I own nothing. I recently bought Space 1999 Volume 3; Earthbound from Big Finish, so there are some mentions to the project that Simmonds made Alpha go through before the episode.
Please let me know what you think.
The Arrogance of Simmonds.
"So, how much longer do you need to get the Odyssey prepped for launch, Victor?" Koenig asked as he and Victor both walked towards one of the hangers.
"Another few hours. We only need food, supplies, and a crew, but the engines are fine," Victor said.
"Good," Koenig rubbed his head. "How do you feel about the plan you, me, Alan and Helena thought about?"
"The plan to take everyone off of the moon and relocate them to the planet ahead, and then use the planet to see if we replenish our supplies is a logical one, John. Our supplies have been rationed for a long time, it would be good to find something more than concentrates and recycled water," Victor remembered how they came up with the plan after long-range observations showed the planet to be Earth-like, reasonably. In the past, they would have gone out of their way to colonise such a planet since they couldn't stay on the moon forever. But now. They had the means of going anywhere they wished, and the decision to return to Earth had been taken from them, but privately Victor prayed they weren't trading one prison for another.
Because Moonbase Alpha was a prison.
"I know, Victor. I've always regretted calling off Operation Exodus in the past, to say nothing about Project Earthbound…."
Victor knew his old friend held in a lot of guilt because of those moments. "Don't be stupid, John. All of the times you've had to call Operation Exodus off were because of outside problems. The Goldilocks zone was hostile. Terra Nova was antimatter. We are travelling through intergalactic space, John, wandering through system after system, seeing alien worlds. Many of them are bound to be hostile, for reasons we don't get. Project Earthbound was doomed from the outset, John, you know that. Even if we found minerals for the interstellar ship, it was a pipe dream; we couldn't devote computer time to the project without diverting our needs, especially life support, and I was driven mad trying to find a way to develop a faster-than-light drive."
"But I'm still responsible for Exodus. Earthbound is something I only feel a small amount of guilt over, mostly because I sometimes thought about trying to find a way of getting back before that mess on Meta."
"Yes, responsible for keeping us safe. It is not your fault we were torn out of Earth's orbit, and its certainly not your fault we have been kept safe, especially after we got caught up in that war zone between Delta and Betha," Victor looked resolutely at his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "We will find a planet, John, especially if we find out Earth is uninhabitable for us. Now, get back to Alpha. Stop Simmonds and everyone else who are too stupid to not listen to him from making a huge mistake. The community mutinied because he gave them empty promises, don't let him do it again, otherwise, there will be major consequences for all of us. I'll stay here. I want to finish preparations."
"Good. Remember, we only have a few days," Koenig said as they walked into the hanger deck, and he boarded the Eagle. There were four other Eagles on the Odyssey hanger deck, unloading supplies and parts of the base that were easy to store were being taken to parts of the Odyssey that were perfect for the job. As he gave the order to return to Alpha to the pilot, Koenig groaned as he thought about the reason he was heading to the base.
Simmonds had always been a problem ever since they had been blasted out of Earth's orbit. He had always been demanding they try to find some way of returning to Earth, regardless of the fact they had no way of doing it, and he kept demanding authority while he didn't have a clue what he was doing; Simmonds was a politician first, and a space commander at the bottom, and he was out of his depth despite his best efforts to appear confident and in command of himself. And he knew that it had been truly stupid not to expect the idiot to try to find some way of getting off when he could, and when he found the Kaldorians were heading towards Earth, Simmonds took his chances; foolishly he came up with a plan to escape, and he basically held the entire base hostage. Sometimes Koenig wished the security guard who had caught him and stopped his plan hadn't bothered.
X
Doctor Helena Russell wondered how it was possible for someone as hated as Commissioner Simmonds to garner this much interest despite how little the community thought about him, but what annoyed and surprised her the most was how the bastard had been seemingly forgiven for what he had tried to do to them all when the Kaldorians were here.
Everyone was supposed to be working on the dismantling of the base, but instead, they were here, listening to Simmonds talk.
She hadn't intended to be there to listen to this, and she had only been here for a few minutes listening to Simmonds talking when she realised that Simmonds was taking advantage of the news everyone would soon be returning to Earth in the Odyssey, but he was spouting nothing but lies.
"It's clear to me and it should be clear to everyone here that Commander Koenig is unsuitable for command; while we make these preparations, he has no intention of taking us back to Earth," Simmonds was saying, although in Helena's mind that was all he had been saying for the last half an hour or so. "He is wasting his time pushing the Odyssey into making tests, but he doesn't believe, nor does he seem to think, we should make the trip back home. Why you may ask? That is clear; he knows he'll have nobody to command when we do return home!"
