Avalon : A mission to every planet and moon - Investigation Via EVA

[Fenisse]

The crew resume their shift work schedule until the Tylo intercept.

Oh well, good luck with Tylo! The only time I landed there I had a really hard time.

[xtoro]

Oh well, good luck with Tylo! The only time I landed there I had a really hard time.

Yes it is a challenge, but it was successful!

[xtoro]

Goodbye Dawn

Avalon quickly arrives within Tylo's SOI, and they didn't get to enjoy a huge amount of free time like they did from Eve to Jool. They know now that they'll be busy while they're in the Jool system what with all the moons being so close to each other.

Standard operating procedure; the crew is in place ready for capture burn. Looking out the windows, the crew would see a nice view of Tylo, Jool, Laythe and Vall.

"Engines full!"

Bob reports "Capture, AP and PE stable, approximately 65 kilometer orbit." The engines throttle down and cut out.

Jeb's been psyching himself out for this, but he's ready to go. Bill gives him another reminder. "Remember not to use up too much fuel on the way down, you need it to get back."

"Thanks" Jeb thinks. Like he doesn't know that already. "You got it. I'll be seeing you in a couple hours!"

He heads out to Dawn and does his final checks while the fuel tanks are being refilled via the docking ports.

Matlorf's checking Jeb's vitals and gets concered. "I think Jeb may be getting stressed again, like on the Eve mission. His vitals are all over the place."

Bill laughs "Got any more of that sugar water to inject into him?"

"Well yes, should I stop him?"

"No," interrupts Bob. "He'll be fine. He needs to do this on his own. Besides, I saw him before he left for Eve and he looked a lot worse than he does now."

Jeb undocks Dawn.

And starts burning retrograde.

He's trying to stop himself from shaking. If he screws up the descent, there's no way to get him back up without using the last lander, which would end the mission. Checks the fuel levels, and it looks really good so far...

He kills off much of his vertical speed and is now slowing his lateral speed for the final descent.

"100 meters..... 50..... 20.... 10.... 5,3.... touchdown!"

The crew is silent, waiting for Jeb's situation report.

"Soft landing, all green, and plenty of fuel to get me back up there."

The crew cheers as Bob gets on the radio "Good job Jeb, I knew you could do it!". Jeb sits in the pod for a moment, looking out the window. His two most terrifying landings are over with, and it's a huge relief.

"Starting the science kit, heading out."

He climbs out and collects his samples. It's very strange being on Tylo. Very similar to Kerbin, only slightly less gravity. But so calm, so quiet. It's like being in a rocky desert, with no wind, not even a breeze, on a dark starry night. He plants his flag.

Gah, it's backwards! With such a nice view too... oh well. With the next rendezvous window rapidly approaching, Jeb runs back up the ladder, gets in and ditches the science kit.

"Oh no! I forgot to transfer the science first!" He runs back out to the kit. Luckily it didn't get damaged in the fall and only rolled a little bit.

Back into Dawn, and back into orbit.

The descent stage didn't have much delta v left in it, but it was enough to get off the ground and get some speed. The descent stage runs out and is ditched.

"Well Dawn, you did well." Jeb says out loud. He feels a bit of an attachment to the ship. Adam was good too, but Jeb has piloted Dawn onto several moons now, and he's come to trust it. He gets up into orbit with the little ascent stage and plans the intercept with Avalon.

Easy intercept. The ascent stage is very light and easy to move around.

Jeb docks to Avalon, gets out to transfer the soil and data which is kept outside of the command module.

He then returns to the hub, gives Dawn a few pats, and climbs into Dusk, Dawn's twin lander.

Bill remotely controls Dawn. "She was a good lander, never had any problems. Sad to see her go." Then he commands the lander to burn retro, and crash into Tylo's surface.

Jeb undocks Dusk, and moves it to the front docking port, where Adam was originally docked.

This will keep Avalon's center of mass balanced for the rest of the trip.

Bob turns the ship to get a view of the surface. Jeb is in the maintenance bay, looking out a window towards the surface. The rest of the crew is looking out of the windows of the command module. They watch Dawn fall away until it's just a speck. Then a tiny flash is spotted on the surface. Dawn is a part of Tylo now.

"Set our next course for Pol, Bill. Joemal, get the mining rig ready."

