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

[KSK]

Beautiful!

Thanks for a most excellent bedtime read and here's hoping Jedwig gets himself a nice geeky girl!

[briansun1]

Bad french?

[Danish_Savage]

That just made my morning

[Patupi]

Bad french?

I mis-spelled Fau Pax... I mean faux pas

[Patupi]

Transfer home

With a smile Jeb settled back in his seat and went over the readouts. Seems his ship was still good to go. Good to know.

"Flight, I'm prepping for launch now." Jeb said while going over the fuel pressurization levels. "What's the weather like back there?"

"Cloudy with a hint of frustration Munar Four." Gene replied. "I'm afraid Wernher is attempting to get the atomic rockets going again. Suffice to say no luck in that regard as yet. I'd wait till he calms down before going for a chat when you get back. He's in no mood for fun and games."

"Message recieved and understood Flight. Fun and games... cancelled. Maybe we can do cake instead? There's always room for cake!"

"*Sigh* Jeb, I'm serious. Wernher is in no mood for jokes. He's not here right now, but knowing him he could very well be listening in." There was a pregnant pause, presumably while Gene waited for Wernher to break in on the line to confirm this. There was no interruption however. "Anyway, just be careful up there... and back here when you get home."

"Spoilsport!" Jeb said as he finished checking the engines.

There was no fixed time to launch as the plan was, as in previous Munar launches, to go into a stable orbit before plotting the Kerbin return vector. So Jeb wasn't as fixed on the clock as he was in other stages of missions.

"So, Flight. We ready to go?"

"I don't know Munar Four, are 'We'?" Gene answered.

Jeb's smile faded as he watched the view of the Munar surface through the ship's cameras.

"As the famous Physician once said... 'I don't want to go!' "

"Um, which physician would that be Jeb?" A different voice said over the line.

"Hey, Bob, nice of you to finally join us... Oh, the Doc? I dunno who actually."

"You're a regular font of information aren't you Jeb?"

Jeb could hear Bob sighing.

"Well, he must be pretty darned important to get a catch phrase though, right? I mean, I have one after all."

"I don't think 'YEEEE HAAHHH' counts as a catch phrase Jeb."

"No, not that one. The FAMOUS one. You know, first transmission from orbit etc?"

"What... 'Ow, this thing needs bigger hatches.'? Not too famous."

"Oh ha ha. I'm getting out of here before you start demeaning my good name."

"Too late for that." Bob managed to get in before Jeb hit the ignition switches.

With a muffled roar the engines lit and Munar Four leaped from the surface. Jeb almost immediately tilted over towards the horizon. The little ship had quite a high thrust and he didn't have to point too high above the horizon to keep some vertical acceleration while he built orbit speed up.

"Goodbye again girl. See you next time." He said touching the viewscreen with the rear view of the Munar Surface.

On the rear-view screen he could see the crater he'd landed in disappearing behind him as he raced across the Munar surface. Soon that crater would be occupied more permanently. He had mixed feelings as to whether he should be there for that. Him? Stay at a base and do science? Didn't seem like him, even if it was on the Mun.

His delta V picked up pretty quickly and soon he cut the engines. After a brief burn at Apoapsis he had his stable Munar orbit at twenty five kilometers and he and Caldin worked on his return burn.

"I got a pretty good burn for you Jeb." Caldin said his numbers were transmitted to Munar Four. "Should bring you back to thirty five kilometers at Kerbin. Nice little, gentle aerobrake and you're home."

"You wait till you try an aerobrake and tell me if any can be considered 'little' or 'gentle' Caldin." Jeb said with a chuckle while going over the numbers. Almost a full orbit away. Enough time to say goodbye to her.

***

It wasn't 'Gentle'.

"YEEEE HAAAHHH!" Jeb screamed, his chair rattling along with his ship as plasma flickered past the window.

"Nope, still n*Bzzt* a good catch ph...*crackle* Jeb." Bob said as the ionization started to take out the transmission. In general they hadn't had too much trouble with communications during descent, but some were worse than others, and aerobrakes were generally worse still. Mostly.

Jeb watched the flames outside dissipate before responding.

"Come on Bob, tell me you don't enjoy this?"

"Aerobraking? Kod no! I find space travel in general very enjoyable, but frying the air to slow yourself down? Count me out. It is often a necessity, I know, though I'd rather do my braking with boosters in general."

"Ah, you're just a wus Bob, REAL Kerbals aerobrake!"

"Hey, That's gonna be your catchphrase!" Bill yelled over the line.

"Heh, not too bad if I do say so myself. OK, sure Bill." He chuckled at his other friend. "So, you got bored of the simulator and came to mission control to annoy me?... I'm sorry, to keep me company?"

"Heh, definitely. And probably both. Do you know I actually got Seanbur to wear a five gallon hat? Got a photo to prove it! I swear, I'll get him dancing to Country and Eastern next!"

Jeb shook his head. Ever since the recovery team arrived to pick those two up from the Badlands and Seanbur practically leapt into the chopper to 'Get away from that Eastern munatic!' Bill had made it his life's work to convert Seanbur to the 'Way of the East'. Clint Westwood would be proud.

"Yeah, good luck with that Bill." Going over the current orbit Jeb found he was coming down pretty close to KSC. "Flight, I'm going to try to land on the western hills out beyond KSC. Probably won't need the chopper, just get the trucks out."

"Roger Munar Four, we'll see you back here in twenty minutes."

As Jeb did his final orbit he was left with the startling image of Seanbur, arms crossed, jigging to Eastern music. It'd take a while to get that image out of his head!

***

The view below was magnificent. Jeb never got tired of this! Plus, with the new maneouvering thrusters it was so much easier to position the craft for a really good scene out his tiny little window. Maybe they ought to invent a capsule with really big windows... for science of course!

"Read you at eighty kilometers and dropping Munar Four." Gene's serious tones said through the speakers. "Straighten up your attitude before you hit air again."

"Yes Mom." Thankfully Gene let that one go this time as Jeb got on with setting up for his descent.

He had to admit this was almost getting routine, and that sort of wrankled with Jeb. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of Kerbal engineering, boldly going where no Kerbal had gone before... but lately they were just going back to the Mun, again and again. Not that he was complaining, he liked the Mun. Still, to head off to another world like Jedwig had would be truly magnificent. They were still talking about Jool, but so far safety concerns on such a long voyage kept hampering the plans. Wernher was even suggesting they try to put a Kerbal into forced hibernation for such a long trip. Sort of like the giant, plains Gophers on the Northern steps. Well, if he could sleep in a cave for a year after binging on snacks for a solid month he'd be all for it... Somehow he doubted that was what Wernher was thinking of. It'd likely have far more tubes, wires and machines that go 'Ping!'

"One minute till outer atmosphere." Gene added a minute or so later.

Of course the actual 'hitting air' wasn't a sudden lurch. Slowly he watched instruments track the buildup of air outside the ship, and of course heat. As the air got denser and denser, and his descent was still getting faster due to gravity, the heat went up and up. Familiar rattles as the re-entry got serious almost relaxed Jeb, but he managed to keep his eyes open and monitor the descent, maintaining attitude throughout.

"Twenty five kilometers." Jeb reported. "Getting some plasma again. Not as bad this time. Gotta do more shallow entries."

"Maybe, but it's trickier to plan a landing spot the shallower you go Jeb." Caldin chimed in, sounding a little pre-occupied. Jeb guessed he was trying to keep track of Munar Four, which was notoriously difficult during re-entry. the plasma kept interfering with the radar.

"The plasma's letting up and I'm hitting the chutes." Not quite the normal radio ettiquette but Jeb was enjoying himself too much to pay much head to Gene's specifics of 'communications code'. "Chutes out and partially deployed. Looks like I'm coming in a little to the north, but still close enough to KSC for a truck I think. Just hope I don't hit the mountains! Don't want to pull a Jedwig."

"We see you Jeb. Don't worry, we'll be there shortly."

