Lullaby of the stars

[Alley]

18:00 - Day One | Aboard the Normandie | Bridge

"Colonel !" shouted the communications officer. "Oui, Sergent ?" questioned Lavalle. "We’ve received a message from Admiral Hale. It says it’s happening."

The Colonel seemed to ponder for a moment, then turning his head to the giant holoscreen featuring a map of Sirius. “Sergent.” He paused. “Prepare the calculations, we’re heading to grid 442-CG-E4.”. As he finished, Lavalle picked up the intercom. “All crew. This is the Colonel. The ship is now on condition two. A full report about the status of each main system is to be sent within fifteen minutes to the bridge. Squad G1 and L1, move to Bay 1. Chef Ingénieur Merceron, I need a report on our stock of promethene batteries ASAP. Bay 1 maintenance team, prepare the necessary arrangements for a ceremony. Deck five maintenance team, prepare the conference room for a meeting. Crew members part of the Normandie's Orchestra, get your instruments and prepare for a ceremony in Bay 1. This is all, good luck everyone.”

"Relax, Henri. It will be fine." spoke a woman behind Lavalle. He turned, noticing it was Alice DeFrance. "It's never fine enough Alice. Plus, it seems it's the perfect occasion for you to use -that- dress again." said Lavalle, laughing. "Oh sérieusement, it's going to take me half an hour to get into that." "You've got plenty of time Princess Alice DeFrance, we will be jumping to the rendez-vous point in one hour." "Tssss... Anyway, I heard you summoned the orchestra. What do you have in mind?" "Blue Danube. I hope it will be a nice surprise. I doubt Sirians are used to these kind of ceremonies, let alone having a bunch of the crew capable of turning into an orchestra if asked to do so." "Just don't go into overkill." "Why not?" said the Colonel, with a smile that tells much about his intentions. "Anyway, I have to make sure everything is ready, I'll see you for the ceremony."

Alice waved a goodbye at the Colonel, parting ways, heading to her personal quarters, while Lavalle began heading to the main powercore.

18:07 - Day One | Aboard the Normandie | Main Powercore

The huge platinum-reinforced door opened, Lavalle walking inside the core overseeing control room. "Bonjour Ingénieur Moreau. How many promethene cells do we have left?" "Bonjour Colonel. We only have three left, I doubt we'll be able to get our hands on more for quite some time."

Lavalle pondered for a moment. "Do it anyway. We can't afford to have a technical problem during this meeting. The Council should be able to supply us some promethene soon. What's the status on h-fuel integration?" "It's slowly getting there, but it requires a major rewrite of the distribution systems code and change a bunch of components. We're doing our best." "Right... Get a cell working, it will do for now."

18:23 - Day One | Aboard the Normandie | Bay 1

The Bay was almost ready for the ceremony. The red carpet was deployed from the main corridor's door to the door leading to Bay 2, where the guests would arrive from. The Orchestra was almost ready, setting up their chairs appropriately in front of the giant glass giving a view on the outside, which would be Toledo they heard. Meanwhile, the mixed group of Libertonian and Gallic marines were cleaning their rifles and polishing their armor, while exchanging words. The Libertonian soldiers would not be used to this kind of ceremony, but it wasn't extremely difficult either.

The Colonel Lavalle stepped inside the Bay 1, accompanied by the Princess wearing her Royal dress.

"Just like old times." "Feels like home, indeed."

Lavalle walked up to the group of soldiers, handing a paper to one of them. "Right, listen up boys. We're going to change the protocol a little bit, and recall for those who never participated in one. There will be a soldier on each side of the carper, facing each other. This time, the lines will be made of one libertonian, one gallic, one libertonian, one gallic and so on. A gallic faces a gallic, a libertonian faces a libertonian. It will help to display the diversity of the Normandie and cooperation between everyone. I just gave to the Lieutenant Banville the list of the participants we received a few minutes ago from the High Command. The Lieutenant will announce the names of the participants one by one. The carpet is narrow to allow only one person after the other. When they're about to cross you, salute. Do it for each. Any question ?"

The soldiers saluted, Lavalle giving a final quick look at the Bay 1 to ensure everything seemed correct, before heading back to the bridge.

18:56 - Day One | Aboard the Normandie | Bridge

"Everyone reports green, Colonel." spoke the Sergent. “Right. Prepare the jump.”

Lavalle picked up the intercom. “All crew. This is the Colonel. The Normandie is about to jump. Core control, once the jump is complete, insert the cell. This is all.” The Colonel nodded to the Sergent, the Normandie beginning it's jump to the orbit of Toledo.

A minute later, the Normandie appeared in orbit of Toledo, the core technicians inserting the promethene cell inside the main powercore. All they had to wait for now was the participants to arrive.

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Alley was right.