Midshipman's Hope

Midshipman's Hope is a 1994 science fiction novel by David Feintuch, and the first book in the Seafort Saga. It depicts the first voyage of UNNS officer Nicholas Seafort to the colony of Hope Nation, and is followed by Challenger's Hope.

Tagline

Being the first voyage of Nicholas Seafort, U.N.N.S., in the year of our lord 2194.

Publisher's Synopsis

Template:Spoiler When a hideous accident kills the senior officers of UNS Hibernia it leaves a terrified young officer to save three hundred colonists and crew aboard a damaged ship on a seventeen-month gauntlet to reach the colony of Hope Nation. With no chance of rescue or reinforcement, Nicholas Seafort must overcome despair, exhaustion and guilt; he must conquer malfunctions, mutiny, and an alien horror beyond human understanding. And he must save lives, and take them, in the name of duty.

Plot

Start of the Voyage

Nicholas Seafort is the seventeen year old first midshipman of the UNS Hibernia, on a three-year interstellar voyage to the colonies of Hope Nation and Detour. He quickly finds himself at odds with the ship's First Lieutenant, Lt Cousins and the second senior midshipman, Vax Holser, whom he fights (and barely defeats to defend his position in the midshipman's wardroom. Seafort hopes to gain enough ship's time on the voyage to be able to take his lieutenant's exam when Hibernia returns to Home System, but his skill at navigating the ship is extremely lacking, and his first simulated docking exercise ends with the ship destroyed in a collision. Increasingly disillusioned with his abilities as an officer, he has more success in his personal life as he begins a relationship with one of Hibernia's passengers, Amanda Frowel.

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