Game Night

Posted on Wed Aug 19th, 2026 @ 8:45pm by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews

Mission: Royal Mail
1422 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

A bright flash of sudden light made Lexi covered eyes as she realised her error from stepping from the dark corridor into the now brightly lit room, as someone had left the lights on. Her hands covered her face in a desperate attempt to block out the light, but it was hard to ignore. White burned itself into her skull with every attempt to look for what felt like five minutes.

In reality, it was less than one minute when she got the lighting to die down to a more manageable level, but boy, did it feel longer as her eyes tried to adjust. Rubbing and wiping her eyes, the comms Officer got the chance to see the fruits of her labour and where she had set up a space for a chill out space for people to bring an activity and just enjoy doing it around people.

Not many people came to the observatory deck anymore, as people preferred the mess hall, which was why the small group would be nice. She was lost in her own thoughts as she looked at the ship that connected them. It was such a foreign design, but it fascinated her. She turned as the door hissed open and grinned. “You took your time.” She teased.

“Sorry,” Jenni confessed, standing at the threshold with her hands still on the control pad. “It’s been a bit of a long day.” A sigh escaped her airways as her eyes adjusted to the drastic change in the lighting. Even in its dimmed state, it was still brighter than the corridor.

The engineer scanned the nearly empty room and realized that it was just the two of them at the moment. “You know,” she said as she stepped inside, “I think this is only the second time I’ve been in this room. The first had to have been… not long after we launched. Took me three days to peer into nearly every accessible room on the ship, and that includes crawling down maintenance tubes to the nacelles and the rear pod.”

"I come here often," Lexi admitted. She and William often found themselves just hanging there as it was somewhere they could be together that was not in front of the crew, and it was not their quarters. "It is out of the way and very much off the beaten track." She added as she finally stepped away from the window.

Jenni chuckled as she approached the table. "Off the beaten track indeed. Though, as Chief Engineer, I'm probably not supposed to admit that I don't know the whole ship like the back of my hand by now. Maybe I should make it a side quest or something."

Lexi laughed a little. She crossed her head and awkwardly moved off from the wall, sat down in one of the large chairs and lifted her leg up. "I will deny all knowledge if I were ever asked." It was unlikely she would be asked, but she could make that promise with a big grin on her face. "So what have you been up to today then?" Everyone had been quiet, so she was not sure if anyone was going to join.

Jenni hesitated as she pulled a chair out to sit on. Should she tell Lexi about the impending doom they could be facing. The whole crew knew that with each and every day that passed, the closer they would become to being crippled. For most, it was a lingering fear. Jenni faced it every day, every shift, and in every decision.

And that, above all, made one feel terribly alone on a ship where others had coupled up, found solace in another’s arms. Jenni had been putting that off for far too long. Maybe, just maybe, she ought to start offering olive branches. “Crawling in the tubes,” she admitted. “Every now and again, one has to check the things we can’t see every day.”

Lexi could not argue with that. She had days where she had to crawl into systems she could not even be able to explain to someone who did not know community steins systems. “I know that feeling. If you need help I can come crawl with you.” She offered as she knew what being alone doing all the things did.

"I can always use another pair of hands," Jenni found herself answering before she was thinking. Is this what it means to trust someone? she pondered. Is it really that simple?

“Well let me know when you need a crawling buddy let me know.” The woman said smiling as she sat down awkwardly in the chair. Sometimes she was aware of how much it hurt to put to much weight on her leg sometimes. The tower collapse might have been months and months ago but it still left scars on her.

“How’s the leg?” Jenni asked. It did not escape her notice the obvious flinch as Lexi sat down. “If it’s acting up, it’s going to be tough being my crawling buddy.”

“Just having a bad day. William slept awkwardly so I slept awkwardly.” Lexi commented with a grin at the woman. “You do not get rid of me that easily Lieutenant.” She said formally with a wink.

The engineer smirked, chuckling almost as she leaned forward in her chair. "Who says I'm trying to get rid of you?" she joked.

“Good because you cannot just get rid of me. Many have tried and many have failed,” Lexi laughed just a little at her own argument. “Why I am morale,”

There was no question this time as to whether or not Jenni found Lexi humorous as the soft laugh Jenni gave was more than enough evidence. “Speaking of morale, we are supposed to be enjoying ourselves and not thinking about work or legs.”

"I am enjoying myself," Lexi assured but held up the board game that she had set up. "Fancy playing it?" She offered, not knowing if Jenni knew how to play it or had known it was there. A year after being onboard most people had done all the things and played all the games.

"It's been a while since I played Dog," Jenni responded with a smile, having recognized the game. "In fact, I don't think I've played it since before I was assign... since we came all the way out here."

"Then let's play," Lexi said brightly, moving over a seat on the couch and grabbing the tray she used for gaming and putting it between them. "I do not believe that I have played this game in a long time myself." It had been at the bottom of the pile, which had been why she had grabbed it.

"Remember the rules?" Jenni asked, collecting her pieces and placing them in the starting points. She then picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle and deal.

“Afraid not.” The woman admitted as she grabbed the instructions from the box but gave up as it was water damaged. “Can you give me the quick version?” She wondered quietly.

"It is simple," Jenni said, picking up the deck of cards. As she shuffled, she shared, "We each have four pieces, and we have a hand of cards. We play a card to move our pieces around the board and back to a home zone. The first person to get all four pieces home, wins." Jenni stopped shuffling and dealt a hand of five cards to both Lexi and herself. Jenni took a look at her hand and showed off a red card with the number 13 on it. "Cards with a 13 or 1/11 allow you to get a piece out of the start area and onto the board."

Lexi smiled as she shifted in the large chair to sit cross legged. “This sounds complicated but I vaguely remember it.” She admitted suddenly having a memory of playing it as a child or early teenager with family. It had ended in an argument but before that it had been nice.

Jenni chuckled, rearranging the cards in her hand. "Trust me, it's no more difficult than the translator." She played the card she had showed and moved a piece from her start area onto the board.

Lexi narrowed her eyes at the teasing and shook her head. The translator was easy but it was also muscle memory but relearning a game felt silly. But silly could be fun and she needed that right now.