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

[Patupi]

VKM meeting

*AWOOOGA AWOOOGA AWOOOGA!*

"Wha, who where what?" Jeb said, jerking up as the siren filled the little capsule.

With a click the horrible sound shut off and Gene's low tones wafted in.

"And now the collision warning test is complete. I'm sorry VKM Two, weren't you ready yet?"

Jeb attempted to keep the venom out of his voice while his heart beat backed away from it's frantic hammering.

"Obviously not Flight. I must have missed the memo." With a sigh he calmed himself a little more "So, I'm assuming it's time for the rendezvous. Is there a reason Milton didn't wake me as I requested?"

A poignant silence filled his headset and Jeb suppressed a grin. Eventually Gene replied.

"It seems there may have been a slight mis-communication." Gene said with somewhat more severe sounding voice than usual. At least it wasn't aimed at Jeb now! "But yes, we're set up for your rendezvous. Bob is just fine tuning the Munbase's orbit. Are you fully fueled?"

Jeb stared out across the regolith as he caught a sparkle through the window.

"Hold a second Flight." He took out his pad and gauged the navball for direction. "Flight, while I'm here shouldn't I test the pump equipment?"

"Test it with what? You'll need a ship to connect to."

"I was thinking VKM One would do for that. Might have to drill a mount for the new pipe connectors to plug into the fuel feeds on that, but it should work. That way if we ever need to use VKM One again it'll be fueled for a trip. Maybe the converter is messed up, but the engines works fine."

"That sounds good VKM Two. Hold a sec."

Jeb leaned back in his seat as Gene conferred with others at Mission Control.

"Operation approved VKM Two. You're go for a hop over to VKM One and a refuel test. After that Munbase Alpha says to 'Get your sorry butt out here pronto.', to quote the Captain succinctly."

"Oh I'm sure. Tell Bob I'll be up there in a about, what, Ten to twelve hours? Well add a bit for reaching Munar orbit and a little more to match orbits with Munbase at LKO. Say fifteen hours."

"I bow to your superior temporal assessment Major Jebediah. I'll have Milton plot a course anyway to see if we can match your estimate."

"Oh if you must Flight, if you must."

Jeb chuckled as he started warming the engines up. After a rather abrupt start it was looking to be rather interesting day.

***

The roar of the engine was rather muted. Even at full fuel load it had an acceleration nearly three times Munar gravity, so he barely had to push fifty percent throttle to get off the ground easily. Curling over towards the IFF marker on his HUD Jeb gauged the distance by eye, then checked it on the flight computer, just to be sure. Not bad.

With a snap he cut the engines off and edged the craft around on the reaction wheels. Watching the ventral camera as he tipped retrograde he waited till the speed indicator started to climb as his ship swung lower in it's arc.

"Engaging descent burn." He murmured idly.

Reporting his condition to Mission Control was pretty automatic by now, even when he was pretty much doing this by feel. He slowed his descent, watching the twinkle of VKM One define itself as he grew closer till he cut all the horizontal velocity and just hovered overhead.

"I'm positioning for landing now Flight. Looks good. I'll try to put it down pretty close."

The next minute was fun, but not too taxing. Jeb had done a lot on simulators of late and that, plus his experience on the Mun before, made his landing rather precise. Touching down he glanced over at the HUD and grinned.

"VKM One is within thirteen meters Flight. That close enough for you?"

"I'm sure it's close enough for you VKM Two, and that is what counts. You're go for EVA."

With a shake of his head for Gene's dry witticism Jeb double checked his suit, plugged his EVA Flight pack and opened the hatch. At least with this model they'd improved the Flight pack positioning a little. He didn't have to hang half out the hatch to lock it into place.

Still, best test out the more straightforward maneuvering systems.

"Descending the Mobility Enhancer now Flight." Jeb said, hearing groans on the line. No, he decided now was not the time to wax lyrical about ladders. Maybe next time. He didn't even have any of the new folding systems on this ship!

Using the rungs it was fairly easy to descend the craft to the ground, though a little awkward to go around the bend in the craft due to it's bulky lower fuel tank. He almost gave up and used his RCS pack, but in the end found a way to climb around the corner without falling off.

Two gently cascading plumes of grey dust marked Jeb's boots touching Munar regolith once more and he gazed across at the VKM One just past the bulk of his own ship.

"I'm outside Flight, gonna grab one of the snap-fit connector pairs and the tool-kit."

"Roger EVA One. Don't drill a hole in your suit."

Jeb chuckled dryly but most certainly would be careful. This was hardly a joke after all.

The kit was mounted under the bottom rung of the ladder, one of three on this ship, and with that in hand he swung around to one of the three side tanks and the connector mounted there. He manually shut off the fuel feed to that connector, double checked the pressure, then started dismounting it behind the snap-fit connector. Thankfully the connector pair came off easily and he gently eased it up, over his shoulder, and slid it onto his back pack.

"OK Flight, one connector assembly and tool kit acquired. Heading over to the VKM One."

He bounded over the surface to the older ship and shook his head. The Mark One miner had been put together a little quicker than his current ship. He could see where the fuel lines had sheered off close to the solar panels. Seems Loddan had attempted to bypass the panel and re-attach the lines, but it hadn't worked. Those things weren't designed to be mounted out here in space.

Unfortunately they also were a different size to his connector so he had to fasten this elsewhere. Putting down the tool kit Jeb looked over the tank.

"So, Milton. You have a schematic of the VKM One up there? Where on the lower section of the side pods should I go digging for an emergency fuel feed to tap into?"

The next few minutes were a back and forwards talk of plumbing, cooling manifolds and turbopump assemblies. Not Jeb's favorite topic of conversation, but at least familiar. Finally he took of an inspection plate and peered inside and found the line he needed. Couldn't reach it from the inspection plate, but at least he could see where he had to cut.

"OK, I got it Milton. Hang on while I cut a section of cover off."

Slowly Jeb pulled out the multi-cutter tool and fitted the jigsaw attachment. He carefully set the head to a quarter inch depth and went to work cutting a small hole, a little smaller in diameter than the snap-fit connector. Once that section of hull plate was removed he reached in and double checked, by feel, where the pipe fittings went to be sure he was getting the right feed line. Then he separated the connector into it's two parts and lifted his boot up to rest on the hull beside the hole.

Balancing the female coupling connector base there he whistled while he adjusted the junction behind it, then shut off the lines around the pipe he wanted and used a hand drill to make a hole in the pipe. Extending the fitting behind the coupling connector base he aligned it, using a foot to balance it in place, one hand to hold the coupler away from the hull and the other to reach for his tool kit again. Pulling out a welder he hooked it on one shoulder while mounting a tether on the line. God, he must look like some kind of juggler right now!

Chuckling to himself he carefully started the welder and began to draw a test bead on the edge. With a good contact he pressed the extended fitting against the hole he'd made and started welding the fitting in place. This was all old stuff to him, something he'd done countless times back in his old workplace. Not necessarily in vacuum though. Still, he hadn't lost his touch and soon the weld was complete and the fitting was securely mounted to the pipe. He cranked the handle and withdrew the mount for the rest of the coupling connector back till the housing pressed against the fuel tank. There! Perfect! Now he had a mount spot a male connector could fit to any time they wanted.

With a smile he lifted up the male part of the connector pair he had left after he'd welded the female part on and test clipped it in place. Fitted like a dream, though his gloves did get a tad warm. Yeah, heat didn't have many places to go up here did it? He'd have to be more careful welding in future otherwise he'd likely melt stuff nearby. The problems with lack of air convecting heat away, huh?

"OK, all set here Flight. I'm gonna plug a hose in and see if I can plug into one on my ship."

"Roger EVA One. You've made good time there."

"Come on, I'm owner of a scrapyard company. What'ya think, I couldn't handle this? Huh!"

After the mounting and welding, fitting a pipe up between the ships was simple, though the tension did make both the ships wobble once connected. He'd have to be careful when connecting in orbit. With nothing to stabilize it the two ships would likely wobble like crazy while he was pumping between them.

It took only a few minutes to pump fuel into the old capsule, and the systems worked fine. Now, with a removable connector on it you could dismount and mount it as often as you needed it. It was a simple matter to disconnect the male end and draw the hose back and coil it in it's niche.

"OK, I'm done here Flight. I'll get set up for the trip back to Mun... AFTER I've mined some more Kethane and filled up the tanks again."

"Roger EVA One." Gene said in response. "Catch up to you when you're ready to head back. Glad the operation was straightforward."

"Well, at least not hard shall we say Flight. Not quite straightforward, but it'll do."

Jeb started back up the ladder... sorry, Mobility Enhancer, towards his capsule once more. Just a bit of mining, processing and he'd be ready to head back. Just another day in the life of Jebediah, fuel delivery guy!

Edited January 5, 2014 by Patupi
For some reason I ended up giving Jeb three hands during this description! Oops!

[Patupi]

Can you tell I'm an engineer? *chuckles* Yeah, a bit over done on the mechanical description perhaps, but hopefully obvious what I'm getting at. Don't worry, I'm not going into this much detail every time anyone has to do this in future!

[KSK]

Heh.

I enjoyed the added detail but yes, probably not something to use every time. Good to see Jeb getting back to his roots though!

[Patupi]

VKM 2 and Munbase rendezvous

The familiar muted roar of the engine resounded in the small cabin and Jeb was once more blasting off the surface of the Mun, this time for a rendezvous with Bob and the rest of his crew.