Edited November 6, 2014 by xtoro

[xtoro]

Chasing Echoes

Avalon is coasting towards Pol. Bob is in the command module, again, searching, and scanning. Wilbur is on shift with him in the lower level of the module. With no results from his efforts, and increasing pressure being put on him by KSC, he's made the decision to ask Bill for help. That's something that goes against his orders, but if they are to find what he's looking for, he can't do it on his own.

"Wilbur, I'm heading out for a few minutes, I'll be right back."

"Ok boss!"

He heads out to Habitat #2. This is where he, Bill and Jeb share the room. Jeb is in Dusk running diagnostics. Bill is in the habitat listening to some music and going over some calculations for the mining rig's future deployments.

"Hey Bill, can I talk to you for a second?" Bob says as he turns off the music.

Bill puts his notepad down and hops out of bed.

"Sure, why? What's going on?"

"Oh nothing's wrong. It's just that, I need your help."

"That's what I'm here for. Is something broken?"

"No, I need your help with the mission I couldn't really tell you about..."

Bill is silent for a second and thinks. So now that Bob needs help, NOW he's willing to tell me what's going on? "Um, ok. So you're gonna tell me what's going on then?"

"...." Bob hesitates. "Yes, well, what I mean is, I can tell you what I'm trying to do, but it's not like I can tell you everything."

Bill thinks carefully on what to say next....

"No Bob. I'm already having lots of problems with you not trusting me, and it's making it difficult to trust you. You either tell me exactly what we're doing, and what you've been secretly scanning for, or tell me nothing, and I won't help you. Easy as that."

Bob's conflicted. He knows that he'll get it a ton of trouble for telling Bill. However, if they were to find what he's looking for, then he's allowed to brief the crew. So what's the difference if he only tells Bill now? Then they'll find it, and everyone will know anyways.

"Ok Bill, I'll tell you. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone."

"Ok then..."

"And you can't tell anyone afterwards that I told you before anyone else."

"Ok"

"And when I tell the crew, you have to act surprised, like you didn't know."

"OK! OK! Yes I get it! Big secret! Come one, I won't say anything, just spit it out already!"

Bill is standing with his hands out like he's holding two basketballs out in front of him, fingers spread out and bent. Then he slowly lowers them, realizing that he's losing his cool. Bob looks up the ladder to make sure nobody will hear.

"We're looking for a ship. Well, part of a ship at least. And, we think it's a ship."

"Ship? What ship? We're the first and only thing out here, EVER."

"No Bill, we're not. KSC detected a ship in our solar system, and pinpointed it to the Jool system. There was a beacon of sorts being transmitted after a massive EM pulse came from the Jool system. The beacon has been getting weaker and weaker, and it's barely detectable now."

Bill looks at the floor between them. He's thinking about the engine that he worked on so many years ago. Nobody told him where it came from. The technology was completely unknown to Kerbin. It took almost a year just to figure out all the components and find materials that were compatible and similar enough to the original engine parts to get it working again, and to build 5 more of them. Metals that they never saw before, the most advanced electrical systems that Bill had ever seen. Could this engine have come from the ship that KSC found? The ship that they're looking for right now?

He wants to tell Bob about the engine he worked on, and the technology that launched them from Mun explorers to solar system travellers. He was there, and he figure out most of the tech. But he doesn't want to seem like a hypocrite. After all, he's been keeping this secret from everyone else.

"So, this signal has been transmitting for almost a decade?"

"No, this is a new signal. But there have been more in the past, all over our system. When we were orbiting Eve, KSC found another signal near Jool using the Avalon's sensors. That's why the plan changed. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, but I was under strict orders. I mean, I am under strict orders..."

"Ok Bob, I'll help you. What do you need? What are you looking for?"

Bob smiles. "Great! So our scanners have been set to search for specific radiation traces and EM signatures. The problem is, it's all too weak. The signals have been fading. This Jool system is a nightmare. What with all the moons bouncing things around, the heat and radiation coming from everywhere, the background noise... everything is distorted and I can't pinpoint anything. Every moon is echoing the EM signatures, so they're coming from every direction...."

Bill stares at the floor again. "Ok, let me think...."

At first he considers a polar orbit, far outside of the moons' paths, where they can look down on the entire system. But the amount of fuel it would take is insane, and they might have a lot of trouble getting captured by a moon again to refuel. If only there were a way to triangulate the signal....

Then he remembered the 2nd backup scanner. And it's like a firecracker goes off in his head. He looks up at Bob with wide eyes. "I got it! We have 2 scanners! One of each side of the ship. There's another backup one remember?"

