Poor Man's Fight by Elliott Kay Page B

trembled from all the calisthenics he performed today. It took effort to keep his eyes focused on the wall directly across from him, a difficult trick to master even when well-rested.
    Everett sat at his desk with a pair of holo screens open before him. “Who told you how to report properly?”
    “Recruit Wong, Chief Everett.”
    “Glad to see some of you looking out for one another. You owe her one for trying,” Everett murmured. “Not her fault you fucked it up.” He looked up from the holo screen. “Recruit Malone, are you an honest man?”
    Tanner blinked.  “Yes, Chief Everett.”
    “What in the hell are you doing here?”
    “I’m sorry, Chief Everett?”
    “I didn’t ask you if you were a sorry person. I assume that much of every recruit. I asked you what the hell you’re doing here.”
    “Er… Recruit Jun told me to report to you, Chief Everett.”
    “Stupid! I mean what are you doing joining the Archangel navy?”
    “I want to serve and protect the Archangel system, Chief Everett!”
    “See, now you’re not being honest with me, Malone. That’s the bullshit answer from the recruit manual, which nobody else even bothers to read before they get here. And that’s just my point. I’ve got your enlistment records and transcripts right here. I could’ve bet a month’s salary that you read the manual. You did, didn’t you?”
    “Yes, Chief Everett.”
    “How many times?”
    “I lost count, Chief Everett.”
    “And how many other books about basic training did you read?”
    “Only eight, Chief Everett.” The chief let out some sort of noise between a snort and a choke. Tanner added in a slightly apologetic tone, “I only had a couple of weeks between deciding to join and shipping out, and I had a lot to tie up before I left home.”
    The chief openly laughed. “Why in the hell aren’t you partying it up for the next two months before going off to some university?”
    Tanner didn’t answer immediately. He wondered if this was some test of his zeal. Neither Everett nor Janeka seemed like the type to appreciate being told their militia was anyone’s second choice. He tried not to frown.
    “I crashed on The Test,” Tanner answered. “That kind of screwed up my original plans. The navy seemed like an excellent way to recover . Maybe grow up some more.”
    Everett grinned. “Well, that’s just goddamn tactful.” He turned his attention back to one holo screen and dragged his finger down its length to change the display, then whistled appreciatively. “Holy shit. You sure did crash. Debt like that doesn’t match with grades like yours. What the hell happened? Did you pass out?”
    Tanner felt himself turn red with embarrassment. “Family stuff happened the night before the test. Screwed up all my plans. Couldn’t sleep at all the night before, couldn’t concentrate... I couldn’t get my mind off of it.”
    That earned him a grunt of acknowledgement. “ Most of your fellow recruits probably owe at least as much. A lot of kids your age would just suck it up and take out more loans. Why didn’t you?”
    “The more I thought about it, the more I thought this could be good for me. My mother served a term in the Union fleet at my age and always spoke well of her experience. And like I said, it seemed like a good way to pay down some of that debt. Serve the state. All that stuff.”
    Everett thought about it and nodded. “Fair enough. But back to you crashing that test. You can’t go worrying about personal stuff when you’re on duty. This isn’t like working in retail where you can bitch and moan and gossip with your friends. People like to think that the Archangel militia just sits around on its ass and writes safety citations on freighters, but this stuff is for real. Can you learn to handle that?”
    “Yes, Chief Everett.”
    “Alright. Well, only a handful of people in this company can read and write worth a damn. I’ve already got Wong and Sinclair assigned to other jobs,