Emily had been given a change of clothes and a warm bowl of leola root soup. As much as Emily didn't like the soup it was better than starving. She had been hunted for four days straight without food or rest. Even now she found it hard to shut her eyes, the constant fear someone was coming to get her, the fear her sister was in danger. Emily couldn't sleep and because she couldn't sleep she couldn't dream, and because she couldn't dream it meant she couldn't 'find' Amelia. Seven called it the Q collective, or more so the hybrid Q collective, the collective of two. Perhaps it was a fluke, a flaw from creating her from Amelia but Emily had shared dreamed with Amelia since coming to Voyager, shared thoughts, shared emotions even. Just like Seven had said, the Q collective. Emily had asked several times to see her sister, to see her parents but the Hirogens had ignored her request instead only bringing her soup and bread. Fattening her up for the slaughter most likely.
Sitting up on the cot Emily ran her fingers over the walls tracing out patterns she made up. Janeway had told her once that her sister was a painter. Something Emily enjoyed doing. As she worked to get her mind off of everything negative the brig doors slid open. A Hirogen hunter, the one who had tracked her many times before in his sport. She was quick to slip off the cot and crawl beneath it knowing he may very well have come back to send her back to the 'hunting grounds'. Coward under the cot the Hirogen hunter stood before her cell and lowered the force field. "Whelp." He growled at her as though she was some trained hunting dog. "Come here." Emily ignored him instead backing further into the wall behind her. "For someone of skill you are quite the coward." He snapped his fingers at her. "I do not wish to hurt you whelp." She stayed in her spot, her eyes fixed on him, watching every little twitch. "Come quickly whelp before the others do." He had a hint of concern in his voice now.
"Wh...what's wrong?"
"Some of the prey have escaped the hunt, our alpha is dead. The hunter who killed him, he has ordered the men to kill, to complete the hunt. They will come for you whelp, they will hunt you, and you will die."
"Why do you care, you want to kill me don't you?" She pulled herself back closer to the wall but the Hirogen hunter seemed intent on keeping his eyes fixed on the brig doors behind him.
"You are only a whelp. You should not be hunted. Perhaps one day you will be worthy prey, for now you are weak, helpless. Despite the thigns you can do, it wouldn't be right."
"So you will spare my life now so you can take it later? That's right to you?"
"I could leave you here to die." He snapped back at her, his dark eyes glaring down at her hiding spot. Slowly Emily crawled out from under her cot, her eyes turning back up to him.
"What about my sister and Naomi? My parents?"
"The other young will be left alone, there is no honor in hunting them. Your parents, they may be killed."
Emily ran out from under the cot rushing forward at him with pleading eyes. "You can't let them die, please they are my parents." The Hirogen either didn't understand the concept of parents or didn't care.
Grabbing her shoulder he tugged her along. "I must get you out of here now." Emily followed behind him dragging her feet along the hallway and looking back up at the Hirogen. She couldn't keep up with his longer stride, a problem she encountered with most adult humanoids. In her failed attempts to keep up with him Emily ended up tripping over her own feet and falling down to the ground twisting her ankle in the process. "Get up." The Hirogen growled at her pulling on her arm strong enough to almost dislocated it.
"Ouch." Emily cried out sliding across the ground a little before falling back down the the floor and holding her knee. "I can't, I hurt my foot." Emily tried to get up, hopping like a little rabbit before falling back to the ground and groaning as she grabbed for her ankle this time. The Hirogen hunter paced back and forth thinking of just leaving her to die in the hallway. She wasn't worth the trouble. Moving away Emily let out a little cry trying to stand back up on her feet again and falling back over. What a pathetic little beast, it should have died at birth. Turning he walked back to Emily and lifted her off the ground holding her with one arm. Emily was quick to do what she always did if someone carried her, wrapping her arms and legs around the Hirogen hunters body and holding on tight so he didn't drop her. Back in the Vidiian labs it had been more common for her to be carried around, that way they never had to wait for Emily to play catch up with them when they were in a hurry.
"You are almost not even worth saving weakling, I should just leave you here."
"Then why don't you? Nothing is stopping you." For someone who claimed to want her dead so badly he certainly was going out of his way to save her.
"Silence or I will leave you." He growled back carrying her to the turbo lift and stepping inside. Emily remained quiet for now, she still didn't know where they were going or where Amelia and her parents were but outside of the brig now Emily intended to find out. They were going down to the lower decks, she could tell from the pressure in the tubrolift and the gravitational pull, smaller things that normal humans didn't tend to notice. If her mother was being hunted then she was up a few decks from the one they had been on. He was taking her the wrong way, down towards the cargo bays and the shuttle bays. When the turbolift stopped Emily looked around noticing what deck they were on, yup, he was headed for the shuttle bay.
"Why are we going to the shuttle bay?"
