BrokenLifeCycle: Yeah, going fast is fun. That is, until you hit the atmosphere at 50,000 meters per second. Yeah, it happened to me once and the heatshield lasted about five seconds, including lag.

M.A.F.[Guest]:Trying a rendezvous is hard in space, and even more difficult on other planets. Well, probably not for the Mun, as it doesn't have an atmosphere, but I still wonder how those SSTO and Spaceplane builders manage to land their vehicles back at the KSC's runway after a mission.

notsae: Yeah, it's probably best for me to bump it up to T. It's not going any higher than that, no worries.


"You want me to do what?" Pina asked Jebediah.

"Should I explain it to you again?' Jeb asked. "We need you to help set up negotiations between the Kerbals and the Empire."

"Why? Seeing your mighty weapons, you could easily destroy the Empire in a matter of days."

"Believe it or not, us Kerbals would prefer spending money on Science equipment and getting to space. Sure, weapons are fun, but you can't really do much with it if there is no fighting to be done."

Jebediah was back at Italica with his crew, minus Valentina, as she was in orbit right now.

"I could... try," Pina spoke. "However, the Empire doesn't know that Italica is currently under your control, so if I revealed that information to them they would-"

"Don't worry. We told them already."


A few hours ago...

A Kerbal-manufactured Thunderbird aircraft was flying over the Empire's capital city. The Kerbal inside watched as all the arrows and dragons they were sending into the air missed by miles. The Thunderbird was one of the fastest KSP-manufactured aircraft.

Of the two fuel drop tanks on the Thunderbird, one of the drop tanks had a parachute attached to it and contained a message inside that stated Italica's capture and the terms for peace.

"This is the Thunderbird, I'm flying right above their capital right now. Commencing drop."

The decoupler on the drop pod detached the pod from the aircraft. The parachute on it opened up before the Thunderbird turned around to return to base.

"Mission successful."


Up in space, the Kerbal X Orbital Bomber drifted. In reality, it was just a modified Space Station Core with solar panels and tungsten rods strapped to it.

Valentina watched the surface of this planet. It looked a lot like Kerbin and Laythe, except this planet had more green on it. Valentina received a transmission from the KOB.

"This is KOB Mission Command, how is it up there?"

"The planet looks nice," Valentina replied. "And definitely different from Kerbin, continent-wise."

"Yeah, I wonder what they put on their hot-dogs, maybe they use ketchup and mustard too?"

"Sir," Valentina replied. "I'm talking about continents, not condiments."

"Oh, whoops."

Valentina shut off the comms before looking back at the station through the window. This station wasn't just an orbital bomber, it was also supposed to be an orbital Kethane ore scanner. The Kerbals in this world needed a way to collect fuel in case they... accidentally destroyed the Gate somehow, or it shuts off for no reason.

Valentina then remembered that she forgot to tell Jeb about his jeep's fuel leaking near the batteries. Oh well.


Why is the gate refusing to close? Why, why, why?!

It's those Kerbal creatures. They somehow stopped it from closing on the other side! I must destroy them...! Somehow.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gate, the Kerbals noticed that it was dimming slightly. Believing it to be "Running out of fuel", the Kerbals grabbed a bunch of equipment - batteries, PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, and lots of solar panels, and attached them to the Gate.

Surprisingly, it worked. Who knew Blutonium-238* generators could work so well?


While all this was going on, Ima, the Cat-Person the Kerbals captured, had been thinking in her cell.

Yesterday, she was allowed to go outside to watch a large vessel these Kerbal creatures constructed launching. Of course, when it was still on the ground she questioned how they would get into the sky in the first place, however the large rumbling sound accompanied by a stream of fire from the bottom of it.

These creatures, although not Human, could harness power comparable to Dragons? Comparable to Gods?

When she asked what it was for, one of the Kerbals replied that they were setting up a station high in the sky, to watch over the world and strike down opponents.

They really were elevated to the level of Gods.

If those weapons were turned against her people, she thought, there wouldn't be anyone left. However, the Kerbals said they were fighting the Empire, so maybe the Cat-People could fight alongside the Kerbals.

One could only hope.


"Tanks are ready to drop!"

"Affirmative! Decoupling!"

A large Mallard aircraft was performing a drop above a forest near the KOB. The Kerbals were developing tanks, and so far they have one design that is undergoing testing.

Four vehicles flew out of the back of the Mallard, and they all opened their parachutes.

The tank that was being tested was a Light Tank It housed a crew of two Kerbals, a driver and turret operator. The main weapons on it was a grenade launcher that launched a grenade every two seconds, and a .50 Caliber Browning machine gun. Its wheels were the smallest ones the KOB could order, so it could fit in an aircraft.

The Kerbals were also designing two other tanks: A Medium Tank and a Heavy Tank. The Medium tank would both be used as a combat vehicle and to transport Kerbals, and the Heavy Tank is a turret-less tank that can transport ores and fuel.

As for handheld weapons, the Kerbals just placed hand holds on their machine guns and light cannons.

Currently, the Kerbals back at the KSC needed a briefing on the discoveries on the other side of the GATE. However, Jebediah, the person who was supposed to send them the information, is always said to "not be available", which made Mission Control a little less than happy.


A Kerbal, sporting a mustache and wearing a lab coat and glasses, walked down the hallway towards the Mission Control of the KOB. His name was Wernher von Kerman, and he was one of the Kerbal's most famous scientists.

"Hey, Gus Kerman!" He exclaimed. "I need to talk to you about something!"

A Kerbal wearing a yellow helmet and overalls peeked out of the room. "What do you need?"

"Well, we have blueprints for something, but it's confidential information."

"What's so confidential about blueprints?"

"That's why we need to speak in private."

The two Kerbals went over to a soundproof room they could speak to each other in. "Basically," Wernher said. "We have these blueprints right here of a large vessel we need to construct in this world. Of course, my mathematical calculations definitely proved that this thing will fly, in theory."

"And explain why it's confidential?"

"We can't let Jeb know about this."

"Why not?"

"Reasons."


*Blutonium-238 is technically canon, surprise surprise. It's in the description of the PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

If you want to know what the tanks kinda look like, the Light Tank is similar to a Panzer II, the Medium Tank is based off the T-34-85, and the Heavy Tank is based off the T95 Superheavy Tank.

Things will start to pick up next chapter, don't worry. This is just a filler chapter, if anything.