Venture's Call (IC/CLOSED, ISA ONLY)

[Legatia]

Venture's Call

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((This roleplay is strictly closed to member nations of the International Space Agency. If you wish to participate, you may apply there!))

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The current state of Venture, having grappled Inspiration via it's robotic arm. The object near top right is an orbiter
originally carried by Inspiration.

It has been 25 days since the launch of the Inspiration mission from Coriolanus Space Center in Legatia, on the 13th of August, 2016. The rocket's launch vehicle performed without a hitch, though during the burn to escape Earth's gravity, the vehicle was impacted by an unknown piece of space debris. The debris tore straight through one of Inspiration's main four solar arrays, and destroyed the high-gain, long range communications dish. The burn was immediately aborted, placing the vehicle in a highly eccentric orbit, with a perigee of it's original 214 km but an apogee of 26,000 km, on a 58.9 degree inclination. A probe being carried by the lander intended as an orbiter was able to use it's own antennae to transmit to mission control in Ostia, Legatia. Controllers were able to gain a systems report, which indicated that without the communications disk, Inspiration would be unable to communicate with controllers back on Earth.

Rather than waste 3.1 billion dollars and totally aborting the mission, the ISA decided that it would move around launches at Coriolanus. Much to the chagrin of numerous other launches the Legatian Spatiae Administrationem had slated for the time period, on September 2nd, 2016, the Servintian-designed shuttle Venture lifted off from Coriolanus, carrying materials to repair and refit the Inspiration to continue it's mission. It rendezvoused after three days, and on the fifth day, after distance observations, the shuttle closed on the probe and grappled it using a Congreveopian robotic arm.

It has been fifty two hours since then. The crew of the Venture is comprised of numerous astronauts (and cosmonauts) from ISA member nations, all working to repair the Inspiration and send it back on it's way..

---

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor and Flight Engineer Lucia Pompeia
At Orbital altitude of 17,746
September 9th, 2016

The Earth at this altitude was quite significantly smaller than it was at a routine Low Earth. It was hard to put the little blue orb that everyone that anyone had ever known had lived and died on into a size perspective. The earth was tiny compared to Jupiter, and Jupiter paled in comparison to the Sun, which was tiny compared to many other stars, some of which could encapsule most of the Solar Sytem. And if the Earth was small, the tiny little humans who dwelled upon it were miniscule, a drop in the ocean of the vastness of space.

But now wasn't the time for deep, meaningful thinking. The crew of the Venture had a job to do. And so Commander Cursor had summoned the crew to the small limited habitation area in the shuttle, where they ate, slept, and lived.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen.." The commander began, stabilizing himself upright using the walls. "We've confirmed the damage on Inspiration will require a replacement of it's communications dish, and of the solar panels. We'll be needing to test that thing." He first looked to the Congreveopian/Halian astronaut, Lindsay. "Weathers, we'll be needing you to test and check if the dish works while we're out there. Lucia, you'll be staying inside to assist her as needed." He turned then to the Shyluzi cosmonaut. "Krejci, I hope you know how to use a MMU, you and I are on EVA." He nodded, then turning to the other pilot. "You'll stay within just in case we need to do something."

He gave a nod. "All right, let's roll, people."

---

((OOC: The debris will impact sometime this Friday evening (6-9 pm EST, October 9th). Any interactions that need to be done should be finished before then!))

[Shyluz]

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Alois Eduard Krejci, Pilot
At Orbital altitude of 17,746
September 9th, 2016

Alois nodded, his pale face unmoving as he spoke. "Skipper, all due respect," The Shyluzi pilot said, his cadence and pronunciation of the foreign tongue remarkably clear and accentless for a Shyluzi, "What will my function be on the spacewalk?" He asked, tugging on a nearby bar and flinging him towards the small airlock. He moved quickly, with no excess movement and marked efficiency as he donned the EVA suit. On the shoulder of the suit, he proudly wore the flag of the UIRS. He gave a moment of hesitation as he stared at his reflection in the visor of the helm. He held it gently in his hands, giving a tired sigh. He had features that were a relatively uncommon combination on the Plateau. Bright, fiery orange hair and brown eyes, contrasting against a white as snow complexion.

How peculiar, he thought, That I'd find myself up here, looking down at them from a height where not even a single person will see me. He gave a slight smile, a rarity for the ensign, before donning the helm and moving into the airlock, awaiting his Skipper.

[Blorbs]

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Valentina Kerman, Pilot & Jebadiah Kerman, Missions Specialist.
At Orbital altitude of 17,746
September 9th, 2016

With a short glance towards the commander, Val wreches herself violently out of the room via a large metal handle towards the command module. As she floats through the station, Val begins to space out, oddly enough thinking about apple pie, when she realises that she has just entered the module. With a quick reach out to the side, she grips onto a rubber grip in the module, barely not crashing into the controls. As she carefully grabs the seat and sits down in it, she is awaiting further instruction if anything must be done. With a bored expression on her usually exited looking face, she straps in with a seatbelt, while thinking to herself This can't go wrong, i've got to do my best if something unexpected happens

Suddenly she is surprized by Jeb bursting into the room. With a sigh, he blurts out "The commander didn't tell me anything to do, or even mention my name, so I decided to come in here and see what you were doing."