"Trajectory looks good VKM Two." Milton said, somewhat hesitantly.

Jeb paused, listening to Telemetry's nervous tones. The guy still wasn't sure of himself. Well, probably not surprising. He'd barely taken over from Caldin.

"Thanks Milton. Nice to hear confirmation from an expert." Wait, did that sound condescending? Gah, have to be careful. "So, how's the weather in Munar orbit?"

"Um... cold?" Milton said slowly.

OK, so jokes weren't working. Maybe it'd just take time. Better just relax and let the guy get used to this. He'll do fine. Jeb watched the numbers on his board scroll up, and finally cut the engine out. Just the cirularization burn to go.

"VKM Two?" Gene's voice interrupted. "I'm reading a vibration in the secondary cooling unit for the capsule. Can you confirm status?"

Leaning back Jeb stared up behind the hatch and saw the dull grey cylinder with the little dial's shaking. He reached across to his right, picked up a small wrench and reached up to the offending unit.

*CLANG!*

"How's that Flight?"

Silence resounded from Mission Control for several seconds. Jeb loved this. He was pretty sure Gene had worked out by now that these 'emergency repair procedures' were a joke, but he still got odd looks around KSC when he mentioned them. Hah, he was an expert at these kind of things. Heck, honestly, sometimes you really did have to knock some sense into things. This time though he adjusted a dial on the side unobtrusively to regulate the coolant flow.

Surely some of the technicians had noticed dents alongside components he had 'fixed' before? Well, maybe not.

"I believe, on a few occasions, I have made it known that I do not like you beating up my space ships, have I not Jeb?"

Oooh, Gene was calling him 'Jeb' and not 'VKM Two'. That was a bad sign.

"I'm taking it that the meeting with the council didn't go well Flight?"

"Don't avoid the issue!" Then Gene sighed "No... no it didn't go well. Sendo is getting frustrated with his fellow Councillors... and from directives from the capital. At least I only have to deal with an irritated council. He has to deal with *shudder* Politicians!"

Jeb could practically hear the capital 'P' there.

"I'm sure the Chief Councillor will get things turned around. Heck, Sendo's always come through for us before, right?"

Another pause came from Gene's end of the line.

"What do you want Jeb?"

"Me? Want? Pah, I not know what you talk about." Jeb said, acting dumb... rather badly.

"You have no patience for the council, you never did. Sendo or the others."

"Weelll. I've been trying to get on missions outside of the Kerbin system for a while now. Yeah I know, Duna's our only one so far. So sue me. Still, I learned just prior to my launch from KSC that the Jool mission is a go. When is it scheduled for and can I get on it?"

Gene sighed.

"Jeb, it's going to be a little while, but you're set to rotate with Dansey for flying the VKM Two from Munbase Alpha on fueling duties. I can't just put Dansey on alone."

"So, I'm guessing any Jool mission will need to refuel in Mun orbit... right? So, why not send a replacement on that ship and I swap? Perfect!"

"I'll consider it Jeb. Just get back to Kerbin orbit, OK?"

"Sure boss. Be there in a jiff! I'm gonna pull a low arc and swing out without circularizing. It's a bit early on the orbit, but I can wing it."

Gene sighed heavily.

***

"How's it looking?" Jeb said over the rumble of the engine.

"I read you at two and half kilometers and closing VKM Two. You realize you're actually increasing closure speed?"

"I know, I know. Just trying to get there quicker. You were impatient, right?"

"Jeb, come on! Don't play around. I need that fuel intact, and you're wasting some of it!"

"OK, OK, I'll just wait a while then shall I?"

Jeb chuckled as he disengaged the drive and flipped the ship. Actually he'd been flicking the engine rather than going full bore continuously, so he'd hardly wasted much fuel. But it was fun riling Bob.

"Closure rate two hundred and fifty meters per second. You might want to slow down Jeb."

Jeb chuckled. He knew his ship. Shortly after he slammed the throttle to max and felt the g's settle. It wasn't much, but after most of a day in zero gravity it felt significant.

He saw the radar velocity count drop as he neared the target, and in the rear view mirror he saw the blurry shape of Alpha taking shape. Finally he cut the drive, drifting barely forty meters away and swung around to look at it through the side window.

"OK, you definitely won the ugliest ship contest Bob. Do you get a prize?"

"Ha ha. Just fill my tanks... AND NO PUNS ON THAT!"

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it!" Jeb said, biting his lip.

With a metallic clunk he opened the hatch on his already depressurized capsule. He did plan ahead sometimes! Slowly he attached his flight pack and pushed up and out, grabbing the ladder carefully.

"Hey!" Bob's voice came over the line. "Attach a tether for Kod's sake!"

"It's OK, Flight pack checks out." Jeb said. "Besides, if something goes wrong and I drift away you can send someone after me, right?"

"Just connect the hoses, OK?"

Oooh, Bob was snippy today it seemed. Jeb engaged his RCS pack and tested the jets a few times then coasted down to the fuel connectors. Snapping a hose into place he headed off towards Alpha. Glancing back he could see his ship twisting a little from the force the hose applied, but it seemed light enough.

Reaching the floating Munbase he grasped a gloved hand to the edge of a tank and edged around till he was near the fuel connector port.

"OK, ready to connect." Jeb said, uncharicteristically serious. "Please double check the pumps are off. I don't want to release the valves and have the hose buck like mad!"

"They're off." Bob replied simply.

A few moments and some busy clicking later the hose was complete, linking the two ship.

"OK, ease the pumps on."

Whirring vibrated through his gloves as the fuel started to flow from VKM Two into the Munbase. Yup, even more motion from the two ships, but so far it was OK. Jeb watched the manual gauges alongside the connector, and the one in his HUD showing what he had left on VKM Two.

"OK, that's enough. I need enough to land back on the Mun Bob."

"Roger. Pumps shutting down."

Well, that was it. Jeb looked across the intricate mess of cables and struts. Well, maybe it would look better once on the ground. In a way he was envious of them. Landing that thing would be a challenge! The connector from the sky crane to the base was rather specialized, but maybe it could be re-used again as well. The plan called for it and the escape ship to be ditched on a high altitude burn to destroy it via collision with the munar surface. Well, who knows. Plans can change.

"OK, I'm heading back Bob. Meet you back at the Mun! I'll have another load of fuel for you."

"Take care Jeb, thanks for the assist."

Smiling Jeb headed back to his ship. It wasn't pretty either, but it was his, and for a while by the sound of it! Hopefully Gene could get him assigned to the Jool mission. He really didn't want to miss that!

Edited January 7, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Yeah, using KAS connectors in orbit kind of sucks. I had to actually stop pumping half way through, disconnect the hose, then remote control VKM Two to stop a collision. Those things buck!

[Patupi]

Oops! Just realized I never updated the title to reflect Part 3... and now we're on Part 4. Sorry about that.

[Patupi]

Munbase Alpha In Situ

The sunlight glinted of gently curving, white painted metal sheeting as it turned in the combination of sunlight and brightly reflected munlight. Two bodies drifted closer together, bright plumes of white gas altering the course of the smaller one into a gentle, precise course, beatifully timed to...

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YA IJIT!"

Jeb sighed, braking further. Gernand had no sense of style. Slowing to a more sedately speed he braked to a close approach and wished again that the designers, in their brilliance, had deigned to add extra docking ports. But no, they'd wanted to try the new vacuum capable pipe connectors and hoses for their wonderful new station. It was a royal pain, that's what it was.

This was actually the second rendezvous in Munar orbit between VKM Two and the Munbase, the first had given the base enough to land... but Bob wasn't happy with the surplus. He wanted a bigger safety margin for landing, and Jeb didn't blame him. It was a big, ungainly ship to try and land. Still, two mining and orbit flights wasn't bad in this short a time. They'd be down on the ground soon.

"OK boys, I'm setting up for refueling. Do you want me to do the windows while I'm at it? I work cheap?"

Gernand didn't respond and Jeb just shook his head as he undogged the hatch and prepared to leave the capsule once more.

***

The Kerbal's face seemed to glow in the dark, illuminated by four monitors from left, right and two above each other in front. He peered intently at them while numbers and graphs scrolled and flickered across the LED displays.

"I see Jeb's here again."

Gernand jerked, his view of the monitors changed for the newcomer. He blinked a few times as he collected himself.

"Och yeah, hi Bob." He blinked again, glanced over at the radar image on the left scanner and frowned.

"Gernand, trust me, Jeb CAN handle parking the ship there. I promise he won't crash into the station."

"So you say laddie." Gernand said bruskly. "Me I dunnea trust him being that close. Especially with him leaving the ship on auto."

Bob shook his head. Gernand had been a worry wort the whole trip. He hoped it wasn't going to be this way for the next year. His tour of duty as Munbase commander would be pretty bleak if he had to raise Gernand's spirits every day!

"Anyway, how's our system status?" Bob said, trying to change the subject.

Gernand's eyes scanned across the other monitors briefly as he recapped for himself.

"Nay too bad, though I've had some odd signals from the central computer up in the command pod."

"Well, we can always use the escape ship's computer in a pinch, right? If we don't undock it that should handle control functions till we fix the central computer in case of a shut down."

Gernand just nodded, not seeming to be paying Bob any attention for a moment. Finally he turned back and stared at the commander.

"Bob? How long till our transport arrives? Last I heard they pushed it back till after the first rover."

