Resistance: The interplanetary struggle

[RogueMason]

CHAPTER 7: SURPRISE ATTACK

MISSION DETAILS: Reconnaissance vessels have managed to detect a Kraken docking hub in orbit of Kerbin, acting as a staging point for refuelling and repairs. The vessels currently docked there include 3 probes and one cruiser. This is a high priority target and needs eliminating. The Atlantis ATL-040 and Reaper 1 will move to engage immediately.

Atlantis: “Reaper 1, this is Atlantis, do you copy?â€Â

Reaper 1: “Reaper 1 here. The hub is 3km ahead of us, but I detected the cruiser undocking a few minutes ago.â€Â

Atlantis: “Heading?â€Â

Reaper 1: “Into a lower orbit. It's 1.5km from the hub right now, so we can catch it if we're fast.â€Â

Atlantis: “Well, let's be quick the-- hold on, a probe is heading for us.â€Â

Kraken Probe: [iNITIATE OFFENSIVE PROTOCOL. TARGET: ATLANTIS ATL-040, TORPEDO FRIGATE. WARNING, TARGET IS HEAVILY ARMED.]

Atlantis: “Oh no it didn't... firing a torpedo.â€Â

Atlantis: “Impact, that's got its optics array! Good luck trying to aim straight no--â€Â

Atlantis: “Why you little...â€Â

Reaper 1: “Need help?â€Â

Atlantis: “Nah, another torpedo should finish it off.â€Â

Atlantis: “See? Probe's gone. Time for the hub.â€Â

Reaper 1: “Uh, I've got engine trouble, give me a minute...â€Â

Atlantis: “That's ok, I can deal with the hub on my own.â€Â

Atlantis: “The Kraken hub is history!â€Â

Reaper 1: “Now for that cruiser. My engine's back up, turns out I accidentally hit the 'Offline' button...â€Â

Atlantis: “Clever. Ok, I'm pursuing the cruiser, 4 torpedoes left.â€Â

Reaper 1: “I'm on my way.â€Â

Atlantis: “Firing!â€Â

Kraken Cruiser: [WARNING, ARMOUR DAMAGED. INITIATE OFFENSIVE PROTOCOL. TARGET: ATLANTIS ATL-040.] You will suffer for that, petty mortal.â€Â

Atlantis: “My shields are holding, but not for much longer. Firing another torpedo!â€Â

Kraken Cruiser: “Your resistance is hopeless, mortal. We will succeed in our missi--†[WARNING, PROJECTILE INCOMING, FATAL TRAJECTORY]

Atlantis: “Mother of Kerbin, what a shot!â€Â

Reaper 1: “I can't see, what did you do?â€Â

Atlantis: “Blasted the probe core right off the cruiser! Get over here and finish it off in case there's a backup system in there.â€Â

Reaper 1: “Copy.â€Â

Kraken Cruiser: “You may have defeated this unit, but your world will burn...â€Â

Reaper 1: “Now that's pretty. One less big ship to harass us now.â€Â

Atlantis: “Time to get this mission report in. This is an extensive debris field, the sweeper ships will need to know about this.â€Â

CURRENT MILITARY STATUS: ENGAGEMENTS ARE BALANCED.

[Scotius]

Aw cm'on! Almost intact Kraken cruiser ready for salvage and reverse engineering? And they blew it up? It's a war, Kerbals are in mortal danger and they are not willing to take justified risk that potentially could level the chances? It's not like the Kraken could've indoctrinated researchers...right?

[RogueMason]

It's a risky business toying around with supposedly defunct Kraken equipment. We heard that one team nearly lost their heads after a badly damaged probe reactivated in the lab. Ever since, the military has just ordered total destruction of defunct Kraken equipment, which is a shame really.

Besides, think of the logistics of trying to move that hunk of junk around! And imagine what could happen if a back-up Kraken system activated with a friendly ship docked. We shudder to think of what would occur...

TL;DR: I didn't think of it. Oh well

[Captain_Doug]

Of coarse reaper 1 engines don't work."oh I hit offline." Wasn't that a cleaver way of saying I don't want to die.

[Scotius]

Hmmm...too much malfunctions happen when Kerbal ships engage the Krakens. Maybe mechanical cephalopods use their spacetime warping abilities to screw with Kerbal tech when they are nearby?

