The Next Frontier (Kerbal Space Program/Something)

[fnord]

WOOT! MORE!

And back on topic:
...

TAB"You two don't get to decide what I'm not allowed to do!" Jeb snapped. "The Alliance government may have the authority to deny myself or my crew entry visas, but they can't forbid us from taking any action that doesn't explicitly contravene local law. And correct me if I'm wrong, but freedom of speech and freedom of association are guaranteed under the Alliance constitution, are they not? And unless it specifically excludes non-citizens-"
TAB"Certain articles do, as it happens."
TAB"Why am I not surprised."
TAB"Gentlemen," Admiral Liu said firmly. "The unresolved constitutional issues notwithstanding, there's no way in hell we're gonna keep this out of the media forever, not with over a thousand eyewitnesses in this taskforce. However," he continued, before Jeb could respond, "I don't think a public appearance at this early stage is necessarily a good idea."

Couple of minor nits:
Did you miss a question mark at the end of "Why am I not surprised", or maybe tweak it as "Yeah, THAT's a surprise."

And in Liu's response, the "he continued, before Jeb could respond," - maybe redo it as "he continued, pre-empting Jeb's response,"

[Zaune]

I think you're right; I went back and forth on whether or not to put a question mark there. Ah, well, rewrite time.

[fnord]

Sorry if this is a thread necro (could a mod flush this post if it is) - how's the rewrite coming?

[Zaune]

It'd be coming a lot faster if my wifi card and my keyboard hadn't both decided to start playing silly buggers. I hope to have something by the end of this week.

[fnord]

Still having equipment problems? That's a bummer.

[Zaune]

On and off, yeah. I don't know if it's hardware or software-related, but every so often certain keys will either need hitting several times or just refuse to work. And then there's my wi-fi... Ah, well. It's nearly done now anyway.

[fnord]

So can we see it, or are you still going multiple rounds with your hardware?

[Zaune]

At long bloody last, despite my preferred text editor deciding it doesn't like the latest version of Lubuntu and Dropbox apparently deciding to go sulky on top, here's an update.

TAB"Lieutenant McKerjel, reporting as ordered, Colonel." Part of him felt like he should be standing attention, even though he knew there was no video link.
TAB"Thank you, Lieutenant. Your report has been received, but I'd appreciate it if you could summarise your impressions of the Alliance's military readiness, and that of these 'Reavers' they created."
TAB"Certainly, sir. I regret to report that my direct observations are somewhat limited as I was confined to an assembly area for noncombtant personnel for the duration of the engagement, but I do have Starfarer 1's sensor records from the moment First Officer Bill Kerman armed the railgun as per standard operating procedure. Going by the time-stamps, we spotted the Reavers at approximately the same time the Alliance warships did..."
TABKurt briefly outlined the sequence of events. "Their manoeuvres were unremarkable; what I'm told they call 'Formation Echo' is functionally identical to our Defence Formation Six and serves the same purpose. As we suspected, the Fredricksson's fighters were not deployed for a ship-to-ship engagement. While it's probable they can mount some anti-capital ship missiles when necessary, their primary function appears to be engaging surface targets.
TAB"Alliance weapon systems appear to be similar in general operating principles to ours but significantly more advanced in design. They used missiles even against what we'd deem low-value targets, from which I tentatively infer that they have looser Rules of Engagement, a larger budget or both." That earned him a small laugh.
TAB"Lucky sons of bitches. Any idea what their weapons are capable of compared to ours?"
TAB"Hard to say, sir. I haven't been able to independently verify any of the information provided by the Alliance sailors, but if their accounts are to be believed then we being attacked by repurposed civilian spacecraft and two commandeered warships that were severely damaged before being abandoned. What I can say for sure is that their point-defence lasers are significantly more powerful: If we assume the enemy missiles were equivalent in mass and materials to one of our heavy ship-killers, they delivered at least one-third more energy per second than a Sunbeam 5. And that's probably an optimistic estimate.
TAB"Likewise, I haven't had the opportunity for any direct observations regarding the capabilities of Alliance armour-plating. The ship Starfarer 1 killed was already severely damaged and none of the Alliance Navy vessels took a hit. That wrecked warship probably offers the best potential source of intelligence, but that may have to wait until the return leg of our journey."
TAB"Thank you, Lieutenant McKerjel. Keep up the good work. That'll be all." The voice connection terminated.
TAB"You ready to head back?" said Jeb, poking his head around the door. "Because you're not going to believe what just came in from Barkton..."