Glancing at the Blorbian flag on his suit, which he appeared to have covered with a small, custom outline of gold, Val speaks to Jeb "Oh, well, yeah. I was just told to stay in here. But if he didn't say your name, why didn't you ask him what you should do, or at least go back to what you were doing before?"

"Well, to be honest, i'm not yet 100% sure what my job is here, however thats a good idea to ask him. Ill go talk to him right now."

Jeb exits the pod, entering a slight spin, possibly to add to the normally boring job of traversing around spacecraft. Through the thick, vacuum sustaining walls, Val hears the faint, muffled voice of Jeb talking.

"Hey, uh, commander, not to be of any annoyance, but what exactly do you wish for me to do here? I never got much of a training for this position, or really any at all, but..."

He seems to pause and, while waiting for an answer to the conversation, Val inadvertantly drolls off to sleep.

[Legatia]

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
At Orbital altitude of 17,746 km
September 9th, 2016

Caius would look over to the Shyluzi, arching an eyebrow as he called him "Skipper", a traditionally naval term, but he made no comment.

"You'll be assisting me with repair and otherwise." Caius nodded, slipping on the chestpiece to his suit, then the gloves, locking them in place.

Suddenly the Blorbian astronaut bursted through, asking him what he needed done.

"Ah, Jebediah." The man said, shrugging on a propulsion unit, then reaching up to grab his floating helmet. "Actually, I think I might need you on EVA, so get your suit on." He nodded, clicking the thing into place.

He stood before the airlock with the Shyluzi, then went to activate his comms. "Ostia, this is Commander Cursor. Do I have a go-ahead for EVA? Over."

---

Imperial Spatiae Administrationem
Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center- Mission Control
Ostia, Imperialis Province
Imperial Provinces of Legatia
September 9th, 2016

Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center likely had one of the most beautiful locations of any Imperial-owned facility- if not, it was definitely the most beautiful of the Spatiae Administrationem. It sat on a gently inclined cliff right down to an ample, beautiful, and private beach, and the flat on which it sat upon was, well, flat.

The steel, concrete and glass of the buildings glinted in the late summer sun. The days had already started to get shorter, and it was noticeable. But the building with all the activity was the Flight Command Center, or FCC.

Ostia's facilities were quite ample- increased funding had allowed for increased amenities. Ostia's cafeteria had a decent cook that wasn't from the Imperial Army this time, and had a wood oven for pizza, a salad bar, cheeseburgers, and other such tasty amenities. Sloppy Joe Tuesdays had even been brought back. The roads had a fresh pave, and FCC had finally finished being re-outfitted in preparation for advanced Aeneas operations soon in the future.

Venture's CAPCOM rolled around lazily in his office chair, bringing his microphone up to his mouth, turning to the FLIGHT officer- Marcus Illius, who gave a nod. "Venture, this is Ostia. You have a go-ahead for extra-vehicular activity to survey and repair Inspiration. How copy?"

A fizzle, and then.. "Venture copies all, Ostia. We're going now." Caius would wave to the Blorbian and Shyluzi, sending them out to work on the craft.

"Hey, Aulus, you need to sit up." FLIGHT informed the laid-back CAPCOM, looking rather serious.

"Oh, come on, it's not like the Imperator's in the room or something."

FLIGHT gave an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, if you don't straighten up you're gonna get your ass fired, you know that?"

CAPCOM once more gave a sigh. "This is subroutine bullshit anyway-"

"I'd like it if you not use that word in my presence." A female voice said, which made CAPCOM nearly break his neck shooting up.

As the rest of the FCC started to rise, the woman put a hand in the air. "No, no. It's fine. Continue what you're doing."

The Secretary General of the International Space Agency, as well as a rather high-ranking official on the Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center's chain of command, Titania Valia stood over. She was rather young for her position- either that or she took exceptionally good care of herself. She wore a simple pinstripe suit, skirt, heels and stockings, her long, light brown hair reaching down her back.

"This isn't just any 'subroutine bullshit'." She frowned at the man in question. "This is a multinational mission repairing a multi-billion dollar mission, using a vehicle we had a very short time to familiarize with. I have plenty of other people who would like your position, so I suggest unless you're looking for a career change, you take it seriously." The man immediately shut his mouth, getting back to work.

"Ma'am, is there any particular reason you're here?" The flight officer asked the woman, who shook her head. "No, no. I'm here to observe, simply." She gave a nod. "Let's simply see how this all turns out."

[Shyluz]

IShyluzi Orbital Service
Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center- Mission Control
Ostia, Imperialis Province
Imperial Provinces of Legatia
September 9th, 2016

Late late late late late. How could one such as himself, Radomir Hrabe, be late? How, in all his military efficiency and discipline, could the Vice Admiral of the Shyluzi Orbital Service, as well as the Director of Operations for the International Space Agency, be late? Simple -- flight delays. It has never been easy to schedule a flight out from Glazhia, even for a military man of his stature. Heh, military. Even Radomir gave a slight chuckle at that thought as it gave an Olympic sprint across his mind. Well, it didn't matter now, as the disheveled 'military' officer walked 'calmly' into Mission Control.

