Thank you for the reviews. I don't know the names of the other officers onboard the Adriatic so I've had to make them up.

Disclaimer: still the same.

RMS Adriatic, 8 May 1907

It was the Adriatic's maiden voyage; she was travelling from Liverpool to New York, under the command of Captain Edward Smith. Murdoch, who had been promoted to First Officer, was on his rounds making sure everything was in place, after he was satisfied that everything was in its rightful place, he headed towards the officers mess hall. He got himself a fresh cup of tea and sat down at a table. As he took off his officer's cap he could hear voices coming from the corridor. Lights, now Second Officer, walked in through the door closely followed by Officer Jinks, who was older than both men, he had served in the Boer war before returning to the white star line as Chief Officer.

"I tell you the younger generation have no respect" Jinks said, taking off his coat as Lights sat next to Murdoch.

"You fought in the war, didn't you" Lights whispered so only Murdoch could hear him.

"I fought in the war, didn't I. I fought for their freedom and what do they think they can do with that freedom?" Jinks complained, hanging his coat up.

"Anything they bloody like" Lights whispered in Murdoch's ears.

"Anything they bloody like" Jinks finished causing the other two men to chuckle.

"Something the matter, Jinks?" Murdoch asked as Jinks sat opposite Lights and himself.

"Don't get him started, William. Let's just say him and the fifth officer don't see eye to eye when it comes to ships and leave it at that" Lights said already gotten fed up with Jinks complaining.

"Well I have over fifty years of experience and he's only a kid" Jinks argued.

"Yeah, fifty years experience of swimming because whenever you tell us about one of your bloody stories, it usually ends up with your ship sinking and it's normally your fault, in fact I can't remember a time when it wasn't your fault" Lights said impatiently.

"During the Boer war..." Jinks started his story causing the two men groan "Sailors were filled with stress and fear..."

"I'm not surprised, when they saw you walking up the gangplank" Lights interrupted.

"I was on HMS Finch, we had to go to the south Atlantic to protect a hospital ship, well we'd only been sailing for an hour or so and we crashed right into her" Jinks continued.

"You went and wacked straight into the ship you were trying to protect?" Murdoch asked.

"Yeah. In fact it was a good job she was there; she picked up most of the survivors"

"So your ship was badly damaged?" Lights asked, interested in the outcome.

"I couldn't tell Charles, it sunk but they tried to put the blame on me just because I was on watch at the time, but I had my excuses ready"

"What, were you drunk?" Lights said laughing.

"Don't be silly. The ship was at battle stations and was showing no lights, they weren't allowed because of the war. So then they tried to get me on naval technicalities, like saying it was in broad daylight"

"You didn't see a hospital ship?" Murdoch asked unbelievably.

"Ten thousand tons of steel" Lights carried on.

"In broad daylight?" Murdoch finished.

"Well I wasn't close enough" Jinks said trying to defend himself.

"You must have been fairly close, you hit it" Murdoch said before looking at his watch "I must go, it's my turn on watch" Murdoch got up, put his cap back on and walked to the door.

"Wait up, William" Lights ran to catch up with Murdoch "We need to make a deal, that no matter what happens we never get on a ship with that soppy old git again"

Murdoch chuckled "Agreed"

"What if we don't even make it to New York? With him on watch we could hit another ship, or a rock or even an iceberg" Lights said worryingly.

"We're not going to hit anything, Lights just take it easy besides the icebergs will have melted by now" Murdoch laughed.

"Yeah but you know what they say; jinks by name, jinks in nature" the two men laughed.

Murdoch and Lights had reached the boat deck, when suddenly Lights put his hand up against Murdoch's chest to stop him in his tracks.

"That woman, over there. Where do I know her from?" Lights asked as he pointed to a maid.

"SS Suevic, where you tried to stitch me up with her and I got a slap for your troubles" Murdoch said unimpressed.

"Oh yeah. Well it was your own fault. I mean think about it, you two could have been married by now, if you had gotten to know her" Lights laughed at the thought.

"It's not funny, Lights"

"I think it's hilarious" Lights said, still laughing "Besides it's been like four years since then and you still haven't found this amazing girl you're looking for and at your age you're lucky if you get a second glance from a woman let alone an actual conversation"

"Lights, I'm only a year older than you" Murdoch said defensively.

"I know but I already have a wife, don't I; so I don't need to go and impress the ladies like you do. I'm not the one who has to convince them to marry me"

"How you ever convinced Sylvia to marry you will always remain a mystery to me" Murdoch chuckled.

"Well, it was my charms and my devilishly good looks, weren't it?"

"Yeah, that must have been it" Murdoch said, not sounding too convinced.

The two men continued to walk to the bridge; they both enjoyed the cool Atlantic breeze on their faces as they reached the bridge and looked out towards the bow.

"Good morning, gentlemen" Captain Smith said with a smile.

"Good morning, Captain" the two said in union.

The Captain walked aft whilst Murdoch and Lights turned towards the bow, staring out at the calm open ocean and the blue sky.

Did anyone else hear about that Australian billionaire who wants to rebuild the Titanic by 2016? Anyway hoped you enjoyed.