2.11

After Qiao Chen debugged the sonic emitter, he installed it onto all of the crew members' mechs. With the emitters on hand, the third fleet successfully drove the Tiejias away from the planet cluster. Their next step was to locate the enriched mineral vein.

Among all of the ore deposits on this particular planet, the enriched mineral was the most crucial part of the mission. It didn't matter where or what they used the enriched minerals for. It was suitable for all manner of applications. The most important function of the enriched minerals, however, was that it was able to make the strongest parts for mechs. Another reason they needed to locate the enriched minerals first was because if other minerals or ore were excavated before the enriched mineral was obtained, then its strength would wane and eventually dissipate. It was likely that, even with all the other minerals on the rest of the planet, the enriched minerals would have a greater net worth than all of the others combined. Therefore, they were forced to find the enriched minerals before they could even begin mining for the rest of the easier to mine ores.

The fifth fleet's side of the planet was considered a total loss. They couldn't search for the minerals; let alone mine for any of them anymore. However, they also couldn't just sit and twiddle their thumbs while the third fleet finished the job either. Canette proposed his idea to the third fleet. He explained that the fifth fleet had an instrument that was able to locate the coordinates of the enriched mineral vein. He also insisted that they would help the third fleet save time if they lent their hand and searched together with the third fleet. If they agreed to the fifth fleet's assistance, then they would be able to return to the empire with all the minerals from the ore deposits before any of the other countries even step foot in a ship to make their way here.

Cade couldn't help but berate them internally. The audacity of that man was astounding… However, to Cade's surprise, Rouble actually agreed to Canette's proposal.

….

Qiao Chen and the assistant cleaned up their equipment and brought it into their workshop. The Special Ops members were about to begin their search for the enriched mineral vein, so they waited in the mechs' launch bay.

"Why would the captain agree with the fifth fleet coming over to search for the enriched minerals with us? They were the ones who signed the separation of mission command contract. They aren't supposed to cross over into our territory. Plus, if we had engineer Qiaoyi develop a locator device, then he'd obviously make one a hundred times better than theirs." Sodini complained.

"Looks like you don't understand, huh?" Kurit put his hand on Sodini's shoulder and said. "If we don't let them come over and mess up, then who else would help make us look superior? All we need to do is believe in the captain."

"Ready." Auray affirmed when saw Qiao Chen and his assistant walking over to help the pilots prepare their mech for departure.

Auray's mech flew at the head of the mech formation. He was followed by his own teammates as well as members of the fifth fleet.

They flew very low to the ground. Qiao Chen was in Auray's mech. He was in the cockpit as he directed Auray's navigation with the help of the locator device. They flew for a long time. Qiao Chen compared the energy signals of the areas they flew in with the signals from the locator device for the whole duration of the flight. Eventually, they stopped at the top of a steep hill.

The team quickly set up a makeshift camp with a tent. The third fleet's crew helped Qiao Chen's assistant prepare the equipment. Qiao Chen, on the other hand, sat inside the tent in front of the operation table analyzing the data on the monitor.

The third fleet and fifth fleet waited outside. Neither unit spoke to each other, nor did one really care for the either. The third fleet disliked that the fifth fleet had been following them, as if they were waiting to jump on their coattails. They didn't like how shameless the fifth fleet was about it either and saw the fifth as an eyesore. The fifth fleet soldiers, on the other hand, didn't want to follow the third fleet in the first place. However, it was their vice captain's orders. They didn't have a choice.

Greene and his assistant also wanted to enter the tent with their equipment.

However, they were stopped by Sodini and Henry who guarded the entrance. "This is the tent we set up, and there is limited space. We cannot accommodate so many of your people with your equipment too. You can find another place to build your own tent."

"We won't take up much space. Or, better yet, I can go in alone with some simple equipment, okay?" Greene quickly compromised. He was practically salivating at this opportunity to copy Qiao Chen's programs with his system.

"No. You will disturb our engineer's work. I ask that you leave." Henry said rudely.

The fifth fleet crew members didn't look happy after they saw Greene being barred from entry. However, it was indeed the third fleet's tent, so there wasn't much they could do.

Greene wanted to say something else, but Jared walked by and interrupted, "Greene, forget it. We'll set up our own tent. It won't take much time."

Greene, of course, wasn't afraid of kicking up trouble, nor was he afraid of wasting time. He wanted to continue and insist on entering the third fleet's tent, but he couldn't now that Jared had said something.

