The Adventures of Raybart!

[Biker Joe]

Raybart Kerman has been given the task of going to all the anomalies picked up by the SCANsat satellite on Kerbin!

This is his story!

So today Raybart was shown the ship he'd be using to get around Kerbin for the first time, it's not fast but it certainly is big!

He didn't actually get around to getting a picture taken of him with his ship til he landed in the desert but here it is!

It's a massive blimp powered by 2 electric folding propellor engines. It's got loads of batteries to keep him going and a load of solar panels to keep the batteries charged up!

It also has 4 giant SAS units to keep it under control!

MISSION 1: Off to the Pyramids!

Well actually according to the SCANsat it was just an anomaly but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the pyramids cos he overheard Jeb taking to Bill and Bob in the cafeteria saying there were mysterious pyramids in the mountains in the desert so off he went!

Pyramids in sight! Setting her down!

Raybart in front of the pyramids!

[Biker Joe]

Mission 2: Island Airfield!

Not as far away as the last mission but strangely never been there before!

While there Raybart decided to have a look around!

[Rhyunix]

A bit like a airship trip- this is different to most reports, I am interested

[Biker Joe]

Mission 3: Monolith01

Took me ages to find it, I could not see anything so used SCANsats instruments to zero in on the location, sure enough it was underground! mission complete at last now I can head off to the next location!

Raybart to KSC: Zeroing in on location... THERE IT IS!!!

Raybart decided to land at the location to take a closer look:

CONFIRMED!!!

[Biker Joe]

Mission 4: Monolith00

This one was even harder to find! But I had the experience of looking for the last one which kind of helped, I made a few modifications to the Airship and the balance wasn't very good as a result!

Raybart to KSC: Are you sure these coordinates are correct? there's noth...... wait I see something, it's tiny!

KSC: Maybe its buried like the last one, check it out....

The boffins at KSC got it right.

Raybart: I think your onto something KSC, I'll move in for a closer look...

And so Raybart landed the Airship and went outside to take a closer look

This is what he spotted from the Airship

Having a peak underground you could see the full size of the Monolith!

[Biker Joe]

KSC: " Raybart your doing such a fine job at finding the anomalies on Kerbin we have a surprise for you"

Raybart: " Whats going on? am I fired?!"

KSC: "No no no, haha ... feast your eyes on your new ship!"

Raybart: "what the hell, what happened to the old one?"

KSC: "Who cares?! we certainly don't! We listened to what you had to say about the old, and we made a few improvements... bigger propellors, more battery power, more solar panels... its bigger too... take a look around..."

Raybart: " it's... massive"

KSC: "It's actually the same size/length as the old one, we just made a few improvements to the design!"

[Biker Joe]

Mission 5: KSC 2

Raybart: "approaching coordinates now... It looks like a VAB and launch tower???"

KSC: "Move in for a closer look...are there any insignia or anything, is this a rival space centre?!"

Raybart: "There's no SPH, the place looks abandoned? I'm gonna land and have a look around"

KSC: "Ok Raybart, just be careful, we don't know whats down there..."

Raybart: "The place is empty, there's a tracking satellite here too, it's rotating as if its tracking something? There's some sort of plaque near it too, like the monoliths"

KSC: "Ok Raybart, that's enough for one day... get your ass back here... we'll see you in a few hours..."

[Biker Joe]

Mission 6: UFO

Raybart: "Just checking in, all systems working normally, there's some ice building up on the landing gear, but it should be ok... what did yu say was up here?"

KSC: "...just some anomaly, we're not sure exactly what it is... that's your job"

Raybart: "Ok, closing in on the location now... all I can see is white.... wait! over there I see something... it looks like some sort of spacecraft?!"

KSC: "Spacecraft? that can't be? the tracking station reports no objects that it knows about at that location... if it is a spacecraft it ain't ours... be careful Raybart"

Raybart: "I don't see anyone or anything around it... i'm gonna try and move in for a better look..."

KSC: "REPORT! Raybart what's going on?... can you see anything?!"

Raybart: "Raybart here, it doesn't look like anything we'd make... it's all black and roundy, almost aerodynamic, It'd probably fly quite well... definately not ours!... maybe someones stuck in there... I'm gonna land and check it out..."

