Colonization: CH4: Munbase Alpha - Part 4: Launch of Munbase Alpha (AAR) [pic heavy]

[Patupi]

Completed Chapters:

Ch1: Farside Crater, Ch2: Lalock Valley, Ch3: Tylen Sea, Ch4: Munbase Alpha (this one), Ch5: Jool Explorer

Ongoing Chapters: Chapter Six: Atomic Science

This Chapter:

-Part 1: Alpha Site Recon.

-Part 2: Vacuum Mining Test

-Part 3: Vacuum Mining... for real

-Part 4: Munbase Alpha Launch

Here's the next chapter in the Colonization saga, an attempt to get all the hardware for a working Munbase and it's resupply equipment up and running. It's quite a few missions so this one will be multiple chapters in one thread. This starts a short time after Chapter two finishes. Yeah, odd that chapter three finished before Chapter two *shrugs* That happens when you have long interplanetary missions.

Actually, if I wanted t o be wholly accurate this story should be slightly before Jedwig arrives back at Kerbin. Jeb riding to the Mun in this story did play through prior to Jedwig's return, but I wanted to get closure with Jeb and Jedwig and be a continuance rather than starting with a 'flashback' type thing. Never keen on flashbacks.

Rescue One Launch

Jeb gazed out of the window and grinned as the fiery blast of smoke, glowing in the night, showed where the rocket vanished into the heavens.

"How's she doing Gene?"

Gene looked up from his boards and just tipped his head towards Ipdel.

"So, GUIDO? What's the word?"

Ipdel jerked, looking around as if wakening from a dream.

"Wha..? Oh... yeah, on course." He said, before dipping his head back towards his screen.

Jeb just shook his head and looked back at the main monitor. All the info was there, he was just trying to be sociable... a point that was coming home to him real hard during his 'rehabilitation' of Jedwig. It was proving harder than he imagined to get the guy to actually act 'nice'. To give him credit though he was at least trying, but he still acted like a jerk... seemingly without thinking. Well, the guy'd just have to get by without Jeb for a little while. Munar Four was nearly ready to be launched, just as soon as this flight got into it's orbit around the Mun.

Jeb had overlooked the Munar Four, 'Mark Ten Launch Vessel' capsule yesterday as it was locked onto the upper stage in the VAB. Nice sight, if a little disappointing. The old Mk Sevens with their dual cockpits had been fun to ride, plus it meant Bob had joined him on the Mun a couple of times. There was still one Mk Seven left ready to use, but they were testing out the new systems on this 'improved' model. Yes, it only had one cockpit, but it had RCS and... more importantly... LADDERS! He'd waited a long time just to simply climb down the rocket without risking his neck. That would be worth it!

"Go for gravity turn." Gene said and at a glance Jeb saw the rocket was still performing well.

Stages fell away as he watched the screen, blurry, shaky camera views from the rocket showing boosters falling back to Kerbin. Boosters like that had been a problem. Right now they were minimizing how many stages were ditched in orbit without falling back to a solid body. Kerbin mostly. However even if they were minimizing the problem now, and aiming for fully reusable vessels in the future, it didn't stop the problem they already had. There was now a ton of free floating debris in Kerbin orbit from over a hundred launches.

Solutions had been suggested, some were even practical, but right now it seemed to be on the back burner as far as the council was concerned. Despite Jedwigs near miss on launch, then near disaster returning home, the council in it's infinite wisdom had decided the Munbase and a tenuous plan for a Jool mission were more important than clearing up Kerbin orbit.

Hmm. Said a lot about the council in Jeb's opinion!

Thankfully, now Gene was recovered from his minor bout of Kessler syndrome (his neck still looked odd some mornings) he was again talking about becoming KSC director when the position opened. Heaven help the council when he did!

"Final launch stage gone." Ipdel almost whispered. The guy sure was dedicated, but often sealed himself off in a world of his own. Actually, the guy was more sociable than most, just he had a tendency to get REALLY wrapped up in his work!

On screen they could see the 'Rescue One' vessel on the plot with it's transfer stage and descent stage still attached, the transfer stage's three engines burning merrily as it headed for the Mun. Jeb still wished they'd gone with his name selection for the automated, four man craft. Something that rescues people from anywhere on the Mun was about right for a ship called 'Liberator'. Unfortunately they'd gone with the boring 'Rescue One' monicker. *sigh* The council just had no sense of style. Especially naming ships.

"So, how soon till I can go check that puppy out in Munar orbit Gene?"

Gene smiled and shook his head.

"Soon Jeb, soon. I know you're eager to get back to your mistress." Jeb looked blankly at Gene and he sighed. "The Mun Jeb, I was reffering to the Mun."

"Ooooh, gotcha!" Sometimes it was easy to play dumb, though Jeb was never sure if Gene knew he was playing or not.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

OK, I've run into the 1000char limit on my sig with all the links *sigh* Guess soon I'll have to link to just the first page so people can use the links there

[Danish_Savage]

Looks real good.

[Patupi]

I wonder, is anyone by any chance getting any of the bad movie and TV series references and misquotes I've made during this AAR series? Just curious.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Patupi

[Danish_Savage]

Maybee.....