[RogueMason]

Hmmm...too much malfunctions happen when Kerbal ships engage the Krakens. Maybe mechanical cephalopods use their spacetime warping abilities to screw with Kerbal tech when they are nearby?

I'd say so. That damaged cruiser in the first military entry locked the fighters controls up, so it's only fair to say it can happen at any time.

[RogueMason]

CHAPTER 8: THE CRASH SITE

Lengas: “How did you survive this?â€Â

Dilcott: “Seems that I have a bit of a lucky streak when it comes to crashing ships. Admittedly, this was much worse for me in some ways...â€Â

Lengas: “I'll bet. Damn, look at her, this is terrible!â€Â

Dilcott: “I felt so guilty for allowing this to happen to such a brilliant ship. Odysseus never failed us, but I failed her.â€Â

Lengas: “Nonsense, you got attacked!â€Â

Dilcott: “How do you know that?â€Â

Lengas: “There's a bit of an extensive debris field orbiting above us as we speak...â€Â

Dilcott: “And I'm guessing there's twisted bits of Kraken probe amongst that field?â€Â

Lengas: “Yes indeed. How did you take it out?â€Â

Dilcott: “Grab the data drives from the cabin and we'll have a look on your ship.â€Â

Lengas: “It's been a while since I was in there...â€Â

Dilcott: “Should look pretty much the same as when you left it, excluding the debris.â€Â

Lengas: “This is quite the nostalgia trip. It's been, what, 10 years since I last saw her?

Dilcott: “Something like that, I think. Anyway, let's get to it.â€Â

Lengas: “Yeah.â€Â

10 minutes later...

Lengas: “I see you guys fixed the seat warmer circuits after I was through with them.â€Â

Dilcott: “Do you know how unbearably cold those seat got sometimes? It's lucky you only cut the wires instead of ruining the circuit completely. We had some spare components delivered up to us before we set off for Duna and Rodrin fixed it right up.â€Â

Lengas: “Well, it was all for a cause. If I hadn't done what I did, Odysseus may well have been stuck orbiting the Sun.â€Â

Dilcott: “True enough... that said, I'm sure the main engines would have sufficed.â€Â

Lengas: “They'd have done the job, but the radial engines did it faster. Anyway here are the data drives. Is there anything else we need to take?â€Â

Dilcott: “Let's see, we have the spares, the entertainment, the data drives and what's left of the snacks, plus the samples I collected. No, I think that's everything.â€Â

Lengas: “Alright, let's get this stuff over to the lander. We still have 25 minutes before lift-off, so there's plenty of time.â€Â

Lengas: “Let's check this flag you planted.â€Â

Dilcott: “Just a memorial for the ship. It helped with the guilt, a bit.â€Â

Lengas: “Fitting, most fitting...â€Â

Dilcott: “It's all I could think of. If you want to erect a new flag...â€Â

Lengas: “No, not at all, this one is just right. Come on, we have stuff to get in the lander.â€Â

Dilcott: “That we do.â€Â

25 minutes later...

Lengas: “Final checks, and everything looks good.â€Â

Dilcott: “My board is all green, we are Go for lift-off.â€Â

Lengas: “Five seconds.â€Â

Lengas: “Lonestar, we have lift-off, with Dilcott safely aboard.â€Â

[BostLabs]

Brrr. The Kraken has a real form? Chilling to say the least.

Great story.

[RogueMason]

Brrr. The Kraken has a real form? Chilling to say the least.

Great story.

I'm not entirely sure if you seen or read them, but I do have other stories. If you go the the 'Mason Codex' link in my signature, read them in this order:

Outreach

Odysseus

The Delivery (Eve)

Project Farpoint

If you have read them, then ok. If not, well, it's probably best you do. You'll understand why.

Thanks anyway

[Scotius]

R.I.P Odysseus It's always sad to see good vessel die. At least he won't be turned into scrap metal and recycled into Kerba-Cola cans.

[BostLabs]

I'm not entirely sure if you seen or read them, but I do have other stories. If you go the the 'Mason Codex' link in my signature, read them in this order:

Outreach

Odysseus

The Delivery (Eve)

Project Farpoint

If you have read them, then ok. If not, well, it's probably best you do. You'll understand why.

