Tarik: Entry Level Warfare (8 page)

“Don’t come near me again you stupid white bitch! I'm going to break your pink face!” Rye shouted at Daze.

“Fuck you Rye! I'm never covering for your drunken ass again!” Daze shouted back.

Directly across from
Tarik
 stood a crowd of mostly non
humans
, several of which
Tarik
 had yet to meet. Tilla and
Mange
 were at the front of the crowd with looks of what he could guess had been fear. He saw
Goddess
 behind a
group
 of pilots as stoic as ever, the
group
 of pilots curious; like they missed a class at half
human
 school.

Rye picked that moment to notice
Tarik. S
he stopped struggling against Bink and turned her hateful gaze upon him.

“Oh look another whitey! Couldn't fight your own fight Daze? Had to call your boyfriend?” Rye shouted.

Rye reached back on the table grabbed a mug and threw it at
Tarik
. The mug being thrown by a drunken person lacked any form of accuracy; it bounced off the floor and popped up just enough to hit
Tarik
 in the chest.

“We should have exterminated your entire race centuries ago!” Rye shouted at
Tarik
.

Tarik couldn't hide his shock,
human
 history had many dark points but what Rye was talking about was a nearly successful genocide of his people.

Every race in
earth
 history had its high and low points, his people were no different. Tarik could point to several points were his ancestors were enslaved and other points where his people appeared to
rule
 the world. Arguing these points were mostly useless as everyone always assumed the other had it easier and their success had been due to them winning a genetic lottery and not their hard work.

At one low point in his people's history, the people of European descent had been held accountable for things that had happened to other races generations before. The other races randomly killed his own for sport and justified it as retribution, it didn’t matter that the victim hadn’t done anything. This continued for far longer than it should have, as some groups of his people stood up against it, the problem worsened. Eventually the sides were very polarized which soon enough led to a civil war. As the sides warred his people who were captured were put to death, this decimated the population which prompted his people to unleash a horrific biological agent. The thought process was the melanin targeting agent would even out the fight. After the biological agent ravaged
earth
 a peace accord was finally reached. The tensions frequently reached the point where they almost started another war. This was a just prelude to the Bubble
Wars
, and later the Hierarchy
wars
.

Tarik quickly passed the point of shock and moved straight towards unbridled anger. Drunk or not, woman or not; you do not casually threaten genocide. He felt his body go rigid, his shoulders tightened, his hands clench and he started forward. He did not care if she owned the corporation, she was going to pay for her threat.

Lamb saw him moving first but could not risk letting go of Daze so he shot Bink a look. Bink
realizing
 that
Tarik
 was clearly a bigger threat, over a drunken Rye, released his grip on Rye and rushed to block
Tarik
.
Tarik
 was determined and brushed Bink off with ease, Bink in a
last ditch effort
 grabbed
Tarik
’s left wrist and was dragged along. Tilla broke from the crowd with
Mange
 fast behind her. The Flarr each grabbed a leg but
Tarik
 kept pressing forward. Goddess
realized
 then how serious the situation was and moved to stop him as well. Goddess put an arm in front of him in her typical divine fashion. Tarik grabbed the arm and threw her to his right,
Goddess
 couldn't believe he had moved her like she didn't exist. The stunned look on her face did not suit her well. Tarik was so focused on getting to Rye he hardly even knew or cared the he had just shocked the majority of the crew with his rage.

Rye had finally
realized
 just how mad
Tarik
 was; she climbed on top of the table to delay the beating
Tarik
 wanted to give her.  In some form of drunken
defense
 she thought to throw condiment packages at him.

Daze saw his intentions and even though she was angry at Rye, Tarik was going to kill her. Lamb and Daze broke apart and clawed at
Tarik
's shoulders,
Tarik
 now had
six
 beings holding him back but he marched forward with iron resolve. The pain he felt in his body only moments before was nonexistent now.

Dav had come in at some point,
Tarik
 couldn't say when because his rage caused him to have tunnel vision. Dav assessed the situation and stood in front of
Tarik
 his arm outstretched much in the same way
Goddess
 had tried earlier. The arm pressed into Tarik's chest and held him in place. The others dropped away from Tarik and created distance, they had no desire to be part of this. Rye even stopped throwing mustard packets and watched the exchange.

Tarik was still mad and tried the same
maneuver
 he did to Goddess just to remove Dav from his path. Tarik gripped Dav’s forearm and pulled but it wouldn't budge. Tarik tried again but this new effort took him out of his rage and he felt the steel cable like muscles in Dav’s forearm. He paused to measure this obstacle and saw the serious look he was given yesterday, no this was not a fight Tarik would win.

“Stand down Tarik.” Dav ordered.

Tarik looked at Rye and an involuntary growl escaped him. The Flarr and the Gorrex both reacted and readied themselves for an attack.

Dav leaned in closed to Tarik clearly not intimidated by Tarik's size or
demeanor
. “I said stand down Tarik. Turn around and go to your room. I will speak to you about this later.” Dav wasn't yelling, he wasn't whispering either; it was just a solid voice that projected power and commanded respect.

Tarik let his body go slack, his soreness and exhaustion creeping back in, his eyes felt heavy. Why didn't he just go back to sleep?

Tarik looked around the room. Fear, shock, excitement were all there looking back at him, even the doctor was there with a look of disgust on his face. More of the crew now ringed the upper level of the Dome.

