Tinaree: Forged by Crucible (Shadows of Peace Book 2) by Nic Plume

Author:Nic Plume [Plume, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781735153636
Published: 2021-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

19

Training

"What are you doing?”

Taylor dodged the sparring dummy's latest hook but couldn’t avoid its follow-up punch or the foot it shot behind his. He landed hard on his back. The figure stepped forward in anticipation of Taylor's next move, but its current setting would not allow it to attack while he was down. Taylor lowered his head to the deck and exhaled with a frustrated sigh, then looked back at Kaydeen.

It would be easy to claim that Kaydeen's question had distracted him, but excuses didn't master challenges. Skill and tenacity did. He lifted his arm, splayed his fingers, and showed his open palm to the dummy. The dummy stepped back, locked its leg actuators, and dimmed the light in its visual sensors, indicating it had entered standby mode.

"I'm sparring.” Taylor rolled over and pushed to his feet. “Commander Liegus cleared me for training yesterday."

Kaydeen crossed her arms and demonstratively looked from him to the dummy and back.

He frowned. "How else am I supposed to get back in shape?"

"Back in shape is the key phrase here." She shook her head. "It indicates that your current shape is not the same as before."

"I'm working on it."

"You're still in recovery, dumbass." She enunciated each word. "Your settings need to be lower.”

He stared at her, then huffed and turned to the dummy. "Lower settings to seven-point-four strength and six-point-eight speed."

"Really?" She eyed him and addressed the dummy. "Correction. Lower settings to three-point-five strength and speed."

"What?"

She glanced at him momentarily before turning back to the dummy. "Authorize incremental increase in settings by point-one units as needed to keep sparring match challenging, with a minimum of three active sparring minutes per increment. Lock setting to current user, SF4 Mark Taylor, and upload to training file in system. Authorization: Medical override, SF4 Kaydeen A’Tourie.”

She turned to Taylor. “There. Now you can work your way back up to whatever setting you want, one increment at a time.”

He scowled at her. Spending three minutes on each incremental level meant a minimum of a hundred and seventeen minutes of active sparring time before he reached the seven-point-four strength setting. It also required another ninety-nine minutes to attain the speed setting of six-point-eight. “Not what I had in mind.”

“I know.” She grinned. “But it’s what you need.”

“There’s no way I need to start this low.”

“It won’t harm you either. Plus, it’ll build your endurance.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because, knowing you, you’re going to work through this challenge in as few sessions as possible." She grinned. “I’ll know where to find you over the next few days."

"Few days? I’ll have this done by tomorrow."

She eyed him. "Don't overdo it. You haven't been on your feet that long. Even easy settings can set you back."

"I'll be fine." He had no intention of suffering a setback. He'd been out of the game long enough. "You heading to Richards?" She was wearing a shipboard uniform, not exercise kit, so she hadn't come to join him.

"Medical. Commander Liegus set up a few more scenarios for me to go through.

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