He heaved a breath of relief as he walked slightly behind the Secretary General of the ISA, his direct superior. So of course, according to Shyluzi culture, the proper way to address such an individual would be to simply call them 'Skipper.' No one knows how this tradition really originated, but it's likely a result of the strange system of the Shyluzi military. The military is a sole branch -- the Luftnavy, which was the equivalent of an air force, but rather than the fixed wing aircraft that most nations employed during the Foundation Era, the Luftnavy, an evolution of traditional naval forces, used super-compressed helium to achieve what amounted to sky-borne naval fleets. Using this in combination with fixed wing aircraft, the Kartoffens, who invented the compressor technology, quickly took over the Plateau, uniting it into the Empire known today. Of course, all further military service branches spurred from that force, and as such, the term 'Skipper' was universally adopted as a term for a superior.

"Skipper," Radomir heaved, "I am so very sorry for my tardiness. As one knows," He gave a ragged breath from his sprint down the halls, "Catching a flight out of Glazhia is not a very simple task." He gave a small chuckle. "What've I missed?"

---

Outside the shuttle Venture
Alois Eduard Krejci, Pilot
At Orbital altitude of 17,746
September 9th, 2016

The lithe Shyluzi man gently drifted out of the airlock, the bright red safety tether flowing gently behind him. It was his only protection in the case of something not going to plan. And though he wouldn't show it, the pale man was quite relieved to have it as he gently pulsed the maneuvering pack's thrusters. As the man neared the Inspiration, he gave a click of his tongue. "Skipper," he said, eyeing the damage warily, "Lots of jagged edges, do be careful, it'd be a shame to lose someone from a smashed panel this late in the game." He continued as he bumped softly against the damaged satellite. "What panel was it again?"

[Legatia]

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Orbital Altitude of 17, 746 km
September 16th, 2016

After attaching the same bright red reflective tether to the hook, Caius floated out of the cargo bay- before unhooking his safety restraint. His MMU was designed for manuevering, not for emergencies. Firing the suit's thrusters, Caius went to observe Inspiration. On one side the debris had grazed the radiator on the side-mounted tanks, completely wrecked the solar panel, and torn the dish to bits.

"This one here." The tracking motion was somehow still active. But it'd have to be torn off anyways. "Jeb, try and get those bits of the dish safely off of it. There's a container in the bay, command wants minimal space debris." He nods. "Krejci, try and fold up those solar panels. There should be a lock-release near the base. After that just gently fold 'em in." He nods, before taking a drill and beginning to free the damaged panel.

---

Imperial Spatiae Administrationem
Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center- Mission Control
Ostia, Imperialis Province
Imperial Provinces of Legatia
September 9th, 2016

Lucia was taken a bit off guard by the Shyluzi director's arrival. No doubt he had as much right as she to be here, if not more, but the headquarters complex was 26 miles from the actual Ostia center itself.

"Ah, good morning, Director." The girl greeted. "I pray you had safe travels? Legatian airports are quite the hassle, are they not?"

Legatian airports were usually packed, and the amount of security ever since the Vestium attacks a few years ago didn't help. Security and customs often took a very long time, even more so with the traffic.

[Blorbs]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Jebadiah Kerman, Propulsion and Fuel Systems Mission Specialist
Orbital Altitude of 17, 746 km
September 16th, 2016

Exiting the airlock, Jeb uses his maneuvering pack to send himself away from Venture. As he hears his order, he fumbles for the radio button. Finding it, he replies "Roger that. I'll see what I can do." As he nears the side panel, he grips a piece of handle, obviously damaged from the debris. With force, he attempts to remove any remaining radio dish. It refuses to budge. He begins to pull harder, until a small piece breaks off. Frustrated, he uses the piece to pry the rest off. With what would have been a loud crack if there was any atmosphere at this altitude, the piece rips off, leaving a small cloud of paint fragments. Regaining his grip, Jeb begins to move towards the bay. As he enters, he spies a large white box, already slightly open. He places the debris into the box, and locks it up using a large metal lock. He disembarks, heading back towards the panel. With a crackle, he says into his radio "Alright, that's done. What next?"

[Baldapehlva]

Inside the shuttle Venture
Garret Murfee, Aeronautical Specialist/Expert
Orbital Altitude of 17, 746 km
September 16th, 2016
Garret fiddled with a little model of the Inspiration. Perhaps, he thought, the Inspiration needed astronautical repairing, but needn't the terribly expensive materials. It had been 16 days since his birthday, being called to repair the Inspiration. He was incredibly interested in polyester-rubber synthetic kevlar. He made a small balloon with it, and successfully got up 9 miles.
He didn't talk with the other members, as he wanted to make a difference alone to the Inspiration. . He took a small piece of kevlar, attached it to an aeronautical tiny space rocket 1 inch thick, and tested it inside a chamber. He yelled "Eureka!" down the bridge. "Kkkk....kevlar," he whispered to himself.