"I told you to be quiet."
"And I asked you why we are going to the shuttle bay."
The Hirogen shifted her in his arms a little. "I am taking you to one of Voyager's shuttles, you can escape from there."
"You mean run?" Emily unwrapped her legs from around him and pointed her toes to the floor trying to slip out of his grip. She wasn't going to run just to have the Hirogens hunt her down. "I'm not leaving Amelia, I'm not leaving my mommy."
The Hirogen lifted her up over his head and shook her hard. "Then you will die." Emily screamed kicking her legs out to hit him in the face but it was no use. Instead she fixed her eyes on one of the ships control junctions behind the Hirogen hunter, her pupils engulfing her green iris as the panel shot sparks and overloaded causing a burst at his back. Emily screamed as he dropped her sending her to collide with the floor as he jumped in pain shouting over the spray of sparks. With her good leg she wound up and kicked him hard in the shin feeling more pain than he did from her 'attack'.
"You can be the one to die, I'm not leaving Voyager." Emily crawled away quickly as he dropped to his knees trying to stop the pain sparking over his flesh caused by the electrical burns from the panel. Her hands trembled as she stopped at an access vent into the jefferies tubes, just what she wanted, to crawl through the jefferies tubes again with a giant killer lizard chasing her. Emily felt her heart racing, her mind reaching out to Amelia. "You better help me through this Amy or I'll..." Her voice was cut short by the sound of the Hirogen hunter roaring out with rage. Climbing into the jefferies tube she closed the hatch behind her and started crawling as fast as she could. Her smaller size finally working to her advantage. Even if adults could walk faster than her she could move faster in the jefferies tubes. Why? Because adults had to crawl, Emily could almost run. Even with the pain in her right ankle she placed her hands on either wall of the jefferies tube and started limping along with as much speed as possible, keeping her head low so she wouldn't bump it. From behind her she could hear the Hirogen hunter follow after her, each step she took making her clench her jaw and whine.
Despite the fear of being caught she felt a constant sensation of the walls closing in around her making Emily crouch down a little lower than she needed to. Emily panted continuing on her path through the jefferies tubes until she reached a hatch leading her back up to the deck where the holodecks were located. Pulling herself up mostly with her arms she was trying to be light on her feet or more so foot. Each time her ankle rolled from the sprain she cringed and clung to the bars tighter letting out a little hiss in pain. Every now and again Emily looked back behind her and stopped to listen for her pursuer. Reaching the next level up she closed the hatch behind her and continued through the jefferies tubes still checking behind her and even in front of her now as she limped along. Janeway and Amelia better be proud of her for this. Emily turned another corner keeping up her pace and stopping only when he leg hurt too much that she needed a small break. Certainly by now no one could be following her. She had to have lost the Hirogen. Turning around she walked backwards pausing again to listen for any sound that would give away another being moving about.
Comforted by the silence Emily turned back around and continued her trek breathing heavily as the tubes started twisting and bowing in her mind. Her panic was finally getting the best of her making these small close off tunnels look more like an elongated maw lined with teeth, the hissing innards of a monster that had swallowed her alive. Emily tripped and stumbled a little more now feeling dizzy or drunk, her body crashing into the side of the tube and making her jump and struggle to escape the walls. Taking in deep breaths she tried to keep herself from hyperventilating, her eyes wide with fear as she clawed at the air in front of her in a panic to find a hatch out. She had to get out of the jefferies tubes, even if it took her right back into a Hirogen hunting party she couldn't stay in here much longer. Shaking she turned another corner hardly noticing anything around her, the walls of the tubes closing in on her even more as she crashed into another person and tried letting out a scream. Emily was pulled down, her mouth covered by a hand as she kicked and screamed, her voice muffled by the persons hand over her mouth. "Emily." The little girl's eyes were full of tears when the voice finally whispered at her, they knew her name, a slight warmth entering her chest as she recognized the voice and stopped screaming, her breathing slowing down significantly.
"Mom...ma" Emily stuttered partially throwing her arms around the woman's neck and sobbing.
"Where is Amelia?" Janeway asked putting an arm around the girl and holding her close as her daughter sobbed, her little body shivering. Janeway rubbed the girls back trying to calm her down, her attention moving back behind her in case one of the Hirogens had heard the commotion and came to take a look.
"I don't know..." Emily continued to sob, her grip on Janeway tightening as she got the captains shoulder damp from her tears. "They separated us hu...hunted me...b..."Emily cried harder when Janeway put her other arm around the girl to comfort her. Q had asked her why she hadn't wanted to have children out here in the delta quadrant, this alone was shaping up to be a good enough reason not to. If they had hunted Emily she loathed thinking about Amelia and Naomi Wildman. Certainly they wouldn't hunt a baby and a 4 year old.
