THUD!

A groan escaped from Cornelius as he struck the floor. From his position he noticed his alarm clock flashing but no sound, no doubt from when he threw it across the room the morning before.

"Ugh. Slept in. Well, at least I'm not up for Patrol today, right Jim?"

His question echoed up to the bunk above his which was, of course, empty.
His roommate was always up before everybody else. Something about Snoring, or something. . .

"p***k. He could have woken me up too."

Cornelius struggled out of the blankets that were entangling him like angry pythons and staggered over to his dresser. Putting on his Underclothes, Pilot suit, and Uniform. In that order.
He lifted an arm to get a whiff of himself and judged he could last through the day. If anybody complained, well, they weren't very sweet smelling either. Especially some of the female Pilots.

The thought flashed through his mind, causing him to burst out laughing just as he entered the halls, one poor recruit scurried off, a worried look on his face. Well, Cornelius's laughs always sounded a bit. . . Crazy.

"Food for me and then food for my girl."

The smells from the mess were dim, Breakfast was no doubt over but he could still grab something.
Upon entering the Mess he was delighted to find several others still eating. That meant he wouldn't have to sweet talk food from the cooks. Cornelius heaped the food high on his tray when the Server wasn't looking and hurried to a table to eat.

"Cornelius! You're up! I heard you got ambushed by some snipers the other day. They finally blast that scrap heap you call a Mech?"

"Ha! It'll take more than some wimpy Zex snipers to stop my baby. They only lasted as long as they did because the bastards were hiding."

"No s**t. Only a dumb-a** would go hand to hand with that monster you pilot."

"I hear that."

The conversation ended good-naturally as it always did and Cornelius turned back to eating. Damn snipers had singled him out of the patrol for just that reason. He hated sneaky Mech pilots. That wasn't fighting. That was cowardice. But only because they were so damn hard to spot!