[Legatia]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

Cursor quickly got done cutting the panel free with the drill, and sent the piece down into the collection bin.

"Hey, Krejci, how are the solar panels coming?" He asked, removing some flakes of paint surrounding the area where he'd pulled off the panel. "Jeb, can you get the replacement from the box?"

The solar panel freed, the astronauts would now have an opening to install the new one. Another thing needing reinstallation would be the communications dish- essentially the exact same thing that had flown up, but with an adapter plate to get it firmly onto the assembly.

"Hey, Weathers." Caius called through his headset to Inspiration's communications expert. "You have any idea how to install this thing?"

---

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Flight Engineer Lucia Pompeia
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

Lucia had been left with relatively little to do. She'd spun up the tanks, checked reaction control and onboard reaction wheels, but there was little else to do. Floating around aimlessly could only entertain a girl for so long, even if this was but her third flight, and her first with people not from Legatia.

Suddenly, the entire cabin would be alerted to a loud "HISS" coming from the rear, and then a thud. That almost immediately jolted her into action, as she took a rubber-padded handhold and launched herself towards the source, only to find the Baldapehlvian astronaut having tested a model rocket /inside/ the cabin.

That astronaut had been rather quiet the entire mission, which made Lucia wary of him, but she'd never expect any astronaut to bring a real, solid-fueled model of a rocket onboard a shuttle, let alone use it.

"You idiot!" She immediately yelled. "What do you think you're doing? That could have gotten us killed!"

[Shyluz]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

Cursor quickly got done cutting the panel free with the drill, and sent the piece down into the collection bin.

"Hey, Krejci, how are the solar panels coming?" He asked, removing some flakes of paint surrounding the area where he'd pulled off the panel. "Jeb, can you get the replacement from the box?"

The solar panel freed, the astronauts would now have an opening to install the new one. Another thing needing reinstallation would be the communications dish- essentially the exact same thing that had flown up, but with an adapter plate to get it firmly onto the assembly.

"Hey, Weathers." Caius called through his headset to Inspiration's communications expert. "You have any idea how to install this thing?

Outside the shuttle Venture
Ensign Alois E. Krejci, Pilot
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

"Sorry Skipper, took a moment to enjoy the view. This is only my second time up here after all," Alois said, diverting his eyes from the stars and back to the probe, where he quickly found the release latch, and with a grunt of exertion, flipped the switch. "It's much more fun up here then in a KRAKEN with Javelins shooting from everywhere and anywhere." He continued with a chuckle as he pulsed over to the end of the panel. Alois worked quickly folding the panels with carefulness that could only come from expert hands. He sighed as he set the last panel section into position. "So, Skipper, you ever going to come up and visit me at Glazhia?"

[Blorbs]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Specialist Jebadiah Kerman
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

As he floated slowly around in the vacuum of space, he heard his orderes. With an excited jetpack-propelled dash towards the cargo bay, he clicked a few buttons on the panel of the airlock. After three seconds, the door swung open, and Jeb pushed himself inside. The bay held a plethera of boxes, each a solid white with metal rungs to keep sturdy during launch. As he looked through the boxes, he saw one labeled 'Replacement Panels'. Opening it up, there was a single, small panel, obviously smaller than the one originally on the probe. He thought to himself Why didn't they bring a normal sized panel? Maybe a full sized one was too heavy? as he routinely opened the airlock door, swinging back into the cold void. With a satisfying twirl, he floated up towards the probe.

"I got the solar panel from the bay." He said, gripping the side panel. "Anybody else free for a second? I'm going to need a second pair of hands for this lever system to install the panel."

---

Inside the shuttle Venture
Pilot Valentina Kerman
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

As she was jarred awake by the sound of a loud thud, Val instinctively talked into the comms "Umm, I heard a loud thud inside Venture, anybody know anything about that?"

After a few seconds, she got a response "Disregard that - There was an, incident, with the Baldapehlvian crew member."

Confuzed, she got up from her chair, and angrily pushed herself through the ship, yelling "Garret, what the hell did you do?"

[Legatia]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-Earth Orbit regime
September 16th, 2016

"Glazhia?" He asks, retrieving the dish from it's stowed position, spinning up towards Inspiration. "Oh, there. That's an arid wasteland, I hear." He sighs. "The Spatiae Administrationem doesn't ever let me do anything I want. I was scheduled for a honeymoon, leaving this Friday, but it's been years since Imperial administrators gave a shit about what their employees want." He nods.

"As soon as I'm too old to sit in a spacecraft, I'm gonna start doing commercial flights. Perhaps we'll have a layover in Glazhia." He smiled behind his visor. "Perhaps once we land at Peregrina I can show you a nice Coriolanus wine. It tastes like summer and harvest, it's some of the best drink to hit your lips." He smiles. "Damn, I could go for a nice cup of that. The only thing remotely close to that is that orange drink they send up with us.." He sighs, shaking his head. "Remind me when we get back home. It'll be on me."

He gave a sweep of the hand. "Krejci, see if you can help Jeb. I'm still figuring out this dish."