[Patupi]

OK, just as a hint to the one in this episode, it's more visual than verbal. But Jeb does refer to the Rescue One by another name. And it looks the part

[AndrewBCrisp]

Would you be referring to Blake's 7? (Never saw the series, so I had to do some Googling to check).

[Patupi]

Yup, that's the one. The Rescue One (to me at least) looks very reminiscent of The Liberator... minus the ball on the back.

[Patupi]

Note, after the Duna mission I put in an added rule. Any long term flights or bases need double occupancy to account for extended life support. So a hitch-hiker capsule seats four in short hops, but only two for long flights. For flights a long way from home (ie Duna again, or Jool etc) and if supply runs couldn't run about once a year, they'd spend a lot of time in 'hibernation'. Again, cut crew count in half to account for hibernation equipment. If they have both long term life support AND hibernation it cuts it down to a quarter! I'm going to show the development of the Hibernation equipment soon, but basically it's a cop out as I'm not using any life support mods. The Munbase won't use it, just the long term habitation, but they'll also have access to regular supply runs from Kerbin and I'll show the setup for the infrastructure of getting personnel (and presumably supplies as well) out there. It'll help with such a base, but isn't absolutely neccessary.Trips out to other planets though will have their crew go into hibernation (if they have the equipment) for the long flights to save on snacks... I mean life support needs.

Munar Four launch

Jedwig stood on the accessway and peered into the capsule

"And they still can't do any better than this?" He said, peering around in the familiar, cramped capsule interior. "I mean, come on! It's been years and this is the best they can..." *Slap!* "Hey!"

Jeb chuckled.

"Don't dis the techies Jedwig. Trust me, I know what they go through. Been there, done that." He rubbed a faint mark off his helmet before putting it on. "I admit, if I'd been in charge I might have changed priorities a bit..."

A groan came from Jedwig.

"Oh please! Not another diatribe about ladders!"

"Huh, and tell me you didn't miss them on Duna?" Jedwig blinked but didn't say anything "Thought so. Come on brains, help me into the cockpit."

"If you call that a cockpit." Jedwig muttered, then dodged back as Jeb's gloved hand slewed past. "Cut it out! It is in no way, shape or form a cockpit! That's not derogatory, it's fact! I think you just like hitting me."

A grin was all the answer he got from Jeb as Munar Four's pilot sat down inside and started to buckle up.

"Well," Jedwig said, "at least you get to test them out. I know, not the advanced ones yet, but still it is a heck of a lot better than clambering down the rocket."

"Plus the EVA system. I'm glad Dunkel finally got the bugs out of the jet packs. This mission wouldn't really be possible without them. That's gonna be fun!"

Leaning in along side a tech who was finishing checking Jeb's suit, Jedwig chuckled.

"You know I hear Dunkel is putting the finishing touches to a universal docking system at the moment. That would make this mission a heck of a lot easier!" He put his hands up protectively "Not dissing him! Just saying! It's a shame it's not ready yet."

"Flight reports all systems ready Major." One of the Techs said with a hand to his earpiece.

Jeb flicked the basic systems and tied his suit into the comm net.

"Do you read me Flight?"

"We read you Munar Four. Launch is in six minutes and counting."

"Roger." He said simply then grinned up at Jedwig. "See you soon Jedwig, and don't do anything stupid... Oh, wait. What am I saying? This is YOU!"

Jedwig frowned at him.

"Oh ha ha. Very funny. You just take care up there, OK?"

"Will do."

With a clang the hatch shut and Jeb was once again raring to go to the Mun once more.

***

Yet again, the familiar roar of rockets echoed through the capsule as he vaulted into space once again. These Mark Tens certainly went overboard on boosters. When the whole stack separated beneath him there was a heck of a bang, then the thunderous roar of the rockets once more as the sixth stage cut in.

"Munar Four reporting in from 'getting the heck out into space' Flight. How'd I look?"

"Profile looks good Munar Four. You're go for gravity turn."

Smoothly he eased the ship over, lancing across the sky. People were always talking about uber advanced, futuristic technology that might (someday) do away with rockets all together. Some kind of laser launch, or anti-gravity. If they ever came up with that kind of thing Jeb wasn't sure he'd want to actually fly it. To miss this? The sheer feel of power rumbling beneath you as you roared skyward?.. OK, who was he kidding? If they did make antigrav ships of course he'd fly them. Still, he would miss the 'good old days' that he's sure of!

The Mark Tens were actually a little bigger than the Mark Sevens, despite only having one cockpit. Extra equipment, more 'spare' fuel in the launch stages, and a truly huge booster section. True, they hadn't gone for anything close to a reusable system, but the Mark Tens were designed to shed most of their fuel while still in atmosphere so the booster stages fell back to Kerbin and burned up. Jeb had to admit after Jedwig's close call he was starting to get worried about the whole 'orbital debris' thing too. Hopefully the council would decide to do something about it soon.

Finally the last launch stage rumbled to a halt and Jeb leaned forward, staring out the familiar, tiny window at Kerbin rolling below him. The image of clouds swirling in the depth of the black sky, the glow of air surrounding it, was just magical. He'd never get tired of it.

Then he looked at the readout. Right now he should be sub-orbital, ballistic for the last launch stage to fall back... and his periapsis was high in the atmosphere.

"Um, Flight. I think I might have overdone the launch. Can you be too efficient on your flight curve?"

