From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 627: Admiral = mascot?
To outsiders, the rank of Federal Navy Admiral is actually a relatively embarrassing military rank.

As the pinnacle of naval officers in the traditional sense, being able to be promoted to this rank during one's lifetime should be the dream of all federal naval officers.

But in fact, most naval officers only set their "life goal" at vice admiral, a rank that allows them to command a main naval fleet.

In their view, even if they were promoted to the rank of admiral, the improvement in their actual power and prestige in the army would be very limited. After all, at the top of the entire Federal Navy, there is still the "big Buddha" Marshal Trafalgar.

As long as he is still in the army, no matter how many stars these generals have on their shoulders, it will not mean much. No matter how awesome you are, can you be more awesome than this old marshal who has worked in the navy for decades?
What's more, after being promoted to the rank of admiral, one will generally be separated from the front-line combat command and transferred to the rear to begin coordinating the training and construction of the entire navy, basically turning into a civilian position. For those naval officers who are eager to personally command the fleet and roam the starry sea, this can only be regarded as a loss.

Therefore, compared to the large number of officers in the Federal Army who have achieved the rank of general by relying on their seniority, the number of admirals promoted to the rank in the Navy over the years can be said to be very small, and most of them have reached an age that is no longer suitable for fleet command, and have to retreat to the second line after being promoted to admiral.
This is also one of the reasons why naval generals have always looked down on those "army peasants".

It can be said that the rank promotion and internal atmosphere of the entire Federal Navy have always seemed somewhat abstract under the influence of Marshal Trafalgar's prestige.

As for Admiral Carol, the only one in the Federal Navy who remained in the fleet command position after being promoted to admiral, he was an even more embarrassing existence in the eyes of other senior naval generals.

On the surface, the First Fleet of the Federal Navy under his command is the essence of the entire Federal Navy, the elite among the elite, and the one with the most comprehensive combat capability among all the main fleets of the Federation that can crush other fleets.

Especially after the battle with the Star Dragon Empire, heroic captains, ace pilots, and combat heroes, which were relatively rare in other main fleets, were now plentiful in the First Fleet.
It seems that being the commander of the First Fleet of the Federal Navy is indeed a good thing.

But the bad thing is that the First Fleet is also Marshal Trafalgar's "direct fleet". Whenever the First Fleet needs to be dispatched for battle, the old marshal will definitely be in charge of the fleet.

Although on the surface, only the flagship of the First Fleet, the 'Dreadnought', was used as the Admiral's flagship, but in fact everyone knew what kind of personality and temper this old Admiral had.

Rather than commanding the fleet to fight under his nose, it would be better to let the old marshal do it himself - at least he would not be scolded in front of everyone on the bridge because of command errors.

Therefore, the generals within the Federal Navy had no envy for Admiral Carol, only sympathy.

However, the person concerned did not care about these things at all. Others thought that he was too close to Marshal Trafalgar and was completely overshadowed by his own glory, but Admiral Carroll himself thought that.
He wasn't close enough to this 'God of War'.
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MX/44219/M/AE sector, Lisidios system, Federation theoretical territory.

At the last moment before the door of the bridge of the "Dreadnought" was opened, Carol raised his hand to adjust the collar of his military uniform, ensuring that his appearance would not be found fault with by the famously strict admiral.

As the door opened with the sound of airlock depressurization, a special smell mixed with body odor intensified by adrenaline, the unique "stink" of electronic equipment, and recycled oxygen came towards him and quickly filled every space in Carol's nasal cavity.

However, for Admiral Carol, or the entire Federal Navy, they are already very familiar with the special smell inside this warship.

This is why most warship commanders will turn off the "air cleaning" function in the ship first after entering the battle, and invest the little energy saved into more important subsystems. Anyway, no one except the recruits will be unaccustomed to the smell, not to mention that they have to wear cabin clothes after entering the battle.
At this moment, everyone in the bridge is busy at their workstations, and the vast starry sky is visible in front of and above the bridge. The "panoramic porthole" of the bridge, which is composed of a whole hemispherical screen, will make anyone who steps on the bridge for the first time feel that they are surrounded by the entire universe, but for Carol, this scene has long become his daily routine.

So at this moment, the admiral did not stop for even a second in front of this magnificent scene, but strode directly to the center of the bridge.

Unlike the bridges of other warships, the bridge of the Federation Navy's First Fleet flagship, the 'Dreadnought', has two multifunctional command chairs arranged side by side in the middle area used to accommodate the captain's seat.

One of them belonged to Admiral Carroll, the fleet commander and captain of the "Dreadnought", and the person sitting on the other command chair was naturally Marshal Trafalgar.

"There you are, Carol."

Trafalgar glanced in the direction where Carol was coming, and then his eyes returned to the huge holographic projection platform in front of him, which displayed a huge star map and the general situation of the enemy fleet in the galaxy.

"Marshal, the three fleets have completed all inspections and are ready to enter combat at any time."

Admiral Carroll hesitated for a moment, then continued:

"But do we really have to fight the rebels here? According to the current intelligence, the rebels have gathered at least more than six standard fleets. Although most of them are warships from the garrison fleet and the security fleet, their number is indeed twice that of ours."

Marshal Trafalgar did not directly answer Admiral Carroll's question, but asked in return: "So how do you think we should deal with it next, Carroll?"

"Yes, Marshal. This is what I think."

Admiral Carroll saluted Trafalgar, then sat in his command seat and skillfully operated the huge holographic projection platform.

Soon, the star map in front of the command desk began to zoom in and show the full picture of the Lisidius galaxy and several nearby galaxies. Then a large number of arrows and symbols were added. Under Admiral Carol's description, the entire star map became a battle plan diagram.

Trafalgar, who was sitting next to Admiral Carol, looked at the battle plan diagram that was as accurate and clear as a textbook, and couldn't help but smile with approval.

"Carol, your illustration work is still so good. I remember that when you graduated from the Naval Academy, your illustration work test score broke the academy record, and it seems that it has not been broken until now?"

(End of this chapter)