"Yes, I think the schedule is now for a month away. Things change a lot at KSC, you should know that by now Gernand."

"I just don't like having this base here with no way to evacuate in case of emergency. I'll be a lot happier when it gets here."

"Me too Gernand." Bob said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I want to be able to shuttle crew back and forth from Kerbin to here. But yes, an emergency escape ship would be useful. Remember we do have Rescue One in a pinch."

"Aye, but she only holds three."

Bob looked at a monitor as on one small camera view showed Jeb jetting over to connect the pipes up.

"Don't worry Gernand. We'll do fine, and the transport will be here soon. I'll make sure of it."

Gernand didn't comment just stared back at his screens and in the end Bob just sighed and left the engineer to his darkened room.

***

The control capsule was fairly cramped just now. Normally it seated two, and Bob and Loddan were in the acceleration couches. However Caldin and Dansey were also here, watching the displays as the crew prepared for breaking orbit.

Bob eyed Dansey again. He'd allowed Caldin to stay for a while, just until they were coasting down to the surface. Then of course Dansey burst in and Bob couldn't order him out without seeming like he was biased. Why let Caldin stay and not Dansey? He had considered telling both of them to get out, but Caldin was obviously so eager to watch the crew get set up for landing that Bob didn't have the heart to kick him out.

"It's so great, this place just gotta get down there!" Dansey raved, a grin plastered on his face. "Come on Bob, let me fly her? Pleeeeeeeaaaaase?"

Bob groaned again and saw Loddan suppressing a grin.

"No Dansey, I'm doing the landing, and that's final."

"But it's the first time, perfect for a test pilot! Just a little, I promise I won't bash her up."

"What part of 'and that's final' did you not understand Dansey?" Bob said, a bit of ice creeping into his voice.

"Heh, can't blame a guy for trying huh? Just don't count me out, OK? I can handle anything you through at me!"

Bob saw Jeb's ship slowly accelerate away, and from the screens he was chatting with Loddan. A chuckle from his XO made Bob suspect he was filling Jeb in on Dansey's antics. Typical.

"OK, standby for de-orbit manouvering." Bob said, then nodded to Loddan. "Give the acceleration warning Loddan."

A low trilling filled the ship and then Loddan's voice came across the PA.

"All crew standby for low-g manoeuvering. Attitude adjustment and acceleration of 0.25g only. We'll go to full 1g thrust for landing so be prepared."

Loddan clicked the comms off and Bob saw both Caldin and Dansey hold on tight and put their feet to the floor. At least Dansey had freefall sense!

Bob and Loddan went through pre-flight checks, Gernand in pod three checking engineering status. Finally Bob was satisfied and hit the warning button and all over the ship little signs lit up 'Acceleration warning' flashing slowly to get everyone's attention.

"Course set, ship aligned." Bob said, peering at the monitors. "Engaging drives."

Above the Munbase the skycrane's four engines lit, the exhausts carefully angled out to avoid burning the ship. The acceleration built to a little over two meters per second before stabilizing and Bob watched the course indicator as well as the orbit plot on the simulation screen.

"System looks good Cap'n." Gernand's voice said over the comms.

"We're on profile. Landing spot is pulling closer to designated target." Loddan said as he followed the flight.

It wasn't long before they were on course for a shallow descent, aiming to overshoot the target to allow for braking during final burn.

"OK," Bob said, hitting the button again, turning all the warning lights off once more, "We're clear from acceleration. You two..." he said, turning and looking at Dansey and Caldin, "... I'm afraid I'll need you back in your pod and strapped in. Come on, hop to it while we still have free fall."

"Yes sir, thanks for the view sir!" Caldin said and smiled as he darted through the hatch to pod one.

"Yeah, it was wild. Any time you need me you know where to find me!" Dansey added before dashing through himself.

Loddan shook his head and glanced at Bob.

"That guy doesn't give up does he?"

"Please don't say 'we need more guys like that' or I think I'll be sick." Bob said and turned back to his monitors.

***

The coasting down was fairly uneventful, thank heavens, and soon they were set up for the final burn to land. Bob's eyes were riveted to the displays as he warmed the engines up again and the acceleration warning lights flicked back on throughout the ship.

"Check the fuel feeds Loddan. I don't want to get destabilized from imbalance between the tanks."

"Roger Alpha One." Loddan said as he started monitoring the fuel feeds and readouts.

The acceleration quickly built and soon was pressing the crew into their seats at a hair over Kerbin normal gravity. The target spot in the downward cameras showed the IFF of the flag that Jeb had planted. On following trips it had been determined that there was a slightly more level area to the north east and Bob edged the course in that direction as their horizontal velocity diminished.

"Altitude at two thousand meters and dropping. We're about twenty meters per second outside suicide burn. Good going boss."

"Keep your head on the stats Alpha Two." Bob said quietly as he gently turned the ship towards vertical and engaged the landing legs. "Gear down."

The ground was near enough to make out details now, even spotting Jeb's disused stage that had survived one of his many trips here. Below their shadow rose to meet them.

"Nearly there." Bob muttered. "Easy, easy...."

Gently tweaking the engines he edged the horizontal velocity down and down and soon the drift was gone.

"One hundred meters." Loddan whispered, intent on his display.

"I've got a minor alert light from the system control Captain." Gernand said, a worried tone from his voice. Bob checked briefly, but it seemed to be door servo control systems. Nothing to worry about yet. Just don't let anything break before they touchdown!

"Understood Alpha Three. Picking up some dust."

The lower camera views were soon blocked by dust billowing up from the exhaust plumes, but the radar showed a plot of the surface below them. Looked level. Slowly Bob brought it in and watched as the simulation display showed the landing legs reaching the surface. A slight jarring as one leg took more load than another soon evened off and he watched the hydraulics displays as he eased off the engines. Finally the engine lights flicked out and the ship settled, a little off kilter, but still fairly level.

"And we're down!" Bob said with a grin, mashing the button once more to clear the acceleration warning. He could hear cheering, muted through the hatches to the other pods, as the crew celebrated their touchdown. The first Base on the Mun was down in one piece!

"All right, way to go bossman!" Loddan said, punching the air. "That's what I call flying!"

"Heh, thanks, and lets get set up to get this skycrane off us shall we?"

"Sure thing boss." Loddan hit the comms again and soon his voice was coming over the PA once more. "All crew stay in your seats. We're detaching the tri-coupling and lifting the skycrane free. We'll be clear in a few minutes. Standby."

This was more automatic. The skycrane did have a cockpit, but not of it's own. The escape ship was mounted up on top of it so someone could fly it from there, but the crane itself was purely a remote controlled assembly.

"OK, we've got two engines out, fuel loss on the tanks. Down to two tanks and on maybe twenty percent. We're good for launch. You need me to stabilize the fuel between them boss?"

Bob shook his head.

"Two engines are fine for this. It weighs a heck of a lot less than the base! OK, standby to decouple."

They went through a check of systems first, just to be sure, but this was merely the final clearing of the base after all. Finally Bob got the skycrane ready and released the clamps. There was a sickening crunch and lights flashed throughout the base.

"Warning, Warning, hull stress detected on central spar." the computer intoned.

"Oh Kod, the docking ports have failed." Loddan said over the alert. "I'm reading red signals across the board on two, one has good power and systems but is under a heck of a stress!"

"Lifting the Skycrane." Bob said, engaging the engines.

The tug lifted smoothly off the base, but a few twangs and thumps marred it's travel as bits of the docking apparatus fell back on top of the base.

"Are we OK?" Bob said while steering the Skycrane clear of the base.

"I think we..."

Loddan's answer was interrupted as the base lights flickered again, snapped out completely, then came back at half power.

"I've lost remote control of the Skycrane!" Bob almost yelled "I need my board back now!"

Power systems were re-routed, comms brought back online, then finally Bob's control board was back on once more. With a sigh he watched the ship, which had only drifted on the course he'd set it on thank heavens, and stabilized it, cancelling it's slide and bringing it in for a touchdown.

"It's down, remote control terminated. What the hell happened?" Bob said fiercely.

"Checking." Loddan said quietly, focused on his controls. "Gernand thinks the problems with the docking ports overloaded something in the power systems briefly, then that messed with the computer.... Damn... The computers toast! I can't get a re-boot. Backups aren't responding. We're on manual only. Comms are back, we've got access to internal power distribution, but that's about it."

Bob groaned and settled back in his seat.

"Never rains huh?" He said. "Well, get everyone on maintenance duty. I want this ship checked stem to stern... if we have a stern. And you are going to go over and check out the damage above and on the skycrane."

"Roger boss. I'll get suited up."

This was not the great day Bob had hoped for. Now he had to fill in Gene on what was happening to his station!

[Patupi]

Licking Wounds

Loddon eased his jets and lifted free of the Base. Here it looked good. No damage visible, no burns or anything showing. But above... He looked up and saw a bulge on the side of the tri-coupler mount and frowned. This was not going to be good.

"I'm ascending up to check the coupler." He said into his mike.

"Roger EVA One." Bob answered. "Be careful, we're still getting sporadic spikes on the power line. Something must still be wrong out there."

"I will."

Up he went and looked down on the connector. It wasn't pretty. Two of the docking ports had been jammed down, their magnetic grapples visibly distorted around the rim as the whole port's edge was crumpled.

"Looks like when they decoupled only one worked. The others were effectively immediately crushed by not only the full weight of the Skycrane but also probably the actuation systems on the crane. Must have been a heck of a jolt! They've been driven into the assembly mount!"

