First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  Sally stepped towards him until her face was almost touching his. “If you get in my way I’ll cut you down without a second thought. If anything bad happens to any of my soldiers who are here at the express request of the First of the First, or to any of my friends, or to anyone under my protection, I will hold you, as Defense and Security Advisor, to be personally responsible. For the avoidance of doubt, I will definitely use deadly force.” She shoved the Advisor out of the way and moved towards the door. “Mark, with me!”

  “One moment Sally.” He stopped and spoke to the Defense and Security Advisor. “I am Mark, Friend of the People, not someone who has made a friend of one of the People. I suggest you review the diplomatic protocols concerning the treatment of the People, which explicitly also applies to Friends of the People. I have diplomatic immunity against all and any of your laws. You do not have the legal or physical power to detain me, or those under my protection, which includes General Sally and, incidentally, the First of the First. Your order to the soldiers to attempt to detain me are a breach of the protocol and will be considered a diplomatic slight to the People. You are treading on very thin ice Advisor. Herassan troops have attacked a legitimately declared and recognized Area Of Interest. The three People there have repelled the attack and captured a number of your space fleet as well as disabling ground attack aircraft and ground vehicles and capturing a large number of troops. If there are any more breaches of the People’s protocols, or you just piss off me or the General, there will be severe repercussions.”

  “The target for attack is on sovereign Herassan soil! We have every right to take whatever action we wish to take back possession! If the People have used military force against our legitimate efforts to enforce our rightful access to our own territory it is tantamount to a declaration of war!”

  Mark sighed. “Advisor, how the hell have you kept your job? In your role, how can you not know the People’s protocols? Do you really want to go to war with the People? If your reaction to the idea of that is anything other than shitting yourself you are an order of magnitude more stupid than I can imagine, and I have a very good imagination. Now step out of my way, or I will demonstrate to you the extent of my displeasure by ripping your head off.”

  The advisor stepped aside as Mark moved past him, “You haven’t heard the last of this!” he said to Mark’s back.

  Mark stopped, turned round, and picked the Advisor up by the front of his robes and pulled him close. “You’re right.” He swung round and flung the Advisor at the wall at the back of the office, flicking him over as he let go so that the Advisor hit the wall upside down before crumpling into an untidy heap on the floor.

  Mark turned back to Sally and said, “Sorry for the delay, I’m ready to go now.”

  Chapter Eighty

  An Inconvenience When Leaving

  “I take it you were a bit pissed off with the Advisor.” Sally said as they jogged along the corridor to the nearest gravity tube.

  “I was trying not to let it show. Where are we going?”

  “We’re going to intercept your forensics bot and use the lander to get back to the Freedom Movement headquarters. I’m going to message Seltet to get everyone out of the Palace and take the other lander back there. Mike should be safe with Colonel Drad Ki Jass in the Palace, we’ll come back for her later. Send her a message to tell her what’s been going on. Hopefully she and the Colonel can get things sorted out here.”

  They both went silent for a moment, then Sally said “What!” Change of plan Mark, the team were surrounded by soldiers as soon as they left the Palace and are demanding they surrender. We’re going to take the lander and get them released.”

  “Can’t they fight their way out?”

  “They are outnumbered and aren’t wearing any kind of armor. The soldiers are wearing field based armor and body armor. The team would get shot to pieces before they could do much damage to the Herassan soldiers, and Sha and her team aren’t even armed.”

  “What the hell is going on!” Mark said. “Mike messaged me back, the Colonel is furious and said she’ll get it sorted out. She’s just let two of her City Guards into Mike’s office for extra security while she’s busy taking charge herself.”

  “At least we don’t have to worry about Mike.” Sally said. “Come on, sprint!”

  They dropped two floors in the gravity tube down to ground level, then sprinted towards the visitor landing area where the lander with the re-purposed medibot had parked. They saw a troop carrier parked close to the lander and a large group of soldiers gathered round it with Major Bryd Sa Dett at the front facing them. As they reached him, he said, “I am sorry General, Mark, but I must ask you to accompany me back to the Palace to be locked in cells until you are questioned and put on trial.”

  “Major? I didn’t think you would be part of this. I misjudged you.” Sally said.”

  “No General, you didn’t misjudge me. If you look, you’ll see the soldiers behind me aren’t pointing their weapons at you, they are pointing at me. I’ll be joining you in the cells.”

  “Get a move on.” a soldier behind Bryd Sa Dett said, shoving him in the back.

  “Let me handle this.” Mark messaged Sally.

  She smiled at him and messaged back, “OK.”

  Mark sent the Major a message. “Move forward towards us. As soon as you are close enough, grab my arm and don’t let go. My phase shift armor will engulf you and their shots won’t be able to hurt you then, nothing will. Then we’ll explain the situation to them, and we’ll leave together. If you understand and agree, just nod.”

  The Major looked at Mark, then at Sally, then at Mark again. He had a look of resignation on his face, as though he knew his time was up, but would go through the motions like the good soldier that he was, before dying with dignity. He slowly started to walk towards Mark and Sally, who stood waiting for him.