Soaring high across the mountains Munar Four's chutes streamed out behind him as his course arced ever downwards, losing sideways velocity rapidly. Finally the chutes fully deployed and the little ship shuddered and finally slowed to a reasonable glide down.

"Seems like I made it. Tell Jedwig he owes me a drink!" Jeb said as his ship settled with a light thunk to the grass. He pondered as he got comfortable for the long wait for the truck. "Hey... does anyone know how his date went?"

There was a short silence as every set of fingers in mission control paused over keyboards at the same time... and shortly after three voices spoke as one.

"DATE?!?"

Edited December 12, 2013 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Vacuum Mining Test-Launch

Jeb groaned and looked up from the bed and when he saw who was at the door he groaned some more.

"Well, look who's gone and got himself sick?" Jedwig said with a grin. "Messing around in the dessert, getting yourself banged up. Tsk tsk tsk!"

"It was a sprained ankle and the doc just wants me to stay in till I'm re-hydrated enough. I'm fine Jedwig, thanks for asking."

For some reason Jedwig suddenly found his own right palm fascinating, an annoying grin still on his face as he stared at it.

"Gosh, you know, this seems awfully familiar somehow? Now when were we two in a room like this before hmm?"

"*Sigh* Brains, I wouldn't. I'm sure I know what you're thinking, and I really wouldn't if I were you. I'm not that sick, OK, and I'll be out of here in a couple of days most likely."

For a few silent seconds Jedwig pondered, eye's slitted a little as he focused on Jeb, then finally he sighed and sat down.

"Ah well, nice thought while it lasted though." then he seemed to concentrate to put a smile on his face. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, just bored. Like I said not a lot wrong with me, just the Doc being picky. What about you?"

"Me?" Jedwig, chuckled and sat back, hands behind his head. "Well, things were pretty good. I was helping Loddan out as he prepped for the new launch. You know, the new Vacuum Kethane Mining ship they're prepping at the moment. You'll probably be up and around again for the launch. I'm guessing if you were up and around by now they'd have given the mission to you. How did you get all the Mun missions by the way? I'd love to know how you did that."

It was Jeb's turn to chuckle.

"Heh, trade secret. But I didn't get all of them that's for sure, just most. Usually we've had a turn around of about a week between launches too, which helped. The medicals have been leery of letting anyone go up too soon after their previous launches... not that it stopped me from going up the day after one a few times. Heh!"

"Yes, so I've heard." Jedwig said, shaking his head.

"OK, enough about me." Said jeb, peering at Jedwig rather intensely. "There is a more important issue right now. One of Kerbin-shattering importance.... How did your date go?" The sinking look on Jedwig's face was enough and Jeb sighed. "Ah. I see. Come on, spill it."

"Look, can't we talk about something else? Since you mentioned it to ALL OF MISSION CONTROL... Well... I haven't had a lot of peace about it after that." Jedwig's face scrunched up and he glared at Jeb. "Couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?"

"Seriously? Look, Brains, if you have to have secrecy about who you're dating... well, I don't think it's going to end well. Especially in a place as closely knit as KSC! You know someone is going to find out sooner or later."

He was silent for a few moments, and it was Jeb who actually broke the silence.

"However... I'm sorry. Didn't think and just blurted. I don't think you should have kept it secret, or that it would have stayed that way... but I didn't mean to break it like that."

"I... well OK. I guess." He sighed and shook his head. Jeb just gave him some time. After a while he did continue. "It went well, for a while. Took her through the Hall of memory in the KSC main lobby. She mostly talked about it. Nillian is very knowledgeable about the history of spaceflight, though she's new enough at KSC she hadn't seen the Hall yet. After that, a nice home-cooked dinner back at my place."

Jedwig actually smiled at that. Seems he had had a good time. At least in part. Then his face fell.

"Then things fell apart."

"What did you do Brains?" Jeb said softly.

"Well... How was I supposed to know she was a Kormon! I... well, I thought they were rather funny..."

Jeb closed his eyes.

"You told religious jokes to her? Without knowing what her religion was? Oh Jedwig!"

Both were silent for a while, but Jedwig broke it.

"You know, you may be stronger, but her slaps sting more." He seemed serious, but there was just a hint of a smile to the corner of his mouth. "However bad it went, it went further than any date I've ever had. Thanks jeb for the help."

"You're welcome Brains."

There was an awkward silence for a little, then Jedwig 'humphed' and stood up, facing Jeb for a moment.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going. Things to do. You know." He turned to go, then paused. "Oh, and Jeb?..."

Suddenly he swung round, arm outstretched, round-housing... and juddered to an awkward halt as Jeb's hand snapped up, grabbing Jedwig's wrist, his open palm inches from Jeb's face.

"Yeah..." Jeb said with a grin. "Like I said. I'm not that sick Brains... and that'll cost ya when I'm out of here."

With a petulant look on his face Jedwig rubbed his wrist where Jeb had grabbed it as he headed for the door.

"Um, sure.... next time Jeb."

Jeb shook his head as Jedwig slammed the door on his way out. Oh that guy!

***

Loddan smiled as he went over the check-list once more. This was a new ship, freshly mounted on the launcher stack this morning. It did seems as if things were being a little rushed of late, but not too badly... he hoped.

"VKM One, you're go for engine test."

"Roger Flight!" He said enthusiastically, and started going over the pressure readouts, electrical tests and stress gauge displays. "Testing engine one."

The next few minutes he took the pods engines through their pre-flights, though of course mounted to the launcher he couldn't actually start them up. It would have detonated the stage below! Finally everything was done and he watched as the countdown timer started once more at T-minus two minutes.

"Everything looks good on our end VKM One. T minus one minute and counting."

Loddan grinned. This was only his third rocket flight, and had been a while since that orbit around Kerbin. Jeb had managed to wrangle more of the Munar flights of late and Loddan was just glad he got the chance to do this! Not that he wanted Jeb in hospital. He'd actually been lucky. Bob was next on the flight list but was apparently going through some testing with Jedwig on a proposed Jool ship design with Dunkel. Bill was on leave or he'd have this flight.

That left him or Dansey on the active list (Though Jeb was out of hospital now, so Loddan had heard. Too late to get on the list to fly this baby though!), and that guy just scared Loddan. Dansey seemed to treat everything like a game. OK, so he'd been a test pilot so he must know his stuff, but he didn't seem to have any sense of self preservation!

"T minus ten."

Time to get back to the job at hand! Loddan went over the final systems, prepping the Third stage liquid engines. However launch was with solid boosters. Two stages of solid boosters. Those didn't need much attention from him!

"T minus five... four... three..."

Tensing Loddan gave his straps one final check then tried to relax. Then a horse kicked him in the back as the engines lit. With a deafening roar the boosters rocketed him off the pad and he was away, soaring into the sky.

"VKM One, we have a successful launch." Gene said calmly. "Boosters look good."

Up till now they'd tended to use the larger solid rockets for launch, but there were advantages to stacking two of the smaller SRBs one atop the other. Mass savings as you ditched the first set of boosters of course, and they were also slightly cheaper. Right now they wanted to get the ship to use up as much 'disposable' tech in low atmosphere, making sure the last ascent stage burned as long as possible so as much as possible was dropped into Kerbin's atmosphere.

With a heavy thump the first boosters detached and the next set lit, another kick in the pants as he rocketed skyward. Finally, after another fairly short burn, those two jettisoned and the liquid boosters kicked in.

"Stage three is lookin good Flight!" Loddan said, still grinning. "This is great!"

"Keep your head on the mission VKM One." Gene said seriously. "Coming up on Gravity turn."

Edited October 26, 2014 by Patupi

[Danish_Savage]

Lovely Chapter.

I've said it before, but I really love the way your characters evolve.

[Patupi]

VKM Munar Transfer

Stages pared away, Loddan managing to focus on the job at hand, despite the incredible experience almost overwhelming him. A perpetual grin on his face he rubber-necked the whole way up. With a final clang the second stage disappeared behind him and he was left with his transfer stage alone.

"VKM One, make your final circularization burn then stay on the line. Telemetery is having issues."

