Constellations

A decision

It is the day after the announcement and you are talking to Jay and Kelsey about who will be the commander and the pilot. It is a hard debate because you feel like the command should go to Jay but he is insisting it goes to you. Why can't he just accept the fact that he deserves it more than you? It will never be something you will understand. 

"Jay you deserve the command more than me," You announce. At least it was easy for Kelsey because his role was already decided for him being the person in the team that worked on the European Service Module. Jay gives you a death glare to see if he can make you feel uncomfortable. luckily for you, it doesn't work because of your syblings. An idea has come to mind.

"I think Lilly has an idea," Kelsey remarks reading your mind again

"Thank you, Kelsey, I do," You confirm. Hopefully, they also think it is a good idea as well. You just want this debate settled. 

"My idea is to do one simulation as commander then I switch with Jay and I get Neil to watch and see who he will choose," It is the best idea you could think of.

"Ok then we will do it and then we will tell Danny our plan," Jay responds. You can tell he is hoping Neil will favour you. You know that Neil would be open-minded about it so Jay will have to intentionally sabotage his efforts. 

"I'll go find Neil and see if he agrees to this," You remark as you duck out. You start thinking about what you could do to make sure Jay gets the command but even then you are doubtful because you have been told that you make a good leader by a countless number of people. You are so distracted by your thoughts you bump into Neil again. Luckily he wasn't holding a cup of coffee this time.

"Lilly you are just the person I need to talk to," He remarks. You can tell that he is a little shocked to find the person he was looking for.

"I need to talk to you as well but you go first," You decide to see what he has to say. You get the feeling that he is going to congratulate you like the others.

"Congratulations Lilly," You can tell that Neil is a little proud of you even though he will not admit it.

"Thank you. I have a favour to ask. Could you watch some of our simulator rides and tell me who will make the better commander out of me or Jay?" You ask. At least you know he is likely to say yes in some kind of way.

"I will do that," He confirms. An hour later you are getting ready for the simulation. It is your turn as commander. You are stressed but at the same time, you are glad to get training for the main mission underway.

"Let's begin," Jay remarks. You both get to work. You can tell Neil is watching closely.

"Flicking control to automatic landing sequence," Jay calls out. You have your hand on the control stick just in case. You never know if something will go wrong in the simulation. 

"Auto control confirmed," You respond. After five minutes of going over the landing checklist, you are ready for the main event.

"Are you ready?" You ask. Jay nods. You can tell he is anticipating something to go wrong. You get the feeling that nothing will happen until you choose who the commander is. To your surprise you are correct. Another five minutes later you are done with the first simulation as the commander. You both leave the simulator for lunch.

"So Neil, how did she go?" Jay asks.

"She went well," Neil responds. Hopefully, Jay does better. Another twenty minutes later you are doing the same thing as before but Jay is the commander. He isn't doing too well but you get the feeling he is doing it on purpose. You decide to ask about it later. Seven minutes later you have finished.

"Jay you did badly on purpose," You announce. You are angry at Jay but at the same, you are glad to get the basic stuff done. Something tells you it will be pointless for you to stay angry at him. 

"No, I didn't. You like I said before you deserve the command more than me," He stands firm on his position. You wish you could punch him in the face for wasting an opotinuy like this. In fact, the only thing that is stopping you is the fact that it will be considered unprofessional if you did and you would hate to be unprofessional. 

"You asked me to deal with the issue," Neil directs your attention to him. You decide it's not a good idea to pursue the pilot's seat.

"Yes, I did. Can you tell us what you think?" Jay responds.

"Well you both have good qualities but I think Lilly can handle the stress as commander better," Yup you knew it. At least the decision has been made. Now you need to tell Kelsey. You start to feel the guilt nibble at you.

"Hey Jay I'm sorry for getting angry at you but I felt that you should be the commander after all you've been through," You apologise. You know you will be forgiven soon enough.

"Don't worry about it, Lilly. The decision has been made. Thank you, Neil,' He reassures you in his weird way. Two minutes later you and Neil are watching Kelsey going through the ESM realignment procedure. You are finding it interesting how the different things are coming together.

"If only I could have seen Mike's training," Neil utters.

"What was that Neil?" you decide to probe because you are not sure what he means.

"In the Apollo program none of the training came together like this," He explains. You understand what he means now. Ten minutes later Kelsey has finished. He is extremely frazzled by the training. 

"Hello Lilly, Neil," He acknowledges you.

"Did you work out who would be the commander?"

"We did and Jay is the pilot and I am the commander," You respond. You still wish jay got the command but there is nothing at all you can do about it. Knowing Jay he is looking for Danny so he can tell him the plan. After another four hours of training, you are finally home.

"Hey, dad I have something to tell you," You hope he is home. You dump your bag by the door again. 

"In the kitchen," He responds. You start to smell the food he is cooking. You head to the kitchen. You are greeted by the sight of your dad trying to balance a tray of food whilst getting the oven open. A smile creeps up on to your face. 

"Let me," You get it for him.

"Anyway, what is your news?" Micheal asks as he skilfully gets the food in the oven.

"I'm the commander of constellation five," You announce with joy. You dad closes the oven and he embraces you with the biggest bear hug imaginable.

"I am proud of you," He declares as he lets go. Your smile grows to an all-out grin because seeing your dad happy makes you happy.

"I know dad," You look him in the eyes.

"So who are the rest of the crew?" He gets down to interrogating you.

"Jay who is the pilot and Kelsey who is the ESM and command module pilot," You respond. You are glad that Kelsey will have someone to talk to.

"You're thinking I should talk to Kelsey," He reads your mind. You nod and leave the kitchen because you have some last-minute work for the day. You let out an excited squeal because of the fact that the Constellation mission is now underway.