With the tide: GPO science mode gameplay: Chapter 9 (Olei)

Alpha 360 · June 11, 2017

Here we are with Gamelinx's planet pack installed. This story will carry over from the Advancing Through Hardships, but this is significantly more orientated towards the actual missions. The beginning will seem brief because I can't wait to start exploring! I have only glanced at the solar system and I am so excited! The game will be played Kerbin sized but maybe in another series I will do 2.5x. Let's us dive into the story. If you want I will add the mod list, but it will take somebody asking for it specifically.

Mod list:

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Here are the list of chapters, each one with the chapter right below the title. I hope this is a convenience instead of a hindrance.

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

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Jeb awoke with the sun shining into his eyes. He blinked, then when he opened them again he saw that the sun was shining through a skylight. Jeb turned his head sideways and saw that he was in an enamel white room with more windows opening out onto a dark green field.

A person in a black jacket was sitting on a bench near-by, his head buried in a newspaper. The kerbal glanced up, then folded away his newspaper.

“Jeb, looks like your back with us.” He said, standing up and walking towards his bedside.

“Where am I?”

“You are on Gaia, our new world after Kerbin fell.”

He looked sad for a moment, but Jeb still questioned him, “What is the date?”

“Year 1, day 341 since we left Kerbin.”

“How did everyone, well, get here.”

He smiled, “The same way you got here, Jeb, just a little sooner. For example, the Kraken has absolutely no power here. The dominate power here is the Player.”

“He spoke to you as well?”

The kerbal made a wide-swooping gesture, “Everyone one here is fully aware of the situation. The Player has communicated to all of us that we need a space program, and that he wants to show us the solar system. I honestly am excited for what lies ahead.”

Jeb squinted in the sun light, “Aren’t you, or weren’t you an employee of mine?”

“No, I’m hired as chief engineer by Wefly Kerman. Wefly has declared himself the chief of space travel and is working on building a new space center. In fact we wants you there as soon as possible.”

Jeb sat up and swung his feet over the bed, “Its funny, I feel very chrippy right now. I’ll go with you to see Wefly.”

He stood up, and looked down. He was wearing his clothes from the last meeting on Kerbin, but they weren’t torn or damaged.

Jeb frowned, then looked up, “Aren’t we in a kerbal heaven perchance?”

The kerbal grinned, “Yes, that is the most dominate public opinion right now.”

“Your name?” Jeb put his hands into his pockets.

“Joener, Joener’s my name.” They shook hands and Joener led Jeb out of the building.

“Valentina has agreed to fly as well. Bill and Bob have agreed to go back into the astronaut business so it looks like the four of you will have a family reunion.”

Jeb smiled, it was going to be a nice reunion. Joener started up the engine and the car started. There hadn’t been many great advancements in cars, because the engine puffed and went out like a candle.

“Looks like we’ll have to hitch-hike.”

The next day they arrived at the new Kerbal Space Center. Wefly was standing with a group of Kerbals when Jeb walked up with Joener.

“Jeb, still walking on two feet.” Wefly briefly hugged Jeb then turned to the small crowd.

“These here are our contractors, we still need to unearth and redesign most of our rocket equipment to fit this planet. But right now we have enough parts to put together a small hopper which will likely get out of the atmosphere, Val’s piloting it.”

“Good, when is the launch?”

“Tomorrow, see you there.”

The next day Jeb waited for the launch of the Courage. Val had climbed into the basic rocket and the count-down had started.

“10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Lift-off!” cried the crowd. The rocket shot up like a bullet, a trail of fire and smoke chasing it towards the sky.

Minutes later arms were raised as a fiery trail was blazed through the atmosphere and the capsule landed. The crowds rushed to the field where Valentina had popped off the hatch and was climbing out. Cameras snapped and and flashed. Jeb pushed his way through the crowd and reached the circle around the most famous kerbal on Gaia.

"Val!" Jeb cried and broke through the circle to embrace her in his biggest bear hug.

"You old bloke, still trying to choke me." Val replied, taking a sharp breath.

The next day Jeb climbed into the cockpit of the Endeavor. It was simple as well, but it was larger, much larger. It consisted of a giant BACC thumper and a capsule. Mission Control warned him that it would probably would be very hot. But since the engineers still hadn't been able to make a heat-shield out of scratch so no heat-shield was forth coming.

"Launch in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Lift-off!" Jeb felt the g's slam into his body. 3 gs, 4, 5. It kept on rising. Jeb screamed in pain, then the booster stopped, out of fuel. He jerked against his seat-belt, knocking the breath out of him. He unbuckled the seat-belt and floated.

"This is Mission Control calling Jeb, do you read me. You have exited the atmosphere."

"This is Jeb. I read you."

Jeb looked outside the window and gazed onto the great blue orb sitting just below him. Jeb tore himself away from the window and looked around for the camera. He rummaged through the only locker, then pulled out the camera. He snapped several photos then put it away.

Reentry twenty minutes later was a beast. The gees were terrible as the compressed his flesh into the chair he was sitting in. The drag chute pulled, then he once more was jerked against the seatbelt. Shorty afterwards the main chutes pulled and he drifted down. His altimeter read 6500 meters when he hit the ground. Jeb flicked the altimeter, but it read the same. He pressed a button on the controls, then with a whoosh and a bang the hatch was thrown away from the door, leaving it wide open. Jeb climbed outside, he was wearing his suit luckily because at this altitude, he would barely have enough oxygen to survive.

"This is Jeb. I have landed." he radioed Mission Control. He looked around at the grey, flat plateau which stretched on towards the horizon. Jeb decided to plant a flag then wait for Mission Control to pick him up. It might be a while, but he had time to wait.

Chapter 2: A New Initiative

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Jeb sat in a chair in the meeting room. There were dozens of kerbals all around him. He recognized Joener sitting two seats to the left. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Hello, Joener!”

Joener also leaned back in his chair, “Hey, Jeb. So you’re here after all.”

“What is this meeting about?” Jeb asked. He noticed the person first to his left was leaning forwards and talking to the person on his right. Seating hadn’t been very well organized.

“It’s going to be deciding the agenda of the Kerbal Civilization. So far we have breached the barrier to space, but what is going to be keeping us in space?”

Jeb was about to reply when Wefly stood up from his chair and started the conference, “Kerbgents and Kerbettes, we are gathered here today to discuss KSP’s goals in the coming years. We have two different agenda under discussion. To either colonize or to explore. So far we don’t have the technology to colonize, but we have the technology to explore. As you know, Rockomax’s agenda was to explore every celestial in that solar system. Now we have very little idea of what’s here.”

“Suggest to two-pronged assault on the task before us. I vote that we use two separate agencies to tackle these two tasks. Anybody voting for this, raise their hand.”

All hands went up.

“Alright, the vote is unanimous, we will assign two different programs with two different kerbonaut cores. But, we have a launch today so let’s go and see it.”

