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doom3607 wrote:So in other words von Evilstein is screwed anyway because if I manage to get Shroomanski overruled Pavylyvyvh'll just switch sides to the people who were about to put me in charge since they'd undoubtedly prefer him to me anyway. Great...

*sigh*

You areally are a poor politician.

If Syrgy decides to side with the anti-Shroomanskites after they win (if they win at all, that is) their tug of war, nobody's gonna trust him. He'll be seen as an untrustworthy opportunist, unlike you, the stalwart supporter of the correct faction. If he does that before, he'll be in a better situation, but you'll still be the one who supported the anti-shroomanskites from the start.

doom3607 wrote:In that case, any way to defect and ensure the rocket blows up?

Well, no. I'd imagine sabotage at this moment, after so many problems and delays and defections would be just about suicidal.

Fox fastened the tie on his suit. He left the hotel room and went to march with the other astronauts in the funeral.

It was a state funeral. He was being buried in his home in Chicago. His mother and family were there to receive the flag.



Someone had to inform the man presiding that he was giving the eulogy to the wrong funeral. The man apologized and left, but the sentiments were still appreciated.

Ohjesus was now home.

Fine then. I'll try to work out how to get them to overrule Shroomanski, preferably by simple expedient of having the good Commisar and Chief Designer sent to Zyberia. And then having the paperwork be obliterated in a fire that destroyed the office it was done up in before it could be backed up, to prevent them from ever returning.

Virgil OhJesus was a fine Murcan man, patriot and preacher. But above all, he was known to the country as one of the original "Mercury Seven", the first group of astronauts to be recruited by MASA as pilots for Murca's first manned space capsules.

Before his tragic death on Mercury IX, Astronaut OhJesus managed to make himself known as a helpful and spiritual man, a simple soul that the remaining astronauts could always go to with their problems and find a kind heart and good listener. As a preacher, he enjoyed trust of his fellow astronauts, and never made their confessions known to anybody else - including flight psychologists, who questioned him about his fellows more than once. Although he wasn't much of a party person, never partaking in the astronaut's habit for industrial lubricant, he was nevertheless well liked by his fellow rocket-riding spacemen. His fellow friend Biff McCain, the first Murcan to leave Earth's atmosphere, had more than once praised Virgil's helpful attitude and good spirits.

"He always had time for you ; Before flights, even training flights, he would go around the checkout building and wish everyone good luck. We all felt at ease with Virgil around."

Congress had decided to posthumonously award Virgil OhJesus the Congressional Medal of Honor. The astronaut is survived by his wife, Betty OhJesus.

If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.

Syrgy Pavylyvych's political plan is to emphasize to any members of the anti-Shroomanski faction he can reach in the course of normal business that he is concerned solely with building Moon rockets for the Zenobian Onion, and that his priority is making the hardware work as quickly as is consistent with the fact that (unlike the rockets launched "prior to my accession to the program") it must work reliably.

The recent Murcan disaster only underlines the importance of getting things to work reliably before they are used; it is useless to hand someone a tool that is more likely to explode in their hands than it is to work and then loudly proclaim that we have "beat the enemy to the punch!"

Pavylyvych appreciates Comrade Shroomanski's confidence in him, but wishes to concentrate on building rockets for the Zenobian state. It is not his place to comment on Politburo affairs.

Pavylyvych will express his concern to Comrade Commissar Omeganski that von Evilstein has become less and less involved with actual Cosmodrome affairs, and that he seems to prefer political activity to rocket science, which is troubling in a Thanasian who claims to be a rocket scientist...

OOC, zis is ze Zenobian Onion, you fool! Nobody ignores politics... and survives! But really, anyone in either of our positions in the actual Soviet Union would have to be a very shrewd politician to keep his position. Or a relative (legitimate relative) of the head of the KGB.

The Commissar will probably remind Syrgy that he should focus on worrying about the rockets and leave things like ensuring loyalty and patrotism to him.

And then probably go be all imposing to remind von Evilstien that he needs to actually do somthing or he'll be sent to Zyberia or if the Commissaris really lucky, a firing squad!

