Xiao Ran had barely spoken from the start of the meeting until Goodman finished. After a moment of silence, he looked at Major General Kim and Brigadier General Goodman. "According to what you've said, UNION must bear responsibility for the failure of this operation. But I'm curious—aside from punishing the pilot who issued the retreat order to our forces, as Major General Goodman suggested, what other responsibility must we bear?"
Major General Kim and Brigadier General Goodman exchanged a glance before Major General Kim spoke. "The preliminary preparations for this operation took a long time, and its eventual failure was not something we wished to see. But your forces' sudden withdrawal completely disrupted our plans and battle formation. We are not saying that you must bear all responsibility, but you must bear at least the greater part of it. The loss of MS units is one thing, but so many outstanding pilots were lost. They cannot be trained in a short time."
Xiao Ran asked curiously, "And then?"
"Both our countries hope that your country will take responsibility and provide compensation for the losses caused by your country."
Goodman tapped the table and said bluntly, "To put it simply, you caused these losses, so you must take full responsibility."
Xiao Ran shook his head with a smile. "Heh. I'm afraid I cannot agree to your demands. The commander's poor command failed to account for Celestial Being having other new-model units, resulting in enormous losses. I do not believe that was our fault."
"And as Major General Kim said, every pilot takes a long time to train. Every elite pilot is a treasure to UNION. As the person in charge of UNION's MS Unit, I believe Major Graham reduced the massive losses our forces would have suffered. Not only will I