"Yes, I remember, but how is that going to help?"

"If we can get the 2nd scanner online, and searching for the same signatures, we could somehow, link them up together... Ok, let me put it this way. If a signal hits scanner 1 a few milliseconds before scanner 2, we're able to better determine exactly where it's coming from, because we know that it's closer to scanner 1. It's simple trangulation! Then we could filter out the weakest signals coming from a different direction to find the source!"

"Yes! Of course! But, wait, our system doesn't do that does it?"

"Well, no... The scanning sub-system is designed to work with only one scanner. The 2nd one is only used if the first one breaks. But, I could write a new subroutine that can do these calculations. I just need full unrestricted access to the scanning systems."

Bob breathes a sigh of relief. "You got it, whatever you need! How long will it take?"

"I have no idea... a few hours? Maybe a day?"

"Right, then lets get cracking. Let me know if you need anything to help you out."

They start climbing the ladder to head back to the command module.

Edited November 13, 2014 by xtoro

[Fenisse]

Where did you go xtoro? This is brilliant! Still waiting!

[xtoro]

Where did you go xtoro? This is brilliant! Still waiting!

Thanks! I'm around, but real life stuff must go on as well. And I'm going away this weekend so no updates till mid week next week

[Fenisse]

Thanks! I'm around, but real life stuff must go on as well. And I'm going away this weekend so no updates till mid week next week

It's the same for me... whatever, I'll wait

[Fireking883]

Hey, you might of already said this and I'm sorry if you have, but I like to know what mod the centrifuge came in?

[xtoro]

Hey, you might of already said this and I'm sorry if you have, but I like to know what mod the centrifuge came in?

Lackluster labs

[Kamuchi]

That ship looks awsome and great story!

My hats off to you

[Fireking883]

Thanks! Also, great story, can't wait to see more!

[xtoro]

Magna Invenitur

Bill is hard at work writing up new subroutines to allow the Avalon's system to use both sensors on the ship to triangulate the source of a signal. Unfortunately, he had to take the entire sensor subsystem offline in order to do this, but he did manage to keep the Karbonite scanner online. They are approaching Pol and are getting ready for a capture burn.

Bob has now received confirmation that the Lancer II resupply ship will be arriving in Laythe orbit shortly. This will work out perfectly. They have 2 science kits left and plan to visit Bop next, followed by Laythe.

Bob leans over and speaks quietly to Bill "I know we have plenty of fuel, but we're going to top up here, as well as Bop and Laythe. I want to have as much fuel as possible in case we need to get out of here quickly."

Bill has a concerned look on his face "Alright, but are we in danger or something?"

"I don't know, but we can't be too careful and we should be prepared for anything."

Bill nods and gets back to work.

The crew gets seated and the burn for orbit begins.

The mining lander is sent down to the surface to start refuelling procedures. Bill is worried that these extra refuelling trips might wear out the lander faster than they had planned. So from on they're only using one drill instead of two.

It takes much longer, but with the low gravity, they can net more fuel since the lander doesn't use very much.

But it's still a long process...

Jeb pulls Dusk away from Avalon to start his descent.

Bob comes up over the radio "Jeb, this is Bob. As you know, Pol is very rocky and doesn't have many flat spots, so watch your landings. If it's too steep, just take off and find another spot. You have enough fuel to do several landings so don't worry about it."

"Roger that!"

Jeb managed to find himself a pretty flat spot to land.

He does the usual, flag, samples, science kit. He decouples the spent science kit and gives Dusk a little shake with the reaction wheels, and it slowly falls to the ground.

Back up into orbit was easy. Jeb thinks he could have really just used the RCS thrusters, or even gotten out and used his jetpack to push it up like superman. He really did consider it...

He docks, and the mining lander does its final run up from the surface. Bob plans out the next burn to Bop. It works out really well considering Bop's inclination.

"Bill, we have to burn now or we'll miss this window which won't take much fuel... How's the work coming along?"

"I've managed to get both sensors online and working individually. All I have to do now is finish writing the triangulation routines so that the system can pinpoint better."

Jeb is sitting in the middle seat between Bob and Bill, wondering what they're talking about, and why Bill is reconfiguring the sensors. "Is something wrong with our sensors?"

Bill hesitates for a second to think of some BS to tell him. "No, everything's fine. I just figured I could make our sensors work better so I'm reconfiguring them."

