CHAPTER SEVEN: CHANGE IN PLANS

Jeno got into level forty-eight and knocked at Detty's door. "Detty?"

"Yes!" she responds.

She opened the door and Jeno walked in. He looked around and saw the missing parts from their aircraft and other spare parts. He smacks his lips, standing at akimbo and walked to a desk. On it was a device dismantled, with each segment labelled. He picked up a part that looked like a small transformer, he looked at it with the most intriguing face, bringing the part closer to his eyes and asked her what it was.

"It's a transformer..." she moved close to him and points at a port, explaining the device to him "You see the hole here..."

"Yeah." he nodded.

"...It connects the cable over there with the pulsar in the small containment unit." she said, while reaching for an energy core emitting a deep orange colour and she also reached for a cable.

She inserts the cable into the port on the transformer and picked up the containment unit, inserting the energy core into it and closed it.

"What does it do?" Jeno asked her.

"Just wait, you'll see." she said with her voice sounding elated. She smiled, sticking out the tip of her tongue and bit on it.

From the pulsar, a strong blast of plasma shot out and hits a metal panel across the room. The heat from the plasma melts a hole through the metal panel.

Jeno opened his eyes wide and lets out a soft "Wow!"

"Pretty cool, right?" she smiled at him.

"You made that?" Jeno asked, amazed.

"Yeah." she replied and unplugged the cable, setting the device back on the table. "Look, I didn't mean to steal from you guys or take anything from the camp on Morach. I just needed the parts for my inventions, you can take all that belongs to you."

"Kid. You are building amazing things that could change the course of history for the people of Endock and you were wrong for taking without permission. But, this is amazing and I know you can do better. You might just find yourself with the Markers of Endock." Jeno said.

He ruffled her hair, shaking her head lightly and moved around the room to observe other objects.

"What are you here for?" she asked.

"Umm..." he turned around, looking at her, all muddled.

"You weren't just here to see my room, were you?" she said, raising her right arm in question.

"Oh yeah! Will you be interested in going to Endock?" he responds.

"Yes!" she shouts in excitement.

"Not the reaction I was expecting." he muttered.

"When are we leaving? I can pick up my stuff inside that bag..." she spoke while getting some clothes and the plasma blaster into a bag "...and get my journal from the ward room."

She came passing him and he caught her arm. "Hey, slow down. Do you need all these stuffs and what is your journal doing in the ward?" he asked

"Yes I do." she lifts her bag and shrugged. "I can't keep my journal in the same room with the gadgets and it's safer in the ward."

"Well....yeah..." he clicks his tongue "..okay." He let's her go and they went to the ward room.

Inside the ward room, they walked past Brooks who was engaged with a book. He heard Jeno's voice, "Hey! Jeno" he shouted. From the lockers, Jeno turned his head scanning through the ward to see who called him. He lowered his head, watching what Detty was doing, as she puts her hand inside a locker labelled 343. She pulls out a book from it and puts it in her bag.

"Done." she announced. They headed towards the exit passing Brooks once more.

He shouted "Hey!" again. This time around getting both their attention and they looked, locking eyes with him. He waved a hand at them and Jeno walked up to him.

"How are you doing?" Jeno asked.

"Pretty good." Brooks replied. He then looked at Detty strangely, "Who is that?"

"That's Detty." Jeno responds.

"Hmph, what are you guys doing?" Brooks pushed his hand against the bed and sat up.

"We are leaving for Endock." Jeno said.

"Can't you take me with you on the aircraft? I need this."

"I'm sorry, Brooks. The Captain is insistent and it would be against orders to do so." Jeno said.

Brooks fell back on the bed, "Don't bother."

"Brooks, you need to heal." Jeno said and turned back to meet Detty.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"His name is Brooks." Jeno replied.

"Hmph" Detty adjusts her bag and raised her ponytail rest on the bag.

Jeno, Detty and Jacobs met at the entrance of the hangar. Jacobs draws Jeno aside, telling Detty to get into the aircraft.

"There has been a change of plans" Jacobs said.

"What's the new plan?" Jeno inquired.

"We are providing support to the Sadon Squadron and we are doing that from orbit."

"What?" Jeno yelled.

"I know, look we have to get the Maggot out of the ship. And we need to get it to Krusant." Jacobs said.

Jeno panicked. He had begun to like the girl being around and he knew what Jacobs meant. He was going to abandon her on the planet if they are not able to get the Maggot out of her. Jeno's heartbeat increased, he could feel the urgency and knew Detty didn't have much time.

They both stared as she entered the the aircraft.

"What the?" Quibs exclaims.

"Oh hey! Hi." Detty waved at him.

Quibs got up from the pilot seat and walked to the door putting his head out, scouting to see if she was with someone. Ashe turned his head to the left, he spots Jacobs and Jeno talking. He raised his arm and flipped his hand in question. He then points inside the ship, shifting his right leg slightly. Jacobs raises an arm up and Quibs groans in frustration as he turned back into the aircraft.

"What's wrong?" Detty asked as she sat sat around a table. Quibs paused in his steps and blinked lazily. She shrugs 'hmph' and places her bag on the table. She looked around in curiosity, tapping her fingers on the table while humming. Nathan walked in, wearing his armour with two large bags strapped to his back. He climbed a ladder and tossed the bags inside a bunk. He got down, removed his helmet and sat opposite Detty.

"What about the others?" Quibs asked Nathan while working on a computer.

"They are coming. What are you doing? I thought you should be done by now."

"Yeah, the planet keeps shifting from orbit and the coordinates are constantly changing. I want to be able to predict the shifts." Quibs responds.

"The presence of so many gods on the planets must be messing with the gravity. Has anyone gotten on the planet after the escape? Maybe you could copy the trail from them." Nathan stood behind Quibs watching the computer.

"I was able to find traces of an aircraft that left the mother-ship to Endock. It wasn't long ago, about eight hours. It's the Sadon Squadron." Quibs said.

"What will they be doing in Endock. Wait...which batch?"

"Batch-13"

"We need to tell the Captain."

"Maybe, he already knows" Detty said.

"How would you know?" Quibs asked resentfully.

"I overheard their conversation." She answered.

"With?" Nathan asked.

"The Captain and Jeno."