Helena was amazed by how easily people were swallowing this, and it disgusted her completely. "That's not true!" Helena wasn't surprised when she heard her own voice shouting that reply. It attracted the attention of everyone.
Simmonds ever a born politician saw her presence as a means to get his points across. "How like the Commander's lover to be here, and to defend his honour," he jeered.
Some of the Alphans were torn. Some of them believed what Simmonds was saying, but others didn't like the direction of where this was going and they didn't hesitate to voice their views.
Helena was astonished by how far Simmonds was willing to take this. She decided to ignore what the sick fuck had insinuated. "What I am isn't important, Simmonds. But I'm surprised you have the gall to throw everything into Commander Koenig's face, this is all from the man who held the base hostage when the Kaldorians were here, right? The same man who promised to get us home but didn't have the slightest idea how to do that, not without endangering the entire base when the Kaldorians arrived by sending our entire Eagle fleet off to find minerals, and to drive us all into the ground?"
Simmonds looked distinctly uncomfortable, making Helena grin malicious in her head. The fool had clearly come here today in the hopes of spreading lies and innuendo and rumour, but he had taken the whole situation with the Odyssey and he had decided to twist everything around. "Yes, well….," suddenly Simmonds looked uncertain.
"Yes, what?" Helena refused to let him off with this one.
Everyone turned as one and they found Commander Koenig standing there. Helena's heart leapt when she saw him, but she also saw his expression. She had no idea how long he had been there, and in the years to come, Helena would still not know, but she hadn't noticed him come to this part of the base. Standing behind him was Paul, and he looked distinctly displeased by the whole thing.
Koenig's hard eyes swept over the crowd, and he spoke in a cold, hard voice that stopped even the possibility of an argument, "The Commissioner here thinks I plan on keeping you on the moon, or he thinks I plan on wandering the universe forever. That is not true; I went along with Project Earthbound to stop all of us from tearing each other to pieces, and to see if there was indeed a way of getting back. I supported it even though I knew it was doomed to fail. Some of you refused to listen to facts, even as you went around threatening members of Main Mission. Ever since we were ripped out of Earth's orbit, we have been struggling to survive. We have visited several planets; Meta was proven to be dangerous because of the body-snatching nature of the inhabitants, on Ultima-Thule our fellow humans had become immortal to the point where having children was impossible. On Terra Nova, the planet was somehow composed of antimatter. On Retha, there was a time warp where anyone who stepped in would become a caveman or woman. How do we know there were no other threats like that? Delta and Betha were two worlds orbiting a star, locked in a war of gender! Why would we stay in a world where we'd be either pressed into service, or we'd be killed outright? As the commander of Moonbase Alpha, it is my job to ensure your safety.
"But now we do have a ship. A ship that can travel many times faster than the speed of light. We are studying it, and it will be launched to tell if it's safe and viable. We don't have time for these pointless games. We are dismantling the base; why, if I wanted to trap you on the planet ahead, would I give the order for such an extreme version of Operation Exodus to be carried out? What's the point?"
Koenig took a deep breath. "Right now, we have a recon Eagle between us and the planet. I don't know yet when the Eagle will give us the precise information, but our current agenda is to send Odyssey to the planet ahead."
Everyone began talking, some of them looking suspiciously at Koenig which made Helena angry on her lover's behalf. It was clear many of them were still taken in by what Simmonds had said, and they were having a hard time believing it. She wondered if the part of the plan John had come up with to find food and water for the Odyssey's trip home would be met with delight or future problems. Simmonds was certainly one to watch, and it worried her about what he was going to do next to cause problems.
But John was not finished. "The Odyssey will be exploring the planet, looking for where there is fresh food and water if any. The plan is we evacuate to the planet, take what we think we can use from Alpha, and then spend time restocking the Odyssey before launching into space. But I want to make it clear to you that Commissioner Simmonds does not know what he is saying; we are going to head for the Milky Way. We are going to find out if Earth survived Breakaway."
"You were never interested in getting back before. In fact, I remember how reticent you were when Project Earthbound was put into effect," Simmonds sneered.
Koenig was quick to retort to that. "How could we? The moon was drifting through space. Until the accident happened, nobody even had an inkling we could be snatched out of orbit like that. We didn't have the means of travelling faster than light, and the only way we could feasibly return home was if we had the means of creating more traversable wormholes. But we didn't. On top of that, we were wandering lost in space without the means of communicating where we were back home, nor did we know if there was even anyone at home! Until the Kaldorian incident, you were prepared to squander all of our resources on the Eagles to send them off for minerals. And look what happened as a result. We found nothing. Sandra was nearly assaulted, and you showed your true colours to everyone in Alpha. Now get back to work. We have a lot to do, and we need to get ready."
