Poor Man's Fight (21 page)

Of the four recruits, only Kalodner made a sound. He seemed to choke somewhat, looking up at Everett as if to speak, but then he turned and followed the others back into the squad bay with his head hung low. He wouldn’t be the first recruit to weep in the squad bay. It was the one thing neither Everett nor Janeka ever mocked.

“Something to say, Malone?”
Everett asked.

“No, Chief,” he
answered, keeping his eyes on his data screens. He felt Everett’s gaze on him. Hoping to get rid of it, he finally said, “Glad it wasn’t more names, chief.”

Everett
grunted. “Right. Names. Tell Baljashanpreet and Einstein to get up here.”

Tanner blinked. His spirits soared. Baljashanpreet was only a few points shy of Wong’s standing; there was no way he would be reverted to a junior company, but he had been directed to help Einstein get his act together. That hadn’t come to pass. Could they all possibly be that lucky? “Aye, aye, chief,” he said, killing his data screens again before heading back into the squad bay.

“Sergeant Janeka,” he called out as he entered.

“Just do it, yeoman,” Janeka cut him off tersely from the other end of the chamber.

“Recruit Baljashanpreet! Recruit Eickenberry! Report to the command office!” Fighting a grin, Tanner made an about-face and exited before anyone could catch his eye. He promptly returned to his seat, having no trouble maintaining his posture or energy now. He called up whatever the hell data screens were most recent in his work queue and failed utterly at looking disinterested in what was about to happen.

Finding
Everett still standing outside his office, the two recruits immediately came to attention before him. “Reporting as ordered, chief,” announced Baljashanpreet, with Einstein echoing him half a beat behind.

“Einstein, you’re a complete fuck-up,”
Everett said flatly.

Tanner bit his lip.

“You slack off, you mouth off, your test scores are consistently just barely above failing and what really pisses me off is that you show no regard for the safety or well-being of your fellow recruits.” He stared at Einstein for a long moment, apparently hoping that his words would sink in. Tanner didn’t hold out much hope for that. “Certain hard and fast technicalities within training regulations prevent me from reverting you to another company, otherwise you’d be gone today. Do you understand all this, recruit?”

“Yes, Chief
Everett,” Einstein shouted with an undertone of defiant pride.

“Recruit Baljashanpreet,”
Everett continued, “I directed you to help Einstein here improve his performance. Have you worked with him?”

“Yes, Chief
Everett.” Tanner could attest to that. Baljashanpreet tried hard with Einstein. It was Einstein who could not say the same.

“And have you seen improvements?”

“Yes, Chief Everett.”

“I haven’t. Has this been too much of a task for you?”

“No, Chief Everett. No excuse, Chief Everett.”

“I think it has been too much of a task for you, recruit. I don’t think I’ve been fair to you. Recruit Baljashanpreet, I am hereby transferring Einstein out of your squad. He is no longer your concern anymore than any other shipmate within the company.”

“Understood, Chief Everett.”

“Einstein, I would give you to Recruit Wong, but she’s already babysitting several other struggling recruits. I’m transferring you to Sinclair’s squad.”

Tanner’s eyes went wide with horror. Sinclair’s squad. His squad.

“Sinclair’s squad currently has the highest performance average in the company. Maybe they’ll all be able to work as a team to help you get your act together. Go tell him that I said it’s his squad’s job to help you stop being a fuck-up.”

“Aye, aye, Chief Everett,” Einstein replied.

“You’re both dismissed.”

Everett didn’t see Einstein’s grin or his swagger as he left. Tanner saw both.

Silence reigned outside the command office.
Just around the corner the company busily set up for unarmed combat training, but somehow Tanner didn’t hear a thing. He stared at the numbers and letters floating in the air in front of him without reading.

“Make sure you note the transfer in the personnel files,”
Everett reminded him.

“Aye, aye, chief,” Tanner swallowed. He heard
Everett turn to go back into his office. “Chief Everett?”

