right?"
===========================================================
The monolith could in fact communicate telepathically with all Kerbals, but he was currently trying to track down the location of the Kraken, so he was completely unaware of the events happening over Moho.
===========================================================

"Uh, Tomfurt? I've got some more bad news."
"How bad?"
"REALLY bad. We're going to have to land on the night side."
"We're going to die."
"Don't be so sure. Didn't you hear about ITV 014? Can't we try a crash landing?"
"Then we'd be stranded."
"The monolith can teleport things, right?"
"Uh, the ground is getting VERY close!"

"Nose down! Nose Down!"
"I wish we were going slower!"


"Uh, how are we alive?"
"I have no idea."
"We should be dead! The ship was travelling at, like, 600 m/s!"
"Well, we're alive. Let's not question it."
"Milvy, what next? We might be stuck on Moho!"
"First of all, we wait for day. We can't see the damage right now, it's pitch black."
"Good plan. How long?"
"Nights on Moho are very long. Like, 30 days."
"Oh. I really wish it was day."

"What?"
"How in the world is it day?"
"Now that is really weird."
Milvy had seen lots of strange things in her life, but nothing like this. "Tomfurt, what in the world did you do?"
"I - I don't know. Was it something I said?"
"You wished for it to be day."
"Now that is freaky."
"This ship will not fly again. The ISRU is gone, as well as two nuclear engines, the solar panels and radiators, the thuds, ore tanks, you name it."
"Milvy - what if this isn't random?"
"What do you - oh. Wish for something again!"
"I wish for us to have a second chance to land this thing."

Instantly, The universe did a strange thing. It seemed to sort of, rewind...

"Woah."
"Okay, Tomfurt. You've got some explaining to do."
"I swear, I have no idea what's causing this!"
"Well, whatever you did, do it again! We're about to crash!"
"I wish we weren't falling so fast!
*WHOOSH*
"Tomfurt. We are rising again."

"Milvy, take the controls."
"Got it. Keep doing that thing! We're falling again!"
And so, he kept doing it.
"Twenty meters. Ten. Five."
"We appear to have landed."

"Okay. That was weird. Not just Human Space Program glitch weird, but REALLY weird. Turn it to day again! We've got to learn about this!"
"I wish for - "
"STOP!" Boomed a big and bellowing voice. Both Kerbals were startled and jumped.
"Monolith?" So, now you get here."
"TOMFURT, YOU HAVE ANGERED ME!"
"Uh, I'm sorry?"
"YOU JUST USED UP 3 PERCENT OF MY REMAINING MAGIC!"
"Me? But how?" The monolith, communicating into the two Kerbal's heads, paused for a moment, and made a choice.

"Tomfurt. Milvy. I had hoped that this would not happen."
"Wha - "
"Listen! Stay quiet for, like, two minutes! I will now explain everything. I promise. First off, you have learned, if accidentally, to utilize my source of magic. You can only do this if I told you too much, that is why I was being so secretive earlier. But you figured it out anyway. Now, we must use that to our advantage."
"Uh, I'm sorry?"
"Don't be sorry. Now, my information can only help instead of harm. You have now become my apprentice, Tomfurt. This means that you now share all of my powers."
"So, I can do cool stuff now?"
"Yes. But there are limitations. Let's start with what you did. You synced your world to player time, quickloaded, and changed your ship's velocity. Quickloading is okay, however it should only be used when you need it. I do agree that you needed it. Syncing your world to player time, also called relative timewarping, is not very magic draining, if you are the player. I am the monolith. This time sync accounted for ten percent of the magic you used."
"So, time warping is bad. Got it."
"Now, Tomfurt, your velocity changing. In this case, it was necessary to keep you alive. However, you slowed a heavy ship by 1200 meters per second total. This was cause for most of the drain."
"So I shouldn't do that often?"
"Correct. There is much more you will learn to do, but I am bound by one rule. I cannot change the universe for what is wrong."
"So you have to be good?"
"Not necessarily. I can bend this rule sometimes, but I am responsible for correcting errors in how the universe should flow."
"So if I'm plummeting into the sun, you can't save me?"
"Correct. However, there is a catch."
"Yeah?"
"You are not bound by that rule."
"So that means - "
"That together, we are more powerful than almost anything."
"Even the Kraken?"
"The Kraken cannot change the universe for the good, only to cause chaos."
"Unless he has an apprentice."
"And he does."
"So, it's sort of a yin-yang situation here?"
"Exactly, Tomfurt."
"Tell me about the surface samples."
"Now, that will have to wait."
"What? Why?"
"All I can tell you is that when you bring all of the samples together, it creates a new element. A powerful one."
"Which does?"
"It makes the portal to another universe I talked about earlier. The details can wait."
"So, fifteen planets and moons, one Jool, one Sun, and a magic boulder that we're not sure exists?"
"Correct."
"This will be difficult."
"Remember, though, now you have two."