With a slight frown Loddan obeyed Gene's directive and finished the burn. True, the second stage had gone earlier than planned. Wasn't there extra allowed for that? It was a few minutes before Mission Control contacted him again.

"OK, VKM One?" Flight finally said. "Third stage had a fuel leak, low but enough to degrade your flight performance. At present, given the fuel you have on-board, you do not have enough fuel to land on the Mun and return home. You're short by a little over two hundred Delta V by our estimates."

"Wait, but the whole point of this flight is to mine for fuel." Loddan cut in. "We have the Kethane maps. I just land, mine some Kethane, process it, and I have enough fuel to return. Simple!"

"Your enthusiasm is noted VKM One, but we should not assume everything is going to work right. This equipment hasn't been tested outside of Kerbin's orbit."

"Well, duh. That is the whole point of this." Loddan said exasperatedly. "Look, I have ten days of life support anyway. It's not like I'll die up here if it fails. Right? If worse comes to worst we can test the rescue vessel. Come on Gene, it'll be fine. Besides, the whole mining thing has been tested out the wazoo! It'll work."

There was a significant pause on the other end of the line.

"Very well. But we are not planning on using the rescue vessel for this. Planning on using an emergency recovery system from the get-go is not an ideal solution! *Sigh* VKM One, you are a go for Munar Transfer. We have a burn plotted and ready. Check your board."

Loddan grinned once more as he checked the data. Yes! For a moment there he thought he wouldn't get to go to the Mun today. Huh, to be laid down by a silly mechanical malfunction? Not for him! Besides, what were the chances that a second problem would just happen to lay down the mining systems in the right way to stop him from refueling after this problem meant he needed more fuel? Naw, never happen! That stuff only happens in movies and books and stuff.

"VKM One, burn sheduled in... two minutes. Standby."

Was it just him or were they treating him with kid gloves? OK, he'd only flown two rocket launches before, but still this seemed a little much. Maybe he was reading too much into it. Still, he'd been in Mission Control before and they tended to give the pilots more leeway and let them work out burns, listen to what they said... although maybe he was just thinking of Jedwig? That Duna flight of his had been... awkward.

Well, best prove to them he knows what he's doing! Let them know he's lined up and ready for the bu...

"We read you aligned correctly VKM One. Burn in ten... nine..."

Loddan sighed and settled in, double checked his figures, then hit the ignition at 'zero'.

[Patupi]

Note this (and all the Munbase and some of what came after it) all was already played through prior to 0.23 coming out. Also, right now I'm staying with 0.22 with Colonization until all the mods I'm using are confirmed as working with it. KSPI seems good, but mechjeb is having some minor issues (though they're getting fixed quickly), and I haven't checked on Firespitter yet. I'll let you know if I upgrade for later parts of this AAR.

[Patupi]

VKM Munar Landing

The Mun looked different than Loddan expected. Sharper, more distinct, even through the slightly blurry window. Ahead he could make out East Crater, his destination. Even now he was on a descent profile, but it would be a little while before he got close. Amazing that it was only a few hours from Kerbin to the Mun. It requires all this expensive technology to claw our way out the atmosphere, then it seems far easier to just potter around to other moons and planets... well, maybe a little harder to get to other planets, but still...

"VKM One, descent profile looks good.Still read low by One hundred and eighty Dv for return. Confirm?" Gene's voice spoiled the moment.

"Um, yeah Flight. Still low. Made good on the flight profile though. Made up twenty Dv on the way here from expected. That's something."

"Understood VKM One, and yes you made good use of RCS during transfer, but I still don't like this. You can still abort now and get home in one piece."

"No way Flight! I'm here, I can practically touch the surface!" Loddan said emphatically, then paused and attempted to regain his composure. "Anyway, I'm about forty kilometers up and on course. East Crater is ahead and locked in."

A sigh from Gene while Loddan re-re-checked his numbers. Gene was sure harping on about this.

"Yes VKM One, we confirm landing site just west of Alpha Site on current profile. Good luck."

Luck, Hah! Jebediah doesn't need luck. He makes his own luck! This was Loddan's chance to prove his worth.

The ship soared down, Loddan saving the engines for a near suicide burn. They'd improved the onboard flight monitoring systems lately, and the mechjeb readout had a couple more displays than he remembered from his old orbital flights. Loddan welcomed the extra info. Again he wondered if Jebediah had any money sunk into the Mechjeb project? I mean, the name was too big a coincidence, but he'd never heard anyone specifically mention Jebediah in conjunction with it.

Twenty kilometers up and Loddan fine tuned his approach a little with the little RCS remaining. He might have gone a little overboard on his attempted Dv savings on the transfer. He'd burned RCS first, before getting to the orbit burn position, saving him the twenty Dvs Gene had mentioned. Actually he suspected it was a bit more savings than that. His orbital manouvering otherwise hadn't been the most efficient. He probably wasted a few Dv there. Well, it didn't matter. He'd be down and mining soon.

Slowly the ground got closer, East Crater looming on the horizon then sliding below him.

"Eight kilometers up and commencing burn Flight." Loddan said, attempting to get it in before Flight 'reminded' him to commence the landing burn.

With a thump the engines lit and he started to slow. This ship wasn't quite as overpowered as recent designs. The two outboard pods held the engines and fuel tanks. The center tank, where another engine was on older designs, instead held the Kethane tank, converters and some fuel transfer equipment. Hopefully in future a ship could land beside his, he'd hop out, connect the cable up and fill it's tanks up. Mobile fueling station! Loddan grinned as he checked the profile. Dead on course!

"Four kilometers and target below, starting to kill horizontal velocity."

He tilted the ship slightly to cancel his slide and saw the numbers decrease. Looked good.

Craters widened below, but it looked like his target was fairly good. He was going to be on the side of a hill... well a crater rim, but it was a shallow rise. Should be good. It was tricky to tell exactly which way the slope went from up here but Loddan tried to align his longest axis with the slope, to minimize any chance of him falling over on touchdown.

"One kilometer, still on profile." he said, his horizontal velocity almost gone.

Jinking he adjusted as he hit three hundred meters, cut the engines and re-oriented his craft. Engines sputtered to life once more and he slid down vertically.

"One hundred meters..." The site looked good, but the slope was a hair more than it looked from above. "forty... thirty... picking up some dust... Fifteen... ten... I'm down!"

"Congratulations VKM One. A textbook landing." Hah, Gene even sounded slightly pleased. In your face Jebediah!

Waiting to go through landing checks prior to actually testing the hardware was a pain, but eventually Flight gave him the goahead.

"Extending Drill number one."

Safeties were flipped, relays tripped and on one side of the ship a casing hinged open and an extendable drill slowly wound up and started down. With a grinding noise vibrating through the ship it tore into the ground and started down, biting into the regolith. That drill was technically all that was needed. They'd included two on the ship for balance reasons and as a backup incase something happened to the first drill.

Soon there was a slight judder and...

"I'm reading pressure from the drill head. Seal is holding... Yes! We've got Kethane!" Loddan cried out as the indicator showed green gold flowing into the central tank.

"Congratulations again VKM One. Leave the mining systems going and check the convertor."

Grinning Loddan turned to the right and activated the fuel management console.

"Power systems look good... Startup check is nominal.... Thermal dump system... online. Starting the pumps..." A red light winked on his panel and Loddan frowned. "Flight, I'm reading a failure in the pump manifold. Zero pressure."

Furiously he checked systems and attempted a reboot, but it looked like a mechanical problem. Something in the fuel feed from the Converter to the Fuel tanks. Slowly, the grin faded from Loddan's face as he realized he had all the Kethane he could need... and no way to convert into useful fuel!

He was stranded!

Edited March 3, 2016 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Jeb to the Rescue

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

Mission Control Screeched to a halt, all the yelling and arguments faltering, as they all stared stunned at Gene.

"OK, now, Caldin, what do we know?"

"Um, yeah." Caldin looked as amazed at Gene as everyone else, but he recovered. "It's been three hours now. I think if there was a way Loddan could fix this on site he'd have got it by now. It really looks like a design flaw."