"Ah, ok...." Jeb says, thinking nothing of it.

Bill turns to Jeb "Well Jeb, I say we carry on without the sensors towards Bop. We did some scans before the sensors went offline and we didn't find any asteroids or anything floating around that could be dangerous around here."

Jeb being the second in command, is required to agree with the mission commander for certain decisions, such as flying without sensors. "I agree, lets get going."

The Avalon is aimed, and when the time comes, the engines push it towards Bop.

As they approach Bop, Bill finishes with his work.

"Ok I'm done, and bringing everything online now."

A console in front of him has a window pop up, and a booting screen appears

Eventually, the system comes online. Bill starts punching in commands and the sensors start sweeping. "Looks like it's working so far."

Bob is very pleased "Good job Bill. Keep scanning and see what you can find."

"Will do."

They brake for Bop orbit.

Joemal checks the Karbonite scanners and finds a huge concentration on the surface. "Bob, I found a great spot, but our orbit is off and it'll make it less efficient to refuel unless we change our orbit. I've plotted a maneuver node that will work out great."

Bob checks it over. "Nice one Joe. Been practising creating manoeuvres?"

"Yes, well, I read all my books so I figured I would try things out on the simulation just for fun."

"Well, keep it up, maybe you'll have my job someday!"

Joemal smiles hugely "Really? Well thank you!"

Avalon adjusts its inclination and sends down the miner.

Jeb heads down to do what he does, and finds himself a great view.

Unfortunately it was on quite a steep incline and he started sliding down the hill, but he made it back to Dusk eventually. Luckily, Dusk didn't do the same. The reaction wheels were enough to keep it steady on all 4 legs. It did however, make it really easy to ditch the science kit.

He then heads back into orbit and docks.

Bill's console starts showing tons of data, and he starts running his algorithms to eliminate weak signals that were likely bounced off of planets. Then he turns to Bob, and nods towards his console. Bob takes a deep breath. He knows, Bill found something.

He addresses the crew in the command pod to either go perform some task, or go take a rest. They won't be leaving Bop's orbit for a little while. The crew leaves, and Bob closes the hatch to the pod.

"So, you found something?" Bob asks.

"Yes, but I don't know what."

"Well what is it? Where is it?"

"It's a really weak EM signal. I'm also tracking some radiation traces. But it's like nothing we've seen before out in space. It's definitely not background noise. And, it's coming from Laythe."

"Laythe? Are you sure?"

"Very sure. I'm continuing the scan and concentrating on Laythe now. The longer it picks up the signals, the more sure I am that it's coming from Laythe..."

Bob goes a little pale, he didn't think they would actually find anything "So what's the EM signal?"

"I'm analysing that now. It's not analogue audio, it's some kind of digital packets, binary. And it's spread across several frequencies, with each frequency having a different stream of data."

"Can you decode it?"

"If I can get it all, maybe. I'm not getting it all because its so weak. But so far, I can tell that it's a repeating signal. It looks like its just the same thing over and over and over. A beacon maybe? Or an S.O.S. signal?"

Bill is just staring at the output on the screen, studying it, and writing things down in a notepad.

"Bill, do what you can. We're going to stay in orbit here for a while. Our next trip is to Laythe, and the Lancer II should be arriving there in the next 3 hours."

"Yeah, I just need time. Once I can piece it all together and get all the data, I can start trying to decode it. I'm sorry but I don't know how long this will take."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be leaving for Laythe in about 5 hours. I'll plan two manoeuvres so that we can either aerobrake, or keep our distance with a high orbit so that we can slowly get closer..."

Bob leans back into his seat, staring out the window for a few seconds, and then starts plotting manoeuvres. Bill doesn't even seem to blink, he's just typing away and writing in his pad.

What do they do? Neither of them want to even get close to Laythe because they don't know what they're getting into. But whatever is transmitting, it's obviously somewhat advanced if it uses digital signals. But just how advanced is it? Where did it come from? Is it dangerous? Is it alive?

Bill turns to Bob "So, are you going to tell the rest of the crew?"

"I think I have to. It's the right thing to do. They need to be prepared, especially if things go wrong..."

[vsully]

Incredible story, can't wait for the rest!

[Raptor9]

xtoro, all I can say is wow. I can't imagine how much work has gone into the story with custom built scenes, interiors, screenshots. This is an incredible undertaking, in gameplay and documentation. Definitely need more rep than what I can give.