TABKurt and the Fredricksson's communications officer hadn't yet managed to jury-rig a method of transmitting video from a kerbal laptop to an Alliance video screen, so Kurt had brought a projector and screen along with him. Admiral Liu, Captain Tarrant and the two Blue Sun employees watched as a large group of kerbals gathered in front of a large and impressive civic building, watched over by a small cordon of police. Tarrant couldn't read the placards, but the expressions and the handful of Independent flags were pretty instructive by themselves.
TAB"That's the Meeting Hall of the Council of Twelve Pillars," Jeb elaborated, somehow pronouncing the capital letters. "The nearest equivalent in your culture would be the old United Nations of Earth-That-Was, though they have somewhat more legislative power." Behind him on the screen, a kerbal stepped forward with a flag bearing the Blue Sun Corporation logo on a long pole, followed by another who was ostentatiously holding up a burning taper. "You will notice, I hope, that we are making a clear distinction between the actions of Blue Sun Corporation and the actions of the human race as a whole," Jeb continued. "However, the citizens of Kerbin you see here also came to deliver a petition to the Council of Twelve requesting that the transfer of FTL technology be contingent on the outcome of the public inquiry into Blue Sun's actions. They needn't have bothered, as a motion to that effect was being voted on the same day. It passed all but unanimously."
TAB"It seems we aren't the only government with an information security problem," remarked one of the Men In Grey; Jeb thought it was the one who called himself 'Mr Green'.
TAB"Actually, we haven't had a serious security breach in quite a while," he replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "It's one of the advantages to being selective about what information we classify as secret."
TAB"And having laws against abusing national security rules to conceal evidence of criminal activity," Kurt added pointedly.
TAB"So everything you know about humanity so far...?" Captain Tarrant began in doom-laden tones.
TAB"All over the media."
TAB"Oh."
TAB"Anyway," Jeb continued breezily, "I'll make sure to have a copy of this recording transmitted so you can forward it to your political leadership. You gentlemen may want to take a copy as well; I can't imagine your Board of Directors would be happy if the first they heard of it was from the press package we'll be passing out once we arrive at Greenstone."
TABThat, at long last, got an overt emotional reaction from the Blue Sun employees. "The what now?" exclaimed the one Jeb thought was 'Mr Brown'. "You cannot seriously expect us to let you go down there and just hold a gorram press conference! Are you crazy? There'll be panic! Mass hysteria! This information has to be-"
TAB"Has to be buried under twenty layers of security classification?" Jeb retorted testily.
TAB"We are trying to preserve public order and stability here, Mr Kerman."
TAB"Yeah, and an absolutely fantastic job you're doing so far!" Jeb snapped. He forced himself to take a couple of deep, calming breaths. "This is pointless. You can't keep this under wraps anyway. Even if every sailor in this fleet keeps their mouths shut, the minute our ship comes within visual range of a civilian vessel or installation then someone's going to put two and two together."
TAB"Eyewitness accounts are unverifiable and photos are easily faked. At worst there'll be wild rumours, the disruption would be minimal."
TAB"Just what are you afraid of?" Jeb demanded. "You must have studied every inch of our spacecraft with every sensor you have by now, so you must realise we're no real military threat unless we point the bow at a planet and set the warp drive to 'Ramming Speed', and if we were inclined to do that then the first you'd have known about our very existence was when five-ton wrecking balls started hitting your populated planets at thirty times the speed of light. But we haven't done that, although I dare say there was a non-negligible body of opinion calling for it when we got that poor brave Navy lieutenant's last words translated. Oh, yeah, that's something else I was supposed to let you know." He turned to Admiral Liu and Captain Tarrant. "The Astronomical Institute of Kerbin would like to contact her next of kin to ask permission to name a star after her."
TAB"I'll see that the request is forwarded to her parents," Admiral Liu replied solemnly. "And on behalf of the Navy, they have my thanks for their kind gesture."
TABOne of the Blue Sun representatives looked like he was about to say something, but apparently -and probably wisely- decided not to.
TAB"Anyway," Admiral Liu continued, "while I agree that trying to conceal the arrival of our guests is impractical and probably counterproductive, I think it'd be a good idea to hold off on a press conference until after you've met with the President and the Council of Ministers. Just out of diplomatic courtesy, you understand."
TABJeb nodded. "That's perfectly reasonable, Admiral. Agreed. No, unless you have any further questions, I have a meeting scheduled with Lieutenant Mitchell."
TAB"Mitchell's one of our engineering officers," Tarrant explained. "He's also an amateur historian specialising in early human spaceflight."
TABAnd on that note, the meeting broke up. Captain Tarrant stayed seated, deep in thought. They could obliterate our entire species at a stroke and there'd be nothing we could do to stop them, he reflected gloomily. And they turned up just in time to see ample evidence we deserve it.
TAB"Captain?" He looked up to see Jeb standing by the door, laptop still under his arm. "Am I right in guessing you're a little concerned by how your people are viewed back on Kerbin?"
TAB"You could put it like that."
TABJeb perched on the edge of the conference table. "Well, I can't speak for all of them, but personally, I'm pretty damned impressed. It took great courage and ingenuity to even reach this solar system, much less accomplish everything you have since you arrived. And sure, I don't like what happened on Miranda; I don't like what I've pieced together about the Unification War, for that matter. But do you think my people have never known war, or tyrants, or atrocities? We aren't so different, Captain Tarrant. My people were just luckier."
TAB"How so?" Tarrant wondered.
TAB"It'll be in Mitchell's report. Speaking of, I have to run. Thank you, Captain."
TABTarrant nodded absently, and made a mental note to question Lieutenant Mitchell rather thoroughly at the earliest opportunity.

TABAll the same, he did feel somewhat better.

[Enigma]

Not enough. Must have more.

[fnord]

WOOT! MOAR!

[Zaune]

Quickie update written in response to certain remarks made elsewhere:

Are You Kidding Me?

March 29th, 2525

Posted by: Jeb

Mood: Indescribable

(I'm sure you can guess which editorial I'm referring to here.)

"Cultural imperialism"? Seriously?

Let's get something straight here. The revelations about the Miranda Message in the news? Those are not "part of the local culture". The local culture has a term for the forcible administering of mind-altering chemicals en masse, and that term is "crimes against humanity". We don't have a direct equivalent, thank all that's holy, but that's the charge preferred hereabouts for such blatant and systematic violations of medical ethics and the sanctity of sentient life that the only fitting penalty is death.

You may argue that we shouldn't be taking sides when it comes to a matter of internal security; I disagree, but I'll admit it's a defensible position. But who thinks we're being condescendingly crypto-racist for siding with the faction of the Alliance government -and voting public, I might add- that wants to enforce the letter and the spirit of its own laws is cordially invited to go and criminally molest a gronnek.*

* A small but very aggressive species of mammal native to Kerbin, comparable in size, behaviour and ecological niche to a wolverine. Their pelts have historically been highly prized, not because they're especially attractive but because they're an excellent visual shorthand for "I'm so rich I can pay some kerbals enough to go and hunt a gronnek for me".

[Zaune]

Rather short and not very exciting update this time. Not too happy with the scale of the info-dump but there wasn't really any way around it.

TAB"Lieutenant Mitchell, reporting as ordered, sir."
TAB"At ease. So, lieutenant, I'm sure you can guess why I called you in."
TAB"Indeed, sir," Mitchell replied. "There's a detailed report in your inbox along with a copy of the reference materials furnished by our guests, but I'll summarise what I've learned so far." He twisted his cap in his hands nervously. "I obviously can't verify any of this independently, but the documents Jeb gave me were very elaborate and detailed. If it's deliberate disinformation, someone went to a hell of a lot of trouble.
TAB"Anyway... The long and the short of it is, the Kerbals are at pre-Exodus levels of technology. They've only been in space about forty of our years, most of their space infrastructure runs on nuclear-thermal motors and they're not even close to gravity field tech. The FTL drive was a lucky accident."
TAB"Lucky how?" Tarrant asked. "Did they reverse-engineer it off of someone else?"
TAB"Not exactly, sir. This is where it gets a little weird. According to Jeb, there's some kind of space-time anomaly in the vicinity of their star system. Maybe a wormhole, maybe somthing else; they're still firing probes into it to try and find out. But the practical upshot of all this is, they managed to kludge together a working FTL drive as a result of the observed behaviour of some of those probes."
TABTarrant nodded. "I've suspected something along those lines for a while. I don't suppose he let slip any details of how the damn thing works, by any chance?"
TAB"Not much, sir. He did give me a translated copy of an article from his homeworld's scientific press, but it was light on specifics; in fact, it openly states they don't have a complete picture of the physics themselves. You'll find the text attached to my report."
TAB"I see." Tarrant sat back in his chair, looking thoughtful. "I wish we could verify some of this. Did Chief Ling get to take a look at their shuttle yet?"
TAB"He's down in the hangar with Jeb as we speak, sir. I'll bring him up here as soon as he's done."
TAB"Good. That'll be all, lieutenant."

TABMitchell returned a little over an hour later with Chief Petty Officer Ling in tow. "Easier than we dared hope, sir," he reported. "I got total access, and Jeb even removed a couple of non-critical parts for us to examine as long as we stuck to non-destructive tests. Apparently that tin can's pure COTS." It took Captain Tarrant a moment to parse the acronym for "commercial off-the-shelf". "As for the tech itself... Well, it's gorram ancient, sir. Chemical fuel all the way, hydrogen peroxide for the attitude thrusters and liquid oxygen combined with a petroleum derivative for the main engine. I haven't gotten the chemical analysis of the fuel sample back yet, but going by smell alone it's mostly kerosene, porobably mixed with something to lower the ignition temperature. Computers looked pretty basic too, but then for something that small and simple I guess you wouldn't need much."
TAB"Crude but rugged, then?"
TAB"You can say that again, sir. I got a pretty good look at most of the parts; they're nearly all steel and copper with a few ceramics, and the tolerances are loose enough that any back-street metalwork shop out on the Rim could probably run off replacements, and the fuel's not that much harder to make. If the late great Mr Kalashnikov had gotten a job with the space program then I reckon his rocketships would look a lot like this one under the hood, sir."
TAB"Planning to buy one, Chief?" Tarrant joked.
TAB"You know what, sir? If my wife wouldn't have a conniption over it then I just might. They ain't all that practical anyplace terraformed 'cause they can't take off through an atmosphere, but damned if they don't look fun to fly."