Ipdel interrupted abruptly.

"How the heck could we know a jolt would throw the solar panel into the fuel lines? I still say he just landed too hard. And why don't the transfer lines from the winches work? They were supposed to allow us to pump everything around, not just the fuel."

"They were never designed originally to pump the Kethane, just the fuel and oxidizer!" Limsen said hotly. "You're not going to blame this on our department! I..."

"SHUT UP!"

Again everyone was silent and Gene sighed.

"OK, lets try this again. As Caldin said, we have to assume Loddan can't fix this on site. Keep working with him in case we can, but I think we'll have to engage Rescue One."

"No."

Everyone turned to the newcomer to the Mission Control Floor. Jeb was standing there, techs finishing up the piping on his space suit. He shifted the helmet held in his right hand and eyed everyone here.

"That ship is for emergencies."

Caldin shook his head, as if to clear it of cobwebs or something.

"Wait, you don't call this an emergency? He's trapped up there."

Jeb walked over to Caldin, techs trailing behind him. He placed a gloved hand on Caldin's shoulder and stared into his eyes.

"I don't see him panicking. In fact he seems to have flown a perfect mission, despite the coddling you guys have given him. He's stated repeatedly that he's good. Heck, he's got nine more days of air up there and no power problems. Someone tell me why this is an emergency?"

Most of the staff just looked around confused, but Gene shook his head.

"No matter what you call it Jeb, this is exactly what the Rescue ship was designed for. OK, so it's only just gone active and we expected it to stay there for a long time, but it's for an eme... a situation just like this. It's our best option."

"Actually it isn't. The last Mark Seven is planned to be scrapped. I say we launch it instead. OK, so we could make some savings recycling hardware to use on newer ships, but we have time. Rescue One should be for last ditch rescues. Where we only have a short time and we can't send something from Kerbin. Let me go get Loddan. Besides, it'll give him time to play on the Munar surface."

A few chuckles rose from the team and the feeling of panic seemed to leave the group. Gene suppressed a smile. Jeb always did know how to deal with a crowd.

"OK Jeb, we'll play this your way. Prep Munar Five for immediate launch and get yourself to preflight. We'll give Loddan the good news."

***

Loddan was sulking... OK, trying to sulk. He was Munwalking at least, and the view was magnificent, but still... he was being rescued by Jeb! This sucked, and it wasn't his fault! It really wasn't! He hadn't found anything wrong with his checks, his systems or anything he had done during the flight that could have severed the fuel lines. And why the winch cables refused to transfer Kethane to the converter was beyond him. Everything looked like it should work. Heck, even the winch motors were acting up, barely moving. They'd really need an overhaul on this thing for the next mission.

Curiously he was more annoyed than scared. True, he was stranded up here, but it was where he'd been aiming to get to his entire life! He was on the Mun!

"Munar Five to VKM... er... EVA one. Come in Loddan ya chump!"

Loddan sighed. He guessed he'd have to answer him.

"Yes Jeb. What do you want?"

"Oh, come on. Cheer up! You're on the Mun for Kod's sake!" Jeb said, mirroring Loddan's own earlier thoughts. "Heck, you even did it in style. I don't think even the great and powerful Jeb has managed to fly such a picture perfect mission."

"Oh ha ha. Very funny. I feel so honoured to be here on such a perfect, failed mission."

"Hey don't knock it. It wasn't your fault the techs messed up. Anyway, I'm on the pad and ready to launch. In fact. Hold a sec..."

*roooaaaAAAAAARRRRR!*

"O..oookay...I... I'm on.. m...my way L...loddan!" Jeb stammered as the boosters slammed him into the air.

"Huh, well I'm not going anywhere. See you soon Jeb."

For some reason Loddan's dark mood had at least started to lift.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Patupi
Inappropriate use of the word H... E.. L.. L.. Kerbals don't swear do they?

[Patupi]

Munar Five's trip to the Mun

Jeb rocketed skyward once more, this time on the first ever space rescue. He was loving it! Besides, Loddan was fine up there. He had tons of air and power. Not a problem. Heck, Jeb would LOVE to be stranded up on the Mun for a while. Time to explore, to venture out on the regolith, to sweet talk the old girl.

"You're looking good Munar Five." Caldin's voice came on the line. "Beautiful launch Jeb."

With a jolt the Solid boosters disconnected and fell away and his main engines lit.

"Hah, you made a smoke ring Jeb! Booster's last gasp I guess. Cool."

"Is it my imagination Caldin, or are you more excitable of late? Can't imagine why?"

"OK, OK. So I'm a bit over-enthused that I'm in the final part of the flight course. Come on, I'll be up there with you soon Jeb. Isn't that something?"

"Maybe, but you still have to wait on the roster like the rest of us."

"Wait? You?" Caldin said, feigning amazement. "Don't be ridiculous! The great and powerful Jeb waits for no Kerbal!"

"Oh I'm going to hear no end of jibes from that line aren't I? I hate open channels."

Caldin laughed as he watched Jeb soar up on his gravity turn.

"Hang in there Loddan." He said quietly. "Help is on the way."

***

"Loddan, you hear me good buddy?"

"I hear ya Jeb. Just playing a round of golf. Wanna join in?"

"Heh, no time bud. I'm in orbit over you now. I'll be de-orbiting in a few minutes. Better make best use of your time on the surface now. Oh, and I'll be coming in hot... just... because. So no guarantees on how close I'll land. Warm up your Flight pack. You'll need it."

"Really? Cool. Never tried it out. What's it like in gravity Jeb?"

"You'll love it, but I'd stay high. It's a pain flicking the vertical jets every now and then to keep altitude steady and you tend to bob a bit on long flights. Don't worry, you'll do fine."

"Try to see if you can land close to him Munar Five." Gene's voice cut in. "I'd prefer that EVA One not try out his RCS skills if it isn't neccessary."

"No promises Flight." Jeb said with a chuckle.

***

A few minutes later and Jeb was soaring down across the Munar plains towards Loddan's position.

"Gear out, lighting engines. Heh, love these things. Really over engineered them. Way too much thrust on these babies. Just the way I like em!"

"Just keep your mind on your target Munar Five." Gene said.

Jeb came in more vertical than usual, having braked hard on going overhead of Loddan's position. Below the familiar scene of the Alpha site swam into view. He could even make out the faint twinkle of Loddan's craft below against the grey of the surface.

"Nearly down Flight. I think I see him. Going to be a little far West of his position. I'm pausing to see if I can shift east a little."

He cut engines and did a little repositioning and then relit, pushing his arc east a little. Still not going to be enough and he didn't want to waste too much fuel and be stranded too!

"Coming in. Altitude two hundred and dropping."

In a smooth arc Jeb swept the familiar ship in and curved towards a crater rim on the other side of the one Loddan was on. With a light bump he was down, less than one and a half kilometers from Loddan's lander. Not bad!

"Hey, Loddan! Pick up your IFF transponder. I'm landed west of you. Just a hop skip and an flight pack away. If you don't hurry I'm leaving without ya!"

"I don't think so Jeb. I have the cab fare!" Loddan quipped back, but he sounded more relieved than his words gave credit for. Jeb wasn't surprised. This was the first major failure of the program. Not something you wanted to happen on your watch!

"Well, get going. I'm waiting!"

With a chuckle he heard Loddan's pack fire, lifting him from the ground. He'd be here soon.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Patupi
more lovely typos

[AtomicNinja17]

Keep This Up Man this is Awesome Good Work.

:cool:

[Patupi]

Thanks. I have to admit I thought this whole mission was cursed when I played it through. I actually played it through once first and it was even worse than this. But I started out forgetting to take screenshots, and when I realized I thought, well, just take it through and see how it goes. I can always skip the launch sequence and start the tale en-route with judicious use of flashbacks (which really I'm never too keen on. Really over used cliche)... then I fumbled the landing and crashed, leaving pretty much just the capsule intact on the munar surface. No pics. A crash... I gave up and restarted.

