From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 217 The Imperial Fleet was discovered right in front of our unit!
During the intensive preparation process of various departments in Atlas, the time finally came to May 589, 5 in the new calendar.

With the cooperation of the intelligence analysis team and Lilith, Mary Bay Industries, Yaoguang Defense and the Timler family firmly believe that the boss of Atlas will visit the asteroid belt in the near future.

And each of them obtained the specific date and relatively accurate coordinates of the asteroid belt through the 'inner ghost' they hooked up with.

For this reason, they also paid huge 'favor fees' to the insiders.

So in the past few days, the joint fleet composed of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense, as well as the Timler family fleet, set off from their respective assembly ports.

They split into two groups and began to advance towards the asteroid belt where Atlas Mining was mining.

And arrived at the outer edge of the asteroid belt on May 7.

The size of the combined fleet of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense is basically consistent with the predictions of the Atlas Intelligence Analysis Team.

The entire fleet has a total of 18 ships.

The flagship of the fleet is the Griffin-class light cruiser 'Financial Freedom', the flagship of the Mary Bay Industrial Mobile Fleet.

For this kind of unit that is still very marginalized at this stage, Amber has actually asked Oens to work on "technical reserves" alone.

On the one hand, it has an advantage in terms of fleet numbers, and on the other hand, it has advantages in ship performance and number of light cruisers.

In addition, there are 7 destroyers and 10 frigates. These ships include the previous generation of warships of the Federation Navy, as well as contemporary ships that have just been retired.

While restoring the company's image, restoring investor confidence and raising the stock price, it can also be considered as killing the chicken to show the monkey, and deterring other competitors who are ready to make a move.

But since the boss who gave the money has made demands, Oens will naturally not shirk the responsibility.

It can be said that Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense are also determined to kill Atlas this time.

He couldn't figure out why Amber was so interested in such a marginalized unit.

The total number of fleets is 15, including 5 destroyers and 8 frigates, which is slightly less than that of Mary Bay Industrial.

On the other side, the number of fleets owned by the Timler family is similar to the predictions of the intelligence analysis team.

At this time, the fleets of both sides were in two different directions, each more than 40 kilometers away from the asteroid codenamed 'A. Bawa Ku' in Atlas.

However, there was still a slight deviation in the composition of the fleet.

But the most important thing is that the Timler family directly dispatched two Apocalypse-class light cruisers. Among them, the flagship 'Timler Glory' has been modified, which suddenly increased the firepower of both sides on the 'capital ship' gap.

Perhaps in this universe at this moment, only Amber knows that in future battles, this small reconnaissance boat will gradually appear on the stage in another form.

It can also be stored in the Gnaku at ordinary times, and when it needs to be dispatched, it can also be dispatched through the electromagnetic ejection track.

This small reconnaissance boat with a central axis length of less than 20 meters can be carried by ships of destroyer level and above.

Since professional combat reconnaissance ships will not be sold to private companies, this kind of private combat fleet can only conduct close-in reconnaissance through small two-seater or three-seater reconnaissance boats.

The small reconnaissance boats sent by each side discovered the operating base attached to the asteroid through optical detection equipment after closing the distance, and transmitted relevant information and images back to their respective fleets.

However, Oens was actually puzzled when he received Amber's request.

Although his research direction is not here, he still has friends in the industry who are engaged in design in this area, and he can contact them in advance.

From a small reconnaissance unit that can be bullied by anyone, to a 30-meter heavy-armored high-speed predator, the rules of the game on the battlefield have changed again.
On the bridge of the Financial Freedom, the commander of the combined fleet, Antonio Malvern, was sitting on the captain's seat, looking at the information compiled by CIC based on the reconnaissance intelligence.

Atlas's mining operation base has been discovered. This type of operation base is indeed common in the Star Dragon Empire, and there are also traces of mining on the asteroids attached to it.

This information shows that this is indeed the opponent's asteroid mining area. But what makes Antonio a little confused is that so far, the reconnaissance boats have not found any trace of the opponent's warships.

Although this large asteroid belt is indeed easy for ships to hide, it is normal for the reconnaissance boats to be unable to search for a while.

But Antonio still felt a little unsure for some reason.

"Perhaps the other party's ships are training in other locations in the asteroid belt, or are being inspected by the other party's boss? Didn't this point also be mentioned in the intelligence we obtained before?"

Sitting on the side of the captain's seat, Commander Raven from Yaoguang Defense said.

Yaoguang Defense dispatched 3 destroyers and 5 frigates this time, as well as a fleet commander named Raven to coordinate operations.

"The intelligence is indeed right. Forget it, dismantle this operational base first. Then the other party will naturally be unable to sit still."

As Cleves said, Antonio is relatively radical in fleet command and prefers to take the initiative to seize the initiative on the battlefield.

This time is no exception.

"The entire fleet, synchronize the battle speed of the flagship, and launch according to the standard artillery formation. Let us first close the distance and hit a round of fixed targets!"

Antonio waved his hand, and the combined fleets of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense took the lead in taking action.

The 18 warships lit up the propulsion arrays on their sterns and rushed toward the asteroid where the operational base was located.

A distance of more than one light second would take nearly an hour and a half for these warships.

Although they can reach relative speeds of up to 100 kilometers per second, the acceleration and deceleration phases still take some time.

However, for fixed targets, it does not necessarily have to be as close as the conventional combat distance of 1 to 2 kilometers.

Especially for fixed units like operational bases, which are basically unprotected, they can fire from a distance of 70,000 to 80,000 kilometers.

That is to say, as the combined fleet continued to approach, the reconnaissance boat in front sent back a piece of news that caused everyone on the bridge to explode.

"The Imperial Fleet was discovered in the reconnaissance direction! Number 15, moving towards the target area!"

Just as Antonio and Raven's expressions changed drastically due to this news, they began to discuss urgently.

On the bridge of the Timler Glory, the voice of the tactical information coordinator also came:

"The forward reconnaissance boat reported that traces of the federal fleet were found in the reconnaissance direction! There are 18 of them, and they are rushing towards the target area at high speed!"

"Fuck, this is a trap!"

Paul, who was sitting on the side of the captain's seat, slammed the armrest angrily.

But after seeing that the family fleet commander on the captain's seat and the family head Ryan Timler on the other side remained calm, he quickly shut his mouth.

"It doesn't matter, get ready to fight."

Ryan Timler ordered calmly.

"Yes, my lord."

The family fleet commander at the captain's seat nodded, and then said loudly:
"The entire fleet, enter combat mode!"

(End of this chapter)