Vincent's words were filled with grief: "Commander, I didn't expect you to fall!"
The next one is: "Can you introduce me? If you can do it, so can I!"
Lu Fenghan gave one word without hesitation: "Get lost."
Vincent rolled away.
The personal terminal goes off.
Lu Fenghan leaned against the cold metal wall, not wanting to wake Qi Yan, so he didn't move. The noise of the fortress's machinery running all the time actually calmed his mind.
Judging from Weiss's actions, the leak of the jump coordinates was most likely related to him, and Dyson's death should also be related to him.
But Weiss alone would not be able to take the position of acting commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, and those who surfaced on the transfer list only made up a small part of his accomplices - the person behind him was still hiding in the dark, without revealing any trace.
What purpose did that person want to achieve by weakening the expeditionary force and causing the death of Lu Fenghan
Lu Fenghan habitually reached for a cigarette, but his fingers suddenly stopped moving. Regardless of whether he had cigarettes or not, even if he did, if he really smoked in front of Qi Yan, the little spoiled brat would definitely frown and comment with disdain, "It's stuffy and stinking."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something passing slowly outside the window. Lu Fenghan habitually looked carefully and found that it was a miniature transport ship, coming from afar, like an inconspicuous low-flying bird. Judging from the distance, it had already entered the fishing range of the Fontaine No. 1.
Lu Fenghan took it to heart.
This miniature transport ship is called "Mountain Eagle IV", which has high speed, high concealment, superior performance, and its biggest feature is its top-notch protection level. In other words, it can't accommodate many people, but once people sit in it, it is difficult to be killed by the muzzle of the gun.
Is there some important person coming to Fontaine One
After thinking about all this, Lu Fenghan laughed at himself again. He was destined to be a hard worker. There was obviously something he really needed to do right now, but it was only one thing - to protect the person who was resting his head on his lap.
Qi Yan slept for four hours. In space, people have a weak sense of time and there are no other reference points. The only thing he can rely on is the time displayed on his personal terminal.
"I slept that long?"
Hearing Qi Yan's voice was a little hoarse, Lu Fenghan took the cup of water. Seeing that he was still a little unconscious, he simply opened the lid of the cup and fed it to his mouth.
Qi Yan instinctively moved closer and took a few sips.
After feeding, Lu Fenghan put away the water cup: "You haven't slept for long, do you want to go out and move around? You lie down for too long, it's easy to feel uncomfortable."
Qi Yan seemed to be reminded. He moved his neck towards Lu Fenghan's hand and said, "Pinch it."
However, Qi Yan soon felt that the hand on his neck had calluses, which made his skin itchy. He endured it and said nothing.
Lu Fenghan also discovered that after he pinched her twice, Qi Yan trembled slightly.
He clearly didn't use much force. "Did it hurt?"
Qi Yan lowered his thin eyelids and didn't look at anyone: "No, it's just... itchy."
Lu Fenghan chuckled and thought, really sensitive.
Five minutes later, Qi Yan got up, opened the door, and walked back the way he came, while asking Ye Pei where they were.
Walking through the long and straight corridor, Lu Fenghan looked out through the glass wall. One of the twin moons that usually hung in the Leto sky was now close enough to clearly see its bumpy curved surface from the position of Fontaine No. 1.
Lu Fenghan stopped in his tracks due to a certain intuition he had developed over the years. He asked Qi Yan casually, "Are we next to Yue Er now?"
Qi Yan had read the information about Fontaine 1 once, and remembered it clearly: "Moon 1 and Moon 2 both revolve around the capital star. Every once in a while, Moon 2 will revolve between Fontaine 1 and Leto, and the three will be in a straight line."
Lu Fenghan understood: "In other words, now Yue Er is standing between Fontaine No. 1 and Leto?"
"Yes." Qi Yan didn't know why Lu Fenghan suddenly asked this. On his personal terminal, he received a reply from Ye Pei, saying that the three of them were now in the place where they had just disbanded.
After saying "We'll be there soon", Qi Yan was about to continue walking forward when he suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked towards a certain place inquiringly and pointed to the dark area to Lu Fenghan: "There, when I saw it just now, there were only five bright spots in that area, but now there are seven."
Lu Fenghan didn't know what he was thinking of. He looked at him sternly and asked, "Are you sure?"
At this moment, Qi Yan was a little unsure whether his memory of the five bright spots was real or fabricated.
Lu Fenghan saw what he was worried about at a glance: "You did look in that direction just now."
