First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “My information about the General is the same as yours. I have issued orders to all the loyal troops I am in contact with to arrest him on sight. Major Raff Bel Grat was with two platoons of City Guards and ordered them to fire on civilian protesters. Captain Beff Ard Kell told his troops to ignore the order on the grounds that it was not legal. Major Raff Bel Grat pulled out his hand held pulse weapon and shot the Captain, wounding him in the arm. The Captain carried a handheld kinetic energy weapon which he used to blow the Majors brains out. The Captain came to me and surrendered himself for the murder of his commanding officer. I put him in temporary charge of the loyal City Guard for the duration of the emergency and promised a recommendation for clemency when his case comes before the court martial.”

  “What do you think Sally?” Mike asked.

  “You know what to do, First of the First.” Sally answered.

  “Yes. I do. Major, I am promoting you as of now to Colonel with the responsibility for the security of Tefran, I expect you to make a recommendation of who in your ranks should be promoted to the position of Major and take the responsibility as commander of the Palace Guard. If you agree, I will promote Captain Beff Ard Kell to Major to take charge of the City Guard. Both of the Majors would of course report to you and carry out their duties under your direction. Do you think Beff Ard Kell is a suitable candidate? You don’t have to answer now, but I want an answer by the end of the day.”

  “I can give you an answer now First – I mean Sir. The Captain would be a good choice.”

  “In that case, I want to meet all the loyal senior offices on the planet here tomorrow morning at first light when I will formally announce the changes. Now that there is no aristocratic advisory cabinet to confirm these changes, I will have to do it myself. I will have a reporter from the Tefran Central Update VR news channel to record it and it will be broadcast to the Empire. There will be no charges against the Captain, his record will show that he carried out his duty and killed the Major in self-defense while preventing him from carrying out a treasonous action.

  “We have one other issue to resolve. There is no overall commander of the Combined Armed Services. I am considering you for the role, but I know that you do not have sufficient experience. However you are a loyal and trustworthy soldier. I have a proposal to make to you. General Sally has spoken to an experienced academic who has studied the history of armed forces and conflicts for a long time. I’m not sure how many thousands of years he has been studying this, but he is one of the most experienced scholars of military structures in the galaxy. He also has a long and distinguished background of consulting for independent as well as state armed forces. He is currently working with General Sally’s army to restructure in the face of the massive expansion they are undergoing at the moment. Sally is prepared to release him, and he is willing to act as consultant and advisor to the new Commander. He is obviously an alien, and he is also a mammal. I have three questions for you, and I do not want an answer straight away. Could you work with an alien mammal in such a potentially sensitive and powerful position? Would you guarantee his safety and wellbeing while he was within Herassan territory? Finally and most importantly, if I were to offer you the promotion, would you accept it? I need your answer within four days. Now, unless you have any questions, this meeting is concluded.”

  The Major looked thoughtful. “I won’t need four days Sir. I could give you an answer now, but I’ll sleep on your proposal and answer tomorrow.” He stood and said. “Thank you for the honor of visiting Sir, and for the promotion to Colonel. I will make arrangements for as many senior officers as possible to be present tomorrow and will arrange for a secure message to go to all loyal units in the Empire to inform them of the changes. With your permission, I will also request status reports from all units, using your authority.”

  “Of course. Where are you with the cabinet members?”

  “All are in custody and being kept separate, except the Treasury Advisor, we found him dead inside a locked room in the Palace.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if the Defense and Security Advisor had something to do with that.” Mark said.

  “Possibly.” the newly promoted Colonel Bryd Sa Dett said. “He keeps demanding to be released, making threats and he has attempted to bribe some of my Palace Guards with favors and property if they help him escape, reminding them that he is the head of the second most powerful and wealthy aristocratic families.”

  “By wealthy’ I presume he means his family owns a lot of land and property.” Mike said. “In that case, inform all your troops that the former Defense and Security Advisor’s family have, by my decree, been stripped of their aristocratic titles, all their lands, properties and personal possessions for multiple acts of treason, for crimes against the state, plotting against the First of the First and breach of the common law. Consider it a priority to form a task force to seize all their assets and return anything portable to the palace. Evict the family from their properties and place guards with order to arrest any of them who put up any resistance. If there are any in the civilian security services you trust, co-opt them to assist you. I’m sure that scumbag was responsible for the death of the First Advisor and I know he was one of the prime movers behind the coup. I’ll make an example of him to encourage the others to be more co-operative.”

  Mike stood to signal the end of the meeting. Sally and Mark took their cue to stand too. “Thank you Colonel, I will return before first light tomorrow. By the way, I think our lander may have left some dents in your lawn.” She turned and strode out the office while Sally and Mark made hasty farewells and followed her. The guards waiting to escort them back to their lander had to quick march to keep up with the pace Mike was setting.

