QT: Grace To Grass Counterattack System

The other soldiers were a little taken aback when they heard this. Lieutenant Colonel Jin?

"What did you do?!" This shout came from somewhere between the crowd of soldiers but since they were all in their Tech suits, He Yuan couldn't pinpoint who.

He simply released Jin Qi and sat crossed legged on the ground to catch his breath. He was very tired and had been seriously contemplating dropping off this dead weight Jin woman to bleed out and die before running into these soldiers.

At that moment, a few logisticians in the Technical department quickly stepped forward and manually ejected Jin Qi from her Tech Suit and then placed what was left of her Tech suit in a special metal container to be transported to the Spaceship.

The five hundred and something soldiers finally saw Jin Qi. She was unconscious, her skin was bloodless and her military scrubs was soaked in sweat. Not to mention the fact that both of her legs were gone and the material wrapped around them were completely covered in blood.

They all looked to He Yuan once more but since the mandron didn't look like he was going to explain anything, they also kept silent. Reports would be given at the Spaceship anyways and all would be known by then.

The paramedics team rushed forward and set up a temporary tent to carry out emergency treatment on Jin Qi. One them them turned to He Yuan and carried out a few mandatory checks. Once he figured everything was alright with the mandron, he joined his colleagues in attending to Jin Qi.

Almost five hours later, what was left of the 20 Scout Platoons left Aer and joined their comrades in the Spaceships. For the soldiers whose Tech suits had been compromised, they had been placed in a special capsule and transported to space by the armed soldiers.

The second He Yuan stepped out of the cramped and very uncomfortable capsule, he heard the A.I prompt sounding throughout the entire Spaceship.

[[All Survivors Of Scout Platoons; AO20 Proceed To The General Section To Give Your Reports. Sergeant Major Yang, Second Lieutenant Bo and First Lieutenant Taepher, Report To The Commander's Office.]]

He Yuan tugged on the shirt of his scrubs and calmly made his way through the noisy Spaceship in the direction of the Commanders office. The Commander of AO20 was Major General Serra. An andronian female that had directly worked under Ding Weimin. It was rumoured both she and the now ex-general had been classmates in the military academy.

It was also rumoured that she absolutely did not like Jin Qi. How true that was, he had no idea.

After ten minutes, He Yuan arrived at her office. In the waiting area were two other soldiers, a human and an andronian, both in military scrubs so he couldn't tell their ranks. He gave them a firm nod -which they returned with complicated expressions- before joining them in waiting.

Two minutes later, a niche A.I called out, [[First Lieutenant Taepher, you may now see the Commander.]]

He Yuan raised a brow as the andronian soldier stood up and walked into the office. He'd already guessed that these two were the soldiers that had been in the cave with him and Jin Qi. Hearing the name just confirmed his thoughts.

Five minutes in, Bo Yun kept sneaking glances at He Yuan. At last, he cleared his throat loudly, "Uh, Sergeant Major Yang?"

He Yuan turned to him. "Yes Sir?"

The proper address made Bo Yun blush slightly. He was one rank above the mandron and a member of the famed Special Division of Ex-General Ding. He felt his pride as a soldier shrivel up knowing he had almost given up back in the cave and yet a mandron had... He cleared his throat again. "Back there... You did a great job." He was silent for several seconds before adding, "Thanks."

He Yuan's expression remained the same but he gave the soldier a firm nod of respect. Afterall, this soldier had actually put away his pride and followed the orders of a mere Warrant Officer without objection. Also, he couldn't have done it alone anyways so he said, "You did a great job too. Thank you."

A smile bloomed on Bo Yun's face. Knowing everything about the mandron's case, he had been indifferent but now, he felt the mandron wasn't bad at all. As long as he had real skills who cared what species he was? He gave He Yuan a firm nod before turning away.

In another five minutes, First Lieutenant Taepher stepped out of the office and the niche A.I called out again, [[Second Lieutenant Bo, You May Now See The Commander.]]

Taephar eyed Bo Yun but the latter turned his head away and walked into the office. Taephar narrowed his eyes and looked to He Yuan. "Sergeant Major Yang."

He Yuan lazily looked over. This was the soldier who had immediately called him crazy. Tsk. He nonchalantly uttered, "Sir."