[Congreveopia]

Mission Specialist Lindsay Weathers, Venture, September 9th, 2016, 17,747 kilometers above Earth:

“Okay.” said Lindy to herself as she floated over to her control station. “Inspiration Radio Check, take one.”

She sat down and fastened her seatbelt for convenience more than safety. Otherwise she kept drifting up towards the ceiling when she typed. She grabbed her headset from a clip by the station’s laptop and put it on.

“This is Mission Specialist Weathers to Ostia, you receiving?”

“Ostia hears you, Weathers.”

“Roger that. If Ostia could add CSC to begin testing Inspiration’s comms?”

“Congreveopia Space Command is with you, Weathers. They’re just shy.”

“Congreveopia confirms we are on the call. Go ahead, Weathers.”

“First dish repair EVA is commencing, Congreveopia. I’d like to begin diagnostics on Inspiration’s communications.”

“Congreveopia copies. The mid-Earth network is at your disposal.”

“Okay, let’s get a baseline. Congreveopia, run passive read test on Inspiration’s communications. I’ll watch Inspiration’s data from here.”

“Inspiration fails all tests. Congreveopia sees negative on reflection, carrier wave, and data.”

“And Inspiration didn’t notice your tests. Move to active, Congreveopia.”

“Attempting to connect… all fail.”

“And no change here. Inspiration didn’t even hear you Congreveopia. You need to speak up.”

“Congreveopia believes that we are speaking plenty loud, Weathers. Maybe you should fix Inspiration’s ears.”

“Acknowledged, Congreveopia. You can go ahead and stand down your network for now, I’ll let you know when we’re ready for the next test.”

Lindy double checked the data from Inspiration’s antennas to confirm no data had been received, then sat back in the chair and looked around the flight deck, having nothing much more to do until the EVA team got to replacing the dish. She briefly considered grabbing her tablet and reading a book while she waited, but decided that would be unprofessional. She instead leaned over to her laptop and opened up the live video from one of the astronauts on EVA, Jeb. She winced slightly as she saw him lever what used to be an extremely valuable piece of equipment off Inspiration, and then begin carrying the dish into the cargo bay for storage.

She listened to the chatter for a bit as they carried on the repair work, until Caius called for her help.

“Okay.” she said, switching to viewing his camera. “There should be seventeen copper wires wrapped in white insulation emanating from a small hole where the center of the dish goes. You’re going to need to start by stripping those and attaching a repair cap to each, that way you can easily screw them into the new dish rather than having to splice everything together. Afterwards, take your roll of adhesive insulation tape and do your best to re-wrap the wires so that no metal is exposed, but additionally the wires are no larger than eight millimeters across. Count the wires before you begin that, though. If any of them have drifted back into the hole entirely, you’ll probably need to take the panel off to get at them.”

[Blorbs]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Specialist Jebadiah Kerman
Mid-Earth Orbit Regime
September 16th, 2016

Inspecting the hole where the previous panel was, Jeb noticed a stray wire to the attachment hub. Noting this, he called out to Krejci

"Krejci, come on over. There seems to be a stray wire not attached to the connection hub. I can hold the panel and the hub in place while you fix it, then ill keep holding it while you attach the solar panel. Its essentially like a VGA cable but with latches instead of screws. Okay?"

As Krejci made his way over, Jeb began pulling a lever which revealed the wires below, and then held the stray connection hub in place using the base of the new solar panel. With the level pulled it would not attach, but the cables were visible and Krejci would be able to attach the final one.



OOC: Sorry for the short post, I would make more, but I don't want to metagame (Is that what its called?) Shyluz by saying what their character does, and ive not got much else going on with Val.

[Nation of Lafayette]

Aboard the shuttle Venture
Medical Specialist Markus Hauun
At Orbital Altitude 17746 Km
October 9, 17:00 UTC
Markus was making a call to earth, back to Laffian control. He didn't have family that he wanted to speak of, and he didn't many friends back on earth. Except for Dr. Haili Krain, his cardiology professor. They had become great friends in the zero-g operation simulators, and after training, Markus would go out with all of the Laffian command.
"Laffian Command, this is Dr. Hauun on board the Venture, do you copy?" Markus droned into the headset.
"Dr. Hauun, this is Laffian command; we copy. What's up Mark?" chirped back command.
"Nothing much, it's just I can see Lafayette. A few smudges of green and turquoise in the ocean. I'll take a picture of it. Smile, command."
Mark detached the cheap disposable camera from his tool belt. "Look up." *Click.* Silence followed. "Sorry I can't get it to you immediately, command. Pretty bad cell service at 18,000 km or however high we are."
Command chuckled. "How are things going up there?"
Markus thought for a moment. "Pretty well. Krejci and a few others are doing an EVA to fix the Comms dish and solar panels on the Inspiration. Funny how it's one piece of space debris and then you gotta organize all of this. Nothing for me to do, but I guess that's for the best."
Command was silent for a moment. Mark frowned and looked at the headset. "Am I bothering you, command?" he asked. "We got work down here, Mark. Something big. Tell you when we get back." "Awright command," Markus sighed. "See you on the ground."