"So... no way to salvage the tri-coupler?"

"No, sorry Bob, I think they're going to have to redesign the transport to land beside us. I was never keen about something that heavy docking on top of the base anyway. We do have one docking port left up here that looks intact, but I wouldn't want to trust it."

The original aim was to have several small ships here, each able to land on top of the base. With three docking ports in a triangle on both base and lander the engineers thought that docking would be easy to align. The simulators showed it worked, though it took some skill to land right.

Then the designers ran across the council and the lander designs got bigger and bigger as the needs went up. The current transport design was over five times the size of the original one and the base's docking port wasn't really rated for that load. Even before this incident there had been talk about just landing beside the base and hooking hoses up instead. Now that seemed the only option.

"I really don't think there is any way to fix this Bob. At least not to get all three working again. And the one left is off center. We can't land anything heavy up here, it'd cause lateral stresses. Sorry."

"That's OK EVA One. Right now we need to figure out what happened. I want to know how the power spikes got past the surge protectors. We should have been safe."

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too. Look, I'm going to check out the skycrane. What's the situation with that?"

"Well, saving the whole thing? Probably not an option as it was never designed for long term use, but you should check out the escape ship. The skycrane's systems were incompatible with the base, but the escape ship's computer might be useful as a backup here. Be tricky as the thing doesn't have a docking port. We'd have to rip it out of the ship and cart it over by hand, then re-install it. Not a simple task in a space suit."

"True. I'll check it out."

Loddan adjusted his RCS and flitted out across the grey plains towards the landed Skycrane.

***

The Command pod was rather packed. Only Loddon wasn't present as he was still outside.

"I know Gene," Bob said into the mike, "The crew just got back from the check of the ship. Gernand and Caldin offered to carry on the check up in a few minutes. We want to be sure."

"And you have no idea what caused the problem?" Gene's voice came over the speakers.

"Well, the computer has some kind of issue, and the power fluctuations were what killed it, probably by exacerbating an existing problem. It seems that whatever it was spiked the system so bad it got the backups. I'm not sure how that happened. As to the power spike itself? It's a bit of a guess but we're pretty sure it was some kind of feedback from the actuators on the docking mechanism. From Loddan's suit-cam pics it looks like the hydraulics went nuts when we tried to undock, and when they let loose it caused the actuators to behave like generators. It was so sharp a jolt it overloaded the surge protectors in the docking assembly."

"The entire assembly's fried?" Gene asked.

"Two out of three ports, and some of the auxiliary systems too. Those we think we can fix, so the remaining port should be functional, but it's off center so won't take much weight without straining the system."

"Hmm..." Gene pondered. "How about we send up a replacement computer on a probe core, then land it on the remaining docking port? That should give you operational status again at least. It would be a bit of a jury rig, and be rather exposed to radiation damage and micro-meteorite impacts, but it would work."

Bob glanced at the display and raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a minute Gene, Loddan's calling. This might be news about the skycrane." He flicked the switch and let Loddan in on the conversation. "Loddan, what'ya have for us?"

"Not good news I'm afraid. The skycrane is OK, pretty much untouched, but I'm afraid the nav comp in the escape ship is toast. Must have been fried by the same power spike as our computer. Manual systems work, but trying to use this, even just as an escape ship, would not be easy. I'd suggest we get rid of it just to be sure. If the system is badly fried it's faintly possible something could go nuts if we leave it sitting out here."

"OK, but if the computers gone how do we get rid of it?"

"Heh, that's easy. I launch it then bail. On low thrust I should be able to RCS out of there and let it just cruise on out, run out of fuel and lithobraking will dispose of the debris for us."

A raucous laugh from Dansey caught Bob's attention and he glared at him. For once Dansey's face fell and he looked sheepish. Miracles never cease!

"And if it goes nuts on you while you're inside trying to launch it?"

"Bob, I'm already inside it to check it out. I'd like to dump it now, just to be sure. I don't like the idea of a damaged vessel sitting here so close to the base. Let me dump it, please?"

"Well, we were intending to get rid of it, but I think the plan was to launch it into orbit to be used as a personnel shuttle or something. *sigh* OK, OK Loddan, go for it. Just be real careful, please?"

"Oh, only 'cos you asked nicely Bob."

A light chuckle from Caldin bought a smile to Bob's lips.

"So, you'll need the probe then?" Gene added, once Loddan was finished.

"Yes, looks that way Flight. Thanks. Let me know when it's ready."

"Will do Alpha One."

Everyone relaxed visibly once A solution was found, even if it was a ways off happening yet.

"Um, Sir?" Caldin said quietly. "Maybe me and Gernand had better get on the safety sweep? The earlier the better, right?"

"Yeah, sure Caldin. Let me know what you find."

Caldin grinned and bounced out of the room, Gernand following on behind a little more slowly, shaking his head. His grin said he seemed to like Caldin's attitude at least.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

As you've probably gathered I had a little problem with the Munbase Yeah, I planned on having a vertical docking port and thought 'Wow, these tri-way adaptors are perfect for docking ports! I can get both the lander and the base with precisely the same layout of ports!' Well, for once it seems I missed testing this part of the system before launching and when I released the Skycrane... well, you can see the result above. Seems KSP doesn't like multiple docking ports releasing at the same time, no matter how you do it. I tried both undock and decouple on joint action groups, even both at the same time... nothing worked. Just leaves one remaining port each time

Then we come to the second... minor design problem. I designed and tested this thing assembled, base and crane... and for some reason only checked on the base with the crane attached. Yeah, you may have guessed the problem. The base only has hitch-hiker containers, no command capsule or probe core! NO CONTROL! Gah, I couldn't believe I'd done that, but it seemed to fit so well with the docking port disaster that I kept it in. I don't like using quick saves except to avert KSP Crashes or problems with KSP or mods themselves and how they work. That doesn't mean I haven't done it, just not very much in this AAR. In fact I can only think of a hand full of times I've quick loaded throughout the whole thing. Not bad going I think.

(EDIT:Is it my imagination or have the number of views/posts on the forum as a whole gone way down after the holidays?)

Edited January 11, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Cleaning up.

Fingers danced over the controls, beeps felt rather than heard as the capsule was depressurized, and displays lit with warnings.

'WARNING- THROTTLE OVER-RIDE NOT RECOMMENDED.' Was prominent amongst them, but others about over pressure on the fuel tanks and dumping Oxygen reserves were flashing, as well as others.

"OK, lets get this going." Loddan muttered and hit activate on the panel.

It felt odd to be instructing the electronics rather than directly activating the engines, even if the computer itself wasn't working. He felt the ship leave the ground at a steady one third gravity, just enough to break Mun's grip and sail skyward. He then made sure the controls were locked and reached up to open the hatch.

"I'm bailing Alpha One. See you soon!" He said as he swung the hatch wide and crawled out.

Activating his RCS he threw himself clear and watched as the Escape Rocket soared away overhead. I'd probably hit so hard there wouldn't even be any wreckage!

Steadying his flight he burned hard with his Monopropellant to cancel the velocity that the ship had already gained when he bailed and soon he was coasting back to base. On the way down he got a good look of the land with the base, the skycrane... and off far to the left he realized that was probably VKM One. Didn't Jeb refuel that thing?

"Hey Alpha One. Mind if I take a detour? If we cart the VKM One back to base maybe I can cannibalize some gear from that? At least it's fully functional."

There was a pause on the line and Loddan wondered if they were thinking he was nuts out here or something.

"Well, how much RCS do you have in your flight pack EVA One?" Bob replied eventually. "I don't want you close to your limit."

"Oh don't worry about that. This is only slightly further than back when Jeb rescued me from VKM One in the first place. Back then I had about half a tank left. This should be easy."

"Heh, you want to salvage your old ride huh?" Came Dansey's jovial tones.

Loddan rolled his eyes.

"Not really Dansey. Frankly I think we might be able to scrap it. Is it even possible to build stuff up here from parts? We could make ourselves a new ship from bits and pieces!"

"Er, I don't think that's going to work Loddan." Bob said uncertainly. "We simply don't have the equipment. About all we have here is a simple welding kit and I think it's only good for certain materials. Trying to build something from scratch... we'd need at least both a tig and mig setup, let alone any more complex materials. That doesn't even begin to account for non-metallic assembly that..."

"OK OK! I'm sorry I asked!" Loddan interrupted, chuckling. "A simple no would have been good enough."

"Well, I can ask Dunkel to see if he knows of a way, but likely it'll take a while to get any of that kind of gear shipped up to us. Something to think about for later, huh?"

"Yeah," Loddan said as he circled in towards the VKM One, "Maybe one day we could even be self-sufficient up here?"

"One day, maybe. Not today. Supplies will last only so long. The sooner our transport ship arrives the better in my books!"

With a shake of his head Loddan settled to the ground beside his capsule and tried to see what was still functioning.

***

Seanbur gazed through the window and shook his head. He was really here, on the Mun. Heck, this wasn't even a 'trip', he was stationed here at an honest to Kod Munbase! They were finally doing it, finally extending Kerbals reach permanently off Kerbin! The thought was incredible!

"Seanbur, ya seen Caldin laddie?" A burr laden voice called from the hatch out of pod three.

"Um, no Gernand. Not since the maintenance check was finished. I'm hoping the systems let us access the science pods soon. I'd like to start work!"

