The news from Outpost Fourteen reached General Mescu Seleriu, commander of Lion's Den Fortress and governor of the Extreme Frontier Military District, within five minutes.
Even before that, officers at every level of the fortress had begun emergency preparations in accordance with the comprehensive combat regulations. The fortress's main shields were powering up, its gun ports were opening, and the patrol fleet was heading toward the source of the gravity signal. Soldiers stationed at various observation facilities scattered across the star system were also boarding shuttles to evacuate toward the fortress.
Most of the fortress's defenders hadn't even realized what was happening. Thinking they'd been included in the "Glorious Mission" military exercise, they simply followed procedures they'd drilled so many times they'd become instinctive. As a result, the star system's initial combat preparations were complete before General Seleriu even received the news.
General Seleriu, who was sixty that year, was very pleased. He was an old-school soldier, after all, and naturally had a drill sergeant's streak in him. The fortress personnel had done him proud today. After all, he wasn't the only general at Lion's Den Fortress. General Farrell, commander of the red team in the "Glorious Mission" exercise, was there too.
To be honest, the old general felt just a little envious of General Farrell, who was nearly ten years younger and yet already his equal in rank.
"Signal detected at Gravity Well Three?"
"Yes. According to data from Deep Space Monitoring Station Fourteen, Gravity Well Three is indeed recovering. However, its current jump capacity has only just exceeded five million tons," the intelligence officer reported.
Five million tons was just enough for an old dreadnought. General Seleriu hadn't even had time to breathe a sigh of relief before the officer continued, "However, the total mass it can support