A Second Chance

“Send them in.” Oliver commanded.

“We can’t sir, there are too many mechs around that area.”

“Our orders are to take the planet, command is up my ass about how we’re ‘wasting resources’ or ‘taking too long’. I said send them in.”

The corporal sighed, moved over to a small console and transmitted the orders. “It’s done sir.”

“Good let’s watch the show.” They watched as the mechs moved through the forest and one by one the seven slowly turned to zero. The cries for help were ignored and the dropship flew off towards the jumpship.

Oliver woke up with a start. He rolled over to see the small clock, 9:48. He threw back the covers and got up. His usual routine was different due to the lack of personal items. Instead of brushing his mane he desperately patted it down, unfortunately a few areas just stuck up despite his efforts. It would do, he just hoped it didn’t look too stupid. He got dressed and walked out of his room towards the mess hall.

There weren’t many ponies up so the journey was fairly uneventful. He walked in to find a few ponies eating breakfast. Some of them waved, he noticed that the ones who did were the ones who had recruited him. He waved back but didn’t sit near them.

He sat down at an empty table in the corner. Not feeling too hungry he just got a glass of water. He sipped his drink watching

the various ponies coming and going. None really came over to talk but he didn’t mind.

He wondered what to do today; he still had today and tomorrow to do whatever he wanted. He decided to head back into town to buy a few things, he was gonna be here a while, why not make himself comfortable?

He walked into town with a bag full of bits, and left with a pair of saddle bags full of tat. A flask, a few books, a hairbrush, a razor blade, a small mirror, some casual clothes, a pocketknife and some other things. He trotted back to the ship to deposit his things before doing anything else.

A few ponies passed him on the way back. A few waved, a few shook hooves and a few just walked right by without so much as a passing glance. The guards were sitting there but they just took a look at his uniform before going back to whatever it was they were doing.

He walked into the lift and went up to the living quarters. The doors opened and Starlight ran right into him. “Oh, sorry. Hey it’s you!” she said with a small giggle.

Dusting himself off Oliver smiled, “Yeah it’s me. Going to breakfast?”

“Yeah, where did you get those?” she said gesturing to the saddlebags.

“In town, I thought I would need a few things,” he said pulling out the flask and taking a drink.

“Good idea, I should probably do some shopping. Anyway I’m gonna go eat, bye!”

“Bye!” he called as the lift doors closed. He walked back to the cabin and unpacked everything he had bought, putting it in its rightful place.

He quickly pulled out the mirror and looked at his mane. There were tufts sticking up everywhere! No wonder Starlight kept giggling. He quickly brushed it down and checked it over before walking out again. He walked back down towards the lift. He got in and went back down to the mech bay.

Another trip around the bay was entertaining but the second time is never as fun as the first. He then looked up and saw the many walkways that allowed people to actually get into their mechs. A short lift ride later he saw the many open cockpits of the mechs.

He quickly looked around, no pony in sight. Over the side of the walkway, no mechanics. With a squee of delight he quickly chose a centurion and hopped in.

The controls were the same so he just quickly remembered what everything did. He only stopped messing about with everything when the voice of another pony said “What do you think you’re doing?”

Oliver quickly hopped out of the mech and began to explain, “Sorry couldn’t help myself.”

The rather tall unicorn looked him over and quickly checked the inside of the mech. “You’re new, so I’ll let you go this time, fortunately this one is assigned to you anyway.”

Oliver had a really big grin on his face “Really? They sure brought it in fast.”

“It was a spare in case anyone’s was destroyed or damaged. But we read over your files from the military and it said you piloted these, so I got you transferred to my lance and had this mech assigned to you.”

“Well great! Nice to meet you, your name would be?”

“Captain Iron Venture.”

Hearing the word ‘captain’ Oliver immediately raised a hoof into a salute.

“At ease, forget about the salutes for now, I’ll see you around,” and with that he turned and walked back towards the lift.

He looked back at the mech and examined the controls once more. A few things were out of place but seeing as the mech was his he could do whatever he wanted with them. The hours of tinkering went by and at the end of it Oliver had optimised his controls, programmed weapon groups and may have slightly singed his mane.

Closing the mech’s cockpit he wandered back to the lift wondering what else to do. He had yet to find a med bay so he walked around looking for some pony to give him directions.