"I thought old Jeb had done loads a science in these 'ere crater back when he checked out this area over eight months ago?"

Seanbur sighed and looked back out the window.

"True, true. There are some things left to do in the area, but not much. Really? I'd like a rover so I can explore and study the regolith of different regions! Think of what we could do. Range far and wide, study the whole makeup of the Mun! I wish they'd get the vacuum proofed wheels working right."

"Aye, well last I heard Dunkel had simple wheels down. It was the motors for 'em that were giving him jip! I think I heard him cursing the 'Damned shoddy coils' on the things a couple o' days ago."

"Hmm, maybe I could get them to send up a simplistic rover? I mean, if we had RCS on it we wouldn't need motors on the wheels, right?"

Gernand blinked.

"Ye ha' any idea how much Monopropellant ya'd burn laddie? That's a terrible idea!... Why dinnae I think o' it?"

He chuckled, slapped Seanbur on the back and headed back off down the corridor looking for Caldin. Seanbur went back to pining for Lithospheric science.

Soon.... Soon...

***

Bob peered through the window and watched as Loddan roared up off the ground and 'hopped' towards them. It was a little nerve wracking to watch the engines burn so near the base but Loddan was a pretty good pilot and put the little ship down bare meters from the Base. Bob could feel it through his feet when VKM One touched down outside! Quite a thump!

"Good landing Loddan, now get back in here. We're going to go over with Gernand what exactly we're going to do with that ship of yours. There are a few options."

"Righty-ho Alpha One. Be back soon, just let me shut it down."

"Flight to Munbase Alpha. Do you read?"

Bob hit respond on his panel and answered Gene.

"I read you Flight. How are things down there?"

"Not too good. The council is not pleased at all! They were counting on some nice shots of the transports landing on the munbase couplers for their posters. Seriously though, I think the funding is faltering in places. The Jool mission is fully funded, but, yet again, the council is pushing for re-usable vessels and a less costly launch system."

"Hmmm, I hear you Gene. Heck, even Loddan is getting in on it. He was wanting to start building ships up here! You might want to ask Dunkel what we'd need to get started on that. Heck, we don't even know if there are any ore deposits around here we could mine to use!"

"Construction on the Mun... and interesting idea. I think I could sell it to the council certainly, but I'll talk to Dunkel and Wernher first to see what they think. I don't want to try to sell something only to find it isn't possible after it's approved! Thanks Bob. So, any change on the Base status?"

"No, afraid not. Computer is still down and Caldin had another look at it an hour ago. It's not recoverable. Let us know when the replacement computer pod is ready. We could do with it."

"Roger Alpha One, we'll keep you apprised. Right now Best go over a detailed status report for the record now things have calmed down a little."

"Understood Flight." Bob said tiredly and called up the base information screens, tying into a laptop to get something operational. OK, have a pen ready? Then I'll begin...."

Edited January 13, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Shop Class

Gernand whistled a ditty as he ripped pieces of equipment off the old VKM One. Soon a pile of small equipment and one or two large parts were strewn around the ground near the lander as he worked.

"Aye, that'll do. Hey Bob!" Gernand called on the mike.

"I read you Alpha Three... I mean EVA One. You know, with the number of EVAs we're going to be doing up here I think Mission Control might want to rethink the identification system. It's going to get confusing!"

"Heh, know what ya mean laddie. Anywho, I'm mostly set up here. Can ye get Caldin on the blower and tell him to pick up most of this junk and bring it in? I'm going to fit the drilling rig and some lights on the base while I'm out here. 'S a beautiful day for it!"

Gernand could hear Bob talking off mike, then he came back.

"Sure Gernand, just don't burn a hole in your suit! We only have so many spares up here, and it aint easy to fix them."

"Sure sure, your just saying that 'cos I'll likely be the one to be doing the fixin'!"

Shaking his head Gernand got back to work and hefted one of the two Mining units up, rigged up a simple harness, and slung it onto his back. He'd have this base mining in no time. Heck, it already came with a Kethane converter. The original plan was for rovers to be sent that could mine far afield, mine their stuff, then bring it back here to be turned into rocket fuel. Now they were landed on a sizeable plain of Kethane deposits why not just cut out the middle man eh?

After a brief jog over to the base he swung the miner back off his back and balanced it on his knee, pressing it up against the hull and started welding. He'd couple the fuel lines in later from the inside.

***

Looking up Wernher frowned at the quickly assembled rocket.

"Not mine best vork I'm sure, but it vill do ze job."

"Don't worry, it's over designed, it'll get there fine." Gene said.

Wernher just glared back at him. Someone informing him about a design HE made? Huh! He was well aware of it's operational parameters.

"Vell, just be careful with ze launch Gene. I want them to regain control quickly. If something went wrong up there now and them without any computer support... I dread to think!"

"You mean 'something vent wrong' I think. You're slipping Wernher."

The aging scientist rolled his eyes.

"Ach! Vill you stop it with that! I just have been focusing on my dialect, alright? I'm improving myself. Vhy does everyone assume my accent is an affectation?"

"I have no idea Wernher, no idea." Gene said, looking anywhere but at Wernher right now. "I mean, you've only been working here for... what?... Thirty years now?"

"Humph! Vell vhatever you say Things vill only improve with time and practice. Now I have some orbital calculations to do. If you don't mind" and he stomped off.

Maybe Gene was needling him a little too much of late, but he admitted to himself it was stress related. Dealing with the council was a significant problem. On other news he'd just received a design, from Seanbur of all people, for a new vehicle. A rover. It was a little rough around the edges, but Dunkel could fix that up. Well, it was a 'next project' that was cheap enough that the Council couldn't cancel it on a whim at least.

***

With a smile Gernand twisted the lamp fixture 'just so' and then hammered the last crimp in to hold it in place, then got the welder up and fixed it permanently. When the glow faded and his faceplate faded from it's auto-darkened state he perused his work.

"Ha! Nay bad if I dinae say so m'self. HEY BOB! Give the Tertiary circuit a tug so I can see if these wee jobbees work!"

"OK OK, no need to shout Gernand." Bob muttered on the other end and Gernand smiled. Hey, he wasn't a bad boss to work under any-how.

For several seconds nothing happened so he, automatically, looked up at the light and....

"GAAAH! Oh, you just did that on purpose didn't ya!" Gernand said, blinking the spots from his eyes fiercely.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You asked me to engage the circuit so I engaged the circuit. It's not my fault you weren't ready. Anyway, when you can see again, please come back in. I need a final count of the materials we have to hand for our jury-rigged repair. As long as it lasts until the Probe core KSC is sending gets here I'll be happy. We just need a way to tie in our laptops to control the various systems till then."

"Aye, well most are already online." Gernand said, as he very carefully stepped down the ladder and looked up at the base. "And this worked out perfect! Course, we could do with more. Maybe KSC can send up some for us?"

Gernand stepped around the base a little to admire his handiwork.

"Gernand? Seriously? You want KSC to send a whole rocket just to give you some lamps? Heck, even adding them to the probe rocket would be a bit much. I understand it's already on the pad."

"Aye, well it was worth a try. I'm heading in, see ya soon Bob."

One last look at the marvel of a whole base on the surface of another world... OK, another moon, and Gernand stepped back inside. The interior corridors and habitats reminded him too much of a cramped version of KSC itself. Outside he could really feel the ambiance of the Munar plains.

Still, he was here at least.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Patupi
Commas! And when to use them

[KSK]

To misquote David Scott - 'Nothing like a little engineering on the Mun'!

Too bad the tricoupler didn't work - that would have been neat to see. I've never had much luck with that set up either, I always seem to have at least one torn off docking adapter drifting through space after undocking.

Good to see the base going well - hope the recycling efforts help to get the Council off Gene's back!

[Patupi]

Yeah, and it seems I didn't learn my lesson. I've recently realized that I used a bicoupler on a current mission in the same way without thinking about it.... Still haven't tested separation of that yet *crosses fingers*. Definitely going to be quicksaving that prior to undocking!

[Patupi]

Munar Base Computer Probe

Loddan sat at the secondary command seat in the Central Command Pod and went through final checks. It had been decided, after much debate, that they couldn't reliably rip out the engines or fuel tanks from the VKM One. The computer systems also weren't compatible, and frankly were a bit below par. It had been a thrown together prototype to test the mining systems and really wasn't much aid to them right now. Gernand had already stripped it of most of it's fuel and whatever else they were likely to need and now Loddan was finishing tying in the ship to the remote access terminal... ie his laptop. The Base's computer still wasn't operational of course.

"Caldin? I've got another power spike." Loddan said, watching the light on the power supply for his laptop flicker and a red light blink on. "Are you messing with the battery control systems again?"

"It's OK." Came Gernand's voice. "I got it! She'll do what I say. Or she'd better!" A clang was heard far away in one of the adjoining pods. "I think I got her listening to me. Shouldn't have any more troubles."

"I feel so much better now you've learned repair techniques from Jebediah." Loddan said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm just about set up to dump the VKM One. What's left of her anyway. As long as the system is going to be stable for a few minutes?"

"Aye, she's running smooth. Don't want to wake our esteemed Captain!"

"Give Bob a break, he's been working solid for over twelve hours! Well... here goes."

With a few clicks he activated the little ship's systems and plotted a simple arcing course, then hit ignite. He felt the shudder as the ship launched, bare meters from the base. A glaring light flashed in through the window opposite the hatch briefly, then faded up and away as VKM One sailed off on it's final voyage.

