Dren gripped his controls tightly as the Paladin shook, a violent explosion from weapons fire shook the hull beneath him. The Mauna Kea had broken the shields, and his sensors showed that their engines had died.<br/><br/>"<Dren, I calculate that their new trajectory and the Eylandra's jump schedule will result in a near miss.>" Yuri said as his senses sharpened after the shake, "<Unfortunately, we cannot stop the linked hyperspace jump at this time.>"<br/><br/>Frantic orders spewed from the comms, “All pilots! Return! Return to the ship now!”<br/><br/>"Dren, you can stop now!" Rega shouted over comms, the hull beneath him shook even more and with his mech attached firmly with high powered magnets, he was shaking just as much, "The Mauna Kea will jump with the Eylandra. They need our link to the last nanosecond. Get back here now!"<br/><br/>Dren let go of his left hand control and furiously tapped on a keypad to override the jump. He was only met with errors and Yuri was unable to help. Frustrated, he slammed his fist on the controls and gave up.<br/><br/>"What if I eject?" Dren asked, watching the countdown of the Eylandra's jump along with one for his own. They seemed to be about two seconds apart now, with the Elyandra going first.<br/><br/>"You can't. There's too much Ether radiation outside to survive. Your suit wouldn't protect you."<br/><br/>Panic gripped his chest as he yanked on the controls and his mech remained frozen in place.<br/><br/>"<Dren, I can't give you our exit coordinates or activate a homing beacon when we get there because the enemy could get it and find us later!>" Rega shouted over comms in Nekan, "<You have to do something!>" Every attempt was futil and the two ships still neared each other.<br/><br/>"Eylandra to jump in 5....4....3....2....1....Jumping!" Yuri announced. There was a flash of light and the Eylandra seemed to stretch into a thin line of light, then it was gone. Two seconds later, all hell broke loose.<br/><br/>It was a combination of the hyperspace wake left by the Eylandra when she jumped, plus the activation of a shaky hyperspace jump in almost the same spot that caused a few odd things to happen. Dren knew his Hyperspace physics fairly well, but he knew for a fact that hyperspace drives were not designed to work in tandem with others. Yuri had the jump calculations perfect so all Paladin mechs jumped at exactly the same moment, so the area of the enemy ship they had encompassed with the hyperspace bubble did jump with them....sort of.<br/><br/>Alarms were blaring from every system and light streaked by his display of a familiar hyperspace tunnel, but she ship he was attached to seemed to contort and twist beneath him. The Paladin's head turned to see that the back half was indeed gone and pieces were flying off, no doubt spreading debris across sectors of space. It was in mid flight did Dren realize he never thought of calculating an actual flight plan and hoped Yuri had, but by the failing systems around him, he doubted it.<br/><br/>There was a flash of light and they exited into normal space. His Paladin had finally come free from the remains of the ship's hull and spun out of control, just as his controls went dead. The Paladin had entered sleep mode as designed when there was a massive systems failure, only life support, minimal sensors and AI systems remained online. Silence fell and he just heard his rapid breath in his ears as he watched his viewscreen. Images of twisted metal, mangled bodies, and the other Paladins in pieces as he slowly spun in space.<br/><br/>"<Dren, are you alright?>" Yuri asked, unsure as her link to his suit was severed and could not read his vitals. Dren slowly nodded as he watched wide eyed at the damage he had caused. He jumped when the Paladin turned and a body of a woman landed on the Paladin's face, her face frozen in fear as it filled his view screen. Tears began to stain his fur as the full force of the repercussions of his decision sunk in.<br/><br/>"<What have I done?>" he muttered. Yuri opened her holographic mouth as she hovered over her lens in the air, but stopped trying to think of what was appropriate to say.<br/><br/>"<You did what had to be done. To protect your friends.>" she said quietly, "<I thought the plan was sound, or I would have objected. Casualties are a part of war, regrettably.>"<br/><br/>"<This isn't even my war!>" He yelled, feeling even worse for saying it. True, he thought these Children of the Dying Son were lunatics, but their beliefs didn't make their lives any less worthy.<br/><br/>"<It has become ours now.>" Yuri said, "<We have chosen a side and become involved. We can't change what happened.>" Dren nodded and took a breath.<br/><br/>"<We...We need to get back.>" he said, trying to muster himself. He tried controls, but none would respond, "<Where are we?>"<br/><br/>"<No idea. I didn't have time to calculate a route. Four of the six Paladins are intact, yet in the same shape as us. Only sensors functional.>"<br/><br/>"<Can you repair the Paladin yourself?>" Dren asked, "<Do you need me to go outside?>"<br/><br/>"<We will have to manually repair the.... New contact at one one three mark six two mark five!>" she suddenly interrupted, "Looks like a single enemy mech.>"<br/><br/>"<Is anything working to fight?!>" Dren asked straightening up.<br/><br/>"<No! Nothing! We're sitting ducks!>" she exclaimed, "<Unit four's long range sensors are picking up a small scout ship incoming of similar configuration to enemy ship. The Mech is emitting a distress signal. It must have survived the jump!>" Dren closed his eyes and waited for the mech to blast him apart, but it didn't happen. It simply closed in on him and grabbed hold, waiting for the other ship to arrive.<br/><br/>"<Yuri, self destruct all Paladin units.>" Dren said, closing his eyes. She knew they couldn't be captured by the enemy. If their technology fell into enemy hands, their friends would pay the price.<br/><br/>"<Executing.>" she simply said. Dren watched as all six Paladins around him exploded in turn, then as the last one went up in flames, he waited for his own to follow...<br/><br/>Nothing happened.<br/><br/>"<Malfunction in Self Destruct mechanism!>" Yuri yelled, "<What? It's missing!>" Dren almost smiled. Rega had a hand in designing this mech. It was the prototype after all and was probably missing several standard systems a production mech would have. He felt an odd wave of relief wash over him, quickly being replaced by dread when the scout ship jumped on them. All he could do now was wait.<br/><br/>-------------------------------------------<br/><br/>The timer dropped to zero and the Eylandra jumped, at the same moment, the Mauna Kea jumped as well, yanking away the dreadful scene before them, and the comms channel with Dren snapped off with a start. She stared blanky at the view screen for a moment at the light of the Hyperspace tunnel go by, words escaping her at the moment.<br/><br/>"Dren.......no.." she muttered, "I just found you.....You can't be lost again!"  Tears began to well in her eyes and stain the fur of her cheeks. She sat back in her chair and covered her mouth, her mind racing with some idea of how to find him again, to make sure he was safe, but nothing would come. She began sobbing quietly as her scientific mind calculated the chance of survival for the stupid stunt he just pulled, not liking the odds at all.<br/><br/>"Captain Rega." Kit began, but stopped. She had recessed even further into the captain's chair, hugging her knees and curling into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible on the large and empty bridge. There were several minutes of silence afterward until both ships exited hyperspace and slowly drifted to a halt.<br/><br/>"Captain Rega, we have exited hyperspace." Kit informed her. She quietly nodded in acknowledgement.<br/><br/>"Deploy repair drones to help the Eylandra, initiate docking procedure after receiving permission from them, and offer use of our medical facility to anyone who needs it. Deploy internal drones as well to perform repairs and first aid aboard the Eylandra" she gave orders in a monotone voice, barely audible but the bridge's sensitive microphones were able to pick it up.<br/><br/>"Understood." Kit replied. Rega remained where she was, her knees to her chin as she stared at the screen, little flecks of light an motion could be seen as small drones slowly drifted over to the other ship and began repairing the hull in random places.