  The soldier who had shoved the Major in the back shouted at Mark and Sally, “Come on you two, you can get going too.” They ignored him and waited for the Major to reach them. As soon as the Major was within arm’s reach, Mark grabbed his upper arm and yanked him towards him. Immediately, a forest of weapons barrels came up and pointed at him.

  “You seem to be in charge,” he said to the soldier who had done all the talking. His AI told him the insignia on his uniform was that of a Sergeant. “Tell your men to stand down and let us pass, Sergeant.”

  The Sergeant stepped forward. “I know about you, Mark, Friend of the People. I’ve done my research. I know you’ve got the fancy People’s armor, and you’ve got a weapon embedded in your arm. But the General doesn’t have it, and neither does the Major. That weapon of yours is an anti-personnel weapon. You might get me or one of my men before we kill the Major and your girlfriend,” he smirked, “so you could, in theory, walk away, but it you do, both of your friends will be dead.”

  “You should have done a bit more research Sergeant. Though to be fair, I doubt this is documented. The Major is quite safe. I have extended my phase shift protection, which you dismissively called my fancy People’s armor, to protect him. He is bullet proof. If you don’t believe me, take a shot.” He paused, giving the Sergeant time to think. “Come on Sergeant, you want to know if I’m lying, and I’m sure your men do to. Or are you too nervous to find out?”

  The Major stiffened. He wasn’t convinced by Mark’s reassurance, but the Sergeant didn’t know what to do. His orders were to bring them back, dead or alive. He had no qualms about killing the mammals, but he was uneasy with the idea of shooting an officer in cold blood when he wasn’t aware he had done anything wrong. But he had been challenged in front of his men and didn’t want to show any weakness. While he hesitated, Sally goaded him: “What’s wrong Sergeant? Are you afraid he might be right or are you afraid he might be wrong? Whatever it is, you’re so scared you’re starting to shake.”

  “I’m not afraid of you mammals!” he said and jerked his weapon up, firing a full magazine into the Major.
>
  The Major opened his eyes. “You weren’t lying.” he said to Mark.

  “You have to learn to trust me. I don’t bluff, I’m not very good at it.”

  “Fuck you. You won’t be so smug when I shoot your girlfriend!” the Sergeant said as he clipped a fresh magazine into place.

  “Go for it.” Mark said. “You won’t find her easy to shoot either.”

  “Thanks Mark.” Sally said, then to the Sergeant, “When you’ve finished with me, have a go at Mark. It would lack symmetry if you only fired on two of us.”

  The Sergeant was out of his depth with this. Waving his weapon at the three of them, he said, “I guess we’re at a stalemate then. I can’t shoot you, and with your weapon, you can’t possibly shoot all of us, so why don’t you just walk back to the Palace, like the Major said?”

  “Major,” Mark said quietly, “you don’t really need to be touching me, but you do need to stay close. The best way to make sure you don’t get too far away is to keep hold of me, but if you could just let go of my arm and get hold of the back of my collar instead, I would be greatly obliged.”

  “The Major shuffled closer to Mark, slid his hand up Mark’s arm and grasped the back of his collar. The fabric of his jumpsuit expanded to that Mark could still breathe even though the Major had a good handful of it.

  Mark held his right arm out and deployed his embedded weapon, pointing it at the Sergeant “You mean this weapon?” He swung his arm round and pointed it at the big Herassan troop carrier and fired it. A hemi-spherical hole appeared in its armor where the collapsed energy pulse hit it. “You are right. I couldn’t do much with this.”

  “What are we going to do now?” the Major hissed at him.

  Ignoring him. Mark dropped his right arm to his side and the weapon withdrew itself into his arm. He lifted his left arm and his new weapon slid out into view. It looked exactly like the weapon in his right arm.

  “Your planet killer?” Sally whispered. “I don’t think things have got that bad yet.”

  “It has a low setting.” Mark whispered back and addressed the Sergeant, “But this, well, this is a bit different.” He called out to the soldiers, “If you wouldn’t mind moving back a bit, just to give me a clear path to the troop carrier please?”

  The soldiers looked uncertain what to do but stood firm, looking at the Sergeant, who looked equally uncertain.

  “Move your arses!” Sally bellowed at them in her best, and loudest parade ground voice.”

  The soldiers reacted instinctively to the command and moved away, giving Mark a clear view of the carrier.

  “Thank you so much.” he said, “Pay attention Sergeant, and you men. You saw me demonstrate the damage my other weapon could do to a soldier, let me show you what this will do. As it’s just a demonstration, I’ll keep it on its lowest setting.”

  “Kate,” he said to his AI, “can you limit its range to just beyond the troop carrier”

  “Of course Mark.”

  “Are you ready, I wouldn’t want you to miss it.”

  “Stop dicking about and get on with it.” Sally whispered.

