First to Fight (novel)

First to Fight is a science fiction novel by American writers David Sherman and Dan Cragg; it was released on October, 1997. It is set in the 25th Century in Sherman and Cragg's StarFist Saga. It is the first novel of the series, followed by School of Fire.

Plot summary
The Confederation of Human Worlds comprises about two hundred semi-autonomous settled worlds. Some of those worlds are rich and powerful, others are not. Reports start to come from the desert world of Elneal of untold violence and hunger. A peacekeeping force composed of Marines from the 34th FIST (Fleet Initial Strike Team) is assembled. Amongst them is the young Private First Class Joseph F. Dean, a member of Third Platoon, Company L, whose journey through bootcamp and deployment is narrated.

As the Marines are deployed to isolated villages in Elneal, violence soon abates - one of Third Platoon's squads is given a new communicating device to field test, and dropped off some tens of kilometers away from the base. When the device malfunctions, the squad sees itself stranded in the desert, days of walking ahead of them, without armor. The Marines are constantly harassed by enemy forces and have to make multiple stands in order to fend off their assaults. The senior NCO with the squad, Staff Sergeant Bass, in desperation, makes a bold call - he challenges the enemy chieftain to a hand to hand duel, and wins. The enemy, awed, allow the Marines to return to a city unharassed.

Reception
First to Fight received a positive review from the writer Thomas Evans, who lauded it as "an action-adventure tale filled with military life and combat"; he mentioned, however, that readers that weren't fans of the genre (military science fiction) wouldn't enjoy it. Don D'Amassa also reviewed it for Science Fiction Chronicle.