From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 771 New Hope and Old Antiques

At the edge of the Federation capital galaxy is Orind, a gas giant planet that is the farthest from the star in the galaxy.

This planet has long been forgotten by the Federation due to its extreme environment and scarce available resources. Apart from the garrison fleet that comes here every year for deep space combat training, there are only a few automated deep space observatories still performing their duties, dotted like lonely graves in the desolate orbit.

At this moment, a fleet of the Resurrected Alliance is silently hiding in the shadow of the farthest planet, Orinde.

The gas giant's massive outline acted as a natural barrier, shielding the fleet from detection by the giant gravitational wave antenna array near the Federation's capital planet.

On the bridge of the flagship Liberator, Fleet Commander Kyle sat in the captain's seat, his eyes scanning the holographic projection platform.

虚拟星图上，复兴同盟第三舰队的标记整齐排列着——30艘战列舰、40艘重巡洋舰、60艘轻巡洋舰、100艘驱逐舰、护卫舰和30艘补给/大型运输舰.正是联邦海军编制中的一支标准舰队规模。

This time, the Renaissance Alliance launched a general offensive against the Federation Capital Galaxy, assembling a total of seven fully staffed fleets, which could be said to be the entire assets of the Renaissance Alliance Navy.

Although this large fleet is not as large as the one in the past when the Federation and the Empire went to war and the navies of both sides went all out to fight a war of annihilation, it is already an almost invincible force for the now scarred Federation Navy.

"The anti-gravitational wave early warning unit did not capture any abnormal signals, and the Federation's large search radar does not appear to be pointing in this direction."

A tactical staff officer began to report, his voice filled with the excitement peculiar to young people.

"Commander, all federal personnel at the observatory have been controlled. They have failed to raise any alarms."

"Very good~"

Kyle's mouth curled up in a cold arc, with the sharpness unique to young people and a hint of undisguised contempt.

"The Federation Navy was once a giant, but now it can't even feed the few old dogs guarding the house. Such an important outpost can't even organize a decent resistance."

The young officers on the bridge laughed. Most of them, like Kyle, were a new generation of officers trained by the Renaissance Alliance. They were full of idealism and disdain for everything in the old Federation.

"According to the plan, we still need to wait for the arrival of the other six fleets before launching a general attack on the capital planet."

Kyle waved his hand and gave the order:

"Order all fleets to keep the planet in shadow, operate silently at the lowest power, and use blue-green lasers for any communications."

"Yes, sir!"

Kyle watched with satisfaction as the young faces on the bridge carried out his orders in an orderly manner, with an irrepressible sense of pride surging in his heart.

More than a year ago, Kyle was just a low-level officer in a galaxy's garrison fleet, and was regarded as an insignificant pawn by those high-ranking veteran officers.

And now, he is the commander of the Third Fleet of the Renaissance Alliance, with a large number of troops under his command, and is about to participate in the final battle to end the Federation.

In his opinion, all this was thanks to Franklin and the Renaissance Alliance. Kyle thought, his eyes sweeping over the equally young faces on the bridge. The Renaissance Alliance gave these people the opportunity to transcend the constraints of the conventional promotion system and rise rapidly.

At present, a large number of young officers in the Restoration Alliance are rising rapidly and replacing those federal officers who had previously surrendered and been incorporated.

Although these young officers were not very experienced and were not very experienced in combat command, they were very enthusiastic and resonated well with the ideals of the Renaissance Alliance.

On this basis, the entire Renaissance Alliance's young officer group is currently roughly divided into two factions - one faction is the officers who received training from the Atlas Group in the early days, and the other faction is the officers trained by the Renaissance Alliance itself in the later days.

The former, represented by Johnny Ridden, Manfred and others, have a natural liking for the Atlas Group.

The latter are absolute die-hards of the Renaissance Alliance. They are also extremely xenophobic. Even the Atlas Group, which has been of great help to the Renaissance Alliance, is seen by them as a capital giant like the former military-industrial complex.

And Kyle belongs to the latter.

Although Atlas provided advanced weaponry and training, in his view, those businessmen were just another form of predators, no different in essence from the Federation's military-industrial complex.

Once the Federation falls, the Renewal Alliance must be wary of the infiltration of this capital giant.
"Sir." A hoarse voice interrupted Kyle's thoughts.

His brows frowned slightly. The person who came was Moretti, one of the few former Federal Navy officers left on the flagship. He served as an intelligence staff officer because of his outstanding fleet intelligence analysis ability.

This is an old guy who always carries a lingering aura of the old times, and he is also a spineless surrenderer. Kyle has always wanted to find an opportunity to kick him off his flagship. "What's the matter, Staff Officer Moretti?" Kyle did not hide the coldness in his tone.

