CHAPTER FIVE: THE SLUG AND THE GIRL.

DAY NINE.

"Has the Maggot been captured?" a sentinel asked.

"No, not yet but there is a troop on ground for that." Jeno replied.

They were inside a database room, sorting out Intel for the mission. The sentinel stood the same height as Jeno who was a little bit above the average. Jeno got directions from the General to simulate the mission. The sentinel was their tactician and a herald to General Hutch Kitson.

"The squad will find it hard to enter the atmosphere. The gods are always on watch. We need a way to mask the ship." The sentinel said.

"Bortia is deserted, we can make our entry there. The gods will have much of there focus in the center. Right here." Jeno said, pointing at Krusant the capital of Endock."

"But, Bortia is a wasteland, the beast from the South might have migrated into the city. The people were fighting them off when the attack started." The sentinel said and swipes the images of Bortia displayed on a hologram table.

"What do you suggest?" Jeno asked.

"The Outpost on Mount Griffin is at the opposite end, far west and away from Krusant. We can use the misty mountains as cover." The sentinel said.

"The mountains are too dangerous, even if we get through, that is the terrain of Umthra. He might not be pleased." Jeno said.

"He does align himself with the gods." The sentinel said and turned back, taking a few steps to pick up a case, he then placed it on a table and dusted it.

"What is it?" Jeno asked.

"I managed to get it out of the archives in the temple before we fled." he flipped the case and opened it. "It is the first crest, a priest told me to take it with me."

Jeno leaned forward and caught a glimpse of the crest. It was elegant and made of pure Grania with the craftsmanship of the first blacksmiths from Weltow. He then remembered he found something in Brooks' tent on Morach.

"I have something you might want to see." Jeno told him.

"What is it?" The sentinel asked.

"I am not sure, it is a small creature and it had the markings on its back like the the crest." Jeno said.

They went to a hangar on the ship and got into an aircraft.

"Hey, Quibs !" Jeno shouted.

"Yeah?" Quibs responds.

"Where is the thing I gave you?"

"What thing?"

"The tiny creature I found on Morach."

"Who are you with?"

"Nathaniel"

"Oh! Nathan." Quibs comes out from a corner while cleaning his hand with a rag. "It's in the med room. Does he know what it is ?" Quibs asked.

"Maybe." Jeno answered.

"Do you?" Quibs said to Nathan.

"Does it look like a slug?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah....it does." Quibs squints his eyes.

Jeno brought out the creature while the others were conversing.

"Here it is." he said and opened the box where the creature was trapped in.

"Wow!" Nathan exclaimed as he picked up the slug-like creature.

"What is it?" Jeno asked.

"It is a Wicker. They are fascinating, see the patterns on its' skin....." he points it to them and placed the Wicker on a desk "the pattern inspired the making of the sentinel Crest."

"How did it get on Morach?" Quibs asked.

"Probably from the creatures captured before we left Endock." Nathan said.

"That means..." Quibs said in cognizance and Jeno finished what he was about to say "the creature escaped before the Maggot." Jeno pounds his fist on the desk, scaring the Wicker which crawled up to Nathan's arm.

Quibs sighed "The thief."

"What thief?" Nathan asked.

"Someone was stealing from the camp." Jeno told him.

"Somethings were missing and I was searching for some specimens that escaped from the lab, when the explosion happened." Nathan said.

"How many hours before the mission?" Quibs asked.

"Nineteen hours." Nathan responds.

"Okay....we could check the camp system for anything that was out of place. The thief mist have left traces." Quibs said.

"The person could be on the ship." Jeno said.

They went to the surveillance room and asked for the recordings on Morach.

"There...." Quibs said.

"Can you play back to five minutes, move to angle B-3."

"What is that?" Nathan asked.

"It's a girl." Jeno scoffs.

"What was the kid thinking?" Nathan said.

"Run a scan on her face." Jeno instructs the surveillance operator.

A monitor displayed the girl's profile. With her name, Detty Dickens.

"I can't believe it." Quibs uttered.

"What?" Jeno turned his head and asked.

"We have been chasing a five year old." Quibs said.

"It says, she is five years old." Jeno said.

"Ohh! But still, we were chasing an eight year old through vents and playing clues with her. It is absurd." Quibs said.

"You were playing clues with a child." Nathan laughs.

Jeno breathes out and stands at akimbo. He bites his lower lip and asked the operator to display her location.

"She is in level thirteen." The operator said.

They headed to level thirteen. The girl was ravaging the ship's electric wiring, Nathan grabbed her at the nick of time when she was about pluck a wire out

"Hey! what are you doing?" Quibs shouted.

"Nothing" she said softly.

"Detty Dickens" Jeno called her.

"How did you know my name?" she asked, looking shocked but her expression was different, it seemed impressed. "How did you find me?" she adds.

They remained silent for a moment. Nathan dropped her and turned her face him, bending to her height. He raised a finger at her and sau "You are in big trouble, Detty. What were you thin-" She cuts him short by pushing his finger down and poked his nose 'poing'

"Hey, little girl. I don't care who you are, you are coming with us-" Quibs was speaking but she interrupts him too.

"I know you..." she points at Jeno "...and you too." she points at Quibs, sounding excited "But you, I don't know" she turns to Nathan, shaking her finger.

"Grab her!" Jeno yelled.

Detty jumps on a crate and swings over them using a bar hanging from the ceiling. She pressed a keypad and ran outside. Quibs followed after her, but she kept on throwing random objects she came across. She makes a turn to the left and entered a room. Quibs rushed in, barely grabbing her shirt collar. She was dangling a few inches from getting her face straight into the floor. He pulled her up and puts her on his shoulder and walked out. She banged her fist on his armour repeatedly, kicking and demanding that he lets her go. He took her back to the place they found her.

"Nice work" Jeno said to him.

"Yeah, now we need to tie her up and do the right thing." Quibs said.

"What's that?" She asked rattled, raising her palms up and squeezed her face.

"Don't worry, you'll find out." Quibs said.