First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “Of course she will. She’s known him nearly as long as she’s known me. He probably saved her life first time they met.”

  “Really? She’s never mentioned it. Were they in a battle?”

  “Sort of. Not so sure you’ll like the other one so much, she’s scary but bloody good in a fight.”

  “Is she another bloody great reptile?”

  “No, she’s a – well, you’ll see when you meet her.”

  “Oh, so she’s an insectoid. I’ve met a few and they’re nice enough, but they still give me the creeps.”

  “Does Ti’rrk give you the creeps?”

  “No, she’s – different.”

  Simon grunted. “Anyway, no she’s not an insectoid, she’s a mammal. I don’t think you will be tempted to, but don’t ever touch her.”

  Sally and Bekkreshan came over and sat at their table. “Have you got our new bodyguards?” Sally asked Simon.

  “Yeah, they’ll be ready to be collected in about an hour. I’ve got Kar Fen,” Sally smiled, Simon continued, “and Ranesh.”

  The smile froze on Sally’s face.

  “Great, I haven’t seen her for ages!” Bekkreshan grinned. “Thanks Simon.”

  “Nor have I, fortunately.” Sally said.

  “Don’t you like her?” Mark asked.

  “It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s more that she frightens the crap out of me.”

  “Don’t say that, she likes you.” Bekkreshan said.

  “A lot of people have told me she does, but how can you tell? Mark, whatever you do, don’t touch her!”

  “OK.” Mark said. “What’s so scary about her?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll find out when you meet her.”

  “There’s something else.” Simon said. “I met Seltet while I was there. She asked about you. She wants to come too.”

  “Oh shit. What did you say?”

  “I said we had a full team, but I’d speak to you. I think you should agree.”

  “What’s wrong with her? Is she really scary too?” Mark asked.

  “No, she’s not scary at all. It’s complicated.” Sally replied.

  “It’s not complicated at all.” Bekkreshan said. “Sally was on a mission with Seltet’s partner. She and Sally were both Corporals. Seltet’s partner got killed. It happens to soldiers, but Sally blames herself. They were ambushed, and Sally was in the same firefight. Their mission sergeant was killed in the same action and left Sally as the ranking officer when she was a wet behind the ears Corporal. She successfully completed the mission but ended up with life threatening injuries including having her leg ripped off in an explosion. She came home a hero but never forgave herself for Seltet’s friend’s death and was too cowardly to speak to Seltet when she got back.”

  ‘Ouch!’ Mark thought. ‘Sally’s not going to like being called a coward.’ But Sally just sat quietly looking down at the table.

  “Seltet didn’t blame her. When she eventually got to see Sally, she hugged her and said how grateful she was that Sally was with her friend when she died.”

  “It shouldn’t have been her.” Sally whispered.

  Mark remembered Alan telling him about this, although he’d only said that Sally had nearly died, and that’s when he embedded the phase shift protection in her. He put his hand on Sally’s arm. “Was there anything you could have done to save her?”

  “No, but, but it was too soon.”

  “Too soon for what?”

  Sally shook her head and looked up, her face hardening. “What do you think, Simon?”

  “I think she should join us. You have shut her out for too long and she’s a good soldier.”

  “But what if she gets killed?”

  “She won’t. Nobody’s going to die. You’ve got a good team, the best.”

  “OK. I’m going to my quarters.” She stood and blinked out.

  Mark sighed. “She means our quarters.”

  “Not for a while.” Simon said. “She needs to be alone.”

  “I’ll message her.” Bekkreshan said. “She might like my company.” She paused while Mark and Simon watched her in silence, then she stood up. Touren, sitting at the other table stood and nodded at Bekkreshan, then they both blinked out.

  “Am I the only one that doesn’t know what’s going on?” Mark asked.

  “No, Orange won’t know either. I’m not sure if Mike will or not. It’s best not to ask questions. Bekkreshan has told you as much as you need to know. You’ll like Seltet, but we’ll all need to protect her. She’s a good soldier, or she used to be, it’s a long time since I’ve seen her. I didn’t know she had re-joined the army.”

  “When did this all happen?” Mark asked.

  “About four and a half thousand years ago, just after Sally first became a soldier. You know people say time heals? It doesn’t, you just get used to dealing with it, but Sally has never dealt with losing Por Aruf – that’s Seltet’s friend’s name. Be careful about how you speak to her about it. My advice is to never mention it. You can’t help her with that.”

  “There’s a lot I don’t know about Sally.”

  “She’s still very young, by post emergent standards, but she’s lived a long time compared to you, and she’s seen some really bad things. She’s done a few too. All those things leave scars. She may seem to be a simple and straight forward person to you, but she has lived through stuff that normal people should never see and should never have happen to them. You have to make allowances.”

  “You’re not that simple and straight forward either are you.” Mark said.