"We see it Munar Four. Well, it's one stage... and hopefully it will eventually burn up. After a few orbits it should slow enough to come down."

Jeb chuckled.

"Well, with a periapsis of sixty six kilometers I think it'll be a LOT of orbits! But yeah, it'll come down eventually. Separating Flight."

A final clunk left him in orbit with the transfer stage drop tanks and the descent stage. Burning lightly pulled him away from the launch stage and stabilized his orbit.

"Well, I'm set up. Ready to rendezvous with Rescue One. How's it doing Flight?"

"Looks stable Jeb. The orbit seems right on the money. I know it's going to be a pain matching that much of an eliptical orbit, but it will certainly simplify landing anywhere on the Mun when it's needed."

"OK Flight. Just give me a minute up here. I'm going to enjoy the view before the burn. Munar Four out."

Yeah, a bit abrupt, but he knew when he was due for the burn and he knew Gene trusted him. Trust was important, as he'd tried to emphasize to Jedwig. It seemed like he was starting to get it... slowly. Hopefully he wouldn't make a complete spectacle of himself while Jeb was away.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Patupi

[Danish_Savage]

Very enjoyable chapter. Helped me procrastinate a bit more.

[Patupi]

Ahh, procrastination, how I have longed for thee...

[Patupi]

Munar Transfer

With a few final heartfelt gazes at the glorious view Jeb sighed and sat back in his seat, strapped back up and prepped the engines.

"Flight, I'm go for ignition on descent engine. Transfer tanks on line. Pumps one through three are... green."

"Roger Munar Four. Telemetry looks good." Gene's calming tones helped get Jeb back into 'space mode' and he grinned as he checked the systems and the burn time table again. "We have no large objects on your current flight path you'll be pleased to hear. Watch out all the same."

"Will do Flight."

As Jeb went through the final countdown on the burn, along with last minute checks, he wondered if they ever would need the Rescue One? He hoped not, but it was good to have it out there ready.

"Alright, burn in.... three... two... one... and ignition."

The familiar kick in the pants as the engine lit off gave Jeb a warm feeling, and not just from heat transfer from the engine.

"Hey Flight, is Brains there?" he said.

"I believe Jedwig is here, yes. Hold a moment."

After a few moments Jeb heard the slightly annoyed tones of Jedwig come over the radio.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that!"

"Ah quit it Brains. Be thankful I didn't go with my first idea for a nickname!"

"With you? I dread to think what it was, and please don't tell me!"

"Aww, you're no fun!" Jeb chuckled "Still, my burn is...... and there we go. Flight, transfer burn complete. I'm coasting. Anyway, what say we go over our lessons Brains?"

"What?" He said "No! Live on KSC comms? Not going to happen 'Bud'!" He said, tone adamant and scathing.

"Come on, you know ya wanna?" Jeb said, trying to resist laughing out loud. "Just open up for old Jebby!"

"NO! Absolutely not!"

Jeb sighed.

"Well I gotta pass the time somehow. What say you regale us with your tales of flight school and how you aced everyone who every lived in the simulator?"

The was a significant pause.

"I think I'm going to be suddenly and inexplicably busy elsewhere Jeb. Hope you have a good flight."

After a few moments, where Jeb could swear he could hear a door slam, Gene came back on the line.

"OK, I'm not sure how you're doing this Jeb, but keep it up. Getting Jedwig to turn down a chance to pontificate on his flying skills? That's some good work there!"

"Heh, it's a knack. Annoying people comes naturally to me. I think I'm gonna catch some zees Flight. Wake me when I'm near the Mun, OK?"

"Will do Munar Four. Flight out." Gene said with a chuckle.

This would be a nice trip.

***

"Hey old girl, I'm back. Miss me?"

Jeb grinned as he stared out the window at the huge disk of the Mun before him. Beautiful as ever!

"Munar Four, we have you on track for the circularization burn, though perhaps that's the wrong word this time around."

Jeb grinned. Yeah, matching orbits with the Rescue One was going to be interesting.

"Roger Flight. Getting ready for burn."

The next few minutes were... well... normal. Jeb had done this quite a few times before and almost did it without really looking at the displays. Finally the engines cut off and he checked his orbit. Still well off from what was needed.

"I'm gonna need a fair bit of messing around here to match orbits Flight. Give me a few minutes."

"Please don't do a Jedwig on us Munar Four." Gene said in a deadpan. "We do know a little about orbital maneuvers down here I think."

"*Sigh* Oh, if you must Flight. Rain on my parade!" He chuckled for a moment. "Show me what'cha got."

Data streamed in and Jeb plotted an intercept with Caldin's data.

"Hey Telemetry." Jeb said while prepping for the first burn. "I hear you've finally applied to the Kerbonaut academy?"

"Bill finally pushed me into it." Caldin replied "Right now I'm going to be on double duty, light training for about a month while I continue at Mission Control training my replacement, then head out to boot camp."

"Well I'm glad to hear you'll finally be joining us up here. Hey, maybe you can come stay at my Munbase?"

" 'Your Munbase'?" Gene interjected. "So, you'll be footing the bill will you Munar Four?"

"Oh alright. OUR Munbase. Happy Gene?"

"I'm ecstatic," he said in a monotone, "thoroughly ecstatic. Overjoyed you might say. Enthused even."

