First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “Not very, the ceremony for the First of the First to formally announce his abdication is short. The protocols are well established. It is done in a formal, private meeting with his most senior advisors, his cabinet. The raising of the First Born of the First Family to the First of the First Family is in a highly public ceremony which is mercifully simple and brief.

  Sally smiled, nodded and joined Mike at the entrance to the shuttle.

  Chapter Sixty Four

  The Agenda

  As soon as the shuttle door closed, Sally asked Mike, “What did the Colonel want to speak to you about?”

  “She wanted to know if the rumors were true that I planned to make major changes to the way the Empire is governed. She obviously has informers in the rebels.”

  “You told her of course. How did she react?”

  “She was quite relaxed about it. She said the reason she spent so much time with me when I was a child was because she didn’t like the way I wasn’t allowed to play with other children because I was destined to take over the rule of the Empire, and she thought that the aristocratic system was outdated, unfair and corrupt. She is all for making a change.”

  “It would be helpful if she was on your side, but she is only responsible for security in the city of Tefran, not even the whole planet.”

  “She said there are plenty more in the Herassan Combined Armed Forces throughout the Empire who sympathize with her. Her position here gives her a lot of influence. No one has heard of most of the colonels scattered throughout the Empire, but everybody knows who Colonel Drad Ki Jass is.”

  “Let’s hope she can keep the army in check. But right now we need to know what the timetable for your raising is. Major Bryd Sa Dett said the ceremony itself is fairly brief.”

  “Yeah, but afterwards I have to go into a meeting with my cabinet, who I inherit from my father until I reorganize it, which by tradition happens the day after the raising.

  We have a meal during which, by tradition, no-one speaks about politics or the future, which must make conversation difficult. When we've finished eating, the Defense and Security Advisor makes a brief speech about how the entire population would lay down their lives for the First of the First, the Finance Advisor makes a speech about how wealthy the Empire is, I make a speech about how much I appreciate their loyalty, and what I plan to achieve during my reign. By tradition, the objective for the reign is bullshit about growing and strengthening the Empire and the plan for the year is for stability and continuing as before. When I finish speaking, a smoking bowl is passed round for everyone to inhale until we're all whacked out. Then I leave and they all start bickering about who's going to do what in the new cabinet.

  “I don’t know what to expect from them, but when they know that I plan to take away all their privilege and power, they may decide that’s the time to deal with me. I would be surprised if some of the cabinet don’t have informers in the rebels, so they are going to be ready for me, that's why I would like you and Mark to come with me into the meeting. Would you do that?”

  “Of course we will,” Sally said, “but how will they react to having two people who are not Herassan aristocrats coming into a cabinet meeting, particularly as we aren’t even reptiles?”

  “They will be very pissed off, but if they are loyal to the position of the First of the First, they’ll say nothing at the meeting but make a diplomatic comment to me after the meeting finishes. If they are not loyal, then it will probably infuriate them so much that they’ll show their hands immediately. However violent they may become; it would alienate the people if any of them are hurt. I’m not sure how we can contain them without injuring them.”

  “You won’t be doing anything. You have to stay aloof from getting physically involved, at first anyway. Mark and I will control any who might take direct action. I have a plan. No one will be injured. What happens after the meeting?”

  “I go into my personal quarters to sign a pile of paper documents – how archaic - to confirm my accession to the throne of the First of the First, then to confirm the positions of all the senior officers of the armed forces. Then, to confirm the positions of the members of the royal household who keep it running – maintain the building and grounds, keep it cleaned, arrange transport, make sure there are enough qualified and trained volunteer staff that the Palace needs, it just goes on and on. I’ll be safe there. By tradition, to ensure that there is no pressure put on the new First of the First, they are accompanied by just one close advisor, and usually it’s the Colonel in charge of Palace and City security. That works well for me, because one of the few people I completely trust in Tefran is Colonel Drad Ki Jass. She will protect me from anyone.”

  “How long does that last?”

  I’ve been told it takes two or three hours, depending on whether I want to make any changes. I don’t at this stage, so maybe two hours, but then I need to prepare for the banquet. That’s for all the heads of the aristocratic families, but no outsiders. I’ll decree an exception for you and Mark, but the rest of the team won’t be able to attend. I’ll need suggestions for a four course menu for each of you, along with patterns for a synthesizer. I don’t anticipate that the Palace kitchens will have the ingredients to make meals for either of you from scratch, and bear in mind that Herassan synthesizers aren’t as sophisticated as the army ones, so it would be best to keep it simple. When that’s over, I can leave, but we’ll have to sneak out through one of the rear entrances. The new First of the First is supposed to spend the night in the palace, but apparently they usually leave to get away from it all until the next day, so there won’t be a problem. If anyone notices, they’ll turn a blind eye.”

