Him and their stars

The information received by the Fourteenth Outpost was transferred within five minutes to General Moscuo Selerius, the commander of the Lion's Den Fortress and the governor of the Extreme Frontier Military Region.

Prior to this, officers at all levels in the fortress had begun emergency preparations according to complete combat regulations. The main shield of the fortress is being activated, the gun doors have been opened, and the patrol fleet has begun to move towards the place where the gravity signal occurred. Soldiers at various observation facilities scattered in every corner of the galaxy also boarded transport boats to evacuate towards the fortress.

Most of the defenders in the fortress didn't even react yet, thinking that they had been included as part of the "Glory Mission" military exercise, and simply acted in a way that they had been trained to instinctively for countless times. Therefore, before Admiral Seleliu received the news, the entire galaxy's initial combat preparations had been completed.

Admiral Selerius, 60 years old this year, is very satisfied. He was originally an old-school soldier, so he naturally had a training-mad side. The performance of the fortress officers and soldiers today was very embarrassing to him. You know, he is not the only general in the Lion's Den Fortress now. There is also General Farrell, the commander of the red side in the "Mission of Glory" military exercise.

To be honest, the veteran is still a little bit jealous of Admiral Farrell, who is nearly ten years younger than him and is actually at the same level.

"There's a signal from Gravity Well No. 3?"

"Yes, according to the data fed back by the No. 14 deep space monitoring station, the No. 3 gravity well is indeed recovering. However, the current jump mass it carries is just over five million tons." the intelligence officer told him.

If there were only five million tons, it would be just enough for an old-fashioned Dreadnought. Before Admiral Seileliu could breathe a sigh of relief, the other party said: "However, the total mass is now steadily increasing. Although Gravity Well No. 3 is an unstable transition channel, there have been seven or eight times in history where the stable mass has exceeded 5 What a gigantic moment!”

"When was the last time?" Celerius just started, but he laughed at himself: "Well, it was that time eighteen years ago, right?"

The intelligence staff nodded, and the chief of staff said: "I have ordered the fleet in the fortress to assemble and leave the port, set up defenses outside the direction of the main gun, and have sent a report to Lieutenant General Ferosh of the Selection. However, there are still three days left. Only then can we return.”

"Five days?" The Commander raised his eyebrows.

The chief of staff quickly explained that after killing the star-devouring insect, Lieutenant General Ferosh decided to lead the fleet to conduct a warning patrol according to the scheduled fleet cruise route, which was regarded as a threat and allowed the "Glory Mission" to proceed smoothly. The tactical behavior of going down.

As the second-in-command of the Extreme Frontier Sector and the first-in-command of the fortress garrison fleet, Lieutenant General Ferosh certainly has this autonomy.

Celerius nodded. In his opinion, even if all the looters were deployed, it would be difficult to break through the Lion's Den Fortress that was armed to the teeth. Not to mention three days, even half a month can be maintained. By that time, not to mention the Selection, the support fleets from several military regions behind Jijiang will have arrived. Maybe even the imperial fleet that came from Tianyu has arrived at Luyuan Star.

"Where are gravity wells No. 1 and No. 4?" he asked again.

"There is no response at the moment and we are on alert."

"We cannot take it lightly and prepare a drone interception network."

Gravity wells No. 1 and No. 4 are stable transition channels leading to the two star systems near the galactic center. It has always been the main channel for predators to invade. However, the upper limit of the mass that these two gravity wells can carry is not high, and the enemy fleet that can jump into the local system at one time is also limited.

In this way, the unmanned array of forts and electromagnetic nets can be used to form the first line of defense, which is enough to delay the enemy fleet's advance.

To put it bluntly, the empire is very particular about the systems in which it builds its frontier fortresses. What is needed is this kind of node that can just strangle the "pass".

Admiral Selerius thought for a few seconds and then ordered: "Let the special arsenal ship carry the space soak torpedo and form a formation in front of the No. 4 gravity well."

"In actual combat on the far shore, the effect of torpedoes soaked in space does not seem to be as good as the report says." said the chief of staff.

"Then you can't let it expire, right?" Admiral Celerius twitched his lips in displeasure: "Won't antimatter materials decay if left for a long time? And it's so expensive to store them."

The officer with a technical background seemed to want to seriously discuss the difference between antimatter materials and nuclear fuel with the Commander, but the Commander had already stopped the topic and said: "Send our handling opinions to Admiral Farrell. Ask him for his opinion.”

This is due to etiquette considerations.

Fortunately, Admiral Celerius is a man of etiquette, and so is Admiral Farrell opposite. The latter said that he was only temporarily staying in the Lion's Den Fortress as a participant in the exercise, and that he could not make such nonsense about the fortress's own affairs and border defense. However, if Your Excellency Selerius really needs it, I am willing to do my best to serve as a staff officer and give you some immature suggestions.

