Constellations

Let's celebrate

It is the day after you received your mission and you are working with the main cockpit crew on flying the starship. It is annoying going from something small to something massive. At least at this stage, it will be a simulation.

"Roman, how are the systems looking?" You ask. It feels odd asking a Russian to do a systems check but the Nova and Artemis missions are an international affair, unlike the constellation mission. Roman flicks some buttons.

"All systems are nominal," He confirms. You start to think of what could go wrong.

"Lilly it's the first sim nothing will go wrong," Benji shoots you a reassuring glance.

"Two minutes to super heavy separation," Kelsey calls out.

"Confirmed," Roman responds. Two minutes later you get an indication that the super heavy separated. The annoying thing about being in a simulator is it doesn't capture the movement of the spacecraft.

"I am deploying the solar panels," Jay announces. An hour later everything is finished and you are making a checklist. You start to think about the basic launch sequence.

"You know the checklist is stored in the computer," Roman remarks. He is right but you are a little old fashion in that sense.

"Let the commander do what she wants," Benji jumps to your defence.

"Thank you, Benji," You respond.

"Everyone," Danny Yells to get your attention. Everyone directs their attention to him.

"Drinks are on me tonight," He obviously wants to celebrate. After four hours of training, everyone has taken up Danny's offer for drinks. You have arrived at the bar with Kelsey. Your eyes settle on the seats next to Jay and Benji.

"Hello, Lilly," Benji remarks as both you and Kelsey sit down.

"Hey Benji I have a question for you," You decide to ask if he is part of the Starforce.

"Go for it," he responds.

"Are you a part of the Starforce?" you ask. He nods as you receive your drink. Danny approaches. He has a smile on his face.

"Yes. Danny asked for me in particular," Benji confirms. Danny sits down next to Jay. You have a sip from your drink. You are glad that you are finally getting the training underway.

"Lilly, can you make sure that the physical checklists are ready?" Danny asks. You can tell that he is happy to be celebrating with old friends. He starts to talk to Benji about the constellation mission. You feel like butting in but you want to hear the fresh perspective.

"You should ask Lilly for more details," Danny directs Benji's attention to you but you just want to relax. Benji can sense that so he doesn't probe. You notice that one of the new members is sitting on their own.

"Excuse me," You excuse yourself so you can talk to her. Ten seconds later you have sat down in the seat next to her.

"Hello commander," She remarks. She is a little surprised to have you sit near her.

"Cassidy, don't worry about rank until we launch," You respond. Again being called commander will be something you have to get used to again. You hear a roar of laughter from Danny, Jay, Benji and Kelsey. You assume that Kelsey has just told a funny story.

"Sorry com-I mean Lilly," She responds.

"Again don't worry about it. After all, it will be better if we are all friends before launch day," You reply. Kelsey comes to join you. He has a smile on his face which can only mean he told a successful joke. He passes you your soft drink.

"Hello Kelsey," Cassidy says.

"Hey Cassidy," He responds. You can tell he is resisting the urge to tell the joke that he just told the others. You let out a slight giggle at his pain.

"What?" He looks at you curiously.

"You told a joke to the others and now you are resisting the urge to tell me," You clear the confusion. He gives you his understanding nod. You down the drink. You are not going to have fun tomorrow.

"So Lilly there is a rumour going around that you are the daughter of Micheal Collins. Is that true?" Cassidy asks. You nod because you don't feel like talking about it.

"Yes she is but she doesn't like talking about it," Kelsey jumps in for you.

"Sorry I thought I would ask while we were talking that's all," Cassidy responds. She then proceeds to tell her own story. It is a fascinating story of how she was told that she shouldn't be an astronaut but she became one anyway. It's sad that she never had the support like you did.

"If only I could speak to Elon about it," She muses.

"What do you mean?" You enquire. You know the fact that some of the group members worked for SpaceX but you didn't know specifically who.

"If it weren't for him I would never have a chance of being selected," She gives you the quick version. You get the feeling that the training for Nova one will be fun. After an hour of socialising you have decided to go home. Kelsey is trying to get into the driver's seat. You are stopping him

"I'll drive," You insist. He is going to have a massive hangover tomorrow. You successfully manage to shove him out of the way.

"But it's a Tesla. The autopilot will do most of the work for me," He responds as you sit down in the driver's seat. 

"You know how I feel about it and besides I'm not moving," You get the feeling you have won the augment even though it's hard to argue with Kelsey when he is drunk. Twenty minutes later you have made it home and you are ready for bed.

"You know I am sorry for insisting that I should've driven," he has the lost puppy dog look. You know how he feels. You can't tell if it's a drunken apology or not but you decide to play along anyway.

"Don't worry about it, Kels," You respond with a smile. You both lay down next to each other.

"Goodnight Lilly," Kesley starts the goodnight routine.

"Goodnight Kelsey," You drift off with the lingering thoughts of the day and how fun it was to hang out with the crew.