Seafort Saga


The Seafort Saga is a series of science fiction novels written by American author David Feintuch. The novels are set from the late 22nd century to the mid-23rd century and relate the adventures of Nicholas Seafort, an officer in the UNNS| United Nations Naval Service. The series is a collection of personal accounts, usually from the perspective of Nicholas Seafort, describing Seafort's adventures, beginning as a lowly midshipman, to the elected leader of earth, and finally to the captain of the UNNS flagship Olympiad. Although most books in the series are told from a single perspective, usually Seafort's, Voices of Hope is a collection of accounts from several sources: Seafort's son, PT, the son of a friend of Seafort's, and a transient boy named Pook. Additionally, Children of Hope is narrated by Randy Carr, the son of a close friend of Seafort.

Reception

The main character has been described as an anti-hero.
Gwyneth Jones criticized the series as "repetitive and formulaic", with "some of the least scientific science fiction, and the least convincing alien monsters, of modern times", noting that nonetheless the series "rolls on, from one dreadful humiliation to the next, with occasional bursts of brilliant action, to the guilty satisfaction of many readers".

Characters

  • Vax Holser
  • Alexi Tamarov
  • Derek Anthony Carr
  • Edgar Tolliver
  • Philip Tyre "PT" Seafort
  • Robert Boland
  • Randolph "Randy" Carr

    Books

''Midshipman's Hope''

Midshipman's Hope was published in 1994 as the first book in the saga; it depicts the first voyage of UNNS officer Nicholas Seafort.

Plot

Nicholas Seafort is a seventeen-year-old midshipman who boards the UNS Hibernia on his first space assignment, a three-year interstellar voyage to the colonies of Hope Nation and Detour. He beats back a challenge to his authority as senior midshipman by Vax Holser, the next most senior. During the trip, he strikes up friendships with Third Lieutenant Harv Malstrom and an attractive passenger, Amanda Frowel.
A disastrous rescue of a passenger injured while sightseeing on the wreck of another ship results in the deaths of Captain Haag and his two senior lieutenants, elevating Malstrom to the captaincy and Seafort to second-in-command of Hibernia. When Maelstrom falls ill with a quick-acting cancer, Seafort, believing himself to be unqualified to command, begs him to promote Holser to lieutenant, but Maelstrom dies without doing so.
The other surviving officers share Seafort's opinion of his leadership abilities and try to get him to relieve himself, but he cannot find any regulations that permit it. They back down when Seafort points out the penalty for mutiny.
Seafort is immediately faced with a difficult decision. Malstrom had condemned three crewmen to death for assaulting the sergeant-at-arms in an attempt to conceal their drug-making operation. Their punishment was extremely unpopular with the rest of the crew. However, despite the danger of a revolt, Seafort has two of the men hanged; the third's sentence is commuted to several months' confinement. His resolute handling of the situation quells the unruly crewmen. This action estranges him from Amanda, who feels the executions to be barbaric.
Other dangers follow. By thoroughness and sheer stubbornness, Seafort discovers that the ship's sentient computer, Darla, has been corrupted by careless naval programmers and would have sent the ship hopelessly off-course on the next leg of their journey. Darla was also responsible for the explosion that killed Captain Haag. To fix the problem, Seafort has a backup restored.
When the ship arrives at its next stop, Miningcamp, a small mining colony in an otherwise uninhabitable system, mutineers from the space station try to take over the ship. Seafort single-handedly holds them off until the crew can regroup and deal with the intruders. Eventually, Seafort ends the rebellion and finds out the cause. An ore barge and the starship Telstar are long overdue, which resulted in the panic that led to the trouble.
When the Hibernia reaches Hope Nation, Seafort expects to be relieved, but discovers that not only has the admiral in command of the naval garrison died in a strange viral epidemic, but a captain has deserted, leaving a Hope Nation commanding officer who is junior to Seafort. Seafort finds himself in charge of all naval forces in the system. During a tour of the planet, Seafort, Amanda and one of his officers run into the captain who had deserted. He is hiding in the mountains with his wife because he believes he saw meteors spraying something in the sky shortly before the epidemic broke out. Believing the man to be mad, Seafort dismisses his story as fantasy, but does not force the couple to return to civilization.
Seafort recruits several officers from the local personnel, then continues on to the next stop, Detour. He finds that two of the new men are poor officers, dumped on him by their former commanders. However, he manages to deal with the situation.
Then Hibernias sensors detect Telstar, adrift in space with massive rents in her hull. Seafort leads a boarding party to investigate and, to his horror, encounters a strange alien life form resembling an amoeba in the ship's corridor. When it attacks, it becomes clear that it was responsible for the disabling of Telstar and the death of its crew. Fortunately, Seafort is able to escape unharmed. After a stop at Hope Nation to warn the residents, Seafort takes Hibernia back to Earth to report the news.