KSC: "ok, just be careful"

Raybart: "Come in KSC... Raybart here... I'm at the craft, there doesn't seem to be any doors, nothing at all, can't see any exhausts or anything?"

KSC: "Ok Raybart thats enough, your scaring us here! take some pictures and get your ass back to KSC"

[Biker Joe]

Mission 7: Monolith02

Raybart: "Nearing coordinates, nothing unusual to report... wait, I can see some sort of black object in mid-air, like it's floating?"

KSC: "Can you clarify, did you just say floating, are you sure it's not being held up by anything?"

Raybart: "It doesn't look like it, I'm gonna move in and get a better look..."

Raybart: "it's just floating in mid-air! this is really weird, I'm gonna land and go have a look..."

KSC: "Ok Raybart, just be careful, we want that ship back, we only made 2 of them and Jeb wrecked the first one!"

Raybart: "Ok, all done here, coming home..."

Edited March 26, 2014 by Biker Joe

[Cydonian Monk]

That UFO is a royal pain to find from the air with ground scatter on, especially without maps or something like the BTDT scanner. I must have spent an hour flying around the site looking for it before I decided to land and turn off ground scatter.

Congrats on finding it!

[Biker Joe]

That UFO is a royal pain to find from the air with ground scatter on, especially without maps or something like the BTDT scanner. I must have spent an hour flying around the site looking for it before I decided to land and turn off ground scatter.

Congrats on finding it!

I actually found it quite easily in the end! but I was using BTDT to I was able to zero in on it's location, and I was flying low and slow (one of the reasons I went with an airship), If I didn't have that scanner I don't think I ever would have found it!

All I could see was a black dot in the middle of white! I took a chance and flew towards it and it turned out to be the UFO!

[Biker Joe]

Is this the end?

Raybart had gone to all the anomalies on Kerbin and found some pretty interesting artifacts... the pyramids hinted at ancient life on Kerbin and the UFO suggested they were not alone... but with all this came the knowledge that Raybart's mission was complete, he hung out in the astronaut complex and tried not to think about it too much but all the while in the back of his mind he was thinking, "what next? am I out of a job?"

A few days after his last mission Raybart was asked to go see the director of KSC opertaions, "oh *****, I'm done for!" thought Raybart! He made his way to the directors office, taking his time so that he could think things through in his head to try and best prepare himself to fight to keep his job!

Director: "Very nice job you did on that last assignment finding out what all those anomalies were Raybart, well done"

Raybart: "Thank you director, it wasn't easy but I got it done!"

Director: "So good in fact that we want to keep you on, you going to the Mun!"

Raybart: "Why thank you director that's very kind but the mun? Why send me up there? I'm an expert in artifacts not space exploration!"

Director: "I know, our senior astronauts, Jebediah, Bill and Bob have found some strange readings on they're travels there so we sent a SCANsat probe to investigate. It detected a number of anomalies on the Mun similar to those it found on Kerbin, we want you to go up there and find them, and see if there's any link to them and the ones you've found here on Kerbin..."

Raybart: "But I don't know how to flying a spacecraft? I've never been to space before!"

Director: "Don't you think we know that?! Don't worry, Jebediah is going up to do a flyby around the Mun to get some reports on the surface and we want you go go with him. Nedgard is going up too, he'll be helping Jebediah out so you'll be free to take a look at the surface and see what it's like, ok."

Raybart: "Sounds good boss, when do I go?"

That's what Raybart said, trying to sound eager and excited, but really he as thinking, "Oh ***** I'm going up with Jeb, he's a mad-man! and Nedgard is so stupid he thinks it's fun when rockets blow up underneath him!".

Early the next morning Raybart met up with Jeb and Nedgard in the astronaut complex and went for breakfast, "don't eat too much, or you might lose most of it on launch!" joked Jeb, Raybart wasn't impressed, Nedgard thought it was hilarious, as he scoffed down his bacon and pancakes!

Soon after they left for the launchpad with Raybart trying to keep quiet, easy enough considering Nedgard wouldn't shut up, Jeb was his idol.