"Apologies, Comrade Omeganski. But the man worries me."

doom3607 wrote:OOC, zis is ze Zenobian Onion, you fool! Nobody ignores politics... and survives! But really, anyone in either of our positions in the actual Soviet Union would have to be a very shrewd politician to keep his position. Or a relative (legitimate relative) of the head of the KGB.

Yes. Syrgy's technique is the "no technique" technique; think of it as Zen Communism.

There were a number of people who retained office for long periods in the USSR in large part by emphasizing that they served the state. Pavylvych wants to emphasize to Politburo opponents of Shroomanski that he will continue to build rockets as long as he is permitted to do so, and that he is busying himself with making the program work rather than wasting their time making demands on them.

Also, that von Evilstein is managing the program badly.

After everyone had left the graveyard, two figures in dark coats came to the grave and left flowers.



"I'm sorry I never got to know you, but it would have been nice to."

The man next to him spoke.

"Do svidaniya."

They left, getting into a car and driving back to Mehico, where they lived.

PeZook wrote:The actual space race did have a few moments when things could go terribly wrong ; The game is much, much deadlier for the astronauts, though. Expect more deaths before all is said and done.

OOC - Kinda noticed that in the last two-player game I played.

The US had 40 odd astronauts (Group IV), with 18 confirmed deaths
3 gemini disasters
3 apollo disasters - the disastrous Apollo XI mission killing Collins and Aldrin, prompting Armstrong's decision to GTFO, and the catastrophic joint Apollo XIII/XIV mission - both capsules burned up during re-entry
1 spaceplane disaster - Took its crew of three to the moon. the LM took two men to surface and back. the trans-Earth injection burn went wrong, stranding the capsule in space in Fall 1977.

The USSR's program was in the lead, both prestige and reliability wise, until the Red Army intervened in Spring 1965, cutting my budget by 2/3 (how do you expect me to beat the scumbag capitalists on 30 MB?), restricting me to Voskhod missions (Voskhod XXV being the final one before the spaceplane program)
1 Vostok disaster - Gagarin went up, but he burned up on re-entry thanks to heatshield cockup
1 Voskhod disaster - Voshkod IV's deorbit burn flat-out didn't work
1 spaceplane disaster - like the US, we got men to the moon and back off again in Fall 1977. The damn thing crashed on landing.

...Is that budget cut event normal? Because if that happens in this game we're totally screwed.

It only happened the once so far, but I swore a blue streak. My opponent copped a one-two punch of No Rockets for year, then No Capsules for year.

Moosecow, Zenobia
Secret Politburo meeting

The spacious meeting room that usually held Politburo meetings had been sealed. Many of the seats were empty today, for this was a most unusual meeting, where only a select few members would preside over a matter of utmost importance.

It did not escape the attention of the gathered that the room was conspiciously lacking in those members who supported Shroomanski. And that comrade Bragonid Bearzhnev, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, was sitting on the seat usually reserved for the General Secretary.

"Comrades", Bearzhnev began, not giving anyone much time to think things through and come to the inevitable conclusion before he made his pitch, "I have asked you to attend this special meeting today to discuss matters of national importance. You are smart men, and so I will not cloud your judgement with nice words: I believe the general secretary is growing more erratic, perhaps even senile, and that his decisions no longer serve the interests of the Zenobian Onion. It has become imperative that the man is removed from his post."

"Comrade Bearzhnev", Pavel Gugylyvych, People's Comissar for Agriculture, butted in to Leznev's great annoyance, "While we have no great love for the general secretary and his decisions, particularly his irrational love for corn, surely you must understand sweeping policy changes cannot be decided at closed meetings."

General Robyodov Nefartnyi, head of the NKVDVDROM snorted, "I disagree, comrade. The good of the Onion takes precedence over proper procedure."

"Yes, well, it's not like the general secretary will just disappear, like those fools who stand in front of a mirror and chant 'Stas Bush' three times, da?", the Comissar for Agriculture spat back at the general, "Even the NVKDVDROM needs evidence of wrongdoing to convict the General Secretary!"

"Comrades! Please! Allow me to finish. Thanks to comrade Nefartnyi's efforts, I have managed to gain access to documentations received by the general secretary, relating to the space program..."

