The Enemy From The Unknown (Chapter 1: Party Crasher)

[Coga19000]

The Enemy From The Unknown

KSP Fanfic

"To see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet, we have to look no further than ourselves"

Stephen Hawking

This is my first fanfic for KSP -and in general, if not counting some lousy short ones I've done. I usually end up scrapping my work after some chapters, either because they get not enough atention to keep me interested, or because or real-life time limitations. However, I really look forward to this story, which I will hopefully continue till last chapter.

Well, the theme, you say? Well, the title may already give you sufficient information, but for now, I don't mean to spoil the surprise. But maybe the Proloque will give you a decent see -ahead of the events to come

So, yeah. There is really no more to say here, other than maybe thank you for using your time to give an amateur storyteller a chance. I truly appreciate it So, let's not keep you waiting and dive in!

Chapters:

• Proloque: Relics of the Past, Discoveries of Today
  
• Chapter 1: Party Crasher
  

Edited November 17, 2014 by Coga19000

[Coga19000]

***

Proloque: Relics of Yesterday, Discoveries of Today

***

{17 of June, 2638 AD}

{Hermes Interstellar Radio Station, New Megara Scientific Base, Dark Side of the Moon}

Deep Space Comms Expert Marshall Yuringers woke up abruptly from a sound in front of him. After some searching, he found the source to be the monitor siting at the center of his control panel, coming to life as a transmission was being relayed to him by the Lunar Base Relay in California.

Damn, why was Ground Control disturbing his sleep cycle? What had happened?

As the screen in front of him flickered open, he saw his wife and son on front of the Quest Comms monitor camera, a great smile at the faces of both.

"Happy birthday, baby! I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep -George had warned us of your schedule -, but there was no way to convince little Jeb over here to wait for another couple hours "

Marshall smiled. Yep, sounded like his son hasn't changed at all.

"Anyways, the truth is that we had a hard time getting the permission to come here. Mission Control is a beehive of action those days, and if not for George, we would not be here. At least I hope things will work as planned for your project, sweetheart.

Say hi to Daddy, Jeb. He can see us through the camera. "

Jebadiah waved his little hands to the camera, with that level of enthusiasm only toddlers his age can execute successfully.

"Happy Birthday, Daddy! Where are you coming home? Mummy and I want daddy home! "

She smiled and hugged her son even more before turning towards the camera again.

"He is right, you know. You've been on New Megara for way more than you'd promised us. When the station is operational, you will come here immediately, okay? "

The screen went black again, as the message ended.

He sighed. Yes, he had been in the Hermes Radio Station for two months longer than expected, because of technical issues that occurred, and which had also left him with a great urge to return home; but he was the best there was at his job, and there was no way they would let him be absent of this program.

He also knew about the amount of activity lately; the data overflow of the last week was so intense, low- priority messages had acquired a 3-minute delay from sender to receiver. He pressed the responce button as he prepared to answer to his family.

"Good morning, sweethearts. Or good evening -I can't remember the time down there. It does seem you didn't quite remember the time up here, too! Okay, seriously now, I really loved your surprise, no matter if it woke me of my schedule. You are the best.

Anyways, the station should be coming to an end by today, so next week I should be home. And maybe my birthday is today, but you better keep me some cake on my return home! "

Just as he unpressed the button, he got another transmission, this time from the Station Assembly Control Network, staged on the Moon.

***

"This is SACN. I repeat, this is SACN. Come in, Interstellar Comms Network."

Well, that caught him even more by surprise.

"This is ICN, awake and reporting for duty"

"Apologies for interrupting your sleep cycle, ICN. The Assembly and Hardware Test Crew have reported optimal condition on primary, secondary and tertiary systems. No flaws were revealed to any section. Connection to you should come any second. Awaiting for confirmation of systems integrity on your part, ICN."

Marshall awaited for this moment for the last six months. Finally, the superluminal deep space comms capabilities this humongous radar dish would provide, with minimal interference from the Earth's influence, the uplink required for the very first tests of controlled Interstellar travel would be established. And he would be home. As he docked the Master Control Switch to on, the numerous monitors around him came to life as they did what they were designed for all this time ago for the first time ;flood him with all kinds of critical information which, by the time he left, would require a crew of 5 to operate the whole thing with no loss of information. It didn't really matter at this time, though. After a brief check, he reopened the local comms.

"SACN, we have a Go on Range Tests, Cone Adjustment, Spectrum Sensitivity, Stimuli Reaction time. Maximum transmission speed at 7.84c. You may want to check for improvements on the Quantum Suspension Coolant Circuit, but otherwise, we have a Go. "

"Copy your last, ICN. Mission Control has provided us with the system test objective of locating interplanetary probe Voyager 9. Coordinates are at SAO 674-368-149_004. Margin of error at 560 AUs. Execute objective when controls are checked for Go."

"Roger that, SACN. Controls are Go, commencing scan. "

That was a weird objective he was given. However, they did have to test the system for both Interstellar distances, one sided uplink capabilities, and low gain "blind search "capabilities, and the probe of Voyager 9,which should be working for around a millennium from then, was a perfect target. After seeing the coordinates and set the receiver the is correct position, he powered the systems to 86% and waited for exactly 10 minutes. At 10 minutes and 1 second, he got a confirmation of a partial uplink with the Voyager probe, along with some information flow from it.

***

At 10 minutes and 6 seconds, an almost insane Marshall canceled the incoming message form his family abruptly. Don't worry, he thought, I'll be coming home sooner than you'd expect. But not for good.

Then, he opened comms with the SACN.