  “I can carry my load.” Simon said with a grin. “We’ve got some time to kill before we collect the others. I’m going to have another drink and you can knock yourself out with some more coffee.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Gathering

  Mark left the bar and blinked to the command center, then spoke to his AI: “Kate, message Kar Fen, Ranesh and Seltet to assemble in Passenger Dock One and be ready to leave in ten minutes. Then tell the Swift to take up position one hundred kilometers off the army headquarters habitat.”

  He took the seat in the middle of the command center, facing the screen that occupied the entire curved front wall.

  “Ranesh has confirmed she will be ready; Kar Fen is a long way from the dock but will get there as soon as possible. Seltet didn’t think Sally would consent to her joining us. She has some arrangements to be made and will come as quickly as she can. Would you like me to alert the others, so they can be there to greet them?”

  “No, I want to meet them by myself.”

  “The craft has blinked, and we are in position by the army headquarters. Are you ready to leave the Swift?”

  “Yes. Blink me onto the lander in Dock One and take it to Passenger Dock One on the army habitat at a speed that will get us there on time please Kate.”

  As the lander settled on the floor of Passenger Dock One on the army habitat, Mark could see an obviously female figure standing waiting, holding a backpack. He walked down the ramp to meet her and stopped a meter away, looking up at her, waiting for her to speak first.

  The seconds ticked by as they faced each other in silence until eventually, the female spoke, “I am Ranesh Ett.”

  “I am Mark, Friend of the People.”

  Ranesh leaned down so her face was only centimeters from Marks, and said, “I was expecting something bigger.”

  Mark held her gaze, unblinking, and let the seconds pass. Finally, he said, “I’m big enough.”

  Ranesh slowly straightened up and said, “I think we are going to get on.” Picking her backpack up, she brushed past him and walked into the lander. Mark watched her as she went up the ramp, thinking if it weren’t for the breasts, you could almost mistake her for Simon. From a distance. In poor light. If you squinted a bit.

  The door to the dock slid open and a huge reptile strode in, Even taller than Simon, with massive muscular arms and legs and a huge head with a blunt, elon
gated muzzle. It came bounding up to Mark and grasped him by the shoulders, giving him a bone shuddering shake. “Mark, great to see you again!” Kar Fen roared, with a big grin showing off his mouth full of long serrated teeth.

  “Good to see you too Fen.” Mark replied with a smile.

  “Simon didn’t tell me much, just asked me if I wanted to come along with you, so I said yes without asking what for. Is Sally with you?”

  “Yes, Sally’s back on my ship…”

  “Your ship? You’ve got your own ship?”

  “Yes, the People gave it to me…”

  “One of those great big fuckers?”

  “Not as big as Alan’s, but big enough.”

  “Oh, so they just gave you a little one. Never mind, it’s still a People’s ship.”

  “But I can have a bigger one, the same size as Alan’s, I’m not sure I need one that big.”

  “Go for it, Mark. You may not need all that space, but people will make assumptions if you turn up in a little ship. Why didn’t Sally come over here with you?”

  Mark sighed. “Simon said you’ve known Sally a long time.”

  “Yeah, we go way back.”

  “Look, I’m worried about her Fen. She seems very unsettled, and not just because she’s left the army for a while.”

  “Hey, anything I can do for her, I’ll do it Mark. What’s the mission?”

  Mark briefly explained about Mike and the incident with Major Bryd Sa Dett of the Herassan Federation army, and that their role was to make sure she didn’t get snatched when she met with her father. “No fighting then?” Kar Fen asked.

  “Not if we can avoid it. These aren’t outcasts. We may not agree with them, but they’re trying to do the right thing as they see it, so we want to avoid casualties. We avoided conflict with a show of force of People’s ships, though there was a fracas on their ship which Sally sorted out in a few seconds. That was something to see Fen, she seemed to turn into a fighting machine and took out eight of their soldiers in an eyeblink!”

  “She’s calmed down a lot now. When she first became a soldier, she fought like a wild animal. Sometimes her squad was more frightened of her than the hostiles!” Kar Fen tipped his head back and made a series of barking, roaring sounds, which was his way of laughing. “She made me look like a pussy!”

  “A pussy?” Mark said to his AI, “Interesting translation.”

  Mark smiled. “I used to be frightened of her, those teeth and eyes. And she kept threatening me and hitting me. She broke my nose once. Another time she knocked a tooth out.”

  “You mammals,” Kar Fen said, “you make your love life so complicated. Who else is joining you?”

  “Ranesh, I’ve just met her, and someone called Seltet.”

  “I don’t know Seltet, but I’ve heard of her. She’s supposed to be a good solid soldier but there’s something between her and Sally. I don’t know what it is. She’s a bit of a mystery. Ranesh, she’s a bloody good fighter. Miserable though. You’ll be lucky to get two words out of her. Keep out of her way, she can be dangerous. I get on all right with her, I’m bigger than she is” he grinned, showing off his teeth again. Who else is here? Mark quickly told him about Touren and Bekkreshan.

  “My AI told me Bekkreshan is an Imperious.” Kar Fen said.

  “I thought she was quite modest.”

  “She’s from the Imperious civilization.”

