It is the day after the gathering at the bar. You are lying awake waiting for the alarm to go off to signal the start of another fun workday. It goes off. Kesley grumbles as he rolls over.

"Can you turn that bloody klakson off," he moans. He is definitely hungover which is a pity. You grab your phone and kill the alarm. You are surprised that he is even slightly awake. You carefully pat him on the shoulder.

"Come on Kelsey. We have to get ready for work," he moans again. You proceed to gently coax him out of bed. Five minutes later he is up. Another Twenty minutes later you are both ready. You giggle because he looks ridiculous in his NASA jumpsuit and aviators.

"What?" Kesley questions you.

"You should look in the mirror and it's not my fault you drank too much," You retort as you head out to the Tesla. Another fifteen minutes later you have made it to the johnson space centre. You are greeted by Roman who is slightly more cheerful than Kelsey.

"Good morning guys," he remarks.

"Looks like the German made a mistake," he starts what might just become a battle of words.

"Oh shut it. At least You may be more cheerful but I reckon your hangover is worse," Kelsey retorts. He is right. Roman gives up and in good time.

"You guys may be hungover but I want to get to work on the emergency systems," Both Benji and Jay round the corner. Jay quickly massages his head. At least you know today will be a little more relaxed. Two minutes later and everyone is in the sim. You are a little nervous because Elon is watching. It makes sense because these are his systems. The displays change from blue to red to indicate an emergency.

"The main battery pack has exploded," Roman calls out.

"Switching to auxiliary power," Kelsey confirms as he pushes some of the buttons. You can tell they are fighting various levels of hangovers to get the sim done.

"Will the explosion cause problems with landing?" You ask the most important question. You know it's just a simulation but you can feel your heartbeat rising. You hope it won't end up like this. You are glad that your team is able to work through their respective hangovers.

"No it shouldn't because I was able to get most of the residual energy from the batteries to the hydraulics and besides the backups should be able to operate normally," Kelsey responds. Ten minutes later the simulation has finished. The team has gathered around Elon to see what he has to say. You break away from the tiny gathering. You head to the old Kennedy capsule trainer. You make the slightly awkward ingress. You start to write more notes on what you learnt during that simulation. You get distracted by the control stick.

"I didn't know they still had the Kennedy capsule simulator," Jay remarks. He causes you to flinch.

"Jay you can make your arrival less frightful," You moan in anger.

"Sorry I should've warned you. Anyway, I was meant to ask you last night but what are your thoughts on starship?" Jay asks as he slips into the simulator with you.

"Well Elon and his team have done a good job on the systems and I feel confident that we can get to Mars," You respond.

"What brings you here?" You return the question. You are happy for the company even though you are questioning it.

"The uncrewed demo is in three days and Danny wanted someone to tell you," He responds. He has an air of pride.

"Let me guess you and Kelsey had a race to tell me," You respond. He gives a prideful nod.

"Remind me never to have a race with you," You retort. Another ten minutes later you have finished your notes and you are ready for the next simulation. You glance over at the others and they all give you reassuring nods. You all get to work on the launch sequence. The screens go red. This time it's because the super-heavy booster has ruptured. You have noticed that Kelsey is ready with his hand on the launch abort handle.

"Launch on my mark. Go," You command. Kelsey pulls the launch escape handle. The screens change back to blue to show that the emergency is over. You start to think about how they could improve. Another hour later you have finished and you are getting something to eat. You are also thinking about what the Mars mission will involve. Hopefully, it doesn't turn into the movies that involve Mars.

"So Lilly what are you thinking about?" Kelsey snaps you back to reality.

"I'm just thinking about Mars in pop culture," You respond. Kelsey lets out a slight chuckle which makes you a little self-conscious. It has always been a habit of yours to think about pop culture

"What?" you ask to make sure it's just you.

"Nothing so long as we don't have to fight the aliens," Kelsey adds to your fantasy.

"That's Benji's job anyway. He's the one that's a part of the Starforce," You retort. At least you know if there ever is a first contact the team will be in safe hands. You start to eat but you are a little occupied with your thoughts again.

"It will be alright," Kelsey can sense your uneasiness.

"I know but I will be leaving my dad and my siblings. That's what's bothering me," You explain your feelings. You will have a while to get used to that feeling. Kelsey places his hand on your free hand. You feel a little better because you can see the wedding band. 

"Look on the bright side I will be coming with so it won't be all doom and gloom," Kelsey responds. A minute later Jay has joined you. 

"Hopefully you don't mind if I join you love birds," Jay teases as he sits down.

"You were going to sit down anyway," Kelsey responds as he lets go of your hand. You quickly eat the last little bit of food you had left. It still feels a little off that you are in the same room. Danny enters and he lets out a piercing whistle to get everyone's attention. It works.

