Ad Astra 1: Encounter at Alpha Centauri

This is the 8th story in Tiberius64's story series, which also begins a fanfiction spinoff series called Ad Astra ("to the stars" in Latin). This story takes place 5 years after Love's Full Blossom (a skip from 2025 to 2030), when humanity is just about to enter its deeper space exploration era. By this time, Phineas and Isabella Flynn have a son named Christopher Flynn (Chris for short). Below is the link to the FanFiction.net version.

Ad Astra 1: Encounter at Alpha Centauri

Chapter 1: The Proposition
By this time (2030), the USS Phineas-A has been so far doomed to the same fate as all other starships of TerraFleet (earth's starship fleet)--being reduced for the time being to a training vessel for officers and enlisted men. The fleet has a complement of 300 ships, but only 112 are operational and fully-loaded with full crews, weapons, scanning equipment, etc. Even then, the largest class of ship (Independence Class) can only hold a full complement of 80, despite the ability to go at Warp 9.9. Phineas is quite disappointed at such slow progress--and the fact that humans have not even left the solar system in a long time, and even less, they don't even really know any other species besides the Martians and Meap's kind ("Species 1"). At an afternoon meeting before the Flynn-Fletcher Academy, Phineas addresses cadets and officers alike in that he longs to travel outside the Terran solar system again; he proposes that for his wedding anniversary, he will take the Phineas out to the Alpha Centauri binary star system (the closest to the Terran solar with his crew. He announces that he will take the full complement of 80 crew members, so he has his brother, Commander Ferb Fletcher, take a sign-up list of engineers, security guards, and nurses for others to sign onto in interest. He has any who are interested in coming reserved places at the Chez Platypus that evening at 7:00.

Chapter 2: The Dive
It is June 14, 2030. the day of the planned exploration mission to Alpha Centauri. Phineas and his crew (and the bridge crew's children) are aboard and ready for the mission. The given crew complement is as follows:


 *  Bridge 


 * Captain Phineas Flynn
 * Commander Ferb Fletcher (First Officer/Science)
 * Lieutenant Commander Isabella Flynn (Communications)
 * Lieutenant Commander Irving [last name unknown…] (Secondary Science)
 * Lieutenant Katie [same last name as Irving…] (Tactical/Weapons Console)
 * Lieutenant Commander Buford Van Stomm (Security)
 *  Engineering/Security 


 * Lieutenant Commander Baljeet Rai (Chief Engineer)
 * Lieutenant Commander Ginger Rai (Secondary Engineer/Transporter Operator)
 * Lieutenant Commander Adyson Van Stomm (Security)
 * Yeoman Geon Im (Chief Petty Officer—Engineering)
 * Yeoman Peter Leyva (Security)
 * Yeoman Django Brown (Security)
 * Various other engineers/security guards
 *  Medical/Counseling 


 * Lieutenant Commander Holly Im (Chief Medical Officer)
 * Lieutenant Mildred "Milly" Brown (Secondary Medical Officer/Top Nurse)
 * Lieutenant Gretchen Leyva (Ship Counselor)
 * Various other nurses

They clear spacedock and warp off towards the Alpha Centauri System. After jumping into warp, Phineas goes and gets his son Christopher from the mess hall, bringing him up to the bridge. After a short while, Phineas takes Chris down to the holodeck after having a nostalgic moment. As it is Chris' first time, Phineas lets him decide on the experience; he chooses the time when his father had built the rollercoaster on the first day of summer 19 years ago. After a while, they receive a hail from the bridge with a message that the ship is about to arrive at Alpha Centauri. They leave the holodeck and head up to the bridge.

Chapter 3: Away Mission
Phineas arrives on the bridge, where his bridge crew has brought up its children. Phineas relieves Ferb of the conn and orders Vanessa (Ferb's wife and the helmswoman), to slow to Warp 0.5 so that they will be able to see the system for its full worth and beauty. They pass through an asteroid field, which Katie (Irving's wife and the former Fireside Girl), the tactical officer, destroys while Vanessa tries to avoid them. The ship safely passes with minor damage and proceeds to the fifth planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B after a ship passes them. Phineas has himself, Ferb, and the Chief of Security (Lieutenant Commander Buford Van Stomm) as the away team; since he does not wish to assume the luxury of being able to merely beam down with no fear from the natives, Phineas suggests the use of a shuttlecraft. Phineas gives Vanessa the conn, says a quick bye to Isabella and his son, and then goes with his team to engineering to go pick up three prototype communicator badges from Chief Engineer Lt. Commander Baljeet Rai. They leave on the Captain's Yacht (now named Archimedes) and head down to the planet's reddish surface in the outskirts of a village.

They enter the village and see that it has much modern technology, but a traditional setting with open-air markets ans such. After seeing uneasy glances from the natives, Phineas, Ferb, and Buford are approached by two guards, who take them up a long escalator that leads up the mountainside). At the top, a small palace-like structure appears, and the guards say they can go no farther. The away team enters to find that it is one large throne room with an ornately-dressed being sitting on a throne. He greets them, telling them that this planet is home of the Thoroni before going on a monologue of how humanity (which he has observed for a long time), has been a large disappointment in terms of corruption and malice despite one of the largest abilities in the universe for good. When Phineas asks why this odd being is judging humanity as a whole, he is taken away along with the being instantly. Ferb contacts the Phineas and finds out that Isabella has been taken from the bridge as well. Ferb says he and Buford will take the Archimedes to go survey the planet and search for the Flynn couple.