"SACN, this is ICN. We have connection with the Voyager 9 probe. It was found at SAO 674-374-149_006, heading for the exoplanet Galileo-574fh3648611ae in 24 days, prepping to perform natural aerocapture and follow a suborbital trajectory to the surface"

"Copy that, ICN. We hear you worried, though. Is there a malfunction on the data flow? "

Oh ear, was "worried" an understatement. As for malfunction, he hoped it was. "The Voyager 9 has traces of connection with Voyager 2. It has landed on the exoplanet, with its primary instruments battered but redundant systems functional. "

Now the SACN was becoming nervous too. "Voyager 2? That thing should have shut down way ago! What are the reads from surface on it?"

The silence that followed from the ICN changed the cold, professional tone of the SACN to one of sincere worry. " What happened, Marshall? What are the readings? What has happened down there?!"

Marshall gulped once more, took some deep breaths, and finally found the strength to answer. "We are 60 probable on Code Green, Jonas. Get a reentry vehicle on the Mass Relay ASAP. I have to go back on Earth. Now. "

[Coga19000]

I have no idea how I should react to my good amount of views and complete lack of comments. Well, I'll just go with it for now. However,do note that I would really appreciate some feedback -in such an early stage, it can only make the story as a whole better as I become beter through your advise.

Anyways, here is the first episode. Some more timeline and world-developing here, from the Kerbals part this time, followed by an extremely important plot point. Well, enjoy

Chapter 1: Party Crasher

***

{7th of Ager, 500 of Official Kalendar}

{Jebadiah Kerman's Junkyard Co., Refamnon, Auricea Shore, Kerbin}

The crowd had been waiting for at least an hour in front of the large stand that had been placed the previous day in front of the Junkyard. They had been tired of waiting that long, but they did not care. They had been also waiting standing up, but they did not care about it either. All they cared about was that they were waiting for one of the greatest milestones of kerbalkind to arrive in front of them; this was a moment of national pride all over Kerbin, but of all of it, they, citizens of Refamnon, had the chance to witness it first of all of them. And not only that, but they would do so in its very origin, too. Yes, this was a privilege only few had.

They were not only native citizens, in fact. A good amount of Kerbals had arrived from all over Kerbin to also have this privilege, ranging from the most widely renown historians, to the greatest engineers of their generation, to wealthy and Kerbin-widely famous and wealthy Kerbals of all types of proffessions who could afford doing the trip just for this. For the rest of the world, the event would be recorded by an array of static cameras, and a couple of recording drones flying overhead, and then relayed to all of Kerbin.

Oh yeah, this was an important day for kerbalkind.

Finally, the waiting paid off. In the distance, they caught the image of an sleek black helicopter flying towards them. They all held their breath as the incredibly noisy but still oh-so elegant vehicle approached them, then, after hovering for a bit, sofly descended to the soft grass around the Junkyard.

From the inside appeared the President of the United Kerbin Democracy, Rindin Kerman himself, who approached the stand while followed by a giant row of clapping. Taking his position in front of the microphone, he cleared his throat and started speaking to the Kerbals in front of him -or in all of Kerbalkind for that mater, who could listen to him though their TVs.

"Greeting, fair people of the UKD. As you already know, I am here -and so are you- to celebrate a day of pure national pride for all of us; the 500 years from the discovery of the Technology Essence, right here, on the grounds where, in our days, the succesful Jebadiah Kerman's Junkyard Co. is established, and on the grounds of which you're standing on right now. This piece of machinery, left here by our ancestors, is the fragment of ancient technological wisdom and ingenuity that enabled us to thrive; this is the cog that geared us foard sto a better future. This, people of Kerbin, is the reason behind our current state! Let's welcome it once more, along with the owner of the junkyard, and descendant of the very man who discovered the Essence, Jebadiah Kerman himself!"

An even greater row of clapping occured as Jebadiah Kerman exited the helicopter, carrying with him a battered piece of machinery that was known all over Kerbin. It had a cylindrical body, on which were a battered bowl-shaped device with an antenna sticking from the center -which they knew now, thanks to it itself, that it was a radio dish-, a large cylinder and a crippled antenna sticking out -a thermoelectric generator and a magnetometer, as they found out-, as well as a battered and charred heat-shield at the bottom -which they could not figure out yet. No matter how many times they had seen it, and how bad its condition was, the Kerbals were never too prepared or too eager to witness this marvel of technology, this evolution matrix, let alone from up close.

After Jebadiah carefully placed the device on the stand and took his position, President Rindin continued his speech.

"This, Kerbalkind, is the Evolution Essence. This piece of hardware, suring all those years of researching and reverse-enginering, has given us -and still continues to do so- new knowledge of sciences and engineering. Thanks to it, we-" he was interrupted by the Kerbal pilot inside th ehelicopter coming out and approaching the President.

"I'm awully sorry to interrupt your speech, Mr. President, but there is something of grave importance I have to warn you about."

"What is it, Lanburr?"

"The helicopter's sensors caught a heat signature at an altitude of approximately 50 kilometers."

"50 kilometers? Noone's got that far up before!"

"I aknowledge, Mr. President. However, this is not the important part."

"Then what is it?!"

"It is descending at Mach 7, Mr. President. And as it seems, it is on a collision course with the Junkyard."

Before President Rindin had a chance of responding to this piece of information, everyone looked up suddenly, to see a giant fire trail come from the heavens, approaching them at alarming speeds.

Even the President was too startled to evacuate the citizens. But even if it wasn't, it was unlikely that anyone would hear as every single Kerbal present, including everyone watching the event live from their televisions, was standing frozen from awe, being unable to do anything other than follow with their eyes the fiery sphere as it came even closer, to eventually collide with the roof of the Junkyard, which it effortlessly pierced.