First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “That sounds like a brief meeting, What about the meeting with the Senior Secretary?”

  “It’s the same as with Sha, except you will also tell her you are relinquishing your claim to the Freedom Movement HQ and surroundings as an Area Of Interest.”

  “Two brief meetings, and then we’ve finished on Tefran?” Mark asked.

  “Yeah,” Mike said with a grin, “then we can go and blow off steam, as Sally put it. While you sit by the pool and do crossword puzzles.”

  “Yes and I’m really looking forward to the peace and quiet. I’ll get the Swift to configure some medical rooms ready for when you get back.”

  Chapter One Hundred And Two

  The Falcon

  As the lander settled into Dock One on the Swift, Mark said, “Now we’re all finished on Tefran, I’ll show you what my AI made for me.”

  “Unfortunately, I can’t come right now. I’ve got something urgent I need to do.” Mike said.

  “What’s so urgent that you can’t spend a few minutes with me?” Mark asked.

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.” she replied.

  “If you’re not interested, you only have to say.” Mark said, clearly offended.

  “OK. I’m not interested.” Mike said.

  “Where is your surprise?” Sally asked.

  “That’s part of the surprise. I want to show everyone at the same time.”

  “Why do you want everyone to see it?”

  “Because everyone will use it,”

  “What has your AI made? Is it a new bar?” Mike asked.

  “No, much better than that, but you’ll have to come along to see for yourself.”

  Mike sighed. “All right but make it quick.

  “You two go to the meeting room, I’ll message everyone else to go there.” Mark said.

  “This is so thrilling. I can hardly wait to see what it is.” Mike said, yawning.

  “You might be sarcastic now but wait until you see it.” Mark said, grinning.

  Mike shrugged and blinked out.

  “Don’t be too disappointed if nobody else gets excited when they see whatever it is you are going to show us.” Sally said. “You have only just joined the galactic culture, so nearly everything is new and exciting to you, the rest of us have seen it all before.”

  “None of you will have seen this, and I know that almost everyone will be dismissive when they see it, but it will be really useful when we’re not on army missions.”

  “What is it, some kind of luxury yacht?”

  “No, but you’re close. I’ve messaged everyone, so they should start turning up soon, I need to be in the meeting room.”

  Mark blinked, immediately followed by Sally. Mike was lying on one of the floor cushions, Seltet, Touren and Bekkreshan were seated at the table. Simon stood by the wall mounted synthesizer and was taking a coffee out.

  “Are the drinks on you again?” Simon asked.

  “That jokes a bit stale now.” Mark said.

  While they were talking, Kar Fen, Ranesh and Orange blinked in.

  “Thanks for coming everyone. I want to show you all the latest surprise my AI has made for me. Blink down to Dock Three with me.” Before giving anyone a chance to say anything, Mark blinked out.

  Within moments, the entire team were assembled, staring up at the construction that almost filled the dock.

  “What is it?” Ranesh asked.

  “Is it a spaceship?” Seltet asked.

  “Yes, you’re dead right!” he replied, “But not like any ship you’ve ever seen before.”

  “That’s possible,” Kar Fen said, but from here, we can’t see it.”

  “I’ll tell my AI to send you an image.” Mark said.

  “I’ve seen something like this before.” Mike said. “It was on a scrap planet that specialized in pre-emergent junk.”

  “Did you get it from a museum?” Simon asked.

  “It’s modeled on a spaceship called the Millennium Falcon!”

  “A one thousand year bird? What a stupid name for a spaceship.” Mike said.

  “Yes, and

  “It’s a bit big for a toy, isn’t it?” Simon said.

  “It would be if it was a toy, but we’re going to use it. There is room for two landers and fifty double accommodation suites, although if you prefer, they can be reconfigured as standard army quarters. It already has a bar, meeting room and dining room, and a training area and a gym, but no swimming pool. It also has a pre-configured medical center. It has standard People’s phase shift protection and can blink anywhere in the known universe. It is also capable of normal space flight, but with People’s technology driving it, and their advanced inertial dampening system, it can quickly accelerate up to seventy five percent of light speed and can reach a maximum of ninety percent of light speed. The weapons platforms on the hull don’t work, they would be too slow to react to be useful, but it has a full range of People’s weapons, from beam weapons up to star busters.

  “Are you getting rid of the Swift?” Orange asked.

  “Good grief no.” Mark answered. “This is for when we want to be incognito.”