Paul stepped forwards to add his own authority in the base to Koenig's. "You heard the Commander. Time to break this up."
Helena stepped forward herself, but she decided to add something important. "If all of you think deposing of a man who has given us all the support we need, who has years of experience as an astronaut under his belt and would instead entrust it to a man who would be out of his depth, then I think you need your heads tested. Now do as you're told."
Slowly the crowd began to break up. Simmonds was left behind, looking shaken by the whole thing, but Helena could not bring herself to remotely care.
Simmonds' presence only served to antagonise John even more. "Get out of here, Commissioner, and do something constructive like help in dismantling the base!"
Helena wondered if Simmonds would only find another opportunity to spread his poison, and judging from Paul's expression he thought the same. But finally, Simmonds left.
Once she was sure he was gone, Helena turned to Koenig. He still looked mad at what Simmonds had been trying to do, but he seemed to be calming down now. "He's going to be trouble, John," she warned him.
"I know," Koenig replied with a deep sigh.
"Was it wise to let him go off like that?"
"What would be the alternative, Paul? Everyone is busy dismantling the base, or stocking up the transport Eagles ready for when they are being used to transport everything to the planet. Everyone needs to pull their weight, including Simmonds. Anyway, is the extra security for the Odyssey in place?"
"Yes, and we've also got a few people in the Eagle hangers," Paul replied.
"What's this?" Helena looked between the two men.
"Paul and Sandra were both concerned about what Simmonds would do if he had the Odyssey, and I let them post extra security around the Odyssey and the Eagle hangers," John explained.
Helena looked between them in shock. "While I can see Simmonds going that far, surely he wouldn't be so stupid? He is not a pilot, all he would do is likely overshoot the moon and launch himself into space, or crash himself if he went into an Eagle, and he hasn't even onboard the Odyssey when we began to examine it. He wouldn't know how it worked but he was also desperate to steal Xantor's ship for himself."
"True, but you wouldn't put it past him," Paul returned while Koenig looked down as the memories of how appallingly bad they had treated the Kaldorians returned to his mind.
"No," Koenig shook his head with another sigh of irritation. He could have done without all this chaos. "How is it going with the dismantling of the base?" He asked the two of them.
"It's going slowly. Half of the travel tube network has been dismantled already, but truthfully Commander, for the schedule we might not have the time we need to fully dismantle the base."
"That doesn't surprise me," Koenig replied as they headed to Main Mission. And it didn't. It was surprising just how much of the base had been dismantled, but there was still so much to do. "We might have to just strip what we think we can use in that case, it's just with a ship with a faster than light drive, I assumed we could take enough of the base and make use of the parts to make a colony in case Earth was just not suitable for us."
"That was always the possibility, Commander," Paul said.
"But even if we can't manage it, we've still got enough already," Helena added.
"True, there is that," Koenig replied as if it had just occurred to him, but Helena rolled her eyes.
Finally, the three of them came into Main Mission. The moment they did, Sandra came over to them. "We have a problem, Commander. The Recon Eagle has sent us the telemetry data for our initial calculations."
"Tell us the worst."
"According to Computer's initial calculations, we will only be in orbit above the planet for just 2 days. But that isn't the worst of it. The time factor has gone; Computer thinks it's because of the gravitational pull of the solar system, but we're accelerating so fast we can't feel it. We'll be going into orbit in the morning."
"What? But that means we won't be finishing up with a full Exodus!" Paul said.
"I know. I spoke to Dashka and Professor Bergman on the Odyssey. They both believe the Odyssey is operational, but they want to know if they should launch now?"
Koenig considered the matter. How much time would a recon team have if they launched now? Only a matter of hours, really. But at the same time, there was something attractive about it. For instance, they would have their first taste of interstellar travel which didn't involve drifting on a moon for long periods.
"No. There's no point if we'll be there tomorrow morning. We'll just have to change our plans. We can still explore the planet, but we won't have the recon team's head start to understand the lay of the land to help us. The good news is we can still test the Odyssey, and see what happens. How much of the base is left?" Koenig asked.
"The power plant, the life support systems, and medical haven't been touched. But a lot of the base has been dismantled already, Commander."
"We've got no choice now. Operation Exodus proceeds as planned; we'll do the environmental and power systems when the time comes," Koenig decided. "How long before we're at the Recon Eagle?"
