Disclaimer: None of course besides Neva belong to me, everyone else belongs to Grant Naylor. No infringement intended, this story is purely for entertainment…no profit is being made.

A/N: tried not to make Neva too Mary-Sueish. Anyways, enjoy!

Rating: PG, and that's all its gunna be!

The hull was dark…as it had been for the last three years; Neva stared out into the blackness of space, she blinked slowly, she felt a cold chill fall over her body.

"What's happening to the heat?" She barked, but got no reply. She took a shuddering breath, "the heat!?" She screamed. She gently touched her neck, her throat throbbed and she cursed. Damn, the computers were out as well as the internal heat system. The mechanoids were still scuttling about, but even they had grown tired with nothing better to do besides get kicked down the halls by Neva.

She always felt bad after she did it, but she couldn't help it some times. Sometimes she just got so mad…why did they all have to die on her? They promised they wouldn't. They crossed their hearts and hoped to die; of course that was when she Joshua and Petra had been eight but still, they had promised and now where were they? Jetsam in space with the rest of the human residents on the Novelle 16.

It wasn't her fault she had screamed at her mother, it wasn't her fault she skipped class for the forth time that week it was her parents fault; they were the ones who stuck her in stasis, they were the ones who told her it was for her own good and that she could be let out after six.

"Let me out!" Neva screamed, she pounded her fist on the glass.

"Calm down Neva," her father reprimanded, "you'll only get yourself hysterical."

"I'm not hysterical!" Neva raged, she looked up at her Mother and blinked with her large violet doe eyes. "Please Mum, please…I'm sorry I'm so sorry."

Mrs. Wesh shook her head, "please Nova, just go to sleep. The time will pass by in no time, then we can head down the mess hall and grab something to eat okay?"

Neva folded her arms, she knew when she was defeated. "Yeah," she finally gave in. "Whatever," she snapped quickly. Not quite ready to forgive her parents for this humiliation.

Her folks weren't really that bad…they treated her decent, far better than some of the parents on the Novella 16. She always got new clothes, and she even had a few pet fish. But lately…she didn't know what was the matter with her. She was moody and every time a chance came up to argue with her parents—she took it. She also took the chance to start skipping class.

So, she knew she deserved to be in here, but she just was surprised her parents had actually gone through with one of their threats, they had been threatening to ground her in stasis for three weeks now; but today, Thursday May 26th they actually went through with it. They actually grounded her—Neva, for the first time in her life.

"I love you Neva," her mother said smiling.

"When you get out, we will have a nice long talk okay?" Mr. Wesh said smiling, he hit a button and a cover slid down over the door.

Neva turned around and glanced around the stasis room, it was actually pretty cozy, and when she sat on the bed…it was comfortable. She bounced up and down a few times before finally laying down.

She checked her watch, it was almost three. She had three hours before she could get out and get back to her life…and sadly her homework.

But now three million years later, she was all alone. Shortly after she had fallen asleep, Novelle 16 had suffered a major melt down, which killed the whole ship, civilians and personnel alike. When the stasis door slid open Neva strode out, she actually felt half-decent. But her happy moon faded as soon as she walked into the kitchen of their small on ship apartment.

Neva had screamed, they looked fine, everyone did…they were just…dead. All of them. It took Neva nearly four hours to search the ship.

The computers explained what had happened and Neva had slid onto the ground and cried.

Now eight years later, her luck was finally running out. Since the ship had gone so long without any dockings or maintenance, the once beautiful ship was slowly shutting down.

First a few weeks ago it had been the lights, Neva was in the middle of the eight chapter in her Advanced Human Biology text book (which she had already read five times) when the lights shut down. The backups kicked in but only for about three days, then they shut down too.

Neva was thankful for the fact that her parents were well prepared in the ways of flashlights and candles.

Recently the food had run out, and it had been a good three days since Neva had last eaten a decent meal. She had learned very quickly to ration herself. She of course had eaten all the meat and cheese first, since they would be the first to spoil.