TABLieutenant Mitchell had helpfully included a timeline comparing the list of human and Kerbal achievements in spaceflight. For the first couple of decades, they were largely comparable: The Kerbals had put a space station in orbit some time before a manned lunar landing, but otherwise the major milestones lined up almost perfectly. But then the human timeline began to grow sparser; no more manned missions outside of low orbit, then no more manned missions at all for a while. Meanwhile, the Kerbals were forging ahead with the colonisation of 'Duna', which Mitchell's annotations helpfully explained was a mid-sized planet with a thin atmosphere of mostly CO2. Prime terraforming candidate if they ever figure out the tech, Tarrant mused.
TABBut what the hell motivated a race to go hell-for-leather settling a barren rock that had nothing worth breathing in the atmosphere with first-generation nuclear motors for their main propulsion system? It must've taken them most of a year to get there even when orbital conditions were ideal.

TABJust how fast did Kerbals reproduce, anyway? It hadn't occurred to him to ask. Better find out though, before some of the more histirionic elements in Parliament thought to wonder about it themselves; someone might decide an interstellar invasion threat made a combined excuse and smokescreen for even more constitutionally dubious goings-on.
TABAnd he supposed he ought to at least consider the possibility that said invasion threat wasn't completely ludicrous, even if it was hard to imagine what the Kerbals expected to gain from it. If they wanted lebensraum or some natural resource they were short of back home then they'd be better off finding it in other nearby star systems without current tenants, and if they were covetous of mankind's technology then they could simply buy some, although the provisional exchange rate (based on the relative market values of platinum and a lot of educated guesswork) wasn't currently in their favour.

TABBut then again, when was starting a war of aggression ever the rational course of action? That certainly hadn't stopped humanity over the years. Who was to say the Kerbals were any different? Tarrant thought of the crowd of protestors in the video footage from Kerbin. Lots of high-minded righteous anger (and why shouldn't there be? Plenty of Alliance citizens felt the same way) to provide a motive for the Council of Twelve, or one or more individual nations, to take it upon themselves to wade in with the best of intentions and no thought for the consequences.

TABAnd if the Kerbals were savvy enough to link up with the dissident local factions... Well, there were all sorts of rumours about Independent warships falsely listed as lost in action and making a run for the Deep Black. Rumours that probably had a grain of truth to them according to Naval Intelligence. With logistical and technical support from a rear area that was essentially impenetrable until and unless the Alliance cobbled together a working FTL drive of their own, that might not be a fight they could win...

TABCaptain Tarrant looked up at the clock hanging from the ready-room wall, and was mildly shocked to realise he'd been lost in thought for over half an hour. He'd better get some of this down in writing for the Admiralty.

TABThere was one bright side though, he mused, pulling up the text editor on his console. This development ought to be a tremendous incentive to take Blue Sun to the bloody cleaners.

[Zaune]

I'd usually sit on this for a bit longer and make a few tweaks, but I'm too pleased with Scott's little rant not to post this one.

TAB"Great Kerm above, that's real? Not some sort of mock-up, or a really weird practical joke?" Scott shook his head in wonder. "I'm not sure if I'm horrified it got past the planning stage or impressed they actually got the bloody thing to work."
TAB"Impressive cargo and passenger capacity though," Bill remarked. "Six passengers and twenty-odd tons of cargo to low orbit. Not bad for a conventional launch, especially a majority-reusable one."
TAB"For a very broad definition of 'conventional'. Look at that axis of thrust! I'm afraid to ask where the centre of gravity is."
TAB"Might be useful, actually. It'd naturally push the bird into a gravity turn, less need for manual steering."
TAB"Quite a price to pay for it though. Can you imagine trying to fly a manual Abort To Orbit in that thing? This is what comes of having a comletely separate career track for pilots and engineers, isn't it? Nobody who designed it had ever been behind the controls of a spacecraft even in a simulator, I'll bet you any money you care to name."
TAB"No bet," Bill replied. "The team back home's only translated the first half-dozen chapters, but these folks were government-funded from Day One. Military pilots, engineers who used to be making missiles for the losing side in the huge-ass war they just got done with... A World War, they called it. Imagine the Age of Strife with only two sides and condensed into one big six year throwdown."
TABScott shuddered. "I'd rather not, thanks." He took a long swig of cofee. "You've got to admire these people," he remarked, half to himself. "They've been through such a cataclysmic catalogue of awful shit they're practically a whole race of unsympathetic sitcom protagonists, a fair bit of which they've done to themselves I might add. But not only are they still here, they've built themselves a thriving interplanetary empire! And an empire that hasn't destroyed itself in an orgy of blood violence and fire despite apparently being run by a committee stuffed with cartoon supervillains, opportunistic plunderers and total cretins. I don't know how they do it!"
TAB"I'm pretty sure that was a little bit racist."
TAB"I dare say. But that doesn't mean it's not true."

[Darth Nostril]

Glorious Space Kerbals!

[Zaune]

Sorrry for the long absence, folks. Allow me to make up for it with a huge update!

TAB"Great Kerm above, that's real? Not some sort of mock-up, or a really weird practical joke?" Scott shook his head in wonder. "I'm not sure if I'm horrified it got past the planning stage or impressed they actually got the bloody thing to work."
TAB"Impressive cargo and passenger capacity though," Bill remarked. "Up to six passengers and twenty-four tons of cargo to low orbit? Not bad for a conventional launch system, especially a majority-reusable one."
TAB"For a very broad definition of 'conventional'. Look at that axis of thrust! I can see what they were trying to do, there's no way you'd soft-land a rocket stage that big, but I'm afraid to ask where the centre of mass is. You'd be fighting to stop the bastard somersaulting all the way to orbit."
TAB"Might be easier to work with it, let it push the ship into a gravity turn naturally."
TAB"That'd work, I guess. But can you imagine trying to fly it manually in an emergency? It wouldn't be a glide so much as a controlled plummet."
TAB"As opposed to an uncontrolled one by capsule," Bill pointed out reasonably.

TABIn his cabin, Bob shifted uneasily in his sleep.