“Hm?”

“Permission to join the company, chief?”

“You just came off light duty yesterday,”
Everett noted. “Didn’t the doctor say you should lay off sparring for another day to be safe?”

“
He did, but I felt fine at morning PT, chief,” Tanner said, still looking straight ahead.

“It’s up to you. Sure you’re up to it?”

“I think I’d really like to hit something right now, chief.”

“Ah. Dismissed.”

Tanner killed his data screens and entered the squad bay. He heard the click of Everett’s heels not far behind him as he reported to Janeka. The sergeant already had the company separated out into individual exercises.

“Malone, you joining us?” she asked. “Head over to Wong’s group.”

“Aye, aye, Sergeant,” Tanner replied, turning and walking over to the sparring circle. Beyond it, he could see Michaels, who’d busted his ass at pretty much everything and just couldn’t handle the more academic matters, clearing his gear out of his locker.

Michaels was leaving. So was Palmotti.
But not Einstein. He just moved into Tanner’s squad.

Alicia looked up at Tanner and
smiled. “You with us? Ready to spar?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Good, ‘cause it’s my turn,” she said, stepping into the circle and gesturing for him to come face her.

Tanner sighed. Naturally, with all his pent up frustration, he got stuck sparring with the last person he wanted to hit
and
the best fighter in the company. Resigned to another loss, Tanner stepped forward and faced off against Alicia.

“Ready?” asked Ravenell, serving as observer.

“Ready,” Alicia confirmed.

“Ready,” Tanner scowled.

“Winner fights Einstein!” Everett barked from out of nowhere.

Heads turned, conversations stopped and sparring matches ground to a halt
all across the squad bay. Tanner’s jaw silently clenched. Alicia didn’t bother to fight her grin. “Sorry, Tanner,” she said, assuming a ready stance.

“Fight!” Ravenell barked.

Alicia’s head rocked back from the sudden force of Tanner’s punch. Nearly knocked from her feet, Alicia staggered back, her eyes wide with shock. Blood trickled from her nose.

“Wong?” Ravenell asked.

Oscar Company’s undisputed champ blinked again. Her legs wobbled. Alicia’s gaze didn’t seem to track with either her opponent or the match’s referee. Ravenell and Other Gomez came to her side, helping her settle back onto the mat. “Wong, are you okay?” Ravenell asked again. “Can you go on?”

“Whurr,” Alicia replied.

“I’m...” Ravenell blinked, looking up at Wong’s opponent and then at the others forming the ring around them. The words that came from his mouth surprised him: “I’m calling this one for Malone.”

“Very well,”
Everett said, fighting a grin. “Einstein! You’re up!”

Tanner, too, had trouble registering the moment. His fist had just launched out at Alicia’s nose without any conscious thought. Yet there she was, sitting there just shy of a concussion.
Then Einstein stepped in front of him, taking on both a ready stance and a disdainful, cocky grin.

Tanner bowed, but only a little. Einstein just nodded his head. Like everything else, he did this wrong, too.

Taller than the rest of the company and quicker than most, Einstein usually employed his speed and reach to soften up an opponent. He played to his advantages. He did that much right. He was stronger than most, so there was that, too, but ultimately Einstein relied heavily on his superior reach.

It wasn’t normally the sort of thing Tanner thought about, but it was at the forefront at his mind as Ravenell asked, “Ready?”

“Sure,” Einstein shrugged.

“Ready,” Tanner nodded.

“Fight!”

Einstein led with a high kick to Tanner’s head. Tanner moved in, seized Einstein’s ankle with one hand and pushed it upward while his other hand came in with an uppercut right into Einstein’s groin.

Lifted an inch or two off his other foot from the force of the blow, Einstein quickly crumpled and fell to his knees with his hands between his legs. Tanner knocked him over with a merciless sweeping kick across the face.

