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Rick was the first to wake, stretching and glancing under the table to make sure Spark was still resting comfortably before he headed over to the cooking unit. He began to cook, Spark waking up to the smell of cooking food and peeking out of her nest, still rubbing at her eyes with one paw. “It's been 6 hours since we unloaded, still have a while yet. Feel free to get some more sleep or if you are hungry, I can double the order." Spark ducked back into her nest; her voice muffled a bit by the blankets. “Food sounds good, I'll just rest here a bit until it is ready. I haven't worked that hard in a while, those barrels were much harder to direct than my ball is." Rick glanced over, his face showing surprise but Spark wasn't able to see him from her position. “What ball?"

Spark popped her head back up, resting her chin on the back of her nest so she could look at Rick, grinning tiredly at his surprised quizzical expression. “One of the ladies at the space port gave me a hard rubber ball to play with. It is small, but it bounces really well on hard surfaces and when we were on our last trip the cargo bay was so empty that I decided to get some practice in zero gravity. At first it was just moving around but that became boring so I tried bouncing the ball against a wall then chasing after it. The ball seemed to bounce strangely so I tried to find ways to get it to bounce off surfaces then return to my position. I had to chase after it more than I'd like to admit but I learned a lot about motion in freefall and even came up with a few games that kept me occupied for most of my recreational time between classes." She sniffed and grinned at Rick. “I can guess what you are cooking, but you may want to stir it before it burns."

Rick focused his attention back to the food, adding a bit of spice from a jar in one of the built-in cabinets. “I didn't know you enjoyed freefall so much, I would have joined you if I had. I know a number of games and training exercises that are quite fun in freefall and also good for exercising as well. Perhaps after lunch?" He glanced at the clock then shook his head. “After dinner." He corrected himself. “We can go over a few basics and you can show me just what you have learned." Spark exhaled, making a chuffing noise then rolled over onto her back, watching Rick from her now upside-down position. “Sounds like fun, we really haven't had any free time to just play, either you are piloting or I am studying all the time so yeah, I like the sound of that. I'll grab my ball from the cargo bay, I left it in the cabinet with the hook since that seemed the safest out of the way place for it." Rick dished up two plates, setting them on the table as Spark crawled out of her nest and into one of the chairs, her feet now dangling just above the top edge of her blanket nest.

“I'll pick up a few hook drones when we get to Earth, along with a few other training tools for zero gravity workouts. I used to have a set of drones but had to sell them before my last run to the rings to pay for repairs, one of the reasons I was even out there. That and I had an obligation to fulfill, though that is a much longer story and not a good one while eating." He began to eat, Spark doing the same and the two of them kept companionable silence as the meal progressed. Rick went through a mental checklist of all the things they had on board that could be used in one way or another in zero gravity, trying to come up with a few things they could use. Spark had already been teaching herself how to maneuver in zero gravity, something he had thought that he would have to teach her on this trip now that they would have the time and the space but if she was already as good as he thought she was then he would be hard pressed to fill the time they had while keeping the exercises fun and engaging.

Spark finished first, taking her dishes over to the reclamation unit before returning to her seat, feet kicking and tail twitching in excitement as she waited as patiently as possible for Rick to finish. Rick toyed with the idea of eating slower just to see how long she could keep from exploding with energy but decided against it, taking a final bite then following Spark's example with his dishes. “It would be a bad idea to jump right into exercising right after eating so let's gather the things we need and meet in cargo bay 3 in say, 15 minutes?" Spark was about to bounce off the chair but at Rick's words she faltered. She managed to catch herself, landing if not perfectly then at least somewhat gracefully. “Sounds good, my ball is already in cargo bay 3 so I'll go and check on the diagnostic I ran before we started unloading. I'm a bit worried about the drag from that jump, I can't shake the feeling that it did some damage."