TAB"I tell you, though, nobody on the design team ever got any flight time, even in a simulator."
TAB"You're right there. The team back home's only translated the first half-dozen chapters, but these folks were government-funded from Day One. Military pilots, engineers who used to be making missiles for the losing side in the huge-ass war they just got done with... A World War, they called it. Imagine the Age of Strife with only two sides and condensed into one big six year throwdown."
TABScott shuddered. "I'd rather not, thanks." He took a long swig of coffee. "You've got to admire these people," he remarked, half to himself. "They've been through such a cataclysmic catalogue of awful shit they're practically a whole race of unsympathetic sitcom protagonists, a fair bit of which they've done to themselves I might add. But not only are they still here, they've built themselves a thriving interplanetary empire! And an empire that hasn't destroyed itself in an orgy of blood, violence and fire despite apparently being run by a committee stuffed with cartoon supervillains, opportunistic plunderers and total cretins. I don't know how they do it!"
TAB"I'm pretty sure that was a little bit racist."
TAB"I dare say. But that doesn't mean it's not true."
TABBill raised his eyes heavenwards, and cued up another image on the screen of his laptop. "Well, anyway... This is what they tell me the space agency who came up with that Shuttle thing eventually replaced it with."

TABBob moaned and rolled over, breathing heavily.

TAB"Oh, come on." Scott massaged his temples. "Someone has got to be taking the piss. Reality television, really?"
TAB"Is it really any weirder than Jeb doing those commercials, or Bob releasing an album to pay for Munbase One's new rec-dome?"
TAB"Considering it involved stranding a bunch of egomaniac numpties on the next planet over with he bare minimum of actual training and putting the edited highlights on pay-per-view? Yes! And it just gets better; did you read as far as what happened when the ratings dropped?"
TAB"Uh, now you mention it..."
TAB"Well, it's not pretty."
TABThere was a long silence as Bill read on a few pages, followed by another, longer one as it sank in. "Oh," he said, eloquently.
TAB"Yeah."
TAB"But in all fairness, this was what, four centuries ago? Or one and three-quarters if we discount the time they all spent in cryosleep?"
TAB"True. Still makes you wonder, though-"

TABBob sat bolt upright in bed with a yell and stared about him, heart hammering. "Great Kerm," he breathed. "A nightmare. A horrible, horrible nightmare..."
TABSorry about that.
TAB"Wha-a...?" Bob leapt to his feet, grabbing a heavy ornament from his desk.
TABHey! Take it easy! I'm not in the room. I'm not even on your ship.
TAB"Then where the spaffing hell are you?" Bob hissed angrily. "In my head?"
TABNot... exactly. Look, I don't have a lot of time before these Blue Sun goons stuff me back in the Faraday cage, but I could really use some help. And you don't have to talk out loud, by the way.
TABBob put several pieces togetther. The Academy, he said in his head. You're one of those kids they...
TABYou saw the edited highlights. Now can you please have someone get me the fuck out of here?
TABAlright, alright. I'll do what I can. Bob took several deep, calming breaths. Tell me about the ship you're on.
TABWhat are you going to do?
TABI don't know yet, but I'm damn sure I can't just call Admiral Liu over on the flagship and tell him I got a psychic distress call.
TABHe'd probably believe you; I heard my handlers bitching about him earlier.
TABMaybe, but how'd that look on a search warrant?
TABPoint. Damn, they're coming back. Not sure when I'll be back in touch.
TABCall me ASAP. Maybe I'll have a plan by then.

TABBob sat back on his bunk, massaging his temples, and reached into his desk drawer for the remains of a bottle of strong and expensive liquor and a tumbler. He poured himself a couple of fingers of it and downed them in one, then sat down at his desk, reached for a notepad and a pen and tried to think.

TAB"I thought you'd ask eventually," said Jeb. "The politicians back home worried about an invasion of land-hungry aliens?"
TAB"Not yet, but they might be when they read my report," Captain Tarrant replied.
TAB"Well, it's kind of complicated." Jeb took a sip of water, the one thing on this ship that he could drink without getting ill. "It wasn't us Kerbals who were facing an overpopulation problem," he said. "It was the other sentient lifeform on Kerbin."
TABHe briefly outlined the role of Kerm trees in kerbal society; their symbiotic relationship with the villages that grew up around them, offering detailed information about soil conditions and highly nutritious fruit in exchange for the Kermol tribespeople helping to spread their seeds, and the vital role they played in kerbal reproductive biology.
TAB"One Kerm tree is barely smarter than an insect, but their roots form some kind of neural network and as a network of Groves gets bigger, the Kerm gets smarter. At thirty-seven it's pre-sapient, on a level with certain..." The translation program on his laptop glitched out. "I guess that doesn't translate well, but I'm told they're analogous to Earth primates like chimpanzees. Go over thirty-seven, and the Kerm crosses the sapience threshold... and it's extremely traumatic and almost guaranteed to kill every tree in the network and any kerbal who happens to be communing with them at the time, at least without an enormous amount of preparation beforehand."
TAB"Communing?" Tarrant asked.
TAB"Best way to describe it in your language is 'contact telepathy'; the Kerm extrudes a lot of thin roots or tendrils or something that enter through the skull and permit a direct brain interface. Our neuroscientists are still some way from the complete picture of how it works.
TAB"So anyway, this all started coming to light around the time our first long-term mission in near-Kerbin orbit was ongoing, and the first proper mapping satellite we ever launched was tasked with finding out the scale of the problem. At that time we didn't know whether it was possible to nurse a Kerm over the sapience threshold at all, and a lot of people -me included, when I got to hear of it- were pretty damn scared of what it might mean. So we took what appeared to be our only chance and threw all the resources we could spare at getting a viable off-world colony going.
TAB"What we didn't learn until we had the first settlement on Duna pretty well-established was that two Kerms that have passed over the sapience threshold don't need anywhere near as big a buffer zone to prevent turf wars; they can coexists about as well as any two random kerbals or humans living next door to each other. Pre-sapients -and especially newly-planted seeds- still need a lot of space and some careful handling, but we've got a good century before Kerbin approaches the saturation point."
TABCaptain Tarrant smiled humourlessly. "That's... not wholly reassuring, but better than I was afraid of."
TAB"Oh, come on," Jeb retorted irritably. "Even supposing that we could narrow the technology gap enough to put our space forces on an even footing hull-for-hull, and somehow compensate for the fact we haven't had a real war in two generations, how the hell are we supposed to fight a war of conquest against a polity with three hundred settled bodies and nearly two and a half times our population?"
TAB"I know, I know," Tarrant sighed. "But there's going to be people who won't let a little thing like logistical reality get in the way of a good panic, either because they don't know better or because it suits their own agenda."
TAB"Hah! Oh, I know the type," Jeb snorted. "I guess politics is still politics whatever your species. Still, I do have some news that might reassure everyone that we're on the level. The governing council of Duna has requested that I pass on an invitation to tender for terraforming contractors." He passed over a sheaf of paper, which Tarrant paged through until he found a detailed breakdown of the numbers. Numbers with an imprressive number of zeroes.
TAB"That... will be very well-received," he declared. Terraforming corporations had some pretty serious lobbying clout, and given that the good candidates in this system were being rapidly exhausted they'd have powerful commercial incentives to keep Alliance-Kerbin relations cordial. Things were definitely looking up-

TABThe intercom buzzed. "Yes?"
TAB"Sorry to bother you, Captain, but there's a call for Mr Jeb and his first officer's demanding a patch-through. He says it's urgent."
TAB"Bill isn't given to using words like 'urgent' lightly," Jeb added. "I'm sorry, Captain, I'd better take this."
TAB"Alright. Put him on."
TAB"Jeb, we have a situation here! Bob's unaccounted for, and wherever he's gone he took an EVA suit and a lot of guns!"
TABJeb opened and closed his mouth a couple of times with no sound coming out. "What," he said at last, too stunned to add a question mark.

