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RMS Titanic, 10 April 1912
Murdoch woke up bright and early, today was the first day of Titanic's maiden voyage, so he got up, polished his shoes, straightened his tie and brushed off his jacket after all he wanted to look his best and nothing less for the grandest ship in the world, and with that he left his room and set off to the bridge.
As he entered the bridge, he stood to attention awaiting orders from the Captain, until Lights approached him. "William, just the man I've been searching for" Lights smiled naughtily at his best friend.
Murdoch rolled his eyes, already knowing that whatever he was about to hear, he wouldn't like it. "And why is that, Lights?" Murdoch asked, dreading the answer.
"The Captain has ordered us to see that the first class passengers get on the ship alright"
Murdoch closed his eyes and sighed heavily "Bloody hell" he swore under his breath, which caused Lights to burst out laughing, for he to hated doing this task as much as Murdoch but seeing his friend get frustrated over it actually made him feel slightly better. "Come on," Murdoch said hopelessly "The sooner we get this done, the more intact we'll be when we next enter this bridge" Murdoch suddenly came out of his mood and had a huge grin on his face "And this time don't insult the ladies by saying they look just like the animal in which their fur coat is made of"
Lights chuckled "You know me, Will, I'm all for the beauty of Mother Nature's creatures, but i prefer to see that beauty on the animal, not the lady" Lights made an innocent face at Murdoch.
"Unfortunately I do know you Lights, and I mean it no insulting the ladies, no jokes and no asking for tips" Murdoch gave Lights a stern look before going off to attend to the first class passengers.
"Spoil-sport" Lights said under his breath, before quickly walking away in case his superior officer had heard him.
Lights reached his gangway and began welcoming the first class passengers onboard, there were plenty of times when he could have made a joke but without Murdoch to tell him off for it, it just wasn't fun. So he stood there being ignored by everyone who past him and he quickly became mind-numbingly bored. After what seemed like hours, all the passengers were finally onboard and so he closed the door to the gangway and began travelling aft towards the stern.
When upon entering the poop deck, Lights was met by Sixth Officer Moody. "Alright, James. How was the lowering of the lifeboats?"
"Fine, the board of trade was happy with Titanic's safety standards. Though let's hope we never have to use them"
"Yeah, their bloody hard work" Lights joked causing Moody to laugh. Lights looked around him "Where's William? He should be here by now"
Moody shrugged "I don't know, Lights. I haven't seen him"
"The lazy git, no doubt he's left us to do the hard work" Lights sighed "Come on then, we better see to these mooring lines"
Lights and Moody squeezed through the crowd, who were waving goodbye to the crowd below on the docks and goodbye to England, the two officers finally made it to their stations. As the two men worked on the mooring lines, Lights suddenly stopped and looked up.
"Did you hear that?" Lights asked Moody.
Moody shook his head "What?"
"A sort of snapping sound, like from a rope" Lights said looking around the ship for any sign of something wrong.
Moody also looked but he couldn't see anything out of place "You know they say the first sign of insanity is hearing things that aren't really there" Moody laughed.
"No one likes a clever clog, James" Lights said jokingly.
The two men laughed as they returned to their duties where upon hearing a scream from a woman which caused the two men to look up, when they did, they suddenly knew what the noise was. The SS New York had snapped free from her mooring lines and was now on a collision course with the Titanic.
"Bloody hell. Not again" Lights swore.
"Again?" Moody asked confusingly, never taking his eyes off the oncoming ship.
"Yeah, I'll tell you the story sometime" Lights said as he leaned over the railing to try and see the bow, to check if any officers had spotted the ship "I can't see a bloody thing" Lights said casually to himself, he knew the Titanic would probably sustain little damage from the other ship, though he didn't know how well the SS New York would fare.
Just as the two officers thought for certain there would be a collision, a tugboat called Vulcan managed to tie a new mooring line around her and brought the drifting ship under control and guided her back to her berth.