And now the heat…it was almost the last straw. She took a small sip of water. She knew she shouldn't have done that…but water seemed to be the only thing to quell her hunger; dinner was still a few hours away and the small crackers she had left were none appetizing.

Neva felt a shiver ripple over her body and goose flesh popped up over her skin, she rubbed her arms and tucked her dark black hair behind her ears. Her face was wet and it took her a moment to realize she was crying. She brushed the back of her hands across her cheeks, rubbed them until they were red. But it was no use, she just burst into tears again.

¤

The Red Dwarf slowed it's speed as they slowly approached the ship.

"Holly?" Rimmer asked tentatively.

"I'm doing a scan," Holly, the computer murmured, "it's the Novelle 16. A civilian working ship. There appears to be no signs of life…wait…" Holly paused, "there appears to be a life form."

"Get the bazooka's ready Kryten," Lister commanded.

"Are you sure that's really nessisary?" Kryten wondered.

Lister shrugged, "I guess we'll find out wont we."

The ships docking bay was pitch black.

"Smeg!" Lister exclaimed as he walked into a metal pole, "Kryten could you get a torch or something?"

It took Kryten only a moment to retrieve his small flashlight, he clicked it on and Lister grabbed the heavy duty flashlight, he turned and handed it to Cat.

"I don't trust this place man, it gives me the creeps!" Cat exclaimed.

"Go!" Lister commanded impatiently. It had been a few days since they had had any excitement and he was ready and raring to go.

"You're acting peculiar Sir, you actually seem…eager to put yourself into perhaps immediate, and terrifying danger," Kryten commented. "Are you all right Sir?"

"I'm fine," Lister replied indignantly.

As they slowly made their way out of the docking bay, they realized that the ships lights were out everywhere.

"Was Holly positive that there was a life form on this ship?" Rimmer inquired, "it's a piece of junk."

Kryten nodded, "he implied it was coming from somewhere near the main deck."

"Well how to we get there?" Listen wondered.

"I have no idea, it will be difficult to maneuver without any source of illumination." Kryten replied as Listen walked into another metal pole.

¤

Neva knew they were on the ship…well something. She didn't need the computers to figure that out, they were making enough noise as it was.

She heard a man curse shrilly and the voice of another man leading the group with directions.

Neva didn't know who or what they were…all she did know was that they were outside the Main deck, she dropped down into the crouch in the shadows; which weren't hard to find now that Novelle 16's lights were out.

The door slid open and Neva held her breath, she clicked the trigger as softly as she could. She had stolen the gun from a soldier before she had set him afloat just in case a situation like this ever came up. Only to find that the gun was empty. But Neva knew that no one besides her would know that. She bit her lips and tried to keep her teeth from chattering.

Deep space at night was freezing—especially at night. More so without a ships internal heat.

She watched the group of men enter the main deck. There appeared to only be four of them…but she assumed they were only a recognizance team. Who knew how many other soldiers were on their ship.

Over the weeks her eyes had adapted slightly to the darkness, just so that she could see the edges of tables and the silhouettes of the soldiers in front of her.

Neva heard a large crash and grimaced, for trained soldiers they were awfully loud. A few times she and Petra had visited the cadets quarters on the ship and Neva knew how soldiers were supposed to move…slowly, stealthily. They were supposed to sneak up on the enemy (not that she was one…exactly) not let them know they had dropped in for a visit.

Maybe it's a trick, Neva thought suddenly. They want to fool me, make me think—

"Can you smell anything Cat?" One man asked.

"Yeah," another voice replied, Neva assumed this was 'Cat'. "Whatever it is, it smells a lot like you…accept…cleaner."

Neva's brows furrowed. These soldiers could smell her? What kind of beings were they?

"I think—" Cat said he swung the flashlight and knocked Neva's tool box onto the floor. She had tried to fix whatever she could, but hadn't had much success.