All strapped in and ready to go, Raybart was feeling nervous, all of a sudden Jeb started counting down, "Oh balls, this is REALLY happening!" thought Raybart, before knew it he could hear the rockets fire beneath him and he was pushed back in his seat, Raybart was not having fun.

After a few seconds he heard a loud bang and Jeb started looking nervous, Nedgard started laughing... he looked to the navball and it started going off-center, "did they hit something? maybe the launch tower?" Jeb started hitting buttons and he could hear the decouplers firing, it was clear they had lost control of the rockets and Jeb was trying to fire them clear.

At last Jeb fired the parachutes, Raybart could hear them deploy but the kept going upwards, "oh no we're f*cked now" Jeb said, Raybart was not impressed, they ad not even reached 2500 meters nevermind the Mun!

Then he felt a jolt to his right and everything slowed down, "yes we're free!".

But they were going way too fast, was there something wrong with the parachutes? He could hear distant crashes and explosions what has left of the rockets collided with the surface, had the gone far he wondered?

The Speedo still registered over 50m/s, waaay too fast Raybart thought, Jeb was gone quiet, and Nedgard was shouting "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" This really wasn't his day... all of a sudden he felt a strong jolt and they slowed down, the speedo was reading under 6m/s,"thank god for that" raybart thought.

A few seconds later there was a thud and then nothing, the speedo was reading 0m/s, "WE'VE LANDED! WE'RE SAFE!" Raybart thought, Jeb radioed in, "Come in KSC, Jeb here, Launch was a no go, I repeat Launch was a no go...". After a few seconds there was a reply... "KSC here reading you loud and clear Jeb, glad ye are all ok, it was a pretty nasty one, ye didn't go very far, we're sending out a chopper to pick ye up, out".

"Get me outta here!" Raybart screamed, he suddenly felt claustrophobic, maybe it was Nedgard laughing next to him, in any case he undid hid buckles and reached for the door, opening he he climbed out into the fresh air.

Mission control wasn't joking, they hadn't gone far, he could see the top of the VAB. At least he was still alive, that was the most important thing as far as he was concerned. Jeb got out next, "we'll try again tomorrow" he said, "ah crap" thought Raybart.

Nedgard was still stuck in the capsule trying to undo his buckles, "how the hell did he get here" said Raybart to Jeb, who replied "he's related to the director...", "I don't want to know anymore..." said Raybart.

[Biker Joe]

Raybart was having a bad week, between being stuck with Nedgard and the rockets blowing up he was sick of it!

He was about ready to call it quits and forget about the whole idea of going to the Mun but Jeb was surprisingly upbeat. "You'd be surprised just how often this happens!" he'd say, not exactly putting confidence in Raybart...

But the engineers did a little more tweaking and on the 5th or 6th attempt (Raybart had lost count at this stage!) everything was going normally...

They made it into space and made their burn to get into orbit around Kerbin. Everything had finally clicked into place, now time to go for the Mun!

After the burn was made they had a few hours to kill, it consisted mostly of Nedgard asking Jeb questions about previous missions and what went wrong, much to the annoyance of Raybart... Thankfully after what seemed like an eternity Jeb told Nedgard to shut up, Made his braking burn and the were in orbit around the Mun.

Jeb kept KSC appraised of their situation, they seemed surprised that they had made it this far?! Raybart took a look out the window and there it was, The Mun...

"Ok guys, now comes the fun part" said Jeb as he unbuckled himself and put on his EVA suit, "what are you doing?" asked Raybart, "your not going out there are you?!". "Of course I am" said Jeb, "you want to come out too?". "Can I come?" asked Nedgard. "No. someones got stay in here and keep and eye on things" said Jeb, really he didn't want to let Nedgard go outside cos he was afraid he'd float away, try explaining that to the director!

Jeb got out first, and went for the science equipment, checking to see if they were working properly. Raybart followed a minute later, floating around uncontrollably, the ship was getting farther and farther away, this wasn't going well, Jeb spotted it though and flew over to him and grabbed hold of him. "Going somewhere buddy?" he said jokingly. He brought him back to the safety of the ship and Raybart clung on like his life depended on it, Jeb looked over his suit but couldn't see anything wrong... then Raybart realised he hadn't turn on the suits RCS system, he felt a bit stupid, such a rookie mistake...