“Hold!” Ravenell yelled out. He jumped between the two of them, amazed but not so shocked as to lose track of his responsibilities. “Einstein, are you okay?” The fallen recruit groaned
.

“
Get up
,” someone growled at Einstein. It wasn’t until Ravenell’s eyes turned to Tanner in shock that Tanner realized the growling voice was his own.

“Fucking kill you for that,” Einstein huffed.

Ravenell turned back to him. “Can you go on?”

Again, Einstein nodded. Ravenell
gestured for Tanner to step back. “Give him a sec,” Ravenell said.

Einstein winc
ed as he got to his feet. “Lucky shot. Won’t get one again.”

Having nothing to say to Einstein, Tanner returned to his starting point.
He hardly noticed what a crowd the match had drawn. As soon as both opponents assumed a ready stance, Ravenell gave the order to continue.

Einstein came in lower this time, leading with fists instead of feet. Tanner accepted the first hit across his shoulder in order to close in.
Now inside Einstein’s superior reach, Tanner unloaded rapid shots to the taller recruit’s midsection. Tanner’s fists quickly outpaced his legs; Einstein was shoved back faster than Tanner moved in.

He missed a swing, then a second. Einstein caught his arm and twisted it, pulling his opponent to the floor with him. They quickly wound up in a tangle. Memories of Einstein holding Andrews down and pounding him in the back flashed through Tanner’s mind. Rather than fear,
Tanner felt nothing but hate. He hated Einstein too much to let that happen.

Tanner’s
left arm was twisted behind his back. Einstein’s other arm wrapped around Tanner’s throat. Before Einstein could solidify his grip, Tanner swept back and down with his free hand to grab savagely at Einstein’s crotch.

Einstein roared in pain. He shoved Tanner away again. Quicker to recover, Tanner spun around on the floor, cupping both of his hands to slam them simultaneously onto Einstein’s ears. Einstein threw out another punch; Tanner caught it, twisted it at the wrist and pulled, then drove his other hand down into Einstein’s shoulder from behind. There was an audible pop
. Einstein shrieked.

Tanner didn’t stop. He twisted harder, bringing his free elbow down on Einstein’s. He heard another crack. Rather than survey the damage, he kept at it, grabbing Einstein’s head and slamming it back down onto the mat.

The mat. The mat offered protection. Slamming Einstein’s head into that wouldn’t hurt him enough. They had to go beyond the mat. Gripping Einstein’s head firmly, Tanner wrenched himself and his opponent to their feet. The fact that Einstein was too battered and weakened to effectively resist didn’t even register. Tanner shoved a pair of onlookers aside as he hauled Einstein out of the ring. They kept going until Tanner found the stack of collapsed bunks against the wall. He threw Einstein against them, casting him forward with all his rage.

Disoriented and wounded,
Einstein couldn’t do much to save himself. He fell stomach first against the frame of one rack, his body pivoting on it to slam his face down on the concrete floor below.

“Get up!” Tanner roared.
He became only dimly aware of shouting all around him. Tanner saw Einstein laying against the rack, fucking around like he always did, once again feigning incompetence or confusion whenever his bluster didn’t work out. “Get up, motherfucker!”

Tanner snatched up one of Einstein’s feet,
intending to drag him out for more punishment. Then something knocked him away from behind. He turned, spun, and soon found himself on the floor underneath Sergeant Janeka in a tangled hold.

“At ease, Malone!” she barked in his ear. “Settle down! That’s an order! Quit struggling with me!” Her hold was firm and unrelenting. It forced him to take a moment to breathe and consider how to get out of it. Then another. Then Tanner blinked and realized that he was fighting Janeka now, not Einstein.

He relaxed. “Aye aye, sergeant,” he huffed.

“Are you done, recruit?”

“Yes, sergeant Janeka.”

She
didn’t let go. He heard Everett calling for medical. There were boots around him, hushed commentary and shadows blocking out the light.

Eventually, Janeka let him up. “Walk it off, recruit,” she
ordered.