At the beginning of ‘First Encounter’ by Jasper T Scott we meet the starship Forerunner as it is approaching its destination, the Trappist star system. It’s the year 2150 AD and humanity has begun the exploration and settlement of other star systems. Forerunner is in fact a colony ship with over a thousand would be pioneers ready to begin the work of building a new world on Trappist-E, one of the planets within the habitable zone of the star Trappist.
Forerunner is a sleeper ship; its passengers and most of its crew have been in hibernation for most of the ninety-year long journey from Earth. Now that their goal is in sight the entire crew has been awakened, including the ship’s captain Clayton Cross and are preparing for their first landing.
Once the ship enters orbit around Trappist-E Captain Cross organizes a landing party that quickly descends to the planet’s surface. Aware of the possibility of encountering alien life, perhaps even intelligent life the landing party also includes an ambassador Richard Morgan who will take charge of any interactions with intelligent aliens.
In fact almost as soon as the landing party has left their shuttle they encounter a species of primitive aliens who immediately attack them. The landing party, not wishing to turn this first encounter into a battle retreat back to the shuttle but are forced to kill several of the aliens along the way.
But what the Forerunner crew are not aware of is that they are also under attack by a second species of aliens, a species with a superior technology. The landing party is barely able to return to their ship before the Forerunner must flee the entire Trappist star system to avoid a battle against an alien fleet.
That’s just the first quarter of the book, the middle half of ‘First Encounter’ consists of variations on the movies ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’ with a bit of the original ‘Star Wars’ or perhaps ‘Battlestar Galactica’ thrown in at the end. And remember this is only Book 1 of Ascension Wars. It’s all just a bit too much of a roller coaster ride, too much action without a great deal of reason behind the action.
Don’t get me wrong, ‘First Encounter’ will keep your attention and it’s certainly a quick read, I finished it in less than two days. However one of the reasons it’s such an easy read is that there’s not a lot to think about, you’re too busy going from one slam, bam episode to another. In fact ‘First Encounter’ is rather a lot like several episodes of an old SF serial like Buck Rodgers.
And like Buck Rogers you soon find yourself trying to guess what’s going to happen next, and too often getting it right. And like Buck Rodgers there are a few plot problems getting in the way. For example, the superior aliens have faster than light travel, their ships can travel one light year in two hours, but they don’t come to Earth. Instead they wait for Forerunner to take ninety years to reach the Trappist system before starting their war with humanity!
So if you’re looking for a ‘Space Opera’ with a lot of shoot’em up action then you’ll probably like ‘First Encounter’ by Jasper T. Scott. However I like my SF a little more thoughtful, a little more awe inspiring than heart pounding.