Chapter 217: The Imperial Fleet Is Spotted Right in Front of Us!

Time finally came to May 7, 589 in the new calendar as the various departments of Atlas were busy preparing.

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

And they each obtained the specific date and relatively accurate coordinates of the asteroid belt through the "insiders" they hooked up with.

For this, they also paid a huge "benefit fee" to the insider.

So a few days ago, the joint fleet 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 periphery of the asteroid belt on May 7.

The joint fleet of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense is basically consistent with the prediction of the Atlas Intelligence Analysis Team in terms of scale.

The entire fleet has a total of 18 ships.

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

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

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

While restoring the company's image, restoring investor confidence and raising the stock price, it is also a warning to other competitors who are ready to move.

On the other hand, the fleet of the Timler family is similar to the prediction of the intelligence analysis team in terms of fleet number.

But there is still a small deviation in the fleet composition.

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

But the most important thing is that the Timler family directly dispatched 2 Revelation-class light cruisers, of which the flagship "Timler Glory" has been modified, which suddenly widened the firepower gap between the two sides in the "main ship".

On the one hand, the fleet number is more advantageous, and on the other hand, the performance of ships and the number of light cruisers are superior.

At this time, the fleets of both sides were in two different directions, each more than 400,000 kilometers away from the asteroid codenamed "A·Bava·Ku" within Atlas.

The small reconnaissance boats sent by both sides found the base of operations attached to the asteroid through optical detection equipment after getting closer, and transmitted the relevant information and images back to their respective fleets.

Since professional combat reconnaissance ships will not be sold to civilian companies, the combat fleets of such civilian forces can only conduct close reconnaissance through small two-seat or three-seat reconnaissance boats.

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

It can also be stored in the hangar at ordinary times, and can be dispatched through the electromagnetic catapult track when it is needed.

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

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

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

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

But since the boss who gave money had made the request, Ornes would not shirk it.

Perhaps at this moment in this universe, only Amber knew that in future battles, this small reconnaissance boat would gradually take the stage in another posture.

From a small reconnaissance unit that anyone could bully, to a 30-meter-class heavy armored high-speed predator, the rules of the game on the battlefield have changed again.

On the bridge of the Financial Freedom, Antonio Marvin, the commander of the joint fleet, was sitting in the captain's seat, looking at the information compiled by CIC based on the reconnaissance intelligence.

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

This information shows that this is indeed the opponent's asteroid mining area.

But what puzzled Antonio was that so far, the reconnaissance boats had not been able to find any traces of the opponent's warships.

Although it is true that this large asteroid belt is easy for ships to hide, it is normal for the reconnaissance boats to not be able to search for a while.

But Antonio still felt a little uncertain for some reason.

"Perhaps the enemy's ships are training in other locations in the asteroid belt, or are being reviewed by the enemy's boss? Didn't the intelligence we obtained before also mention this?"

Commander Raven from Yaoguang Defense spoke up on the side of the captain's seat.

Yaoguang Defense sent 3 destroyers and 5 frigates this time, as well as the fleet commander named Raven to cooperate in the battle.

"That's what the intelligence says. Forget it. Let's dismantle this base of operations first. The enemy will naturally be restless when the time comes."

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

This time is no exception.

"All fleets, synchronize the flagship combat speed, and deploy according to the standard artillery formation. Let's get closer and shoot a round of fixed targets first!"

Antonio waved his hand, and the joint fleet of Mary Bay Industry and Yaoguang Defense took the lead in launching the action.

18 warships lit up their stern propulsion arrays and rushed towards the asteroid where the base of operations was located.

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

Although they can reach a relative speed of 100 kilometers per second at the fastest, the acceleration and deceleration stages still take some time.

However, for fixed targets, it is not necessary to close to the conventional combat distance of 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers.

Especially for fixed units like the base of operations, which are basically unprotected, they can open fire at a distance of 70,000 to 80,000 kilometers.

That is, as the joint fleet continued to approach, the reconnaissance boat in front sent back a message that shocked everyone on the bridge.

"The Imperial Fleet was found in the reconnaissance direction! 15 in number, maneuvering towards the target area!"

Just as Antonio and Raven's faces changed drastically because of this news, and they began to discuss urgently.

On the bridge of Timler's Glory, the voice of the tactical information coordinator was also heard:

"The reconnaissance boat ahead reported that the 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 one side of the captain's seat, angrily hammered the armrest.

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

"It doesn't matter, prepare for battle."

Ryan Timler ordered calmly.

"Yes, sir."

The commander of the family fleet on the captain's seat nodded, and then said loudly:

"All fleets, enter combat status!"