"The Zanar Fleet has lost six guard ships, ten arsenal ships... and four armored carriers."
If one considered only the first half of that report, it would probably once again prove that the lumbering guard ships and the thin-skinned, heavily armed arsenal ships were both on their way out of history. But the latter half of the report would have pained even the most stonehearted general.
Everyone knew that the most numerous people aboard the Empire's armored carriers weren't pilots or fighter craft, but assault troops and armored grenadiers, counted by the brigade.
Lieutenant General Tanlian knew that the sinking of those few warships had already sent more than twenty thousand assault troops and marines into space as cosmic dust.
Still, she had to keep herself outwardly calm and composed for a long while.
"Pull the carrier group back. We've missed our chance to assault the fortress," she ordered.
The chief of staff thought for a moment. "The Earth fleet's tactical maneuvers and choice of targets were remarkably precise. Only a veteran of a hundred battles could have pulled that off."
"So who was it? Who's in command aboard the Zeus?" Tanlian asked coldly.
"Sylvester?" the chief of staff mused.
"Him?" Lieutenant General Tanlian thought for a moment, dredging up a scrap of information from the furrows of her mind. She suddenly realized that she had met General Sylvester before. It had been ten years ago, during a military exchange at the Galactic Civilization Council on Huaxu.
...Well, he really hadn't seemed like the ruthless type. Of course, it was possible that in those ten years he had gone from a methodical, technocratic officer to a decisive and savage general.
But while it wasn't unusual for young people to change so much, it was hardly convincing that a middle-aged man