Poryy's Stories - Khoine Base

[Poryy]

Khoine Base Minmus:

Dilfred jumped as the landing engine slammed on, decelerating the massive load of Khoine base to 7.7 m/s in less that a minute. With a hiss, the mobile base's RCS system rotated the huge object sideways. The Poodle landing stage separated and the base's RCS system fired downwards, gently lowering the mobile base onto it's wheels. At the control panel, Dilfred neatly turned on the brakes and raised the vehicle up onto it's legs. When the base came to a rest, Dilfred tapped the door to the restroom cubicle. "Geneny? Are you in there?" Dilfred was only answered by a gurgling noise and a feeble cough.

Author Note:Poor Geneny was screaming all the way, so I thought I would be nice and let Dilfred do the site evaluation.

Dilfred shook his head and jumped out the roof hatch on the newly landed Khoine base. He activated his EVA pack and carefully flew to the pair of Gigantor solar panels, unfolding each one and letting them deploy. After he was done, he looked around at his surroundings. They had landed on a pale green, low-lying flat area. Within a kilometer lay a pale turquoise hill, leading up to the huge plateau that was their objective. He grinned as he looked, imagining all the science that could be done here. He opened the hatch again and spoke into the radio. "Geneny! Tell Jeb 9K to set out the experiments! We've got work to do!"

An hour later, the experiments were ready. Geneny had just finished examining the Thermometer and Goo results, and Dilfred was working on an analysis of a gravity and seismic scan. He finished, and put the pen down, carefully transmitting all of the data. He finally finished and began scrubbing out a materials bay. He spotted a bit of cold mush on the side and tasted it. "Hey! Geneny! Grab some of the ground! It tastes like mint! Needs some chocolate chips, though."

A calm mechanical voice interrupted him. "I have determined we have learned all we can from this specific area. We should move uphill to the Slopes." "Not now, Jeb 9K. You know the rules. I'm allowed to name this basin whatever I want."

Dilfred left the craft again, and placed a flag naming the basin as Alby Basin, after the first Kerbal to land on Minmus. He lingered out there for another minute, marveling at the faraway globe of Kerbin.

Dilfred moved soundlessly aside to let Geneny drive the base, still in shock about how small Kerbin really was. Geneny shrugged, disengaged the brakes, folded the panels, and raised the landing gear. With a blast of RCS, Khoine Base started rolling uphill, reaching up to 33 m/s and flying over any bumps in the turquoise ground. Geneny spotted a flat patch at the top of the hill, and fired RCS backwards, bringing the speeding base to a halt.

The base gently drifted downwards on a plume of monopropellant. Geneny extended the landing legs, but when the hovering object hit the Minmusian surface, there was a metallic tearing noise. Dilfred quickly went on EVA."The back left landing leg's completely sheared off. I have no idea why." Dilfred quickly got a sample of the ground. The ground was almost completely composed of alternately soft and frozen mint ice cream, with large cracks. "Looks like it hit a frozen bit, then sunk." Said Dilfred.

Author Note: I have no idea why this happened. I'm guessing that the leg got caught on one of the side-mounted material bays, or actually broke after the start of the trip, and only fell off when the base stopped. Until I know for sure, I'm sticking with Dilfred's explanation.

"It's no problem." Said Geneny. "We have 3 more, and there's always the wheels." "Don't worry. I'm not questioning your driving skills..." Said Dilfred.

"Save it. I almost wrecked the base." "I said drop. it. Now help me set out the experiments. We're in a new area now."

After a hard hour of sciencing, they finally completed their entire suite of experiments and began scrubbing the Goo and Materials Bays. Finally, they finished doing all the work and transmitted the data. 500 science.

When the transmission had finally reached the blue and white globe on the horizon, Dilfred noticed that it was nearly night. He folded up the solar panels, turned on the brakes, and told Geneny. Over-night Dilfred slept underneath the spare cleaning supplies, and Geneny slept on probe core controller's chair.

When it was finally daytime again, they awoke and began moving immediately. This time, Dilfred was controlling the 3 probe cores in the front, with Jeb 9k looking for new areas to explore. To get to the plotted location, Southwest Mesa, Dilfred had turned the RCS system up to maximum power. Suddenly, the base left the ground and began to tilt sickeningly sideways. The probe cores mounted on the front providing torque to counteract the spin, and Dilfred frantically thrusted backwards with the RCS. A moment later, the unweildy, flying base hit it's apoapsis and Dilfred panicked. He moved to thrust directly upwards, but was only rewarded with a cough and blinking warning light. "Monoproppelant out!" Dilfred yelled and threw himself backwards as the base smashed into the minty ground at 35 m/s and bounced four times. The initial impact wrecked the wheels and tore off the auxiliary batteries on the bottom of the craft. The second bounce ripped off the probe cores and Jeb 9k, and the third ripped the entire front off the base. The final bounce brought the skidding base to a halt, with the front of the lab module stuck in the ground and the rear elevated.

Author Note:And that, my friends, is why you should make quick saves.

Dilfred regained conciousness and yelled "Damage report!", but the multitude of screaming alarms and red lights answered his question. The base had lost all methods of control. They were stranded on Minmus.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Poryy

[Poryy]

Is this mission report seriously so horrible that it deserves no feedback whatsoever?

[Poryy]

Khoine Base Part 2:

KSC

The signal hit KSC like a lightning bolt. A simple SOS, repeating 22 times and then shutting off due to lack of power. Athens VAB team, lead by Elbnie Kerman, was already building a rescuer based on the same platform as the base. They called it Orpheus Minmus, and 2 days later it was climbing into the sky for it's 5 day rescue mission.

Minmus

Geneny: What do we have?

Dilfred: Well, we have a CO2 scrubber and 2 days of snacks left. Minmus' surface is edibile, but I recommend we don't eat too much of it. The water tanks were torn off, but we're on a ball of ice cream, so if we melt some and drink the liquid we'll be fine.

Geneny: Communications?

Dilfred: None. Antenna is burnt out. We have one solar panel, and 4 battery banks, so that should give us enough power for the CO2 scrubber and the heating.

Geneny: I think I can rig something from one of the wrecked probe cores. Do we have any tools?

Dilfred: We both have sample gathering hammers and I think there's a soldering iron in the lab. What are you planning on making?

Geneny: A beacon. If KSC sends a rescue probe, I want it to land near us.

Dilfred: Can you find Jeb 9K?

Geneny pulled a crumpled mess out of the ground. It looked like it had fallen off a train.

Geneny: Yep. He's out of commission. I think KSC can remove the intelligence core and put him in a new body.

Dilfred sighed. Jeb 9K had been a good partner.

Dilfred: Let's get some snacks. We have some candy bars left, and a container of moffins.

Geneny looked at the sad wreck of the base.

Geneny: No cleaning for a while, I guess.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Poryy

[Poryy]

Added Pictures

[Wallygator]

Nice. Great Narrative.

I like the spartan rescue unit!

[Poryy]

Nice. Great Narrative.

I like the spartan rescue unit!

It needed much dV. I gave it 13000. Trials on Duna are pending.