A Voyage of Discovery to the Stars

By Philip R Benge

A voyage of discovery set in the 24th century. A freighter, the Bright Star is destroyed when a drone seemingly loses control and crashes in to the freighter while it is parked at a space port. The starship was their home and also their only means of livelihood, Captain Alun Reece and his crew are offered a job out of the blue. He is to take command of a research vessel, his crew will accompany him as his officers. The vessel is due to leave in a months time on an extended journey of at least six months duration. But not all is what it seems and danger dog’s their steps thoughout the voyage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip R Benge
• Release date: Aug 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005182939

Philip R Benge

Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, which meant that I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. Since retiring, I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full length Science Fiction stories.

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A Voyage of Discovery to the Stars

A Story

By

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

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Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

A Voyage of Discovery to the Stars

Copyright Philip R Benge 2022

Cover Art courtesy of NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

A Voyage of Discovery to the Stars

Contents

Chapter One: Alun Reece

Chapter Two: The Planet Midgard

Chapter Three: Fólkvangr

Chapter Four: The Planet of the Golden Spire

Chapter Five: The World of the Terrible Animals

Chapter Six: The Hot World

Chapter Seven: The Planet Hi’vac

Chapter Eight: Return to Hi’vac

Other Books by the Author

Chapter One

Alun Reece

It was approaching the middle of the 24th century, a voyage of discovery had been planned to the stars in the constellations of Hydra the water snake and Sextans the Sextant. The mission was to visit a number of mainstream stars which were known to have planets in orbit around them. They were looking for future worlds to colonise, as the number of worlds currently under colonisation was considered too few for the present needs of Earth. A specially converted ore freighter would make the trip, it had been converted in to an armed research vessel, and renamed the Discovery. Its vast holds would contain the provisions for the long voyage and they also carried an assortment of gifts for any inhabitants, should there be any, on the planets that they visited. The gifts comprised of two types, modern ones for an advanced race, and basic one for any races that they encountered that had still not undergone an industrial revolution.

Although the mission was not a military one, the Science Council of Earth had asked Space Command to oversee it, after the original captain and officers for the Discovery had changed their minds and backed out. Admiral Michaelson was the officer asked to organise it by Space Command, however, everything was not what it appeared to be. The voyage had been first suggested to the Science Council by Space Command, for Space Command wanted a covert mission sent to that area of space for reasons of their own, ones that they would not divulge to anyone.

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The small freighter Bright Star was parked, unusually, by a fence in an area normally reserved for Space Command, although the vessel was not connected with the military in any way. It was noon, and the crew of the Bright Star were walking across the space port to celebrate another profitable trip. This time, they had been carrying high-grade minerals mined from an asteroid, one whose orbit lay between those of Jupiter and Mars, taking their cargo to the space port of Washington DC. As they reached the exit gates to this part of the space port, they heard a loud sound coming from above and behind them. Turning, they saw a large drone, obviously in trouble, approaching the space port, its course would take it over them. Suddenly, the drone’s engine cut out, the nose of the drone dipped down and seconds later, it crashed, causing a massive explosion. Unfortunately, for the crew of the Bright Star, it had crashed in to the rear section of the freighter Bright Star, destroying its Stardrive and anything else within the engineering department of the freighter. The destruction of the Stardrive had sent flames rushing through the rest of the space vessel. Seconds later, the entire vessel was in flames, as anyone could see, as the said flames were leaping skywards out of what was left of the vessel’s outer hull.

The force of the explosion had thrown Alun Reece and his crew to the ground, still lying on the ground, they watched as their space vessel burnt. Hardly believing what they saw, they slowly stood up and watched as the Bright Star continued to burn until practically nothing remained of it, except for the remnants of its outer hull. Each of them knew that their lives were about to change, big time.

Alun, John Trance said unbelievingly, John was the chief engineer of the freighter. The bows of that drone must have been packed with a powerful explosive, nothing else could have caused such an explosion, as for the fire that followed it, there must also have been something else that was super inflammable.

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The explosion was heard by everyone in the space port, and the citizens of Washington DC. Admiral Michaelson looked through the windows of his office and saw the burning freighter, fear for Captain Alun Reece, who he liked, had made his heart beat faster, until he saw Alun and his crew getting to their feet just beneath his window and he breathed out in relief. His expression on his face was one of satisfaction, not sorrow because he knew that Alun would be distraught at the loss of his space vessel. No, it was of satisfaction because the plans of Space Command were moving ahead exactly as had been planned, for he now had a captain, and part of a crew, for the starship Discovery. Of course, he had known that the officer in charge of the drone would have waited until Alun and his crew were well clear of the starship before allowing the drone to take centre stage.

Luckily, the windows at the space port were resistant to explosions, and he opened one of the windows in his office and called down to Alun.

For a second I thought we had lost you and your crew Captain, thank god that you were not aboard her.

Alun looked at the admiral and gave him a faint smile.