"Again with the space program, Bragonid?", the Comissar for Industry, a very old and very dried out man by the name of Dryzdyn Spetchkov, also seemed hostile. Probably because he was called to the meeting from a public bathhouse full of nubile young naked women, "We should've shut it down a long time ago! It's a waste of money and resources!"

"Perhaps it is, but here is why! I have here a letter from doctor von Evilstein, who as you might remember is the head of the program...", Bearzhnev fished around in his briefcase for a moment, before pulling out a sheet of paper. He put on his readin glasses and read the letter aloud.

Comrade General Secretary of the Zenobian Onion, I must regretfully give you news of the gravest variety. I fear the good Commisar may... not be as dedicated to the cause as he should be. I have in my possesion information showing that the Commisar was aware that Comrade Pavylyvych failed to fully inspect the paperwork for the rocket that exploded on Pad Two, and that if he had, the explosion would have failed to happen. (A copy of the information is attached.) And yet, the good Commisar supported Comrade Pavylyvych, the man who caused an explosion on the launch pad, over myself, the man who got two satellites into orbit and beat the Murcan capitalist swine in doing so. And shortly thereafter, as you've undoubtedly already heard, Comrade Pavylyvych signed off on a plan for the Vostok capsule that set us back to almost Murcan reliability levels, possibly losing us the race to get a man up there! And he plans to go 'slowly and steadily', like he was doing when he signed off on this plan, permanently. I fear his apparent fondness for red tape may be preventing him from being capable of doing his duties, and the good Commisar supports him anyway. I apologize for taking up any of your valuable time, but I felt you had to be aware of my misgivings in this matter.

"This letter had been received by the General Secretary months ago, yet was not presented to the Politburo! The Secretary is obviously protecting a chosen protege of his, this Syrgy Pavylyvych, a former Gulag prisoner..."

"Wait just a minute. This does look like a simple denunciation, doesn't it?", Comissar Gugylyvych noted, "I don't know about the space program, but..."

Dryzdyn Spetchkov slammed a fist into the table in a surprising display of strength, "That's precisely it, comrade Gugylyvych! You do not know much about the program, but the situation presented in the letter does seem to match reports I am getting. Sloppiness, inadequately dedicated work, rockets exploding on the pad! That's exactly it?"

Gugylyvych nodded angrily, "Yes, yes, I know, da? But is it due to this...Syrgy Pavylyvych character? Perhaps von Evilstein, being a former Thanasian slave driver after all, is simply trying to cover his ass? How does this prove comrade Shroomanski is negligent, Bragonid?"

"Does it matter, comrades? Von Evilstein stans against Shroomanski, and this is all we need."

"How do you know where Pavylyvych stands, Bragonid?", Gugylyvych pointed out, showing just why he wasn't given a more important post than comissar of agriculture. Shroomanski probably feared his ability to pinpoint inconvenient details like this.

"We can find out", Spetchkov said, rubbing his pruny chin, "We should ask him what he thinks of the general secretary. I would also very much like to hear von Evilstein's plan for the future of the space program."

"I agree", general Nefartnyi said, "If we are to use this situation against comrade Shroomanski, we have to be well prepared. What happenes if von Evilstein's letter is actually a denunciation, and the program under his lead starts failing? That could threaten the next general secretary, who would after all be climbing to the top on promises to clean it up!"

"Da. Comrade Spetchkov should meet with Syrgy Pavylyvych, and see where his loyalties lie."

Well, doom, you better make your pitch to the Politburo count, since if these people feel Syrgy can do the better job, they might just keep him in light of his assurances that he is apolitical.

Washingtoff, Murca
The White Dwelling

The President sat own in silence. He leaned forward, looking into the faces of the men gathered inside a spacious conference room. The room was rustic, but very, very secure from all sorts of surveillance. Also surrouned by armed Secret Service goons.

"Gentlemen", Teddy finally began to speak, jostling more than a few of his cabinet members - and especially the three men sitting at the far end of the table: MASA Director Johnny von Braun, Director of Research Sam Francisco and Director of Flight Crew Operations, Wehrner von Shapp, "I have made supporting the space program a serious policy goal of my administration. I have promised to keep it cutting edge and prestigious. However, I cannot convince Congress to keep funding you if you keep fucking up!"