Thanks anyway

Thank you! Silly of me to miss that in your signature. I've started reading Outreach now.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Whew! All caught up.

All I can say is WOW!

Everything is so clear now.

Edited August 13, 2013 by BostLabs
Hours later

[RogueMason]

CHAPTER 9: REUNION AROUND IKE

Dilcott: “So, the Lonestar... what's it like?â€Â

Lengas: “Pretty fantastic. Aside from being the largest successful ship ever built, she has some of the most advanced technology, and a good crew.â€Â

Dilcott: “Sounds like she's a better ship than Odysseus.â€Â

Lengas: “On paper, yes. However, Odysseus has been and always shall be my favourite. A vessel as pioneering and unique as Odysseus has a special holding with everyone who worked with her. To see the ship in that sorry state is a tragedy, and she will be sorely missed.â€Â

Dilcott: “I completely agree, and I still feel like I've failed.â€Â

Lengas: “Nonsense, you did what you could, but you were up against an armed ship without any means of defending yourself, really.â€Â

Dilcott: “Still...â€Â

Lengas: “There, we have orbit. Should be about an hour now before we rendezvous with Lonestar.â€Â

Dilcott: “I've only heard stories and seen concept drawings for this ship. It'll be nice to finally have a close-up look.â€Â

Lengas: “I don't think you'll be disappointed.â€Â

1 hour later...

Jeb: “Lengas, you're clear for final approach. You've done good work today, so I think you deserve a rest after this.â€Â

Lengas: “Well, that saves me asking...â€Â

Dilcott: “That's a big ship. A really big ship.â€Â

Lengas: “Isn't she just? And you'll be safely aboard in a few minutes.â€Â

Dilcott: “Hang on, my crew! They're--â€Â

Lengas: “Safely aboard as well. In fact, they were not aware that Odysseus had gone down until we recovered them.â€Â

Dilcott: “So they are ok after all...â€Â

Lengas: “Heck, we didn't even know Odysseus had gone down until we got here. We thought we only had to rescue the other two.â€Â

Dilcott: “Is that so? Well, you've done more than you should have done, really.â€Â

Lengas: “More than we should have? Hell no, we don't leave anybody behind.â€Â

Jeb: “True story. Bill here pulled me out of a load of Kraken debris after they blew the damn cruiser to pieces!â€Â

Bill: “Yeah, but we wouldn't exactly be the most popular people if we left the great Jebediah Kerman in Eeloo orbit.â€Â

Jeb: “Hehe...â€Â

Lengas: “Right, time to dock this thing and be done with it.â€Â

Lengas: “All sorted. Just let the pressures equalise and...â€Â

*Bleep*

Lengas: “...done. Dilcott, I'm sure your two shipmates would like a word with you.â€Â

Dilcott: “Probably telling me off for leaving them stuck on Ike.â€Â

Bilnard: “Wouldn't that be insubordination, captain?â€Â

Dilcott: “Ah, I suppose it would be, Bilnard. Good to see you again, mate.â€Â

Bilnard: “Likewise. Rodrin and I weren't sure what to think when we learned that Odysseus had been destroyed.â€Â

Dilcott: “I didn't know what to think, either, really. Hang on, where is Rodrin?â€Â

Rodrin (in background): “In the centrifuge, captain, just finding something...â€Â

Dilcott: “Ok then, as long as it's something tasty. I'm a bit peckish...â€Â

Jeb: “Unfortunately, our stocks are a little limited at the moment. We've been out here for more or less 3 and a half years with Lonestar, with 6 crew for most of the time, and with the addition of 3 more today? I just hope those resupply vessels that are en route have a bounty of stuff for us.â€Â

Dilcott: “Ah, I understand...â€Â

Jeb: “Still, we did raid everything from both your lander and Odysseus, so I should think that this will suffice?â€Â

*Jeb presents an Extra-Large Special Edition Choco-Blocko bar*

Dilcott: “Oh man, I won't be eating all that by myself!â€Â

Bilnard: “Share some with us then. A little reunion treat?â€Â

Rodrin (in background): “Sounds good to me.â€Â

Dilcott: “Are you quite done back there?â€Â

Rodrin: “Yeah, I was just looking for a rogue fuse that decided to escape the toolbox. We may have to resort to a bit of metal instead for that console over there, Malrick.â€Â

Malrick: “Oh boy...â€Â

Jeb: “Right, now that everything around Ike is sorted, I say we get back into Duna orbit. Everyone, strap in. Two of you are going to have to stay in the lander though, because we're a bit full in the main ship.â€Â

Dilcott: “I'll stay in there.â€Â

Bilnard: “As will I.â€Â

Bill: “Ok, as long as we do it quickly, because the injection burn is in one minute.â€Â

Jeb: “Right, thanks Bill.â€Â

1¹/₂ minutes later...