I had issues the second time with a bad profile on launch (hence the low fuel tankage problem. It really wasn't Loddan's fault! It's mine ), then some accidental time warping through SOI changes shifted paths... then on touchdown found I hadn't the fuel to get back in orbit, let alone a return to Kerbin... so I got the kethane warmed up... and found the OTHER big problem. Back when I first launched the ship I found on take off that I forgot to install solar panels. So I went back to the VAB and added them... Unfortunately I didn't notice they clipped the fuel lines. Once in space the fuel lines reconnected to the panels instead of the center assembly. I tried, after landing on the Mun, to get Loddan out and use KAS grabbing to repositioin the panels. Didn't help, and you can't reposition fuel lines with KAS.

I also had KAS winches but this was an old version of KAS and there was an issue (since fixed I believe) that made it so the winch wouldn't extend or retract. I did the 'extend to maximum' or whatever it said, but that just left a super long cable floating around. Didn't help either. Actually even if they had been working it wouldn't have helped. KAS winch cables don't act as fuel lines, they just connect different ships into one to allow manual fuel transfers, but I didn't know that then.

So the rescue mission ensued. And still one more stupid mistake to come... well you'll find out about that soon enough *sigh*

Edited December 20, 2013 by Patupi
'Had went' lovely grammar :(

[Patupi]

Jeb Rides The Wild Wind

Loddan was in two minds about the EVA pack. He liked the responsiveness, the view up here was cool, but looking down and seeing the gritting regolith sliding by WAY too fast was a bit unnerving. For the third time he toggled the jets to slow himself a little.

"It's OK Loddan, you've a ways to go yet. You can keep your speed up."

Alright for Jeb to say that! Loddan was sure Jeb was ecstatic when he flew these things. Loddan, less so.

"I'm good. Don't want to overshoot." he said, trying to get the tremor out of his voice.

As he got closer he slowed further, slowly coming in and creeping lower as he went, bursts of white spray dancing about him like a floral display, if not a terribly colorful one. The grey ground got nearer and nearer and now Loddan could make out the details of Jeb's lander. It was certainly bigger than his, but he'd checked up on the details of the Mark Seven before.

"Hey Jeb," He said over the radio. "Which pod are you in? Top or bottom? I just want to know where to head for."

"Well the top of course! Where do ya think I'd be? Are you insinuating I'm beneath you?"

Loddan rolled his eyes. It was going to be one of those flights! Sometimes Jeb just got in a contrary mood, every other word a joke.

"Apologies oh great and powerful Jeb. I will never underestimate your magnificence again! I'm sorry I can't prostrate myself before you, but I'd loose control of the flight pack."

"Well,one does put up with such things, doesn't one. Proceed peon."

Shaking his head Loddan slowed further as he got level with the pod. It was awkward with this type as they were aligned the wrong way. Dunkel said the design was made for space planes but since none had been built yet (cut backs Gene insisted) the pods had been re-purposed for the Mark Seven ships. That meant the access ways were sideways.

Reaching forwards, locking the controls and guiding with one hand, Loddan edged nearer the pod, and grabbed hold. With one hand hold he shut off his pack and swung himself up to the side, grabbing hold with his other hand too. In such low gravity it didn't feel as weird as it should holding on at right angles like this.

"I'm here, knock knock, let me in Jeb." he said, fiddling with the latch.

"Sorry mate, forgot I locked it." With a click the hatch swung out and slid back letting Loddan swing himself inside.

Compared to the normal capsules these were actually easier to get into, but were a little more cramped. The seats had been re-designed to let the RCS pack stay on the suit as the pilot sat down. Otherwise there would be no room for the pack! These pods didn't have the space behind the seat that the older pods did.

"I'm in." Loddan said as he sealed the hatch above him then strapped himself in. "Ready to go Jeb?"

"Hey, I'm always ready!"

With a jerk Loddan felt the engines ignite and the ship leaped from the regolith.

"Whoah! Easy boy! No need to break it on my count."

Jeb just chuckled as he spun the craft over almost on it's side and burned for orbit. Yeah, it was going to be one of those trips huh? Great! Loddan tried to ignore the roller coaster and not throw up. That was hell on the helmet and not easy to clean up!

***

"Oh come on Flight. This is silly!" Jeb whined.

Loddan was trying to stay out of this little argument. Jeb wanted to land without ditching the Munar ascent engines, Flight insisted the ship wasn't built to land in Kerbin gravity with them on.

"Look," Jeb attempted, "I've got a near perfect trip back, used very little fuel and now you're going to just waste it on re-entry? Come on, I can bring it down! You'll get far more to recycle."

"Munar Five, the design was not tested for this. If you attempt it the ship will likely rip itself apart." Gene said, exasperation getting evident in his voice.

"Oh come on Flight, I can handle this! I promise I won't take the next Munar flight if you let me bring her in whole. Go on, you know I can do this!"

There was a long pause on the other end, with some muttering slightly off mike. Finally Gene got back on the line.

"This goes against my better judgement, but OK. Just be careful with it Jeb."

Jeb chuckled with himself as Loddan tried to look disinterested with the whole thing. Not that anyone cared in his opinion. Outside Kerbin was starting to loom large.

"So, when is orbital breaking Jeb?"

"You kidding me? We're going to aerobrake. Duh."

"But... you just got Flight to agree to let you keep the boosters. Why not use the darned fuel in them to make orbit?"

"So we can recycle it of course. The council has been pushing for more re-usable flights so why not start now?"

Loddan tried to avoid grating his teeth.

"Jeb. Coming in with the tanks is one thing, but with them full of fuel... they're going to be way too heavy!"

"Oh you worry too much. I've done this tons of times."

"Not with this load you haven't. Jeb please..."

"Look, if you're that worried about it I'll burn the fuel up just before re-entry."

That seemed as far as Jeb would go, though Loddan did try in the next few minutes to push further. By then they were screaming in for the aerobrake and not a lot could change the course they were going to take. Loddan silently seethed in his chair, thinking up suitable ways of getting Jeb back for this. Assuming they lived through it!

***

The aerobrake had been surprisingly smooth. Maybe the extra fuel damped the oscillations?

"Last stop, KSC. Hold very tight please." Jeb said in a nasally voice.

"We ain't there yet Jeb. Let's hope it's as simple as that."

A snort of derision was all Loddan got for his worries. Oh this wasn't going to go well.

Once more flames licked the ship, again very little vibration though and Loddan watched the G meter climb slower than usual. Too much inertia. Then Jeb lit the engines and Loddan sighed. There hadn't been that much fuel in the tanks, and it didn't take that long to empty them. After that it was just wait for the re-entry plasma to die down.

With a thunk the chutes opened and Loddan relaxed a little. He'd worried that the jerk of the chutes would tear the ship apart. Though he guessed it had been built to take this load. However it wasn't built take it further into the atmosphere. He thought once more of attempting to persuade Jeb to ditch them... but he was tired of arguing. Reluctantly he gave up and waited for this to be over.

Jeb seemed to be in his happy place. Loddan couldn't see his face but he was sure Jeb was grinning right now. Deeper and deeper they fell, the speedometer showing their decreasing velocity. Landing gear deployed and the ship got ready to touch down.

"Nearly there. You can relax Loddan. I told you it'd b..."

*Thunk CRUNK CreeaaaakKKKKK-SCreeEEECH!*

The horrible grinding cracking noise suddenly jerked the ship as the six boosters tore their way off the ship when the parachutes fully unfurled and the abruptly free tanks shot downwards. Unfortunately on their way down they also broke the remaining ship into pieces.

"LODDAN, LODDAN!" Jeb shouted into the mike. "ARE YOU OK!"

Looking up Loddan saw the chutes from his section still working and sighed.

"Yeah, still OK... for now. And you owe me buddy. If we make it through this you're going to pay for making me go through this!"

"Munar Five! Do you read me!" Gene said anxiously. "We read massive structural failure. Are you OK?"

