First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  Mike turned over and looked up at Sally. “I know you’ve got it. I’ve thought you had it for a long time. So does Simon. What clinched it for me is when you and Mark pulled me out when Brel Edd Senn’s thugs shot me. When you went flying in there like an enraged animal they wouldn’t have kept firing at me and Mark. You weren’t wearing body armor and you didn’t get shot? Even you’re not that lucky.”

  “I won’t deny it. I’m not going to lie to you.”

  “How did you get it? You’ve never liked the People.”

  Sally sat on the sand next to Mike. “You’ve heard all the stories about me. You know the story of the Celestial Heaven mission?”

  Mike sat up. “Yeah. Your mission squad got ambushed. You were a fresh young Corporal. That’s where Seltet’s partner Por Aruf got killed.”

  Sally looked down at the sand for a moment, then looked up at Mike again. “Yes. It was a shambles. Good people died.”

  “Soldiers die Sally. It’s what we do. We all know the risks. You got injured, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but I was one of the lucky ones. I lived. I almost didn’t. I lost a leg and got a bit broken up, I had severe brain damage.”

  “So that’s where you got brain damage. It explains a lot.”

  “Don’t push your luck, soldier!” Sally snapped at her, then continued, “I could have been healed in the hospital on Celestial Heaven, they had state of the art medi-tech there and they could have fixed the brain damage so that I was almost as good as new, but I couldn’t have been a soldier anymore. Alan kidnapped me and treated me on Mother. The People’s medi-tech completely re-built and replaced the damaged area of my brain. He even rebuilt the synaptic connections, so I didn’t have to re-learn any motor skills. While I was there, Alan implanted the phase shift protection without my permission or knowledge.”

  “Why? I’ve never heard of them giving it to anyone who wasn’t one of the People, except for Friends of the People. And why didn’t he ask you first, or tell you afterwards?”

  “I guess he didn’t ask me because he knew I would have said no, and if he’d told me afterwards he knew I would have insisted he removed it.”

  “OK, but why did he implant it in you?”

  “Because he thought I was potentially a valuable asset for peacekeeping in the galaxy. I spoke to him about it for the first time a couple of days ago.”

  “It doesn’t seem to be the same as Mark’s. You still get minor injuries. He doesn’t.”

  “It is the same, I just don’t have the same control, yet. And remember I broke Mark’s nose when he had it? And another time I knocked out one of his teeth.” She smiled. “Remember that time I ripped up his back?” She held her hand out and extended her claws. They both laughed at the memory of that. She stood and said, “I’ll be back.” and blinked out.

  Mike rolled back onto her stomach to watch the waves again.

  A few minutes later, Sally blinked back and said with a smile, “I have full control of my phase shift armor now.”

  Mike looked up at her and frowned. “But you need a People’s AI to control it.” Then with a flash of realization she said, “You’ve got a People’s AI, haven’t you!”

  Sally sighed. “Yes, but don’t tell anyone! Not even Simon.”

  “What about Mark?”

  “Yes, of course he’s got a People’s AI.”

  “No, I meant, does he know you’ve got a Peoples AI?

  “Yes, but don’t say anything to him about it. In fact, forget I have it. Or at least, act as if you’ve forgotten. Can you do that?”

  Mike sprung to her feet and hugged Sally. “Of course I can Sally. You are just like a sister to me, the person I most like and trust. My big sister of course, because you order me about a lot.”

  “It’s funny you say that; someone recently said the same thing about you.”

  “It must have been that freaky mammal Mark. Yeah, I can see it. He’s a bit like a dumb younger brother, trying to pretend he’s a grown up, when he really hasn’t a clue about what’s going on around him. At least he’s stopped acting like a whiny kid.”

  They both laughed, Sally said, “He thinks you’re like a sassy little sister, always giving him lip and answering back.” That made Mike laugh even more.

  “The two of us should come here by ourselves more often,” Sally said, but right now, you’d better contact Colonel Drad Ki Jass and see if she’ll agree to a meeting. Tell her we’ll be coming without body armor and unarmed to apologize about the meeting with Bob and Orange. Tell her we want a friendly and cooperative relationship, but don’t back off about the timing of the visit or the make-up of your honor guard. Make the meeting as soon as possible, and let her set the timing, preferably in a secluded location. We’ll take Mark’s shuttle. It doesn’t look as threatening as a military lander. We could do with a better relationship with Bryd Sa Dett too, but I’ll leave it to your discretion.”

  “I’ll send her a message right now. Tell me, you made me a Colonel when I met the rebels. Am I still a Colonel in your army?”

  “You can be a Colonel for as long as you like Mike. It doesn’t make any real difference in the army, like all the core team, you carry my authority, so even the other Colonels should take orders from you, but I can see it can make a difference to outsiders.”

  “Good. The meeting will be Colonel to Colonel, with a General and a Major attending.”