The reason why the two generals, who are very different in age, can live in harmony in the Lion's Den Fortress is indeed closely related to the fact that they are both very particular people.

Admiral Farrell arrived at the fortress headquarters quite happily. He had just finished greeting the other party when he received a new communication. It turned out to be the spacecraft passing through Gravity Shaft No. 3.

They said that they were not plunderers, but ordinary citizens who were kidnapped by plunderers. At this time, they finally escaped from the evil den and fled to a free society.

Then, a medium-sized transport ship that had just jumped out of the gravity well channel appeared on the video.

Admiral Celerius, who was born as an old captain, quickly recognized that it was a Mensa-class medium-sized armed merchant ship. It is considered a very classic ship type, achieving a perfect balance of speed, durability, load capacity, armament and cost. It has been in use for three to four hundred years. Of course, the imperial military has used this kind of ship, but it is still very commonly used by private freight companies.

Immediately afterwards, the intelligence department had obtained the ship's information based on the hull number.

This is an armed merchant ship that disappeared during a raider attack fifty years ago. It is a transport ship belonging to the Poseidon Fleet.

At this time, the Mensa-class armed merchant ship in the image looked like a Jiu Mengzi was sailing the ship, approaching staggeringly in the direction of the fortress. However, when faced with the imperial fleet's order to stop the ship, she still extinguished her engines and closed all the gun ports. Even if the guns of a mere armed merchant ship were fully opened, it would not be able to do anything to the Imperial warship on the opposite side, but this move still showed great sincerity.

However, the damage suffered by the ship was indeed too heavy. After turning off the engine, it actually took nearly half a minute to bring the ship to a complete stop. It was obvious that the basic sensing system was almost exhausted.

The crew members on the imperial battleship looked at this miserable scene, and their sympathy suddenly arose spontaneously.

However, after the two generals in the headquarters looked at each other, they made the following judgment without blood or tears.

"Very suspicious," said the old Admiral Selerius.

"Indeed." Admiral Farrell said: "Although there are refugees escaping from the land of the predators every year, it would be too coincidental for this situation to happen again at this time."

"Let the Marines board the ship and inspect it."

"It's best to have psychics... yes, as well as quarantine and three-defence personnel."

"Quarantine? Well, is it a human bomb or the source of the disease? You really need to be careful." Although Admiral Selerius felt that the "nomadic barbarians" of the predators should not have such technical means, it was still better to be careful.

"Check everyone's list, and then put them on a nearby planet for isolation inspection." He ordered.

He is not an idiot, how could he really let such an unknown ship enter the fortress? It was impossible even to determine the identity of the ship and its members.

Another hour later, the transport ship riddled with holes continued to set sail under the "escort" of the imperial warship, and its target was the desert planet in this galaxy. In addition to a small city dedicated to serving local officers and soldiers on that planet, there are also several temporary camps prepared for this situation.

Less than an hour later, the headquarters received the identity information of all the refugees. The oldest was 425 years old, and the youngest was even an infant. The extremely efficient imperial army immediately contacted the internal affairs department, and it only took half an hour to complete the identification.

Indeed, except for some children born in the slave labor camps of the Galactic Center, all of them are citizens of various countries who have disappeared during the years of predatory invasions.

They were led by an Imperial Army major named Van Laken in their escape.

The identity of the Imperial Army Major has also been proven. During the Reaver invasion eighteen years ago, he was the captain of a destroyer and was lost in the fleet battle. I originally thought that it sank with the battleship, but I didn't expect that I became a prisoner of the looters.

Of course, although the Tirero people are a warlike nation full of martial virtue, they do not have the idea that "being a prisoner is a shame." An old officer who had been living in the enemy's camp for eighteen years finally found the opportunity to escape from the devil's cave and rescued a group of refugees. This is a proper heroic epic. It can definitely be hyped up.

In short, the Imperial Army officers and soldiers were all in awe as they looked at Major Laken, who was exhausted and covered in blood but still energetic. Seeing the refugees on the ship who lacked food and clothing, many of whom were old people and children, the knightly Imperial soldiers were very moved, but they still refused without hesitation to let the ship approach the fortress and asked the military doctor on the fortress to check Everyone’s physical requirements.

"Please just stay in the holding camp for a short time. Don't worry, it is fully equipped with warm rooms, clean beds and unlimited supply of hot water. The food, water and medicine you need have also been delivered, and military doctors will give them as soon as possible." Dear doctors,” the leading officer said to Major Laken.

Major Laken was helpless, but he also knew that this was indeed a necessary procedure for the Imperial Army. He immediately expressed the hope that he could meet with the Commander to report important information.

