2.10

Qiao Chen's restoration of the Z-801 finally entered the testing period. He asked the Special Ops team to see who was willing to lend a hand with this phase. Those who did were required to send over a data profile. Qiao Chen would be able to select the most suitable candidate after he received everyone's data.

Nearly all the of the Special Ops team members submitted their profile. Qiao Chen noticed that the only person missing from the applicants was Henry, so he looked for him and asked, "Why haven't you submitted your data profile?'

"I- you wouldn't select me anyways, so I didn't even bother to fill out the application." Henry replied, downcast.

"How would you know if you haven't even turned it in?" Qiao Chen asked.

"You've hated me ever since you were young, so of course you wouldn't let me pilot the Z-801." Henry uttered in a low voice. The usually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kind of guy was much taller and imposing than Qiao Chen. However, he was presently oppressed by the past Qiao Chen.

"Work and private matters are kept separate. If you are the best candidate, then of course I wouldn't snub you just because of things that happened in the past. Fill out the application and hand it in within two days. When you do, I'll be able to compare everyone and select the candidate." After Qiao Chen finished speaking, he turned back around to the lab and continued to work.

Henry submitted his application to Qiao Chen within the two day limit. However, before Qiao Chen was able to select the candidate, the third fleet received an important assignment they needed to complete.

One week ago, a cosmic hurricane suddenly exploded outside of the empire's territory. The storm was located 4 or 5 degrees southwest of the empire's coordinates. Cosmic hurricanes were a regular occurrence in the universe. They ranged from small to large. The small storms were more like regular spacial turbulence and didn't really affect the planet. Larger storms, on the other hand, were able to rip through planets and could potentially destroy them.

Large hurricanes commonly appeared on the edges of the empire's border. Although the storm occurred far from the empire's territory, bordering planets still kept their eyes on it- just in case. They had to prevent the storm from making its way to them if it suddenly changed directions.

Fortunately, even though the hurricane had been in blowing in full force for a week now, it hadn't changed directions. There was a commotion, not because of the storm, but because of the small cluster of emergent planets were able to weather the storm. The empire detected an energy signal revealing a large ore deposit coming from one of the fledgling planets.

The energy signal's strength indicated that there was an extensive amount of powerful and rare minerals on one of the planets in this cluster. They hadn't noticed it before because stronger minerals had a self defense mechanism. These types of minerals emitted a magnetic field usually that even hid them from the most technologically advanced radars they had at hand. However, the cosmic storm damaged the magnetic field, so some of the energy signals leaked out.

Even though the cluster was relatively close to their empire, it was not located within their borders. If other countries discovered the minerals, then they would inevitably come in droves. So what the third fleet needed to do was find the mineral concentration on the cluster before any other countries detected the leaking energy signal. Then they needed to return with most, if not all, of the minerals from the deposit. However, the fifth fleet was also assigned to complete the mission in addition to the third fleet. The two fleets were a part of the two strongest political factions within the empire. These factions were in the midst of a fierce contention between one another. Therefore, it was impossible to only have one faction's fleet carry out such an important assignment. Since the third fleet won the triennial competition, they were given the lead command for the mission. Vice Captain Canette commanded the fifth fleet to assist them.

While their warships navigated to the cluster of planets, they received information that the Tiejia beasts had arrived on the cluster before them. The Tiejia were a species of space beasts whose diet consisted the exact minerals they were tasked to retrieve. So, it was expected that the cluster's energy leak would attract Tiejia beasts.

….

They had been fighting the Tiejia for several days now, but hadn't forced them off the small planet or killed them yet, so they couldn't search for the minerals. The beasts' armors were extremely sturdy and required powerful, heavy artillery to even make a scratch on them.

"These Tiejias are such a pain. Regular gunfire isn't strong enough to kill 'em but, but if we bring out the big guns then we'll destroy the planet. Then on top of fighting that beast, we even have to find the enriched mineral vein too. How troublesome." Sodini complained.

"The Tiejia beasts are difficult to deal with. However, the levels of these beasts indicate that the mineral deposits here are very strong. They won't be driven away from their food source so easily." Special Ops Vice Captain Kurit agreed. He also found the beasts quite troublesome. The difference between him and Sodini was that he believed that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the rewards.

"Captain, it looks like today's a no go too. Should we continue with the assault?" Henry asked through the mech's contact channel.

"Collection team, everyone return to base." Auray commanded.

About 10 mechs were scattered around the planet. Once they heard the command, they immediately flew back to the warship.

"Captain. The fifth fleet has been insistent with their request to use powerful cannons to attack the Tiejia." Cade notified Captain Rouble.

This was the third time that the fifth fleet's Vice Captain Canette made the request. The reason being, 'if no one was able to get rid of the armored beasts soon, then the other countries would soon notice and rush over.' But who didn't know that already? However, if they used powerful cannon, then the planet would be blasted to smithereens. Even the mineral deposits could be destroyed if they were hit.

Canette that impatient to find the vein before the leading team. If the third fleet hadn't been the leading commanders for the mission, then the fifth fleet probably would have long used their stronger artillery to attack the beasts.

"Since they want to use their cannons so badly to solve their problem with the Tiejia, then let them do it." Rouble said.

Cade worriedly said, "But captain- among all the planets in this cluster, this one is the one that is most likely to contain the enriched mineral vein. If it's destroyed…."

Rouble lifted his hand up and interrupted, "Split the planet into two sections. Let their side choose which section they want. They can do with it what they will. If they find the vein, then they find it. However, if something goes wrong on their end, then the responsibility falls squarely on their shoulders. Give them the mission contract and have them agree to these terms."