Kano checked. "Another few hours, Commander."
"Tell them we'll be there, but tell the crew we will need extra scans so we can recheck the numbers," Koenig decided.
"Understood," Sandra went off to send the message. "Commander, Professor Bergman is coming through now on the Eagle."
"Put it up," Koenig walked to the main monitor where he saw Victor with Dashka by his side. "Victor, you've heard the news."
"We have. What do you want us to do, John? Shall we lift off?'
"No. We'll be there in the morning, meaning you've only been there only a few hours. We can do the hyperdrive test while we're at the planet."
Victor looked like he was about to argue, but he mulled it over. "It's your decision, John; it's just frustrating we can't test the hyperdrive now."
"We'll just have to accept the matter, Victor. As soon as the moon goes into orbit, we'll do a quick hyperdrive test," Koenig decided as he remembered how everyone had clustered around Simmonds earlier. "Do you have the time to run more last-minute tests?"
"I think so, John. Why, what do you want me to do?"
"Keep looking at the engines. Prepare the ship for launch tomorrow morning."
"Right."
Up until that moment Dashka had been silent. "Commander, I've been checking up on the exotic matter in the Asgard database to try to understand more about how it works; the Asgard only performed a small amount of research into understanding how it works, but the Odyssey sensors picked up a lot of gravitational waves ahead."
"So?"
"We're close enough for the sensor array to detect a number of gas-giants ahead, asteroids, moons, and planets. And we've found there are four suns in that system ahead."
"Four suns?" Koenig was not the only person to be stunned.
"You got it, Commander."
"When did you find this out?'
"Just now. I've been focusing on the majority of the other systems when I got to the sensor array. And the power of the whole set-up is incredible. With the sensors, we can get a lot more detail about our current flight path, but I'll need to find a way of transmitting it to David."
Victor looked thoughtfully at John. "John, I know we've been over this, and I know you think we shouldn't waste our time with it, but I think we should test the Odyssey's engines, including the hyperdrive. We can jump ahead of Alpha, and we can see what's ahead."
Koenig mulled it over in his mind. "Okay. Work with Dashka and David in getting supplies. Also, assemble a small crew."
"Will do, John. "
For the next hour, while the recon Eagle sent back more information while Dashka and David Kano were both able to interface with the Odyssey's more advanced sensors with Alpha's communication system, giving them more information about their flight telemetry and giving Koenig and the rest of the Alphans more information than they'd ever had before about the planet they were going into orbit around, the Odyssey was being supplied with enough food, water, and equipment and people for a single flight.
Koenig was in the centre of it all, giving out instructions and orders based on the findings. They had enough time to strip what was left of Moonbase Alpha and move to the planet.
"Commander, we're getting a message from the Odyssey," Sandra called.
"Put it through, Sandra."
Victor's face appeared on the monitor screen. "John, Odyssey's ready. We've taken one of the Eagles for a low-level recon of the planet, but we're hoping to land on the planet when we get there."
"Okay," Koenig replied, trying and failing to hide the jealousy he felt. Victor, as far as Koenig knew, would be the first human to use hyperspace. He envied the other man for the faster-than-light trip. "Send a message as soon as you get to the planet. What do you plan to do when you arrive?"
"We'll see about looking for a place to land and we'll have a quick recon before you get here."
"Sounds good enough to me. Be careful, Victor."
"We will see you later," Professor Bergman replied.
X
Victor turned to Dashka and made a cutting gesture before he turned to Torens, the pilot. Victor would have preferred Alan Carter to take the pilot's seat, but Alan was neck-deep in with the dismantling of all the old Eagles and the servicing of the ones which were fully functional, so he was unavailable. Torrens was good at what he did and that was all that matter in the long run. "Take us up," he ordered.
"Right, Professor," Torrens's hands moved over the controls of the helm station with an expertise of a man who was familiar with the layout but was unpracticed. Victor only hoped he was good enough to do this.
"Prepare the hyperdrive," Victor was still handing out orders, "set a course for the solar system ahead towards the planet we'll be orbiting."
Dashka Kano leaned over to give Torrens extra help with navigational programming. "Thanks, Dashka," Torrens said.
"No problem," Dashka smiled, "we're opening the hyperspace window now."
Victor gaped as the view of the hyperspace window like an artist had sprayed a vivid 3d painting in thin air appeared in front of them before Odyssey flew into the hyperspace window before it seemed to unfold around them into a tunnel of vivid blues, greens, purples and turquoises in front of them. But the trip did not last long as the Odyssey appeared in real space.