A Second Chance

Oliver woke up as if his eyes were pinched shut, “Gaah,” he said bringing a hoof to his face. “Note to self, don’t stay in a simulator all day.”

He rolled out of bed onto the floor where he lay for a minute or two. The cold metal woke him up slightly, enough for him to get up and check the clock. The time was 11:48; his ‘test’ was in a few hours.

Leaving the room and following the route he remembered he wound up in the mess hall again. He grabbed a tray and sat at a table. Slowly going through his meal he saw a familiar face.

The pony who recruited him grabbed a tray and looked around for a seat. Oliver waved him over and the young colt sat down. He did look young, barely past 19 at most. The earth pony had a white coat and a short, cropped mane.

“Hello again sir,” he said beginning his meal.

“I told you stop with the sir, I’m not a captain anymore. Anyway what’s your name?”

“Sorry sir, my name is Orion sir.” Oliver put a hoof to his face hearing the ‘sirs’.

“So Orion, what do you do on the ship?” Oliver asked curiously.

“I’m the life support technician, I deal with the air and water etcetera.”

“Interesting, anything planned for today?” Oliver had never really considered all the little details that were required on a space ship. Heating, water, waste, air, gravity, they all had to be taken care of.

“Not much, I just have to take a look at some of the machines, how about you?”

“I have a meeting with my lance in an hour or so,” he said rising to go. “I guess I’ll see you around Orion.”

“Bye!”  Orion called after him.

Oliver stood at the doors to the simulators for a good few minutes before walking in. There were only 3 of the 4 members of the lance, including himself. Iron saw him come in and waved. “Hello Oliver, you might as well get in your simulator as the other recruit isn’t here yet.”

“What do you have in mind?” Oliver wondered what the captain had in store for 2 recruits.

“We’ve set the simulators to your preferred mechs, it was my idea to have a little duel between the two rookies.”

“A duel? Seems fun.”

“Hop in, we’ll start when she arrives.” Iron gestured towards the simulator.

“She?” Oliver had an inkling of who he would be facing.

Hopping in the simulator he started it up and checked all the systems. Sure enough they were set to his Centurion 9A. All basic weaponry, at least the variety should work at all ranges. Missiles an Autocannon/10 and some lasers.

Oliver sat there for a good 10 minutes before the computer began the simulation. It was a small map, nowhere to really hide.

He thought about what he should do and if he had guessed correctly who his opponent was, he would know the mech and how do avoid it.

The Centurion lumbered around the battlefield until finally another mech contact appeared. The mech type confirmed his suspicions as to who he was against, it was a Cataphract.

Starlight was his opponent? It wouldn’t be easy, she knew how to shoot. Almost on cue a PPC shot whizzed by missing his mech by inches.

“Come on, lock on already!” The missile targeting systems weren’t working like they should. Instead he just fired shell after shell at the Cataphract each one hitting home.

The Cataphract was fighting as well though. Starlight was a very good shot, she was hitting leg and arm actuators with good effect. Both mechs kept shooting and quickly both mechs were heavily damaged. That was when Starlight made a fatal mistake. She fired a PPC shot and her mech overheated and shutdown.

“Now’s my chance!”  He thought charging the crippled mech and delivering the final blow to the Cataphract’s engine. The mech toppled over and the simulation ended. He hopped out of the pod and was met with smiles.

“Nice work, that was a close match,” Iron said patting him Oliver on the back.

Starlight hopped out of her simulator and trotted over with a slight frown. “Not bad. You lucked out there though.”

“I wouldn’t say luck but whatever.” Oliver chuckled; it wasn’t ‘luck’ that she fired a PPC shot while on very high heat levels.

“Well you both did above our expectations. Good to have you in the lance,” Iron said smiling.

“Well I’m gonna get back in the simulator, I need to practise more,” Starlight said hopping over to the simulator and getting in.

Iron left quickly leaving Oliver and Nick. Nick had seemed very… quiet compared to the other two; although it pays to be the strong and silent type. He seemed nice enough though. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around more often Oliver, bye,” and with that Nick left and Oliver was alone.

He sat there for a while scratching his head wondering what to do next. His eyes wandered over to the simulator again, “No, not again.” Eventually he decided to go to the med bay. He had gotten one half of his jobs out of the way, now it was time for the other half.

Half an hour of navigating his way around later Oliver wound up at the med bay. It was pretty much deserted inside, nopony in sight. The place was amazing though, all the new equipment was overwhelming. Oliver hadn’t worked as a doctor for years now, all his knowledge was probably a bit outdated. Examining all the equipment made him think again, a LOT outdated.

He was looking at one of the machines in the corner when, “*Ah-HHHEM*.”

“That was one very over-the-top throat clearing.” Oliver thought to himself. He whipped round to see a pony standing in the door frame.

He was a rather large unicorn, glasses sitting on his muzzle. He looked fairly old, past fifty at least. He wore a brown suit and tie under his lab coat and was reading a data pad.

“Hello there.” Oliver asked nervously. “I’m Oliver.”

“Oliver…hmm…ah-hah! The new assistant! Nice to meet you,” said the doctor, holding out a hoof.

Oliver took it and shook, “You would be?”

“Forget the pleasantries for now,” he said waving a hoof as to dismiss him. “I need to find that report or I’m dead, I left it in here somewhere.”

Oliver picked up a small pile of papers he saw earlier. “Are these what you’re looking for?”

The unnamed doctor looked up and grinned “Yes, that’s them! Well, I can see this partnership working well. Welcome aboard!”