  Chapter Sixty Three

  The Summerhouse Meeting

  Colonel Drad Ki Jass was surprisingly amenable to a meeting with Sally and Mike. She suggested they could meet in the summerhouse at the edge of the woods behind the lake in the Palace grounds, and as she was already on her way to the Palace with Bryd Sa Dett, they could meet in one hour. Mike blinked out to have a shower and get a fresh army style jumpsuit – with Colonel’s insignia.

  Sally blinked out to shower and get a fresh uniform on, and now that she had full access to her phase shift protection, to have a discussion with her AI about how to control it. She also messaged Mark to tell him she was commandeering his shuttle. As he was on Tefran, she didn’t think he’d want it anyway.

  Mike was waiting by the shuttle when Sally blinked down. The external doors to the dock were already open, the atmosphere held in by an energy field.

  “We are running a bit late. We’re going to have to go in supersonic if we’re going to get there on time.” Mike said.

  “We can’t create a sonic boom over the city. I told Mark to get the Swift to blink into the upper atmosphere just long enough for the shuttle to leave the dock, and we can get to the meeting location sub sonically. Get in, we need to leave now.”

  As soon as they entered the shuttle, the Swift blinked briefly into the thin upper atmosphere of Tefran while the shuttle left the bay, quickly accelerating to just below supersonic speed, then adjusting its speed as it descended. It came to rest by the summer house a few minutes early. Two figures stood waiting for them by the entrance of the building. Sally stepped out first, with her arms outstretched, hands open and palms up in the accepted sign of being unarmed.

  Colonel Drad Ki Jass stepped forward. “General, welcome to Tefran. Please drop your hands, that is not necessary. I trust Hess An Sur to have come unarmed, and by extension, I also trust you.” She turned to Mike. “Hessy, it is so good to see you again. You are wearing the insignia of a Colonel. I had not realized you had progressed your military career so much.”

  “It is good to see you again Drad. Let me introduce you formally to General Sally, leader of the largest independent army in the galaxy.”

  “I believe your army has grown somewhat of late General, and it is now the biggest army of any kind in the galaxy. I hope you don’t entertain any ideas of galactic domination.”

  Sally smiled at the Colonel. “I have no such ambition Colonel. I am comforted by the fact that the People would not allow that to happen if I were to change my mind or if my successor should get any such ideas.”

  “Hmm. I have no
love for the People,” the Colonel said, “my recent meeting with your emissary has hardened my low opinion of them.”

  “I apologize for asking Bob to accompany Orange to meet with you. I believed he was an experienced and diplomatic negotiator. We saw the recording that Orange’s AI made of the meeting. Bob’s behavior was outrageous and unforgivable. The only sanction I can take against Bob is to never again allow him to attend a meeting with one of my allies.”

  “You see us as allies? If I may say so General, your actions so far do not incline me to see you in the same light. Maybe not as enemies, but somewhere between the two.”

  “In that case Colonel, I need to build some bridges between us. How can I do that?”

  “You could start by not insisting that your soldiers, a bunch of outlaw rebels and three of the People provide the honor guard for the First Born of the First Family. It is the custom and the duty for the Palace Guard to escort her to the throne.”

  “I am not the one insisting on the arrangements Colonel. I am merely acquiescing to the request of my friend Hess An Sur. I cannot refuse the request of such a close friend.

  “I see.” she said. Turning to Mike, the Colonel asked, “Is this correct Hessy? You would give precedence to alien soldiers, the People and outlaws over the loyal soldiers of the Herassan Palace Guard?”

  Mike stepped forward and took Colonel Drad Ki Jass’ hand. “Drad, the alien soldiers are my friends. They have protected me for three and a half thousand years. I have fought beside them. They have risked their lives for me and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again. As for the People, I have no love for them either, General Sally has even less, but they are powerful allies and we will need their help in the future. Their presence and overt support for the Empire also sends a signal to any that would harm us, that an attack on us would have terrible consequences for them. The rebels are not a threat. They had been infiltrated and taken over by an alien terrorist who was intent on turning them into a revolutionary group to overthrow the government and break up the Empire. He has been removed, as have his henchmen, but before he, uh, left, he boasted that he had also infiltrated the aristocracy who govern the Empire.”

  “I have heard something of this terrorist leader, Brel Edd Senn. I didn’t know that he was an alien, but I have heard that he had been killed by a would-be successor to him as leader of the rebels. Would you happen to know who that was?”

  “You wouldn’t have asked me that if you hadn’t known the answer.”

  The Colonel smiled. “Let us go inside the summer house, we’ll be more comfortable in there.”

  As they walked, the Colonel said, “Do you remember when we used to sit in there, Hessy?”

  “Yes,” Mike smiled, “and I remember you showing me how to skim stones across the lake and teaching me to climb trees. Do you remember the tree house we built?”

  “I had forgotten that, the Colonel said. Those were happy days.”

  “They were happy on the days that I escaped and played out here with you, but most of the time I was a prisoner, guarded by my ‘carers’. Looking back, I’m surprised you didn’t get in trouble for not bringing me back in sooner.”