Bill: “TDI confirmed, low Duna flyby.â€Â

Jeb: “Roger that. Ok guys, do you want to get the Odysseus data drives into our computer as well as moving everything else out of there?â€Â

Lengas: “Sounds good to me.â€Â

Dilcott: “I just hope the information on these drives isn't corrupt.â€Â

Jeb: “They won't be. Being located in the black box sort of guarantees that.â€Â

1 hour later...

[Mr. Pseudonym]

Nice one! Do you think the Lonestar crew will land at Outreach and get some more snacks?

[Yuri Kargarin]

I can't wait to see what happens next!!

[Captain_Doug]

Nice one! Do you think the Lonestar crew will land at Outreach and get some more snacks?

It would be interesting to see if that lander is capable to land on Duna and get back up again in one fuel load with out any kind of chutes.

[RogueMason]

No, that lander would never make it to the surface of Duna. Well, it might make it there, but never back up. Besides, I'm accounting for new snacks with the resupply vessels that have been mentioned

No Kerbal should be without snacks. T'is a crime against all things good.

[Mr. Pseudonym]

No, that lander would never make it to the surface of Duna. Well, it might make it there, but never back up. Besides, I'm accounting for new snacks with the resupply vessels that have been mentioned

No Kerbal should be without snacks. T'is a crime against all things good.

When the resources update comes around, the Kerbals should be able to live forever as long as you don't run out of snacks, and snacks should be a commodity not able to be generated by Kethane or anything else other than a kitchen, which should way 5 tons, and also, snacks should be consumed at a fixed rate constantly, even when in time warp. But snacks should way only .00001 tons (that's 0.32 ounces, or 9.0718474 grams for those who don't use tons. I am jealous of you.), and the storage container for snacks should be able to hold thousands of them. That would be perfect.

[Scotius]

Why do i have the feeling Dilcott is not as 'fine' as he says he is? PTSD much? Good thing Kerbals are made of tough stuff.

[RogueMason]

CHAPTER 10: RECOLLECTION – PART 1

Captains Log, entry 213: With the recovery of Dilcott from the Odysseus crash site, things are returning to normality, somewhat. Excluding the fact that we now have 3 extra crew for the time being and space on board is at more of a premium because of this, everyone seems to be quite a lot cheerier than a few days ago. Must be the fact that the tension is gone; I know a weight has been lifted off my shoulders with the rescues all finished. Handorf says Dilcott might have a bit of a mental instability after being isolated for a few months, but it's too early for me to tell. Doc's probably right though; these places can get incredibly lonely and will twist your mind. Bilnard and Rodrin at least had each other for company, but Dilcott was completely cut off. Hopefully they all make a recovery from this.

In other news, control contacted us today, the first transmission we've had from them for weeks. Apparently, Outreach detected us and decided to get a message through as soon as we slipped past Duna. Control managed to get something back through all the comm jamming fields that the Kraken set up. The military is holding up well against the tentacled bastards. Ground forces are engaged, but we still have control of the space centres, thankfully. Mun is a no-mans-land though, heavy fighting everywhere around it. Eagle Base is gone, but it was evacuated. And to make matters worse, a major meteor shower is expected to hit it in the next few months. The whole surface will be pockmarked with craters after this. Minmus remains untouched, somehow. Maybe the Kraken don't know about that... device, yet.

Nevertheless, we continue to resist. We will win, I know we will.

...