[Legatia]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-earth Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

Caius gave a nod, taking the copper wires and following Lindsay's directions, stripping the wires and putting on the repair caps. "All right.." He nodded, hefting the dish up and gently making it stay as still as it could, as he took the insulation tape and wrapped it tight around the wiring. He checked the panel afterwards, and, after finding none had retreated in there. He began to fix the dish, and applying it to mounting points.

"There we go- all good here. Lindsay, you can go ahead and start testing the thing. Lucia, prime the arm."

---

Space is a vast expanse. And even in a vast expanse, when the stars align, things can happen. Stages fail to ignite, heat shields fail, satellites malfunction..

Space debris can range in size from a flake of paint to a spent upper stage. They can be equally dangerous nevertheless.

Especially to manned craft.

In the blink of the eye, a huge chunk of metal tore through the heat-shielded underbelly of Venture, into the right side (and the waste disposal) of Venture's cargo bay, and then out, just as fast, through the left side of the cargo bay. The ship entered a quick spin, and alarms blared in the cockpit of Venture- HYD INO, TUMBLE, MASTER ALARM, TANK W2 PR LO, and a variety of others as the craft entered a counter-clockwise spin.

"Ostia, Ostia, this is Venture!" Caius yelled, blocking the blunt of the wing's momentum with his pack. "We've been struck by an unknown piece of space debris, it has gone through the wing! Repeat, we have been hit by debris!" Caius rattled off. "Valentina, arm the RCS and the gyros now! EVA abort, repeat, abort. Do not ungrapple from the craft!" He said. Chunks of the wing and cargo bay flung around in space, as Inspiration lunged violently on the crane arm, threatening to snap.

The mission had suddenly got much more intense.

[Blorbs]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Pilot Valentina Kerman
Mid-earth Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

Val was sitting in her seat. Thirsty, she began to get up to get a drink. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound was heard, and suddenly the craft began to move around her. Due to the fact she was not touching the walls, the ship moved while val stayed in place. Not yet realizing what had just happened, she got hit square in the head by a rubber handle.

"Ahhh! Holy....Oh god what the hell?" Here yells could be heard throughout the ship

While regaining her grip, she suddenly heard jagged yells from the comms, "Ostia, Ostia, this is Venture! We've been struck by an unknown piece of space debris, it has gone through the wing! Repeat, we have been hit by debris! Valentina, arm the RCS and the gyros now! EVA abort!"

Regaining her grip, Val pulled herself violently to her chair. She jabbed at the R and T keys on her control keyboard, and began pulling sharply on the manual control stick, attempting to counteract the movement. As the craft slows down slower than it should be, she glances at her control panel. A light lit up, 'Warning - RCS tanks low'- Looking at the RCS fuel meter, she sees it going down at an extreme rate - A leak.
Despite this, the ship begins to slow down, however much, much more slowely.
She yells into the comms "Hello? Hello? EVA Team, are you okay?"

Outside the shuttle Venture
Jebadiah Kerman, Missions Specialist
Simoltaniously
September 9th, 2016

Holding onto the lever of the solar panel attachment point, Jeb suddenly feels a strong pulling on his tether to Venture. Unable to do anything, Jeb is tuggeed away from the panel. As he is quickly accelerated backwards, he is no longer able to hold the lever. With a powerful twist, the weak metal breaks off, and sends the metal lever flying towards Jeb. It crashes into his helmet, leaving a dent in the side and a few small cracks in the side of the glass panel. Slowly, the cracks begin to grow

"HELP! Aghhhh! Ive been hit! Something crashed into Venture, and my helmet is damaged! I repeat, Venture has been hit, and my helmet is damaged!"

Looking at the pressure level meter, he sees the green bar slowly decend lower and lower. Enabling his maneuvering pack, Jeb tries to accelerate himself towards Venture. He slamms into the side, and looks for an entrance. Suddenly, his tether snaps, as it was attached inside the cargo bay, the most damaged part of Venture. The airlock there has been compromized. I - Have to find a way- a way in., he thinks.

[Congreveopia]

Lindsay Weathers, Venture, September 9th, 2016:

One moment she was watching Caius screw down the dish, the next she heard what sounded like a gunshot to her left and then the entire shuttle lurched around her and she felt herself tossed against her seatbelt.

“...wn piece of space debris, it has gone through the wing! Repeat, we have been hit by debris!" she heard Caius saying as her hearing returned. He was looking at a trail of shimmering particles sweeping out from a hole in the side of the shuttle, then he glanced to the side in time to see Venture’s wing slam into his back, and the view from his camera went wild. To his credit, though, he continued to rattle off orders unphased.

Lindsay was anything but calm, but she knew better than to panic and distract the people who knew how to solve the situation. She knew the emergency procedures, but this didn’t neatly fit to any of them. It wasn’t like the cabin was on fire, or the air was leaking out. There was just some unspecified quantity of damage somewhere towards the rear of the shuttle and they had to figure out what to do next. In the heat of the moment, she reached out to the agency she was most familiar with for instructions.

“Do not ungrapple from the craft!”

“Congreveopia, this is Weathers, Venture’s been hit, what do I do?”