"We're fine Gene." Jeb said tiredly. "Um, I may have over-estimated the structural integrity of the ship. I seem to have come apart on you. We're both fine, but going down separately. Both with chutes. Thanks to Dunkel for putting chutes alongside both capsules!"

Several sighs and tired cheer were heard from Mission Control.

"I'm glad to hear it. Choppers are on their way. Hang in there Munar Five.... and Munar Six."

If Gene can crack jokes it can't be all that bad at least. Loddan tried to relax but was hard. Loddan was about to make a comment when he froze. Jeb's capsule was slowly descending past him outside the window. The guy even waved at him through the glass!

"See ya on the ground Loddan!" Jeb said as he disappeared from view. Shortly afterwards his chutes dropped out of sight below too. That was surreal!

He could hear the thump on the radio as Jeb touched down below him, but Jeb seemed OK.

"Not bad, might even salvage a fair bit of this stuff. Wonder if we can make use of it back at the scrapyard? Oh." Jeb paused and Loddan started to worry.

"Jeb? Are you OK?"

"Uh, Loddan. Better hang on to something. I think you're going to land on the wreckage." Another interminable wait ensued. "Oh, maybe not. Maybe you're just going to land on me!"

It was nail-biting, but a couple of minutes later Loddan felt the jolt as the ship touched down.

"Heh, just missed me." Jeb said, and from the sound on the radio he was already out of the ship. "Let me help get you out of there Loddan."

Loddan undid his straps then reached for the hatch release. Unfortunately Jeb opened it just after Loddan grabbed it and the handle wrenched out of his hand, yanking him out of his seat.

"Woah!" Loddan gasped as he shot past the surprised looking Jeb and landed in an ungainly heap on the ground.

"Uh, you OK Loddan?" Jeb said, reaching a hand down to help him up.

"I'm fine, thank you Jeb. I just hope you've learned your lesson."

"Nope, but don't let that stop you. I'm guessing I'm gonna keep hearing about this for months."

As usual, Jeb was right.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Patupi

[Patupi]

OK, Part Two of Chapter Four is now done. Yes, I tried to be fancy and land with the pods on *smack* Bad Patupi! Silly Patupi!

Next up, perhaps a filler or two, then the next, working, VKM, followed by the base itself. I also did some tests of early re-usable ships, but not a lot happened with that. I may just put some pics up or something rather than give that a full 'Part' of this chapter. Really I want to get to the Munbase, and then... to the first Jool mission.

Still haven't made my mind up if I want to upgrade Colonization to 0.23 yet. Seems all the mods I'm using are updated or nearly so, so it'd likely work. Still, I may just leave it be. I'll see how I feel. I'm off work for the holidays so Likely a few days after Christmas I'll be able to start on the next Part.

[AtomicNinja17]

nice job man keep up the good work

[Patupi]

OK, well this is mostly a pic-fest, just to catch up on what happens between VKM-1 and VKM-2. Basically, due to pressure from the council, KSC pushed a reusable spaceship system... but couldn't manage a single stage to orbit (Not only had we not got advanced jets yet, I'm also terrible at planes. At least anything of any size to be useful.). So they went with a staged system where the boosters had chutes to make them recoverable afterwards.

Behold the Crew Transport-1 (Or CT-1 as it was dubbed)

As I said, the boosters have chutes and were recovered successfully.

Jedwig flew it nicely into orbit and became rather familiar with the craft. He thoroughly checked it out in orbit to make sure it was flightworthy before de-orbiting it.

He then de-orbited fine and came down for a slightly powered (not that many chutes on it!) landing.

Then a dual mission. Jeb takes a CT-2 (basically bigger boosters, and asparagus rather than onion staging) and is followed by Jedwig in a second CT-2

And meet in orbit to test the new docking components.

They leave one vessel behind and both return together.

and have a little rough landing (engine exploded as the legs didn't quite take the impact) but survive OK.

These basically now can shuttle two people up or down from orbit (one pilot has to stay on board as it doesn't have a probe core) and form the basis of ferrying crew up to orbit for other ships to carry to the Mun later. Preparations for the Mun base are underway!

Next, VKM-2... which current planning seems to show is needed to refuel the Munbase in Kerbin orbit before it can head off to it's destination. But first it needs to be tested out to mine the Mun.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Patupi

[Patupi]

OK, a quick intro to the new part of the Munbase Chapter. No pics in this bit, just getting into the flow

VKM2: Getting it right this time

For once Jeb was outfitting himself, though the technicians were tagging along behind looking reproachfully at him. Hey, they still got paid for doing nothing. What was their problem?

"Uh huh. I heard you got the mission... again."

Jeb looked up and saw Jedwig standing by the corner.

"Hey Brains. What can I say? I'm lucky I guess."

"Lucky? Pfaa! I don't know how you manage it but one of these days I'll figure out how you're jumping the list."

"What are you complaining about?" Jeb said with a frown as he finished tying his oxium pack into his suit. "You got to be the first Kerbal on Duna for Kod's sake!"

"Oh I didn't say I wanted to take your place, I just wanted to know how you did it. No, the Mun seems boring to me. I've put in for the Jool mission myself."

Jeb looked up eagerly.

"Oh? They finally approved it?" Jedwig nodded solemnly. "That's great! I know, it'll be a while till it's ready... but Kerbals are heading to Jool! Wow! I'll put my name down too. Heh, someone's got to keep an eye on you Jedwig."

"Of course. Can't let a seasoned Kerbonaut go without a chaperon now can we?" He said, shaking his head. "Anyway, what I really came to say was... thank you for letting me land the Vanguard."

" 'Vanguard'? You named the Crew Transport Vanguard? Since when?"

"Well, I'm sick of flying ships named 'Mk 10', or 'Munar twenty five' or whatever. Ships should have decent names!"

With a snap Jeb finished connecting his suit up and straightened up.

"Just be thankful you're not flying a ship called 'VKM2'. Hardly rolls off the tongue."

"Maybe not. But at least you're flying on another celestial body!" He sighed, then stuck his hand out. "Take care Jeb, and fly safe."

With his characteristic grin Jeb clasped Jedwig's hand in his own, heavily gloved ones and shook it. Jeb thought this was a vast improvement in the guy. Actually wishing him well? Amazing!

"Hey, just stay out of trouble till I get back Brains." Jeb said, then talked over his shoulder as he continued walking "I don't want to have to bail you out of trouble again!"

As Jeb was waddling up the corridor Jedwig yelled after him.

"Last I heard you were the one that was in trouble. Didn't you break the last Mk Seven?"

Jeb did not deign to answer and just headed out towards the pad without looking back.

***

Jeb looked up at the ungainly monstrosity that was the new VKM-2.

"Beautiful!" He said, grinning, then headed to the elevator.

The techs had given up in disgust and left him on his own. Jeb had been doing this for many years so hardly needed his hand being held by a bunch of white coated guys. Well, OK, they did their job, but he shouldn't have to have them help suit him up every time. Heck, up in space he had to get in and out of his suit on his own... when they had the space to get in and out of a suit that was. A lot of the capsules you could barely get your helmet off inside!

As he rode the elevator up he took in the various details of his new ship. The top was rather bulky with side mounted tanks of fuel sticking out awkwardly. It did look odd to have such a bulbous mount on top of a relatively thin rocket, but he wasn't one to judge. After all it was going to get him to the Mun again.

"Hey, you there yet Jeb?"

Jeb rolled his eyes as Bill's tones came over the PA. He headed over and pressed a button on the intercom.

"Yes Bill, I'm here. Since you have a camera there I'm pretty sure you know that though, right?"

"OK, OK, just trying to motivate you. Come on, we're at T minus ten minutes already. Hey, where are the techs?"

Jeb headed over to the capsule and opened the hatch.

"I have done this before Bill. Trust me."

"Um, OK. Look, I'm on my own here. Give me a break, OK?"

Jeb paused and tapped his suit mike into the circuit.

" 'You're on your own'? There's a whole room of crew there you're working with! There is no way that can be construed as 'on your own' Bill."