"Right. Minmus, and now - "

"Two down, sixteen to go."

And now, with some questions answered, more arise. Hopefully it's not too confusing... If I can, I'll clarify some stuff if I need to.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Ultimate Steve

[max_creative]

The monolith is just the worlds most powerful super computer right? If any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, why don't you just build more advanced ships? 

Also, that chapter was on post 42! Ha ha!

[Ultimate Steve]

@max_creative 42!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, 18 is one of my favorite numbers, so:

Part 18: Read slowly for maximum effect! Especially the end!

Spoiler

"Greetings to all of you. Every single one. Not just the distinguished guests standing in front of me, but the thousands of Kerbals remaining underground. My name is Gene Kerman. You may know me as the current head of Project Intrepid, our primary planetary escape plan."

"Today, my friends, we celebrate! Project Intrepid, or PI as I call it sometimes, has made excellent progress in every way in the past year. Even though this is not the one year anniversary, Today is still a very important time: Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the day when the first Kerbal set foot on the Mun! Not to mention the ninety eighth anniversary of the first steps on Duna! Today, my friends, is an important day."

"Today also happens to be Jebediah Kerman's birthday. We both decided something special needed to be done today, so we consulted the construction team and any designers who aren't working on the other big project. This is what they came up with."
"Ladies and gentlemen, behold:"

"FIREWORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Okay, everyone. Clear the runway!" Gene shouted.

"Don't tell us it's over already!" Someone yelled. Gene paused, as if dramatically waiting, and then the ground started to tremble.

"No, my friends. It is not over yet." The shaking was now reaching earthquake like levels, and a trapdoor in the runway began slowly opening inward. An underground platform began to rise.

"What is going on?" One kerbal yelled.

"Why is this happening?" Another shouted. Gene just stood there at the edge of the runway, hands raised as a huge monstrosity rose out of the ground.

"You know that Eeloo ship that we never named?"

"Why is that important right now?" By now, everyone but Gene was running to the nearest shelter.

"We decided to call it the ITV-015 Independence." The giant brick of fuel was now fully risen out of the ground. The trapdoor closed.

"But Gene, why is that thing here?!" A kerbal yelled. Gene stood there as the 56 Vector engines began to spool up. He began to Grin.

"Because, my friends," Gene said, his voice barely audible over the now full throttle engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We're going to Dres!"

 

 

 

 

Happy Independence day! For those of you living in the US, anyway! If not, then, well, Have a good day today anyways!

Edited June 21, 2018 by Ultimate Steve

[max_creative]

YES!!! 

hold on. Let me save the ship I'm building in KSP right now... Ok! 

The KSS Independence is definitely my favorite already!!! 

WOO!!! 

Happy fourth of Jool-y!

[max_creative]

Everyone! #We're going to Dres!

Whatever you do, do not go through the big swirling portal! Or into the long grass! 

In Independence looks like two Intrepids stuck together! It also reminds me of something I built awhile ago... Hmmm... What was it again?...

[Ultimate Steve]

@max_creative

Thanks! Yeah, it does look awesome! But "Independence" is the Eeloo ship's name. Not this one. I just named the Eeloo one because I completely forgot about it.

11 hours ago, max_creative said:

do not go through the big swirling portal!

 There will be... hazards, let's say.

[Ultimate Steve]

 

Part 19:

Spoiler

"It's official. We're stranded on Moho."
"Milvy, we are not stranded on Moho."
"Yes. We. Are. Didn't I tell you this would happen?"
"..."
"Today is the Kerbin Window, and we might have enough fuel if the plane change burn is optimal. Might. We're on the wrong side of the planet to talk to Kerbin, the next window is in 130 days, and the Monolith forbade you to use your magic for this."
"Well, we mine for a while!"
"Right now, our TWR is 0.36."