"It's alright Emily, we are going to find her. It's alright." Janeway continued to rub the girls back and quiet her down. She couldn't have Emily give away their position in the jefferies tubes. "Can you keep moving? Find someplace safe and lay low until we have gotten control of the ship?"
Emily clung on tighter to Janeway shaking her head no at the woman's request. "No, I'm staying with you, I'm going with you mommy I don't want to leave you."
The captain was taken aback a little when Emily called her mommy. Once or twice Emily had called her mother in a sarcastic tone when Emily had gotten in trouble but she had never called her mother let alone mommy and meant it. At least not until now. Janeway felt she had finally won over Emily's trust and a little more than that, maybe even her love. Janeway had been working hard to win Emily's trust, with how much hell the girl gave her she never expected she had actually gotten it. Brushing the curls out of Emily's face Janeway smiled at the girl. "It's too dangerous to come with me Emily."
Emily clung to her still. "But there is a hunter after me." She cried. Janeway held the little girl feeling terrified by the fact a hunter had been hunting Emily. The girl was only a year old despite seeming older than that. She didn't have the skills to defend herself in a hunt and it showed on Emily's face. That look of terror as she clung to her mother shivering. "Mommy your bleeding." Emily looked down at Janeway's leg.
"I know you are afraid Emily but you have to be brave. You can't follow me." She knew Emily would understand what the risks were to following her mother and most likely ignore them. "Take those jefferies tubes back down to holodeck two, the doctor is there and Neelix. They will look after you." Janeway started moving along back to her original course. "You are not the only one being hunted Emily, it's not safe with me." Janeway turned her attention back behind her hearing the Hirogen hunter who had gone after her. "Emily now, go."
Emily glanced behind her backing up into the tunnel she had come from. It took a little backtracking on her part until she found a hatch out of the jefferies tubes. Pushing open the hatch Emily crawled out into the loud ruckus that bleed out into the hallways of Voyager. Sounds of gunfire made the girl press her back against the hull and cringe as her eyes darted about the darkness and smoke. She had to make it to holodeck two like her mother had said, lay low with the Doctor and Neelix. Staying low and close to the wall Emily walked along holding her breath for as long as she could before choking back on the smoke. Turning a corner she backed up watching a small group of soldiers walk by. Once they had passed Emily darted across the hall and over to the door to holodeck two. When she stepped inside she expected to see the tropical island her father had programmed for her but instead she walked into a dark empty red rocky desert looking hole. It reminded her of Amelia's dreamscape the child use to dream up. Continuing to walk further into the holodeck she looked around finding nothing, no one. No doctor, no Neelix. Had her mother been wrong to send her here? "Hello?" Emily looked around smelling the smoke from a dead fire. If anyone had been here they were gone now.
"Hello." A deep voice replied, not the voice of the doctor nor the voice of Neelix but the voice of someone familiar. "So predictable. I knew you would come here, look for your mother. All I had to do was come to the holodecks. Since holodeck one is fighting a war my conclusion was you would come here instead. Especially if you had come across your mother already. She would send you somewhere safe." Emily turned around looking at the Hirogen. His weapon fixed on Emily. "You have given a poor excuse for a hunt." He groaned, half of his face burned from the explosion she had caused in the panel. "But now prey the hunt has come to an end." Pulling the trigger on his weapon it failed to fire the first three times. Of course, Emily had a funny way of making weapons fail or heat up in ones hands. Dropping the gun he pulled out has blade, now this she couldn't tamper with. He had learned that in hunting her. She couldn't make a blade stall, she couldn't make it heat up in his hand. Emily tried running past him only to get caught by the blade. the sharp edge cutting into her shoulder and making her fall forward against the ground with a scream.
Emily slapped her hand over the wound and screaming out in pain as the hunter followed her out. "Is that all the fight you had left in you?" With a harsh boot to the side Emily rolled over along the ground gasping as she caught herself against the wall. "All out of tricks." Emily sat up more letting out a defeated sigh and looking up at the hirogen hunter that had tormented her since they day they had arrived. Emily closed her eyes and looked away waiting for the pain of the knife sliding into her chest or stomach. That same painful burn like that on her shoulder but Emily wouldn't live with the pain long she hoped. Emily jumped hearing a gun go off. Her eyes opened to the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and seeing the Hirogen Hunter slumped over dead. His empty lifeless eyes looking over at her seeming to have never changed from when he had been alive. Looking back over she saw Captain Janeway, an old world war two gun in her hands. Emily didn't bother to ask where Janeway had gotten it from only crawled away from the dead body and closer to her mother.
"Mommy." Emily squeaked as Janeway rushed over and put her arms around the little girl. "Is it all over? Did we win?" Janeway picked up Emily stifled a little from the wound to her leg.
"For now." She hugged the little girl.
