Time for Intrigue

I never wanted children. I would never deal with having to worry about someone because they couldn't worry about themselves. Recruits are not meant to be depend on the recruiter, they are chosen specifically for their potential for working both independently and as a team. I found Ellen's concern for her team admirable, but a bit out of place for the current situation. She needed to straighten out her priorities, and we all needed a way into a normal plane of existance.
"Ellen, you're over reacting, this has happened before, and it can be fixed. I think you can handle a little time without Greg."
Absent mindedly, I skimmed my fingers across the nav-screen. The flight deck was actually split into three different sections, a main console controlling real-time/space movement, one for perpendicular navigation, and one for, oh, lets call it temperal navigation. Temporal navigation is always a touchy field. After all, or maybe before all, that's why this whole organization exists. Generally, the third console is only used for getting home at normal time; so that everyone we remember is still alive, rather than returning to find that thousands of years have passed when the mission only took a few weeks. It did, however, have many other theoretical, parodoxical, and incredibly dangerous uses.
"Yes, a little time would really hit the spot about now," I said, staring at the temporal navigation terminal. Slowly, Ellens eyes followed mine.
"No."
"It's perfect, Ellen. Exactly what we need to take stock. I'll have time to figure out what we need to do, and you'll have time to separate your kid from your boyfriend."
Ellen froze for maybe a quarter of a second.
"What? she, he, Never mind. You need to figure out what we need to do? Do I need to remind you who is commanding this mission and who is at best 'under probation'?"
Probation. Could that be what they were doing? Why send me along this mission, how much did they know about the other agencies? Were they just stringing me along after all? How much didy they really know? Bah, can't worry about this nonsense. Need to get out of this spot.
"Look, do you want me to fix this, or not? We've jumped early, into an unmarked parallel, and a time slip will be perfect for some... careful planning." Though what I'm going to do about Marcus, I'm not sure...
Ellen's eyes narrowed. "You've jumped us early into an unmarked parallel. I will not let you compromise my mission further through unauthorized use of the time machine." Ellen almost winced at her use of such a rudimentary term for the most complex instrument on board. I smiled again.
"Certain uses of this 'time machine' are restricted for more reasons than safety. What the Agency doesn't want you to know is that they can't track this craft at all in certain phases of time travel."
"And why would I want to avoid survielance by the Agency while you are on board."
This is the gamble. I could be playing right into the Agency's hand, or I could be saving us all and stepping ahead of them once again.
"Because, Ellen, your boss has sent you and your crew on a suicide mission, and not just to get rid of me. Even if you had managed to navigate that perp, the parallel they had you going to was a glimp. It would be like running into a brick wall, and if that didn't kill you, you'd be hurtled across the perp uncontrollably until something else did."