From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 628 Marshal Trafalgar's Concerns

Admiral Carol was stunned for a moment when he heard Marshal Trafalgar's sudden question. Then he continued to operate and answered:

"Yes, Marshal. It seems that the record was indeed broken that year, but I don't know if anyone else broke it later. After all, it was just a test score for an assignment on a graph, and it's not that worthy of attention."

"I don't think so," Marshal Trafalgar shook his head. "No matter what time it is, the ability to work on a map is a skill that a qualified naval commander must master and even achieve to the extreme."

It seemed that this topic had aroused the interest of the Admiral, so he, who usually did not talk much before the battle, continued to speak:
"I know that young commanders nowadays pay less and less attention to these basic subjects. Most of them rely more on letting the shipboard control personality to 'draw a map with one click', and then modify it according to their own experience, and finally form a combat diagram."

Marshal Trafalgar's fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest of the command seat, and his next words were also tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"I know that the younger generation often says 'technology changes life', and I agree with this view. I also know that after the shipborne auxiliary personality is becoming more and more perfect, it is indeed a great help for the captain and fleet commander. It can save a lot of tedious work in post-war summaries and combat process archiving. But the problem is that more and more naval officers now let the shipborne control personality plan the combat plan, and they just make a few minor modifications. So, are such plans made by humans or AI?"

It seemed that he realized that it was inappropriate to say these things before the war, so after satisfying his "urge to talk", Marshal Trafalgar stopped talking in time: "Hahaha, Carol, just think of it as listening to a few complaints from an old man like me~"

"Marshal, no one dares to call you an 'old man'." Admiral Carroll smiled and pointed to the battle plan diagram in front of him. "The plan is ready. Please look at it while I tell you."

"Well, let's get started."

Marshal Trafalgar nodded and clicked on the control panel on the armrest of the command seat. Carol immediately felt a kind of oppressive force in the air around him - that was the effect of the activation of the shielding force field.

In the eyes of the others on the bridge, the huge projected image in the center suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a huge "red cross", which also meant that the next words between the two were not intended to be known to others.

Soon, Admiral Carroll explained his operational concept to Trafalgar.

His general plan was actually very simple in summary, which was not to engage the enemy when he was at a numerical disadvantage, but to use several surrounding galaxies to distract the rebel fleet. Because according to information from the Naval Intelligence Department, these galaxies were also the base camps of some rebels, so once the federal fleet showed signs of launching an attack in these galaxies, the enemy would have to return to defend.

In Carol's opinion, the rebel fleet in front of him was not well organized, had never conducted joint operations before, and had poor tactical coordination. In addition, they also had their own agenda in order to preserve their strength.
Once the Federal Navy starts to pull the strings, the rebel fleet will definitely become disconnected for various reasons, and the Federal Fleet will seize the opportunity of the enemy's division and attack them separately.

“Marshal, I know very well that with the combat capabilities of our three fleets, even if we immediately engage in a head-on battle with the rebels, we will never be at a disadvantage, and will undoubtedly achieve the final victory.

However, in such a head-on battle, we will inevitably suffer certain casualties. If the enemy is divided into several forces and we defeat them one by one, the losses suffered by the fleet will definitely be much smaller.

If we look at it from a macro perspective, there are still many problems within the Federation, which has caused the current fleet replenishment speed to be far lower than normal. In addition, there are more than one rebel group in the entire Federation that we need to eliminate, so we still need to be more 'calculated' at present. "

In front of Marshal Trafalgar, Admiral Carroll spoke his mind without reservation like a modest student, and at the end he said jokingly:

"If possible, I would even like to kill these rebels in front of me without any injuries~"

"You have considered it very carefully, Carol." Marshal Trafalgar said slowly, "Under normal circumstances, I would make the same choice as you."

Admiral Carroll's expression did not change when he heard this, because he knew very well that this actually meant that the old marshal did not agree with his battle plan. The latter did not let him wait too long, and continued in a slow but serious tone:

"You have considered the current situation of the Federation, the current situation of the Navy, and the fact that we need time. But what we lack most now is time, not warships."

Marshal Trafalgar took over the control of the holographic projection platform and operated it skillfully. Soon, the huge star map in front of the two began to zoom and move again, and finally came to a "no man's land" on the border of the Federation, and finally enlarged the picture to an asteroid belt.

In the center of the picture is a huge asteroid, and next to it is an annotation of this line of text.

[A·Bawa·Ku Asteroid Fortress, Atlas Group]
"Carol, you forgot about it."

"You mean the Atlas Group?"

"Yes, if you have recently checked all the intelligence and information related to this giant company, you will find that it has become the biggest threat to the Federation. And don't forget how many of our colleagues died under the gunfire of the Atlas Group warships."

At this point, even Marshal Trafalgar could not control himself. He tightly grasped the armrest of the command seat with his hands, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.

You know, during the battle between the Federal Navy and the Star Dragon Empire Royal Navy, although both sides suffered heavy losses, they still did a relatively good job in protecting senior generals, and in most emergency situations, generals would be given priority to evacuate.

Although two deep space fleet commanders were lost in the early stages of the war, and a large number of garrison fleet generals were also killed, these fleets were all "local fleets" after all, and could not be considered "direct lineage" of the navy.

Among the senior commanders of the Federation Navy's main fleet, only two were killed directly on the battlefield, and one of them even killed an Imperial Duke later.

However, in several head-on confrontations with the Atlas Group, the Federal Navy lost more than one general.

There were four major generals who died directly on the battlefield, and a captured lieutenant general was sent back, but he was directly traumatized by the defeat and was eventually dismissed because he could no longer serve as fleet commander.

There is even a major general who has already joined the Atlas Group. Although Marshal Trafalgar is well aware that the main reason is that the federal government and the military-industrial complex at the time were inhumane, he still attributes it to the Atlas Group.

Not to mention, in these several battles, the participating federal fleets suffered heavy losses, and some fleets were even annihilated as a whole.
Therefore, in the mind of Marshal Trafalgar, the Atlas Group had already risen to the level of a "major concern". After the formal establishment of the provisional military government and taking power in his hands, the naval marshal wanted to resolve this threat as soon as possible.

"Carol, we must quell this chaos within the Federation in the shortest possible time, and then concentrate all our efforts to destroy the Atlas Group before it grows to a point where we cannot fight it."

Trafalgar adjusted the star map back to the current battle galaxy, and drew a new battle plan diagram as quickly as possible, then said:

"So in this battle, I will only conduct a tactical maneuver within the galaxy. No matter how these rebels react, I will clench my fists and kill them in one go!"

(End of this chapter)