Pleasing Start Over

Mech Engineer: System V. System 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.