"OK OK, I get the picture. I'll shut up now. Coming up on first orbital adjustment burn."

Edited March 2, 2016 by Patupi
Questions questions question marks

[Danish_Savage]

A sarcastic Gene? The world is truely coming to an end

[Patupi]

Rescue One Rendezvous

"FINALLY!" Jeb said, as he finished the penultimate burn. "Thought I'd never get through that. I've got... twelve minutes till I need to brake for intercept Flight."

"Roger Munar Four. We read you as on track for rendezvous with Rescue One. Good job."

Peering ahead Jeb couldn't yet make out the ship he was heading for, but the system overlayed it's coordinates on the HUD. Still, the view was quite good enough here. He spent a lot of the time re-checking his new flight pack behind him. Fitting it to his suit should be easy. He'd open the hatch, pull up half way out till the rear of his suit lined up with the pack. Reach back, release the catches and then pull it to him and fasten it on. Child's play... he hoped. Eventually he was satisfied the pack was going to actually work as advertised (at least according to the pack's readouts) and settled back for the final braking burn.

"Ready for deceleration Flight."

Switches, safeties, indicators flashing, then Jeb felt the push as he slowly burned off the excess delta V. Ahead Rescue One started to show as something other than an icon on the HUD and soon the four pronged prow of the ship became discernible. His speed dropped and Munar Four slid to a stop with less than a hundred yards between the two vessels. This was a first. So far no-one had met another ship in orbit yet, and here he was doing it at Munar orbit at that. They really should have tested this at Kerbin orbit first... the Flight Packs too!

He shook his head. No, no worrying! Jeb had an image to uphold!

With a grin he tapped the engines a few last times to kill the last tenth of a meter per second speed.

"Flight, I've got Rescue One ahead and it does look pretty! I'm parked, brakes on and I'm winding the window down. Think I'm gonna take a stroll over there."

"Heh, Roger Munar Four, take in the nice Munar air and enjoy yourself. We've time on the clock."

Swallowing butterflies Jeb reached up and undogged the hatch. It had springs and damping rods so once released it swung out and down, then slowed and came to a gentle stop just shy of banging into the hull. Straps off, free your boots from the pedals, gently stretch... Reaching back he felt the pack behind him in the cramped space and traced his gloved fingers towards the release catch, trying to not let the view distract him now his head was through the hatch. The first couple of tries left him clutching air, but eventually he found the big red trip catches and felt the pack clunk free.

Holding the catches he hauled it forwards and grunted as it thumped him in the back.

"You alright Munar Four?"

Jeb scowled.

"Fine, just the pack is a bit heavy. Glad I don't have to lug it around in normal gravity!"

"Dunkel swears he can cut the size back a little for future missions. Should help with putting it on too."

Jeb just grunted as he finished clipping himself into the pack. His suit had special mounts to clip to so it would be rigid against him. Definitely didn't want this thing flapping around with the thrusters on!

"OK, I'm set up. Heading out Flight."

Carefully he attached a safety line to the mount beside the hatch then pushed with his feet, easing himself out through the hatch. Coming outside his view seemed to switch, from seeing the hull of Munar Four as the ground... to seeing as him hanging upside down beneath it. Very weird. He'd done EVAs before, but this was the first time he was floating free. Well, nearly free.

Tugging the safety line to be sure he then flicked the power for the Flight Pack and his HUD lit up with fuel, engine temp, battery life and other pieces of information.

"Everything looks good Flight." He said as he warmed the little nav computer up. "I'm tethered and going to perform some basic thruster tests."

"Roger EVA One. Be careful."

The engines on this didn't do more than release compressed gas so the temp gauges were more for safety and watching that the sun didn't heat anything up than anything due to firing the thrusters. Slowly he fired the engines and spun himself around.

"Whoah! Hey, this thing has some pep! Uh, takes a little while to stabilize it. " He said, spinning a little before coming a halt. At least he managed to not get caught up in his safety line! "Got it. I'm doing a few simple lateral movement tests."

Slowly he slid away from Munar four, then stopped, jetted up the hull a ways, then back, then flitted over to the port tank and back.

"OK, three words... I LIKE IT!" Jeb said, grinning from ear to ear. "Permission to release safety line?"

"Was that a petulant tone I detected Jeb?" Gene said

"Oh I love asking for permission to do something simple like this. It's what I live for!"

"Well in that case, permission denied." Jeb's eyes went wide open for a second. "Oh alright, go flying EVA One."

"You do sometimes surprise me Gene." Jeb chuckled as he released the safety line then looped it back on his belt. "OK, I'm heading over to Rescue One. Dang that's a wonderful sight."

Jeb stared out at the ship ahead, with the Mun off to the left. A few flicks of the thrusters and he was coasting in free space, drifting over to the other ship.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Patupi

[Danish_Savage]

The way Gene's character is unfolding is real nice mate

[Patupi]

I've always thought of him as the stoic, steady type. However that doesn't mean he doesn't have a sense of humor

[Patupi]

Rescue One Test

This was incredible! Jebediah had an almost continuous grin on his face as he coasted across with barely a tap on the thrusters. The view here, drifting in the depths of space, with nothing but a small piece of glass between his eyes and the spectacular view.... priceless.