"Hello? Hello? EVA Team, are you okay?"

"HELP! Aghhhh! I’ve been hit!”

“Congreveopia reads, Weathers. Attend to your security as the first priority.”

“Something crashed into Venture, and my helmet is damaged!”

“Congreveopia advises a total shutdown of Inspiration if possible.”

“Weathers deactivating Inspiration.”

“I repeat, Venture has been hit, and my helmet is damaged!"

Lindsay calmed down as soon as she had orders she could work towards. She grabbed her laptop and held it steady as she typed in the shutdown command for Inspiration’s computers. She watched as the signal from it ended, then looked around the flight deck. Everyone appeared to be working hard but in control of the situation to some extent. The spinning appeared to be stopping.

“Weathers here.” she said “I’m ready and available for orders. I can stand by at the airlock to receive astronauts on EVA.”

[Nation of Lafayette]

Inside the Venture
Medical Specialist Markus Hauun
September 9th, 2016
Mid-earth Orbit Regime

As the debris struck, Markus was just putting the earth to Venture comms headset. His person-to-person comms went berserk as everyone began to shout.
"...I repeat, Venture has been hit, and my helmet is damaged!" Jebadiah's panicked voice rang in his ears.
"Jebadiah, this is Dr. Hauun. What are your vitals? Is anyone else injured or in imminent danger? Jeb, try to find something to seal the cracks if you can, like... I don't know, a plastic sheet to cover your visor! Use your hands when you can, do not obstruct your vision when you need it, I repeat do not obstruct your vision! How fast is your O₂ depleting? Give an estimate! I can't access your vitals."
Markus took a breath after he finished his shouting. "I repeat, are there any more injuries or vital damages?"
Mark picked up the Venture to earth comms and jammed them back on his head. "Venture to Laffian control, Venture to Laffian control, do you copy? Venture has been hit and there is a debris cloud around the craft! Request for diagram of debris field around the area!"
"Dr. Hauun, this is Laffian control. Unable to calculate debris trajectories and cloud. Our equipment is incapable of predicting things it cannot see."
Markus smacked his forehead. "Aargh! I copy." Terminating the transmission, he switched his mission microphone back on. "EVA team, are you in immediate danger of more debris? Krejci, Cursor, Weathers, anyone, can your ground controls find a way to predict the debris field and debris trajectory? If they can, have them do so please!"

[Blorbs]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Jebadiah Kerman, Missions Specialist
Mid-Eath Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

Gripping the side handles, Jeb began to make his way towards the nearest airlock. He began to feel lightheaded and dizzy, with the pressure levels at 50%, going down at a constant rate of about 1% every 2 seconds. Finally arriving at the airlock door, vision blurry, ears ringing, 30% oxygen and little to no strength, he talked into the comms "I'm - at the airlock. My helmet leakage, 30% now, 1% every couple seconds, ive not got enough air. I think im going to pass out. Someone, come to the airlo-o-"
While he could still see a blur and hold on to the bars, Jeb got so light headed he could no longer speak. Jamming his arm under the ladder to keep himself from floating away, he began to black out. Part of his training was sustaining low oxygen enviroments, so he had another 2 miniutes with no brain damage, three for minor, and any more than that would cause major brain damage and death. Of course, this was with no oxygen. For about 30 seconds, he would have ~7% oxygen, further increasing the amount of time he could survive, but not by much.

[Legatia]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-Eath Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

The MMU of Caius' suit had taken the brunt of the hit from the shredded wing, whose RCS thruster was not firing.The left wing's was, but one RCS thruster was barely powerful enough to counter Venture's roll..

"All hands, mission abort, mission abort-" He quickly mouthed, thrusting out of the way of the wing's spin. Jebediah was warning of his air loss- which was extremely dangerous. If his suit had been penetrated, his life was in immediate danger.

"Lucia, the RCS thrusters are not working! Pivot that arm and see if you can counteract the spin any bit with Inspiration's weight!"

"Understood!" The robotic arm began to pitch Inspiration to the right, which would hopefully assist with killing any rotation on that side.

"Weathers, get to the starboard airlock now. Get everyone inside. Everyone except for Valentina and Lucia, get ready to receive the EVA crew."

Caius quickly got a foothold on the ship, and took Jeb's snapped tether, taking the end and tying it to his suit, giving him proper anchoring. Jeb was not going anywhere soon.

"Jeb's suit is compromised. Prioritizing him!"

---

Imperial Spatiae Administrationem
Ostia Manned Spaceflight Center- Mission Control
Ostia, Imperialis Province
Imperial Provinces of Legatia
September 9th, 2016

"Woah, woah woah!" One man exclaimed, a red light starting to strobe in the room's command center. FLIGHT rushed over to his desk. "What am I looking at, Vernius?!"

"Sir, something just set the craft in a tumble. It's reading starboard RCS is zip, they've got low fuel pressure on that tank."

Suddenly, Caius' calls came in. The Congreveopian staff looked distressed, as they appeared to be getting the same thing.

"Venture, this is Ostia. We read. Mission abort, repeat, mission abort. Get everyone inside." The red square in the lower right corner of the main control screen lit up, which glowed "ABORT".

