Space… The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.

It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.

Chapter One

Introduction

A light brown haired man with glasses sat in a large seat in the middle of the bridge, his bright blue eyes livid with excitement. His fingers twitched in anticipation as the huge starship they resided in, the U.S.S Ebullient, slowly pulled out of space dock.

"Stop twitching, you git." The sandy haired man standing near the chair seethed, his British accent evident. The obvious annoyance in his green eyes was shadowed slightly by his bushy eyebrows. "It's bloody irritating."

The other man grinned and laughed out loud. "I can't help it Arthur! I'm so excited! Can you believe it? Can you believe we're really doing this?"

The bushy browed man, Arthur, scowled. "No."

Another man, tall with pretty violet eyes and a pleased smile, walked forward and stood at the other side of the chair. "Why wouldn't you be excited? This is something most people only dream about." A thick Russian accent accompanied his words.

"I doubt most people would dream about having Alfred as their captain." Arthur pointed out, wagging a finger at the man seated in the chair.

"How come, dude? I am the hero, after all!" The glassed man, Alfred, exclaimed.

The green eyed man just turned away muttering something about "getting them all killed".

"All systems go!" An glowering Italian man announced from his position at the helm.

Alfred's ever present grin widened a little more, if that was even possible. "Are you ready, Mr. Ivan?"

Something flashed behind the Russians eyes. "Da, Captain."

The seated man shot out an arm, pointing directly ahead at the black screen dotted with sparkling white stars at the front of the bridge. "Warp drive, Mr. Antonio!"

"Aye aye, Sir!" The Spanish navigator cheered happily as he adjusted a lever on the helm in front of him. The stars on the screen began to stretch, then streak by as they entered warp speed. The ship went along smoothly, no different form their departure from space dock. The only variation being that every man and woman aboard the U.S.S Ebullient knew that they had a long, difficult, and thrilling journey ahead of them that would take them to dangerous far off places where they would constantly be put in the face of peril for the sake of discovery and exploration.

Alfred slouched back in his chair, grinning up at the British man next to him. "There now, that wasn't to hard, was it, Dr. Arthur?"

"If you need me, I'll be in sickbay." He replied sourly, turning his back to the bridge and walking up to the elevator in the back. The metallic doors opened automatically as he drew close and he stepped inside. "Sickbay." He instructed as the doors closed again and he disappeared from sight.

"He's so lame!" The captain whined to the other man left standing next to him.

The Russian man smiled softly. "The Doctor doesn't like space travel."

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Then what is he doing aboard the Ebullient?"

"Who knows, Sir? Maybe you should ask him." He answered, walking away and taking a seat at his post in front of one of the many computers that lined the walls of the bridge.

The glassed man smiled at the thought of heckling the obviously easily annoyed doctor. "I think I will, Mr. Ivan."

"Do we have a course, Captain?" Antonio asked from the helm.

"Yes, of course. Lay in a course to Jalua!" Alfred ordered, his attention once again back to captaining his ship. The Spaniard quickly went about punching coordinates on the computer screen in front of him.

"We should arrive in approximately 26 earth hours." The navigator informed as he finished laying out their course.

"Good!" The captain stated, then turned to address a longhaired blond man with a slight beard who was seated at communications. "Mr. Francis please address the entire ship and let them know of our arrival time."

"Oui, Captain!" The Frenchman complied, adorning a small earpiece with a headphone and microphone attached. He pressed a couple of buttons on the screen in front of him before putting a hand to the microphone and speaking into it. "A course has been laid in to Jalua and the Ebullient should arrive in about 26 earth hours."

"Thank you. Mr. Kiku, what is the current condition of Jalua?"

The small Japanese science officer spun around in his chair. "The planet Jalua is nearly half the size of earth and has a temperate climate. Most of forests are jungle and the people there are primitive and they lack significant technology such as gunpowder and effective medicine. They do, however, have large mineral deposits."

"And that's where we come in." Alfred pointed out. "The reason we are going to Jalua is to inspect their rocks and see if they are worthy of mining."

"Yes, Sir." Kiku confirmed, turning back to his post.

"And make friends, da?" Ivan pointed out, his lips curling up slightly in a smile.

"Yes. We must establish beneficial relations with the inhabitants of Jalua and, as always, avoid impacting their culture or civilization in any way." The Japanese man nodded in agreement.

"These dudes are humanoid, right?" "Hai." Stated the Japanese man. "And they are reportedly peaceful in nature."

"Right! In 26 earth hours our mission will truly began, as we beam down to the planet of Jalua!"

TO BE CONTINUED...