  Once back on the lander, Mark said, “That was pretty good Mike. Did Sally script it for you?”

  “It was nothing to do with me,” Sally said. “I’m as surprised as you.”

  “I think I might be getting the hang of this.” Mike said.

  Chapter Ninety Six

  Mark Double Dates

  Mark sat at the meeting room table opposite Mike. Sally sat at the head of the table.

  “I need to formally declare the area around the Freedom Movement HQ as being no longer an Area Of Interest. How do I do that now you have no cabinet?” Sally said.

  “I’ve no idea. I’ve got rid of the advisors, but there must be people underneath them who actually do something.”

  “Well, First of the First, you are in charge, so I guess you ought to know how your administration works. You’d better find out.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “I don’t know. As I said, you’re in charge, you’re head of the government, First of the First. You could try asking one of your advisors, except you got all the surviving ones locked up. They might not be very helpful.”

  “I’ll help you.” Mark said. “Send Bryd a message, tell him you’re coming to the palace and you need to meet whoever is the most senior person in the government administration now that you have sacked your cabinet. I’ll come with you. I can’t believe your civil service can be any more byzantine than IFG’s central administration, and I’ve had to deal with them too many times with the shitty projects I worked on there.”

  “Thanks Mark.” Mike said brightening up. “I can leave it all to you.”

  “No you can’t, I said I would help you, not do it for you.”

  “Same thing.” Mike said. “We can do that tomorrow morning when we finish the meeting with the senior officers.”

  “What’s this ‘we’? I’m not sitting in on that. I’ve had more than enough boring military briefings that Sally’s given when I haven’t had a choice about going.” Mark said.

  He noticed the hard faced stare Sally was giving him. “Not that your meetings aren’t, uh, inspiring and, um, informative.” Sally’s expression didn’t change. “And did I mention fun?” he added.

  Sally rolled her eyes. “Next briefing, you’re going to do part
of it. I’ll do the bit that matters then you can waffle and spout bullshit until someone throws something at you. I’ll provide everyone with a rock.”

  Mark smiled at Sally. She glared back.

  “Remind me not to let you do anything that needs diplomacy.” Mike said. “Just be ready with briefing notes for me about everything we need to cover tomorrow.”

  “Get lost. I’ve got plans for tonight.”

  “Not if they involve me you haven’t.” Sally said, still looking angry with him.

  “You’ve blown that, mammal boy.” Mike said with a smirk. “Meet me here half an hour before our meeting in Tefran tomorrow morning. That will give us time to get there early and you can brief me on the way down. I’m going for a swim, then I’m meeting Orange, Simon and Kar Fen in the bar. Don’t be late.” She stood and blinked out.

  “Don’t think you’re going to sleep in my bed tonight. I wouldn’t want to bore you.” Sally said coldly.

  “It’s our bed and it’s in our room. I’m not sleeping on the bloody floor again!” Mark said.

  “Fine, you sleep in ‘our’ bed. I’m sleeping on the beach!”

  “I hope it rains!” Mark said as he stood up and blinked to the command center, realizing that it never rains in an artificial environment unless you tell it to. He toyed with the idea of telling the main AI to make it rain in the pool during the night but realized that his AI would override his order if Sally was in there. He noticed the command center was back to normal. “Thanks Kate.” he said to his AI.

  “You’re welcome Mark. You don’t need to produce a briefing document for Mike. I have the Herassan government structure and I will produce an agenda with accompanying briefing notes for you. As you have offended Sally just now and she probably needs time to cool off, why don’t you have a meal and drinks with some of the team tonight?”

  “I don’t fancy a night with Mike, Simon, Kar Fen and Orange getting wasted.”

  “Seltet might like to join you, and Ranesh is alone in her quarters, as usual.”

  “OK, make a connection with Seltet,”

  “Hi Mark.” Seltet answered. “What do you need?”

  “If you’re not busy, would you like to join me for a meal and drinks tonight?”

  “Sure. I was due to spend the evening with Touren and Bekkreshan, but I just had a message that they can’t make it.”

  “Great. I’ll meet you in the dining room in an hour.” Mark said and disconnected.

  “Make a connection with Ranesh.” Mark said to his AI.

  “Yeah?” Ranesh answered.

  “If you’ve not got anything else on tonight, would you like to join Seltet and me for something to eat and drink tonight”

  “No.”

  “Why not.”

  “I don’t socialize.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t. That’s it.”

  “I’ve had a bad afternoon Ranesh. I could do with some company.”

  “What happened?”

  “I pissed Sally off. She’s really angry with me.”

  There was silence from Ranesh, then Mark heard her breathing out hard. “All right. Where?”

