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

my teaching. I want you to do well. Your first lesson, ask ‘what else?’ You would be surprised to find out what people are willing to volunteer.” Lamb looked Tarik  in the eye. “We don't just run and gun here. We see our objectives, we perform a situational analysis, we develop a plan and only then do we execute. My job is going to be to teach you how to first ask the correct questions to make the correct combat  decisions.”
    Lamb activated the controls and the walls dropped into the floor. Several large rocks then rose up  scattered throughout the range. Each rock had held multiple threats firing at the point where Tarik  would enter the range. The glowing orange orb appeared in the thick of the threats.
    “Run out there and touch the orb.” Lamb  ordered.
    “Won't I be shot?”
    “I'm sure of it.”
    “Will it hurt?”
    “Oh yes, you will more than likely die.”
    “You want me to die just to touch some orb?”
    “No. I want you to ask me questions.”
    “So, you ordered me to go in there knowing I would die but you don't actually want me to do it?”
    “Correct. Are you still going to go out there?”
    “Hell no I'm not going out there!”
    Lamb let out a healthy laugh. “Very good Tarik ! Your second lesson and maybe the most important one, you are a free man. You can choose not to do something. It may mean you get fired, it may mean you go to some prison colony, it could have any number  of consequences but it is always going to be your choice in the end. I want you to use lesson number  one to make that choice, ask the questions, get the details and decide on your course of actions. Completing your objective is obviously preferred but if you die today who will be left to complete the objective tomorrow?” Lamb deactivated the range. “Our time is almost up for the day. I want you to think about the first two lessons throughout the day. See how they apply to your life. Find situations where doing one or other could have changed your life.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “Very good. You are dismissed.”
    “Instructor Lamb , just one question, if I may.”
    “I welcome it Tarik , what do you wish to know?”
    “Why do you call me by my real name when everyone else calls me Jimmy?”
    “Because I believe in you Tarik . You're not a mindless drone, you're not a glory hunter, and I believe you can do this with proper instruction.” Lamb walked away and disappeared back into the shadows.
    As Tarik  left he thought about the small mechanic who kissed him yesterday. She seemed like she believed in him, giving him the benefit of the doubt as she put it. He wondered why those were the only two people who acted that way.
    Tarik went to his first assigned bathroom to clean. As he mopped the floor he thought about when his leg was crushed and the mistakes he’d made then. He was free floating and had a hook into a rock about the size of himself, using his pack to propel himself backwards to the rig. The rig boss stood on top to the rig selecting other rocks for his crewmates to grab. As Tarik  reached the lip of the rig the rock started to break apart. Tarik cut his propulsion, to adjust his hook and save the haul, as he did so his momentum carried him towards the crusher. The heat of the rig must have caused some of the ice in the rock to break apart. The rock split in the middle, Tarik   realized  how close he was getting to the crusher and pushed the rock off to his left side. Then he turned on his propulsion to stop him just before he got to the machinery. The rock broke in half as he was a foot away from the crusher. The top half of the rock floated harmlessly to the rig wall, the bottom half continued its push forward smashing Tarik ’s leg into the opening of the rock crusher.
    The whole ordeal resulted in two months off work, a corporation paid surgery, and a performance improvement plan for when Tarik  did go back to work. His performance improvement plan putting him on the short list to be