After a while he got the hang of it and went flying about for a while Jeb worked on the science equipment.

"Ok that enough for one day, come on Ray let's get back inside and go home" said Jeb, Raybart was actually starting to enjoy himself, but Jeb was right, it was time to go home... The two of them got back into the ship and Jeb fired up the onboard computer, telling it what he wanted to do...

After making their burn to bring them back into Kerbin's SOI they had a few hours to talk about the EVA and other such missions before they'd be back in Kerbins atmosphere again. Raybart noted that they still had plenty of fuel onboard.

A few hours passed, now the could see Kerbin below them, it was coming at them very fast indeed, Jeb turned the craft pointing it retrograde and fired the rocket to slow them as much as possible. Things started getting very warm and flames started creeping up the window, then a series of bangs. "Oops" said Jeb, he'd forgotten to put in the solar panels and they had been blown away!

After a few seconds the flames died down and there was a whoosh as the parachutes deployed, all this was new to Raybart and he was getting quite upset that Jeb wasn't telling him what was going on, Nedgard seemed oblivious to everything singing away to himself as all was happening.

Everything went quiet then, except for Nedgard singing to himself that is. A few minutes after the parachutes fully deployed they splashed down safely, much to Raybart's relief. Jeb radioed in to KSC that all was ok, KSC was tracking them on radar and was sending a chopper to pick them up. Raybart was just glad to be home.

[Biker Joe]

Mission 8: RockArch02 (Mun)

Raybart got to oversee the making of his custom built Mun Rover, which he affectionately named Mun Rover I!

It wasn't long before the big day arrived, Raybart strapped himself, before he knew it they were counting down and LIFTOFF!!! He was on his way to the Mun!

After getting into a stable orbit around the Mun, Raybart had a look around to find a nice landing spot, not too far from one of the anomalies to save traveling too far on his first day!

On his way down he realised what the first anomaly was...

Raybart: "KSC come in, Raybart here... I mean ugh... Mun Rover I ... coming in for landing... the anomaly picked up by SCANsat seem to be some kid of huge arch, It's probably visible from orbit its so big!"

KSC: "acknowledged Mun Rover I, keep an eye out for any other strange activity in the area, does it look man-made?"

Raybart: "It's way too big to be natural anyway, I'm gonna land and drive up to it go get a closer look"

KSC: "Are you sure that a good idea?!"

Raybart: "I'll be fine, it doesn't look like anyone's been around he in a long time!"

Raybart: "Ok KSC I'm back in the rover, heading off to the next anomaly, I Took a few pictures of he Arch, sending them to you now..."

KSC: "Received... ok Raybart, go easy on that rover, we never tested it! Talk to you in a few hours..."

[Biker Joe]

So Raybart started making his way to the next SCANsat reading, it was a few hours away but he didn't mind, it would give him a chance to get used to the Munar terrain and the rover...

But about 30mins into his drive he had a problem...

Raybart: "Come in KSC, Mun Rover I here, we go a problem..."

KSC: "What seems to be the problem Raybart, you haven't crashed the rover have you?!"

Raybart: "No KSC, everything works fine, well actually the brakes are crap and because the gravity is so low the thing slides all over the place... but anyway, I seem so be stuck on a ridge between two craters, it's very steep..."

KSC: "Phew... ok Raybart just take it easy, see if you can go over the ridgeline, DON'T go into the crater whatever you do!"

Raybart: "ugh... too late KSC... remember what I said about the brakes being crap... the rover has kinda slid to one side... I'm sliding down one of the craters... this ain't so bad, just hope I can get out of the crater!"

KSC: "FFS Raybart! Just try and maintain some sort of control if you can, and don't break our rover!"

Raybart: "Eh KSC... things aren't going too good... I think I'm upside down..."

KSC: "Raybart... COME IN RAYBART, WHAT'S GOING ON?"

KSC waited anxiously for Raybart to reply, after about 30 seconds, a lifetime for KSC, they heard something...

