Duna and back a back stabbing journey (with pictures)

[krunchysock]

Warning, wall of text attempting to be a story.

After completion of Mun City:

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/884110885599732269/23AB26EA424181D8AB49C795E1335541C6F02CF3/

A new mission has aroused interest in Kerbal astronomers. Polar Ice caps have been found on Duna, after the flyby, and partially successful landing of satellite "Duraduna"

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882983718962301158/2177ADCF2788DE3D3980C33F1AB1F0D4E3BF87CF/

known Kerbal life could flourish in the muddy banks between sand and water. Without hesitation three astronauts sign up for the task, little do they know only one of them will return. genius monkeys, er engineers, have a developed the first interstellar rocket, and are busy doing pre-liftoff checks.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/884110885599933098/4C62382C8542D0E701A89297B2F8813704AF4EF8/

The flight prechecks are somewhat ok, and the ground crew gives the yellow light for take off. Yellow meaning that the chances of blowing up on the pad are moderate. Without further ado the first three interstellar astronauts take off, shepfred Kerman realizes in orbit he has forgotten his toothpaste.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/884110885600021822/7EF9B6C6E4D57BCB94C55436AB38D8A0DE29DEE1/

The flight to the mun is mundane for navigators back on Kerbin due to the overtime they put into mun city. Their work is hotly contested by the prime president of Kerbin due to the limited, nay zero use, the mun city provides to Kerbin kind. Rumors on turning the lunar city into a jail for astronauts that survive a suborbital explosion have angered the navigators, but they do their job without failing. The three brave interstellarnaughts, a word made up by chief engineer bob, com into the mun tanker pilot, who has lived on fuel fumes for six months. He surprises the crew with laughter over the hiss and pop of the com.

"I think someone's had too much kershisky" which ribtop knows to be a strong Kerbin whiskey made from the bark of trees. He looks at his other two companions in question.

"I think you're driving straight." Melsey says, with a shrug. Shepfred nods, exhaling a stinky breath.

"Can't believe they let you take off, a good first impression you'll make if you do find life." Ribtop can detect the laughter amidst the hiss and pop. "Mun Tanker, ready for docking procedures...Intersteller one" The tanker's pilot spells out interstellar incorrectly. Ribtop catches the problem and face palms, while Melsey and Shepfred both look to Ribtop confused.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749624913/EBB2A1868A1856608275E58C577E2B52B2068F27/

The template office in charge of naming vessels has misprinted the name of their ship, but Ribtop knew the mission must continue. He successfully docks with the tanker, and the other pilot steps on board the crowded cabin. While the fuel transfer is completing, Elrick, the tanker pilot, starts scratching Shepfred behind the ears. Shepfred doesn't take too kindly to being treated like a dog, and smacks the tanker pilot with a wrench, knocking Elrick out.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749627885/B3CE018BD3B4E0D81E258A70B7DEC0E0F377903F/

Thinking quickly, Ribtop shoves the unconscious Elrick back in the tanker, and knowing how poor the navigators are at calculating fuel thrust, and vectoring, he takes the tankers reserve fuel. They blast off a little more fuel heavy than the mission log states, and angle for an escape velocity. The nav computer is quick to belay instructions, and Riptop only missed the thrust vector by a couple of degrees, and left the engines firing for a little too long. 135 days, give or take ten days, and the crew are restless. Shepfreds ever worsening breath continually contaminates the air scrubbers, while Melsey has been spending more and more time in the fuel tank getting high on fumes. Ribtop must remain strong, as Duna comes into view. His secret mission from Jeb burns in the back of his mind.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/884110885600928233/64D90C9B7958C56BB54ACD79FF70ADD8A2EA19D3/

The landing computer beeps as they make their final approach towards the red surface of Duna.

"YA! Flashy lights." Melsey says, still high from his last fuel visit. Those flashing lights of course meant the parachutes weren't going to slow them down fast enough, and their mission was going to end in catastrophic failure. Landing was Melsey's job, and the flashing lights turned to high pitched beeps, that caused Shepfred to look around for the source.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749634212/B5F0BE33A10222F35F562FFF5C227E270236F2B7/

Thinking quickly, Riptop shoved the secret engine's throttle up, and he managed to bounce on surprisingly sturdy legs of the landing pods, before coming to a heart racing, but successful stop. Pressing the release button for the rovers, he needed to drop them before they caused the ship to careen off balance. Melsey and Shepfred jumped out of the crew hatch, and forgot how far it was to the surface. They both landed face first in the sand, but he heard them grunting as they got groggily up in the lower gravity.

"Hey these rovers don't work" The com crackled from Shepfred. Ribtop spotted the rovers wheels turning in the mud, but they weren't moving. Oh well wasn't his problem.

"Plant the flag, start your work." He barked back at them.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749638960/338845973508827A9146A080EAE59758E1715CA3/

With the flag planted he powered up all engines, and punched the ignite button, dropping the pods with his other hand. He was off. The comm started screaming insults, and curses at him, but Ribtop quickly shut the com down. His secret mission from Jeb had been completed. He knew the interstellarnaughts would have nothing better to do than collect samples, and complete their directive. He wondered how mad they would be when someone came back for them in a couple years, If that is someone came back for them. The secret mission wasn't clear on the future.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749641718/2ACDEE13F0BC182739E7DCA28FF2E2DFBC988C1C/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/884110885601141121/EF0BC6FB5FE7A516501B12192B9D642E07396ADF/

The return trip was plagued with the voices of his doomed comrades, and he wondered if a similar fate awaited him. Would he be stranded so close to home? Only fumes remained of the fuel as he slung off the Muns gravity towards the black blue ball of Kerbin.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749648978/98D22E6F172C0C10BDD8C2B1864C133CEEEE5A5B/

If he wouldn't have taken the extra fuel from the reserves of the tanker, he would have been stranded, and would have flown past the gravitational field of Kerbin, to float forever in the reaches of space. His nav computer showed he would breach Kerbins atmosphere, and his landing computer beeped. He hit the atmosphere with force enough to crack his visor, and only just managed to punch the emergency chutes, before blacking out.

Ribtop came to, and heard the ocean. wondering if he was dead, he crawled out of the blackness, and emerged to wind whipping beautiful green grass.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882984447749654300/0CDFFED77151F7F803C2E856B48E4513BFD41691/

His ship destroyed, he had made it.

-note- this was my first manned trip to Duna and back. I've had a lot of experience in space docking, and landing on the mun, and roving modules around the lunar surface, but I'm still curious as to why the Duna rovers didn't work. I'm guessing i need both a chair, and some sort of probe pod, or maybe the wheels were broken, or bugged. Oh well thanks for reading. I hope I entertained you for a minute, especially if you're at work. My apologies for grammatical errors.

Edited June 13, 2013 by krunchysock
added image tags.

[kyle.mk.howard]

Anyway you could add image tags so that the images are right in the post?

[ninjakids]

Awesome, but one thing. That's not an interstellar ship. An interstellar ship is a spacecraft that goes to another star. Also, why did Jeb wan't to leave them there? Is he evil? I NEED ANSWERS!

Edited June 19, 2013 by ninjakids
forgot to say somthing