"It's a shame we don't have any seismic sensors on this thing. That things going to make a heck of a thump when it impacts."

"Aye, dinnae worry. I'm sure once they do send seismic sensors up here sometime you'll find something else to crash so we can use them."

Loddan rolled his eyes while monitoring the ship's course. Yeah, he could work with Gernand, though his sense of humor might take some getting used to.

***

"3... 2... 1... Liftoff!"

With a muted roar the small ship blasted off the pad and headed into the heavens. Gene shook his head as he watched it on the monitors.

"I hope it's enough." He muttered

"They'll be fine Boss." Bill said, coming up beside him. "You know Bob, he'll manage. Um, I've been hearing odd things coming out of Wernher's office. What's up?

Gene turned to Bill and frowned.

"What, the rover? Well, it's only in preliminary designs, but the launch system is pretty standard. It's not very heavy..."

"No, not the rover. I've been hearing something about him freezing people?"

Gene sighed.

"No, no freezing. It's a metabolic thing. Look, I was trying to keep this under wraps. It's pretty early days yet and Wernher isn't sure it's going to work." Bill blinked uncomprehendingly back. "OK, you know the problems with life support for interplanetary missions? Well, we're considering putting Kerbals into a state of suspended animation for such long trips. The science is good, copied from the Engmar plains bear if I remember right, but Wernher has been having trouble with the metabolic stabilization. We can keep rodents suspended in tests, but their biological functions don't stabilize well over time. He's had them under for two months in one test, with the creature only aging a week, but in that same test two other rodents died from metabolic destabilization. It's a 'work in progress'."

"And we're considering this for Kerbals?"

Gene nodded, then turned back to the display as the probe ship lanced through the heavens heading for the Mun.

"We risk a lot already in space flight. If he can get the risks down to an acceptable level it'll mean realistic travel over year long voyages. Do you really want to waste a year or two of your life for each trip to,say Jool? I think he can get it reliable. Don't worry, I won't send people up on dangerous equipment."

"I know Gene, it just seems weird." Bill said, joining him in watching the probe on the screen as the boosters separated. "But you know Bob isn't going to be happy about it. I don't think he'd ever get in a capsule like that!"

"Maybe not, and I know we'll have kerbonauts who'll refuse it, but it will make long range travel easier. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

With a final cough the boosters on the screen died and separated, leaving the probe to continue on to the Mun. Soon Bob would have his computer.

***

"I have it on the board." Bob said, Caldin in the XO seat as Loddan took a nap in Pod Four. "Probe is at two thousand and ninety kilometers and closing. Trajectory looks good."

"Er, do you have full telemetry Alpha One?" Milton said tentatively.

"Roger Telemetry. We have full feed on her."

"Understood. Transferring control."

A few seconds later Bob's laptop lit up with green indicators and he had control of the inbound probe. Now it was up to him to land it! He guessed in about an hour and a half they'd find out how good a pilot he really was.

***

On the screen the probe's camera showed it's view of the Munar surface rushing towards it as it descended past twelve kilometers.

"One minute till braking maneuver." He said to the empty Command Pod. Loddan was due to wake soon, but Caldin was assisting Gernand in getting the systems ready to tie into the probe core if... when he docked it.

Slowly it arced down and he angled it's engines around for the burn. Waiting... waiting... finally...

"Engines engaged."

The video on his screen shuddered from vibrations as the little craft burned hard, it's two little rockets shaking it violently. Braking was fairly quick, going from over three hundred meters per second to hovering in a matter of less than twenty seconds. With such high thrust to weight ratio it was tricky to keep the little ship hovering steadily, but slowly he brought it in closer to the base. Outside a faint glow showed the engines were getting closer. He hoped their low output wouldn't melt anything up there!

"Twenty meters... Eighteen meters..." Bob muttered.

"Doing good Alpha One. Telemetry reads good." Milton said quietly.

"Roger Telemetry. Ten meters. Docking port engaged, power steady. Clamps ready."

The little ship hovered over the ruined ports, aiming for the one remaining docking port that functioned. Slowly it nudged down, spurts of RCS jetting from around it as it corrected it's course. Landing this on the ground was a heck of a lot more difficult than docking in orbit! But after a nerve wracking couple of minutes he felt the clunk and the docking ports latched.

"Engines off!" He said, sighing with relief.

Leaning back in his chair he wiped the sweat from his brow. He was getting too old for this!

"We got! WE GOT IT!" Came the cry on the comms, and Bob grinned as he saw the base's monitors slowly light up with boot up screens.

They were back in business!

[Patupi]

Yeah, docking on the surface is a git! Didn't help that the base wasn't level either.

Oh, and in case anyone was wonding, the scene with the skycrane lifting off the base had to be 'refilmed' as with the panic during the actual disaster... I mean during the actual mission, I never took any screenshots till it was all over. So you might, in a few of the scenes, notice some IFFs of another Munbase off in the distance. I landed the second one fairly close to give similar terrain for the retake, (which had exactly the same problems... seems inherent in the tricouple... maybe just on the surface? I dunno.) but this lead to the possibility of getting the original in the shot as well. I did fairly well in that regard, but there are at least two shots where you can see both Munbases in shot Ah well.

[Legendmir]

Those last two pictures on the first page are beautiful XD

[Patupi]

I love a good scenic shot, and I have a few too many views of sunsets in KSP Well, you could say not enough I guess?

[KSK]

Blimey - that's some serious piloting right there. I enjoyed the glimpse behind the scenes at Mission Control too!

[mdatspace]

I have a Mun Base located only 10-20 km from your site. It is near the basin rim.

Look out for anomalous features.

[Patupi]

KSK: Curiously I've never had any difficulty with docking, though that was the first time I tried it in a gravity field (except rovers) and it was tricky. Flying? That's another matter entirely! Me and planes don't generally do well. I've flown small planes with low part counts, even made SSTOs, but designing or flying anything bigger than 50parts seems a hit or miss with me. I've also been... problematic with interplanetary course plotting. Sometimes it's good, and I know all the theory... but then sometimes it all goes south. Often due to over-confidence on my part *chuckles* You'll see that soon enough in the tale.

mdatspace: Yeah, that was the aim. They were going for a spot on the edge of the Kethane field, but I was hoping to get a rover heading North Hasn't happened yet. The first 'protorover' they get using RCS can't really go that far on it's fuel supply, and I'm only recently thinking of upgrading to electric rovers, despite having researched rover wheels a while back. Got sidetracked methinks

[mdatspace]

mdatspace: Yeah, that was the aim. They were going for a spot on the edge of the Kethane field, but I was hoping to get a rover heading North Hasn't happened yet. The first 'protorover' they get using RCS can't really go that far on it's fuel supply, and I'm only recently thinking of upgrading to electric rovers, despite having researched rover wheels a while back. Got sidetracked methinks

The terrain north of your base is rough. I have had 2 rover accidents there (Nobody hit the ground too hard). All those craters, combined with steep mountains. You are not too far off, however.

[Patupi]

Well, I guess I'm not giving much away but the 'protorover' that's coming landed just outside the crater and drove in over the rim, and later on a sort of rover (complicated) went and came back over the rim using combination of rockets and wheels, so I have at least gone in that direction. But I purposely didn't look up the exact coordinates so I could 'explore' to the north and accidentally find it. (The Easter egg I mean)

Anyway, I'm going to try to do another entry tonight (if I can get the time), especially as I'm trying to finish off the Munbase thread and move onto the Jool mission. There's the protorover being delivered to the Munbase, and their transporter arriving before Munbase Alpha part is done.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

(OK, I missed an entry last night, just too tired, but doing this morning instead.)

Prototype Science Rover Touchdown

"Well, there she is." Bill said proudly, waving a hand at the ship on the pad. "Whadya think?"

"Uh..." Patzer said, delaying his response.

He stared over the weird, stubby craft and had difficulty containing his... enthusiasm.

"Are those wheels?"

Bill chuckled.

"Got that huh? Yup, this is the Prototype Science Rover, or Protorover we like to call it. It's Caldin's baby, though me and Dunkel worked some modifications in."

The thing looked odd in the extreme, the four, long stems the wheels were mounted on stuck out one side of the craft, like a crab stuck on a stick Patzer thought. It looked like it should be struggling for it's life or something.

"They don't look... um... compact." He said carefully.

"Well, no... plus they aren't powered. We're having difficulty with wheels working for any reliable time in vacuum due to vacuum welding. I mean sure, we can get it to work for a day maybe, but there is enough pitting from VW to make the bearing surfaces wear out really fast. Plus motors seem even more susceptible. We have managed to get bearings to work, but they are a little... bulky."

Patzer looked at the large red and black wheels and nodded slowly.

"Anyway, they work, it just has to use other means to maneuver on the Mun."

"The Mun?" Patzer interrupted, eyes wide. "I'm going to the Mun?"

Bill chuckled.

"Oh yeah, Bob'll take good care of you. Anyway, range on this is pretty limited as it runs on RCS to maneuver. Trials also seem to indicate you'll need RCS or the integral gyros to stabilize it too. Careful with that though. Dunkel managed to get the test model to stand up on it's rear wheels on the torque wheels alone! If you leave SAS on when changing slope you could find yourself with a serious lack of traction as some wheels leave the ground!"

"Huh... I'm assuming I'm getting training for this, right?"

"Well, yes... but the council is pushing for rapid launch. Hence moving the ship to the pad. Launch is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow evening."