  “Do you need to be at the Palace tomorrow?”

  “No, I don’t need to go there again until the raising ceremony. There is one other thing.”

  “Oh yes? And what would that be?” Sally asked suspiciously.

  “Drad Ki Jass said having you and the team there would be frowned upon, the ceremony is for the Herassan people and is supposed to be by Herassans, but as I am nominally a Colonel in the army, she said it was acceptable. Having three of the People there – that’s different. Most Herassans resent the People, which isn’t surprising, most of the galaxy resents them. She asked if they would stay away. I know that this should be the last ever raising of the First Born, but it is, in a way, my legacy, and I don’t want it tarnished by having it look like the People had something to do with it being the last, and she really doesn’t like Bob.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that, but don’t expect me to tell them. My advice is, talk to Alan about it. Sean seems to lack experience and I wouldn’t trust Bob to act in a way that we would consider rational. For all his faults, which are plentiful, Alan does have some understanding of how the galaxy works outside the sphere of the People. Be open with him, he will find a way to explain it to Sean and Bob.”

  The shuttle had reached the rebel headquarters, or the Herassan Freedom Movement headquarters as they were officially known now, a legitimate and legally constituted political movement. Sally still had them registered as an ‘Area Of Interest’ though, just in case.

  “Do you think now is a good time for us to speak to Alan?” Mike asked.

  “I told you, you are on your own with this and you need to do it soon . Come on Mike, you’re about to take the throne of one of the biggest Empires in the galaxy and then tell all the people in power they are fired, and you’re nervous about telling someone they can’t come to what is going to be a very boring ceremony? He’ll be delighted not to have to go. I would be.”

  “Thanks for your support Sally!” snapped Mike “You don’t have to come either. I’ll stay close to Mark and you can, you can do what you like!”

  Mike almost ran out of the shuttle, leaving Sally still sitting. ‘Was it something I said?’ She shrugged her shoulders then sat still with her eyes closed while she composed and sent a few messages.

  Chapter Sixty Five

  T
raining

  Sally’s AI guided her to Mark. “What did you do to piss Mike off so much?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. One moment we were talking about Alan, the next minute she stomped off. It must be stress. Could you calm her down a bit? She doesn’t have anything to do until the day after tomorrow, so she can get wasted tonight.”

  Mark frowned. He hadn’t known Mike long, but it seemed to him there was more to it than just stress.

  “Update me on how the training is progressing.” Sally said.

  “While you’ve been away there have been more volunteers. Sha Ast Ral and I have been out in a lander collecting them. Kar Fen has been taking the new recruits and getting them kitted out. We’re giving them all a new jumpsuit in pale green, Sha Ast Ral chose the color. When they’ve got their jumpsuit uniform, body armor and helmet on, he gives them a weapon - without ammunition, shows them how to carry it and takes them for a ten kilometer run. We’ve set up a makeshift recovery room in the warehouse for those who collapsed when they got back. There are quite a lot of them. Orange takes the recruits that can still stand and gives them an introduction into basic army regulations and discipline. They are all too frightened of him to argue when he tells them they’ve got to follow orders without question from their officers – when they’ve got some, and from the team, even though we’re aliens and some of us are mammals.”

  “He was a good choice for the role, but I can’t see the rebels – I mean the Freedom Movement defense force, being happy about taking orders from us. And I don’t want us to be leading them or having anything to do with them operationally.”

  “We’ve got that covered. Sha Ast Ral has picked out five people she trusts, and they are getting intensive training to get them ready for the honor guard. Seltet and Touren are doing that, and as long as they shape up, they will be the senior officers in the defense force. Simon has picked out twenty for accelerated training and split them into two groups. They do a third of a day training, a third of a day guard duty and have a third of a day to sleep. As long as they make the grade, they will be in line for the next tier of officers.”

  “You’ve been busy while I’ve been away.”

  “Well, yeah. I was at the team meeting when it was decided, but it was mostly Simon who worked it out. Sha Ast Ral was there too, so she’s bought into it.”

  “You need to develop your leadership skills Mark. You’re getting there, but the most important thing you can do to become a great leader, is to surround yourself with great people, people who you can trust and are very, very good at what they do. Simon has spent a long time in a lot of different armies. He knows how things work. If ever you’re in any doubt about organizing troops, ask Simon. Talking of good people, It’s a pity Ti’rrk isn’t with us, she is the best I know at communication skills. If she was with us, we would never have had the problem with Colonel Drad Ki Jass.”

  “Why isn’t she with us?”

  “Because she’s still on Bob’s ship, negotiating with the remnants of Tk’ng Dach Rm’s army. I tried to get her to join us, but her hive won’t let her leave yet.”

  “OK. I’m going to see Simon and check how the training is progressing.