Raybart: "KSC, Raybart here... we have a problem... things got a bit crazy there for a while... the rover is pretty much bust, it's upside down... can you send someone to pick me up?"

KSC: "What happened?... Nevermind, sit tight, we're sending Jeb to get you... we want you to tell us what happened as soon as you get back!"

Edited April 2, 2014 by Biker Joe

[Biker Joe]

Raybart wasn't feeling very good, he couldn't get his rover fixed so he was stuck on the Mun with nowhere to go!

Meanwhile back at KSC the engineers had gotten together and come up with a hastily designed craft for Jeb to fly to the Mun and rescue Raybart! The rescue craft was out on the launchpad, Jebediah got in an off he went!

He made it into orbit around Kerbin and made his Burn for the Mun!

Jeb had a fair idea of Raybart's location, he took up an orbit around the Mun and it wasn't long before he spotted the Rover, it was the one next to the huge Arch!

Raybart sat in his ruined mun rover sulking, thinking about how much the boffins at KSC would 'tear him a new one' because he trashed their lovely rover, and how much they'd laugh at him because he had barely started his mission and had to go and get Jeb to come get him. Raybart was wondering if the radiation he heard about was getting to him, he could her what sounded like engines in the distance, getting louder, "am I going crazy?!" he thought. then he heard the radio start to crackle... maybe it was KSC, were they going to send a rescue craft?!

Jeb: "Hey Raybart how you holding up? I'm just coming in for landing now, be with ya in a minute".

Thank god thought Raybart, he had been stuck on the mun for less than a day but for him it felt like forever!

Raybart: "Thank god! god to hear your voice Jeb, the surface around here is flat as a pancake, land as close as you like".

Jeb took this as a challenge! "How close can I get?" he wondered as he manouvered the rescue craft in for it's landing. He got pretty close but decided to say nothing, he wanted to see Raybart's reaction when he got out of the rover.

Raybart: "ya couldn't have landed much close Jeb!".

Jeb: "Yea well, ya did say I could land as close as I like, and since the rover is now scrap I figured I'd try and get as close as I could!".

Raybart: "Only you would think that!".

Jeb: "Changing the subject... the rover is in pretty bad shape, you broke it good! The engineers at KSC wanted me to see if I could fix it but now that I see it, theres no point!".

Raybart: "Yea the things wrecked, considering that fact that it slid the whole way down the crater I thought it'd be worse! Anyway... let's get outta here!".

And so the two of them climbed up the ladder and into the rescue craft with Jeb at the controls, he plotted a course for home and off they went! Raybart was happy to be going back to Kerbin, even if he wasn't looking forward to the frosty reception he'd surely get from the director... he had a few snacks and with a his belly full he fell asleep. A few hours later he was woken up by Jeb. "Take a look Ray, your almost home!" he said. Raybart had never been happier to see Kerbin.

Jeb: "Buckle up Ray, things are about to get interesting!".

Raybart: "what do you mean Jeb? man it's getting warm in here... HOLY *****! ARE THOSE FLAMES OUTSIDE?!".

Jeb: "This is my favourite part!". Raybart thought Jebediah was a mad-man, he was probably right! But that was beside the point. He closed his eyes and tried to think happy thoughts... the sound of flames licking the spacecraft seemed to dissipate and were replaced by the sound of them hurtling through the air, a few seconds after he felt a jolt and Jeb deployed the parachutes.

Raybart opened his eyes and looked out the window, the ground was coming up fast, he looked up and could see the parachutes were only half deployed. "Don't worry, they'll deploy fully once we're closer to the ground, if the deployed while we were doing too fast they'd tear". After a few more minutes he felt another jolt as the parachutes deployed fully, a few minutes later they were on the ground.

Jeb: "Come in KSC, We've touched down on land, just short of the water...".

KSC: "We see you Jeb, we're sending a chopper to come get ye, is Raybart ok?"

Raybart: "I'm fine KSC, a few bruises but nothing major..."

KSC: "Good, the director wants to see you as soon as ye get back..."