"Captain Auray." Qiao Chen called from inside.

Auray immediately went in.

"I need more data to accurately determine where the mineral vein is." Qiao Chen gave Auray six magnetic cards and said, "Have six people insert these cards into their mech. They need to follow the cards' coordinates and begin searching once they reach their destination. The card will record the energy data they find during the search. Retrieving the data must be done as soon as possible. Please have them search carefully."

Auray distributed the magnetic cards to six of the soldiers. He explained that they needed to carefully conduct the search as per Qiao Chen's request.

Henry held the card in hand as he prepared to depart on his mech. After fighting an internal argument, he reluctantly turned around and said, "Captain, you must help me watch over engineer Qiaoyi. Don't let anyone from the fifth fleet find an opportunity to harm him."

"Help you look after him?" Auray asked. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Henry strangely.

"Anyways, you must look after him well. Please, captain. " Henry requested and immediately left when he was done.

With the locator device in hand, Qiao Chen exited the tent and headed to a different location. While he waited for the team of six to gather the data he needed, Qiao Chen was taking a survey of a nearby area on the locator device. He ignored the hostile glares from the fifth fleet members. He knew they were still mad from the triennial combat practice where he caused them to lose in such a humiliating way.

Jared also stared at Qiaoyi with a complicated look in his eyes. Previously, he couldn't help but persuade his father to agree with annulling the marriage agreement between him and Qiaoyi. He desperately assured and guaranteed his father that Greene would have made glorious achievements. He convinced his father that Greene was the better choice over Qiaoyi. However, while Greene did perform well, he didn't perform as well as Qiaoyi. His father had constantly reprimanded him about the matter, but he didn't know that Qiaoyi would join the third fleet after resigning from the fifth fleet. The Flock family wasn't particularly involved in the discourse between the two factions, but Qiaoyi was now very clearly helping the other faction.

—-

One by one, the team of six returned as they completed their search. They gave Qiao Chen the magnetic card upon their return. Once Qiao Chen received the last card, he prepared to return to the tent.

"Wait." Greene called out to Qiao Chen. "Can I take a look at the energy data you collected?"

"Of course not. If you're capable enough, then go gather the data on your own. If you aren't then get lost. You can go back to your warship and scheme about how you'll take other people's data all day long." Qiao Chen retorted rudely. He looked at Greene like he was an idiot for even asking.

"Don't go running your mouth." Bachner, a member of the fifth fleet, warned angrily.

Qiao Chen knew Bachner was one of Greene's admirers. In the previous life, he helped Greene deal with Qiaoyi.

Qiao Chen arrogantly said, "If you think what I'm saying is too much for you, then you can just leave. Don't toss your shame out the window for the sake of our success. You're the ones who tried to break off and do your own thing, and you were the ones who failed so miserably that you had to come back crawling to us. Do you have the audacity to say you are the capable ones here?"

"What did you say?" Bachner angrily seethed. His face showed an angry and deep desire to grab Qiao Chen to teach him a lesson. The other members of the fifth fleet were also furiously glaring at Qiao Chen.

The third fleet's crew members immediately stepped forward and protectively surrounded Qiao Chen. They glared back at the fifth fleet with the same animosity.

Greene blocked Bachner's way. With an angelic appearance and manner, he gently said, "I just wanted to see if the information we collected was any different from the data you collected. If we compare notes, we can make up for each others' flaws. Then we can find the enriched mineral vein faster. If you don't want to, then forget it. There's no need for you to say things so excessively like that. After all, you used to work with the fifth fleet before."

"I hope you don't mention the fact that I worked for the fifth fleet ever again. As far as I'm concerned, working for the fifth fleet is a completely humiliating and utterly disgraceful time and memory." Qiao Chen said as his face filled with disgust. He turned around and went back into the tent to analyze the information.

The fifth fleet unit was infuriated by Qiao Chen's words. However, the third fleet unit had their guard up against them. The fifth fleet was further incensed because they couldn't retaliate against Qiaoyi.

When noon finally rolled around, the third fleet soldiers set up a table outside the tent. As they set the table for lunch, Qiao Chen walked out of the tent. He had finally finished analyzing the data and was focused on looking at the locator device in his hand. Everyone was so busy on completing their task at hand that no one noticed Qiao Chen walking up the precipice behind the tent on his own.