The launch was of the latest rocket, the Valor spacecraft. It used the latest liquid fuel rocket boosters, which were strapped to the core SRB. It had a second stage of a liquid fuel motor which would push the spacecraft into orbit. Ronfort Kerman was the rookie who was tapped to fly the first Gaia mission to orbit. Suddenly the solid rocket booster fired and the two swivel engines follow suit.

It soared gracefully upwards. Jeb viewed it from his binoculars, "Its on a very steep trajectory." he commented. It soon disappeared from view an Jeb stood up and started walking to the mission control.

Once he entered the door, he was greeting by a loud exclamation, "Blast it! The decoupler to the second stage refused to detach. We're not getting any signal from the first stage.

"Get Ronfort to look out his window!" cried another controller and the Capcom obliged.

"This is Ronfort calling Mission Control, the rocket is gone!"

"Are you saying that the decoupler fired for the second stage instead of the first stage?"

"Probably yes."

"Preform experiments then prepare for reentry."

Jeb sighed and walked up to Wefly, "Did you check your staging?"

"What?" Wefly was steadily glaring at the information coming into his consul. His headphones were in as well, listening to the air to ground loop.

"I guess that this would be a lesson to the engineers." Jeb mused.

"What? Jeb speak up please." Wefly glanced up at Jeb, his headphones still on.

Jeb gently removed Wefly's headphones, then said loudly, "Did you check your Staging?"

Wefly looked at the ground for a moment, and said, "Nope."

"Here's a photo that Ronfort took, its amazing!" cried the Capcom. He projected it on the main screen.

"Wow." was all Jeb could say.

The next mission Val decided to pilot the rocket. It was another Valor class rocket and the launch was fairly uneventful. Since the planned orbit would be a high one, and the capsule didn't carry alot of electrical charge, it would launch straight up then get into orbit using a new terrier rocket motor.

She rose up through the sky, until she was nothing but another star in the night. Jeb rushed to mission control and watched from there her orbital insertion burn. The deoupler decoupled right on time and Wefly sighed a very audible sigh of relief.

"The radioactive monitor says that I'm in a very dangerous region of space. I have lowered my orbit as well."

"Yes, good call." replied Wefly.

Five minutes later a controller called, "Flight! The Co2 scrubber has gone off line! She must return to Gaia right now!"

"Val! do the deorbit burn now. I don't care where you end up, but get back here this instant!"

"Yes." was all Valentina replied.

Twenty minutes later Val reentered Gaia's atmosphere and twenty-two minutes after that she landed surprisingly near the space center. Jeb stood up from his chair and raced down to his car, her coordinates on a piece of paper in his pocket.

"Where are you going?" asked Joener as Jeb backed out of the driveway.

"To see my sister." replied Jeb, he expertly maneuvered his car around and then stomped on the gas. Joener watched the recovery teams pull out and follow Jeb's lead, then he returned to mission control.

A hour later Jeb saw a column of smoke in the air over where Val's location was. His heart quickened and his foot was pressed on the gas even harder. He turned down a forest path and drove full speed ahead. The recovery teams wisely parked outside and entered on foot.

Jeb ran directly into a clearing and into a mud field. He slammed the brakes, but his car kept on going. He unbuckled, opened the door and leaped out. The car slammed into a tree moments later, and his body hit the ground hard.

"Jeb, is that you?" said a voice like Val's.

Jeb stood up, his body aching. Val was there sitting next to a fire which was making a surprising amount of smoke.

"Yes, its me." Jeb replied weakly.

Val looked around on the ground, "I found a picture you might like, it probably also will get your mind off your pain."

"Is that the best you can do?"

She rolled her eyes, then found what she was looking for. She handed it to Jeb.

Chapter 3: A Mun of a Mun

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"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Lift-off!" The Moonshot took off the launch pad.

"Anke, how's the ride?" asked Jeb, who was the present flight director in Mission Control.

"Very, very heavy." The radio went to static once more. Jeb watched the screen on left wall which showed the projection of the Moonshot as it went into a fairly shallow trajectory.

"Detaching second stage!" The gigantic movie screen in the center of the wall facing him showed a video feed from the third stage as the first detached and plummeted into the atmosphere.

"The Moonshot has exited the atmosphere, Flight."

"Shut off the main engine and plot our orbital insertion burn. Anke, how does it feel now that you will be the first kerbal to land on another body?"

"I feel sick." Anke groaned. There was the faint sound of the unbuckling of a seat-belt.

"Don't worry, it'll disappear." Jeb comforted Anke. He could hear her shifting around, then bumping into something.

'Orbital insertion plotted, flight."

"Good, send it up to her and have her orientate the spacecraft in the right direction."

Minutes later the orbital insertion was complete.

"Plot a maneuver to Gol's moon, Nightmare." ordered Jeb.

Jeb waited impatiently as the minutes ticked by on the electric clock.

"Flight, we have a course costing 912.3 m/s which will give the Moonshot a collision course with Nightmare."

"Send that up." replied Jeb with a jerk of his upwards.

"This is Anke, calling mission control. You made a crappy spacecraft."

"What is that, Anke?" asked an engineer irritably.

"This crappy capsule has at least one blasted leak. Finding it now." the radio went off.

Jeb closed his eyes has the engineer in the corner erupted, "Crappy spacecraft, sheesh! She probably made the holes herself and bla"med us for it."

Jeb wiped the sleep out of his eyes, then told off the engineer, "Well, if she could make holes in a spacecraft of yours its crappy. Now, please, get back to work."

The next day the departure burn was completed and the Moonshot sped off towards the Moon.

"Gol in two hours, and Nightmare in three." reported a GNC.

"Right, lets give the landing the Wefly and company. We still have another few hours, so lets keep at it."

"Anke, calling Mission Control. Have patched the holes from the outside and still think the engineering core makes crappy capsules."

"Thank you for your uplifting words, Anke." replied Jeb tiredly.

"You blasted controllers have the easy work, I have to sleep in this dratted tin can of yours."

"Get to sleep Anke, you're wearing us out." Jeb could have almost hit her for her reply, "Wearing you out, holy crap. I'm so sorry. Also, did I mention that I don't give a stinking crap about whatever you blasted well say. I'll resign once I get back home."

"It will be a pleasure for all, get to sleep." Jeb ground his teeth, then pressed the off button on his radio.

The next morning Jeb watched tiredly from a seat on the wall as Welfy prepped the spacecraft for landing.

"GUIDO?"

"Go, flight."

"TEMLU?"

"Go, flight."

"GNC?"

"Go, flight."

"FUIDO?"

"Go, flight."

"EECOM?"

"Go, flight."

"RETRO?"

"Go, flight."

"Engine?"

"Go, flight."

"All systems go, lets ready for landing."

The GNC counted down the numbers, "Suicide burn distance, 2 km at 400 m/s."

"Suicide burn distance, 1 km at 430 m/s."

"Suicide burn distance, 0.5 km at 450 m/s."

"Engine at 50%!" cried the RETRO.

