Disclaimer: Why yes, I DO own Red Dwarf actually, and Starbug, and Bob the Skutter - they are all lined up on my bookcase incase you were wondering.

Well what do ya know - Another story for...whoever is still reading this. This chapter was a bit hard to write coz I knew how it wanted to go, but it seemed more OOC and...Soppy as I did write it - but then a lot has happened to Rimmer & Cat since the earlier chapters, and even frm when I introduced Brina so I guess the OOCness can be debated. Anyway, read on if you want and I'll get on writing the final 2 or 3 chapters.

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Trackers Attack

Brina was sat in her (and Lister's) chair, checking the weapons upgrade she added last week was still working when suddenly the proximity alert went off at Arnold's station.

"Smeg." She muttered as she switched chairs and looked at the monitor as two stimulant tracker class ships appeared on the long distance radar.

"Guys!" She called as she took her place and took over the co pilot controls to try and steer a course away from any unnecessary conflict.

"What's wrong?" Arnold asked as he entered.

"Trackers." She replied simply, gaining a worried look from him as he sat down and began keying in commands to find possible escape routes.

"Where's Cat?"

"With Demi… Estimated two minutes till they are in firing range." Arnold said as he bit his lip.

"Take over. I'll get him." Brina replied quickly as she hit autopilot for Starbug to follow the course Arnold had just keyed in, before running into the midsection to find Cat coming down the metal steps carrying the now half awake Demi.

"What are you doing?" She asked, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Taking her to the escape pod – You too. We'll come back for you when it's done." Cat replied, not making eye contact.

"No way! We got this far together, we are not splitting up now – besides, you need me for the mission." Brina shot back crossly.

"I don't want to go." Demi mumbled quietly.

"Stop being stubborn!" Cat shouted at Brina, ignoring Demi.

"Same to you!"

"GUYS!" Arnold shouted through from the cockpit sharply. "Can you have this argument later? – Remember the trackers?"

"Trackers?" Cat yelped as he put Demi down and dashed after a still angry Brina through to the cockpit. Demi followed silently behind and slipped into Kryten's old chair.

"Two of them."

"Smeg." Cat mumbled as he turned off autopilot and took a hard right, just avoiding a 'warning' shot across the bow of Starbug.

"Looks like they've already been in a fire fight recently, one of them has lost a fuel tank and the other doesn't have any shields." Arnold filled them in quickly.

"But they can still blow us to bits right?" Cat asked, taking another turn.

"Oh totally."

"Fly towards them." Brina suddenly said, causing Cat to stare in disbelief.

"Are you insane?"

"Get in between them, then as they shoot they hit each other – both are vulnera-" Brina was cut off as a shot caught the side of the ship.

"Everyone ok?" Cat shouted above the warning sirens.

"I'm fine." Brina replied coolly.

"Yes daddy."

"As fine as a dead guy can be."

"Right." Cat answered, understanding what Brina had meant with her plan as he swung Starbug round and aimed for the gap between the trackers.

He bit his lip as he got between them, then sent Starbug into a 360 degree moving turn, so Brina could fire defensively at the trackers who quickly turned and shot at Starbug.

Cat stopped the turn just as quickly as he had started, just getting out of the way as the tracker's much more powerful lasers hit each other, exploding both ships into flaming pieces.

"No other ships nearby, all damage is mostly superficial, except one of my monitors got knocked out." Arnold said after a second.

Cat heaved a sigh of relief then turned back to the others. "Can we get back to our argument now?"

Arnold rolled his eyes as Brina frowned. "See honey, we aren't having an argument – Because we aren't going. I'm not some innocent that needs to be protected, and Demi can take care of herself just as well as the rest of us."

"She's only NINE! She shouldn't have to!" Cat shot back, consciously not looking at his daughter as he said this.

"You're the one who wants to do this 'mission' in the first place!" Brina shouted back, no one noticing as Demi slid off her chair and left the cockpit.

"Then why are you so insistent in staying?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

Cat just sat there, Brina's outburst feeling like a slap in the face – As if he hadn't thought she still loved him really. He looked up as Brina knelt next to him.

"We're staying." She said much more softly yet firmly as she took his hand and held it tightly.

Cat nodded then looked up as Demi came back into the cockpit carrying the toolkit over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Uncle Arnold said his monitor was broken, we can't help your friends if something's broken." The 9 year old mechanical genius and Arnold opened a panel under his station and began to fix the wiring.

Cat sighed inwardly and ran a finger along his scar thoughtfully. Looked like the two person op he had envisioned had just turned into a family outing…