"FLIGHT, what the hell is going on?" The Secretary General asked, quite worried.

"Ma'am, we've got a situation here. A ton of alarms are going off on Venture. They're saying they got struck by debris."

"Can you confirm this?"

"Multiple visuals confirm a large hole in the wing. They're loosing primary fuel pressure. And.. that also means.."

"That also means they'll be unable to re-enter."

Titania gasped, looking over to the FLIGHT officer. "This true?"

He gravely nodded, to which the girl sighed, steeling herself.

"Get me New Rome."

[Blorbs]

Inside the shuttle Venture
Jebadiah Kerman, Missions Specialist
Mid-Eath Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

Val kept holding onto the manual control stick. Slowly but surely, the spin of the craft slowed down to a crawl, until being fully stopped. This would ease the mission, and decrease the amount of debris coming off of venture. Looking at the pressure gages, fuel and oxidizer levers were stable, helping prevent an explosion.

She talked into the comms section for all personell, mission control or otherwise.

"Confirmed stop on Venture's rotation. Speed minimal."

"Ciaus, this is Val. Is everyone attached to Venture? I'm asking for permission to move Venture outside of the debris feild, and if they weren't all attached, that would not be good. Do you copy?"

[Congreveopia]

Lesterville International Airport, Air Alliance Lounge, September 9th 2016:

Glennard Crossfield returned to his seat after grabbing a cup of coffee, and looked through his email again. He saw that Mortimer Kerman had managed to agree to a fixed price for the use of Congreveopia’s communications satellites for testing during the Inspiration mission. That was good, it gave the astronauts the freedom to test the comms as much as they wanted without worrying about a budget. He decided to get back to reviewing the approved projects for fiscal year 2017, and tabbed back over to the PDF with their summaries when his phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hi. Did I catch you before your flight?”

“Yes, we board in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay, good. Are you somewhere private?”

“Relatively so.”

“Okay. Venture was hit by something. We don’t have many details right now, but it looks like the EVA team is in trouble, and the shuttle might not be able to make a safe reentry.”

“Is everyone still alive?”

“As far as I know.”

“Thank goodness. Mission control is in Ostia, right?”

“Yes.”

“I need a flight there. Can you find one?”

“Yes. What am I prioritising?”

“Speed, but make sure I have satellite internet when I’m over the ocean.”

“Okay. I can get you thirteen hours forty minutes if you don’t mind running to make a connection.”

“That’s fine. Book it.”

“The check-in window for your first flight closes in half an hour. I’m emailing you the details.”

“Good. I’m going to call you back in about twenty minutes. When I do, I want to know everything about what’s going on with Venture.”

“Understood. Have a nice flight.”

“Thanks.”

Glennard packed up his laptop and walked out of the lounge. It was unfortunate timing that he’d had a meeting overseas.

[United States of Conner]

Tagging for a post.

[Legatia]

Outside the shuttle Venture
Mission Commander Caius Cursor
Mid-Eath Orbit Regime
September 9th, 2016

"Negative, Val. I don't trust the thrusters enough to do that. Hang tight."

Assuming the airlock had been prepared for their arrival, Caius opened the door and quickly got Jebediah in, before getting in and closing the lock behind him.

"Krejci, get in here now!" Caius called. "You need to get in here quickly!"

---

Imperial Government
Imperita Palatia
New Rome, Imperialis Province
Imperial Provinces of Legatia
September 9th, 2016


The city of New Rome was one of the largest in the world.

Situated on the Illlanium River which ran through a large mountain valley over 30 kilometers wide, the city was hundreds of years old. Some sections of the city even had the best-preserved examples of Roman architecture in the world, Roman houses and temples and apartment blocks from the time.

On top of a hill in the northwest of New Rome, in front of the Forum Novanum, sat the Imperita Palatia. Within it's complex was the palace itself, two Praetorian barracks which housed the Praetorian Cohors I and one (usually rotating) cohort, as well as other amenities and buildings. The purple/blue cloaked Praetorian guardsmen of the First Cohort were permanently on vigil for the areas around and within the Palatia, the other (this time the green-cloaks, the Third) patrolling in limited numbers other government facilities within New Rome.

Sat within his office at this midday hour in western Legatia was the ever-aging sovereign of the Imperial Provinces, tapping away at his computer. Many people often saluted him when he walked the streets, the man was aging well considering the constant day-to-day stress put upon him.

Such stress could come forseen, and other stress could come unseen. Such as the stress that would come to him now.

The heavy oaken doors in front of the office creaked open, Praetorian guards stepping to, as a scribe entered the room. "Imperator." He gave a stiff salute.

"What is it?" The Imperator said, simply, waving a hand.

"There's news from Ostia."

"The Praetorians?"

"No, the space center, sir. They say there's been an incident with the Venture crew."

He blinks. "What's the matter with it?"

"They say that it's been hit by debris. The crew's lives are in danger. They're calling off the mission."

The Imperator stood up out of his seat. "Titus."

A Praetorian at the door nodded. "Aye?"

"Call Aquila, we're leaving in thirty minutes."