Over the course of any mission, if there were a group assignment and one side of the division felt that the leading group had been doing a poor job, then they would be able to voice their lack of confidence. They could apply for a mission contract that would allow them to break off from the group and move on their own. If party in doubt did this, then they would have to bear all the consequences in case of failure. They were also subject to double the penalty if they failed.

"Yes, Captain." Cade could only agree with Rouble, and then he left to implement the orders.

"How is Qiaoyi doing on his end?" Rouble asked an assistant who had just walked in.

"I just took a look. He said that will complete it within two days. However, after finishing, he still needs to run debugging tests on it several times to achieve the best results." The assistant said.

"Hm." Rouble nodded and grunted in acknowledgement. "Let him take his time, and then tell him to being the debugging process after the fifth fleet is done making their mess."

Just as everyone was at a loss on how to deal with the situation, Qiao Chen had an idea. He had looked up the Tiejias' data profile and found that while they had tough skin and were usually very difficult to deal with, they had very sensitive hearing. All of their senses were based off of an internal sonar-like-system. It was very similar to echolocation. Qiao Chen wanted to create a sound wave based attack that would aggravate the Tiejias. The sound waves would be fine tuned for the type of sonar the beasts had and drive them away and off the planet.

Qiao Chen brought his idea up to the captain and was given the OK. They were currently in the process of creating the code for the mechs, but if the fifth fleet was in such a hurry to fall on their face, then why wouldn't Rouble let them?

….

The third fleet's Special Ops team watched the screen before them. Images of the fifth fleet bombarding armored beasts with cannon fire flashed through the screen. A lot of the Tiejias on that side of the planet died, and the ones who survived escaped to the third fleet's side. Under the constant fire of the cannons, there was a decrease in Tiejia beasts; however, all the mountains below them were also leveled.

"What do you guys think about the fifth fleet base? How are they going to find any of the minerals if they destroy the planet like this? Let's say they even found the enriched vein, how would they even extract the enriched minerals from all that rubble?" Sodini sarcastically remarked as he watched the screen.

"You gotta drill to dig. Can you do it any other way?" Kurit said.

"How long 'til we find it?" Henry asked.

"Who knows." Kurit replied.

Most of the beasts gathered on the third fleet's side of the planet. The fifth fleet lowered and landed on the planet to begin the search for the enriched mineral vein.

By this time, Qiao Chen had already finished engineering the sound wave emitter. However, Rouble asked him to wait a while before beginning the debugging process.

All the destruction the fifth fleet had done was for a reason. Greene had created a locating device to find the enriched mineral vein. The machine used the enriched minerals' specific energy signals to calculate the highest probability of the enriched mineral's location. Canette watched over Greene's experiments several times and concluded that the device greatly increased the possibility of success. Furthermore, if they drilled a hole that reached the planet's core and inserted the device, then the device's accuracy skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, after they began the drilling process, they found out that they could only drill down to about 10 meters. They couldn't dig any deeper to get into the soil. Since they couldn't reach the planet's crust, they couldn't use the device to find anything.

With the mountain they had just felled, the rocks and rubble added about another 100 meters above ground floor. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't even dig more than 10 meters into the rubble alone. Canette never expected their plans to unfold like that. The area they had just leveled was most likely to have the enriched mineral, but then they couldn't even use their new device to find it. After the end of the mission, when they returned to the empire, they had to face twice the punishment. There was no escape from it.

"Stupid is as stupid does. He thought he was smarter than everyone else because he relied on his family connections to become a vice captain. It's not that big of a deal to be a little clever." Rouble sighed leisurely. He leaned back into his chair, face dripping with sarcasm.

"I never suspected the planet to be so tough. To think that we wouldn't even be able to dig a hole with any of the equipment we brought. So when we find the enriched minerals, how are we supposed to get them out?" Cade asked.

"What they drilled through wasn't even the planet's soil. It was the rubble from the mountains they blew up. A planet capable of attracting Tiejia beasts would have rocks and mountains with an unimaginable level of hardness. But in fact, the soil and the planet's crust are normal. However, they insisted on using those artillery cannons, so they completely covered the soil with the rocks from the mountains they destroyed. Of course it'd be impossible to dig anything up anymore." Rouble explained. He had a very clear understanding of the situation. When he was young, he had a mission that required him to eliminate Tiejia beasts, so he learned a lot during that time.

"So that's why!" Cade suddenly realized.

"Have Qiaoyi begin the debugging process for the sonic emitter." Rouble ordered.

"Yes, sir."

….

After Qiao Chen installed the emitter onto Auray's mech, he asked Auray to take him closer to the planet's surface. Then, Qiao Chen began the debugging process and observed the Tiejia beasts' reactions. Finally, he began adjusting the sonar emitter from the mech's screen.

Qiao Chen saw the Tiejias become increasingly agitated and said, "Go a bit lower."

Auray descended further down. As soon as the mech approached the Tiejias below, they immediately sprinted to a different place.

"I'm going to test the sound waves' reach. You should pilot the mech around for a lap or two." Qiao Chen said.

Auray immediately tilted the mech forward and flew in a semicircle. Qiao Chen had been standing next to Auray's command chair. He was busy as he focused on watching the Tiejias' reactions and then inputting changes on the screen off to the side. The mech tilted too far and he lost his balance. He had only stumbled for a moment, but Auray's arm immediately reached over and grabbed Qiao Chen by the waist to help Qiao Chen regain his balance. Then, he just put his thigh under Qiao Chen's butt and sat him down.

Qiao Chen turned around to glare at Auray. Stinky perv. He usually had a very earnest appearance, but he would always snatch every chance he could to take advantage of me. However, Qiao Chen wasn't modest with him, so Qiao Chen sat on Auray's lap and continued his work.