He eventually bumped into a young stallion. “Sorry can you tell me where the med bay is?”

“1 floor down, might as well follow me though, I’m heading down there.”

“Alright, lead on.” Oliver had never been the type to ask questions so he simply followed the stallion into the lift and later, into the med bay.

They were greeted by the entire staff, a few nurses, a doctor or two and the officer. The others got back to their duties but the officer stayed put.

The stallion Oliver had walked in with was given something he wasn’t able to make out before the officer turned to him.

“You must be Oliver, I’m Ray the officer here,” he said holding out a hoof.

Oliver took it and shook “Nice to meet you sir.”

“Sorry I can’t stay and chat but I have things to do, I’ll leave you to explore and introduce yourself,” he said walking out the door.

Many hoof shakes later Oliver had learned the names of everyone in the bay. He looked around, admiring the technology. It had been twelve years since he had last been in a place like this, he felt like he had to learn everything again!

After a while he decided to get some dinner, he walked out with a wave at the staff. Almost all of them waved back (It wasn’t a big room).

He journeyed back into the town where he found a nice little restaurant. He walked in and was seated. He looked around not seeing anyone from the ship. The waitress came back and took his order, while he lounged about in his seat.

The day had been very eventful, a new mech to play with, met the new lance captain, met the new medical officer. Seeing as tomorrow was the last day Oliver thought about what else there was to do on the ship.

Nothing came to mind so he decided to stay in town for the night and return to the ship in time for lift off. The meal came and he ate quickly as he still had to find a place to sleep.

He walked into the cold night air quickly looking for a hotel. He found the one he was at before and checked in. He went to bed and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning was quite crappy to say the least. Rain came down hard onto the windows without any sign of it stopping. Oliver woke up refreshed and nightmare free but the rain brought down his spirits quite a bit. He didn’t like the thought of walking through that all the way back to the dropship.

But he got up anyway, put on a coat and walked out of the hotel. The rain soaked through the light clothing, freezing him. At least the cold droplets woke him up better than any coffee could have.

Charging through the storm back to the ship was a difficult feat considering the amount of rain and wind. The guards instead of sitting around outside were standing inside just enough to keep out of the rain.

He ran right past them and collapsed onto the cold metal floor just beyond. They helped him up and took him into a small storage cupboard before returning to their posts.

The room was warm and sheltered from the wind so Oliver simply sat there shivering until the cold was gone. He got up slightly warmer but still soaked through. He walked back to his quarters dripping wet and shivering.

He entered and threw off the wet clothes and quickly dried himself off. He climbed into bed; the warm covers quickly stopped him shivering. A few minutes later he climbed out and got dressed again.

Just then the intercom came alive “All crew to mess hall, all crew to mess hall, launch imminent.” Well he was a crewmember so he got his saddlebags and walked in the direction of the lift. Many others were coming out of their rooms and taking the lift down.

Pretty soon a huge crowd filled the mess hall and the captain quickly read through a list of names. People shouted ‘here’ as the captain went through the long list. A few names he recognised, Starlight, Venture, Ray. Eventually Oliver’s name was called out and that ended the list.

Immediately after the roll call the captain talked into a radio. The ship rumbled and blasted upwards, the engines had ignited and they were going up into space. About 20 minutes later the ship slowed and was docked.

They all flocked through the large main entrance and instead of the vast plain they saw more corridors. He had no idea where to go so he simply followed the crowd and came to the crew quarters. He guessed they were all the same so he walked towards room 54 and punched in the code.

Luckily the door opened up to reveal a much larger room. He unpacked quickly and examined this one as well. More pairs of clothing in the drawers, more furniture and a much comfier bed. He quickly lay down and rested.

A banging on the door stopped him from resting. “Can’t I get some quiet?” he muttered to himself. He opened the door and Starlight hopped in. “Hi!”

“Hi Starlight. How’s it going?”

She never got to answer as he began to experience a familiar feeling. Nothing seemed to have happened but Oliver felt sick. Starlight groaned “We jumped! I think I left my stomach behind.”

Oliver laughed “Well in a few weeks we get to do it all again.”

Starlight quickly turned “I think I better go lie down. I’ll see you when I don’t feel like vomiting.”

“Bye,” he said as he quickly shut the door. He felt sick as well but he had kind of gotten used to it being a jumpship captain and all. He lay down on the bed again and quickly fell asleep.