"Well, no... but Caldin's at space camp. Bob is checking out the the initial work they're doing on the Munbase, and Gene is out at that meeting with the Council. Heck, even Wernher isn't here! Not that I think he likes me anyway."

"Huh, I didn't know they'd started on the Munbase yet? Anyway, Bill? just keep it together, alright? I'm heading up to the Mun for a quick trip. Don't mess this up for me, OK?"

"Oh, give me a little credit Jeb!" Bill said petulantly. "I can handle a little Flight Controller duty!"

"Uh huh." Jeb said noncommittally as he seated himself. "Look, I'm going through pre-flight. Give me a bell when we're ready to launch, OK?"

"Um, sure Jeb. You got... Nine minutes."

'Oh this was going to be fun' Jeb thought sardonically.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Patupi

[Patupi]

VKM Two landing

A roar of thunder and VKM shook and vibrated it's way into the sky. Over the airwaves you could hear Jeb laughing like a maniac.

"I love this thing!" he yelled as the boosters rammed the ungainly construction into the sky. "Talk about unstreamlined! How much wasted acceleration is there due to drag again?"

"VKM Two, er, I have no clue." Bill said. From the sound of it he was rustling paper. "I think you're good to go. Oh, thanks Milton. Hey Jeb, you met Milton yet? Once Caldin's done he's gonna take over on Telemetry on the day shift."

"Yes Bill, I've met Milton. So, how's the flight so far? Have I blown anything up yet?"

Bill made a half-hearted laugh as Jeb jettisoned the boosters and ramped up the second stage engines. They'd gone with liquid boosters for the launch stage this time, though Jeb could have sworn the things were just as loud as the trash can boosters!

"Heh, er, yeah... I mean no. No, nothing as exploded whatsoever! Look just keep it... Oh, gravity turn Jeb!"

Jeb just chuckled and carried on with the maneouver he was already planning. Bill was funny!

***

"Ah baby, nice to see you again." Jeb said, hand on the window that showed the Mun approaching. "You doing anything tonight?"

"Uh, Jeb? You know you're live right?" Bill's voice came over the speaker and Jeb attempted to keep his face straight.

"What Bill, you spying on us? You have a double date with Minmus or something?"

There was an awkward pause from Mission Control and Jeb sighed.

"I guess not huh? Flight, I'm getting ready for my orbital insertion burn. Get Milton to pipe up the burn data, OK?"

"Uh, Roger VKM Two. Where's the switch on this darned thi...*click*"

Jeb put his hands behind his helmet and waited for the data to stream in. Milton was a pretty good egg, and he was happy with him as replacement for Caldin. Not as cheerful as Caldin, little glum on occasion, but very competent.

From what Jeb heard Caldin's 'Space Camp' course was pretty much done and he was going through the final testing. He'd have to put a word in later for the guy. Caldin really wanted into the program.

Huh, maybe he'd get in on the Munbase project? His scientific expertise might help in surface analysis. Heck, him and Seanbur could do double duty as geologists or something.

Finally the burn data started filling Jeb's screen and he focused on that. Pretty standard burn and he got prepped for his landing. Of course they were sending him down to the Alpha site again. Plenty of Kethane there and the more data they got on the area before the Base got there the better.

"Flight, I'm ready for orbit insertion burn in... four minutes. Warming up the engine."

***

Again Jeb was screaming down across the Munar surface, waiting for the suicide burn timer to get close to zero.

"Nineteen kilometers and dropping Flight. Speed is five eight zero. I have the transponder for the Alpha site and VKM One on my sensors. Looking good for landing so far."

"Roger VKM Two. Keep it steady man!"

Shaking his head Jeb steadied his craft as he soared in. Right now the engines were still cold, and it did feel odd knowing you were on a crash trajectory. Rather exhilarating actually!

He was coming in hard, given his thrust to weight ratio, so it was less than a minute later when he hit the thrust and weight pressed into his back again.

"On track, drifted a little. I'm going to put down about eight kilometers away first then hop over to the Alpha site. Maybe check out VKM One too."

"Jeb? I mean, VKM Two?" Bill's voice crackled in the capsule. "Priority is the mining test. Get yourself refueled, OK? We don't want to have to send someone to rescue you too!"

Jeb looked as his fuel gauge and silently whistled. Yeah, maybe he hadn't done the most efficient transfer after all. He was nearly on fumes!

"Hey, no troubles. I got this. Besides, I double checked everything. The converter will work." He clicked off his mike for a second while he mouthed 'I hope'.

Two kilometer, one and a half. The altitude dropped and his thrust pounded at him. At two hundred meters he let off a little and corrected his drift... then looked over at the Kethane map.

"Er, Flight. You know that re-entry burn put me a few kilometers off course? I think I'm off the edge of the Kethane field."

There was an awkward silence from Mission Control.

"Hey, don't worry!" Jeb put in quickly. "I got enough fuel to hop over." he said, tapping his very low fuel gauge. "I'm not far off. It'll be fine. Oh, nearly down. Hang on."

He adjusted the engine's gimbals and settled slowly, the legs finally touching regolith with a slight bump.

"VKM Two is down. Um, I'll double check the Kethane." Jeb said, engaging one of the Mining units.

Motors whined, hydraulics hissed, and the pod hinged open, the drilling rig extending down to the surface. The sensors read the back pressure on the drill head and it ground down to the required depth... and no Kethane.

"Bad news Flight. I got no Kethane." Jeb quickly continued before Bill could get too down. "Don't worry, a quick hop over closer to the Alpha site and I'll be fine. I'll be mining in a jiff!"

"I hope so Jeb, I hope so. I don't want to have to send Bob up after you, or worse Jedwig!"

Jeb shivered.

"Er, no Flight. I'm good."

Yeah, no problem... sure... He hoped.

[Patupi]

VKM Two Mining

A spray of dust and VKM Two blasted free of the Munar surface. Jeb barely used any thrust, then immediately tilted the craft over at a sharp angle.

"Angling for the Alpha site Flight." He intoned.

"Roger VKM Two. Good luck!"

It was a short hop, and a good thing! His ship angled over, engine pointing to the landing site and when he finished his braking burn he had less than thirty units of fuel left!

"Landing now Flight." Jeb said as he straightened up.

Some slight corrections to stop drift and the landing legs once more settled to the grey dirt alongside his previous flag. Twenty two fuel units! Yikes, that had been close!

"Uh, engaging mining unit." Jeb said as he flicked the switch.

More whining and hissing and the drill bit into the regolith. Jeb held his breath as the drill dug deeper, and finally...

"I got pressure!" He yelled. "Flight, we got ourselves a gusher!"

The atmosphere at Mission Control did not quite let up. After all, VKM One had also got the mining to work. So no cheers quite yet.

For several minutes Jeb waited as the tanks filled a little, then he engaged the converter unit. Crossing his fingers he watched the pump gauges and then smiled.

"Seems like it works Flight. I got fuel!"

Now cheers went up and Bill sighed in relief as VKM Two's fuel meters gradually rose. Soon it would have enough to return home. Not that that was on the plan for this.

The mining ship would stay on station until the Munbase was launched, then head back to refuel it. From the reports Bill was getting from the Bob in the VAB, it looked like the Munbase launcher (Bob insisted on calling it 'The Abomination') wouldn't leave the 'ship' with enough fuel to get to Munar orbit, as was suspected... but also the ship would then, even after LKO refueling, not have enough to land. It would need a second refueling at Munar orbit before it could touch down.

"Jeb, job well done." Bill said in relief. "Keep in touch. I'll let you know when Bob gets the Munbase ready to fly."

"Roger. Don't worry about me. I think the old girl and I have a little catching up to do."

Bill rolled his eyes. Jeb's 'infatuation' with the Mun was getting silly. Jokes about it during missions were fine, but Jeb might be taking it a little too far.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Patupi

[Patupi]

Launch of Munbase Alpha

"...And re-check the primary fuel feeds in Pod Four." Bob said to one of the five technicians following him. "We had some problems when it was installed. Something to do with the regulator valve if I remember right. Check with Aubrey on the details."