The stars were piercing, not glinting. He could even see feint colors which were barely visible through the thick glass of the various vehicles he'd been in. Even on his EVAs on the Mun he didn't see this too well. A little if he looked straight up, but glancing around down there the reflection of the Munar regolith blotted out the view of the stars.

"Flight, I'm half way across." He said in a subdued voice. "The flight pack is working fine. I'm reading a speed of a hair over two meters per second."

"Roger EVA One." Gene's voice came back with what sounded like a chuckle. Gene must be able to tell how the experience was affecting Jeb. "Careful on approach. I don't want you to bounce off. The pack is still untested take all precautions."

"Gotcha Gene. Nearly there."

The black and white hull slid closer and he adjusted course to aim for the ladders in the center section. Closer, closer, and he started to brake till he was drifting at a tenth of a meter per second relative.

"I'm a few meters away, nearly got contact...." he reached out and finally grasped hold of a rung and gently swung around till he grasped another with his other hand. "...got it. Hah. Oh I gotta do this again! Thank Dunkel for me. Aww hell, I'll hug him when I get back."

"Oh he'll love that!" Bill's voice came over the line.

"Hey bud! When did you show up?" Jeb said as he carefully twisted himself till his feet touched the rungs.

"Ah, been here a while. Nice to hear you not making fun of me for a change."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll fix that!"

"Didn't doubt it for a second." Bill certainly sounded chipper.

Slowly Jeb went from hand to hand across the hull, stepping carefully with his feet, more for leverage than anything so he didn't twist awkwardly as he climbed the rungs towards the hatch. It wasn't far and soon he could snap on his safety line once more.

"OK, I'm dogged at the hatch. Unsealing now."

Again, things seemed to be going well. The design team had refined the systems on this ship so it could (in theory) stay here for years in it's parking orbit and still be perfectly functional when needed, but who knew how well their 'upgrades' functioned in practice? Well, it seemed the answer was 'pretty good'.

"Systems seem good from here." He commented to Mission Control "Hatch is open and I'm heading in."

He went in feet first, a necessity with these capsules. They really weren't very large inside and you had to plan how you got in so you could sit into the seat. He got most of the way in, carefully winding his line up as he went, then unhooked the safety line. He couldn't sit properly with his EVA pack on, but it was good enough to check things out.

"Flight, I'm in. Doing a systems check now."

"Roger Rescue One." Gene's voice said tinnily through his helmet. After a while he got confirmation of powerup and then the data link to Mission Control. "We read all systems nominal Rescue One. Please power down and let us do a remote startup. If you can monitor the systems we can see how it does."

"Roger Flight."

Jeb grinned as he watched the systems go through their own startup routines and monitored the panels. It was all going like clockwork. Then Jeb's grin faded. Ah... best not think like that. Thinks always went pear shaped whenever you thought they were going well!

Thankfully the Kods of mechanical systems didn't throw a monkey wrench in the works. Maybe he'd caught it in time?

"Everything looks good here Flight." Jeb finally reported. "Tanks have gone down maybe less than a tenth of a percent during storage. Low temp out here seems to do 'em good! I recon' these'll last out a while yet. Might have to top the tanks up in a year or two though."

Gene, when he responded, sounded pretty chipper himself about the results.

"By that time the base should be fully operational and hopefully have a fuel mining and transport setup. Besides, with a base fully operational there'll be less need for an orbital rescue vessel. They should have a vehicle at the base that can do the job pretty well."

"Never hurts to have a backup." Jeb said.

Peering down as he hunched over the console he stared up through the familiar tiny window. The Mun in the view was beautiful to behold. The sharp contrasts between light and dark on the many craters with infinite variations in size just fascinated Jeb. He could stare at it all day. Shaking his head he managed to draw himself back to his job.

"Mabey we can play later girl." He muttered.

"What was that Rescue One?" Gene responded. Damn that guy had good hearing.

"Nothing Flight. Packing back up for the trip back to Munar Four."

Wasn't much to do, shut the system down carefully, making sure not to disable anything that they couldn't re-initialize from Mission Control later, then check out his suit and pack and re-attach his safety line. He didn't really think he needed it just to get out of a hatch... but Bill's missed Protocol still came back to haunt him, and Jeb didn't want a similar experience. Forget his 'devil may care' persona, he wanted to do this right! He could grand stand later.

Once more outside he checked the flight pack, more than seventy percent fuel left, then unhooked and stowed his safety line.

"Heading back Flight." he said, and jetted away from the hull.

Part way across he twisted around with little spurts of gas from his pack and stared at the diminishing ship.

"Seeing this out here on station really gives me hope we will have a long term space industry. I mean, setting up something to be used years from now? That we don't actually need yet? That shows vision. I think we're on our way."

With a grin and a few chuckles from Mission Control, he turned back and headed back to Munar Four.

[KSK]

Couldn't agree more. Kodspeed Munar 4!

[briansun1]

in the op all but the first pic doesn't work...

[Patupi]

in the op all but the first pic doesn't work...

Odd, when I look it's fine. Try reloading with 'Cntrl' key down. Maybe there was just a bad connection to my website at that time and it remembered it?

[briansun1]

eeyup it's fixed...

[AndrewBCrisp]

Another nice installment, Patupi.

[briansun1]

...I can't get over jeb slapping jedwig...