"Suicide burn distance, Now!" yelled the GNC.

"Engine at 100%!" cried the RETRO again.

"Some of the fuel has burned off, Flight."

"How much do we have?" Every moment was a lifetime, every minute a thousand years. Every second counted in Mission Control, the average decision was made in less than thirty seconds, often times much less.

"92% and falling."

"Once we're on the ground, have her dissemble the science equipment."

The GNC started counting again, "10 km to landing."

The RETRO followed up right after that, "390 m/s"

"9 km to landing."

"360 m/s"

"8 km to landing."

"330 m/s"

"7 km to landing."

"300 m/s"

"6 km to landing."

"270 m/s"

"5 km to landing."

"230 m/s"

"4 km to landing."

"190 m/s"

"3 km to landing."

"130 m/s"

"2 km to landing."

"70 m/s"

"Throttle at 50%"

"1 km to landing."

"30 m/s"

"Throttle at 25%!"

A full minute passed, then the happy cry sounded through out the room followed by the loud applause, "Touch-down!"

Chapter 4: A Golish Scene

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"3. 2. 1. Lift-off." cried Anke as she pressed the button which sent her craft flying off of Nightmare. She soared through space, the lander vibrating. Then it stopped, leaving her in zero-g. She looked out the window, gazing at the night sky.

"Anke to Mission Control, tell engineering that they need to make much larger windows."

"Right, be sure to take some pictures on your EVA."

Anke nodded to herself, then started the cycle the air inside of the capsule. Minutes later the insertion burn was completed and she was ready to exit the capsule. She drifted over to the hatch and pulled the lever. No sound was emitted as it glided slowly open. No sound was made when she squeezed out of the capsule. Her eyes opened fully at the sight that lay before her. With a few puffs of her EVA pack, she flew off twenty meters away, then held up the camera. It was made for use in space, and to counter the clumsiness of the gloves, it had only several large buttons on it.

She pressed the main button, and the shutter flickered, the picture taken.

She waited for another few minutes, then watched in wonder as Gol rose behind the awkwardly shaped rock. Gol's crater was full of lava, it shimmered and shone.

Anke felt something changing in her. She no longer wanted to feel angry for being on this spectacular voyage. She was the first Kerbal to land on another body in this universe. She had broke a dozen records for endurance and stamina, she was the bets, most experienced kerbonaut KSP had.

"Mission Control. Sorry for giving you all crap this last for days." she apologized.

"Apology accepted, now please return to your capsule. You are leaving in thirty minutes."

Anke snorted, her good feelings gone.

Thirty minutes later she was on her way back to Kerbin, Gol being left far, far behind. She maneuvered her spacecraft around so that the window faced the moon system.

"I'm coming back, Gol, I'm coming back."

Two days later she arrived at Kerbin atmosphere. The ring system had flew by he as she returned back to Gaia.

"Reentry in five minutes, please orientate your spacecraft for reentry heating."

"Sheesh, I know that already. I'm one step ahead of you Capcom, really, why play the dope?"

On the other end the Capcom sighed and rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

"Reentering!" cried Anke as the altimeter ticked down from 70 km to 69 km.

It first came gradually, then it built up speed. Tongues of fire licked the outside of the spacecraft greedily, devouring the heat shield in a hurry of hunger. The stars slowly departed from her sight as the blue of the atmosphere began to engulf the blackness. The gs piled on top of one another, reaching peak of 4gs, then it waned. Soon it reached a sufficient one g. Anke flicked a switch, then drogue chutes deployed. She waited for a little while longer, then flicked a different switch, cutting the drogues and deploying the mains.

It took only a little while for the Recovery forces, led once again by Jimbold Kerman, discovered the location of the landing and took her home.

Later at Mission Control, Jeb handed her a paper, "You can sign it if you want. Its your official resignation, sign it, then you can leave her forever."

"Do you want to fire me?" she asked. She had previously decided what her decision was going to be, and she wanted to torture Jeb with indecision before she gave her intentions.

"Not particularly." he replied. There was no sigh of flinching in his eyes.

"You will quite at a disadvantage if you fire me, because I'm your most experienced kerbonaut." she said grinning slightly.

"We will not fire you, we were wondering if you would keep to the word you said while you were in moonshot 1."

Anke extremely enjoyed this battle of words, so she continued, "Who could replace me? I am the fist kerbal to land on a body other than Gaia, I have broken dozens of records, and the best kerbonaut you got other than me ha only just reached orbit."

"I will. I was one of the first kerbals to land on another body and I have broken innumerable records since day 1. We don't lose alot by losing you."

She rolled her eyes, "Really, if I'm not valuable I take my leave." She reached for the paper, then asked, "Where's a pen?"

Jeb fumbled around in the desk. Was it just her or was he delaying time? His hand finally emerged with a pen.

"Sign away, then, sign away." he handed her the pen.

She grabbed the pen and wrote something on it, then handed it to Jeb. His eyes focused on the words and he frowned.

"When do I fly next?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"Next, next month there is an opening for the testing of a new capsule and you can fly that." Jeb put the paper face up on the desk, the big letters spelling out No Way clearly visible for all to see.

The next week Bob climbed into the rocket sitting on the launch pad. This new behemoth used 2.5 meter parts which gave much more delta-v than the 1.25 meter parts they had been using up to this point. The goal of this mission, to land on Gol.

"3. 2. 1. Lift-off!" The rocket skyrocketed up, being powered by eight swivels and one reliant.

"First stage detached, probe booted up and ready to preform orbital insertion burn." said Bob rearranging the switches and buttons that covered the wall.

"Second stage activated and ready for burn." Bob said several moments later.

"Orbital insertion burn details coming your way." Ronfort, the Capcom, told Bob as the files were sent from mission control."

"3. 2. 1. Ignition." Bob flicked on the skipper engine, sending him into LGO.

"Am in LGO, ready for checklist."

"Checklist coming your way." Ronfort waited for Bob's response.

"Crap, the main antenna isn't aligned correctly. Fixing it right now."

An hour passed as Ronfort sat impatiently, twiddling his thumbs.

"Antenna aligned, please send the instructions." Ronfort said a silent yes, and sent them up.

Half-an-hour later the probe conducted the departure burn for Gol. Ronfort leaned back in his chair, breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Shifts came and went as Bob made his voyage to land on Gaia's moon. As Ronfort was about to hang up his headphones, Bob said, "Got something to show you. Sending it to your monitor right now."

Ronfort opened the file, took a peak, then beckoned Jeb over there, "Come see what Bob sent." Jeb took a look, typed in a few characters and the photo appeared on the main screen.

"That's stunning."

Chapter 5: A Gollogical Expedition

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The landing on Gol went prefect. Nothing terrible happened and Bob didn't complain at any point of the mission. He had returned with all the science we would need for going to Olei, Gaia's main moon.The problem with Olei is that it orbits in a perfect polar orbit, which had its difficulties give or take.