TABCaptain Tarrant felt a sudden, urgent and entirely rational need to be in another line of employment.

[Zaune]

TABA short while earlier...

TABBob tapped a six-digit code into the keypad, and the door to the weapon locker opened with a muted click that nevertheless made him wince slightly.
TABYou worry too much, remarked his new friend, who'd introduced himself as Christopher.
TABSo Jeb is always telling me.

TABBob briefly considered a rifle in a calibre that would defeat most large predators, but decided against as it was heavy and unwieldy at close quarters. He picked up a shotgun instead, placed it in his holdall and began stuffing cartridges into a bandolier when suddenly he noticed something much more useful.
TAB"Now we're talking," he said to himself, picking up a sub-machine gun. He hadn't known they had any of these onboard; must've been issued to Kurt. It was a squat, blocky and extremely mean-looking weapon with no stock and only a canvas strap for a foregrip, and he'd a hazy idea this model was pretty wildly inaccurate outside of knife-fighting range. But for what he was about to undertake it'd do just fine. He put it in the bag with the shotgun and filled half a dozen magazines for it.
TABLast of all, he took two sidearms, one standard issue and one concealable. He stuck the smaller one in his boot and the larger one in the holster he'd already strapped onto his pressure suit.

TABBob forced himself to follow the EVA checklist meticulously, spending not one second less than the required minimum period breathing pure O2 to expel the nitrogen and argon from his bloodstream, and double-checking every seal on his suit.

TABThe strip of cloth he tied around his forehead just before donning his helmet served the eminently practical purpose of keeping the sweat out of his eyes, Bob told himself. But really, if he was going to carry out a harebrained scheme straight out of a cheesy action movie, why do things by halves?

TABYou have that trope too?
TABWe have eyes and sweat glands, so I guess it makes sense. Okay, let's do this. And I hope you realise I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

TABBob took a firm grip on the bag of guns, and cycled the airlock.

TABThere were two facts about the Blue Sun vessel that were currently working in his favour. One was that its various active and passive sensors only covered a 120-degree cone directly forwards, and that rotating the ship to compensate was not normal practice while in formation with other warships that did have all-aspect cover.

TABThe other was that there was a little-used personnel airlock at the ship's stern with a faulty status indicator; unless an engineering watch-stander was specifically looking for unusual voltage spikes, nobody would notice it being cycled. It was also unlikely that the tiny thruster pack that Bob was using to reach the other vessel would put out enough energy to be noticed by another ship, unless they had the sensitivity of their passive-IR equipment set high enough to create an awful lot of false positives.

TABUnlikely didn't mean impossible, of course. But that was a risk he was just going to have to take.

TABThis is a really dumb idea.
TABYou suggested it.
TABI know.

TABAfter what felt like an eternity, Bob made contact with the hull of the Blue Sun ship, grabbing a handrail near the airlock and pressing his boots against the hull. The electromagnets built into their soles activated on contact, at least according to the indicator lights on his suit. No effect, he thought 'aloud'. Composite materials?
TABFar as I know. Something radar-absorbent, with nearly perfect thermal insulation when they want it. Next best thing to a real cloaking device.
TABWell, that's worrying.
TABDon't worry too much. They haven't sold any of the tech to the Navy yet, and I don't think they plan to.
TABAnd that's even more worrying.
TABBrings new meaning to 'corporate sovereignty', doesn't it?
TABI have no idea what that is, and I'm not sure I want to. Okay, I've reached the airlock.

TABThe controls weren't hard to figure out, despite being labelled in languages Bob didn't understand. He emptied the duffel bag while he waited for it to repressurise, pulling out the guns and a heavy ballistic vest. He was wearing a shipboard pressure suit rather than full EVA gear, so the vest and the bandolier went on over it without difficulty. Once the green light flashed, Bob ditched his helmet and adjusted the bandanna before carefully stepping out of the airlock into the corridor.

TAB"Hey, what the-?" One of the crew was coming out of a hatchway with a toolkit in one hand. The man could not have formed any terribly advanced conclusions before Bob kicked him very hard in the groin, grabbed him by the collar as he doubled over and slammed his head into the nearest handy bulkhead a couple of times. He rummaged in the fallen tool box and found a roll of duct tape, which he used to thoroughly truss and gag the groaning, semi-conscious human before dragging him into the airlock.

TABNice going.
TABThanks.
TABYou've got about ten minutes before he's missed. Take a left here and go down the next ladder, you'll come out in the Engineering compartment. It should be empty but don't let your guard down, I can't pick up much in there while the drives are running.
TABWell, we'll soon fix that! Bob replied, hefting the shotgun and working the pump-action. Now that he'd committed himself irrevocably his nervousness was starting to fade; in fact, he felt oddly cheerful. It was almost like the moment when the rocket motors shut down and he could unstrap from his seat: He was still scared, but the worst was over and the fun parts...

TABBob wisely chose not to pursue that analogy any further.

TABThe engine room was cramped, dimly-lit and noisy, a machine consisting of a large rotating cylinder and a lot of complicated plumbing taking up most of the space in the compartment. "This looks important," Bob said aloud, seizing a fire extinguisher from a wall bracket. He jammed it into the works and was rewarded with a horrible grinding noise followed by a small explosion and the sudden sensation of weightlessness. "And for my next trick," Bob muttered, glancing around for anything else to vandalise, "I shall... Aha!" He wasn't sure if whatever was on the other side of that hatch was explosive or just extremely flammable, but judging by the warning sign he'd lay any money you cared to name that it would react vigorously to the judicious application of arson.
TABBut that would have to wait, because another hatch at the far end of the compartment was opening. Bob unslung his sub-machine gun and crouched behind a locker.

TABThere were two of them, both carrying pistols. That made this a bit easier... Bob flipped off the safety catch and fired. It was supposed to be a short burst, but he was startled by the greater-than-expected recoil and ended up putting a dozen rounds downrange. One human spun away, bleeding profusely from a wound in their side, and the other frantically kicked out for cover. Bob put another, much better controlled burst down in their general direction to discourage pursuit and wrenched open the hatch with the warning label on it.
TABInside were two large rows of gas cylinders chained to a bulkhead. Bob switched to the shotgun, took careful aim and blew the valves off three on each side, then took a small cylinder about the size of a felt-tip pen out of his suit pocket. He gave it a twist, tossed it through the hatchway and slammed it closed.