"TOMORROW?" Patzer blurted, then quietened a little, though the panic was still evident in his voice. "Tomorrow? How can I learn an entirely new ship by tomorrow? Isn't there anyone trained on this? Say, someone who tested it during construction and testing?"

Bill's eyes seemed unable to meet Patzer's and he licked his lips.

"Well... not exactly. Dunkel tested the one third scale model remotely and he isn't rated a kerbonaut. You see... there hasn't been a lot of testing. The design was finished... yesterday."

Patzer looked up again at the rover, balanced on end on the top of the squat rocket assembly.

"Yesterday... and it's launching tomorrow. Isn't that... a little quick?" he said, a twitch forming in his right eye.

"Yeah... a little... to be honest Gene isn't happy about it. Apparently when he put the idea for the rover before the council they ran with it... and demanded it to be launched 'as soon as is kerbally possible' to quote Councillor Rasmussen. Sorry you got stuck with this. Luck of the draw. But in defense all tests show it is a remarkably nimble and sturdy little craft. You should have no problems."

"Until it explodes." He said quietly, still staring at the Protorover.

"Hey, don't look at it like that. Come on, we've had very few explosions at KSC... recently."

Slowly Bill escorted the rather sad kerbal to the training center to go over the details of his ship. This was going to be a long day!

***

Patzer was sitting in the canteen later that morning when a nervous looking Bill approached him.

"Um... Patzer? You might want to head to Mission Control."

Blinking Patzer looked a little confused, then his eyes got rather wide.

"Oh no... They didn't?" he said rather quietly.

"I'm afraid so." Said a sullen Bill. "The launch has been re-scheduled for this afternoon. You better get what testing done you can in the next few hours, but first go see Gene in Mission Control and he'll fill you in on the mission details."

Bill looked almost embarrassed by the whole thing as Patzer headed off to the Mission Control building.

And that had been a really good breakfast too!

***

Well, five hours after learning he was going to go into space Patzer now found himself sitting in a capsule, fully suited up, and not that familiar with his rocke... rover.

This was not a good day!

"...and I'm telling you to send someone to find him! I need to talk to him now!" Came quietly over the comms circuit, obviously talking to someone else, perhaps on the phone. It sounded like Gene had left the line to Rover One open while he phoned. He certainly wasn't himself today! "No I don't want to wait. Don't put me on ho... Oh for heaven's sake!"

Patzer felt sorry for him, pushed into changing the profile of the mission, but he felt more sorry for himself. This wasn't the way he'd pictured his first spaceflight!

"T minus two minutes and c... counting." Milton said over the line. That should have been Gene but he was... occupied for a while.

Slowly Patzer went over his notes and leafed through the manual again and engaged a few final warm up procedures for the booster assembly. Oh no, not rushing anything here at all!

With difficulty he stopped his hands from shaking and gripped the main controls as the counter slid towards zero.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Liftoff!"

The familiar final countdown sounded and with a shudder the engines throttled up and lurched the awkward looking little craft off the pad, pressing Patzer into his seat.

He was on his way!

***

The Munar surface was getting closer and Patzer was getting worried.

"Um, Flight? Where are the spot-light controls? I can't find them in the manual."

There was a pause from Mission Control, never a good sign, but eventually Gene answered.

"I'm afraid the construction of the Prototype Science Rover was a little... rushed. I'm sorry to say external illumination, other than the forward headlights, couldn't be fitted in in the time."

"In other words, you forgot." Patzer said glumly. "You realize I'm coming in on the dark side, right? This is going to be a fun landing!"

Other than a few muttered comments on the necessary cutbacks and engineering limitations Gene didn't further comment and Patzer attempted to focus on the landing. It wasn't Gene's fault, Patzer was just mad at the situation. Still, he hoped the situation with the Council would be sorted out soon.

"Radar altimeter shows six kilometers. I'm commencing final braking maneuver."

The last stage attached to the rover burned again, the single poodle engine burning hard as the ship slowed down. It was nerve-wracking landing a ship without landing legs.

"Four kilometers, throttling down a little... Three kilometers."

Patzer watched the velocity and altitude fall, but felt rather nervous as it was almost pure black outside. Eventually he got his speed down to ten meters per second at a couple of hundred meters high and took a deep breath.

"Ditching last stage." He said, a slight tremor in his voice, and hit the switch.

The little ship shuddered and the last rocket engine detached and fell away and he engaged the RCS system. He had quite a few RCS jets on this thing and he carefully flipped it over ninety degrees to get the wheels level with the ground and burned hard on the monopropellant as he dropped.

"Easy... eeeeeaasy." He muttered as the radar showed the ground approaching.

*THUMP!*

It was a bit hard, even hard burning on the RCS had slowed him only gently, but the wheels handled it. Though to his right through the window he saw the burning remains of the last stage flickering in the dim starlight. Thank Kod he hadn't landed on that! Even without light he should have been looking down, not just relying on the radar! That had been lucky.

"I... I'm down Flight. I'm in one piece and still have over three quarters of my monopropellant left. Steering seems intact and RCS still functional. Proceeding to Munbase Alpha."

Cheering, actual honest to Kod cheering, came over the radio and Patzer actually started to feel good about himself and the mission. He was really here on the Mun! Hah, in your face Jebediah!

"Roger Protorover One. Good job. I'll patch you in to Alpha One for the rendezvous." Gene said, sounding much less stressed now at least.

Munbase, here I come!

Edited January 20, 2014 by Patupi
Captial T

[Patupi]

Protorover Arrival

With a slightly echoing thrum the RCS jets kicked in once more and Patzer started moving again, rolling gently across the Munar surface. Gene connected him with Bob at Munbase Alpha and they exchanged greetings. Before today Patzer hadn't met Bob, but he seemed a reasonable guy.

"So, this is really the first off-Kerbin rover Bo... Alpha One?" Patzer said as he gazed around the unfamiliar, and dark, landscape.

"Yes, yes it is Protorover One." Bob responded. "The base should be to your southwest, but proceed slowly and conserve fuel."

"Roger Alpha One." Patzer said, still grinning.

This was incredible! The faint bumps as the little vehicle drove across the grey dirt... oh, regolith wasn't it? Yeah. Have to read up on this stuff again! Heck, he'd only recently got the whole Apoapsis/Periapsis thing down. The written side of the tests for the KSC entrants exam were what he did worst on. Give him a seat behind a control panel any day!

Off to the left were a series of wide ranging hills. He guessed crater rims since straightforward hills were rare on the Mun (from what he remembered of that seminar last month). They looked a little jagged, but in the dim light it was difficult to be sure. Straining to see in this...

"WHOAAH!"

Brakes screached and Patzer threw the RCS in reverse as he saw the ground stop right in front of him. The rover slid to a stop a handfull of meters from the edge.

"Protorover One, what's wrong?" Bob's worried voice echoed in Patzer's helmet.

"Er, nothing Alpha One. Just reached the edge of the Eastern Crater I guess."

"No, you're already in the Eastern Crater. I'm guessing it's the minor crater that Munbase Alpha is in. I thought you'd landed inside that. I'll get with Flight and check our charts. So, Protorover One, do you think you can safely descend the crater rim?"

Patzer peered out ahead, then rolled the rover carefully up closer to the edge and looked left and right, to see what the slope was like nearby.

"Um, I think so. It's a little steep, but I think it's doable. I think I'm heading around to the west a little and take it there. The slopes a hair shallower there."

"Roger Protorover One, keep it steady."

Gently he backed the vehicle up, edged around to the right, then drove parallel to the crater for a while. It was tricky to see how the slope was when you were right up against it, but gauging how far he'd come and what he'd seen of the slope before, he found a spot he thought seemed best and headed north, away from the crater, then turned around carefully.

"OK, I'm heading down now." Patzer said as he rolled up carefully to the edge. "Engaging SAS... Torque is holding... Wow! The nose is lifting right off the ground... Um, the SAS sounds bad, I think it's really straining. Hang on, I'll try and level out."

Carefully as he went further over the rim and the slope edged downwards he nudged the torque controls down and down, till the wheels all touched as he rolled down the crater side. The system ceased it's whining, grating sound and Patzer felt a lot better.

"Picking up speed. No RCS needed here!" Patzer muttered. "Up to twelve meters per second. Thirteen. I'm braking, I don't want to loose control."

Braking had to be done carefully. A little too hard and the nose plowed into the dirt. He experimented with SAS still on, and even RCS briefly, and eventually managed to brake without flipping the craft end over end as it seemed to want to do.

"I'm steady at eleven meters per second Alpha One. The slope doesn't seem too long. Should only take a minute or two tops."

It took a little while but the ground did even out eventually, and after a few nasty moments when the rear wheels wanted to leave the ground, he stabilized with SAS again and turned carefully towards the Munbase IFF.

"OK, I've got the signal for the Munbase on my HUD. Good thing too. I'd never see anything that far away in this darkness."

"Er, Protorover One? You haven't got your headlights on?"

Patzer blinked, then gulped. If his hands weren't both gripping the controls he'd likely have slapped his face.

"I... Um... Engaging headlights." He said, wincing. Oh he'd never hear the end of this!

Up ahead he could see a glint off the Munbase structure, but it was still a was off yet. Still, with this level ground he'd be there in no time. Boosting a little with the RCS he jetted across the crater floor and headed for a meeting with the Munbase crew.