Bachner, however, did. He had just put something away behind the tent and saw Qiao Chen walk through. He carefully observed Qiao Chen and saw that nobody from the third fleet seemed to have noticed Qiao Chen walking out on his own, so he quietly followed from behind.

Qiao Chen walked to the edge of the cliff. Once he saved the information on the locator device, he turned back to return to the camp. However, Bachner, who stood nearby, blocked his path.

"What do you want?" Qiao Chen asked. He looked at Bachner warily.

"Give me the device in your hand, or else…"Bachner threatened. He reached out to Qiao Chem.

"Why? Green couldn't steal our data, so now you're scrambling to steal it for him? Sure enough, working for a fleet like yours is one of the most disgraceful things I've done in my life. What a thing for a soldier like you to do. Disgraceful." Qiao Chen retorted sarcastically.

"There's no one here to protect you now. You'd better watch what you say." Bachner glared.

Qiao Chen raised his hand and said, "I just have press the communicator and help will come right away. What can you do to me?"

Bachner wordlessly rushed up, reached out, and grabbed the locator device in Qiao Chen's hand.

"You…Let go!" Qiao Chen held on tightly to the locator device, however, he wasn't Bachner's opponent. Without much of a fight, Bachner had already snatched the locator device from his hands.

Qiao Chen was just about to push the contact button to alert the third fleet when Bachner roughly shoved Qiao Chen. Qiao Chen promptly lost his balance and fell off the cliff.

"Ahhhhhh!!" Qiao Chen screamed as he fell down. Bachner immediately ran away with the device in his hands.

Auray had just come over to find Qiao Chen when he heard Qiao Chen's scream. He saw Bachner escape from the back but he didn't bother to chase after him. Auray sprinted with all his might to the edge of the cliff.

Auray's heart dropped when he saw Qiao Chen plummeting from the cliff. Fortunately, there was a river beneath. Qiao Chen had just fallen into the river, so Auray didn't waste a second mulling it over, he jumped too.

Auray dove into the river below and quickly found Qiao Chen. He propped Qiao Chen's body partially out of the water and began swimming to shore. Qiao Chen struggled catch his breath as he heaved in and out big breaths of air.

"Are you all right?" Auray asked anxiously. He stopped swimming. One hand held Qiao Chen's pale face as the other supported the waist.

Qiao Chen pulled himself up to Auray's shoulder and shook his head, signaling that he was fine. At such a close distance, Auray stared closely at Qiao Chen's pale face. He remembered the panic he felt when he saw Qiao Chen plummeting to the ground. The emotions in him were a mess. Finally, he couldn't help but plant a firm kiss on Qiao Chen to make sure Qiao Chen was really in his arms.

Almost- you almost lost him. Auray thought as he firmly kissed Qiao Chen. He explored every nook and cranny. His hands sloshed against the water as gently caressed Qiao Chen's back.

Qiao Chen, who managed to finally catch his breath, lost his breath once again. However, he didn't refuse or resist. He let Auray have his overbearing ways and gruffly kiss him. After a while, Auray finally loosened his hold and helped Qiao Chen ashore. Qiao Chen took a couple of steps and felt a sharp pain radiating from his calf and his legs gave out from under him.

Auray immediate caught him and asked, "What's wrong?

"It looks like I sprained my leg. It should have happened during the scuffle when Bachner grabbed the locator device from me."

Auray immediately placed Qiao Chen on his back and continued to walk to the shore. Auray was just about to contact the rest of the unit with the communicator. Qiao Chen stopped him, "Wait."

Qiao Chen was on Auray's back when he opened his communicator, pointed downstream, and said, "The enriched mineral is located over there- just below the river."

"Are you sure?" Auray asked.

"Positive. My communicator is linked to the locator. However, even though we found where the enriched minerals are, don't notify anyone yet. You need to go back and discuss a plan with the captain. See if you can retrieve the enriched minerals without revealing this to the fifth fleet."

"Ok." Auray replied. He contacted the third fleet and asked them to surround the fifth fleet. Then he had one of them come down to pick up Qiao Chen with a mech.

Henry piloted his mech over. When he arrived, he saw Auray carrying Qiao Chen. Panicking, Henry quickly ran over and asked Qiao Chen, "Are you hurt?"

"No." Qiao Chen said. "It's just a sprain."

"I can carry him, Captain." Henry felt slightly relieved after he heard that Qiao Chen wasn't seriously injured.

"No need. You should just pilot the mech." Auray rejected. He carried Qiao Chen into Henry's mech.