[xtoro]

Just wanted to throw out a thanks to everyone for reading and for the comments and reps. When I started posting Avalon I didn't think it would turn into what it is now. It was just something I started doing after my surgery since i couldn't do much, and started spending time with my laptop. So it's thanks to everyone for giving me the motivation to keep putting more work into it as I go along. I've spent so much time thinking of it and started writing things down so I don't forget because things will get, interesting.

I actually already have plans for my next mission which will be a sequel/continuation to Avalon It just comes down to finding the time to create the sets, take the screenshots, upload them and write the text, which is quite time consuming. But I do as much as I can when I have time. Heck, if I had the time, I would write an entire novel with illustrations

xtoro, all I can say is wow. I can't imagine how much work has gone into the story with custom built scenes, interiors, screenshots. This is an incredible undertaking, in gameplay and documentation. Definitely need more rep than what I can give.

Thank you very much. Yes, it is a lot of work, but worth it, and I'm glad that people are enjoying it. The gameplay portion of my grand tour just kinda led to me adding a storyline to make it more interesting. So it just kinda happened And also, I'm planning on going back to the first few chapters and redoing the writing portion because I wasn't as "into it" at first.

Edited November 22, 2014 by xtoro

[xtoro]

We Are Not Alone

The Lancer II is approaching the Jool system.

Meanwhile, Bob gathers the crew in one of the habitats to brief them on the situation.

"Guys, I know you're probably all wondering why I needed to talk to all of you. Long ago, KSC found signals coming from different location in our solar system, and this is part of the reason why we're doing this mission. When we were doing our Eve/Gilly landings, we found a signal coming from the Jool system. Now that we're here, we've discovered that it's coming from Laythe. We don't know what it is exactly, but what we do know is that it's not natural. In fact, it's a binary signal. Some kind of digital broadcast. This leads us to believe that the source is from intelligent beings that are at least as advanced in technology as we are. We do know that this is not something Kerbal-made. It came from somewhere else outside of our system. We've managed to capture the stream of data, but we're unable to decode it."

The crew is silent, eyes wide. Nobody moves an inch. For some reason, Jeb doesn't seem phased by the news at all...

"Now that that's out of the way, I want to let you all know that it wasn't my choice to keep this from you guys. It's a matter of national security. But I found it necessary at this point to let you all in on what's going on."

The crew starts looking around at eachother. Wilbur quietly speaks up. "Are these beings dangerous? What do they want?"

"We don't know. We're going to approach with caution. This is why we've been fuelling up at every moon since we got here. If anything goes wrong, we get the heck out of here ASAP. At this point, we only need to see what it is. One step at a time guys."

The crew all start talking all at once asking all kinds of questions. Bob puts his hands up in a stopping motion. "Now hold on everyone. The plan at this point, is to get into Laythe orbit, and resupply the science kits. Lancer II will be there any minute now. We're playing this by ear folks. I'm going to send a report to KSC, and they will give us instructions. I'll brief you guys as the information comes in. For now, I've planned an aerobraking manoeuvre to get us into orbit. I know it's taking us in really close, but it will use the least amount of fuel so that we can leave again if we need to. So lets prep for braking. You guys with me?"

Everyone nods. "Alright, lets get to it"

The crew makes their way back to the command module. Bill and Jeb stay behind.

Bill and Bob both look at Jeb. He calmly nods. "So, you knew about this the whole time Bob? Did you know too Bill?"

"I did, and yes, I let Bill in on the situation not long ago to help me find the source of the signals. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, I was following orders, that's all."

"No I understand. I'm just wondering why KSC felt that they couldn't trust me with this information."

Bill cuts in. "There's lots of things going on here, and lots of outcomes. At first I was upset that Bob didn't tell me, but now, I understand why. We might not have even found anything. There was really no point in freaking out the entire crew."

"Ya I get that. Well, we should get going right?"

Bill and Bob nod, and the 3 make their way to the command module to prep for aerobraking.

The Lancer II makes its final Laythe approach manoeuvres for aerobraking.

And it's coming in fast at over 8000m/s

At first, things look good

It burns up hard

But then it starts spinning out of control

An attempt is made to use RCS to correct it, but it doesn't help. Luckily, it starts to gain altitude again.

And ends up in an eccentric orbit

This was almost a disaster, but it survived. A few adjustments and it was in a stable orbit. A self diagnostic reports that incredibly, none of the payload was damaged.

