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Written
8th December 2015

It slipped by, right under the huge starship's nose within only a few metres of its shields. None of the wiser. It made little difference how close they were to it as they flew passed. As close as possible felt more insulting, which he couldn't resist. It was more than fair, it was ironic in a way. See how they like having something hidden right in front of them, even if it was for a few seconds.

The weapons officer sat beside him, he caught looking at him with a smirk on her face. It was blurry, just in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to stare at her back.

"What?" he asked.

"You enjoyed doing that," the woman said. He didn't answer vocally, his matching smirk did instead. The woman laughed, her eyebrow flickered upwards slightly, making her face long scar seem a bit zigzagged.

Chakotay entered the commands for a warp jump. He glanced once more at the image of the starship behind them, still maintaining their orbit, unaware he was even there.

"How did it go?" he asked.

The woman giggled in a malicious way, clashing with the childlike twinkle in her eye. "Oh, it went screamingly well."

"Emma," Chakotay warned her, already feeling sick and she hadn't even started on the details yet.

Nevertheless she continued, "there was one guy who actually cried mummy before I kicked him in. Do they have mummies?"

"Kicked him in where?" Chakotay found himself asking even though he didn't want to know.

Emma's eyes lit up. "It was so funny. His screams turned into gargles. Blood whooshing up like a fountain. His face..."

Chakotay raised his hands as a sign of surrender. "I get the picture. Unfortunately. Where would you even find something like a..."

"I called it the meat grinder," Emma smirked.

"Lovely," Chakotay groaned. "You know this is important right? You can't be so indiscreet."

"Oh I am," Emma said innocently. "I work better without witnesses. I buried what was left of them at the back, I think."

An image of the girl happily singing to herself while digging a hole in the ground popped into his head. It wouldn't have been so bad until she started kicking small objects into the hole, all while mocking the victim's death cries. Chakotay shook it off, knowing that his latest recruit wasn't as crazy as she tried to appear. The meat grinder incident could've been an over dramatisation, he hoped it wasn't wishful thinking on his part.

"Maybe next time a quick neck snap or choke. There's a reason why it's effective," Chakotay decided to suggest.

"Do they have necks? Gotta make sure," Emma said, slightly puzzled.

Another member of his team approached the pair from behind, stopping in between them. "Commander, the Dauntless has transmitted code 146."

"Location?" Chakotay questioned as his face fell.

"It would be an hour out of the way from our current course. Co-ordinate shift would be .075 by 131." She handed him a PADD. As the Commander studied it she turned to address Emma. "Did you find another turbine?"

"How did you know?" Emma asked sweetly, grinning widely.

Chakotay tried not to shudder as he typed in the new course at the helm.

"That's a fun kill smile. I know it well," the woman replied cheerfully despite the topic.

"Yeah well, he deserved it," Emma said, glancing back toward Chakotay with a quizzical look. "What's 146?"

"Infiltration," Chakotay answered. Emma waited for the full answer she knew he was holding back. "Command level."

Emma's good mood dropped away in an instant. "Oh. Then whoever sent it has probably been caught by now."

"That's not the biggest problem," Chakotay said unevenly. "Getting onto a planet, into a building is one thing. A starship is shielded, or at least it should be. It's not like we can decloak and ask to visit."

"No, not with both of us on board," Emma mumbled, disappointed. "What if someone else hailed them? Do they know the ship?"

Chakotay sighed deeply, he shook his head. "We stole it, so I imagine all of them know. I don't think I'm quite ready to out the Marquis II just yet, not for one ship in the outskirts. We're not ready."

"You stole another ship?" Emma sniggered, forcing Chakotay to stare at her blankly. "Maybe you wouldn't have such a high price on your head if you got help for that."

"Stealing a shuttle all those years ago is not why Starfleet want to get their hands on me," Chakotay said. Their conversation sparked an idea to grow in his mind. "There is a sure fire way of getting them to lower their shields without the two of us hiding under the tables."

"How?" Emma asked.

"You said it yourself. They want me, you're probably wanted for multiple counts of hilarious homicide..." Chakotay said with a light hearted smile. Emma returned it with pride. "If they found out we are nearby, they'll try to capture us."

"Nope. They just liked to send me to death traps and set demons onto me," Emma shook her head.

"Fine. Maybe you should hide under a table then. I think it's time to crash the party," Chakotay said.

Emma's eyes shot wide open, her bottom lip quivered. Chakotay recognised that look and immediately grew worried. He didn't have time to do anything about it. "Literally?" she said, her voice squeaking. "Can I fly?"

Chakotay worked on his station, pushing the ship into warp. One panel to his right brought up an image of a Federation starship with the usual oval saucer, almost straight star drive, and three nacelles with one placed in the middle of its back. "We should arrive in five hours. Plenty of time to device a strategy."

"Sooo, can I?" Emma asked with a pout.

Chakotay stared thoughtfully ahead of him. "Perhaps a fake hostage situation will get their attention. I steal this ship and someone escapes from me to send a distress call."

Emma reached over to touch the helm anyway as he was clearly distracted. At the last second the particular set of commands faded to black, while the neighbouring one closest to Chakotay flashed the text Auto Pilot Engaged a couple of times. He looked at her with a faked sad face, "oh, this ship's getting on. It can get a bit crabby sometimes. Don't worry, auto pilot is usually reliable."

"Probably because you fly it like an old man," Emma argued.

"No, the ship's a she and please, she's sensitive about her age," Chakotay whispered.

Emma groaned and got up to walk out of the small bridge. The Commander smirked once she was gone, secretly relieved. "One disaster at a time."

TO BE CONTINUED

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