  “Dining room in an hour, then we’ll go to the bar for drinks.”

  “OK.” Ranesh cut the connection.

  “Wow! I’ve just made dates with two women!” Mark said.

  “Is that a notable achievement for you?” his AI asked.

  “Yes! I’ve only been on two dates before and one of those was a blind date.” He shuddered at the memory of it. “The other one was with Sally.”

  “In that case, congratulations. Would you like to go back to your quarters to get showered and changed?”

  “No, Sally will be there. I think I ought to keep out of her way.”

  “Sally is at the beach bar with Touren and Bekkreshan. I have some good news for you. My next surprise will be finished by the time you get back from Tefran with Mike tomorrow.”

  Mark’s heart sank. “No need to go to any trouble Kate. I don’t need another surprise thanks.”

  “I know you’ve been a bit disappointed with the previous surprises, but you’ll like this one, I promise.”

  “OK, I’ll, uh, I look forward to seeing it.”

  His AI recognized his lack of sincerity, and said, “No, really. I mean it. You’ll like this.”

  Mark made a note to pretend he liked whatever travesty his AI had prepared for him this time and said, “OK, take me to my room please.”

  ◆◆◆

  The first thing Mark did when he blinked into his and Sally’s quarters was to search them and make sure Sally wasn’t there.”

  “I told you where she was.” his AI said.

  “I wanted to make sure. Is it just me, or did she overreact just now?”

  “Her reaction did seem extreme, but as I have said to you before, she is quite stressed. There have been many changes to her life recently, including her relationship with you. The biggest being the death of Tk'ng Dach Rm.”

  “But that’s a good thing. I’d have thought she would be happy with that.”

  “There is still much you don’t know about Sally, but I can tell you that Tk'ng Dach Rm was significant in Sally’s life, and his death has had a major impact on her.”

  “All I know about Sally’s past is what Alan told me and that they have big hairy animals called Massoons.”

  “And what did Alan tell you about her?”

  “That her planet was attacked by outcasts and most of the population was massacred when she was very young and... hold on. Was that anything to do with Tk'ng Dach Rm?”

  “I cannot reveal anything to you until Sally has told you. But if it did have something to do with Tk'ng Dach Rm, and she had been trying to track him down and kill him in revenge for four and a half thousand years, do you see how that might affect her?”

  “Uh, yes. And that’s why she’s been a bit ratty recently?”

  “I don’t think she’s much different than usual to everyone else, but it explains why she has been short with you.”

  “It does? I killed the bastard! She should be grateful!”

  “There is a theme in human cultures in poetry, stories and songs that has been around for as long as your history has been recorded. Put simply, it says, ‘you always hurt the one you love.’ So you are the natural target for some of her conflicted feelings.”

  “So she loves me? I’ve never been sure about that.”

  “Remember she is not human. You can’t expect her emotions to be identical to yours, but yes, she loves you in her own way.”

  “Oh, cool.” Mark smiled. “Should I go and apologize to her now?”

  “No, have your evening with Seltet and Ranesh. Sally needs the time with Touren and Bekkreshan.”

  “Why?”

  “Trust me, she does. Do not question it, go with the flow.”

  “Nice use of English idiom.” Mark said. He’d got an A star for his English ‘A’ level and much of it had stayed with him.

  “My use of English improves with time. I will speak it like a Hampshire native eventually.”

  “But keep the BBC accent.” Mark said.

  He took a leisurely shower and, after toweling himself down, laid on the bed to take a rest for a few minutes. He had plenty of time before he was due to meet Seltet and Ranesh.

  Mark woke to the gentle chimes his AI used to rouse him in the morning. He blinked his eyes open and rolled over to look at Sally. She wasn’t there. Puzzled, he looked at the unslept in bed, then realized he was laying on top of the bedclothes. Then he remembered his falling out with Sally and that he was supposed to be getting ready to meet Seltet and Ranesh. “Shit! What time is it – I mean, how late am I?” as he jumped off the bed.

  “You are not late. You have fifteen minutes to get dressed and blink to the dining room.”

  Mark splashed some cold water onto his face, pulled on the fresh jumpsuit and boots his AI had ordered for him, smoothed down his hair with his h
ands then blinked to the dining room. He was early and the room was empty when he arrived. He got himself a cold cola from the synthesizer and thought about what to eat from the limited number of meals that he could eat safely and had patterns for.

  Shortly afterwards, Seltet blinked in, immediately followed by Ranesh.

  “Thanks for coming. I could do with some company tonight.”

  “Why, what happened? Seltet asked.

  “I accidentally pissed off Sally.” Mark said and explained what had happened, and that Sally was now with Bekkreshan and Touren.