Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
A shower and fresh uniform did wonders. Now, with her hair braided and pinned up out of the way, and two cups of strong black coffee later, Helena stepped back on the bridge. NE Beckham looked ready to jump out of his skin, his nerves were wound so tight. The switch off was a comedy of fast paced talking and stuttering on his part, but efficient and thorough. Helena figured he’d calm down in a day or so.

Helena slid into the seat and like the night before confirmed their trajectory against scans and the navigational computer. Right on track and still holding at 3.8.

Helena

Marceau put on his own fresh uniform, showered, and turned up on the bridge. As he sat in his place on the bridge, he reached again for something he did not have and had to remind himself he’d returned it to Helena. All day he felt as though he were missing something. Something that wasn’t rightfully his in the first place, he reminded himself each time. The feeling of missing something would go away with time. He needed to focus on work.

~ Marceau

As Marceau sat down status reports were called out around the bridge. “Course and speed for Wolf 359 holding captain.”

Marceau nodded to reach of the reports, once again feeling… Inexperienced. He hoped it didn’t show.

The chain bothered her all day. She wasn’t used to wearing it anymore, she supposed. It was the only piece she ever wore consistantly. The chain seemed to be a constant irritation, and the stone seemed too heavy for the delicate chain. She messed with it all day. It was a long shift. The first couple of hours weren’t too bad, lunch came and went with a short break. The walk helped to wake Helena up. Middle of the second half of her shift she got up and moved to the back of the bridge, taking navigation readings. She grinned and nodded and then returned to the helm.

Helena engaged the yoke and the ship began to shift back and forth in gentle arcs. It didn’t alter their time or their course, but it did allow Helena to get a feel for how the ship responded and moved.

Helena

Marceau looked up from what he was doing when he felt the motion. “Lieutenant Laursen, the time for showing off is in a shuttlepod, not with the ship.” He hated to be so formal, but it was appropriate for the bridge. He was smiling though, Helena’s confidence was contagious.

~ Marceau

Luckily Helena’s back was to the entire bridge crew so she had time to smoother the smile on her face before she answered. “Aye Sir. Sorry Captain, couldn’t resist testing out the controls while we had some empty space.” There was a hint of joy and amusement in her voice, and a tinge of sheepishness. The ship came back to a smooth straight, uninteresting course. Most of the crew wouldn’t have even noticed, but Cpt Renault had flown with her often enough to know. She unlocked the yoke control and slid it back to stand by. If Marceau could have seen the look on her face it would clearly convery See not so inexperienced. You know how to reprimand a wayward junior Lt..

Marceau’s accent was thick, a sure sign his new position still made him nervous. He always knew what she was doing. She was his pilot after all. He still had that pesky fear of flying. Not so bad, not anymore, but he still preferred flying with Helena over anyone else.

The rest of the shift went quietly. PO Yoshino relieved her. She was an experienced pilot and the shininess of Sojo didn’t scare her. Helena spent a moment speaking with her and then made her way to the lift. She was ready to sleep. Up all the whole way to Titan, and you never sleep on Titan when in training. Then the flight back, the bar, then up all night prepping a shuttle, and all night on Sojo getting situated, then preflight prep, launch, the poker game, and then shift. But there was still one thing left to do.

Helena

The shift was slow for Marceau, mostly because he was tired and trying not to look it. Every time he felt unsure or not confident he went looking for the necklace, remembered it wasn’t there, and then looked at Helena, as if saying saying She’s right there. I don’t need it if she’s right here. When he was off duty, he headed straight back to his quarters, got out of his uniform, and plopped into bed. But he wasn’t asleep just yet, no matter how much he might want to be.

~ Marceau

Helena was getting too old for this....no no that was bad thinking, she was too tired for this tradition. But she was NOT going to be the reason things got jinxed. So a shower and changing into thin cotton sweat pants and a cut off sweater, Helena grabbed her bag from the night before she hit the chime on Marceau’s door. They’d been up long enough they could make it a short game and it counted.

Helena

Marceau pressed the button for his door to open, and seemed surprised when he saw Helena… With the bag and sparkling grape juice. He glanced at her with a raised brow. “Helena… je suis fatigué. (I’m tired) Didn’t we play last night?”

~ Marceau

Helena grinned and stepped in waiting for the door to shut. “We did. However, if you remember we didn’t have time before Titan. We toasted and stayed up all night but we didn’t have our game. So we swore first chance we would play. So this is first chance. I am not going to be the reason we jinx our mission.”

Marceau smiled and sat down on the bed as the door closed. “Then we will play. I don’t want to jinx my first mission as a captain either.”

Helena laughed shaking her head, “I thought you’d see it my way.”

She set the bag on the chair and pulled out the cards. “You want drinks?”

He nodded and stood to get the glasses, set them out, and then sat down again.

She picked up the glass and slipped it. What she needed was coffee, but she also didn’t want to be awake longer than necessary.

She sat down at the end of the bed and shuffled the cards. “So we can have a short game. What do you want to play for?”

Helena

The words came out of Marceau’s mouth before he could stop them: “Le collier bleu.” It was in French, because he was tired, but Helena probably knew what he meant: The blue necklace. He immediately turned a bit red and shrugged, “Euh… I mean, we can always play by our usual rules.”

~ Marceau

Helena knew ‘bleu’ and could guess the rest, but Marceau’s gaze had shifted to the necklace. That made it easy. She touched it briefly, giving him a curious look. Then....then she took it off and held it up. “Okay, so adapting the tradition again? From now on, we play for ownership of the necklace? I agree.” She placed the necklace on the bed between them. Then she began to shuffle and deal while she talked, “Rules? One game? Most wins out of five games? Last hand won by the time the alarm goes off?” Not that one, she silently thought. They didn’t have to stay up all night, and she didn’t want to. She was tired.

Helena

“Out of five,” Marceau said, picking a ruleset. “And we still play with our usual currency, winner takes the prize.” He smiled at her. “Deal?” It just wouldn’t be the same without that rule. He waited for her to finish dealing the cards, then looked at his hand.

~ Marceau

Helena chuckles, “Deal.” She picked up her cards and smirked. It was horrible she had nothing to work with. If she dropped more than 3 cards Marceau would know that, but she offered a bet anyway. They went back and forth a bit before they discarded for more cards. Still no help. She tried to bluff him.

Helena