Chapter 4: The Test
Phineas and Isabella both arrive on a semi-arid desert planet finding themselves with the same question: where were they...? The judge-like being appears, saying that he knows Phineas' history of refusing to kill enemies who have brought near-death experiences to himself and his friends and that he wants to see how far that goes. He brings Mitch (from The Chronicles of Meap) and some reptilian alien to the planet surface, saying that in order for anyone to leave, there must be at least two opposing sides and that there must be only one team left standing alive--basically, there must be a fight to the death with only one team surviving for anyone to be able to leave. Mitch and the reptilian team together while Phineas and Isabella do the same. Since the planet is raw resource-rich, the two teams split and head separate ways with the reptilian agreeing to take on Phineas while Mitch is to take on Isabella. As Phineas begins talking with Isabella about any sort of planning, a rock from a quickly-constructed and crude catapult plummets down and barely misses the two. They flee over the other side of a rocky area and find plant vines, mineral deposits, and other raw materials. They, too, build a catapult and launch from their side of the rocks, and manage to injure and incapacitate Mitch, who orders the reptilian to do whatever he must to take those two down. It launches again and manages to hit Phineas and Isabella's catapult, shattering it and injuring Isabella. Phineas carries her under the shade of a rock formation while he quickly makes a crossbow and some arrows.

After rounding a corner, he has a run-in with the reptile, whom he shoots--the arrow penetrates, but with no success at slowing or otherwise impeding the beast. It then grabs at Phineas, who physically resists and slips away after realizing the superior strength of the slow reptile. As the day heat sets in, Phineas yells out at the sky, asking what he has done to deserve this. He then goes over to the resting and injured Isabella, she reminds him of the time 16 years ago that they were in the ISS Phineas brig with no chances and were still able to escape (The Terran Empire, which takes place 15 years prior [2015]). Phineas, now reinspired, searches through the raw materials, finding a hollow wood tube, sulfur deposits, diamonds and sharp rock pieces, brush. From these, Phineas creates a small cannon after sealing off the back with thick rocks to ensure no backfire. He hears the reptile coming and finds it about to grab Isabella. He loads and ignites with a match (which he was used to carrying at all times), coming from around a corner and firing the sharp projectiles at the beast, sending it badly injured and bleeding to the ground. Phineas then yells out at the sky that he will not kill this alien and that the being will have to find entertainment elsewhere.

Instantly afterward, they are all taken back to the throne room (with injuries healed), where the being remarking his lack of ability to understand how contradictory human behavior can be. Phineas replies by saying that he is a man bound by conscience to uphold certain moral principles and that revenge is never the answer to dealing with an enemy--even if what they do gets under one's skin. The being tells them that the reptile is a Sorunon reptilian, that there are five types of Soruna (primate, arboreal, reptilian, insectoid, and aquatic), and that the reptilians are particularly bad-tempered. As the being leaves satisfied in the knowledge that they would all pass, he also tells them that his powers are not from omnipotence, but rather, come from a truly all-powerful being known to many ancient humans as "the Great I AM". Phineas understands this and admits to reconsidering faith after that saying. The being again feels satisfied and leaves them with his own name--S'lar. The throne room and small palace then disappear, leaving the four on the mountaintop.

Chapter 5: New Friends
Aboard the Archimedes (the Captain's Yacht), Ferb and Buford detect Phineas and Isabella, picking them up and taking them back to the Phineas. Chris eagerly greets his parents while Vanessa welcomes her husband back. They go up to the bridge, where Buford relieves his wife Adyson of Bridge Security and where Phineas announces the need for them all to go home and rest until they can come back with more ships to explore the system. Arriving at earth in an hour, the Phineas receives a hail from spacedock before entering; it is Captain Philip Nuñez (who, like Phineas has all the powers of an Admiral) of the USS Constantine speaking. He announces that after an informal first contact with the Thoroni and Soruna, both are sending ambassadors to meet with them at TerraFleet headquarters. Phineas has news crews come in from all over the world and, once inside spacedock, the crew beams down to TerraFleet headquarters, where one Thoronon and five Soruna ambassadors meet them.

Allusions

 * A warp-powered starship (Star Trek)
 * The continuation of a ship's name by starting a lettering system in the registry # [i.e. NCC-1701 is succeeded by NCC-1701-A, NCC-1701-B, etc.] (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: First Contact)
 * The analogy in Phineas' speech to wading only ankle deep and now being the time to swim (Star Trek: Enterprise episode Broken Bow)
 * The holodeck (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise episode These are the Voyages...)
 * A special Captain's Yacht shuttlecraft (Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis)
 * A powerful being who tests a ship's captain to judge humanity's abilities (the character "Q" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager)
 * The line "You'll find out" (Q from the Star Trek: The Next Generation final episode All Good Things)
 * A fight on a semi-arid desert planet with a slow yet strong reptilian creature where the captain makes a cannon to incapacitate it yet refuses to kill it (Star Trek [Original Series] episode Arena)
 * A species with five major groups--primate, arboreal, reptilian, insectoid, and aquatic (the Xindi from Star Trek: Enterprise)
 * A species with blue skin and antennae with white hair (Star Trek [Original], Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise)

Author's Comments

 * "This one was the first story of a series I had been announcing and predicting for for months, but had never gotten around to beginning for time's sake (constant business). I personally think it was a good pilot to feature Phineas and Isabella's first child and show humanity at the beginning of its deeper space exploration era. Yes, I took some pretty big things from Star Trek, but heck, that's what I'm using as a working model to show humanity in its era of going from star to star. Gene Roddenberry was a genius...pity he was an agnostic and a naturalist...I added a Christian element to this story by implying the God of Judeo-Christian faith's existence. I used a relatively unused name for him: The Great I AM, which was used by our ancients in Moses' time."