Jeb and Bill walked into Mission Control,Bill carrying an armful of blueprints. Bill deposited their blueprints on the new flight director's, Yifu, desk.

She unrolled them out, "You think you can make a nuclear engine in the next few months?"

Bill nodded, "We only need some information from Gol's main crater. Amateurs tell us that something shimmers on the surface of this crater. Our large telescopes say that there are patches some light spots which are located at the bottom of the crater. We can't tell if these are shimmering, but some patterns rearrange in these light spots which could mean a liquid substance. "

"Do you have a rocket which can get us there?" asked Yifu, slightly skeptical.

"Yes, in fact we plan to send five kerbals to the surface of this crater. These will be all rookies except for Anke, who will be piloting the mission."

"And me." interjected Jeb.

"Alright, you give that to the engineers and lets launch it." replied Yifu, "That means leave now."

They took their leave rather quickly, even though she had been hired only a few days ago, she had more authority than even Wefly. Bill took the blueprints to the engineering department while Jeb entered the kerbonaut complex.

The main room was crowded, Jeb didn't know why but what mattered was that he get inside where the kerbonauts actually were. He took a door on the side, marked as employees only, and walked quickly down the narrow hall. He turned right at the first intersection and then opened the door at the end of that long passage. He entered a sitting room where several kerbals lounged about, kerbonauts taking a break it seemed.

"Anyone seen where Anke is?" he asked the kerbals.

One of them pointed out the door, "You go out there then turn to your left. Go straight for eight doors then enter the door on your right. There the last we saw, she was smooching with Ronfort."

Jeb frowned, then went on his way down the hall. He reached the eighth door and opened it. Ronfort was in the mock-up of the Moonshot and Anke was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Ronfort."

He turned to face him, one eye black and puffy, "Hey Jeb. Just reviewing the capsule for the next moonshot."

"Where's Anke?" Jeb asked, eyeing Ronfort's black eye with great interest.

"The last I saw of her, she punched me straight it the eye, which made my eyesight grow slightly poorer. I couldn't see much for a minute, but she left the room by the main door."

Jeb nodded, "What was the offense?"

Ronfort smiled painfully, "Ah, I kissed her. She apparently had someone else she wanted to have kissing for, so she paid me back with a punch."

"That's a good shiny one." commented Jeb.

"Yes, she's pretty strong. Listen, I wouldn't go around looking for her if I were you. I probably be best for your health."

"I need her to fly a mission, that's all." Jeb inwardly accused himself a lair, then bugged out.

As he closed the door he saw Anke's back as she entered another room. He went up to that door and knocked.

"Come in." came the unmistakable voice of Anke."

Jeb opened the door and entered. It was a woman's lounge. Luckily, only Anke was there.

"Oh, Jeb."

Jeb quickly back towards the door, "Oh, sorry. I just need to see you. I didn't know that this was a private room."

Anke smirked, "Private room, rubbish. What have you to say?"

"I need a conference with you and some rookies about a mission, can you gather together a group that you think are the best here without experience. It's about a mission." Jeb opened the door and stole out of the room.

The next hour later in the conference room. Anke entered with three rookies behind her.

"These Kerbal are Largpond, Wifig, and Higulf. They have the highest grades here. Now what is this mission?"

"The mission will go and land on Gol's main crater. There will be five kerbals on board, five. Anke will be piloting while I'll be co-piloting. Largpond, Wifig and Higulf should be in the hitchhiker where there should be plenty of room. The total elapsed mission time should be about four days, so its going to be just a little jaunt."

"The launch will be in a week, so start training." Jeb concluded.

The rookies left the room, leaving Anke and Jeb going over the plans of the rocket laid out on the table.

"You will be cutting the delta-v requirements very tight." commented Anke, "Within a hundred m/s."

"Don't worry, everything will be alright."

"Because you're co-piloting?" Anke muttered sarcastically.

"Because you're piloting." Jeb smirked.

The next week the rocket sat on the launch pad ready to go. This launch drew large crowds, the stands which usually sat half-full were packed.

"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Lift-off!" The rocket streaked through the sky. Jeb watched the curvature of Gaia as the rocket rose higher and higher. The gs were impressive on this launch. The twin-boar engine threw its full weight behind the rocket, propelling it on towards Gol. The faint red glow from the massive crater adding to the feel.

"Detaching second stage." Jeb flicked a switch and the first stage departed.

"Firing second stage." The engine kicked in, propelling them to LGO.

"Engine off." Anke dictated and Jeb dutifully did as ordered. It was a new experience being the co-pilot, but it wasn't unfavorable.

The radio crackled, "Sending up maneuver node." Jeb leaned back and sighed, it was the same for every mission. The heavy launch, the lighter insertion burn, the message of mission control saying that a maneuver was being plotted. The receiving of the maneuver node, then the burn which sent them to Gol.

Jeb drifted down into the hitchhiker container, where Largpond, Wifig, and Higulf sat, talking about the launch.

"Does anyone want to go Eva? Its your chance."

"I'll go." said Wifig.

He suited up and left the capsule. Thirty minutes later he entered, his face glowing with the experience.

"Here's a photo I snapped."

Two and a half hours later they burned into Low Gol Orbit.

"Plotting landing site." said Jeb. He looked out the window at Gol below him. Anke watched him out of the corner of her eye. Jeb was a busybody. He had to be expending energy so that he didn't explode. He was doing good work though. Jeb turned towards her, and Anke quickly resumed her gaze on the dashboard.

"Anke, we need to preform crew reports and Eva reports over the site to get a feel for what we will find."

Anke waved off that comment, "There shouldn't be much there underneath the dust. We'll land at our first opportunity."

"No, we need to see if there is anything harmful, like, i don't know, magma. Or harmful structures. We must see if there's anything which could kill us."

Anke faced Jeb, "Who is the commander?"

"You are, but I'm the secondary officer, and I'm telling you that you can get all of us killed."

"My word is final Jeb!"

"You could get us all killed because of your impatience! I refuse to allow this order to happen!"

"You moron!"Anke glared at Jeb.

They glared at each other, not blinking. Then the sounds of a scuffle downstairs alerted their attention. Jeb floated down to the hitchhiker container and saw Wifig and Higulf in the middle of the room in a headlock.

"Break it up for goodness sake." Jeb floated into them and started to wrestle them apart. He just managed to hold the struggling pair of them at bay.

"Now what in the world are you fighting about."

They just kept struggling. Anke floated down and seeing the scene shouted, "STOP."

Jeb loosened his grip on them for a second, then they collided, knocking on another out.

"What a fine mess." gripped Jeb, "Largpond, put these kerbals in their seats and see that they stay there. We have to land." Jeb shot a glance at Anke, and floated back up to the command pod.

Minutes later they de-orbited. Jeb had complained, but gave in at last after threats of insubordination.

"We're about to come over the crater. Once you here me say fire, you will throttle the engine to 100% on the spot." ordered Anke.

Jeb rolled his eyes, "Alright, my life is at stake as well."

