Angela's idea of fun was an odd concept to Dren. He stood in the racketball court, staring down at the hard wood floors, realizing that Angela was wearing a sort of rubber soled shoe that provided better traction, while his wide feet could only accommodate his custom fitted sandals, or space suit boots. The short pants were comfortable and the 't-shirt' hung loosely around his shoulders, allowing alot better movement than he expected.<br/><br/>He understood the basic rules and all, but the weapon in his hand was oddly shaped. Perhaps it was more of a tool than a weapon. When Angela threw a small rubber ball in the air and hit it, the purpose of the tool became clear and things fell into place.  The ball flew over his shoulder and hit the wall between two horizontal lines, bounced back then hit the floor to Dren's left. When it came back up, Dren swung his racket and hit it square in the middle of the ball, with the flat, metal edge of his racket, a sheer impossibility to return decently, but it flew back to bounce off the wall between the lines again, this time heading in Angela's direction.<br/><br/>This time, he watched more closely at how she hit the ball and thought himself silly to try and hit the ball with the narrow side of the racket, while the shape clearly indicated that the purpose of the widened surface area was to better return the ball. This time, he hit the ball without letting it bounce at all, but with the added force and accuracy, not to mention his proximity to the wall, made the ball rocket forward, then quickly change direction straight back towards his face. The ball caught him on the forehead and he fell backwards onto his back. This was why they wore the eye protection! It made sense now!<br/><br/>Yet his head rang from the impact. He groaned and forced himself to sit up, "Point for you, I think?" but the ringing didn't go away. It took him a moment to realize that it was an alarm...<br/><br/><br/>-----------------------------------------<br/><br/>Rega stared at the ship as it loomed closer, the walls of the hyperspace tunnel zipping by. She glanced over to Jon, who was asleep in the commander's chair and thought about waking him, yet the sound of alarms seemed to do that for her.<br/><br/>"<Vessel is powering shields and weapons, Captain.>" Kit's voice snapped over the speakers.<br/><br/>"<Raise ours!>" she barked, "<I guess they aren't friendly after all. I picked the wrong signal to follow.>"<br/><br/>"<Shields are up.>" Kit reported, "<Orders, Captain?>"<br/><br/>"<This ship has too much valuable equipment, Kit. We can't let it fall into the wrong hands or be destroyed.>" she said, "<But if it comes down to it, I would rather destroy the ship than let a new threat have the means to reach Nekan space.>"<br/><br/>"<Orders, Captain?>" he repeated, "<They are on an intercept course.>"<br/><br/>"<Exit Hyperspace.>" she said. The corridor vanished and they entered normal space, hoping that their sudden stop would make the other ship fly on ahead, "<Quickly change course and go in a different direction, then enter Hyperspace again. They will have to exit Hyperspace and re-enter as well. Let's just hope these people won't be able to be as agile as us.>"<br/><br/>"<Acknowledged.>" Kit said. Again the ship lurched and shot off again towards a new heading. Rega hoped the ship they encountered had fallen behind.<br/><br/>"<Captain, I detected several signals broadcast by the enemy ship.>" he said, "<Sent through subspace.>"<br/><br/>"<Probably calling for reinforcements.>" she muttered.<br/><br/>"<Detecting another signal on the perimeter of our scanners. This one seems to be stationary.>" Kit said.<br/><br/>"<Is it their reinforcements?>" she asked, her heart catching in her throat.<br/><br/>"<I am unsure unless we exit Hyperspace within the range of our short range sensors.>" he explained, "<Because they are not moving, we can catch up to them rather quickly.>"<br/><br/>"<So they could be more of the Children Faction, or the people belonging to Jon here.>" she mused aloud. Not alot of options. The Children's ship wasn't on their sensors yet, but they left a clear trail for them to follow. Nothing she could think of would erase their trail, so she could either avoid this new ship and hope to lose them both, or take a chance and stop to see if it is really the 'good guys'. There was a high chance since it was the only other ship in the area of the wreckage they found earlier, but her instincts pushed her towards stopping.<br/><br/>"<I don't want to scare them, but this is an emergency.> she said, "<Exit Hyperspace off their bow and come to a full stop. Keep shields up but no weapons. I made the shields thick on this so if they are an enemy, we should have time to fight back.>" For once, Kit's logic subroutines made him speak up.<br/><br/>"<Are you sure, Captain?>" he asked.<br/><br/>"<Affirmative.>" she said sternly, "<Ready hailing frequencies and transmit audio only in their language as soon as we exit.>"<br/><br/>"<Yes, Captain.>" Kit replied, "<Exiting Hyperspace in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...>"<br/><br/>The shining walls of Hyperspace vanished and the ship lurched to a halt, nearly throwing Rega from her chair, if her claws weren't already embedded in the leather. The ship before them was dangerously close and she felt sorry for some poor navigation officer aboard her as she suddenly appeared. After this was all over, she promised herself she would apologize and offer the officer a clean pair of pants, perhaps.<br/><br/>"<No Children of the Dying Son Markings detected on the hull.>" Kit said quickly, "<Hailing frequencies open.>"<br/><br/>"This is the Mauna Kea. We need your assistance. We are being pursued by a hostile faction known as "The Children of the Dying Son." We require assistance and apologize for our sudden appearance." Rega said, then added, "Also I am sorry for possibly leading them here. We should both go as soon as possible if you are able or assist in our defense." Rega looked at the sensor data and noticed a slight trace of Ether inside the ship, from the look of it, behind a large door. A cargo bay perhaps? She tried to keep her emotions in check because Dren might not be aboard just from this. His mech might have been taken from him, or maybe he traded his generator for something. Too many unknown variables.<br/><br/>"I repeat, this is the Nekan Space Force vessel Mauna Kea. Captain Rega Ganor speaking. The Children are coming!"