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The fact that it was a class-E scan was only unusual thing, as they were almost never done in hyperspace. It required turning the ship in the direction to be scanned then shutting off everything including the shield and hyperspace stabilizer and just listening. Most captains would never risk the exposure to hyperspace inherent in the maneuver, mainly from fear of HE's. Most captains didn't have Teska's crew or connections.

"We can spare ten minutes," she said out loud. "Lieutenant Malakoff, prep the sensors for a class E scan. Lieutenant Cantrell, turn ship 90 degrees to starboard and kill the engines." Teska made other preparations and in a minute her ship was slipping sideways through hyperspace, silent except for the EM hum of the fusion cores. She invited Arthur to sit next to her in her chair while they waited for whatever they were supposed to hear. Nine minutes passed while Lieutenant Raphael Malakoff watched his communications panel for any sign of something unusual. Just as the tenth minute was ending he found what he was looking for.

"I'm picking up a weak distress signal, Skipper," Lieutenant Malakoff said, "Alpha priority, hypercomm coming in from realspace, but its barely there. I think someone's jamming it."

"Put what you have on the speakers," Teska said.

//This is the....Wild Lion....out of......we are currently at coordinates....in the Vine system....We are heavily engaged......for long......immediate assistance....\\

Teska listened to the broken transmission, her heart beating faster as she recognized the name of Paladin Captain John Byer's ship. She considered her actions for a moment, whether to respond immediately or stay on course and get the children to safety. After a moment she realized she lacked the information to make a right decision. "Jesus, please guide me. Please tell me what to do," she whispered.

--Protect the children.--

Teska raised her head, wincing as she felt the answer heavy on her heart. She looked at Arthur and saw him looking right back at her. He had heard everything but the answer, of course.

"Pray for our friend, Arthur. He's on that ship out there," Teska whispered and Arthur immediately bowed his head. "Lieutenant Cantrell, I want you to go to maximum emergency power, get our velocity as high as you can, take power from whatever systems you have to. I want an absolute least-time course to that HMM station and back to the Vine system. We'll drop the kids in a shuttle to save time. Lieutenant Malakoff, I want a message encoded for the Dawntreader immediately. Give them the situation and the coordinates. Tell them the ship engaged is the HASN Wild Lion."

Both lieutenants replied with sharp affirmatives and Teska glanced at Arthur again. "Well Arthur, it looks like your stay with us is going to be even shorter than we initially thought."

"I want to stay," he said.

"But I can't let..." Teska stopped suddenly.

--Yes you can.—

Teska looked at Arthur and saw him smiling. She narrowed her eyes and then beckoned to a female ensign.