TABWhat was that?
TABEmergency igniter for a rocket motor. Ninety-second delay. 'Scuse me! Bob kicked off and launched himself back towards the ladder. He retraced his steps as far as the airlock and then propelled himself down the opposite corridor, jamming shells into the shotgun and trying to remember everything Christopher had told him about the ship's layout.
TABTwo men wearing body-armour and carrying carbines came floating clumsily towards him. Bob curled up as tight as he could to keep his centre of gravity close to the line of the gun and fired two rounds, using the recoil to slow himself down and drop his magnetic boots onto the deck. The security team were clearly unused to freefall and their answering shots left them spinning helpessly; one of them sailed straight into a bulkhead with a horrible crack and began screaming, and the other was knocked backwards by a chestful of buckshot and came to a dead stop, wheezing horribly. Bob drew his pistol with the intent of putting the man out of the fight with a round through the knee...

TABAnd then the whole world spun violently on its axis as a tremendous deafening boom echoed throughout the hull.

TABOn the bridge of the Fredricksson, Jeb saw a brilliant flash, and then the Blue Sun vessel began spinning violently about its axis.
TAB"I think we found Bob," he said softly.
TAB"I don't suppose you have any idea what the hell he thinks he's doing, by any chance?" Captain Tarrant replied, without rancour.
TAB"Funny you should ask that, Captain," Bill replied over the radio, "because Scott found a lot of notes in his cabin. A really detailed map of that ship, with 'holding cells' marked on it quite prominently. We don't know where he got all this information, but it looks an awful lot like someone on that ship sent some kind of distress message."

TABThere was something in Bill's tone that made Jeb very, very suspicious. He sounded almost... amused, like he was playing a role in an elaborate practical joke.

TAB"Distress message?" Admiral Liu said thoughtfully. "Well, that is odd. Captain, I suggest deploying a team of medical and engineering personnel to render assistance. And you'd better send some Marines along too, if there's an armed intruder aboard."
TABCaptain Tarrant was nowhere near as good a poker player as the admiral, and couldn't keep the broad grin off his face. "Agreed, sir. Bosun, you heard the admiral. Make it at least two squads of Marines, and all medical and engineering staff are to wear sidearms. Can't be too careful."
TAB"Aye, sir."

TABJeb suddenly understood everything.

TAB"Well, what do you know," one of the bridge crew remarked to nobody in particular. "They facepalm just like we do."

[InsaneTD]

Facepalm? Nice touch that. A great update. I do hope poor Bob survives this. And I bet the navy will be glad to go through a blue sun vessel.

[fnord]

How can it be truly Kerbal without large explosions?

Can't see Blue Sun being too impressed with Bob reworking their ship's innards. Will Liu maliciously comply (ie, exactly by the book and taking his own sweet time) with any demands for assistance?

[Zaune]

Heh. Something like that.

[LadyTevar]

"something like that"
heheh. Heheheh. HEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH

[fnord]

Hate to possibly necro, but when's the next bit coming?

[Zaune]

I'm working on it. Had some real life stuff to deal with.

[fnord]

Fair enough, was wondering.

<Siegfried> Shtarker, zis is der Kerbal Space Agency! Ve ka-frikking-boom here! </Siegfried>

[Zaune]

Okay. Colossal update incoming!

TABI'm going to be sick.
TABTry not to. It really isn't pretty in freefall. Bob rubbed his arm where he'd slammed into a bulkhead, then turned on his suit's shoulder-mounted flashlights. Did the lights go out where you are?
TABYeah. The ventilation system stopped running too... And I'm in a small compartment that's now airtight. Shit. Shit!
TABKeep it together kid! Bob snapped. If you panic and start hyperventilating you'll just make things worse. You've got hours before the CO2 builds up enough to give you a headache, much less be dangerous, and I'll be there in a couple of minutes.
TABAlright. But please hurry!
TABI will. Bob kicked off from the deck.

TABThe two Blue Sun representatives marched into CIC, both scowling. "We just got word," Green said neutrally.
TAB"Civilians are supposed to request permission before coming in here," Admiral Liu pointed out coldly.
TAB"We're not civilians."
TAB"You sure aren't in uniform. Now what do you want?"
TAB"We want you to call off the boarding party, and we want one of these Kerbals to instruct their deranged crewmate to surrender."
TAB"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I can't do that," Jeb replied. "Whatever your ship's made of is blocking or deflecting every form of EM radiation we send at it; his suit radio couldn't pick it up, assuming he even took one with him."
TAB"Your buddy blew a twenty-metre hole in the gorram hull!" Brown snarled, his facade of cool indifference finally cracking. "Not to mention trashed our grav-engine, killed two of our crew and put three more in the infirmary!"
TAB"Yeah, about that." Captain Tarrant drew himself up to his full height. "Perhaps you gentlemen would care to tell me just what might have motivated... Bob, was it, to board your vessel?"
TAB"How the hell would I know?"
TAB"Well, I have a few guesses," Kurt interjected. "I've been studying your news media pretty intensively these last few months, gentlemen. The whole Miranda thing has been getting the most attention, of course, but there's also been plenty of talk about the Academy. Destroyed in a terrorist attack, apparently, and dozens of 'specially gifted' children unaccounted for."
TAB"Well, yes. As if that renegade ex-Browncoat Reynolds hasn't caused us enough-" Green made a shushing gesture at his colleague.
TAB"Oh, please. Maybe you can fool the nicely ignorant voting public who've had their critical-thinking skills neatly amputated by your education system, but we Kerbals don't do things that way. Would you believe my best subject in highschool was Sociology? Did good enough that I won myself a full-ride scholarship all the way to degree level with a guaranteed job at the end, all courtesy of Information Warfare Command. Your bosses really ought to look into doing the same, you know, because from where I'm standing it looks like your PsyOps division is being run by a bunch of total amateurs." He glanced at Jeb, who was looking slightly peturbed by this revelation. "They didn't tell you I was an intelligence officer?"
TAB"They called you a 'signals intelligence specialist'. I took that to mean you did the interception, not the analysis."
TAB"What can I say? We're a small Air Force, I have to wear several hats. But the practical upshot of all this," Kurt said, turning a steely glare upon the two Blue Sun employees, "is that it's blindingly obvious to anyone with the most rudimentary ability to recognise bullshit when it pours out of his television set what kind of operation your 'school for the gifted' really is. Great Kerm above, how stupid do you think your own citizens are, much less us? Are we really supposed to believe that someone kidnapped your secret army of psychic space-ninjas?"
TABGreen smiled faintly. "A fascinating hypothesis, Lieutenant. But you do realise that your only evidence that we even have an army of 'psychic space-ninjas', as you put it, is the unsupported word of a dangerously unbalanced teenage girl?"
TAB"You mean a teenage girl like the one in the video footage you showed us, single-handedly taking apart several veteran special forces operators twice her size?" said Captain Tarrant, in a tightly controlled tone of voice that made some of his more experienced subordinates start looking for the nearest object to hide behind.
TABAdmiral Liu smiled, not pleasantly. "Captain? I think you'd better arrange reinforcements for that boarding party. At least the rest of your Marines."
TAB"Admiral, our ship contains numerous classified experimental technologies-"
TAB"Then let the record state that on my authority as taskforce commander, I am granting those marines access to all classified areas aboard your ship due to exigient circumstances. I suggest you contact your colleagues to inform them of this fact, and quickly," the Admiral replied, "because I will be very displeased if there was a misunderstanding that resulted in one of my sailors or Marines being harmed."
TAB"You can't do that!" Brown protested.
TAB"Watch me. Captain Tarrant, I believe this situation passes the threshold of reasonable suspicion. If you please?"
TAB"I do please, Admiral, very much so. Agent Brown, Agent Green," Tarrant said formally, "under the provisions of the Naval Law Enforcement Powers Act, you are hereby bound by law on suspicion of false imprisonment and conspiracy to kidnap. Mr Hemry, as soon as these men have instructed the crew of their vessel to stand down, have them confined to the brig."
TAB"Aye, sir." The Chief of the Boat stepped away from his station and loomed with the practiced ease of long experience riding herd on unruly sailors, one hand resting on the butt of his sidearm.
TABThe Men in Grey looked at one another. "Told you we shouldn't have shown them the video," Brown muttered.
TAB"Yeah, yeah." Green sighed. "Well, guess it's time for Plan B."
TAB"Oh, hell no..."
TAB"You have any better suggestions?"
TAB"Gentlemen," the Chief said warningly. "The Captain gave you an order."
TAB"Oh, go fuck yourself," Green retorted, and pulled a small cylindrical object from his pocket.
TAB"What the hell-?" Hemry yanked the pistol from its holster, but it was too late.