"Important information?" The officer on the opposite side retracted his sympathetic expression, looked at the other side suspiciously, and then led his major to a hidden place, and then dialed the headquarters' communication.

The figure of Admiral Selerius suddenly appeared on the holographic projection.

"This is only me and the members of the headquarters. You can tell us your important information." The admiral said.

Major Laken originally hoped to meet the commander, but after thinking about it carefully, this request was indeed impossible, so he seriously told the other party that the internal conflicts among the major predator tribes in the Galactic Center were over, and the new big Khan has been born.

"Great Khan?" Admiral Selerius was startled for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "I understand, thank you for your hard work. Major, the empire will not forget your achievements. Now, go and have a good rest."

In this way, the sudden opening of Gravity Well No. 3 and the ensuing invasion warning ended.

The good news is that what invaded this system was not an army of predators, but just a fleeing refugee ship. More than 4,000 refugees on the ship were immediately placed in reception camps on the planet's surface, and all received proper care. Imperial soldiers wearing protective clothing also landed here and began to conduct necessary protective inspections.

The bad news is that this so-called Great Khan.

"How many years has it been since the Predator Group in the Silver Heart saw this Great Khan?" Celerius frowned and muttered to himself.

"It's been nearly two hundred years. The last Great Khan was the leader of the Myshandar troll clan, and he took advantage of the Fifth Galactic War to launch an invasion. Of course, it was also the battle that made His Majesty famous." Farrell As the admiral spoke, he arched his hands in the direction of Tianyu.

To put it bluntly, the reason why Emperor Eliasel was able to win the final victory in the election of emperors in one fell swoop was of course inseparable from the fact that he personally took the head of the Great Khan.

Although the galactic nations cannot extend their territory and rule to the center of the galaxy, they have actually dealt with those outlaws who live in the only "civilized restricted area" in the entire galaxy, and they still have a certain understanding of their basic status. of.

The Predators are not a single civilized race, but a loose alliance of dozens of groups composed of countless groups that have lost their foothold in the galaxy. The leader of each unified group is called a khan, and the leader of the khans is the Great Khan, which is quite a bit like the mafia.

Of course, these groups are composed of outlaws of various ethnic groups, but there are still so-called "subject ethnic groups" within them, which are also the foundation used by the khans to consolidate their rights.

The Ero people, the Meshandar people, the White Demon people, these were the losers in the struggle for hegemony of civilizations that had been completely annexed by the empire and the alliance, and there were even the Falfur dragons and thunder giants who were said to have been exterminated, etc.

If you want to survive in the center of the world, you will naturally develop strong folk customs and strong fighting qualities. However, after all, the predators are only an organizational level close to nomadic tribes and underworld, although their plunder can always cause harm to civilized countries. The damage is just that.

However, in the history of the Empire and the Alliance, there is no shortage of glorious battles that pushed counterattacks into the center of the galaxy and paved their reputations with the bones of predators. If it weren't for the fact that the star system near the center of the Milky Way had such a harsh environment and poor resources that it was impossible to uproot them, these outlaws would have been completely turned into historical nouns.

There are even rumors circulating that the reason why the Empire and the Alliance did not completely eliminate the predators was to retain such a "strange spot" for the military to use to improve their records.

Of course, this is how large and small military-industrial complex companies make money. This is another topic.

However, if there is only one great khan in the Silver Heart who can force all families to obey orders and coordinate all the resources and troops of the plunderers, then it is another matter.

Yu Lian's hometown actually has a say in this regard. Throughout the dynasties, the Central Plains dynasties were never afraid of nomads, but what they were afraid of was the sudden emergence of nomads led by fierce men from the sky.

"Whether it is true or a rumor, we must not take it lightly." Admiral Celerius said: "It needs to be reported to the Privy Council and the Grand Marshal's Palace immediately."

Admiral Farrell also sighed: "This happened again here, and I don't know if the exercise can continue. In the past two years, everything has been going wrong in the empire."

According to the original plan, Admiral Farrell will set off tomorrow and lead the last fleet of the red side to join the exercise front. He originally wanted to perform well in this exercise and set an example for the young generals of the "post-war generation" of the same age, but he did not expect so many situations to arise.

For an actor who has been preparing for today's performance for a long time, isn't the most annoying thing about these uninvited guests who disrupt the order of the stage?

"Of course it should continue." Admiral Celerius consoled him: "The mission of glory is to deter evil. Aren't the predators in the opposite galaxy one of them? There are hundreds of people concentrated in the star area behind us. Ten thousand troops and more than 3,000 warships. Even if those nomadic barbarians really have the so-called Great Khan, is it possible that they would choose this time to launch an invasion?"

Indeed, the current Jijiang Star Region is definitely crowded with armies. As long as the newly elected Great Khan is not an idiot who has lost his mind, he will never make a mistake during this period.