One in Twelve Thousandth Percent

Chapter 17:

As soon as we materialize in the transporter room, I call up. "Craft to Bridge. Let's be anywhere but here."

"Parker here. Copy that. Initializing Light Speed. Good work, team. Take a breather then report to me. Parker out."

Cannon stands up. "What took you so long?"

I start helping others up. "Long story and I'd rather not have to tell it twice."

He puts his hand up. "Fair enough. See you there, Craft." Him and his team leave. Annabelle goes over to the transporter operator. "What happened with the pile of suits that came up earlier?"

"They were taken to the science lab I think. It looked like there were mechanical parts or something buried in there. I figured it was the best place for that."

"Good call, officer." She turns back to us. "We can go and see if those parts will work after we talk to the Captain." I nod. "Ladies?" The four of us head up to the bridge. Once there, Parker ensures that they will be fine for a few minutes then comes with us up to her office. Cannon and his team show up a couple minutes later. "So what the hell happened this time?"

We recount the entire thing. Misaki shows the pictures she took of the experiment room. Cannon whistled. "Damn, makes sense why they didn't ask, they just started shooting." Meira shakes her head. "What I can't get my head around is that the you in this timeline is a Space Pirate. What the hell happened to the rest of us?"

Annabelle puts a finger up. "Remember that this is a different timeline. Some event caused this line to split from the one we came from. Whenever that event was, things after that had dramatically changed. For all we know, something happened on the ship and Kay took over."

I scratch my head. "Yeah, for now let's just avoid running into the other me." Annabelle pulls a datapad from some pocket somewhere. "It says that a good second location for FTL parts is Alpha Centauri. Shall we head there?" Meira shrugs. "It's probably better than trying to track down a salvager ship. How many parts do we need?"

"Well, we found two conductors that we haven't tested yet, but we need four. They all got wrecked because there wasn't any coolant in the system." Meira sighs. "I was afraid you were going to say something like that. Parker to bridge, set a course for Alpha Centauri."

"Tinker here. Yes, ma'am."

"Alright. Go get some rest, get something to eat. I'll let you know when we get to AC." We get on the lift and head for our respective quarters. The twins come with us to hang out. Kaz laughs. "I knew it wouldn't be long before you two were sharing a room too."

"Kaz!" Misaki and I both yell at her. "What? Am I wrong, though?" I facepalm, then roll my eyes. "No, you're not. Sorry I'm so predictable." Misaki hugs me. "When it comes to me, you are. But that's about as far as your predictability goes. That's what I love about you." She goes over and starts to prepare some coffee.

Annabelle laughs. "Well, at least we know that we don't have to worry about you two. As long as you're together, there's nothing the two of you can't do. You're this ridiculous force to be reckoned with." I put my hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, but when the two of you are with us, we're unstoppable." Annabelle smiles. "We do what we can."

I sit down on the couch. "So, what do you think we're gonna find at Alpha Centauri?" When the pot finishes, Annabelle pours herself some coffee. "Well, the message said it was a wreckage yard on the surface, so we first have to get there and see what we even find. Who knows how much time has elapsed between when the note was written and now?"

Misaki hands me a cup of coffee and sits next to me. "Look at us. First we started off as barely nothings on the station, now we're badasses on a mission gone wrong." I laugh. "Yeah, and my thought the other day was about how unlikely we would be doing something like this. Boy, was I wrong."