[Patupi]

Landing at Alpha Site

With a click Jeb sealed the hatch, reaching behind him to finish securing the flight pack above his seat.

"There's gotta be a better way to store these things." He muttered.

"Heh, just get back here and pester Dunkel for a few weeks. I'm sure he'll appreciate it." Bill said chuckling.

"Oh that'll work. He'd be just overjoyed."

"Hey, you got your ladders. Don't knock it!"

With a smile Jeb started going through preflight checks once more. The capsule he was in was almost identical to Rescue One's pod, but had a few alterations. Multiple life-support monitoring systems on Rescue One to check on the other three pods. Backup systems to keep it operational longer. Little things, but it did make the difference.

"I'm about set up for the orbit change. How long till the burn window Flight?"

"Your periapsis is close over the target spot. Technically you could burn now. I'd rather wait till you reach apoapsis though Munar Four, in about thirty five minutes."

"Sounds good to me Flight. Get Caldin to plot up a burn in thirty five."

"Already done Jeb." Caldin chimed in. "Check your mail."

Sure enough his data feed had the burn information coming in.

"Looks good. Guess I'll take a catnap then. Unless you read something about to explode up here Flight?"

"Not right now. I'll be sure to notify you after the detonation." Gene said deadpan.

"You're all heart Gene, whatever anybody says. Wake me in twenty."

Jeb drifted to sleep with the sounds of Bill chuckling on the speakers.

***

"WAKEY WAKEY!"

Jeb jerked up with a start.

"Wha, how, who... What the heck?"

A raucous laugh was his response. A familiar laugh.

"Ahh... HA! You're awake then. Good that those finely honed reflexes are still working."

"Jedwig? Jeez, don't do that!" Jeb said, though curiously he wasn't as ticked off as he could have been. Glancing at the clock he saw he'd got about twenty minutes rest.

"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the space ship." Was it Jeb's imagination or did Jedwig sounded disappointed. Oh, of course, he'd done this just to irritate Jeb. Seems that automatic reflex of Jedwig's was still going. Looks like Jedwig still needed some work. Plus, it now it seemed Jeb owed Jedwig one when he got back. That'd be fun.

"Naw, I'm left handed, this is good." Jeb said with a chuckle. "So, you just making conversation or was there something you wanted to chat about Brains?"

"Um... Well to be honest... yes there was something." Jeb heard a click. Looks like Jedwig had switched him to a separate circuit. Then he actually whispered into his mike. "I need some help Jeb, desperately!"

"OK, what's up Brai... er, Jedwig?"

There was a significant pause and Jeb heard Jedwig gulp.

"I... You know you've been focussing me, helping me avoid cultural faux pas?"

"You mean trying to stop you putting your foot in it every time you open your mouth? Yeah, what about it?"

Jedwig sighed.

"Look, I've been trying to get along with the... people here... Well, it seems with some it actually worked. I... have a date."

"BWAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHA HA HA!" Jeb couldn't stop it and could just picture Jedwig going crimson in reaction to Jeb's laughter as he tried to avoid doing anything to attract attention from the others in Mission Control. "Oh this is priceless! Who's the unlucky gal?"

"Hey!" Jedwig said, his whisper getting strained.

"Oh, I'm sorry Brains, couldn't help it! But seriously, who grabbed your attention?"

Jeb monitored the flight data on his console and smiled as he noticed Flight put a temporary hold on a few preflight details. Heh, Gene had noticed Jedwig and was delaying things a bit so he could talk. Jedwig always underestimated his team mates. Like he could get away with this without someone noticing?

"Nillian over in block nine." Jedwig whispered nervously.

"She's on the tech staff, right?"

"Do you know ALL the girls at KSC Jeb?" Jedwig said, almost out of his whisper for a moment.

"Well, I don't like to brag... OK, I do like to brag... Heh, so sue me Brains. So what's your problem? You got a girl, that doesn't sound bad to me."

"But... what do I do?"

Jeb froze, and a grin slowly spread across his face.

"Oh... oh you are kidding me? The great simulator ace hasn't had a girlfriend before?"

"No! I mean Yes, Of course I've had girlfriends before... it's just... Well, things have generally ended badly on my dates. I'd always thought it was just bad choice in girlfriends... but since you've been helping me I've wondered if it was just me." Jeb rolled his eyes. Kod the guy was slow! But he got there eventually. "Given my past record with dates I wanted to try to avoid a disaster this time. Look, if you don't want to help just say so!"

"Of course I'll help you ya doofus!" Jeb said as he plugged the burn stats into the nav comp and got things started. "I'm a little busy right now, but I can tell you this. Don't treat her like you do your fellow Kerbonauts. Try... and I know this is hard for you... to think of things from her point of view. What would you want to do if you were a girl dating the great and powerful Jedwig?"

"Gah, that's it? Look I..."

"I'm serious Jedwig. Are you telling me you've spent one moment considering what it's like from her perspective yet? Honestly?" Another pause came across the line. Jeb smiled and continued. "Didn't think so. Just do that, but don't assume she likes everything you do, or thinks like you. Try to really put yourself in her shoes, OK?"

"Kod, I think I'm going to have a headache tonight!"

Jeb shook his head. The guy never ceased to amaze him.

"OK, well, I think Gene's done covering for you so you better hang up Jedwig."