[ick98]

VKM meeting

*AWOOOGA AWOOOGA AWOOOGA!*

"Wha, who where what?" Jeb said, jerking up as the siren filled the little capsule.

With a click the horrible sound shut off and Gene's low tones wafted in.

"And now the collision warning test is complete. I'm sorry VKM Two, weren't you ready yet?"

Jeb attempted to keep the venom out of his voice while his heart beat backed away from it's frantic hammering.

"Obviously not Flight. I must have missed the memo." With a sigh he calmed himself a little more "So, I'm assuming it's time for the rendezvous. Is there a reason Milton didn't wake me as I requested?"

A poignant silence filled his headset and Jeb suppressed a grin. Eventually Gene replied.

"It seems there may have been a slight mis-communication." Gene said with somewhat more severe sounding voice than usual. At least it wasn't aimed at Jeb now! "But yes, we're set up for your rendezvous. Bob is just fine tuning the Munbase's orbit. Are you fully fueled?"

Jeb stared out across the regolith as he caught a sparkle through the window.

"Hold a second Flight." He took out his pad and gauged the navball for direction. "Flight, while I'm here shouldn't I test the pump equipment?"

"Test it with what? You'll need a ship to connect to."

"I was thinking VKM One would do for that. Might have to drill a mount for the new pipe connectors to plug into the fuel feeds on that, but it should work. That way if we ever need to use VKM One again it'll be fueled for a trip. Maybe the converter is messed up, but the engines works fine."

"That sounds good VKM Two. Hold a sec."

Jeb leaned back in his seat as Gene conferred with others at Mission Control.

"Operation approved VKM Two. You're go for a hop over to VKM One and a refuel test. After that Munbase Alpha says to 'Get your sorry butt out here pronto.', to quote the Captain succinctly."

"Oh I'm sure. Tell Bob I'll be up there in a about, what, Ten to twelve hours? Well add a bit for reaching Munar orbit and a little more to match orbits with Munbase at LKO. Say fifteen hours."

"I bow to your superior temporal assessment Major Jebediah. I'll have Milton plot a course anyway to see if we can match your estimate."

"Oh if you must Flight, if you must."

Jeb chuckled as he started warming the engines up. After a rather abrupt start it was looking to be rather interesting day.

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/016 Jeb preps to refuel Munbase Alpha.jpg

***

The roar of the engine was rather muted. Even at full fuel load it had an acceleration nearly three times Munar gravity, so he barely had to push fifty percent throttle to get off the ground easily. Curling over towards the IFF marker on his HUD Jeb gauged the distance by eye, then checked it on the flight computer, just to be sure. Not bad.

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/017 Wait, lets check out the old VKM-1 first.jpg

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/018 Landing.jpg

With a snap he cut the engines off and edged the craft around on the reaction wheels. Watching the ventral camera as he tipped retrograde he waited till the speed indicator started to climb as his ship swung lower in it's arc.

"Engaging descent burn." He murmured idly.

Reporting his condition to Mission Control was pretty automatic by now, even when he was pretty much doing this by feel. He slowed his descent, watching the twinkle of VKM One define itself as he grew closer till he cut all the horizontal velocity and just hovered overhead.

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/019 Try not to hit it.jpg

"I'm positioning for landing now Flight. Looks good. I'll try to put it down pretty close."

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/020 Got to get close.jpg

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/021 Perfect.jpg

The next minute was fun, but not too taxing. Jeb had done a lot on simulators of late and that, plus his experience on the Mun before, made his landing rather precise. Touching down he glanced over at the HUD and grinned.

"VKM One is within thirteen meters Flight. That close enough for you?"

"I'm sure it's close enough for you VKM Two, and that is what counts. You're go for EVA."

With a shake of his head for Gene's dry witticism Jeb double checked his suit, plugged his EVA Flight pack and opened the hatch. At least with this model they'd improved the Flight pack positioning a little. He didn't have to hang half out the hatch to lock it into place.

Still, best test out the more straightforward maneuvering systems.

"Descending the Mobility Enhancer now Flight." Jeb said, hearing groans on the line. No, he decided now was not the time to wax lyrical about ladders. Maybe next time. He didn't even have any of the new folding systems on this ship!

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/022 Jeb EVAs.jpg

Using the rungs it was fairly easy to descend the craft to the ground, though a little awkward to go around the bend in the craft due to it's bulky lower fuel tank. He almost gave up and used his RCS pack, but in the end found a way to climb around the corner without falling off.

Two gently cascading plumes of grey dust marked Jeb's boots touching Munar regolith once more and he gazed across at the VKM One just past the bulk of his own ship.

"I'm outside Flight, gonna grab one of the snap-fit connector pairs and the tool-kit."

"Roger EVA One. Don't drill a hole in your suit."

Jeb chuckled dryly but most certainly would be careful. This was hardly a joke after all.

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/023 The new fuel transfer pipes.jpg

The kit was mounted under the bottom rung of the ladder, one of three on this ship, and with that in hand he swung around to one of the three side tanks and the connector mounted there. He manually shut off the fuel feed to that connector, double checked the pressure, then started dismounting it behind the snap-fit connector. Thankfully the connector pair came off easily and he gently eased it up, over his shoulder, and slid it onto his back pack.

"OK Flight, one connector assembly and tool kit acquired. Heading over to the VKM One."

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/024 Put a connector on VKM1.jpg

He bounded over the surface to the older ship and shook his head. The Mark One miner had been put together a little quicker than his current ship. He could see where the fuel lines had sheered off close to the solar panels. Seems Loddan had attempted to bypass the panel and re-attach the lines, but it hadn't worked. Those things weren't designed to be mounted out here in space.

Unfortunately they also were a different size to his connector so he had to fasten this elsewhere. Putting down the tool kit Jeb looked over the tank.

"So, Milton. You have a schematic of the VKM One up there? Where on the lower section of the side pods should I go digging for an emergency fuel feed to tap into?"

The next few minutes were a back and forwards talk of plumbing, cooling manifolds and turbopump assemblies. Not Jeb's favorite topic of conversation, but at least familiar. Finally he took of an inspection plate and peered inside and found the line he needed. Couldn't reach it from the inspection plate, but at least he could see where he had to cut.

"OK, I got it Milton. Hang on while I cut a section of cover off."

Slowly Jeb pulled out the multi-cutter tool and fitted the jigsaw attachment. He carefully set the head to a quarter inch depth and went to work cutting a small hole, a little smaller in diameter than the snap-fit connector. Once that section of hull plate was removed he reached in and double checked, by feel, where the pipe fittings went to be sure he was getting the right feed line. Then he separated the connector into it's two parts and lifted his boot up to rest on the hull beside the hole.

Balancing the female coupling connector base there he whistled while he adjusted the junction behind it, then shut off the lines around the pipe he wanted and used a hand drill to make a hole in the pipe. Extending the fitting behind the coupling connector base he aligned it, using a foot to balance it in place, one hand to hold the coupler away from the hull and the other to reach for his tool kit again. Pulling out a welder he hooked it on one shoulder while mounting a tether on the line. God, he must look like some kind of juggler right now!

Chuckling to himself he carefully started the welder and began to draw a test bead on the edge. With a good contact he pressed the extended fitting against the hole he'd made and started welding the fitting in place. This was all old stuff to him, something he'd done countless times back in his old workplace. Not necessarily in vacuum though. Still, he hadn't lost his touch and soon the weld was complete and the fitting was securely mounted to the pipe. He cranked the handle and withdrew the mount for the rest of the coupling connector back till the housing pressed against the fuel tank. There! Perfect! Now he had a mount spot a male connector could fit to any time they wanted.

With a smile he lifted up the male part of the connector pair he had left after he'd welded the female part on and test clipped it in place. Fitted like a dream, though his gloves did get a tad warm. Yeah, heat didn't have many places to go up here did it? He'd have to be more careful welding in future otherwise he'd likely melt stuff nearby. The problems with lack of air convecting heat away, huh?

"OK, all set here Flight. I'm gonna plug a hose in and see if I can plug into one on my ship."

"Roger EVA One. You've made good time there."

"Come on, I'm owner of a scrapyard company. What'ya think, I couldn't handle this? Huh!"

After the mounting and welding, fitting a pipe up between the ships was simple, though the tension did make both the ships wobble once connected. He'd have to be careful when connecting in orbit. With nothing to stabilize it the two ships would likely wobble like crazy while he was pumping between them.

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/025 Then connect to VKM2.jpg

http://www.clayspaces.com/videogames/Munbase Alpha/027 Fuel transfer in progress.jpg

It took only a few minutes to pump fuel into the old capsule, and the systems worked fine. Now, with a removable connector on it you could dismount and mount it as often as you needed it. It was a simple matter to disconnect the male end and draw the hose back and coil it in it's niche.

"OK, I'm done here Flight. I'll get set up for the trip back to Mun... AFTER I've mined some more Kethane and filled up the tanks again."

"Roger EVA One." Gene said in response. "Catch up to you when you're ready to head back. Glad the operation was straightforward."

"Well, at least not hard shall we say Flight. Not quite straightforward, but it'll do."

Jeb started back up the ladder... sorry, Mobility Enhancer, towards his capsule once more. Just a bit of mining, processing and he'd be ready to head back. Just another day in the life of Jebediah, fuel delivery guy!

What is the name of this mod that transfers Kethane / fuel a spacecraft to another. That puts us in a ship, and pulls a hose type to another. I'm looking for him and not think. Sorry my english, I'm not American.