Not sure if it was because of Lu Fenghan's words, Qi Yan no longer doubted his own judgment: "I'm sure there are two more bright spots."
Lu Fenghan had a bad guess based on the Eagle IV micro-transport ship he had just seen and the current location of the Fontaine I. He subconsciously tried to comfort Qi Yan first: "Maybe something will happen. Follow me closely. I'll protect you. Don't be afraid."
Qi Yan was about to nod when suddenly, the starship under his feet shook violently, as if the ship had hit a reef, and he almost lost his balance!
The next second, the yellow light above my head flashed, and the electronic voice began to broadcast in a loop: "Alert - Alert - Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Start level 2 combat preparation..."
On Fontaine 1, almost everyone was at a loss.
It has been nearly half a century since Fontaine One was built. The only time the system sounded an alarm was because the kitchen staff operated the stove improperly and triggered the alarm system.
Just as Lin Jia said, Fontaine 1 is more often used as a scientific research monitoring platform and space experiment site.
As for the muzzle? No one would notice if it rusted.
So in the next minute, three different orders were issued by three people on the communication channels and broadcasts of the entire fortress: one required a quick search of the interior of the fortress; one required everyone to stay on standby and not to panic; and the last one required all non-combat personnel to find cover nearby, combat personnel to report to their posts immediately, and the control room to report the radar detection situation.
Unfortunately, before anyone took action, the second shock began.
At the same time, the light flashing above his head had turned red, which was extremely dazzling, and the combat readiness reminder was upgraded to level one.
This is the judgment made by the fortress's defense system.
Immediately, the third person who had issued the order shouted on the fortress-wide channel and broadcast: "Enemy attack confirmed! It's space pirates!"
Interstellar pirates roamed around the Alliance, making a living by robbing transport ships. More than 20 years ago, Admiral Lu Jun of the Alliance led his fleet in guerrilla warfare, beating the interstellar pirates to pieces. The pirates lived in a corner of the Alliance border, lingering on, and dared not easily appear under the eyes of the Alliance military.
Even Lu Fenghan was not familiar with the name "interstellar pirates", let alone those who had lived in Leto for many years.
Therefore, instead of attracting everyone's attention, the cry of "interstellar pirate" made many people even more confused.
Something is wrong.
At this moment, Lu Fenghan felt the corner of his clothes being gently pulled twice.
He looked at Qi Yan, "What's wrong, are you scared?"
He had long been accustomed to this kind of life of being on the alert at all times, and habitually began to concentrate on analyzing the situation, forgetting to pray for comfort.
Qi Yan shook his head to show that he was not afraid, and said, "There is a decommissioned military long-distance jump point near Fontaine One. The Alliance originally decided to locate Fontaine One here, partly for safety reasons."
Lu Fenghan's pupils shrank slightly, and he asked quickly: "Where does this jump point connect to?"
Prayer: "Connect the border between Leto and the Southern Cross Region."
At the same time, a quarrel was going on in the control room of Fontaine No. 1.
"Huo Yan, before you are completely sure, you informed the entire fortress that it was an enemy attack, not to mention interstellar pirates? What a joke! Interstellar pirates have been extinct for 20 years! More importantly, where are we? This is the central administrative district, within the scope of Leto! Tell me, how did the interstellar pirates get here?"
The man called Huo Yan's face was tense. "Just because they haven't appeared for 20 years doesn't mean that interstellar pirates don't exist! Just because we don't know how they got here doesn't mean they can't get here! Now the other side has fired a second shot at you, and you're still telling me that you need to confirm first before reporting? Do you think the enemy will put up a banner saying 'I am an interstellar pirate'?"
Seeing that the person on the other side wanted to say something, Huo Yan slammed the table and said, "Administration is your responsibility, and defense is mine. If you have any objections, you can complain when you get the order to return to Leto!"
Then he pressed the button, notifying the entire fortress of the enemy attack, requiring everyone to take cover on the spot and all combat-related personnel to wait for orders on duty. Then he turned and left, striding towards the defense command room.
At the same time, Lu Fenghan searched his mind and finally remembered that his previous captain of the destroyer fleet, Huo Yan, was transferred from the expeditionary force and returned to Leto, and his place of work was Fontaine No. 1.
After selecting channel encryption, Lu Fenghan turned to Qi Yan before dialing Huo Yan's personal terminal number.