The last two wors were spoken loudly and supported by Teddy slamming his very thick briefing folder on the conference table.

"Gentlemen. I am not going to sink for this. I must give the people something. Something concrete. I am awaiting your proposal: how are we going to beat the Zenobians?"

Yes. Who knows, maybe he'll even orchestrate his own assassination to get out from having to handle these constant crises?

Fox wandered the halls of the Cape. Without any directors here, it seemed as if the Cape was free from its bosses.

That meant one thing: PARTY!



With their guardians away, the astronauts were free to invite everyone from the nearby bars and pool halls for a rocking good time.

THE CAPE

Suddenly the music on the radio was abruptly interrupted by a new... nightmarish noise.

"...my heatshield... it's breaking up! The temperature is rising! So... hot... can't... breathe... oh jeebus... oh jeebus! OH JEEBU-"

They all recognized that voice, of their erstwhile fellow astronaut Ohjesus. His last radio transmissions had bounced off the planet's electrosphere and had finally found its way to the Cape.

The party became quiet. Nobody wanted to have fun anymore. The astronauts bent their heads down in shame, guilt and fear. Some cried, for the memory of their bygone friend.

His last words echoed in the hall. A warning of things to come.

A short man entered the base after being inspected by the new guards. He walked to a Mr. Von Braun's office and handed in his orders.

"Howdy. I'm Rex Modem, and I'm your new astronaut."

He then scratched at an itch in his pants and left the room, setting up shop in the barracks next to his older brother, Fox.

Quietly, over a shot of vodka, in his most secret heart of hearts, well shielded from NKDVDROM observation, Nikov paused for a silent minute - their nations may have been enemies (Nikov being ignorant of the re-enactment of the Salvation War currently being fought in Moosecow's corridors), but did not astronauts and cosmonauts have more commonalities than differences?

He then caught that thought, wondering if spaceflight was really that subversive....

Or was it a man, being used to satisfy the whims of a slightly-unhinged administration on flying bombs built by the lowest bidder, suddenly reminding the cosmonaut of his own mortality?

A note: new astronauts only come into the program with recruitment of a new group. I can't insert single replacements for dead astronauts/cosmonauts, you will have to recruit a new group to replenish losses.

Group II of 9 men is available to both sides now, for 15 megabucks.

fnord wrote:Quietly, over a shot of vodka, in his most secret heart of hearts, well shielded from NKDVDROM observation, Nikov paused for a silent minute - their nations may have been enemies (Nikov being ignorant of the re-enactment of the Salvation War currently being fought in Moosecow's corridors), but did not astronauts and cosmonauts have more commonalities than differences?

He then caught that thought, wondering if spaceflight was really that subversive....

Or was it a man, being used to satisfy the whims of a slightly-unhinged administration on flying bombs built by the lowest bidder, suddenly reminding the cosmonaut of his own mortality?

Syrgy Pavylyvych has no idea this is happening, but would assure Comrade Nikov that we are not having our rockets built by the lowest bidder; the lowest bidders were the managers of the Derevnya Gadyukino Precision Alloy Tubing Plant, many of whom were rewarded for their poor quality control with free guided tours of the basements at Lusyubyanka.

He does try to take care of his little eagles.

Murcan president Teddy ramps up military presence in Vetnam

In order to protect the small country of Vetnam from foul commienist influences, and defend our fine nation by proxy, president Teddy has announced Murca will send an additional 25 thousand soldiers across the ocean to participate in a war nobody really cares about.

Our analysts are of the opinion the war will be short and won quickly, as equipment and training of Murcan troops is so vastly beyond the North Vetnamese that, to quote one of them, "One of our boys is worth two dozen of theirs"

Since North Vetnam doesn't have an army 600 000 men strong, victory is practically assured. We have been told our boys will be home for Christmas.

Spoiler Rex, finding out he wasn't approved yet for being an astronaut, decided to use the old tent his oldest brother had set up and camped out there. Fox had gotten a letter. Apparently Brock and Bruce had gotten their draft cards.

EDIT: Grammar fixes.