  “The Major I reported to then had a pretty good idea what was going on. He had a soft spot for you and turned a blind eye.”

  “I remember him, Major Ahrn Ben Gose?”

  “That’s him.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He was old when you were young. When you disappeared, the pressure put on him during the search took its toll on him and he retired. He did the usual things when people have had a long life. He toured the galaxy, then settled down to a quiet life as a recluse. He is living on a mixed race agrarian colony near the end of the Trian galactic arm. I visit him sometimes. He is happy there.”

  “That’s a long way to go. It must take a lot of wormhole hops for you to get all that way.”

  The Colonel smiled. “It’s the one thing the People are good for. I have always managed to find one of their ships who will take me there when I wanted to go, and they will always come and bring me back when I ask.”

  Sally greeted Major Bryd Sa Dett formally, and they all took a seat at the rustic stone table in the summerhouse. The Major asked Sally, “Why have you come here General?”

  “To apologize for the way that Bob, a member of the People, behaved when he met you and the Colonel. It was unforgivable and I am truly sorry.”

  “To be frank General, the two times we have met you have been – less than diplomatic.”

  “The first time we met, Mark and I were there to protect and support Hess An Sur. If you hadn’t attempted to restrain her against her will, it would have been a civilized meeting - apart from Hess An Sur’s playfulness. The second time we met, at the palace, we were all under stress after Hess An Sur’s kidnapping and although tempers became frayed on both sides, I was doing exactly the same as you were, doing my best to rescue her. I rejected your offer of working together because I thought it would hinder my team and possibly endanger yours. I have a great deal of respect for you Major, and believe you are a man of honor. I realize that you have a difficult job to do, particularly when you are dealing with Hess An Sur. I can tell you that when she is on a mission or on the front line, she is an outstanding soldier, one you would be glad to have at your side. I hope that going forward we can work together in harmony, drawing on each other’s strengths and knowledge. To that end, with the Colonel’s permission, I would like to invite you to spend some time with me and my team to get to know us and how we operate.”

  Major Bryd Sa Dett’s eyes opened wide in surprise at her offer, and he turned to look at Colonel Grad Ki Jass. She said, “Those are conciliatory words and a generous offer General, but the offer you make is one of a friend and close ally. At the moment, you are neither of those. It would be best to earn that status first. To us, you are unwanted alien interlopers. We have limited time available for this meeting, we need to return to the Palace to prepare for the First of the First’s formal announcement of his abdication tomorrow, and to prepare for the ceremony to install the First Born of the First Family to the position of the new First of the First. I would like a few minutes with Hess An Sur before you leave. You will excuse us?”

  “Of course.” Sally said, rising to her feet.

  “You may stay here,” the Colonel said. “Hessy and I will walk in the woods.” She stood and held a hand out to Mike, who rose from her seat and took it, then they walked out of the summer house together.”

  “Did you mean what you said General, or were those words for the Colonel’s benefit?”

  “I am no diplomat Major. There is no time to be diplomatic on the battlefield. I mean what I say, and if I had felt differently, I would have said so.”

  The Major smiled. “I think I am beginning to understand you General. We are not so different.”

  Sally smiled. “You are right. We are both soldiers. I was young and inexperienced when I joined up. All I wanted to do was get at the kind of outcasts that devastated my world and kill them. I expected to die trying. My early time in the army was hard. I came up through the ranks until I’d had enough of incompetent Generals and formed my own small independent army. It was a long time ago, but it is fresh in my mind.”

  “I know something of your history General.” he said. “The destruction of Aarn must have been very hard for you. I joined the armed forces as a young man, but I have never seen the kind of action that you and your army have. The stories about your army say that you are still active on the front line, or at least you were when you were a Colonel, but it must be different now you are General of your army.”

  Sally sighed. “I don’t want it to change Major. I was born a hunter, but I was made a warrior. For better or worse, I was a killer of prey, I am now a killer of those who would disrupt the peace of the galaxy.” She smiled. “It was hard for me to go easy on your troops on your ship.”

  The Major laughed. “I don’t think my soldiers thought
you were going easy on them. To tell the truth, when I saw you in action I was terrified!”

  Sally said, “I promise Major, our role on Tefran is to preserve life, not take it. But if anyone should threaten the life or wellbeing of Hess An Sur, or anyone under my protection, my team will counter them with deadly force.”

  “That is the same as our remit General. Colonel Drad Ki Jass is right, we are not allies, but neither are we enemies. If you are agreeable, perhaps we could have an informal agreement to consider each other’s soldiers come under our respective protections?”

  “That is a prudent and pragmatic proposal Major. I will instruct my team and make it quite clear to the members of the Herassan Freedom Movement defense force that their role includes protecting the Palace Guard. I can see Hess An Sur and Colonel Drad Ki Jass coming back. I must leave now. I guess you are going to be very busy tomorrow.”