ɪɴ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴀʀᴋɪᴘʟɪᴇʀ (ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2)

ᴍᴀᴄᴋ?

The wormhole brought Alise right back to the Invincible II. They could've recognized those four tight walls anywhere...

"Software update complete"

They were back into the Cryo-pod, and for once, they were actually relieved that had happened, now they only had to wake up Mark and relay the message his future-self had for him! 
"That was easier than I thought!" they muttered, overriding the emergency Wakey-Wakey protocol and hopping out of the Cryo-pod. Sure, the spaceship was still in a catastrophic state, but they'd fixed that so many times already it was going to be a piece of cake! Plus, they could finally see the crewmembers again! So they rushed to Mark's Cryo-pod, with every intention of waking him up as well so he could help.

They opened the door.

But the person who came out of the Cryo-pod wasn't Mark at all.

"Problem, Captain?" the man said, stepping out of the pod, still slightly dazed.

"M-Mack?!" Alise exclaimed. He WAS one of the crewmembers, but he definitely wasn't the head engineer, that much was certain... why was he in Mark's Cryo-pod? But there was no time to question that, the ship was still in a terrible state, and they had to do something!

"Computer, damage report!" Mack ordered.

"Meteorite impact in Life Support. Fire detected. Systems failing"

Alise immediately began the usual procedures, heading for the fire extinguisher "We must do something! I'll put out the fire, you get life s-"

"Woah, hold on there, Captain, no need to be so hasty, I got this under control" Mack firmly said, stopping their hand from reaching the fire extinguisher, much to Alise's confusion. "Computer, reroute power to auxiliary life support, activate fire suppression" he ordered, confidently pressing buttons on the control panel.

"Large object on collision course with the ship. Brace for impact"

"Quick! Close the blast shields, or the windows will shatter-" Alise said, trying to reach the button, but the head engineer held their arm firmly and did that himself. The Captain was quickly starting to lose their patience with him.

The ship quaked, and after that, the computer announced its status was nominal and the bridge's door opened to reveal the crew... or what was supposed to be the crew. Much to Alise's shock, none of the previous crewmembers were there; Celci, Gunther, Burt- they were all gone, replaced with others...
"What...?"

"Stand back, Captain, we've trained for this- Judy, Cryo. Kai, life support. Rodrick, check that navigation, make sure that blast didn't throw us off course. Gabriel, reactor, make sure nothing back there is in danger of going kablooey" Mack commanded, with the crew listening to him immediately, no snarky remarks or cheerful replies.

Alise couldn't take it anymore, they didn't doubt that crew was just as capable, but it wasn't THEIR crew, they wanted answers. "What the hell's going on? Where is my crew? Where is my head engineer? Answer me" they firmly said, grabbing Mack by his shoulder.

Mack chuckled "Well Captain, your head engineer is right here! The trip must have tuckered you out, why don't you just take a break? Let's be honest with ourselves, it's not like you're going to be able to help anyway. Leave everything to me, that way you don't get in the way... trust me, nothing's gonna bring down this ship when I'm in charge and that is a Mack guarantee!" he said, grinning confidently and giving them a thumbs-up.

If it weren't for his thinly veiled insults at their abilities, Alise would've actually trusted Mack with the ship, but with how things stood now, there was no way they'd let him take the lead. They had a bad feeling about it.