  ◆◆◆

  “How are your twenty recruits doing Simon?” Mark asked.

  “They’re OK, for rookies.”

  “They can’t be any worse than me when I was pressed into fighting with you.”

  “They don’t whine and complain as much, but I don’t think they’ll take to fighting as quickly as you did.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “They’re on the way up to the Swift with Bekkreshan and Ranesh. They’re going to teach them how to use their weapons.”

  “The weapons range won’t be finished yet, that’s not going to be usable until tomorrow morning!”

  “Relax. The firing ranges are all built, and that’s all we’re going to use right now. The maintenance bots are working through the ranges putting the mechanics for moving the targets in and they’ve finished about half of them, so there are more than enough ready to use now.”

  “Oh, OK. Why Ranesh and Bekkreshan?”

  “Ranesh is a good shot and she’ll scare the shit out of them, Bekkreshan is a good teacher and she can just about control Ranesh. They’ve been friends for a long time. Sha Ast Ral and her team are up there next. They’ve got a lot to learn about how to handle weapons before they get into the honor guard. They are having trouble learning how to march without dropping them.”

  “Yeah, about that. They might be the Herassan Freedom Movement now, but they were rebels up until a couple of days ago, and there’s a saying on Earth ‘one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist’.”

  “I’ve never heard it put like that before, but there’s truth in it. So you think that they shouldn’t be carrying weapons in the palace?”

  “No. Or wearing body armor. If they look like they are disciplined soldiers and can march in time with each other it will send a message without being threatening.”

  “That makes sense. We’ll have enough weaponry in the team, and we’ll have three of the People with us, so we should be OK if the Herassans aren’t armed. And if they’re not carrying weapons, I won’t need to worry about them being dropped, and if they aren’t wearing body armor, maybe they’ll stop bumping into each other when they’re trying to march.”

  “They’re that bad?”

  Simon grinned, “You’d have to see it to believe it! Well done Mark, You’ve solved that problem. I’ve got some more I’ll share with you.”

  “Before you do that, I’m a bit concerned about the ten kilometer run in body armor Orange is making the new recruits do. The best of them are getting back knackered and we’re having to send some of the trainees out in ground cars to pick up the ones that have collapsed on the way back. What’s the point of doing that?”

  “It’s to give them a benchmark so they can appreciate the progress they are making. If we stay here long enough to get them fully trained, they’ll end up doing regular twenty kilometer runs with body armor, a loaded weapon and a full backpack. They’ll look back at this and see how far they have come and be proud of it. So, don’t worry, we’ll go easy on them once they’ve done that first run.”

  “Could you drop the first run down to five kilometers? It will still wear most of them out without the need for medical treatment.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. I’ll speak to Orange.” Simon said.

  “OK, and I’ll speak to Seltet, Touren and Sha Ast Ral about not having the Herassans in the honor guard armed, then I need to speak to Mike.”

  ◆◆◆

  Mark found Mike watching Seltet and Touren putting Sha Ast Ral and her team through their paces, marching them in two rows of three. As he approached he saw the middle one of the Herassans in the front row drop their assault rifle, stoop to pick it up and get knocked over by the one behind, who fell over and landed on top of him. Unfamiliar with their body armor and still a bit clumsy with it, the Herassan to the right of the one that tripped over stumbled and thrust her left arm out to get balance, and knocked over their comrade on the left.

  Mark only partially managed to suppress a grin at the chaos. Seltet glared at him and said, “It’s not funny Mark! We’ve only got the rest of today and tomorrow to get these in shape to be in the honor guard at the palace.”

  “Would it be easier without weapons and body armor?” Mark asked.

  “Of course it would! But we haven’t got time to train them to march in step without them and then have to start again to have then ready to march with weapons and body armor by tomorrow.”

  “Take a break for a few minutes, I’d like to speak to Touren, Mike and you about an idea.”

  Mark quickly went over what he had discussed with Simon. All three agreed with his idea to disarm the Herassans for the honor guard. Even Seltet smiled. She and Touren went back to the trainees to break the good news.

  “Mike, are you busy right now?
” Mark asked.

  “Do I look busy?”

  “No, I was being polite.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to sit on the beach by the pool and talk to you, or we could find an empty beach on Tefran”

  “Talk to me or at me? You and Sally seem to do that a lot.”

  “That’s not fair. Sally might talk at you, a bit, but you have spent a lot of time lately asking her to do things for you, and you did piss her off when you asked Bob to talk to you about leadership and not ask her.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. It was a waste of time anyway. Bob’s idea of leadership is to think carefully about what he wants to do, then tell people to do it. He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of getting agreement or buy in or taking advice. Sally is autocratic, but she will delegate, consult with others, and she will listen to those that disagree with her and sometimes changes her mind. That doesn’t excuse her though.”