Taephar lifted his chin. Inside the Commander's office, he'd given a slightly different version of the events at the cave. He was an andronian so where would he be able to show his face if it was discovered that a MANDRON had thought up the idea that saved them back at the cave? Rather than that, he'd attributed everything to Jin Qi and told Second Lieutenant Bo to do the same.

The Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the Platoon giving the order that saved them was much more acceptable than a mandron doing so. Besides, how their Platoon Commander had ended up in that state baffled him. Something was very off about the whole situation. He slowly eyed He Yuan suspiciously as he asked, "How did Lieutenant Colonel Jin end up in that state?"

He Yuan eyed him drolly. "She got chewed on by cockroaches."

Taephar's jaws clenched impatiently. Of course the mandron would refer to them as the most basic thing he could think of. "Those creatures were not cockroaches. There are no prior record of them in the database.

-Besides, I'm not blind. I could tell what harmed her. The hole in the roof was opened in time and there was clearly enough time for both you and the Lieutenant Colonel to escape so my question referred to the events that led to the loss of the Lieutenant Colonel's limbs!"

He Yuan sighed inwardly. What was this guy's problem? 'There was clearly enough time.... blah, blah, blah,'... Says the person who had been the first to run away after criticizing the idea in the first place!

He sat up straighter, locked eyes with the Taephar and deadpanned, "The 'creatures' latched onto the leg guard of Lieutenant Colonel Jin's Tech suit, opened their mouths and made chewing motions. That was the event that led to the loss of the Lieutenant Colonel's limbs."

Taephar's nostrils flared. Just how did this ignorant fool come up with such a good idea in the first place?! It was surely accidental. He decided to get straight to the point. "The Lieutenant Colonel had risked her life to save us -especially you. We had all thought of blowing a hole through the roof. You had just coincidentally been the first to say it. Don't go claiming merits that don't belong to you."

He Yuan sneered inwardly. So this was this guy's problem in the first place? He simply said, "I'm just here to give a report, I don't get what you're going on about."

"You-"

At that moment, Second Lieutenant Bo stepped out of the office and the niche A.I called out, [[Sergeant Major Yang, you may now go in.]]

Taephar held back the words he was about to say and eyed He Yuan. There was no use stressing himself at this point. Him and Second Lieutenant Bo had already give the exact same report. If the mandron said anything different then he would only be making himself look like an ambitious fool.

The minute He Yuan stepped into the hall and saluted, Major General Serra closed her eyes and clenched her teeth in anger. When she first received the report from the rescue team, she had been skeptical. Afterall, the name Yang Xue was quite popular -especially amongst the soldiers.

Seeing that the young soldier before her was indeed the mandron, Yang Xue, she felt cold sweat break out on her forehead. If anything had happened to him during the mission, how was she going to explain to the Marshals that the mandron they had been hoping on to create a general immunity to magnetic energy from had somehow ended up on an exploration mission. AN EXPLORATION MISSION!!

She opened her eyes and gestured for He Yuan to sit. "How did you end up on this mission?"

He Yuan's brows creased. He was already aware that Jin Qi manipulated things but he couldn't let that show so he said, "I received an order from the Superiors."

Major General Serra frowned and changed the topic. "Your report."

He Yuan went straight to the point and described everything that had happened on Aer word for word. When he got to the part about Jin Qi's injury, he put on a complicated expression and delibrately kept things as simple as he could, not mentioning that she'd tried to harm him.

At the end, Major General Serra closed the recording interface and eyed He Yuan with a strange expression. The reports from the three soldiers did not tally. First Lieutenant Taepher's version was slightly different from the other two up until the moment he left the hole. As for what transpired between the mandron and Lieutenant Colonel Jin. She would have to wait until Lieutenant Colonel Jin regained consciousness and report her own side of things.

As soon as she gave the go ahead, He Yuan offered a salute and walked out of the office. Major General Serra directly sent out a communication request after.

The soldier on the receiving end saluted as soon as the request was accepted. "Ma'am."

She merely nodded with a stern frown. "Colonel Wang. Can you explain to me why the mandron, Sergeant Major Yang was assigned to this mission?"

Colonel Wang blinked in confusion. He specifically remembered Lieutenant Colonel Jin requesting for the mandron to join the mission but he had vehemently rejected her. How could the mandron have gone on the mission regardless? "Ma'a-"

"I want things investigated and reported to me by the time I arrive on Crest." Major General Serra ordered.

"Yes Ma'am!"