From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 378 The Battle of Cleves

When Amber activated the 'burst mode' on the surface of Pella IV and prepared to fight against thousands of enemies at once, Cliffs, who was commanding the Atlas Fleet and the Thirteenth Main Fleet of the Federation, was feeling his heart rate, which might have never dropped.

This is what a fleet commander does. Amber, who breaks into the atmosphere, only needs to devote himself to the battlefield, be invincible, and rack up the number of kills. But a fleet commander in space has a lot of things to consider.

Especially when there is a slightly large gap in hardware strength between your own fleet and the enemy fleet.

"The boss has landed. We have to rely on ourselves to fight from now on. Adjutant, where is the Infinity?"

"Report, we received news that they have entered the jump 2 hours ago!"

"Tsk, does that mean it will take at least another 2 hours?"

Cleves shook his head, realizing that he was in what might be the most crucial battle of his career.

The 13th Main Fleet of the Federation on the opposite side withdrew from the galaxy where the battle with the Star Dragon Empire was most intense after losing a lot of warships. During this period, it has been receiving repairs, maintenance and unit replenishment at the mooring point of Pella IV.

But at this moment, it is still a main fleet with a total of 18 ships, including 38 Kraken II-class battleships and 186 Hydra heavy cruisers.

Although his Atlas fleet had been expanding continuously for a long time and the number of fleets exceeded 200, the most fatal problem was that it did not have any battleships.

The largest ships in the fleet are 54 Griffin-class, Giant Bird-class and Revelation-class light cruisers. Apart from these, the remaining 150-odd ships are all destroyers and frigates.

The huge gap in quantity and quality, if the former Cleves saw it, this would basically be a desperate battle.

After all, in Cliffs' previous understanding, battleships, especially battleships, could be said to be the final word in fleet battles.

But now, after a lot of simulated battles with Amber, he is no longer the same Cleves as before, and has a lot of new understandings about fleet warfare.
At the same time, a good commander can quickly adjust his emotional state no matter what the circumstances, so he quickly found a novel angle to think about.

"If I win this whole thing, won't it be included in the textbooks of the Federal Naval Academy?"

"You're overthinking it. It's not the Imperial Navy you defeated."

Randall, who was Cleves' senior and had spent a lot of time in the Federal Navy, immediately poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"You know the nature of the Federation Navy. Do you think they would include a person who defeated them in their textbooks? It's good enough that they didn't make up a bunch of black history for you."

"Hahahaha, it's you as expected~"

The brief and relaxed conversation allowed Cleves to quickly adjust his mood. Then, the next second after he retracted his smile, he quickly entered a combat state.

The Atlas fleet commander looked at the three-dimensional schematic diagram in front of him. At this time, the trajectory distance between the Federation's 46000th Fleet and the Atlas Fleet was still about kilometers.

With the help of the planet's curved surface, the Atlas fleet was not hit by the enemy's long-range artillery fire during the maneuver.

But now, the Federal Fleet, which has entered combat speed and is constantly increasing its relative speed, is closing the distance between itself and the Atlas Fleet.

According to the calculations of the shipboard control personality, the enemy will enter the bombardment window in 20 minutes at most. By then, the Atlas fleet, without its battleships, will find it difficult to fight back.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Cliffs had no intention of engaging in a serious battle with the Federation. He was not a madman, and it was impossible for him to take such a small number of warships to fight against the Federation fleet with battleships and heavy cruisers.

In his mind, all he could think of was a simulated battle he had with Amber that had impressed him so much.

The situation at that time was very similar to the current one, except that Cleves was commanding a standard fleet that had just been put into battle, while Amber had only a severely damaged fleet that had lost all its capital ships. Originally, Cleves thought that with such a huge gap in strength, he should be able to win against Amber, right?
As a result, after the simulated battle ended, Cliffs' dreams for several days were filled with the scene of his flagship being blown up and the bridge being engulfed by the flames produced by the explosion.

Although it gave Cleves a "spiritual baptism" at the time, now it seems like he had just finished a set of test papers with a 99% accuracy rate before the exam.
"Attention all fleets, the current route remains unchanged, and combat speed is increased!
All combat positions enter combat status, and the ship-borne HCP squadron is ready to attack!

Plasma torpedoes are entering pre-launch preparations, setting their trajectories according to the attack paths shared by the fleet data link!"

As Cliffs' order was issued, the propulsion arrays at the stern of all the warships of the Atlas fleet lit up again, and in the torpedo launch bays arranged on both sides of the bow of the warships, new torpedoes with stealth configuration were loaded into place.

"Attention all ships, plasma torpedoes, number 8, launch!"

It does not have the gorgeous shooting effects of directed energy weapons such as heavy particle cannons, nor does it have the dazzling tail flame when an anti-ship missile is launched.

Huge and heavy plasma torpedoes were sent out from the electromagnetic track of the torpedo launch bay and rushed forward at an extremely high speed.

The matte black paint also allows them to quickly blend into the dark background of the universe, as if they had never appeared.

Looking at the icon representing the 'plasma torpedo cluster' on the three-dimensional schematic diagram moving away, and then looking at a special force that had already been deployed in the high orbit of Pella IV, Cliffs took a deep breath and issued a new order.

"All fleets, maintain course, and turn the ships 180 degrees!

After completing the axial adjustment, the ships dispersed and simultaneously launched anti-ship missiles and plasma torpedoes on their own!"

Although the captains of the Atlas fleet felt nervous when they heard Cliffs' order, they carried out the order without hesitation due to their long-term training.

The propulsion array at the stern of the battleship dimmed after completing this period of acceleration, while the attitude control nozzles arranged in various parts of the ship began to work, allowing the battleships to complete axial adjustments while continuing to maneuver.

At the same time, anti-ship missiles and plasma torpedoes were launched one after another, and their relative speed with the federal fleet began to soar in the interception state.

On the other side, on the flagship of the Federation's 13th Fleet, the Destiny, Guterres also heard the latest report from the Tactical Information Coordinator.

"General, the forward scout ship reports that it has captured the exact location of the Atlas fleet. The enemy has just completed the battle axis adjustment and launched a large number of missiles and torpedoes."

"Hmph, you finally can't hold back and open fire? To be able to hold out for so long under such pressure, it seems the enemy's fleet commander is no ordinary person either."

Guterres smiled approvingly, and the fleet operations officer beside him also smiled and said after seeing this scene:

"You seem to approve of the other fleet commander?"

"That's right. And despite such a huge gap in strength, he still dared to take the initiative to attack. This can be regarded as courageous."

"It is also possible that he overestimated his own capabilities," the fleet operations officer continued.

"Hahahaha, no matter what, since the other party has already 'unveiled the sword', we naturally have to respond properly."

Guterres waved his hand with a hint of excitement and issued combat orders.

"All fleets, deploy the arc artillery formation!"

(End of this chapter)