  Mark activated the weapon and sliced the troop carrier in half, then carried on down with the beam deep into the ground. The cascade effect of the highly reactive free quarks with normal matter was limited as the beam was on minimum power, but a half meter wide band of matter where the beam sliced through disappeared in a bright flash, a shower of sparks and a plume of hot dust that blasted out from the damaged area.

  “Sorry, I should have warned you about that.” Mark said. “The dust, it’s highly toxic. And the radiation. There was a lot of radiation. When I say a lot, it would be best if you all got to hospital pretty quickly. You should all survive. Most of you anyway. If the staff ask, tell them it was a broad spectrum radiation blast. Neutrons, positrons, x-rays, gamma rays, pretty much everything, even microwave, so some of you may be a bit cooked. That is, if you can still talk when you get there. Oh, and don’t worry about us, the fancy People’s armor will have protected us from it. I’ve called in your emergency medical assistance; I hope you are all still alive when it gets here. Anyway, we’re done here now, so we’ll leave. Good luck. Come on Sally, don’t dawdle.” Grasping the Majors arm to make sure he stayed inside his phase shift protection, Mark started to walk to their lander, Sally strode alongside him.

  “You’re starting to become a bad boy.” she said. “Was all that you said about the toxic dust and radiation true?”

  “Yes, though the dust is the least of their problems, and emergency medical units are on the way. I’ve told them in the message to be ready to treat the soldiers for massive radiation exposure.”

  “I didn’t realize they had pissed you off that much.”

  “Well, they had. I’m English, we don’t show our emotions very much, but I am fed up with these rogue Herassans trying to push us around. And I can’t believe they know so little about the People! No-one in their right mind would consider going up against us if they knew what we are capable of.”

  “The Herassans are a very insular civilization. I don’t mean to offend you Major, but your race don’t interact with the rest of the galactic culture very much. Apart from the First of the First, no Herassan has ever joined my army and I’m not aware of a Herassan ever joining any other independent army.” Turning back to Mark, she said, “You said we. Do you consider yourself to be one of the People now?”

  “A bit I suppose, except they don’t get angry, they are a bit taller and they’ve got too many limbs.”

  “Is that the only difference?”

  “No, they are a lot smarter than I’ll ever be, and they keep a lot of secrets from me. I’ve been warned off by them about not asking any more questions about some things.”

  “What sort of things?”

  “About where they came from, why they keep the archives on every civilization and why they think that being an archivist is the most important job one of the People can have. Those are strange things they want to keep secret. Alan has told me all sorts of stuff about how their technology works, which is the sort of thing you would think they would want to keep secret. And he told me some stuff about the Great AI War that I completely understand they don’t want known. I think Orange got it right not long after I first met him. He said the People were funny buggers and I think that sums it up well.”

  “Aren’t you worried about those soldiers we’ve left behind. They might die.”

  “I don’t feel great, but how else were we going to get out of there? I think I might be getting as psychopathic as you.”

  “You are psychopaths?” the Major asked, with a hint of alarm in his voice.

  Sally smiled at him. “No, it’s a joke between us. Mark came from a very peaceful environment, and although his race is always involved in small wars between the various factions and nation states of his world, he has been insulated from it. War hasn’t touched his nation for over a hundred years, which for his pre-emergent civilization is more than the average lifespan. Now he is involved with the front line of military violence, he thinks what we do as unnatural, he doesn’t see it as the ordinary way of life for a soldier.”

  “I see. I am not so different from you, Mark. We Herassans haven’t been at war for hundreds of thousands of years, even though our civilization was formed from a long period of extreme violence. We revere the first First of the First, even though history clearly records she was a savage and violent woman, driven only by the lust for conquest and power.”

  “In that case, we’ll get you somewhere out of the action.” Sally said.

  “No, this is my race, our mess to sort out. I don’t know what is going on, but I know it’s not the wish of the First of the First. It is my duty as a Herassan citizen and a soldier to quell the unrest and restore peace. I am truly grateful for your help and I hope you’ll continue to assist when you can, but my troops, the Palace Guard are loyal, it’s my duty to lead them.”

  “But those soldiers back
there, they were wearing Palace Guard uniforms. They were your soldiers.”

  “They were wearing Palace Guard uniforms, but they were City Guards. I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Stay with us until we’ve freed our comrades Major, then we’ll find your soldiers and you can return to them.” Mark said, as they walked up the boarding ramp into the lander.

  Chapter Eighty One

  Enough!

  The lander only took a few minutes to find and reach the location of the team. They were surrounded by troops in the sandy-brown uniforms of the army in the large courtyard, about fifty meters from the entrance to the Great Hall.

  As the lander’s ramp extended, the Major ran down to the troops, “What are you doing!” he demanded.

  “Hello Major. I wasn’t expecting you. I’m Captain Fren Ray Borl of the Fast Reaction Brigade. You are supposed to be in custody, with those two aliens.” he waved towards Sally and Mark as they walked down the lander ramp. “The three of you can join your friends here.”