From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 772: Good News

In the shadow of the planet Orinde, the Third Fleet of the Renaissance Alliance had been waiting silently for seven hours.

On the bridge of the flagship 'Liberator', officers of the Renaissance Alliance kept coming and going, and their young faces were full of expectations and confidence.

And what the tactical information coordinator said next made everyone's faces even more confident.

"Sir! According to estimates, the Fourth Fleet will arrive at the rendezvous point in one hour."

Fleet Commander Kyle nodded, a smile on his face, and then for the first time, he looked at the intelligence officer Moretti who had just returned to his side with a smile:

"Look, Staff Officer Moretti, your worries are unnecessary. The Federation Navy is already a paper tiger, and the garrison fleet doesn't have the guts to attack us. If they can still hold their ground after the large forces gather and jump over, I will look up to them~"

Moretti's wrinkled face showed no expression as he replied softly, "I hope so, sir."

"Don't be so pessimistic all the time. I think old federal officers like you should look more to the future~"

Perhaps because he was in a good mood, Kyle even stood up and patted the shoulder of the former Federal Navy officer next to him with a smile, which would never have happened before.

"As our fleet gradually gathers, this war will soon be over and good times will soon come."

Moretti hesitated and finally said nothing more, just nodded.

But his expression turned serious again after his eyes swept across the tactical display screen, which showed the fleet's reconnaissance units deployed in various planetary orbits.

Although the establishment of a warning circle and allocation of warning tasks when the fleet was moored had nothing to do with him, Moretti still found something wrong.

Although Kyle issued an alert order, there were obvious loopholes in the deployment of these reconnaissance units - almost all reconnaissance units were concentrated in the safe area within the shadow of the planet, and there were only a few reconnaissance ships in the sun side orbit.

"Sir, I suggest increasing the reconnaissance force in the sun-side orbit," Moretti finally said, "That's the direction most likely to be attacked."

Kyle frowned. "Staff Officer Moretti, our fleet needs to remain silent. Sending more reconnaissance ships will increase the risk of being discovered by accident. What's more, the Federation Fleet cannot possibly know we are here."

"Yes, sir."

Moretti lowered his head, no longer insisting, and there was no expression on his face.

As time passed, the atmosphere on the bridge gradually relaxed. The young officers chatted and discussed their bright futures after the fall of the Federation.

Kyle leaned on the command seat, flipping through the personnel list sent by the ship's officer, thinking about the reorganization plan after the war.

But in this 'peaceful' atmosphere, the alarm tore through the tranquility of the bridge.

"Warning! The reconnaissance ship 'Falcon' in the sun orbit has detected abnormal space fluctuations!" The tactical information coordinator's voice trembled, "A large number of ships are leaving the jump! The identity has been confirmed through the other party's hull number and paint - it is the Federal Navy garrison fleet!"

"what?!"

Kyle stood up suddenly and stared at the tactical star map in disbelief.

On the holographically projected three-dimensional star map, a large number of red dots suddenly appeared on the sun-side orbit of the planet Olinde, and the number was shocking.

"The Falcon has lost its signal! It is suspected to have been sunk! The enemy fleet is split into two and is approaching us along the eastern and western hemispheres of Orinde!"

Kyle felt dizzy for a moment after hearing what the tactical information coordinator said, but fortunately he came to his senses quickly, though his voice rose an octave due to fear.

"The entire fleet is on combat alert! Prepare to meet the enemy! At the same time, alert other fleets! Tell them we have been ambushed! Immediate support is needed!"

After issuing the order, he leaned on the workbench in front of him, still mumbling uncontrollably:
"How could the Federation's garrison fleet discover us? How could the fleet of the Gilded Land, which is just the son of a high-ranking member of the Federation, dare to take the risk and launch a desperate assault on the main fleet of the Renaissance Alliance?"

Moretti stood beside him, still without panic on his face, only a kind of foreseen calmness.

"Sir, please calm down."

His voice was calm as usual, and he even answered Kyle's questions calmly.

"The enemy is not stupid. After discovering those sub-light speed ice crystals, they will definitely think that our fleet will launch a simultaneous attack, and there are not many suitable assembly areas in the capital system.

Since the gravitational wave radar detection array near the capital did not find any traces of the fleet, and since we have cut off contact with the deep space observatory in Orinde, it is not difficult to find this place.
As for your second question, it is even easier to answer. When people are forced into desperate situations, they can often burst out with amazing courage. Moreover, the garrison fleet is, after all, part of the Federal Navy.

Those high-ranking officials' children have nowhere to go now. To them, we are invaders, and they also know that if the capital is lost, the federation will be destroyed, and they will definitely not have a good ending at that time."

"Shut up!" Kyle roared, rudely interrupting Moretti's answer, "I don't need your nonsense!" He looked at the communications staff on the other side and continued to give orders loudly: "Order the Second Squadron to immediately intercept the enemy from the Eastern Hemisphere, and the Third Squadron to deal with the Western Hemisphere! The main fleet maintains its formation and is ready to provide support at any time!"