The little group of Kerbals wandered around, ducking under cables and gantries as they followed Bob under the huge, ungainly mess that was Munbase Alpha.

Looking up as he paused Bob took in the sight again as the dawn light filtered in through the huge bay doors in the side of the VAB. The mess of tanks and struts barely fitted in the VAB as it was and Bob didn't envy the guy that was going to drive it outside! Banging this on the door would be one heck of a thing to go on someone's resume!

"Bob! Hey ya sassanach!"

The odd cry came as a short Kerbal strutted over the VAB floor. Oh yes, Gernand. An odd character certainly, but Bob was actually glad he'd got the position of Chief Engineer for the Munbase. The guy was quick and really knew engineering.

"Well, what do you think Gernand? Think she'll fly?" Bob said, waving a hand above him to the engine bell yawning above him.

"Oh aye, she'll manage sure! I dunnay think the launch'll be any trouble. Now landing this beastie on the Mun? Oooh, that's gonna be tricky!"

"Oh good, the pilot landing this 'beastie' thanks you." Bob said with a wince.

"Och, sorry laddie. Thought ye were commander, nay the pilot? Can't ya delegate?"

Bob backed up a sec, gazing up at the base itself, perched atop the huge array of tanks and boosters.

"I don't think I want to. Honestly, if Jeb weren't already on the Mun dealing with the VKM2 I'd give him the job. One thing I don't like is that we've changed the profile. I thought we were only going down with a crew of one? That's the whole point of the escape vehicle perched on top of this thing. With a 'skeleton crew' of six that thing is useless!"

"Well, at least wi' it up there one guy can get off the sinking ship." Gernand said with a smirk. "Gonna draw straws?"

"Oh very funny!" Bob said, shaking his head. "I just hate to have a plan chopped and changed by the council like this at the last minute! Landing it with one pilot, then bringing in the crew later made a lot more sense."

"They're just interested in the bottom Krone laddie." Gernand said, laying a hand on Bob's shoulder. "This way they dinnae ha' to launch a ferry of crew up t' the base. Just go wi' the punches and do the best ye can. It'll all work out for the best."

"I hope so." Bob said.

All of them turned as a distorted voice came across the PA system.

"All crew clear the VAB. Ship departing in thirty minutes."

"Looks like they're setting up the crawler." Bob said. "We'd best get out of here. I just hope your optimism is justified Gernand."

"Aye laddie, ye worry too much."

The gaggle plus one joined the various other technicians heading out as the VAB was cleared and the crawler warmed up to take the vessel out to the pad. It was going to be a busy day!

***

A technician was ticking names off a list. An oddity for a space launch, but this mission had the largest crew of any to date.

"Captain Bob." the Kerbal said as the crew filed in. "Mission commander... Lieutenant Loddan, Executive officer."

Gernand chuckled as he and Loddan sidled past.

"Lieutenant Gernand, Chief Engineer... Lieutenant Seanbur, Geologist... Lieutenant Caldin, Communications specialist... and Lieutenant Dansey... Test pilot."

The grinning face of Dansey, the last in line, passed by and all were across the gantry into the access pod.

"This is the ship of Lieutenants I guess?" He quipped before he vanished from sight.

"And why do they need a test pilot again?" One of the techs whispered as the hatch swung shut. "I mean, there's nothing to test! It's a big honking base that ain't gonna move once it's down. Later, maybe, but now they got nothing up there! It's stupid."

"Heh, just looks cool on the posters." Another tech said. He waved his hands above his head as he continued. " 'See the fabulous test pilot test stuff... IN SPAAAACE!' yeah, I can see it selling."

They chuckled as they filed out and the gantry detached from the ship.

***

"Primary mooring assembly." Bob said from the command chair in the central chamber.

"Check." Loddan said in the other seat.

The chamber was a modified hitch-hiker pod with extra life support equipment for long term use as well as extra space. This one was primarily for command purposes and had extra monitors around the walls.

"Upper stage engines." Bob said, accessing screens on his display.

"Power is green on one through four. Fuel feeds read good." Loddan answered.

The hatch to Pod One opened with a clang and Dansey stuck his head through.

"Hey, we ready to go yet?" he said, hanging on the edge of the hatchway.

"No Dansey." Bob said through clenched teeth. "Please go back to Pod One and buckle up. We'll let you know when the checklist is complete. This is a big ship and there is a lot to go through."

"OK, sure thing bossman."

A clang reverberated as he swung the hatch shut behind him a bit too fast for Bob's liking.

"I really worry about that guy." Bob said under his breath.

"Maybe, but he really knows his stuff... and is willing to try anything. A pretty necessary qualification for a test pilot."

"Perhaps Loddan, but he doesn't seem to worry about anything... ever. I mean, to be fearless? Sure, good sign. But Dansey? Well, he just seems even more reckless than Jeb... in fact way more reckless."

"Come on Bob, lets finish the checklist and get this thing off the ground."

With a sigh Bob brought his checklist back up again and continued.

"Third stage lifter engines."

"Reading good pressure on One through Twelve and electrical systems are online."

They managed to get through the rest of the checklist without further interruptions, though Dansey was antsy the whole time till launch, much to Caldin's annoyance. Sharing a pod with a raving lunatic wasn't on his to-do list for today.

***

"Everything is green here Munbase Alpha. You're clear to go. We're at T minus two minutes and counting." Gene said as the crew at Mission Control got quieter and the tension mounted.

"Roger Flight." Bob replied as the cameras showed the ship ready on the pad, tanks venting slightly into the late morning air.

The last couple of minutes passed slowly as everyone checked and re-checked everything. No-one wanted this to go wrong, even more so than usual. The press was out in force around the launch zone, though Gene had managed to stop them getting into Mission Control during the launch.

"T-Minus ten seconds." Milton said quietly "Seven... six... five... four... three..."

On the screen the ship glistened in the morning dew, and then thunder reigned as the countdown reached zero. Fire blazed from the engines as the launch clamps released, the auxiliary side mounted booster engines vibrating as the entire assembly crawled slowly into the sky. The roaring assembly finally crept clear of the launch clamps and Mission Control heaved a sigh of relief. one worry was that side drift might smash the ship into it's stabilizers before it could get clear.

"We have cleared the clamps Flight." Bob said calmly, the roar of engines muted in the sealed chamber of the command pod.

"We read you Munbase Alpha." Gene replied, a grin broke his even tones. "All systems look good. We read you up to one point two gravities and climbing. Telemetry shows a good steady climb."

"Roger Flight. Now we just need to meet up with Jeb. He IS ready, right?"

Gene glanced over to a side monitor where Jeb was snoring in the VKM2's command module.

"I'll give him a gentle reminder."

Edited January 4, 2014 by Patupi

[Patupi]

This thing was not a fun thing to launch. Bear in mind that I hadn't quite unlocked the Skipper rocket yet so was limited to lots of small engines. I launched a few times in test before I got a design that didn't flip out and fall apart during the gravity turn, but the final design is pretty stable. One or two screen captures of this mission later on got missed during the main run and I had to re-launch the ship just to get some decent pics to fill the gaps in the story. Ran without a hitch the second time so was pretty happy with the design, as crude as it is. Just tricky to control it during launch to get a good flight profile.

(EDIT: Oh, and real slow. I think it was on about two to three frames a second. If I remember right, on take-off it was close to 600 parts Fun stuff!)

Edited January 4, 2014 by Patupi

[KSK]

Crivens - your puir wee computer!

Seriously - nice chapter and that is indeed a beast of a ship. Grats on getting it off the ground without either of the big engines!

[Patupi]

It uses the poodle for the sky crane, but that is about as big an engine as I had at this point. Actually, if I'd waited about fifty more days I'd have had skipper rocket engines... but I wanted to get going. Plus things were moving pretty quickly at this point in the AAR. Later on it moves a little more sedately, with longer intervals between tech developments and long delays while interplanetary missions traveled around.

(EDIT: and 'Crivens' makes me want to re-read The Wee Free Men *chuckles* haven't read that in ages)

Edited January 4, 2014 by Patupi