The crossed over the ridge and zoomed underneath the dust cloud hanging over the crater.

"Everything is overheating! Get us out of here!" cried Largpond.

Jeb was about to agree when Anke declared, "We are going to land, now get to work! Fire."

Jeb throttled the engine up, and then started a yelling competition with Anke, "See, if we land in magma, we die instantly! Even then if we find dry land, we have only a few minutes or we explode due to overheating, blast it!"

"We are going to land Jeb, there is nothing you can do!" Anke turned back to the controls.

"Horizontal Velocity canceled. Falling towards the only dry land there is." Jeb said.

"5 minutes until overheating." cried Largpond.

"Touching down!" cried Anke, hitting the engine and landing the lander.

"Preform all experiments now!" cried Anke.

A explosion shook the lander.

"We have to get the crap out of here!" cried Jeb.

"Not before these experiments." replied Anke.

"Experiments are finished, GO!" cried Largpond, "We have one minute to get out of here!"

"Throttling up!" cried Anke, putting the engine on maximum thrust. They rocketed straight up.

Explosions rocketed the exterior of the craft. Batteries went offline. Experiments went offline. One solar panel went offline. The nav-ball flickered around, the direction changing because of each explosion. Landing gear went offline. An oxygen tank exploded. The engine shuttered, then they were out of the dust cloud!

"Yes!" Jeb punched the air.

"Burning for a course for home!" cried Anke. She turned off the engine, with the orbit within Gaia's atmosphere. Suddenly an explosion rocked the spacecraft.

"Jeb! We're missing something." cried Largpond. Jeb quickly threw on an Eva suit and went outside. The engine stage was floating off, the decoupler had exploded.

"Mission Control, is our orbit in the atmosphere?" asked Jeb.

"Yes, its at 39 km."

"Good, we survived."

(By the way. I tried landing in the lava biomo. But everything exploded so I had a quicksave and I landed somewhere else, collected science, and left back for Kerbin. The stuff above is only for dramatic purposes.)

Chapter 6: "We're in Hell Jeb, Everyone is."

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This reentry was hot, a little too hot, thought Jeb to himself as the ablater burned to appease the whims of the atmosphere. The spacecraft shook and rumbled, oscillating around retrograde. Th gs were piling up, the concrete brick which lay on his chest grew to his house on Gaia. Anke also was experiencing heavy g forces. His mind turned to the conversation he had with Wifig and Higulf after they regained consciousness.

"I didn't realize that we were fighting each other. It was like I was in a dream. I couldn't control myself; I have nothing against Wifig here." said Higulf, acting as the spokeskerbal for the two of them.

The capsule shook some more, vibrations rippling through the spacecraft. A red button flashed, then with a whoosh, the air in the cabins were ejected. Jeb looked in alarm at Anke, who glanced back, her eyes reflecting his fear. Luckily everyone was wearing spacesuits. But, what had caused the ejection of the atmosphere. Suddenly the spacecraft shuttered one last time, then flipped prograde. The exterior of the capsule started to burn away. More explosions, now audible through the thin exteriors of the walls. Heat was filtering in. The outer mesh of the skin burnt to a crisp. Suddenly their capsule broke away from the other capsule where the other three sat. Jeb strained to look out the window.

The g forces subsided, but they were separated from the other capsule.

"Eject!" cried Jeb, grabbing all the experiments. Anke strapped on a parachute, then jettisoned the hatch. She leaped out of it and disappeared. Jeb jumped out of the capsule then pulled his parachute. He heard a thud as the capsule slammed into the ground. He followed suit. Pain filled his vision, then he passed out.

He woke up, stretched out around a fire. The other kerbonauts were there, their suits blackened. Anke was no where to be seen. It was getting twilight. Jeb started to stand up, then collapsed, pain running up his legs in fiery succession.

"Don't stand up. You broke both of your legs after the fall. You were lucky." Wifig told him. Jeb looked down. The others had stripped him of his astronaut suit but he had his interior suit unharmed.

"Where is Anke, did she survive?" asked Jeb, looked around.

Largpond chuckled, "She did. In fact she was so chipper, she went out to hunt for supplies."

Jeb set himself back on the ground and fell asleep.

The next day he awoke. Largpond and Higulf had gone to look for supplies. The sample bags and reports where placed under rocks to keep them from disappearing unexpectedly. Anke was busily collected what little remained of the two capsules which plummeted to Gaia.

Anke looked up from her work, "Looks like you're finally wake. How does your legs feel?"

"Terrible. When can we contact KSC?"

"We are trying to figure that out as well."

Jeb felt a gnawing at his mind, "I'm sorry for arguing with you about the landing."

Anke waved it off, "I was about to say sorry for being so short sighted. You were right in wanting to be cautious."

Suddenly the other three kerbals rushed into the clearing, "There's some sort of monster out there! Its hunting us!"

A giant ant-like insect followed closely behind. Anke grabbed a piece of shrapnel and threw it at its head. It embedded itself into its skull, sending it to the ground.

Wifig sighed a huge sigh of relief. Three days later, a helicopter's blades were heard in the distance. Anke pilled fresh leaves on the fire, sending up a cloud of smoke.

The helicopter became visible, its blades spinning crazily. It lowered itself down, and deployed landing gear. Jeb punched the air from his position on the floor.

It deposited its clumsy self on the floor, then the door opened. Medical personal jumped out of the helicopter and Wefly himself followed behind.

"Jeb, are you hurt?" asked Wefly, standing at Jeb's side.

"Yes, both of my legs are broken. Now please take us home."

Four months later Jeb watched the launch of the Gullis 1 rocket. Val, Joener, and a newbie scientist consisted of the mission. KSP had its eyes on Gullis. Strange geographical features were noticed on this moon, including a large scarred patch of the moon. The first Gullis was meant to discover what liquids were frozen on the surface of the moon. Later a manned base would be set up where constant investigation of the scarred patch of land would occur.

The rocket soon reached orbit, then plotted its trajectory to Gullis. Soon afterwards the departure burn was executed and the Gullis left LGO. Jeb could only watch from Mission Control, his broken legs had suspended him from space flight in the near future.

The kerbals in the Gullis mission were doing a video for the general news.

"Here is the interior of the space craft. The cockpit here is tiny, just made to fit one kerbal. In fact it is of the same design which was used when we were still struggling to make it into space. I hear that the scientists are working on a bigger, better cockpit which can hold up to 3 kerbals. "

The video camera caught a swift glimpse as it reached into the Mk1 cockpit, then was jerked out to view the interior of the hitchhiker storage container. The camera panned over to Val's face, she was smiling wide.

"This is a quick hello to Jeb, my younger brother who just a few months ago, broke both of his legs when he narrowly survived death from jumping from a parachute-less capsule meters from the ground. He waves that off as an everyday occurrence. Now Jeb, I know this will hurt but, I'm going to get to Gullis before you." She smirked again, then the video ended. Jeb smiled big. Of course he wouldn't get to Gullis before Val, but he got to Gol before Val, so that was something.