  “When would we want to do that?” Simon asked.

  “For example, on our next trip, which is to the planet Touren suggested you and Mike would be able to start a fight easily.”

  “Simon could start a fight locked inside an empty room.” Touren said. “But we know a planet that’s not claimed by any civilization and it’s just about habitable. All sorts of people drift onto it, stay a while and leave again. There are small towns and villages scattered around. None of them have any laws, and if they did there are no peacekeepers. It’s a while since we’ve been there, but I don’t suppose it’s changed much.”

  “Would you want to turn up there in a lander that’s obviously a military one?” Mark asked.

  “No,” said Simon, “but I don’t really want to arrive in something that looks like a scrapyard reject either.”

  “That’s not a bad thing.” Sally said. “I don’t want to arrive in a military lander. It might give people the wrong idea, or even worse, it might give them the right idea. If we are going there as tourists, not as soldiers, it would be better if they didn’t think we are rich and powerful, that would make us targets. I think it is perfect for our next visit and I’m not just saying that because it is Mark’s idea, he has had some really bad ideas in the past, but this one works.”

  “It doesn’t look like it will make it out of the dock. Are you sure it’s safe?” Mike asked.

  “Of course it’s safe, its brand new. It might be difficult for you to grasp, it looks old, but it is new. Just like some things look small, but they are far away and when you get close, they are very big. I’m not sure you are clever enough to understand that, but try to remember, looks small, but far away, close up, very big. Got it? Try saying it over and over again. It might stick.”

  “Fuck off you patronizing bastard. If anyone here has got a cognitive deficit it’s you. It’s only a few years ago that your ancestors lived in trees.”

  “And not so long ago that your ancestors lived under rocks and ate flies.”

  “Touren, can you take these two in hand until they grow up please?” Sally asked. “Their constant bickering is driving me mad.”

  Mike jumped up and ran over to Mark and flung her arms round his shoulders. “Oh please Sally, don’t let the nasty lady take us away. We promise we’ll be good.”

  “So help me Mike, when we leave here I might leave you behind.” Sally said.

  “What?” Mike said. “You’d send me back to Tefran?”

  “No, I’d leave you drifting in space. Without a space suit.”

  “Come on Sally, lighten up. We’re all getting twitchy because we haven’t had a good fight recently.”

  “That’s true.” Simon said.

  “I’m not.” Seltet said.

  “OK Mike, but if you don’t start acting like an adult I’ll have you droppe
d off at army HQ and I’ll tell D’Nesh to assign you to some really tedious admin task.”

  “But I’m the same rank as him, so I wouldn’t have to take his orders.”

  “Is that right, Private Hess An Sur?”

  “But you said I could continue to be a Colonel when we left Tefran.”

  “I did, but I can demote you on the grounds of you being a pain in the arse.”

  “OK,” sighed Mike. “I’ll try to behave.”

  “I can’t see that lasting long.” Simon said.

  “Fuck off you big shambling pile of dangor shit.”

  “Everybody get whatever they want to take with them on the Falcon and get on board.” Mark said. “We will be on it for a while because we’ll have to enter the solar system by its local wormhole and take a steady route to the planet. We’ll attract attention if we blink in or tear through the system at a substantial fraction of lightspeed. I’ve sent you all a coordinate mesh so you can blink anywhere on board the Falcon. Your allocated quarters are marked on the mesh. The usual security protocols apply, you can blink into your own quarters but nobody else’s. There are plenty of synthesizers but if you want more, they can be installed. I’ll check with Touren to find out where we are going and blink to the nearest wormhole nexus that links to wherever we’re going, then we’ll be leaving the Swift on the Falcon.”

  “One other thing which I shouldn’t need to tell you, but I’m going to anyway, You can take any weapons you like on to the Falcon, but you can only take personal blades onto the planet and no body armor. If we are going to have fun, we want to look and act like normal civilian tourists, so get rid of the uniforms and dress in civilian clothes. Go and get ready and board the Falcon!”

  ◆◆◆

  The Falcon took a high orbital approach to the planet, which was listed simply as Ettembra Four, being the fourth planet of the star which had been named Ettembra by some long forgotten civilization that liked giving stars names. It was known by its mostly temporary inhabitants as Wayward, for reasons long forgotten.

