-----14

Jakob definitely heard it, and he found out where it came from. Within seconds, Jakob spotted the fray as the other attackers backed off to try to catch Philip off-guard. Jakob burst into a mad sprint and jump-kicked Philip in the side of the head. The branch was thrown out of reach and Philip was knocked unconscious almost instantly.

Jakob cursed yet again. All this happening in one day. He couldn't take it. Philip's Rampancy, Skyway Patrol screwing around, humanity despising them because of a deep-down disrespectful idiot, and the fact that life could be snuffed out without a care in the rest of the universe while they dawdled.

"You guys had best get out of here, It's not safe to be around Phil right now." Jakob said as he helped the others lift up the one with the broken leg. "You seriously need to get that looked at."

"What, you mean like Don?" the kid retorted.

"He had every chance to back off, but he didn't. He made his choice, and it resulted in me making the obvious choice of taking him down using any means necessary. It wouldn't have happened if you guys were tolerant for us. Get out of here and mention this to no one."

The one with the broken leg grunted a reply, while the others simply nodded. Maybe they realised that bringing word around this would only cause more complications than benefits. There was nothing to sue the ARKS for, anyway. Jakob picked up Philip's body and carried it back to Time. Philip was their best tactician, and he was out of commission. Jessie and the others are busy trying to repair Time, which left Jakob to try to get human relations stable.

He was definitely not doing a good job at that either. If anything, he would need to keep calm; something he was never good at. The relations with the people they're trying to help was definitely on bad terms. It would take some time and some good, well-used time to think things over.

Jakob was a quick thinker when it came to combat, but for planning, he needed Philip more than ever. However, Philip was out of the question.

Might as well regroup with the rest of the ARKS and try to figure something out within this fog of confusion. Jakob got through the slightly damaged door and entered the ship. He rested Philip into his dormitory before going to the hospital room.

Jessie was there, as usual.

"Jakob, what took you so long?"

"Multiple things happened." Jakob said. He then gave his report on the day. The kids hated their guts because of the fight with Don Prima, Jakob and Philip separating after school, Jakob's conversation with Dr. Wakeman, and the intervention in the fight between Philip and Don Prima's remaining "loyalists".

"This is very serious indeed. What damage did Philip inflict?"

"Broken leg. Would be hard to explain when they go home."

"You do realize that our goal is ultimately to get all of the human slaves off of Cluster Prime, right?"

"Yeah. Considering there are about a thousand or more, Time won't be able to carry them all at once."

"Which means we'll need to rely on the Humans in order to supply us with ships that can carry that many. The way things are going right now, we're going to end up very much alone in this ordeal."

"I know. They're idiots, however. They don't realize how pointless their unnecessary grudges are. I honestly don't get it."

"I guess it's just one of those human qualities robots tend to discard when we get through Rampancy. I don't understand fully, so that's my guess.

"Where are the others?"

"Terrace is working on the engine, while Drawl and Trig are replacing the windows."

"Alright. Philip's at his dorm. I had to take him down, so he might be damaged."

"Might as well leave him in there. We can't risk letting him exit the ship at all for now."

Jakob nodded and left. Jessie sat down and pulled a terminal from a wall. She checked the hard drive to see if it was damaged, and appeared satisfied that it wasn't.

---

"Warden?"

"Yes?"

"I informed the Queen."

"What did she say?"

"She ordered another attack on Earth."

"If it's another attempt to assimilate the XJ-9 unit, I will kill her myself."

"She apparently has a vendetta with the ARKS. She probably knows that Jakob is somehow involved."

"Did you tell her?"

"No, but she seemed to know anyway."

"Hmm... So long as she doesn't squander my soldiers toward her futile efforts, I'll be fine with another attack. Round up as many squads as you see fit."

"Yes, Warden."