At the end of the video, a picture appeared.

Wefly walked up to the sitting figure and pulled up a chair. They sat for a while in silence, then Welfy spoke, "Jeb, there are speculations about this new universe. Telescopes have found increasing evidence that this was once the Kerbin system, but we have renamed some of the objects, not knowing that they are familiar. Gol is the remains of the Mun, Gullis is what used to be Minmus. Olei and Olemut were captured by Gaia. Duna and Eve still exist. We aren't so sure of Jool and Eeloo. The solar system has gone over a complete overhaul."

Jeb smiled, "Isn't this a better place than the old Kerbin system? This is heaven, isn't it?"

"Heaven with violent motives. This isn't heaven. A kerbal died earlier today, he was pushed off of a cliff. The offender has no memory of that accident and still agrees that the two of them were best friends, and he's about to be hanged. Kerbals are getting increasingly violent, and there is nothing we can do to stop."

"The Player put us here, it can't be that bad."

"How do you know it was the player. This isn't heaven, we're in hell Jeb, everyone is."

Wefly stood up and left, leaving Jeb there alone.

Chapter 7: A Little Too Much Like Mint Ice Cream

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"What the crap happened here?" asked Joener, looking on the face Gullis. What used to be highland plains stretching on for miles was just totally wrecked. The mountains were carved out of these highlands were long and thin, covering hundreds of square kilometers. It looked like a gigantic scar across the face of the moon.

"This must be connected to what happened on Gol." remarked Neldo, her eyes fixed on it. Joener quickly took a picture of the landscape, then started writing down his report.

"What did happen in this solar system then? There are marks of a catastrophic event all over the solar system." he probed, not looking up from his paper.

"Insertion burn in 13 minutes." the radio crackled, interrupting his thoughts. He startled for a second, then resumed writing. It took the good part of the next few minutes of relentless scribbling to finish the crew report. He straightened out the paper and reread his report.

"Do you think this does it justice?" asked Joener, handing over the paper to Val.

She briefly scanned it, then handed it back, "Very poetic of you. Indeed, very poetic."

Joener put the paper into a sealed bag and stored it in the experiments folder. Val sat down in her seat and started to boot up the reaction wheels. Joener gazed at her back. He had been watching her for this last six months, his mind made up. He had fell in love with Val the moment he saw her. Joener; however, was short of nerve when dealing with kerbettes. Neldo had seen right though him from the beginning, and was willing to put in a word or two for his sake. His mind was further more in turmoil since the three of them had seen alot of each other lately for the last seven days. His love for Val had began to filter into his actions, ad he was painfully aware at the times he stared at her back when she was busy at some task.

The burn into low orbit was completed minutes afterward. Joener stared into space, then was roused by Val's voice breaking into his mind.

"Joener, I need you to check the instruments while I'll plot our landing site."

"Yes Ma'm." Joener focused his eyes on Val, then turned away embarrassed. He pushed himself off of a wall and drifted over to the instrument board. His firsts order of business was hitting the monitor hard with his fist. The dials fluttered, then started to spin.

"Joener, what did you do!" cried Val, staring at the whirling numbers.

Joener cringed into the corner, "I have no idea." Joener looked for the plug, then unplugged the cord. The dials stopped spinning. Joener sighed, "Looks like that did it."

"Do you know that it has to be plugged in to work?" Val frowned down at him, he chuckled nervously. Suddenly a red light turned on on the panel.

"Freaking mother of crap!" Joener swore, jumping into the micro-gravity.

"Get your blasted butt out of this ship and repair that leak!" ordered Val. Joener raced as fast as he could down to the airlock and quickly changed into a suit. He didn't wait for the lock to depressurize, but opened the door and ejected the air into space. With a few thrusts of his eva pack, he rocketed over to the place where fuel spewed from where the leak was located. With some quick duct taping he sealed the opening, then added a little bit more just to make sure. He looked up from his task and stared at the aqua-green landscape.

"Val, had you had a good look of Gullis?" he asked through the radio in his helmet.

"Yes, I think so. By the way, there must be another leak or something's wrong with the monitor." Val reminded him of his task, and he continued his repairs, talking to her on the way, "You have been to Minmus before, haven't you. I listened to Jeb's stories before, and Gullis looks a little to much like mint ice cream, to reference Minmus of course."

"Cut the chatter please Joener, you're wearing me down." Joener sighed, then turned off his mic. This was a wonderful start, annoying the kerbette he loved by being poetic and thinking upon things which could be thought later. The second hole was easy to patch and in no time he was back in the airlock. He cycled the air carefully then stripped the suit. Even though he was working in a very easy condition, his interior suit was drenched in sweat and the suit smelled oddly of himself.

It took several hours before pin pointing what had caused everything to go wrong. It happened to be that he forgot that there were two plugs in the panel, so it was completely expected that it should have still worked. Apparently a micro-meteoroid had passed through the fuel tank and exited the other side, leaving two clean holes.

"Joener, sorry for being crabby, we need everyone on this team to stay together." Joener looked up from where he had strapped himself into the wall, sweat floating off into the air.

"Its okay."

Val nodded, "Then you better get a towel and soak up all the liquid you're dripping."

Joener nodded, then got to work cleaning up his mess.

Soon later they de-orbited the lander and started to head to the lowland beaches. Joener watched in fascination has Val handled the vehicle, sending it drifting towards the surface.

"1,000 meters." Joener read off his numbers. In a few seconds the engines should come online. He waited. Seconds passed, and the artificial gravity of the engine hadn't been activated yet. He looked at Val, her face showed her full concentration on the landing. 750 meters passed and the engine didn't activate. 500 meters and still he floated, his arms free at his sides. At 250 meters he closed his eyes, knowing that something had gone wrong with the re-ignition of the poodle which had carried them this far. Suddenly the roar of hydrogen and oxygen being pumped into the ignition chamber was heard, as most as soon as the dull thud of the rocket engine kicked against the weight of the landing, decreasing its speed.

Joener opened his eyes. They were alive and intact on the surface of Gullis. An hour later they posed, taking the mandatory picture of the crew members, the flag, and the lander in the background.

Joener smiled at Val as they reentered the lander. Neldo was nowhere inside, she was preforming science experiments outside. Val smiled back, giving him a faint hope that maybe, Val acknowledged his admiration for her.

Chapter 8: Junior Von Kerman

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“Greetings kerbals, I am Junior Von Kerman and I am your new director of space travel. I have heard of the marvelous things you have accomplished in the last year, including the landings on Gol and Gullis. I am proud of how you have done so far under my superior, Wefly Kerman. But there is room for improvement. We have not yet visited the celestial body of Olei and its moon Olemut. Under my authority, I have a team how has designed an appropriate mission to our largest moon."