The red light of the alarm reflected on his face, like the setting sun falling on a snowy field, and even made Qi Yan's cold facial features look more gorgeous.
Without waiting for Lu Fenghan to speak, Qi Yan put on the noise-isolating earplugs that Lu Fenghan had given him before.
After putting it on, he pointed to his ears and said, "I can't hear."
Lu Fenghan clicked “Connect Communication”.
The call was connected after two attempts. Huo Yan was in a mess and was very impatient: "Who?"
Lu Fenghan immediately replied: "Your father."
After walking out of the control room, Huo Yan was already furious, and now he was ready to hang up this boring call after cursing: "I am you—"
In the middle of cursing, his steps suddenly stopped and his eyes suddenly widened. He was not even paying attention to the force and his heel landed with too much force, causing numbness and pain to shoot up from his Achilles tendon.
"Point, point—"
"Did you recognize your father?"
This was before, when they were on the front line in the Southern Cross Region. Huo Yan believed that his ability to fly a destroyer ship was unmatched, so he had to challenge Lu Fenghan to a competition. The stakes were high, and whoever lost would call him dad.
Lu Fenghan didn't think there was anything wrong with using Lu Jun's name as a bet, so he agreed directly. The two of them drove the destroyer through the asteroid belt at the same time, and in the end, Lu Fenghan naturally won.
At that time, Lu Fenghan thought that he was quite capable, as he had found a grandson for his father at such a young age, before he was even 30.
"There's a ghost—"
The eardrum hurt, and Lu Fenghan's eyebrows jumped: "Shut up!"
Huo Yan was a grown man, his eyes were red, he almost cried, and he said in a hoarse voice: "I shut up. Are you really not a ghost?"
Lu Fenghan was too lazy to deal with such a stupid question, and explained the situation in a few words: "There is a deactivated military jump point next to Fontaine No. 1, connecting Leto and the Southern Cross Region. The two starships that just arrived are not from interstellar pirates, but from the rebels."
Without waiting for the other party to react, he went straight to the point: "Who was the person sent up by the Mountain Eagle?"
Unlike the others on the Fontaine 1, Huo Yan had been on the front line for several years. The destroyer fleet he was in charge of was considered a small forward. After a few words, he understood the seriousness of the situation and became alert. “It was a scientist from ‘over there’. At the request of the Alliance, he brought the source architecture of the military starship central control system. Their destination is Leto, and they are temporarily resupplying at the fortress.”
Lu Fenghan frowned: "Is it Y who is coming?"
"Not Y himself."
"That's good," Lu Fenghan confirmed, "The rebels are here for this, we must not let them succeed."
Huo Yan couldn't help but curse: "I only knew about this because I was in charge of the defense of Fontaine One. Which idiot leaked the news?"
Lu Fenghan, on the contrary, remained calm - the acting commander-in-chief at the front line was having an affair with the rebels. If he was really angry, he would have bled from all seven orifices long ago.
"Capital Star Defense System—"
Lu Fenghan interrupted him unceremoniously: "We are right behind Yue Er. The detection alarm system will be disturbed by Yue Er. Unless we bomb the entire planet Yue Er, the defense system's artillery will not be able to reach here."
Huo Yan immediately realized that all this was planned in advance by the rebels! He subconsciously asked Lu Fenghan in the communication as before: "Commander, what should we do?"
Lu Fenghan's eyes were cold and hard, his profile was like mountains after rain, fearless and resolute, but his lips had his usual casual smile: "Soldiers will never ask this question."
At this moment, Huo Yan suddenly calmed down from his clueless panic and completed the words that Lu Fenghan had taught him: "Pick up your weapons and protect the stars behind you!"
For this attack, the rebels dispatched a total of two starships, both of which were small in size and highly maneuverable. With three high-sensitivity cannons, they accurately destroyed the protection system of Fontaine 1.
Without the protection system, if there is another shot, all we can do is watch the armor being broken.
Huo Yan did not let Leto's pampered life dull his sword tip. After getting into the state, he imitated Lu Fenghan's arrogance and directly seized control of the entire fortress. Then he quickly deployed defenses and sent out four destroyers to meet the enemy. Immediately afterwards, he raised the only remaining artillery and would never allow the enemy starships to enter the range of thirty shots.
For a moment, everyone in the fortress held their breath and waited. Outside the fortress, Fontaine No. 1's reaction was slow, but it was not too late.
Lu Fenghan could not see the specific situation through the glass wall. He could only understand the situation based on the various reports and combat requests from Huo Yan.
