Time rewound to roughly fifteen minutes earlier.
At Boulder Fortress, the New Dawn Interstellar Pirate Group Alliance had just secured a Stage Victory in the war.
At that moment, they were conducting a brief rest period and tallying their battle losses.
Dilimulati and several Pirate Leaders who were his partners sat inside the temporary command post.
Everyone looked grim, utterly unlike the high spirits and confidence they had displayed when they first entered the Fifth Star Territory.
Every one of them was now filthy and bedraggled.
"Although we've won for now, Big Brother... if we really do the math, this can only be called a pyrrhic victory!"
A Pirate Leader sighed heavily.
At those words, the other Pirate Leaders silently nodded.
They had started with more than 120,000, nearly 130,000 Star Destroyer Motherships, and close to a hundred billion combat personnel.
After fighting for less than a day, only a little over 20,000 Star Destroyer Motherships remained.
Everything else had been wiped out. Gone!
Such losses were something these Pirate Leaders had never experienced before.
Naturally, Dilimulati was the exception.
At that moment, Dilimulati stood with his back to the others in the center of the command post, staring blankly through the skylight.
He seemed deaf to the words of those sworn brothers behind him.
Today's battle reminded Dilimulati of the joint suppression thirty years ago, when the Great Light Pirate Regiment had been besieged by the Ten Commanders of the Prite Civilization Empire.
Along with the scenes of four other Tier 3 Universe Civilizations sending troops to suppress them.
Memories flooded his mind. This moment was just like that one...
"Must I, Dilimulati, suffer defeat once more here, in this star territory that was once so familiar to me?"
Dilimulati silently questioned himself.
"Big Brother, what are you thinking?"