Chapter Twenty Nine: Interrogation

"Hey!"

It was Beka, running to catch up with Hope and Hannah as they headed back to the Maru.

"Oh boy…" Hannah muttered.

"You realise, every second she spends with us, history gets a little more twisted…?" Hope murmured, as they swung back.

"Oh yeah."

The pilot was hurrying after the pair of them up the corridor, her expression saying clearly that she would not be brushed off. "Hey, I have to talk to you for a second!"

"We're screwed." Hannah sighed, "I know that look."

"On a scale of one to ten, how screwed?" Hope asked.

Hannah shook her head, "thirteen."

"My lucky number."

"Shut up."

"Can we talk about the Maru?" Beka demanded, stopping in front of Hannah.

Hope and Hannah exchanged a glance, then Hope decided to make good his escape, "I'll leave this one up to you, Han." Before she could protest, he darted away, and Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Typical guy." She looked at Beka, "okay, what? And make it quick. Reality gets more screwed every moment you spend with me."

"Fine," Beka folded her arms, "where the hell is my ship?"

"In the docking bay," Hannah answered, evenly.

"Not your ship," Beka rolled her eyes, "my ship. The one that was there before you guys showed up. Am I ever getting it back or is it gone too?"

"It'll be back," Hannah shrugged, "once we're gone."

"And when will that be?" Beka raised an eyebrow.

"Right after the universe self combusts," Hannah replied.

"Fantastic."

"That's what Dylan said."

"You don't call him captain either, do you?" Beka put her head on one side.

Hannah was instantly uneasy. 'Either'? Damn, why was her mother so intuitive? She knew she looked a lot like a younger Beka, and also realised, too late, that she was wearing the bracelet her mamma had given to her as she died, the same one on the current Beka's wrist.

Oh yeah. They were screwed.

"Never have, never will," Hannah tossed a strand of thick, lank, dirty blond hair out of her eyes, "was that all, or do you wanna interrogate about where we come from too? 'Cause, y'know, I really can't tell you. Universe ending apocalyptic stuff."

"Right," Beka shook her head, "Rhade. How did he end up hurt?"

"Something to do with the big hairy Magog that jumped on him." Hannah deadpanned.

"So it had nothing to do with you guys?" Beka persisted. Hannah was starting to think she knew where this was going, "nothing at all?"

"What? You think we're egotistical maniacs about to go round making altercations with a rocket launcher?" Hannah asked, "jeez, what do you take us for? We don't go around attempting to kill our own ancestors!"

"Fine." Beka brushed it off, "but if you've come back here to hurt anyone, or kill someone, or anything like that, you will pay for it."

Hannah rolled her eyes, "look, Beka. One ass-kicking maniac to another, even if we were here to kill someone, you wouldn't be able to catch us in a million years. Anything we do here is to prevent one of the worst fates possible falling on you, your crew mates, and your children. We lived that future, and we don't want to do it again. So let us do our job, and try not to get in our way."

She turned on her heal and was gone. Beka was left with an odd feeling in her stomach.