Moretti didn't seem to care about the fleet commander's coldness and hostility. Perhaps he was already accustomed to such scrutiny, or perhaps he still felt responsible for everyone in the fleet.

He had been in the Federal Navy for many years and had seen all kinds of storms. This was nothing to him.

Moretti bowed slightly, his voice steady and without any emotion: "Commander, I have just received the latest intelligence shared by the Atlas Group through encrypted channels."

Kyle frowned slightly when he heard the word 'Atlas'. He didn't like relying on Atlas' intelligence, but he had to admit that their intelligence network far surpassed that of the Renaissance Alliance.

He called up an independent virtual tactical panel, which displayed the current troop deployment map of the Federation capital system. Although most areas were marked as "weakly defended", the icon representing the Federation garrison fleet still existed in the core area.

"According to Atlas' analysis, although the Federation Navy fleet suffered heavy losses, it still has a certain counterattack capability, including the garrison fleet. Considering that we are the vanguard and from the perspective of anticipating the enemy, the enemy may have noticed that some outposts have lost contact."

Moretti paused and looked at Kyle. "We may need to be more vigilant to prevent them from launching a surprise attack in our direction."

"The garrison fleet? A desperate situation? And a surprise attack?"

There was a hint of disdain in Kyle's tone. His eyes moved away from the tactical screen and fell on Moretti's somewhat weathered face. There was undisguised suspicion and a hint of sarcasm in his eyes.

"Staff Officer Moretti, you should know that the backbone of the Federation Navy has been broken since the death of Marshal Trafalgar of the Federation Navy. And you are worried about those defeated dogs with broken spines. Do you still have the courage to rush out of their kennel?"

His tone was frivolous, with disdain for the cautiousness of old-school soldiers.

"Or do you believe more in the intelligence provided by Atlas' 'allies'? It seems to me that they would like us to fight the remnants of the Federation to a mutual defeat so that they can reap the benefits."

Moretti was silent for a moment, as if weighing the weight of every word: "Sir, I have served in the Federal Navy for thirty-two years and participated in the planning of seven large-scale combat operations.
The deployment pattern in the Federation Capital System does look more like a defensive preparation than an offensive one, but based on my experience I must remind you that although the Federation Navy has been badly damaged, the backbone of the garrison fleet is still there, especially those veteran officers who will not sit idly by and wait for death."

Kyle interrupted him: "I think you, Staff Officer Moretti, know better than me what the garrison fleet is. Our fully staffed fleet is enough to deal with any surprise attack from them. What's more, we have six other fleets on the way."

Moretti's lips moved as if he wanted to explain something, but in the end it just turned into an almost inaudible sigh.

He knew that in the eyes of this young man, he represented a decadent, weak, and untrustworthy past, and any caution based on experience might be interpreted by him as cowardice.

"My duty is to point out potential risks, Commander." Moretti's voice remained professional and calm. "As for how to make the decision, the power is in your hands."

"risk?"

Kyle sneered, turned around and stopped looking at Moretti, and turned his gaze back to the star field on the main screen that symbolized the last bastion of the Federation, with fanatical flames burning in his eyes.

"The real risk is to be timid and miss the opportunity! The Federation is already an empty shell, waiting for us to kick open that rotten door!"

His words were decisive and carried unquestionable authority.

On the bridge, the young officers had a similar fanaticism in their eyes as Kyle, while the few veterans like Moretti who had experienced the old times silently lowered their heads with complicated expressions.

"But it will take some time for the fleet to assemble. Raise the alert level of the detection system, but still keep it running at the lowest power. Any ship approaching Orinde's orbit, no matter how big or small, report immediately."

Kyle finally gave the order to raise the alert level. Although in Moretti's opinion, this level of alert was far from enough, he was also very clear that he could only do this much.

"Alright. Go ahead, Staff Officer Moretti. Continue analyzing the intelligence provided by Atlas. Report any anomalies immediately."

Moretti didn't say anything more. He just nodded and turned away.

Kyle looked at his back with some complicated thoughts in his mind. These former old officers of the Federal Navy always had a disturbing temperament - they had seen too much and knew too much. They were like walking historical archives, reminding the young people of the mistakes they had made.

But this time it's different.
Kyle told himself in his heart that the Renaissance Alliance represented a new era, and it would naturally be young officers like them who would write the new history.

Outside the panoramic skylight of the bridge, Orind's massive cyclonic storm slowly rotated, the planet's shadow casting a shadow over the entire fleet.

(End of this chapter)