Handorf: “Well, there's little more I can do other than give you these aspirin tablets, Jeb. The last few days have been a bit stressful.â€Â

Jeb: “You can say that again. Damn, I still can't believe Odysseus went down...â€Â

Handorf: “Get a good sleep, captain, you've been awake for hours. Should clear your head.â€Â

Jeb: “You're right, doc, but there's something I need to ask Dilcott first.â€Â

Handorf: “Doctors orders, captain; go to bed.â€Â

Jeb: “Hmph, can't argue with the good doctor now, can we?â€Â

Handorf: “You can ask him when you wake up.â€Â

Jeb: “Bill, you're in command while I hit the sack.â€Â

Bill: “I'm sleepy myself. Bob, can you take...â€Â

Bob: “Zzz...zzz...zzz...â€Â

Bill: “...over. Nevermind.â€Â

Malrick: “I can keep watch, sir.â€Â

Bill: “No need for formalities, Malrick, we aren't military.â€Â

Malrick: “Recent events around Kerbin may change that, seeing as we are armed...â€Â

Dilcott: “This thing is armed?â€Â

Malrick: “Err, four laser cannons. Jeb was pretty disgruntled with control when he found out.â€Â

Dilcott: “I can imagine... I feel like I should apologise to him.â€Â

Bill: “Apologise? For what?â€Â

Dilcott: “I told him that I'd look after his ship when I took the wheel, and what do I do? I get it blown up.â€Â

Bill: “That isn't your fault. Blame the Kraken for that.â€Â

Dilcott: “I suppose, but even so, I don't feel right, I feel guilty. I've felt guilty for every waking second since the attack.â€Â

Bill: “What exactly happened anyway?â€Â

Dilcott: “I'll tell you when everyone's up and awake. I'm ridiculously tired right now.â€Â

Bill: “Yeah, fair enough, my eyes are drooping too. We'll talk more in the morning.â€Â

12 hours later...

Jeb: “Mmm, who's cooking the bacon?â€Â

Bilnard: “Eggs too. Want some?â€Â

Jeb: “Hell yes. Let me just get a plate...â€Â

Rodrin: “No need, I already have them set up in the centrifuge.â€Â

Jeb: “Oh. Well, thanks guys, but you really don't need to go to this trouble, you're our guests.â€Â

Bilnard: “I think the fact that we have nowhere else to go for the moment means we should help out as much as we can.â€Â

Bill (in background): “Do I smell eggs?â€Â

Bilnard: “Through here, Bill.â€Â

Bill: “Awesome.â€Â

Handorf: “As long as we don't have bacon fat clogging up the CO2 scrubbers or the ventilation system, I think we'll be fine.â€Â

Lengas: “We didn't have any bacon, did we?â€Â

Rodrin: “It was ours, but obviously we're sharing now.â€Â

Jeb: “Hey, uh, Dilcott, why don't you come on through here?â€Â

Dilcott (in background): “One moment.â€Â

Handorf: “What is it you want to ask him about, Jeb?â€Â

Jeb: “I want to know the details of their mission and how it ended up the way it did. If we can shed light on this event, then I think everyone here will have much clearer minds.â€Â

Bilnard: “...â€Â

Rodrin: “...â€Â

Jeb: “Something I said?â€Â

Bilnard: “No, it's just that Dilcott, he, uh... he may not be so willing to talk about the destruction. He's feeling pretty atrocious for that, Jeb.â€Â

Handorf: “I wouldn't poke at him too hard, captain, his psychological profile isn't the best at the moment.â€Â

Jeb: “I wasn't going to interrogate him, I know what he's been through. Can't say I can relate, but I have a fair idea.â€Â

*Alarm in command pod*

Bob: “Oh boy, what's that?â€Â

Bill: “I'll check now.â€Â

Dilcott: “You wanted to see me, Jeb?â€Â

Jeb: “Yeah, I did. Get some breakfast first, though. Bilnard's been making bacon and eggs.â€Â

Bilnard: “Here, buddy.â€Â

Dilcott: “Thanks...â€Â

15 minutes later...

