Tarik: Entry Level Warfare by K. A. Kerr Read Free Book Online

still reaching for the glass casing saw black start to enter his vision, his eyes tunneling. A s the black took over he cursed the doctor and submitted himself to death.
    When Tarik  regained consciousness he was in the chair of the examination pod, Tilla looked over him. Tarik had a terrible headache following his oxygen deprivation test. Tilla gave him a shot and the headache quickly subsided. The doctor was nowhere in sight, which was probably a good thing because Tarik  wanted to choke the life from him.
    “You did well on your assessment.” Tilla commented. “I have seen many species do much worse, you are very strong.”
    “Where is the doctor?” Tarik said wanting to find the man and deprive him of air for a while.
    “He has other duties to attend to. Do not be angry with him, it was only part of the testing.”
    “Listen, I’m sorry about the vomit and really sorry about the undressing thing yesterday.” Tarik showed his genuine concern. “Do you need help? Does he make you do stuff like that against your will?” Slavery  was legal in certain parts of the galaxy but never on a human  corporation owned ship.
    “I am no slave if that is what you are thinking. I do as I am told to make myself a better doctor. I'm different from most Flarr; I know I am not a superior healer. That is why I am in my role. As far as the duties I have performed for you it is I who should apologize . I should have completed my instructions without showing emotion.” Tilla hit the release button on the examination pod. “Your results will be available shortly. From there your log will be updated with the times and places to meet your instructors. You should go to first meal now, I have a feeling you will have a long day.” Tilla stood up and walked out the door without a look back.
    Tarik made his way down to the Dome . The room was empty when he got in; he grabbed a tray from the nutrition unit and went to his assigned seat at the kiddie table. Half way through his meal an alert came though that his assessment results were available. He shoved in the last few bites of the meal then pulled up his results in full immersion.
    Subject: Tarik
    Species: Human
    Sex: Male
    Traits: Northern European lineage
    Chronological age: 35
    Biological age: 28
    Life expectancy without combat : 160
    Height: 73 inches
    Weight: 206.43 lbs.
    Body fat: 17.2%
    Water weight: 63.8%
    Alterations: retinal implants, repaired right leg, replaced femoral artery, surgically repaired right shoulder, and surgically repaired left hand.
    A video showed a nude Tarik  and highlighted each mentioned point. He could select each point or move on to the next section. Since he was well aware of his medical history he moved on.
    All scores based on a maximum score of 100 for human  males
    Flexibility: 29
    Endurance: 32
    Strength: 71
    Tactics: 17
    Intelligence: 63
    Recall: 60
    Oxygen Retention: 46
    Social Skills : 43
    Life expectancy with combat  at current scores: 36.5
    He had an option to get more detail on each score but thought it would only upset him more. As it stood he was an inflexible, surgically repaired, non-running, super strength, smart ass , which most people didn’t like. On top of that, couldn't plan his way out of an airlock but at least he was smart enough to remember it.
    Tarik exited the assessment seething with anger.  “I'm going to kill that asshole” he said referring to the doctor. He glanced over and noticed one of the tables had filled with pilots while he was in immersion. All eight of them looked at him wondering what he was talking about.

4 - Hard lessons
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    Tarik placed his tray back into the nutrition unit and walked to his next appointment he knew he'd be early but wanted to get to work before he could focus his anger on the doctor anymore.
    Tarik’s map took him to a doorway off of the corkscrew. He entered the room nearly twenty minutes before his scheduled start time and saw an obstacle course with different sized walls,