  Mark quickly checked with his AI. “I see what you mean. The Imperious are an ancient sworn enemy of the Krendor.”

  “I’ll leave you to wait for Seltet.”

  Mark stood by himself, wondering how the newcomers would fit into the team and was now worried about Kar Fen and Bekkreshan. He hardly knew Touren and Bekkreshan, but they knew Sally better than he did. Although, everyone knew her better than he did. He’d worked with her back on Earth, but then he thought she was just a clumsy and ditzy young woman who slept a lot. At least, she did when she was supposed to be working with him. He’d only known her as commander of an independent army for, what was it now? Four or five weeks? It seemed like a lifetime. That reminded him, he hadn’t slept for over forty hours. He told his AI to order a sleep suppressor for him from the synthesizer in the lander.

  While he was deep in thought, the door to the dock slid open and a tall, barrel chested woman with what seemed like unnaturally long legs walked quietly in. She came over to him and smiled. “You must be Mark. I’m Seltet Rass. I hope you are expecting me.”

  “Yes,” Mark smiled at her. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about you.”

  “I have heard a lot about you Mark, Friend of the People, Slayer of Tk'ng Dach Rm.”

  “It’s probably wildly inaccurate.” Mark sighed.

  “I discounted a lot. Army scuttlebutt is notoriously unreliable, but one thing is consistent, everyone likes you. You are said to be a good man, and you must be if Sally likes you.”

  Mark blushed.

  “Are you all right? You’ve gone very red.” Seltet asked.

  “I’m fine, shall we go on board?”

  “I’d like to talk to you first, Mark. Come with me, we’ll sit and talk.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sally’s Shame

  Seltet held her hand out and Mark took it without thinking. Seltet led him like a child to the back of the dock and they sat on the floor next to each other, backs to the wall.

  “Let me tell you about Sally and me, and my friend, Por Aruf.” she said, staring straight ahead. “We met Sally just after she joined the army as a rookie. At first, we thought she was a privileged kid whose family had influence with the People, just there because she was bored and wanted to play soldier. Then we found out the real story, that she was one of the Aarnth survivors…”

  “Aarnth survivors? What happened?” Mark asked.

  “You don’t know? I won’t tell you, that is something Sally needs to tell you.”

  “Why is it so secret? No one will tell me, not even Alan! I’m a Friend of the People. You can’t imagine the secrets I have to keep about them – even from Sally!”

  Seltet smiled at him. “You’ll understand when she does. Be patient with her. When we found out the truth, we took her under our wing. Almost literally by Por Aruf, she was an avian.” Seltet gave a sad little laugh. “Touren and Bekkreshan looked out for her too, but Por Aruf and I felt a closeness to Sally almost as though she was our daughter. I had a night out with her in the wilds just after we met. That’s a good story. Remind me to tell it to you sometime”

  “Excuse me asking,” Mark said, “but before you go any further, what was your relationship with Por Aruf? You can tell me to mind my own business if you like, I won’t be offended.”

  “We were partners. As close to each other as two people can be, a bit like Touren and Bekkreshan.”

  “Oh, so you were lovers.”

  Seltet burst out laughing. “Not like you mean! I am a mammal; she was an avian. It is very rare to find two similar species who are sexually compatible and almost never if they are different. Por Aruf and I were deeply in love, but purely on a spiritual level, just like Touren and Bekkreshan.”

  Mark blushed and stuttered, “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  Seltet laughed again. “You didn’t offend me Mark, but are you sure you’re all right? You’ve gone very red again.”

  “I’m fine. It’s a human thing. Some of us do it when we are embarrassed.”

  “Really? I’ll look out for it in the future and see how often I can make you go red.” she said with a grin.

  “I don’t think you’ll have any difficulty. Sally doesn’t. But go on, you were telling me about Sally and your friend Por Aruf.”

  “Por Aruf and I were both Corporals in the army, but mostly we just wanted to be soldiers. Being in command, even as a lowly Corporal has its responsibilities and we just wanted to be there to do our bit cleaning up the galaxy by getting rid of outcast scum. But Por Aruf agreed to take command of a squad on what l
ooked like a straightforward mission, mainly because Sally was going to be the other Corporal in the task force. When they were assembled ready to leave, Sally said she was concerned that they hadn’t been properly briefed and that the Sergeant in command was inexperienced in that kind of mission. Almost as soon as they arrived they were ambushed by a well-armed and disciplined group of hostiles. The Sergeant and Por Aruf were killed in the ambush, along with more than half the task force. Sally survived, of course, otherwise she wouldn’t be here today.” Seltet gave a small smile. “She blamed herself for Por Aruf’s death, which is ridiculous. In a skirmish the hurricane of death doesn’t care where it blows, and there is nothing anyone can do to change its path. I was surprised and saddened that Sally didn’t come to me afterwards. I came to realize that she felt shame and guilt about having not protected Por Aruf. I felt I had lost two of the most precious people in my life. Por Aruf, my love, and Sally, my unofficially adopted daughter.”