TABJeb yelped and covered his ears as an excruciatingly loud whine filled the air. All around him the Fredricksson's bridge crew were falling to the ground, screaming as blood began seeping from their eyes and ears. "Oh what the fuck," he breathed.
TABThen Green staggered backwards before his head snapped back and... well, stopped being recognisable as a human head. The cylinder dropped from nerveless fingers as his body crashed to the ground, mercifully cutting off the awful noise. Kurt shifted his aim to Brown... a fraction of a second too late, because the man had been a little more on-the-ball than his colleague and drawn his own sidearm the instant he realised the Kerbals weren't going down. He got the first shot off, by a fraction of a second, and Kurt's own bullet went high as the impact knocked him flat on his back.

TABBrown had no time to enjoy any feeling of satisfaction, however, because Jeb snatched the pistol that Kurt had pressed on him some time earlier from his jumpsuit's inside pocket and shot the man repeatedly in the back until his gun clicked dry. He fell to his knees, making incoherent little mewing noises.

TAB"Told you... hweee... that thing would... hweee... come in handy," Kurt wheezed. The low-profile ballistic vest he'd been wearing under his jumpsuit had stood up to the shot, barely, but he still felt like he'd been sucker-punched with an anvil.
TAB"Guess so." Jeb very cautiously approached the still-groaning Brown and kicked his gun out of reach. "You alright?"
TABBefore Kurt could answer, half a dozen fully-armed Marines came bursting through the hatch. "Nobody move!" one of them bellowed. Then his brain caught up with his eyes. "What the...? Corpsman! Corpsman! Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened in here?"
TAB"Wiseguy over there used some kind of sonic weapon," Jeb replied. "Guess it wasn't calibrated for Kerbals." He tried not to look at the vivid red stain on the bulkhead.
TAB"Son of a bitch," the Marine muttered, then turned to the hatch. "Where the hell is that gorram corpsman?"
TAB"Right here, Sergeant." A woman with a lieutenant's stripes on her cuffs walked in carrying a medkit, followed by several orderlies. "God almighty," she said to herself. "Get everyone in here down to sickbay, on the double! And someone put some cuffs on that Blue Sun bastard, I need to know what the hell that weapon was!"
TAB"I wouldn't try and move him if you need him alive," Kurt warned, getting to his feet. "My boss here put a whole magazine into his back."
TABThe lieutenant shot Jeb an appraising look. "For a race of peaceful explorers and scientists, you fellas sure play for keeps," she remarked. "Yuoh, get the spinal board on him."

TABOblivious to all the fun and excitement taking place aboard the Fredricksson, Bob was carefully approaching the holding cells. Two guards were floating by the hatch, all gripping rifles.
TAB"This is crazy," one of them muttered. "You think the gorram Navy's not gonna ask any questions? We are screwed, man."
TAB"Ah, cool it," another snapped. "They've got two Special Projects operators on the flagship. Ain't no Navy puke who values his career gonna tell them no."
TAB"Wanna bet? My brother-in-law's Navy, he told me all about this Liu guy. You think a guy who values his career gets posted to the pi gu end of ruttin' nowhere? He 'speaks his mind', or so Marty tells me. Those Special Projects creeps are probably in the gorram brig by now."

TABDo you have something to do with the fact I can understand what these guys are saying?
TABUh... Maybe? I've never tried calling someone who wasn't a native English speaker before.
TABWell, I'm not one for looking a gift horse in the mouth, as I believe you folks say.

TAB"I said cool it, Jack. We will be fine. Worst case scenario, we toss a coupla Willie-Petes in the cell; no muss, no fuss, no evidence."
TAB"Yeah, because it's not bad enough that I'm an accessory after the fact to kidnapping, but I gotta be an accessory to murder too! That's real gorram great!"
TAB"Little late to be growing a conscience now, dude."
TAB"Oh, really? Maybe you oughta give it a try. I mean, you've not got a whole gorram lot to lose right now."
TAB"Jack, for Chrissakes, either shut the hell up or go lock yourself in one of these cells and think up horrible stories about your working conditions or something. You're makin' me nervous."

TABWhich one's Jack?
TABThe shorter one, with the blonde hair. He's alright.
TABI know.

TABBob secured both primary weapons against his body by their slings, and drew his sidearm; he'd need a hand free for this. He thumbed off the safety, grabbed a suitable handhold and swung himself into the holding area.
TAB"What the f-?" Jack's colleague never got to bring the gun up before Bob put three precise, efficient shots into his centre of mass. He shifted his aim to where Jack had been a moment before, but he was already hurling himself behind a computer workstation. "Fuck!" Jack whimpered. "Don't kill me! Please! I'm just a gorram cook, man! All I did at the Academy was serve grub in the canteen! I didn't even know what they were doing 'til I signed the NDA!"
TABBob sighed. Insofar as he could actually tell with humans, the poor kid sounded like he couldn't have been more than two years out of high school. "Toss the gun out here, and come out with your hands where I can see them," he said, trying to sound stern.
TABThe rifle went sailing across the compartment, and the man -no, boy; dear Kerweh he just looked so young- slowly emerged. "You can understand me?" he exclaimed.
TAB"Yeah. Probably Christopher's doing. And he was wrong, Jack. It's never too late to grow a conscience. Now, do you have any idea how to get these cell doors open?"
TAB"If they're like every other door in this place there's a manual override lever under... Shit. Under a panel that should be about here." He thumped a blank section of bulkhead with the flat of his hand.
TAB"Well, crap. Christopher? Keep calm, we're working on getting you out of there!" Bob peered at the door controls. It was an electronic lock of some sort; maybe he could hotwire it. "You got a screwdriver or something?"
TAB"Here." Jack passed him a multi-tool.
TAB"Thanks." Bob unscrewed and pried off the panel, pulled out two likely-looking wires and touched them together.
TABNothing. "Oh, for crying out loud! Not even a backup battery?"
TABJack shrugged. "Safety inspectors ain't cleared to even know this ship exists."
TAB"Figures. Okay, I can deal with this. Do you have a handheld radio, a music player, anything with a battery in it? This thing can't use all that much power."
TAB"I don't, but I think he does." Jack grabbed his former colleague by his belt, overcame his revulsion and patted the corpse's pockets. "Aha!"
TABBob caught the little walkie-talkie as it glided towards him and pulled off the battery cover. Going by size alone it was somewhere between seven and ten volts, plenty for what he had in mind-

TAB"Heads up!" Jack hissed. Bob heard shouts from the corridor outside and hastily unslung his sub-machine gun. "Keep your head down," he whispered.
TABThere were six of them, all carrying rifles and wearing body armour. Bob mentally tallied up his ammunition: One and a half magazines for the SMG, about fifteen shotgun shells plus whatever was in the two rifles Jack and the dead man had been carrying.