Meanwhile, the Avalon sets a course from Bop to Laythe, another good transfer!

The crew straps in and departs. Bob sends a status report to KSC, also informing them that he has briefed the crew on what they're looking for.

A nice 24km periapsis should do the trick

Avalon hits the atmosphere hard, but it needs to bleed off a lot of speed

And for the first time, even the habitats and inflatable storage pods are burning up

Luckily the HyperRing is protecting the ship. And the Avalon eventually glides back up out of the atmosphere.

The rendezvous begins. Bill is working the scanners. "I'm picking up the radiation trail, and, it's a ring around Laythe.... Something in orbit is leaving a radiation trail."

Bob leans over to Bill's screen. "Can you find the source?"

"No, not yet. I think it might be on the other side of Laythe."

"Right. Well, lets resupply the science kits while you keep scanning."

They pull up to the Lancer II. Bob sends commands to it to start the resupply procedures."

The last set of kits are docked, and the Lancer II pulls away.

It burns retrograde to go crashing into the surface in one of the bodies of water. The Avalon now has 8 new science kits to carry on.

Bob starts plotting manoeuvres into the computer. "Bill, is there any way you can tell where it is on the other side?"

"No, it would just be a guess."

"Well, we can either drop our orbit to try to catch up to it, or I can raise it so that it catches up to us."

"Wouldn't it be better if we drop our orbit? Then we would gain some speed so that we can get out of here quicker."

Jeb cuts in. "I agree with dropping down lower, but that just means we would be passing really close to it as we leave orbit. But we have a better chance of leaving quicker that way."

Bob, looks over his 2 plotted courses. "Dropping down it is."

They drop their orbit. Bill notices the radiation trail is getting stronger. "We're definitely catching up to it. The radiation is getting stronger..."

Bob starting typing a message to KSC about what they're doing. He's secretly hoping that they reply telling the Avalon to get out of there and not approach it.

Bill's console starts beeping and flashing. "It's coming up over the horizon now! I'm getting a 100% signal location."

Bob rotates the ship pointing prograde. He's getting ready to punch the engines and leave. "What can you tell about it??? Is it moving?"

"Uhhh, I don't know, I don't think so. Wait...." He starts punching in commands into the computer. "There's a second signal! It's definitely a separate signal!"

Jeb puts his hands on his face "Oh no...."

Bob has his hand on the throttle. "Where's it coming from? Are you sure it's a different signal?"

"Yes, 100% sure. It's coming from.... the surface! It's ON Laythe!"

'TWO Signals?' Bob thinks to himself... "Is it right below the orbit of the other one?"

"No, it's further north, and not directly below, it's almost below US now. It's very similar to the first signal we found, but even weaker."

Bob is feeling panicked. The 4 crew members on the lower deck are all whispering to each other... "Ok, I'm going to slow us down. I need to get us into a higher orbit. Do we have a visual yet?"

Bill starts scanning with the external camera. "I think so, give me a second...."

Bob is firing all thrusters straight down towards Laythe to get some height and slow down their approach.

Bill finds it. "It's pretty far away.... And I don't think it's very big... A satellite maybe? Or a lander? Zooming in...."

An image comes up on the screens.

Everyone's jaws drop. "There it is..." Bob says "It's really out there.... Can you zoom in more?"

Bill sets zoom factor "There, that's maximum zoom...."

Bob brings his face up close to his screen with his mouth wide open.... "Good Kod....."

Edited November 24, 2014 by xtoro

[Rolanvorxariat]

Th suspense...

[xtoro]

Investigation Via EVA

Bob scrambles to take screenshots of the images on screen and transmit them back to Kerbin. He received a message from KSC stating that they are to continue their investigation on the object. Bob has managed to establish orbit approximately 2 kilometers behind the object.

Bob makes a request he wishes he didn't have to make. "We can't risk getting much closer than this, and I don't want to send a lander near it either. Jeb, you're going to have to go out and investigate the object, via EVA."

Jeb looks surprised, but Bill cuts him off before he can say anything. "Hold on Bob. We need to know what it is. We need to analyse it, and I know how to use all our gear. I'm volunteering myself, and I'd like Wilbur to come with me. He's a technician and knows how to use this stuff as well."

Bob thinks for a second and looks down between the seat to Wilbur, who is looking back up at him. Wilbur gives a nod. "I'm up for it Sir."