Aye, Admiral, it seems that fate has something else in mind for us.

Michaelson suddenly felt cold, even though it was the hottest day yet of the year’s summer, he hoped that it was guilt that he felt and that it was not an omen for the future.

Captain, it may not be the best moment to speak about this, but your loss could well be my gain, call me when you can, I have something that you and your crew just might find interesting.

Alun nodded and then he and his crew walked back towards the burning space vessel. The emergency services were already there fighting the fire, but there would be nothing left for them to salvage. Over the next few days, Alun was busy with the fire department, the FBI, Space Command and finally, his insurance firm. The report from the authorities stated that the drone had probably been sabotaged by a group of extremists, however, they put the destruction of the Bright Star down to bad luck.

Alun and his crew finally found the time to call Michaelson and two hours later they were in his office. After the usual greetings and asking about their health, Michaelson told them why he had asked them to call.

Captain, the Science Council has decided to send a research vessel to the constellations of Hydra and Sextans. It will be a long voyage of over six months, but hopefully, you should all be able to enjoy some shore leave during your travels. The scientists aboard the vessel are going there to look for suitable planets for colonisation, and should any of the planets be inhabited, to see if they are suitable to begin trade negotiations. Although it will be a civilian mission, they have asked Space Command to run it for them, finding it beyond their own capabilities. Michaelson stopped here to allow Alun a chance to speak, but as he did not, he continued.

The mission will be ready to go in four weeks, would you agree to command the research vessel for its long voyage of discovery?

I am interested Admiral; I imagine that we all are.

His crew all added their agreement, sure they wanted some R&R now, but following that they would all be in need of the necessary credits that everyone needed to pay for the necessities of life. This would be a long voyage, but when they returned to Earth, they would each a good sum waiting for them in their bank accounts. Alun had agreed as the voyage did appeal to him, with new planetary systems to discover, maybe even new civilisations to meet.

Michaelson smiled at Alun, although the smile did not reach his eyes, even though his main problem of the moment seemed to have been solved.

It is a good thing that you are now a civilian Captain, it has meant that I have been able to call on you whenever I have been in need of an experienced starship captain, one who is free to take on a task that requires skills that few civilian captains possess.

Alun smiled at the admiral’s words, he reckoned that he knew the reason as to why the Science Council had suddenly found themselves without a crew for their research vessel. It was due to the length of the voyage and the possible dangers associated with such voyages of discovery. He had no such fears, life was too short to refuse this chance of a little excitement. He could also take the time to think about his life when they finally returned to Earth.

Admiral, you have yourself the beginning of a crew and I reckon that I can find you one other bridge officer, Thelma Nolan is free at the moment and most of us know and trust her to keep her cool, should things go wrong.

Fine, Captain, call her and offer her a job. Michaelson said handing over a folder and then saying. In here, you will find the details of the planned voyage, the vessel that you will command, the food and other supplies that will be needed on the voyage, all paid for and provided by the council. Go over it Captain, and let me know if there are any points within the folder that you want amending. You will find the Discovery docked at our space dock, Captain, it is impossible to miss her as she used to be an Ore carrier, you can go aboard her whenever you like, I will send a message up to the guard now, it will notify them that you are the new captain. I will also give them you and your crews’ details and that you will be going aboard her later today. That will save you some credits on a hotel room.

By the way, what are the council paying the captain of their research vessel? Alun asked belatedly.

Captain, you will be temporarily reinstated as an active captain of Space Command and will receive the commensurate salary plus 100 %. Michaelson replied and then added. Your crew will also be paid, according to their rank, the corresponding wage of a Space Command officer, plus of course 100 %. You will find the exact amounts in the folder that I just gave you.

Alun and his crew were happy with that and all agreed to join this voyage of discovery. Alun returned to his hotel room and packed his few items that he had purchased followed the destruction of his freighter. Before he left, he sent an email to Thelma Nolan, it offered her a long-term position as a bridge officer, one working under him. Thelma would ensure that they had enough experienced people available on the bridge of the Discovery, should the need for action arrive. Thelma was now available following an injury that had forced her to leave her previous post.

Thelma Nolan had been the 2nd officer on The Church of the Universe starship, working with Alun, 1st mate Jonah Smart, Chief Engineer John Trance and engineer Michael Patel. During the voyage, the starship had been hijacked, they had battled space pirates and worse at the planet Pen Draig, that had been some years before.

The danger money that Michaelson had offered them, and the excitement of the planned voyage, had been the reason why the crew had accepted the offer. John Trance, although he had been talking about retirement for some years now, without ever actually retiring, found that he liked the life and the crew too much to ever actually consider retiring. The other engineering crew member, Michael Patel, had also agreed because he too loved a little excitement in his life, which was why he had joined Alun’s crew and why Alun had employed him. There was also Soichi Hoshide, 2nd mate and weapons’ officer on this voyage, who had worked under Alun, it had been when they had been part of Space Command aboard