"But I am not here to get us to our largest moon, I am here to get us to the other planets! There are multiple transfer windows coming up to different planets, and I intend to send a fleet of probes to all of them. The my entrance will begin a new golden age of space travel of the kerbal race."

Scattered applause returned his speech. Junior Von Kerman bowed from his platform near the launch pad. Some of the elder workers looked at each other nervously, this new director didn't seem to have a great sense of humility.

Jeb thought to himself as the meeting dispersed. He had enjoyed Wefly's time as the director of space travel, it was nice to see one of his friends leading the space agency. Now this new director seemed different. He was the son of Werhner Von Kerman, one of the followers of the Kraken back on Kerbin and had helped to plot of Kerbin's demise.

"Hello Jebediah, my father said knew you well." Junior Von Kerman interrupted his thoughts from behind him. Jeb jerked around in surprise, but hid it quickly.

"Yes, we knew OF one another." Jeb said carefully.

"Well, Jeb. I was wondering what you thought of my speech, it was brilliant, wasn't it?" He said aloofly.

Jeb made a noncommittal sound and started to back away.

Junior stepped alongside him and asked, "Did you think Wefly did justice to your position?"

"Yes, very well indeed." replied Jeb, slight irritably.

"Then why aren't you the head of the kerbonaut operations, chief kerbonaut." Junior listed half-a-dozen grand sounding titles and then thinking that the ground was softened, continued, "If you support my office, then I will see to it that you receive all these titles."

Jeb's head was spinning, the first day, the first hour Junior spent in office was to get him, a simple kerbonaut with a lot of history, on his side. A part of his mind glowed at the thought of accepting, but Jeb quickly decided to put off the decision for later.

"Thank you very much, but I would like to think it over, in 6 hours I will give you your answer." he added, seeing the look of unbelief on Junior's face.

Jeb extracted himself out of the crowd and ten minutes later arrived at the kerbonaut complex. There he arrived at his apartment and shut the door. He stood, thinking aloud to himself as he started to pace up and down the small room, "What's wrong with the offer, anyway?"

He looked at the shabbiness of the place, then continued, "Junior is a good guy at heart, isn't he, if not in body. I wonder what the pay would be for a chief kerbonaut?" His conscious twitched uncertainly.

"All I have to do is say a few things, support several decisions, and all my money troubles are over." again he frowned.

"We're on the same side, if there are even sides since the Kraken vanished." his mind turned back to his conversation with Wefly, about where they were in the 'spiritual' universe.

"Confound it." he muttered.

Down in the science lab, Bob faked a grin, "You see, sir, our research into solid core nuclear rocket motors, or simply nuclear engines." He simplified for Junior as Bob gestured wildly at a large engine bell embedded into a wall. Dozens of cores and fuel pipes dangled from the ceiling, feeding into the test engine.

"When finished, it should be able to produce over 1,000 kilonewtons of thrust at the ISP of 3 times of any engine we have created on Gaia."

Junior pondered the test engine with a look of disgust at the uncleanliness, "You know, my father was a great rocket scientist, but I have always preferred the business side of science. I think I have done that part better than any of my predecessors." He waited for a moment, then continued on a different subject.

"When can you build this?"

"Well, we need more time. Our best scientists say in two or three years without any significant developments."

"Bob, I need you to answer me truthfully." Bob looked at Junior uncertainly, wondering what caused Juniors voice to become so much more serious.

"Can a Kraken drive exist?" He gazed into Bob's bemused face, hoping for one moment of recognition, "You know, a engine which can harness the power of the Kraken."

"The Kraken was defeated by the programmer, this entire universe is kraken-free." stated Bob, still thinking why Junior was bringing this up.

"How do you know? How do you know that the Kraken here is, is different." Junior pressed his attack.

"I, I personally think it doesn't exist, now if you excuse me, some of my scientists need me." Bob walked quickly away towards the engine bell. He glanced behind him to see Junior stalking off towards the administration building.

The next week saw the launch of the Lighting 1, the first manned mission to Olei. Jeb watched from the sidelines as Anke and two newbies rocketed away into the clear blue sky. Jeb sat staring at the cloud of smoke which the Lighting left behind, thinking over his decision he made about Junior. Was he right or was he wrong, they were both on the same side, but their paths barely crossed in the region of their personality.

"Anke, I hope you think I did the right thing. I wish I told you, maybe then you could have shed some light into the matter." He muttered to himself as he stood up and stretched with the crowd. It would be about five days when Anke returned back to Gaia, five days later he would be having a long conversation on what to do, five days later if it all went to plan.

Chapter 9: Olei

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"Departure burn completed. Leaving LGO." reported Anke as she floated in the zero-g. She unstrapped herself, feeling remarkable light.The transfer stage was a test bed for a new, small solid core rocket engine which slowly accelerated them up to velocity.

"That Nerv was pretty weak if you ask me. Give me some speed any day and I'll be content." remarked Juford ruefully, one of the new rookies.

"Its a lovely engine, I don't see why you make such a fuss." squeaked Tiffany, the engineer and one of the rocket engineers who designed the Nerv rocket motor, as it was officially called.

"Guys, if we are going to be trapped in this capsule for the next week, I suggest that we learn to keep to ourselves." Anke warned the two of them. Sitting in between the two of them was going to be a nightmare, she was certain of that.

"I'll do the science experiments then." Juford climbed out of his seat and pushed himself over to a the other side of the space craft where the experiments were stored.

"Wow, look at this view!" he exclaimed when he reached the window. He reached quickly for the camera and took several pictures, "No one else has ever seen Gaia from this angle before!"

Anke drifted over to the window and watched the planet slowly recede away, the rings a dazzling aqua-blue. "We are privileged to be on this mission, you two. Don't mess it up." She patted Juford on the shoulder then headed down to the service bay to catch a breath.

A day later they received a message from Mission Control as Anke settled back into the pilot's seat after her second rest period.

"This is Mission Control, do you copy?"

"Yes, we copy. What is it?"

"You have now entered Olei's SOI. Wake up Juford and tell him to get the experiments up and running. Wait, the Lighting is drifting off course, what is causing that?"

Anke frowned, then looked at the control board in front of her, "I haven't the least idea, none of the maneuvering thrusters are on. Tiffany! There's some thing wrong up here in the cockpit!" she yelled down to the service module where Tiffany was tinkering with the engine control programming.

"Coming!" she drifted up the hatch and asked, "What is wrong?"

"Our course is changing slowly, could you go outside and check if the RCS is firing?"

"Sure." she replied, and started to put on a suit. Minutes later when everyone was in a suit, they depressurized the cabin then opened the hatch. They couldn't see anything from inside the hatch, so Tiffany pushed off through the hatch.

"It looks like there's noth....." A high pitch squeal of terror sounded through the mic.

"Tiffany!" Anke cried, pushing herself out as well. The limp body was floating over an RSC port, which looked off. Wasting no time she grabbed the body and climbed inside.

"Tiffany, what happened!" Anke demanded.