"Ok, you and Wilbur, prep for EVA and grab your gear. And BE careful!"

"You got it."

Bill and Wilbur make their way to the maintenance bay to grab some portable equipment. Spectrum analysers, radiation detectors, thermal imaging scanners, etc. All the gear is being shoved into pockets. Wilbur is nervous and keeps looking at Bill waiting for him to say something. But Bill is too busy looking for gear, making sure it turns on, and finding a place for it. He doesn't seem worried at all. He's almost excited.

"Bill? Do we even know if that thing is a weapon? Or has weapons? We've unarmed, sitting ducks out there!"

"I don't know anything yet Wilbur, but I plan on finding out." He grabs 4 foot long steel bar, and a grappling harpoon gun used for grabbing and recovering any parts that may be floating away on EVA. It's sharp, and flies fast. It would make a good weapon to any living being. "Here, take these. Just don't aim that harpoon at me please..." Wilbur grabs the items and straps them to his legs.

"Let's head out. We'll use Dusk as an airlock and go one at a time. I'll go first." He hits his transmit button for the radio. "Bob, we're heading out."

"Roger." Bob replies.

Bill makes his way out, followed by Wilbur. Bill thinks of the crew, and the Avalon, and comes up over the radio "We're pushing off. And Bob, if something happens to us, just go, just get out of here, don't worry about us."

Bob doesn't know what to say in response. He knows that it would be the right thing to do. Save the rest of the crew, and the ship, by abandoning Bill and Wilbur. There's nothing else he could do anyways.

He replies "Acknowledged Bill. Good luck."

They fire their packs heading towards the object.

"Matlorf," Bob says, "make sure you've got a good read on their vitals. Let me know if anything happens."

"No problems, I'm on it."

Bill and Wilbur are driving towards the object. They're about 800 meters away, and Bill stops.

"Wilbur, there's no sense in both of us getting too close. Just wait here, keep an eye on me. If something happens, get out of here and get back to the Avalon as quick as you can."

"But Bill....."

"No, just wait here. I'll be fine."

He fires his reverse thruster and spins around, continuing on towards the object. He checks for radiation and thermal signatures. He's floating right in the path of the radiation belt, but the levels are well below what the suit can tolerate. He starts reporting back to Bob.

"Bill here. I've left Wilbur 800 meters back and I'm continuing on by myself."

Bob shakes his head. Jeb turns to Bob "Why did he do that Bob?" "I don't know... that idiot...."

Bill continues "I'm about 250 meters away. Looks like, maybe a satellite? I see antennas.... It's black and orange...."

A few seconds pass... He turns on his camera and starts recording the situation.

"150 meters away. It's not a satellite, looks like maybe a lander. For maybe 1 man, or 3 at the most. Actually, depends on how big the crew are I guess... Radiation below max threshold. Most of the object is cold, not much heat coming from it..."

"It's definitely a ship of some kind. I see windows, and an engine. Looks like there's some kind of writing on it. Still no activity coming from it. It's just floating there."

"Wait a minute, the writing.... I can read it! It says 'Space K', and below that it says 'Phoenix'... It's in English, but, it's not a Kerbal ship. Nothing I've ever seen before..."

Back at the Avalon, Bob is recording all the audio and typing up mini reports, sending them every 20 seconds like a tweeting bird...

"I can see some scorching on the lower hull. Still not getting any activity. The broadcast is still going, but that's it. The engine is spewing radiation, and it's the only heat source. The pod itself is stone cold."

He swings around to the side. "I don't see any movement in the windows, and no lights, but I'm keeping my distance.... One of the windows has a pretty good crack on it..."

"There's a door on the other side, and some more scorch marks on the upper part. The door is a normal sized door, something we would use."

"Wait, I'm going in closer. Looks like, the window on the door is badly cracked too, and the door... There's... scratch marks, and burn marks around the door, almost like something was.... something was trying to get in...."

"I'm moving down to check out the bottom. More burn marks, and, wait, these aren't landing legs... These are antennas.

"Going below to check out the engine. What the? I think it's an engine...."

"I've never seen anything like this before... I can't even begin to describe how this would work... Unless. Unless it's a weapon? No... Then where's the engine? It must be an engine...."

"Swinging around to the top. Looks like a hatch of some kind, and some mechanical claws around a ring. Possibly a docking mechanism."

Bob's mind sparks "Docking mechanism..... So, maybe this is only part of a ship. Maybe the other signal on the ground is the rest of it...."