Feature film

In 2015, Clover Red LLC obtained the rights for the film adaptation of Midshipman's Hope. In May 2015 Clover Red LLC started a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter platform to fund development of the screenplay; the crowdfund fell short of the funding goal on June 12, 2015.

''Challenger's Hope''

Published in 1995.

Plot

Nicholas Seafort, newly assigned commander of UNS Challenger and part of Admiral Geoffrey Tremaine's task force, has his ship taken from him when Tremaine decides to make Challenger his flagship, under the command of Captain Hasselbrad. Seafort is given command of the admiral's far smaller original flagship, UNS Portia. Tremaine's task force has the task of reaching Hope Nation and eliminating any of the hostile aliens if found on the way.
Portia is given the task of transporting a group of Lower New York 'transpops'—uneducated and often violent street children—to the colony of Detour beyond Hope Nation. Seafort initially sees the transpops as simply a danger to his ship. The squadron is attacked by Fish that board Portia, releasing their lethal virus into the ship and killing dozens of her crew and passengers, including Seafort's baby son. Amanda Seafort, driven insane by grief, commits suicide, and Nicholas suffers a temporary breakdown as a result.
After his recovery, Portia encounters Challenger, crippled by a Fish attack. Seafort is transferred to the ship and is left alone, save for passengers and crew that Tremaine hates, including the transpops, and abandoned in space. After overcoming a mutiny, Seafort sets about preparing Challenger for an eighty-year voyage back to Earth, conscripting passengers into the Naval Service and scavenging from the wrecked sections of the ship. Barely weeks into the trip, radiation from the ship's damaged propulsion systems attracts the aliens, leading to a series of desperate battles in which Challenger is further damaged, and more of her already tiny crew killed. Ultimately, Seafort uses his dying ship to ram an alien, only for it to Fuse, taking Challenger with it. For sixty days, Challenger remains lodged in the alien, her crew dying of malnutrition until, almost miraculously, the dying Fish Defuses in Earth's solar system.
In the aftermath of the voyage, Seafort meets his father at a naval base on the moon, and is given command of his old ship, Hibernia, to return to Hope Nation.

''Prisoner's Hope''

Published in 1995.

Plot

Captain Nicholas Seafort is planetside on Hope Nation while recuperating from injuries, some of which were sustained from a duel with Admiral Tremaine. The injuries include a lung which must be replaced, as well as psychological trauma accumulated due to the many traumatic experiences he has been through. Among the injuries Seafort has sustained is the ruined friendship with his former shipmate, Vax Holser. Vax resents Seafort sending him away from Challenger, wanting to remain with his captain no matter what.
The admiral in charge of the United Nations fleet in the sector makes a bargain with Seafort: due to his supposed good relations with some of the planters, he can meet with and report on what their grievances are and attempt to allay them. This appointment does not sit well with him, as he would much prefer to be assigned a captaincy. However, the UN space fleet retreats Earthward after tangling with the space threat discovered by Seafort in his first voyage on Hibernia. This leaves Seafort the sole United Nations authority on the planet, which makes him a target.
Some of the planters, disaffected by the long history of unfulfilled promises and seeking greater autonomy in their future, mount a rebellion. The initial casualties include Alexi Tamarov, who is injured in an explosion meant to kill Seafort, but which instead leaves him in a coma. Coming out of the coma, Alexi has suffered amnesia, not knowing his old friend or anything about his naval responsibilities. Additionally, Seafort marries the former transient Annie Wells, but is left feeling betrayed when she has what she considers a meaningless sexual encounter with an old friend.
Seafort must avert the rebellion while dealing with his wounds, both mental and physical, and lead the colonists against the space invaders, who have begun to attack not just the fleets in orbit but also the planet. To do so, he must turn his back on his oath to the UN Navy and commit high treason.
Reaching the station in orbit above Hope Nation, Seafort manages to transmit skewed N-Waves which attract the "fish", and uses the automated weapons on board the station to kill thousands of them. He also arranges for the stations fusion reactor to detonate, which is tantamount to a nuclear explosion. Such an act is punishable by death, but Seafort no longer cares about his life. In the process of conducting this exercise, Vax Holser arrives at the last minute with a ship and arranges to come aboard the station. While there, he incapacitates Seafort, and sends him back on his launch, remaining in his place. This results in Vax's death.
Seafort must assume command of Vax's old ship, with a crew who do not trust him, passengers who do not like him as well as wrestling with his own sense of justice, which he feels demands his death for his failures.
Reaching Earth, Seafort finds that the ban on nuclear weapons has been lifted due to repeated attacks by the Fish, and his actions are deemed laudable by the navy. Feeling unworthy, Seafort seeks to resign. Instead, he is persuaded to take over the command of the naval academy, training the next generation of cadets.