"Her vital signs are fading!" she could just hear mission control panicking in the back ground. Anke closed the hatch, "Re-pressurize the interior now!"

"But." Juford started to protest but Anke stopped him.

"Get it re-pressurized now or Tiffany might die!"

Juford nodded then flicked several switches. Oxygen started to fill the chamber. Anke looked closely over her body, then noticed a gaping hole in the back of the suit.

"NO!" cried Anke slapping her helmet.

She tore off Tiffany's helmet, the cabin only half full of oxygen. Her face was purple, but still unconscious.

"What the crap are you doing!" screamed Juford.

Anke unlatched her helmet, then her head pounded, and shook with the cold. She shook off the pain then tried to revive Tiffany. Juford was still screaming at her but she didn't care. Several seconds later, Juford behind her flicked several switches. Then again her head pounded as oxygen ran freely into the cabin. Her ears popped again and again and her breathing hurt. She was going to fall unconscious, but she shook off that feeling and started to strip Tiffany of her space suit.

The burn hole in the suit had penetrated through it, but Tiffany wore a specially thick interior suit under the excuse that she wasn't used to cold. Her body received a limited exposure to the vacuum of space, but enough to kill her.

"Tiffany, wake up please!" pleaded Anke, the pounding in her head had slowed and her breathing had normalized. Juford had took off his suit and was now communicating with Mission Control.

"Anke is okay now. But Tiffany still looks terrible. Apparently the RCS was firing without our notice and with our engineer out for the count, we can't repair it. We can either isolate the fuel source and never use it again, or we can try to Jerry-rig the system with a small chance of success."

Mission Control paused for a while, coming up with an answer, "Yes, we will send up instructions to Jerry-rig the RCS. Also with that batch we will send up the instructions for the insertion burn in two hours."

"Right, and what do we do about Tiffany? She's still unconscious." asked Juford.

Again there was a pause, then they replied, "Put her in the service bay and be sure to keep her warm. Also put some alorvera on her burns, that should help."

Anke put on some head phones on the chair and butted in, "This is Anke, what should we do about Tiffany?"

"Anke, we need you put her in her hammock in the service bay and keep her warm. As soon as she's okay, come back up were you will receive the insertion burn data and execute it in two hours."

Anke disconnected, then went to work.

An thirty later Juford drifted out of the CM with tools, ready to tackle the problem ahead. Luckily he was good at following instructions and so he figured he had a 50% chance of making it work.

He drifted around, then grabbed at the CM's ladder as he floated above the port RSC thruster. Suddenly a burst of white hydrogolic fluid flew out towards him, threatening to melt his suit. He dodged backwards, skidding up the CM. The tool bag around his shoulder clanked but he did not hear it.

The Butterfly started to rotate slowly. He looked up at the night sky, then slowly Olei moved into view from behind the pod.

"Crap." he muttered. He then started to work quickly on the jerrry-rig. After an hour of hard and sweaty work, the RSC ports should now be directly linked to the CM.

He looked down, and gasped as Olei loomed below him. The insertion burn would happen in thirty minutes, so he needed to get a move on.

"Anke, can you control the RSC thrusters?"

"Checking."

A spurt of fluid shot in the blackness and the Lightning started to move its engines towards the planet.

"Checked." Anke couldn't keep the cheerfulness out of her voice.

"Great, I'm coming inside then we need to burn."

Thirty minutes later they were orintated correctly, "Firing engines in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Ignition!" The engines flickered, then burned for the minute required. Then they were in orbit.

"Alright, we will send the landing sequence up to you in three hours." reported Mission Control. "Also, how is Tiffany. On this end, her vital signs are nominal."

"She looks fine right now. She should be alright in a few hours, then she can help us land."

Three hours later the three of them sat in the cockpit, the maneuver node plotted.

"Landing maneuver in 3. 2. 1. Ignition!"

The nuclear engines growled, and blue flames sprouted from the engine bells.

After a quick ten seconds, red lights flashed in the cockpit, "Abort to orbit, repeat abort to orbit!" alerted Mission Control.

"WHY?" Tiffany questioned Mission Control ferociously, "I designed those darn things, why are they not working?"

A slight explosion rocked the space craft, but it returned to the maneuver node vector.

"Abort to orbit. There is a very high possibility that the fuel tanks will explode. I repeat abort to orbit."

"Detaching the Nuk stage." replied Anke, pressing a button which sent the stage flying towards the moon's surface.

"Anke! That is highly radioactive waste you are just dumped on the surface. We will have a load of people at our throats for this!" cried the Junior Von Kerman who just entered the fray.

"We are landing this mission. Now please, when do we fire the poodle." Anke spoke with authority, "Because if you don't, we will hit the moon and die with our deaths on your hands."

There was an awkward second of silence, then a maneuver node appeared on the screen.

"Excuting maneuver node in 3. 2. 1. Commencing landing sequence!" Anke pressed a button, then the poodle roared to life.

"1,000 meters, 500 meters, 250 meters, 100 meters, 50 meters." counted down a controller.

"Anke, why are you hovering?" asked Mission Control.

"The terrain is ridgy, taking manual control." Anke eased the stick forward as the spacecraft tilted west.

Seconds later Anke called out, "I found a spot, landing."

"10 meters, 5 meters, TOUCH-DOWN!"

Mission Control erupted with cheered. Junior Von Kerman was jumping up and down where he stood by the flight director's consol.

"Anke's getting out!" cried Juford over the racket in Mission Control.

Mission Control quieted down long enough to hear Anke say the first words on the surface of Olei, "One small step for Kerbal, one beautiful view for that same kerbal. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on the moon."

Edited August 4, 2017 by Alpha 360

Alpha 360 · June 12, 2017

Sadly, everything went to crap with my 1.2.2 save file and I decided to update to 1.3, only that GPP doesn't work with 1.3. The first chapter is going to be delayed significantly, sorry.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Alpha 360

Gameslinx · June 12, 2017

On 6/12/2017 at 12:41 PM, Alpha 360 said:

Sadly, everything went to crap with my 1.2.2 save file and I decided to update to 1.3, only that GPP doesn't work with 1.3. The first chapter is going to be delayed significantly, sorry.

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GPO? (Going off the title)

Gameslinx's Planet Overhaul support both 1.2.2 AND 1.3.

It was updated to 1.3 last night.

Alpha 360 · June 12, 2017

No, I changed the title. It was going to be Galileo's planet pack but now I'll resort to yours because I think its a close second.

Gameslinx · June 12, 2017

On 6/12/2017 at 5:19 PM, Alpha 360 said:

No, I changed the title. It was going to be Galileo's planet pack but now I'll resort to yours because I think its a close second.

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That means a lot to be up there with GPP in your mind. Thank you.

And enjoy the mod, send me a message if you have any issues! (In future, quote me like I've done in this message so that I get a notification that I'm wanted )

Gameslinx · June 13, 2017

Followed the thread so I can pick up on logs

Alpha 360 · June 13, 2017

Chapter 1: A new Beginning