Jeb: “So, Dilcott? Do you think you can tell me how your mission went?â€Â

Dilcott: “Sure I can. From the top?â€Â

Jeb: “If you want.â€Â

Dilcott: “Ok...â€Â

Dilcott: “We just received the lander that we were going to use to get to Ike's surface. As Ike had presumably been overrun by space snakes at this point, we needed to investigate. Rodrin brought the lander up and docked to us. This was a new lander design, a modified version of the original you used in the Jool system. It could seat 2 people instead of one, but annoyingly there were no backup engines like the first one, which obviously proved to be bad later on.â€Â

Dilcott: “The Duna transfer went without any problem at all. Odysseus had just been retrofitted to fix a few system bugs, so she was performing flawlessly.â€Â

Jeb: “Nice to hear the old girl got some pampering.â€Â

Bilnard: “We nearly got some fluffy dice to put in the cabin.â€Â

Dilcott: “Nearly, but I wouldn't have it.â€Â

Dilcott: “The days passed by, and Duna neared. Soon enough it was visible to the naked eye, even if it was to the side of the sun. A correction burn set us on the right trajectory.â€Â

Dilcott: “Watching that red dot grow into the majesty that it is over the next few hours was beautiful. There's something about Duna and Ike that is easy to love. Anyway, we had to prepare for aerobraking.â€Â

Rodrin: “More like I had to prepare. 'Just secure some cargo, Rodrin, and while you're at it, retract the panels...'â€Â

Bilnard: “Hey, I don't sound like that.â€Â

Rodrin: “No, you sound more aloof.â€Â

Bilnard: “Ha ha, very funny...â€Â

Dilcott: “We actually got onto a trajectory headed for Ike right off the bat. That was, at the time, most fortunate for us.â€Â

Jeb: “Do you think that if you'd waited--â€Â

Dilcott: “If I'd waited, the probe wouldn't have got us? I don't know. The Kraken are a hard bunch to predict.â€Â

Dilcott: “From there, Ike looked fine. Why had control sent us out to investigate a space snake presence if there were no space snakes present? Of course, time changed those thoughts.â€Â

Rodrin: “It was very striking. Very suddenly, the whole moon just became unreasonably dark. We looked to see if Duna was in the way, but no. Our common sense should have at least told us that the planet wasn't in the way, anyway.â€Â

Bilnard: “Once we made orbit, I took Rodrin out to the lander. I naturally got the top seat.â€Â

Rodrin: “Which you rubbed in my face to no end...â€Â

Bilnard: “Just establishing a little humorous supremacy.â€Â

Rodrin: “Yeah, I know.â€Â

Dilcott: “Some part of me doubted that Ike was actually there, that maybe it had became stuck in a different quantum phase to ours.â€Â

Rodrin: “Complete rubbish, if you ask me.â€Â

Bilnard: “It could have been responsible for the colour change.â€Â

Rodrin: “Maybe, but we'll have to wait for the results from the lab here to give us answers.â€Â

Bilnard: “And then, touchdown with a bit of a jolt. Both of us felt it, and alarms were going off left, right, and centre.â€Â

Rodrin: “Even from my landing observation capsule I couldn't tell what had happened.â€Â

Bilnard: “So I suited up. Lo and behold, we lost the damn engine. Stranded. On Ike.â€Â

…

[RogueMason]

That is a damn big chapter, even if I do say so myself. Also, if you're uncomfortable with a certain word in Jeb's log, it was the only one that fit the context, really. Oh well.

[SuperWeegee4000]

That is a damn big chapter, even if I do say so myself. Also, if you're uncomfortable with a certain word in Jeb's log, it was the only one that fit the context, really. Oh well.

What word?

Also, is Ike's color change the result of .21 terrain edits?

[RogueMason]

What word?

Also, is Ike's color change the result of .21 terrain edits?

No, Ike has been fixed in 0.21. This story is in 0.20.2. Fortunately, the space snakes were kicked off our little rock around Duna

Also, the word at the end of this sentence:

The military is holding up well against the tentacled bastards.

Not sure if anybody is uncomfortable with that...

[BostLabs]

No, Ike has been fixed in 0.21. This story is in 0.20.2. Fortunately, the space snakes were kicked off our little rock around Duna

Also, the word at the end of this sentence:

Not sure if anybody is uncomfortable with that...

Hey if the shoe fits! Jeb nailed it IMHO.

[Scotius]

Well, usually i call Eldritch Abominations in games worse. Much worse And i see you had Jeb approach Dilcott's little problem with reason and logic, huh? Good choice. Also eggs on bacon - bad for your arteries, good for the soul

[Specialist290]

I think it's a perfectly legitimate word for the situation, myself.