"Right I... wait, what?"

Jeb cut him off before he could splutter any more and switching comms to Flight Control.

"So Flight, what's the word."

"You're good to go Munar Four." Gene said with no hint he'd overheard any of Jedwig and Jeb's conversation. "We read you as on course. Burn in thirty seconds."

As Jeb warmed up the Descent engines and made final checks on the remaining fuel in the transfer tanks he smiled as he heard Jedwig switch his comms off. That guy! Sooner or later he might actually turn out to be likeable... maybe.

***

About thirty minutes later, after the orbit shift and ditching the transfer tanks, Jeb lined up on the target site, a spot on the north west edge of East Crater, on the north-most tip of the Kethane deposits scanned so far.

"Munar Four, all systems check out here. Are you readings good?"

Jeb made a few final checks and watched the light blink green.

"Yup. All good here Flight. Lined up for descent burn in... two minutes."

Below the huge rim of the Mun swelled large, his destination clearly visible now towards the northern crater rim.

"I'm getting bounce back on the radar Flight, reading Two hundred seventy one kilometers to target. Activating RCS system for descent control."

This was pretty new stuff, and rather different from his suit. He'd done a couple of tests of this though in orbit recently. The suit RCS had been pretty much new off the research shelf for this flight. Didn't mean no bugs could creep in of course so Jeb took it through some basic manoeuvering tests. Everything seemed in order.

"OK, at Two fifty eight kilometers and descending. Starting descent engine on low."

All the way down he just tickled the drive with the RCS aiding to fine tune the course. The bulk of the descent stage beneath him did throw things off a little, plus he'd managed the orbit matching with Rescue One ahead of his fuel budget so it was nearly full. Better than he'd hoped, but the weight of the fuel did get annoying for manoeuvering.

He slid lower and lower, watching the scan reports and matching overlays to his plots of the Munar surface. Looked like he was heading for the eastern edge of the Kethane deposit on the northern tip. He'd try to adjust it to get a little more central during the next few minutes.

"Approaching suicide burn threshold." Jeb said, loving this. "I'm going to engage the full burn about ten seconds before threshold to allow for ditching the descent stage before touchdown Flight."

"Roger Munar Four." Gene replied.

With a 'Whumpf!' the engine lit and pushed into his back, burning hard to slow his descent. His speed fell and he adjusted the burn to drift him east a little, getting nearer the center of the Kethane prominance. Now to look for a decent landing spot! The Munar maps of this region weren't accurate enough to predict the terrain flatness, and they needed to find a good spot for the base.

"Down to two hundred meters per second. A little over ten kilometers altitude. Holding attitude. I guess about ten meters per second drift at present."

Looking through the rearward cameras he saw the grey surface looming beneath him, but it was tricky to make out ground level, and the radar wasn't helping much.

"I think Dunkel needs to refine the ground return radar system. I can't make out gradients this high. I think I'm getting back scatter from surface rocks."

"Do your best Munar Four. You have fuel for a short hop after touchdown with current fuel if needed."

"Roger Flight. Seven kilometers."

Down he dropped, engine blaring behind him, a miniature sun lighting the Munar surface he was tearing towards.

"Landing legs deployed, preparing to ditch Descent stage."

Watching the fuel readings Jeb waited, thumb hovering over the twin release switches. The system beeped as the fuel redlined and he flicked them one after the other. A thunk shuddered through the little ship and the tank jettisoned, his lander engines burning, pulling him away from it.

"Landing engines lit, at eight hundred and dropping. Engines at thirty percent thrust." He watched the descent tank twist away in the dorsal camera and smiled... this was actually lower than they had intended to go on the descent tank. Maybe it would survive the drop? "Six hundred meters. Five. I think I've got a few landing sites below me. Some good looking flat spots visually at least. Two hundred meters. Drifting to port, aiming for a site a little south west of current vector."

Down he went, details now visible as he got closer and closer, cancelling his sideways drift as he went, his RCS pulsing around him in little white jets. As he neared the ground he eased off on the main throttle and watched the dust billow up around him. His shadow slid towards him and he saw the legs near their black twins. With a gentle jerk he came to a stop and deactivated the engines

"I'm down Flight. There's a little slope here, so likely I'll have to scout a ways to find a good Alpha Site."

"Good job Munar Four, and I'm sure you'll find a good spot Jeb. Lay out a picnic for us."

With a chuckle Jeb starting shutting down and locking safeties, staring out over the familiar landscape out the window. Yup, he was back!

Edited October 26, 2014 by Patupi
Mixing Jeb and Jedwig. Oops!

[Patupi]

Alpha Site Exploration

With a dull thud transmitted through his suit Jeb's foot touched down. OK, the ladders he liked! Heck of a lot easier descent anyway. Still, be better when those retractable do-hickies were ready. Grinning as he stared up his little ship he reminisced. Things were really coming together in KSC's work. They were talking about re-usable ships now and that'd be interesting certainly. Still, he probably would miss these days. Especially if spaceflight ever became routine.

"*Sniff sniff* Yup, nice out." Jeb said as he stared around the landing site.

"Well, since you've given your approval perhaps you can let our science instruments check on your nose Jeb?" Caldin responded.

"You think I should shove my nose in Junior? That isn't very nice!"