Suddenly Neva jumped up and leaned her finger on the trigger of her useless weapon.

Cat turned the flashlight into Neva's eyes, she had the weapon pointed right through Rimmer's chest.

"What?" She gasped, her voice was quiet, but Rimmer noticed, she was tall…probably 5'9" and her trembling arms were muscular, but when he took a closer look at her, he saw she was skinny and her pupils were dilated…like someone who had been in the dark for a long time.

Neva averted her eyes from the harsh beam of light. How was that possible…you couldn't reach right through somebody.

Unless…a voice in Neva's head reasoned, they're a Hologram.

"What do you want?" She demanded, trying to muster as much gusto to her voice as she could.

"Maybe put down the gun for starters," Rimmer said. Neva peeled open an eye and dared a glance at the soldiers in front of her. Her jaw dropped open and she blinked a few times.

"What kind of soldiers are you?" She asked, she'd never seen a bunch of soldiers as funny as they were. One was a robot…the other a hologram. The other two were even more curious, one man had on a leather jacket and a funny hat. And the man (at least Neva thought he was human) holding the flashlight was wearing a lime green suit that burned her eyes.

"We're not soldiers." Kryten explained.

"You're not?" Neva asked in shock. "Well then…what are you?"

"We're members of Red Dwarf," Lister said enthusiastically. "We saw your ship and thought we'd drop in for a hello and maybe a cup of tea." He quipped sarcastically.

"Supplies?" Kryten cut in, "have you any supplies?"

Neva rose an eyebrow, "does it look like I do?"

Kryten made an odd face.

"I've been stranded alone on this ship for eight years," Neva explained, "if I had fuel or food…or heat for that matter; don't you think I'd be using them? Instead of freezing in the darkness in a hole in space?"

Kryten seemed to ponder that, "no I guess not."

Neva tightened her hold on her weapon. "So…leave," she said jerking her chin in the direction of the door to the main deck.

Lister rose an eyebrow.

Kryten spoke up first, "and leave you here?" He clicked his tongue, "that would be highly illogical; you have no food, no power, no heat…why you'll be dead in a few months."

Neva chewed on the inside of her cheek, "you'd take me onto your ship?"

"Of course you'd have to pull your own weight—" Rimmer began.

"Or everyone else's," Lister pointed out.

"Look who's talking, if you could you'd lounge in bed all day and do nothing besides play that awful guitar and get fat." Rimmer exclaimed.

"Sounds like a good deal to me," Lister said grinning.

Neva looked to each crew member. Taking each of their appearances in individually, when she was finally sure they all were really harmless she rose an eyebrow. "Is their food on your ship?"

"I wouldn't really call it food," Cat cut it.

"Yes we do," Kryten said. Neva clicked on the safety on her weapon and stuck it into a makeshift holster she had created out of a couple of old belts.

"Let me get my stuff from my quarters."

Neva's stuff included a torn and beaten Advanced Human Biology text book, a few spare clothes she could stuff into her old backpack and a slightly frayed family picture that was taken the day the Wesh's were accepted onto Novelle 16.

Neva had been almost ten, and her parents were young and happy, in the picture. Neva shoved the picture into her backpack and slung it over her shoulders, she pulled on a pair of scuffed sneakers and left her room, she didn't turn back as the door slid shut behind her.

¤

Neva stepped into the Red Dwarf and she blinked, trying to take in the whole ship, and adjust her eyes to the light all at the same time.

She walked in a slight daze to the Main deck, where there was a jumble of machines and buttons. She looked behind her and spotted Kryten, "where's the chow?" She asked, letting her hunger finally get the better of her.

"In the kitchen," Kryten explained, "what would you like? We have—"

"A can of dog food, a jar of honey and a pot noodle," Lister said.

Neva felt her mouth watering.

"Not very appetizing," Rimmer commented.

Neva shot him a look, "I don't care, just as long as it's not crackers."