"Bob, have you picked up any changes with the sensors?"

"No, nothing, all the same as before."

"Roger, I'm going in for a closer look."

Bill glides towards the windows. He peers inside, using his helmet lights to see. It's too dark, and the windows are tinted too much. He can just barely make out some shapes that looks like the inside bevel of the window.

He tries the window on the door. No luck. But the sun is shining in through the front windows, and he can make out what looks like the silhouette of 2 seats, but he can't tell if there are any crew in there. He grabs the handle, and tries to turn it. "Clunk". It won't budge. If someone else tried getting in here with tools, then surely Bill won't be able to get in with his bare hands...

Bill is satisfied that they're not in danger, for now. He wants to get a few more items from the Avalon and come back out. "Wilbur, I'm heading back to Avalon. Make your way there now. Bob, I'm coming back in. I need to get a few things. I'd say it's pretty safe to bring the Avalon closer."

"Copy that Bill, when you get back, I need that camera. We're not doing anything else until KSC gets all the data and sends us instructions on what to do."

Wilbur and Bill float back to the Avalon and get back inside. The data is collected from the scanners and the camera, and sent to KSC.

[19chickens]

What mods did you use for the parts om the SpaceX Dragon i mean Space K Phoenix apart from Karbonite?

[Fenisse]

Hey, it's that my ship? Give it back to me!

[Fenisse]

What mods did you use for the parts om the SpaceX Dragon i mean Space K Phoenix apart from Karbonite?

I think that's the Odin Pod from NovaPunch 2

[DMSP]

What is the full list of mods you used?

This is a great story!

Keep it coming!

[vsully]

Wow this is Awesome! Can't wait for the next part!!!

[megatiger78]

when is next bit coming out?

[xtoro]

What mods did you use for the parts om the SpaceX Dragon i mean Space K Phoenix apart from Karbonite?

Haha, you caught that name thing huh? Figured many would parts below...

Hey, it's that my ship? Give it back to me!

I think that's the Odin Pod from NovaPunch 2

No it's not your ship Fenisse lol And you're right. The pod is the Odin pod from NovaPunch2, but I of course did some editing for the colors, the scorch marks, the cracks in the windows and the scratches and burn marks around the hatch. I was going to just photoshop the screenshots but found this actually easier. I also added the upside down antenna parts from Lackluster Labs, they're called "Commtower". And the "engine" part is a bunch of part-clipped pieces put together that looked cool.

What is the full list of mods you used?

This is a great story!

Keep it coming!

Thanks for the compliment. As for the mods, instead of typing them all out, I was lazy and did a dump of my GameData folder listing to copy and paste, and this is what I have:

000_Toolbar

0PinlineFairings

ActiveTextureManagement

B9_Aerospace

BoJaN (Quantum Struts)

CommunityResourcePack

CrewXfer

Firespitter

JSI

KASA

KerbalJointReinforcement

Kerbaltek

KerbinSide

KerbPaint

Kethane

KineTechAnimation

KittopiaSpace

Klockheed_Martian

Lionhead_Aerospace_Inc

LLL (Lackluster Labs)

MechJeb2

medsouz (Kerbtown)

ModsByTal

ModStatistics

NASAmission

NavyFish (Docking Port Alignment Indicator)

NothkeSerCom (Service Compartment Tubes)

NovaPunch2

OpenResourceSystem

ProceduralFairings

Protractor

ResGen

R&SCapsuledyne (Taurus Command Pod)

SelectRoot

SH_mods

SimplePartOrganizer

Squad

SurfaceLights

TextureReplacer

TimeControl

TriggerTech

TweakScale

UmbraSpaceIndustries (Karbonite, Karbonite+)

Wayland_Corp

ModuleManager.2.3.5.dll

toolbar-settings.dat

update-aero-parts.rb

43 Mods total. I don't think I use all of them for Avalon but I'm not sure anymore. Too many parts...

This isn't what I usually play with. I have a separate install for fun and it has over 100 mods. But because the Avalon craft assembled is almost 700 parts, I had to trim some mods down a bit to make my system happy

Wow this is Awesome! Can't wait for the next part!!!

when is next bit coming out?

Thanks guys! Soon.... soon. Xmas shopping time is upon us and it's a real time killer I do try to release more than one chapter in the same day when I can to make up for it, and I try to shoot for once a week. And this week is almost over...

Edited November 27, 2014 by xtoro