"Hmm?" Urtho sets down the artifact he's been working on and unfolds himself from the mattress. "Oh. How odd." 

"It doesn't look like anything I recognize." 

"Not to me either. Perhaps we ought go have a closer look." 

They're not exactly supposed to be going off on random side trips; the plan was just to map out a new region, and for Ma'ar to continue his magic lessons with Urtho along the way. But Urtho isn't going to not chase down some bizarre new anomaly - it's probably nothing important but it might still be interesting...

A bubble of ordinary space held pinned inside a nigh-indestructible shield whirls through the Void, chasing ghosts. 

"Visser," says Mhalir's lieutenant sharply, after about an hour, when the readings resolve into something rather than probably-nothing. "We're. Uh. Being pursued."

And all of Mhalir's attention is suddenly on her. And then on the screen as he brings up the readings himself. Yes, that's definitely something. What is...much less clear. 

"Do the computers recognize it."

<Carissa, does that look like anything you know?> he adds, though with much less hope of getting a useful answer. 

Carissa has absolutely no idea what that is.

"Computers have no idea. It's not a ship like ours."

"- What other than a ship could be pursuing us in hyperspace?" Pause. "How fast are they - can we evade - do we have long enough to plan an urgent re-routing to lose them...?" Jumping through some additional planes at random is going to be incredibly inconvenient in terms of their total travel time, but they should have fuel to spare, and Mhalir doesn't at all like the idea of...whatever it is...catching up to them. 

"They're faster than us, though they're not tracking us all that closely - we could try a jump but it'd be off a bit of guesswork, unless they give us an hour -"

"Keep watching them, get a clearer model of their trajectory - try to figure out what they are, and keep me updated -" And to the engineer: "Start putting together a plan for a jump. On the assumption we have an hour. I will do the guesswork one, if we end up not having that time." 

Mhalir did a lot of the engineering design for the ship, and Carissa has the fanciest int headband that gold can buy, and he's in general more comfortable thinking under pressure than most of his current staff are. He turns to focus on another screen. 

"Should we attempt communications?"

"One moment." 

<...Probably?> he thinks to Carissa. <But it will reveal our position more closely - what do you think...?>

Presumably if the other ship wanted to talk they could do it themselves and it might be better not to have acknowledge having noticed them.

"Hold off on communications for now," Mhalir says, and goes back to figuring out the most quick-and-dirty jump coordinates he's ever attempted, occasionally glancing over at the other screen or barking a question to his lieutenant. 

The pursuit draws closer. 

"Ma'ar?" Urtho says, inside a barrier spinning through the Void. "Try the crystal ball?" 

"There's no way it'll work," Ma'ar objects. "It's not like our scrying, it scries for people, and -"

"I think that whatever is directing - that - it is alive and intelligent," Urtho points out. 

"Right, but I don't have a name or face - or species, even - huh I wonder if elementals from the other planes have the magic to travel here too..." 

He tries it anyway. It doesn't work. 

"Take over steering," Urtho says to him. "I want to try some detection spells on it." 

"Sure." And Ma'ar does this. 

A long time later: 

"It is not - I cannot figure out what it is doing! It is - not even magic, precisely, not as we know it..." Urtho doesn't look worried or alarmed, though; his expression is one of childlike delight. "Ma'ar, let me take over. I want to catch up." 

"Sure. - Uh, should we try talking to them? We're still way out of Mindspeech range but if we can get closer..." He shakes his head. "I bet Leareth could figure out how to communication-spell them even though we don't know who's over there. I don't think I can." 

"We can get closer."

And they do. 

"Closing the distance," Mhalir's lieutenant reports.