TABNot looking good.

TABI'm sorry I got you into this, Bob.
TABDon't be. It was the right thing to do.

TABBob flicked off the safety, leaned out of cover and fired. He was getting better at controlled three-round bursts now, slamming the point-man backwards into his colleagues without wasting a single bullet. He couldn't have done much damage through all that Kevlar, but the amount of swearing he provoked was still pretty satisfying.
TAB"Oh, give it up, you dumb son of a bitch!" one of them yelled. "There's only one way in or out of there! C'mon, if you surrender we might give you some lube for the anal probing!"
TAB"Go stick it in a tree!" Bob retorted, showcasing a remarkable instance of convergent evolution in language despite the suggestion having some rather different connotations on Kerbin. He fired another quick burst to keep their heads down and turned to Jack. "Is there somewhere I can shoot a human where it won't do any permanent harm? You might need an alibi."
TABJack shook his head and took hold of the rifle he'd dropped earlier. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I've had it with this shitshow anyway. Hey, that you, Sheng?" he called out. "Next time you drop in on Mr Numos for your daily ass-kissing session, tell him I quit!" He braced himself against the hatch and fired a long, wild burst down the corridor. "Get the door open," he hissed to Bob. "I'll keep 'em busy."
TABBob nodded. "Be careful, kid."
TABJack gave a hollow laugh. "I was being careful when I kept my head down and let these people make me an accomplice," he replied, then fired another, slightly more controlled burst. "Now hustle!"
TABBob swung across the compartment and snatched the walkie-talkie out of the air. As he fumbled with it, he must have hit the power switch somehow.
TAB"...pen your airlock or we will have to use force. I repeat, this is the Marine boarding shuttle off your port bow..."
TAB"Oh, hell yeah!" Bob jabbed his thumb down on what he really hoped was the Transmit key. "Marine boarding shuttle, this is Bob Kerman! Myself and a former Blue Sun employee are at the holding cells! We're pinned down and need assistance!"
TAB"What the...?" Whoever was on the radio clearly hadn't expected that, but a helpful burst of gunfire from somewhere behind Bob apparently convinced him that this wasn't a put-up job. "Understood! Stay off the air, this is a non-secure channel! We're on the way, over!"
TAB"Copy that, Marines! Over and out!" Bob flipped the radio over and yanked the battery. "Backup's on the way, Jack! Now please Kerm and Kerweh and anyone else who cares let this fucking work..." There was a click, and the panel made an angry buzzing noise. "Yes! C'mon out Chris!"
TABA small -very, disturbingly small- black-haired missile shot out of the cell and collided with Bob. He couldn't have been more than than twelve years old.
TABBob hugged him fiercely. "It's alright, kid. You're going to be okay."

TAB"Alliance Marines, Alliance Marines! Drop the weapons and put your hands in the air!" someone yelled. The Blue Sun personnel spun around and began firing down the corridor behind them.
TABJack began taking aim, but Bob grabbed the rifle and forced it down. "Don't! You'll hit our guys!"
TAB"He might, but I won't!" Christopher pushed past the two men, holding Bob's sidearm.
TAB"Chris no-!"
TAB"Mustn't look," he whispered, and closed his eyes.

TABSix pistol shots rang out. Six Blue Sun employees fell dead. And the innocence of a boy not even old enough to shave died with them.

* * *

TAB"I'm not honestly sure what a kerbal's ribs are supposed to look like, but I'm pretty sure you've cracked a couple," the medic declared, peering at the X-ray picture.
TAB"Yeah, me too," Kurt agreed, wincing. "I'm sure glad that guy was packing subsonic hollowpoints." The two Blue Sun employees had also been found to be carrying suppressors for their sidearms, presumably in case they wanted to dispose of inconvenient witnesses a bit more subtly. "How are your crew?"
TAB"They'll live." The medic's face darkened. "All of them will have permanent hearing impairment, and Chief Hemry suffered a cerebral haemorhage. There's probably other long-term injuries we haven't diagnosed yet because we don't know exactly how that little toy works."
TABKurt felt a very brief moment of pity for the crew of that Blue Sun vessel if they were foolhardy enough to resist arrest. Every ship in the taskforce had sent its entire Marine detachment over to reinforce the initial boarding party, and the bootnecks* were not likely to be in a very forgiving mood after word had got around. There was already an armed guard on Brown, despite the fact there was no more than a 50/50 chance he'd ever walk again.

TABJeb's only comment when informed of this was, "Maybe he'll get lucky, and they'll shoot him instead of making him do thirty to life in a wheelchair."

TABThere was a sudden commotion at the hatch, and Kurt looked up to see Bob walking slowly into the infirmary with a small child in his arms. He was still wearing his pressure suit, a cartridge bandolier and a ''bandanna'' of all things. It would have been comical if not for the look in his eyes.
TAB"Is he hurt?" the Chief Medical Officer asked carefully.
TAB"Not physically. He's sleeping now."
TAB"Put him on one of these beds. We won't wake him."
TABBob did so, and then collapsed into a chair next to the bed Kurt was lying on. "He killed six men today. Pickpocketed my gun and made six perfect headshots in less than fifteen seconds. They've turned him into a finely-honed killing machine."
TAB"Oh Great Kerm..."
TAB"He's eleven and a half years old, Kurt. The half's important, he was very clear on that. A kid that age ought to be dreaming of getting a cool new bike for his birthday, trying out for a sports team at school, maybe just starting to notice girls. But those... those fucking sociopaths taught him..." Bob's voice faltered, and he buried his face in his hands. "What makes anyone do shit like this?" he mumbled, once he'd composed himself a little. "I mean, what could possibly be worth doing that to a kid? World peace, the secret to immortality?"
TAB"Some of them think they're making the Alliance safer." Bob started at Christopher's voice. "Some of them think they can make people better somehow, let everyone have the same gifts I do. But most of them... They like the world how it is, and they want to stop people changing it. Hey, the language thing works both ways. Cool."
TAB"Thought you were asleep," Bob said softly, getting up and stroking the boy's hair.
TAB"Not quite. And we're not all bad, you know. Even most of the Blue Sun folks weren't; they were just scared, like Jack."
TAB"I know. Close your eyes now, kid. You've had a long day."

[fnord]

ROCK ON! IT LIVES!

Was definitely worth the wait.