Frowning, Rick watched her go. He had been worried about the same thing and had wanted to run a check while they were on the long flight to Earth. He also worried about the condition of the engines, having never really put the engines through any actual tests he was unsure of their true condition. 100 years or more on the planet in inactive condition could have many unforeseen problems come up and they were woefully short on repair materials. They were also very far from help, aside the gunship of course but the Federation wasn't in the habit of helping out anyone for free, not even an employer and they tended to charge way above market price for any assistance rendered. Shaking his head to clear his doubts, Rick headed to the storage locker where they had put all the spare parts they had collected so far, looking for something they could use for zero gravity training or at least something for Spark to play with in addition to her ball.

Logging into her system in the cargo bay, Spark pulled up the diagnostic report. A few areas showed strain from the jump, the structural integrity field having performed its job but had been unable to fully compensate for the low orbit jump. The underside of the ship was another matter, the hull plates all registering severe damage though no breaches or leaks. The hull plates on the bottom of the ship would all need to be replaced, and the landing gear would need to be inspected for damage though Spark guessed that it had survived being tucked up inside the ship at the time of the jump. Replacing the hull plates would be expensive, heat shielding would need to be applied to allow for atmospheric entry so the work would need to be done in a space dock, another expense since the federation owned all the space docks and repairs done there would be at a premium. Unfortunately, the heat shielding on the bottom of the ship had been burned completely off, along with a layer of metal from the hull plating itself so a planetary landing wasn't possible again until the repairs were made.

Rick scavenged around the one storage room where they had spare materials, but was unable to find anything that would be good for use in zero gravity. He headed back to their room, looking around for something he could bring, not wanting to arrive empty handed. He glanced at the food replicator and grinned, suddenly remembering something from his old days back at the pilot's academy. Perhaps it could work, though whether they had enough mass in the replicator was another issue. He had packed enough food for a week-long journey, though the last few days would see them eating nutrient bars unless they were very careful. He moved to the replicator and tapped out the diagnostic command, smiling at the resulting report. It could be done, but he would miss his morning coffee. Either way, she was worth it.

Spark closed the report and sighed, nothing that had been damaged could be worked on without either landing on a planet, mooring at a space dock, or going EVA. By going outside in a pressure suit, she could possibly replace the hull plates, but the heat shield was something that would require a facility to apply and that meant an orbital ship yard. Better to let them do all the work if they were going to have to pay for it anyway and get it done by professionals. She slid from her chair, stopping by the door to retrieve her ball then moving to the middle of the large empty room, tossing the ball against the far wall. She watched it arc through the air then bounce off the wall, bouncing three times before getting back to her. Rick arrived at the 5th toss, watching a minute as Spark readied another throw then just before she released it, he disabled the gravity.

A surprised bark echoed throughout the room as Spark threw the ball, beginning to suddenly float away from the floor as the ball went careening off in a totally unexpected direction. She turned her head towards the door, the movement causing her entire body to spin as she glared at Rick who was trying his best to resist laughing out loud at her predicament. “Well then, shall we get started then?" Spark replied with a growl, flailing her arms, legs, and even her tail in an attempt to halt her movements. Rick walked over, his magnetic boots clunking with each footfall on the deck plates. “Hey now, calm down. Slow movements will correct the spin and you can work yourself upright but thrashing about will only complicate matters." Spark stopped moving and shut her eyes, her spin causing her to turn toes over tail as she calmed down. She opened her eyes, making small movements to arrest the spin and stop her motion in an upright position though she was still floating a good 4 feet above the deck plating.

Rick nodded, reaching out and grabbing her paw, pulling her down to stand beside him. “Good, you did that very well. Some of the trainees in my class took over 2 hours to get themselves turned around when that trick was played on us, and most forgot they were wearing mag boots." He glanced down at her bandaged feet then sighed. “We will need to get you a pair of mag boots as well." Spark gripped Rick's arm, balling up the other paw and giving him a punch on that same arm. The effect was symbolic, she had no leverage to do any real damage and it unbalanced her enough to cause her to begin floating again but using her grip on his arm Spark was able to recover her original positioning though her anger still showed. “Rick just chuckled, waving away any further retaliations. “Ok, ok. You didn't like my prank. I'll back off, you win."