[Biker Joe]

Mission 09: RockArch00 (Mun)

Raybart was worried, he'd messed up big time, worse than Jebediah had ever done, was he going to get fired?!

Director: "Nice to see you Raybart, I trust you got back ok, terrible business what happened on the Mun."

Raybart: "Thanks for sending Jebediah to get me so quickly, I'm sorry about what happened, I tried my best to save it but the lack of gravity on the Mun... I just couldn't get the rover stopped before it went over the edge..."

Director: "don't worry about it, the guys have been working on an improved design, I think you'll like it, your going back there to survey the other anomalies..."

Raybart: "WOW, thats great! So I'm not being fired?! THANK GOD! Is the new rover ready? when do I leave?"

Director: "the Rover is fueled up on top of our standard launch rocket, it's all ready to go, you leave tomorrow morning!"

After the meeting Raybart was shown the new and improved rover, it had 8 wheels instead of 4 and was a good bit longer, a lot more stable in his eyes, it even had it's own MechJeb Autopilot system, that'd come in handy he was sure!

The next morning Raybart arrived early and was ushered into the VAB where he was strapped into the rover on top of the launch rocket. Now he was starting to get nervous, everything looked the same, which worried him a bit, he kept telling himself that this time things would be very different. The guy at KSC started counting down from ten, he started the ignition sequence and he heard a rumble behind him before being pushed down into the ground, LIFTOFF!!!

Things were going smoothly and he was in orbit in a few minutes, time to head for the Mun he thought!

He picked a landing spot quite close to one of the anomalies near the Mun's equator...

Raybart: "Come in KSC, Raybart here... coming in for landing, it looks to be another one of those big arch thingys..."

KSC: "We read you loud and clear Raybart, another one... Strange... anything else around there?"

Raybart: "No there are no signs in or near the arch, which is strange, this one was definitely built by whoever built the last one... it's an exact replica... I'm gonna land and more in for a close look ..."

KSC: "Ok Raybart, just keep those eyes peeled... we don't want any surprises .... and another rover wrecked..."

Raybart landed his rover and drover closer to the arch to get a good look at it, he got out to check the area for any tracks of marks left by whoever built it...

Raybart: "... It's the exact same like a carbon copy, down to every detail... I'll send you back my findings... Gonna head to the next anomaly"

KSC: "Ok Raybart, take your time now we don't want you falling into anymore crater and ruining ANOTHER rover ... give that new autopilot a try..."

[Biker Joe]

Mission 10: Monolith01 (Mun)

Raybart: "Hey KSC, I'm coming up on next anomaly. It's up on top of a hill..."

KSC: "Reading ya loud and clear Raybart. Remember what happened last time you tried maneuvering on a hill on the Mun, we don't want a repeat of that! take it easy..."

Raybart: "Thanks for the reminder, ok I'm at the top of the hill now, It looks like another one of the plaques with 'SQUAD' written on it, I'll see if I can get closer and take a few pics for the guys back i R&D."

KSC: "Ok Raybart, you better get a move on, finish up there and head due southwest. You got a lot of ground to cover til you get to the next anomaly."

Raybart: "Gotcha KSC, just finishing up here... "

BIKER JOE: Sorry guys and gals for the lack of pics but I recently tried updating from v0.23 to 0.23.5 (disaster) and lost my screenshots! I'll have some for the next installment promise!

[Vanamonde]

Raybart is a busy man.

[Biker Joe]

Mission 11: Rockarch01 (Mun)

Raybart: "Come in KSC, closing in on the location of the next anomaly, looks like another one of those Arch thingys..."

KSC: "Gotcha Raybart, are you far away from it? can you gauge its size? Any signs of disturbance around it?"

Raybart: "No signs of any recent activity, looks like it's been here a while... it looks like it's in a crater? I'm gonna drive up and take a look..."

KSC: "Ok Raybart, Try and get a few snaps to send back to us..."

Raybart: "It looks like it was planted in the middle of this crater, I'm gonna fly down and take a closer look..."

Raybart: "Ok KSC I'm done here, gonna move on to the next one, talk to ya in a few days..."

KSC: "Roger that Raybart, talk to ya in a few...KSC out..."