  They spotted a small, isolated town surrounded by several hundred kilometers of scrubland and wide areas of what passed for dried up grassland on this planet. It had one dusty track leading east and a large flat area with a motley collection of battered looking spacecraft parked untidily on it. They agreed that it was a suitable place for them to spend some time in a bar and hopefully meet some truculent locals with whom they could spend a pleasant afternoon in a bar brawl.

  As the Falcon made it’s landing approach, Mark’s AI spoke to him.

  “The main AI has scanned the ships on the parking area and among them it has identified one yacht, five light freighters, a corvette and a light cruiser, all of which are registered as lost or stolen. That’s normally an indication that they are now in the possession of outcasts.”

  Mark shared this information with the team.

  “We are here to have some fun.” Sally said. “I’ve sent D’Nesh a message, he is going to send a task force here to clean out the outcasts. They should arrive in two days, by which time we’ll be long gone. We’ll stick to our plan, we’ll go in as tourists, get into a brawl, and leave quietly after we’ve beaten the shit out of them. So let’s keep it friendly and low key, with no unnecessary killing. “

  “Hey Mark,” Mike said. “You were going to sit by the pool and do crossword puzzles while we came here. Did you forget?”

  “No, I changed my mind. I thought I’d better come along and keep an eye on you. I’ll sit at the bar while you do what you want to do and when you’ve finished I can help the injured back to the Falcon.”

  “OK,” Mike said, “but don’t get in my way.”

  They left the Falcon and walked towards a dilapidated two storey building which they thought must be the local bar, mostly because it had the word ‘Bar’ scrawled across the front in several languages. Mark noticed that the double entry doors were unusually high, about four meters. As no one else mentioned them, he assumed it must be a common architectural style. Inside, the large high ceilinged bar room was more than half full of a variety of species of reptile sitting in groups at tables. It was clear that cleanliness was not one of the proprietor’s top priorities. Mark noticed that opposite the wide, high entrance doors were another pair of doors of the same height. As they entered the bar room, all conversation stopped. They walked to the bar and were greeted by a stocky reptilian bar keep.

  “Hello strangers. We don’t get many visitors here.”

  “I’m surprised,” Seltet said, “this place has such a period charm to it. Are the decorations original.”

  “Probably.” the bar keep said, “Nothing here has changed as long as I’ve been here.”

  “And how long would that be?” Seltet asked.

  “Let me see now, it must be ten, no, eleven days now.”

  “What happened to your predecessor?” she asked.

  “Something was eating him. Then he disappeared.” He gave a mirthless laugh, which was echoed by some of the customers. “That wreck of a spaceship you came in, does it fly OK or did you crash land here.”

  “It’s OK.” Mark said. “It got us here, it will take us out again.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, mammal. It’s an old wreck, but it’s a good size. It must have some scrap value.”

  “Yeah, but that scrap value is ours. Do you serve drinks here or do you just talk?” Kar Fen said, moving up to the bar.

  “You don’t get any drinks here. This is where you end, then we’ll take care of your ship.” The bar keep opened his jaws wide and made a high pitched squealing noise. The people sitting at the tables all jumped up, sending chairs flying out behind them and started moving toward the team, drawing knives and short swords. Moments later the doors in the back wall of the bar burst open and an enormous reptile strode in. At almost four meters tall, it dwarfed Kar Fen.

  “What the hell is that?” Mark asked, stunned by the size of it.

  “It’s a fucking Mardor!” Simon said. “We could be in the shit here Mark. We’re outnumbered and those things are almost unstoppable.”

  The Mardor opened its mouth and bellowed. “Mammals. Good. I need fresh mammal meat.”

  The doors burst open again and another Mardor strode in. “Did someone mention fresh mammal meat?”

  “It’s been good knowing you Mark, but don’t despair, we’ll go down fighting.” Turning to the rest of the team, Simon said, “Orange, Kar Fen, Ranesh, we’ll tackle the Mardors, the rest of you – fight the good fight. We’ll meet again in the great hunting grounds.”

  “You’re going nowhere!” the barkeep said and pulled a battered RX4040 out from under the bar.

  Kar Fen reached out and grasped the back of the bar keeps head. He slammed it down on the bar, driving its extended upper and lower jaw back into its skull, then pressing down hard until its skull gave a loud crack and collapsed with a splash of crushed bone, gray brain tissue and blood. He grabbed the RX4040 from the lifeless claws of the barkeep and faced the oncoming crowd.

  “Forget your plan Simon!” Mark shouted. “You all take the bastards in the bar.” and pointing to the two giant reptiles continued, “Those two are mine!”