Moretti shook his head again after hearing this: "Sir, I don't recommend dispersing our forces. The enemy obviously wants to encircle and annihilate our fleet. Splitting our forces will only make things easier for them. We should -"

"I said shut up!" Kyle's voice had changed. "You remnant of the Federation! Is this your plan? An insider? Traitor?"

Moretti's face changed, but he did not refute anymore. He just stepped aside silently with a look of despair.

Perhaps for this former Federation naval officer, the Federation in his heart was dead the moment he surrendered to the Renaissance Alliance.

However, the current Renaissance Alliance does not seem to be as good as others described it to be.
On the tactical star map, the Federal Garrison Fleet's offensive was as fast as lightning. They had obviously planned this raid long ago. The two fleets formed cross-fire tacitly. This kind of target shooting-like battle was not too difficult even for the garrison fleet, so they quickly destroyed the scattered warships of the Renaissance Alliance one by one.

In just this battle that lasted less than an hour, Kyle could only watch in despair as his 'carefully choreographed' fleet formation collapsed in front of the federal fleet.

"More than half of the Second Squadron has been lost!"

"The Western Hemisphere front has collapsed!"

"The enemy's battleship cluster has broken through the outer perimeter and is attacking the flagship!"

The bad news came like a tide, and Kyle was completely numb. He had never faced such a desperate situation, which made him lack the experience and psychological preparation to deal with adversity.

After all, although he had experienced many fleet battles before, except for some evenly matched battles, in most cases the Renaissance Alliance relied on its military advantage to complete one-sided battles.

Therefore, he had absolutely no experience in this kind of battle where the few were against the many. This was also the biggest difference between the young officers trained by the Renaissance Alliance in the later period and the trainees who were first trained by the Atlas Group.

The latter had experienced all the bloody battles of the Renaissance Alliance since its establishment, most of which were battles with the few against the many, especially the battle that caused the "fall of a star" of the Federation Navy. It also helped the Renaissance Alliance to produce many iron-blooded commanders.

The former can basically only fight a favorable battle. At least before the garrison fleet appears, Kyle also believes that the final decisive battle will also be a favorable battle.

At this time, a new situation appeared on the tactical star map - the second fleet of the Renaissance Alliance was leaving the jump, but the location where they appeared happened to be the center of the battlefield.
This time, Kyle was completely panicked.

"No! They'll run right into the crossfire! Warn them!"

"It's too late, sir! The Fourth Fleet is about to leave the jump. Countdown 54321!"

With a series of flashes of white light, the Fourth Fleet of the Renaissance Alliance completely broke away from the jump.
Then they crashed into the wreckage and crossfire. They didn't even have time to deploy their formation before they fell into the same chaos as the Third Fleet.

Kyle slumped in the command chair, staring blankly at the chaotic tactical screen.

Moretti behind him looked at everything with an expressionless face.

----

"This is a disaster. I didn't expect that the first message I received after leaving the warp would be like this."

Amber stood in a tactical room of the Dawn, looking at the battle scene restored in the holographic projection, and couldn't help shaking her head.

Guterres stood aside, his face equally solemn: "The Renaissance Alliance lost two and a half fleets, and the two main battleships that arrived earlier were almost completely destroyed."

While he was speaking, the virtual tactical star map in the tactical room restored the general situation based on the information sent by the Renaissance Alliance.

When the Third Fleet was attacked, they actually issued an early warning to the main force immediately. However, since the fleets of the Renaissance Alliance were mobilized from multiple star systems and the departure times of each fleet were different, the Fourth Fleet was already on its way to jump when they issued the warning.

This also directly led to the fleet crashing into the already collapsed formation of the Third Fleet on the battlefield after it escaped from the jump. The wreckage all over the sky immediately caused the formation of the latecomers to fall into chaos.

The two garrison fleets of the Federation continued to attack with crossfire from the left and right wings.
It was not until the third batch of two fleets arrived from the Renaissance Alliance that the two killing-crazy garrison fleets of the Federation took turns to cover each other and complete their retreat.

Amber was stunned after reading the battle report. This situation of "frequent reports of victory" before the decisive battle made him think of the legendary "Great Defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi".

"Huluwa save grandpa." He couldn't help but look embarrassed. "Which navy would send themselves to die like this? And in the heart of the enemy."

Randall added: "The most ridiculous thing is that they don't even have a unified jump coordinate and tactical plan. Each fleet fights on its own without coordination."

Amber tapped the table and began to think about the reasons behind this battle: "I can understand that the Renaissance Alliance is complacent because of its winning streak, but didn't they use the commanders we trained? They would never make such a low-level mistake."

"That's exactly the problem, Boss," Guterres replied in a deep voice.

(End of this chapter)