A three-dimensional star map appeared before his eyes, and both sides were already on the sand table in his mind.
But…
Something is wrong.
For someone like Lu Fenghan who has fought hundreds of times on battlefields of all sizes, many times, what can save his life on the battlefield is not strategy but feeling.
He did not interrupt Huo Yan's arrangement rashly, but tried his best to grasp the point in his mind -
Yes!
He suddenly straightened his back and ordered Huo Yan in the communication: "Give me the view behind the fortress!"
One second, two seconds, three seconds, no response.
Lu Fenghan looked again and found that the communication had been interrupted. It was very likely that the signal facilities were cut off by a cannon.
Just as Lu Fenghan was about to take Qi Yan away, his clothes were pulled again.
Lu Fenghan lowered his eyes.
Qi Yan asked, "You want to see the view behind the fortress?"
Lu Fenghan’s first reaction was to look at Qi Yan’s ears—the noise-canceling earplugs were still plugged in.
"Can you hear me?"
Qi Yan shook his head and pointed at his earplugs: "I can't hear you."
His eyes fell on Lu Fenghan's lips, "But I can read lips."
Lu Fenghan: “…”
Qi Yan asked again: "Do you want to see the view behind the fortress?"
Lu Fenghan then answered: "Yes."
Qi Yan nodded: "Then I'll show you."
The tone was normal and casual, as if one were picking a flower from the roadside.
But Lu Fenghan knew that the fortress's overall control system must be extremely strict and was not at the same level as the Turan intranet.
Qi Yan took off his earplugs and ignored him. Instead, he opened his personal terminal, projected the screen into the air, called up the virtual keyboard, and began to input character commands with one hand.
Lu Fenghan couldn’t understand it, he only knew that Qi Yan’s input was extremely smooth and fast. The interface was constantly refreshing page by page, and the densely packed characters were dazzling.
When Qi Yan stopped, the projection screen showed the surveillance footage behind the fortress. There was nothing in the picture, and it was as still as if the picture was frozen.
Lu Fenghan was extremely patient. He observed every corner carefully, as if looking for prey hiding in the grass.
Two minutes later, a starship gradually approached the fortress from the darkness like a floating leaf.
Qi Yan also saw it and asked, "What is that?"
"A miniature ship, capable of carrying bombs powerful enough to blast through the fortress' armor."
Lu Fenghan crossed his arms and tapped his fingers, "The protection system has been blown up by three highly sensitive bombs. It has been hiding in the dark, looking for an opportunity to take advantage of the fact that all the forces of the fortress are attracted by the battle ahead, savagely blast open the fortress's armor, and come directly in from the fishing cabin that is most easily overlooked.
The fortress is mostly populated by civilians with no weapons. Once they come in, they just shoot indiscriminately until they find the target person.”
Qi Yan did not seem nervous, and did not seem to be afraid of death at all. He only asked Lu Fenghan: "Then what should we do?"
"Of course, we'll blow it to ashes with one shot." At this moment, Lu Fenghan was like a famous sword in Kaifeng, with a sharp blade. "You can connect to the surveillance and operate the turret, right?"
“Yes.” Qi Yan did not say “I’ll try”, but directly opened another interface and displayed the turret configurations of the entire fortress.
"Very good." Lu Fenghan looked at the configuration diagram and found the turret covering the area where the miniature ship was located. "Connect to turret number G11-3-25."
Qi Yan selected and transferred the control of the turret from the operating console in the main control room to his own personal terminal.
A square button appears on the virtual keyboard.
Lu Fenghan stood behind Qi Yan, his chest half touching Qi Yan's shoulder blades. He raised his hand to cover the back of Qi Yan's hand, grasping his hand in his own palm, and his lips close to the tip of Qi Yan's delicate white ear.
The two hands overlapped, one rough and the other fair, and they both hovered above the square button.
Lu Fenghan guided Qi Yan and slowly adjusted the direction of the muzzle with his fingertips.
At the same time, from the dark gray bottom of the Fontaine No. 1 Fortress, the pitch-black muzzle quietly protruded and gradually aimed at the prey.
Inside the fortress, Lu Fenghan stopped holding Qi Yan's hand. He said softly, "Come, Qi Yan, let me show you the fireworks."
The moment the words fell, the two men pressed the launch button with their overlapping hands at the same time, and the shells shot out!
Silent.
Fireworks exploded brilliantly in the dark and boundless universe!