"Well, maybe if you do 'Junior' can make some sense out of you? He'd be the first." Caldin fired back.

"Oooh, got me!" Jeb said, and clutched his chest and staggered a little. "Flight? Caldin's cracking jokes! I think the world as we know it is coming to an end."

"Well, take a few shots of Kerbin for posterity before it does." Gene said deadpan.

"Oooh, it's a conspiracy. You're all against me!" Jeb said chuckling as he headed to the science labs. This ship was equipped with two to bring back more data.

"Should I put you down for that seminar on Kursday then Jeb?" Caldin added in "Something about UFOs, the Kraken and and ancestral isles I think."

"Come on people, lets get back to work." Gene said softly.

"Spoilsport." Caldin added with a chuckle.

***

Once science duty was done (The goo was not too pleased with the darker regolith here for some reason) Jeb lightly bounded around the area and tried to get the lay of the land.

"Looks like there's a flat spot to the north east Flight, up on a slight hill. Actually... I think can see something. Huh! I think it's the descent stage! Looks like it's survived at least partially. I think I'm going to take a stroll and check it out."

"Roger EVA One. Be careful and watch your air supply."

"Yes Mom."

"This isn't a joke Jeb. I was against a one Kerbal mission for this. We do have two Kerbal vessels now, even if they are a little dated with recent developments."

"Yeah, lack of ladders mainly!" Jeb sighed. "Yeah, I know Gene. Don't worry, I'll be careful. Besides, we have a Rescue vessel to drop on me if something goes wrong don't we?"

"Let's not rely on that, shall we?" Gene said with a slightly icy tone.

"Um, sure Gene." Jeb said and strode off with a bounding gait towards the plain he'd spotted. Seemed Gene's humor was waring slightly thin.

He used the fuel tank as a visual reference guide as he bounced along and found himself covering the ground pretty quickly. Whistling to himself (and to those in Mission Control, unfortunately for them) Jeb made pretty good time and soon found himself skidding to a stop in front of the descent stage. It had hit pretty hard, which is hardly surprising given a several hundred meter drop. The engine bell had absorbed most of the impact, crushed and splintered, leaving the tank surprisingly intact.

"You know, with a little refurbishing and new engine I think we could re-use this." Jeb said, patting the white and black tank affectionately.

"Well, first we'll need a base full of technicians to do the refurbishing." Gene said. "So lets get the survey for that base done, hmm Jeb?"

With a last look at the tank Jeb bounded off again veering slightly north towards the flat hill top he'd seen earlier. The top wasn't quite as flat as he'd hoped and his portable instruments said it was a few degrees off true, but overall pretty good.

"I think this looks good. Regolith seems even, fairly firm for landing legs to avoid sinking in. There's a slight slope, but within tolerances for the base. Good view of Kerbin from here too." Jeb said, staring off at the distant blue green orb. "Hey guys, I think I can see my house from here!"

"OK Jeb, put a marker down so the base can home in on it." Gene still hadn't regained his sense of humor it seemed.

Jeb put the flag down and activated the transponder. Since it was a modified version of the conventional flag he also typed an entry into the keypad and felt the 'thunk' as the plague was stamped then uncovered on the stem.

"Not a terribly inspiring message." Caldin piped in, reading his telemetry from the flag.

"Hey, they'll probably pull this down once the base is up. It's not like it's gonna be a monument or anything."

Looking back Jeb saw he had come quite a ways from the lander. He looked down at his RCS controls by the side of his suit.

"You know Flight... I know this isn't exactly rated for this, but I've been going over the numbers. The flight pack should have way enough thrust to lift off here. Heck, it could probably just about manage to get up on Duna."

"EVA One, I strongly advise against that!" Gene said. "The EVA packs were not designed to work in a gravity environment. There's no compensation for gravity in the thrust manifold equalisation. Every time you thrust forwards you're going to loose vertical thrust. You could pile-drive yourself into the ground really easily!"

"Aw heck, I've flown ships with more problems than that. And don't go over the limitation of lack of instruments either Flight. I've played with some of the bedstead vertol rigs with no instruments. I can fly them fine. Don't worry, I can handle this."

With a cavalier flourish he grabbed the controls and engaged the pack. Dust flew about as the RCS jets engaged and Jeb momentarily found himself disoriented. However the dust easily cleared with no atmosphere present, and soon he was hovering twenty meters above the grey plains on intermittent bursts of white gas.

"Works fine. I'm heading back to the lander. This is way quicker!"

Jeb found it a little tricky to keep his altitude steady, but he just kept his altitude over fifty meters and soon was sweeping across the plains at quite a clip. He was probably over a hundred meters per second right now! However the lander was coming up so he started braking, slowly easing up. After a few minutes he came to a halt in mid air then slid to the ground. He had wondered if he should use the pack to go right up and grab the rungs on the lander... but Gene would probably have had a fit if he'd tried it. Letting go of the controls of the RCS while hovering was not a really good idea. Maybe if they installed a deadman switch on the controls in future? He'd have a word with Dunkel.

"OK Flight, I'm down safe. You can breath again."

"Very funny EVA One. Now what say you get back in your ship and head home. Mission accomplished."

"Affirmative Flight. Conducting ladder utilization protocols." Jeb said as he started to climb. A groan was the only response from Gene.

Geez! Some guys just couldn't take a joke!