As his anger drained embarrassment took over. Tarik turned and left, stepping over puddles of mustard he would probably have to clean up later. If he had a tail it would be between his legs but his head hanging low showed just as much as any tail would.         

        Tarik lay in his bunk staring off at a projected asteroid as it tumbled. He was interrupted by a light knock at his door. Tarik really didn't want company but he couldn't risk angering Dav further if it was him. Tarik opened the door to see Lamb, Goddess and Tilla waiting for him, Tilla with a nutrition tray and her head bowed.

“Thank you for the tray but I would rather be alone right now.” He addressed the crowd.

“Tarik just hear us out, please.” Lamb said. You could tell he was not used to having to ask politely.

“What happened back there, nobody holds it against you, most of us know Earth history. What Rye said was wrong and you did not deserve her anger.” Goddess spoke quickly.

“I appreciate that, I really do, but I acted foolishly. I almost hurt several of you because of my emotional outburst.” Tarik opened the door further not to let them in but to allow his body language to
apologize
 for him. “I shouldn't have done that, most of the crew probably thinks the worst of me.”

“Dav has been told what happened; he knows you didn't start it. Hell you weren't even part of it until she said those ugly things.” Lamb sighed. “As for the crew I wouldn't worry, you're one of the military guys; remember they expect that from you.”

“We don't hate you if that's what you are wondering.” Bink said as he removed himself from his hiding place on the wall closest to the door.

Tarik took a peek on either side and noticed Mange and two of the pilots hiding on the other side.

“She's messed up, she saw her sister killed awhile back, been on the drink ever since. She doesn't mean it when she does this stuff.” Bink finished.

“Don't make excuses for her.” Lamb said. There was much more he wanted to say but didn't elaborate.

“Doesn't matter now, Dav permanently revoked her drinking privileges. Everyone will get a notification soon and if anyone gives her a drink they both will void their contracts. She will be nicer when she isn't drinking you'll see.” Bink said trying to convince Tarik.

“We've bothered you enough. We just wanted to let you know we are with you; you have nothing to worry about. Goddess and I have decided to give you the day off tomorrow. Relax and get yourself refocused.” Lamb said.

“Thank you.” Tarik took the tray from Tilla. “I really am sorry if I hurt any of you, that isn't something I want to do. How is Daze holding up?”

“She's doing fine. I'm sure she will want to speak to you privately. Are you going to be okay?” Tilla asked.

“I will be fine. At least two good things came out of this.” Tarik said.

“What's that?” asked Lamb.

“First, I found out I do have some friends here.” Tarik smiled and looked around the hallway. “Second, I got all of you including Dav, to call me by my real name.”

Lamb laughed and walked off, most of the
group
 following him. Goddess stood in place waiting for some privacy.

“Rarely does a
male
 move a Dereft that easy. It was an experience I will remember. I can see why
human
 females fell into their gender roles early on. Passion like that can be intoxicating, I should be telling you to
control
 yourself but part of me wants to see what that passion can feel like.” Goddess made an obvious look at Tarik's crotch. “Maybe just hide those emotions when in public spaces.” With that she turned and walked off.

Tarik was too tired to figure that one out. He took his tray and ate it while sitting on his bunk staring into nothing until his tray was empty. He sat the tray down on the floor and turned in for the night, thankful for the end of this very long day.

Tarik woke to the image of the red giant still feasting on the icy comet. His body was still sore from yesterday but he did feel better rested. Tarik noticed a clean jumpsuit folded on his floor but he didn't remember anyone coming in to
drop
 it off. The tray had also been removed. He put on the jumpsuit and headed for the showers thinking that the water may help ease the soreness in his muscles. He arrived and undressed, placing his jumpsuit on the same shelf as yesterday. He thought that maybe he should ask someone if they were assigned but didn't care enough to do it today. Mange exited the showers while Tarik was still in the dressing area, he didn't sneer today but simply wrapped his tail around his waist and gave Tarik a small nod. Tarik nodded back and walked towards an open stall.

Like clockwork Goddess came out of the stall next to the one he was going for, her gorgeous nude perfect figure glistening with droplets of water. Tarik using some sense was trying to avert his eyes while still taking a peek here and there. Neither of them said anything as Tarik passed her. She let out a snicker as she walked to the dressing area. Tarik stood in the doorway trying not to look obvious as he watched her walk away, her hips swaying hypnotically. She paused at the threshold of the dressing area fumbling with a towel, which she dropped on the floor. She
bent over
 at the waist to pick it up giving him a full view. She chose that moment to look back and wink, Tarik snapped his head forward trying to act like he had seen nothing at all. Luckily the part of him that showed the most reaction was already obscured by the walls of the shower stall. Tarik stepped into the stall quickly and turned the water on cool. He felt his heart rate slow and he let the water run down his back.

Tarik felt better getting out of the shower, his hair starting to return to its normal light brown
coloring
. He stood nude in the dressing area wondering what new hell today could bring. His first two days aboard the Beetle had not gone well so far as he could tell.

Daze burst into the room. “Hey Tarik, can we talk?” She said loudly expecting to have to talk over running water. She saw Tarik completely exposed, stood still and then quickly turned around. “Sorry. I thought you were in the stall. I didn't mean to… Well I … This isn't what I wanted … If you get the chance can you meet me in the Dome? I'm sorry.”

Tarik was too tired to care; he didn't even bother reaching for the towel to cover himself. “Yeah, sure, I'll be down there in a few minutes.”