Walking across the cargo bay, Rick used a magnetic lock to bolt a 5-gallon bucket to the wall at chest level, then disabled his boots and pushed off, gliding just above the floor until the two of them reached the far wall. Spark clung to Rick, curious about the bucket but still angry about the trick her pulled on her. At the far wall, Rick enabled his boots, the soles clunking firmly against the plating. He placed one hand on Spark's shoulder, holding her in place as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a square package made of sack cloth, roughly 3 inches on each side. Spark sniffed and giggled. “Smells like that stuff you drink every morning, stronger even." Rick took the package and tossed it underhanded, using the corner to cause it to spin after release as it slowly traversed the cargo bay, then landed in the bucket on the far side, bouncing out and floating away at much reduced speed.

Rick pulled out two more pouches and handed them to Spark. “Your turn, see if you can get one of those to land in the bucket. I only had enough to make 5, so you will have two more tries before we have to go collect them to try again." Spark took aim and tossed the first of the pouches, the object tumbling end over end until it hit the wall a good 6 feet off target. The second throw was better but still missed the bucket by a good 4 feet. Rick pulled out the last two coffee stuffed bean bags and handed them to Spark. “Ok, tip number one, grip the bag by a corner so you can use the spin to your advantage, there is minimal friction in null gravity but it does exist, and a spin will cause other external factors to play less of a role on the object, especially a smaller one that isn't round."

Her next shot missed by a foot and a half, Spark getting the feel for how to toss and aim but still not sure why her shots were missing. Her final throw also missed, and Rick squeezed her shoulder gently. “Ok, push off and go collect the bags, don't forget to check by the air intake too since anything that floats will get pulled towards there." Spark was about half way across the bay when she realized what Rick had just told her, letting out an incredulous laugh and twisting to look at the air return up in the corner of the room. “You mean that vent is why I kept on missing?" She called out, Rick replying with a nod and pointed behind her. Spark turned just in time to catch herself before running into the far wall, bouncing off at an odd angle but managing to also pluck two of the bags from the air and get enough of a kick on the wall to head ceilingward. She found no handhold there and instead used the surface to change her position and push off after another of the bags, the deck plating supplying her next launching point.

It took her 8 jumps but eventually Spark returned with all 5 of the bags, Rick catching her as she approached and again used a hand on her shoulder to steady her against the deck plating so she could throw again. Spark handed one of the bags to Rick, asking him to demonstrate his technique again. Rick launched the bag across the cargo bay, his aim low and to the left though as it flew the bag seemed to arc and correct the movement to land squarely in the center of the bucket. “We had to hit floating moving targets in the academy, and you only passed when you could get 3 into the bucket in a row. We were also required to retrieve our misses using less jumps than there were bags though we were each allowed 7. I didn't have enough materials to make more than these 5, sorry."

Spark shrugged and leaned her head to nuzzle Rick's arm gently. “It's ok, we can still play with 5 and this is good practice, though why did you have to know how to throw things in null gravity?" Rick shrugged casually, not wanting to tell Spark that the real test wasn't to throw bags, but combat knives. “Well, there are lots of things that can go wrong in null gravity, the worst one is when something breaks and you have to keep something from impacting something else, either by catching it or deflecting it." He paused again then continued. “We will need to pick up some metal marbles when we get a chance, I have another game that is a follow up to this one where we play marbles and see who can get the most hits before catching the shooter but that requires a bit more precision than you currently possess. Once you can get all 5 bags into the bucket in one go then we can discuss the other game."

It took Spark 5 rounds of tossing and fetching before she managed to hit the target then another 6 rounds to get 3 in a row. Finally, after 4 hours and nearly 50 rounds Spark managed to get all 5 into the basket in one round. She looked up at Rick and beamed with pride as he ruffled her ears. “You did really good, and you kept at it. I'll keep my end and make sure we can get ahold of some of those hook marbles once we reach earth. They aren't cheap but it is a game of skill that all ages can enjoy, and honestly, I'd like to try my hand at it again for old times' sake, used to be pretty good at it too."

The two of them continued to play with the bean bags in the cargo bay until an alert from Rick's arm pad told them that there was a visitor at the door. Rick used his hook to return to the entrance to the cargo bay, helping Spark to get safely grounded before reenabling the gravity. The two of them then headed to go see who was at their door.