Lights released a deep sigh "That was close" Lights said, turning to face Moody, who looked as though he was clinging to the railing for dear life "You scare too easily, come on I'll make you a cup of tea" Lights laughed as he pushed Moody towards the mess hall.
"How did you keep so calm?" Moody asked, still slightly shook up by the whole experience.
"Believe me, James, once you've hit one of His Majesty's ships, you can get through anything" Lights laughed.
"You hit one of the king's ships?" Moody laughed coming out of his shock.
"Well not me personally. I was on the stern with, William. We were serving on the Olympic and she was sailing down the Solent alongside HMS Hawke. As the Solent got narrower the Hawke gave way for the Olympic but the power of her propellers sucked the Hawke towards us and the bow of the Hawke went straight into her stern" Lights laughed "It didn't half make a noise"
They reached the mess hall whereupon they noticed Murdoch sitting at a table, with a blank expression on his face as though he was staring into space.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Lights asked instantly snapping Murdoch out of his dreamlike state "Me and James have been slaving away, not to mention James's near panic attack from that oncoming ship, just because you was the Chief Officer doesn't been you can just ditch what duties you want..."
"Lights, if you shut up for one moment, I'll explain where I was" Murdoch interrupted.
Lights nodded "Fine" Lights agreed and sat opposite from Murdoch whilst Moody sat next to Lights.
"I was on the boat deck when I saw the New York and I warned the Captain" Murdoch explained briefly.
"The boat deck? What were you doing on the boat deck?" Lights asked curiously.
Murdoch sighed, he knew it was no use in trying to hide the truth from Lights "I was with a young maid and she was the one who warned me of the oncoming ship"
Lights seemed to be in shock "A maid? You mean as in a woman?"
"Yes, Lights. I mean a woman" Murdoch sighed.
"A woman?" Lights asked again as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Murdoch just rolled his eyes and continued with his story "And now the Captain has invited us both to dinner as his guests" Murdoch sounded as though he was dreading the mere thought of it.
"So why do you sound so glum? Think of all the food and champagne, it doesn't sound so bad" Moody said excitedly.
"A woman?" Lights asked again, still trying to get his head round the fact Murdoch had been spending time with a woman.
"I think he needs a cup of tea" Moody said before walking off towards the cupboards to make one.
"A woman? And the two of you are going to dinner?" Lights asked for the final time to defiantly make sure he had heard Murdoch correctly.
"Yes, Lights" Murdoch said annoyingly.
Suddenly a huge smile played on Lights lips which made Murdoch worry. "Whatever you're thinking, you can quickly forget it" Murdoch warned.
"I didn't do anything" Lights held his hands in the air in defence.
"You don't have to do anything Lights, but I know you too well and whatever it is that you're thinking, it's not going to happen" Murdoch warned again.
"Fine" Lights said in defeat, there was a brief silence between them "Is she pretty?"
"Lights!" Murdoch said annoyingly.
"I was just asking" Lights said.
Luckily for Murdoch, Moody arrived with the tea. All three men reached for their own cup and started drinking.
"Think of all the rich gits, you'll have to talk to" Moody said laughing; the mere thought of Murdoch talking to first class passengers also had Lights in hysterics.
"Damn, I never thought of that" Murdoch said, looking horrified.
The other two officers were laughing so hard that tears had formed in their eyes.
"Would you care for another glass of champagne, sir" Lights said in a posh voice, doing an impression of one of the first class waiters.
"Don't mind if I do" Moody said also doing a posh voice, which caused the men to laugh even more.
Murdoch just sat there with a terrified look on his face and his two friends weren't helping him to feel more relaxed about the whole situation, in fact they were making it worse.
Murdoch sighed and stood up "Well, thank you for the boost of confidence" Murdoch said sarcastically before walking away.
"Hey, where are you going, William. We haven't even discussed the economics money has in society" Lights said, having no idea what he was talking about, he just wanted to annoy Murdoch.
Murdoch turned around "Why don't you shut up, Lights" Murdoch said before walking out the door, leaving the two men who were shaking with laughter.
Hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Cheerio