"...Okay. So we're stranded on Moho."
"Why are we smiling, then?"
"Good question."
"We need a scientist."
"What?"
"I mean, Pilot - "
"You mean "pilot.""
"Engineer, Scientist. We're only missing one."
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we're the only two Kerbals for millions of kilometers and we have bigger problems at hand then the lack of a scientist. So, I don't know about you, but I'm going to load up Human Space Program to do some simulations."
*30 minutes later*
"Okay, Tomfurt. We can get to orbit, but only to orbit."
"What's the point of going to just orbit?"
"So the rescue ship has an easier time picking us up."
"When will we be rescued?"
"Soon. Ish. Anyway, if we dump most of the fuel so we have just enough Delta-V to reach orbit, our TWR becomes 1.12."

"Well, what are we waiting for?"
"You're the captain, need I remind you."
"Okay. Here goes nothing."

"AAAAAAAAHADJUSTTHETHRUSTLIMITERSYOUAREGOINGTOGETUSBOTH-"
"Done."
"Tomfurt, activate the LVN's in about half a second."

"And, Thud flameout. Close the bay doors."
"They're stuck, Milvy."
"What do you mean?"
"Uh, nevermind. They aren't stuck anymore."

"Okay. We might actually make this."
"Might?"
"If you were paying attention, Tomfurt, you would have noticed that Seventy percent of the test flights in HSP crashed."
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!?!?!? Why did you tell me that at all?!?!?!?!?"
"Because. Also, we're in orbit, now."

"That was way too close, Milvy. 154m/s?!?!?"
"Better than stranded on Moho."
"So, now we're stranded around Moho."
"Yes. I told you this would happen. I'm going to take us to a higher orbit if possible so the rescue ship can rendezvous with us."
"Should we try to contact KSC?"
"Yes, Tomfurt. I'm already on it. We're coming over the "horizon" now. Wait... it looks like they're doing a... webcast?"
"What?!" Let me see!"
"It's a bit fuzzy, but... one sec... got it!"

"And, we have liftoff of the ITV-016! Bound for Dres!"
"Dres?"
"Yes, you heard him, Tomfurt, Dres."
"Woah, that thing looks cool."
"Too bad we missed the initial liftoff."
"Yeah. You might also want to send a message to the KS-"
"I did that a minute ago."
===============================================================
Kazu Kerman was in the most important seat in the history of the universe. Okay, probably not. But she was the commander of the ITV-016. In the commander's seat.

She didn't know if anyone had noticed yet, but no even numbered ITV had ever reached orbit. There was the 009 (Intrepid), 011 (Creativity), 013 (Magician), 015 (Independence) and this one, the 016. Which had never worked in the sims. And had no abort mechanisms of any type. And four Kerbals.

But it did offer one of the best views in the history of ever. So, there was that. And the fact that booster separation was coming up. In, like, ten seconds.

The boosters hadn't burned evenly. At all. They flamed out, in, like, three different sets, and some still had fuel in them. No matter. 10km/s of Delta-V is a good number.

Hey, we didn't die! She tried to gesture encouragingly to her crewmates, but the TWR was steadily increasing, so she couldn't lift her arms.

Still, Dres! The perfect place for a physicist/pilot/gravioli expert/complete and total nerd. Wait, that got depressing fairly quickly.

Yeah. The biggest nerd in my admittedly tiny mining community. But I was here now! Safe from the world, safe from the fallout, safe from the flat kerbin society, and safe from even the black hole. Hopefully.

Although she really wouldn't be safe until phase one was launched. And phase two... if those two ever worked out. The KSC should hold a press conference about the escape plan. Soon. TM. The public ought to know. From the plans I've seen it'll take a few decades before we can start phase 2. Phase 1 could happen tomorrow, or in five years. It depended on how many times it blew up. Wait a second. We were in orbit!

Now for a name. Hmm... I think explorer sounds good. Explorer of phase zero. First even numbered vehicle to reach orbit. Now, crew, it is time to celebrate.

"KSC, this is Doodard Kerman speaking on behalf of Kazu Kerman. The Explorer has reached orbit. I repeat, the explorer has reached orbit!

Plbbf. I forgot action groups. I probably won't need them, but still.  

Edited June 21, 2018 by Ultimate Steve

[max_creative]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Out of rep! 

Well great they're stuck. I hope that you have a ship big enough to rescue them. Or they are going to be there a looooooooong time...

[max_creative]

Wait a second... Gravioli scientist? Maybe gravioli particles will stop it! Or maybe it will blow up the planet... 

But who is the kraken's apprentice? Dun dun dun! 

Well, at least you didn't install the accelerometers backwards..