"Everyone, we have a press event tomorrow," He announces. Here we go again. It is the day after Danny's announcement and you are getting ready for the press announcement. Kelsey and Jay are talking to the others about what they should expect from today. You get the feeling that most of the questions will be directed at you anyway. The anticipation builds as everyone is organised into their respective place in the line. After what feels like an eternity of waiting you have been called on stage. The applause is almost deafening but it soon dies down.

"The team you see before you will undertake an endeavour unlike any other," Danny wraps up his speech.

"We will now take questions," A lot of eager hands shoot up. An intern quickly races through the crowd with a microphone. He runs to where Danny is indicating. The person carefully takes the microphone.

"My question is for all of you and I was wondering if there was anything you will miss other than family," The person asks. Kelsey passes you the microphone.

"Other than family I'm going to say a breathable atmosphere," You give a comedic answer because you feel like it's a good place to start.

"Don't forget the food," Roman chimes in. His remark gets some laughter from the audience. Another reporter's hand shoots up. Again the intern scrambles to get to her.

"Lilly as commander of this mission, what will be the hardest hurdle?"

"Take off," You give a quick response.

"My question is for Roman. What is the hardest part about working for NASA and the Roscosmos at the same time?" You get the feeling that the questions are only going to get harder.

"It is alright if you don't mind living in a bureaucratic nightmare. I wish it involved less arguing," He responds. At least Elon won't budge on the Starship systems unless the cockpit crew agree that there is something wrong. The intern moves to the next person. You start to feel sorry for him because you have been in his position before. 

"My question is for the cockpit crew and I was wondering if you could give your thoughts on the systems?" The reporter asks. You pass the microphone back to Kelsey because he is the chief engineer. 

"I have complete faith in the systems. I also think Elon's team have done the best with what they could," He responds. Kelsey quickly passes you the microphone back. 

"Yes and I think the crew has started their training strong," You add.  As your dad said he and Buzz had faith. After two hours of questions, you are tired. You can tell the others feel the same. At least you, Kelsey and Jay are somewhat used to it.

"Why does it have to be so hard," Benji complains.

"It only gets worse," Jay responds. Benji lets out an annoyed groan as he heads back to the main library. Both you and Jay giggle. At least you know you can handle the press.

"I'm going to do some experimenting in the simulators now," You remark. You leave the press area which is now clear. Three minutes later you are back in the simulator and you are experimenting with some of the emergency controls. You get the feeling you are being watched but you chose to ignore it. After two minutes of experimenting your mystery viewer comes in. It's Elon. He sits down in the seat next to you.

"Hopefully you don't mind if I join you," He remarks.

"Go for it," You respond. You could do with the help.

"You were working on the timing for the launch abort sequence weren't you," You nod and then you proceed to tell him your plan. You are soon interrupted.

"You know you are going to need one of the engineers," Kelsey remarks as he sits himself where he would normally sit. You feel bad for not telling him your plan but you wanted to this alone while you got your thoughts about the mission together. After twenty minutes of playing around you have shortened the launch abort to about thirty seconds.

"Oh Elon before I forget Cassidy wants to talk you at some point," You decide that it is a good time to mention it.

"Ok I will see what I can do," He responds as he leaves.

"At least we cut that down. Now we should tell Roman," Kelsey responds.

"Let's go find him and tell him then," You offer your hand to Kelsey and he takes it. You both leave. You can tell that Kelsey is thinking about the constellation mission from the way he looks. You apply a little bit of pressure which seems to snap him out of his thoughts.

"What is it, Lilly?" Kelsey responds politely.

"Your thinking about the constellation mission," You respond.

"Ja I'm thinking about how much simpler it was ten years ago. I mean don't get me wrong the systems are fun to learn but it was much simpler with physical buttons," He explains how he is feeling. You agree with him it was in fact much easier for you. You understand that technology will always get better. 

"You know I have written a paper checklist," You respond.

"I'm not surprised. Hey, Roman, we have adapted the launch abort sequence," Kelsey stops Roman as he walks passed. He comes to an abrupt stop.

"How?" Roman looks a little confused. You then tell him what you mean. He is impressed. It's like he has never heard of experimenting. You are glad that the team were able to deal with the press. It has been three hours since the press event and everyone is just about to leave.

"Lilly, have you written the emergency checklist yet?" Kelsey asks.

"Yes, I have," You confirm as you present the one hundred page booklet. He takes it and pretends to be weak. You giggle.

"It shouldn't be that bad," You play into his joke.

"Anyway we should go home before Danny changes his mind," Kelsey responds as he recovers from his joke. You two make it to the car. You get into the passenger seat.

"You know the press stuff is going to be easy since we know what to expect," Kelsey can tell that you are thinking about something.

"I know but they keep mentioning family and I feel really bad for leaving my dad and siblings," You respond. At least the most important person will be coming with you.