Of course, Lieutenant General Midebesh wasn't such a guileless fool. His seemingly flippant behavior was really just a way to build rapport between them.
Sometimes, it wasn't enough to be good at dealing with people—you also had to know when to make compromises.
At any rate, these two Imperial generals, both highly perceptive when it came to people, had spent only three weeks together, yet they'd already grown so close that they could talk behind their superiors' backs and badmouth their less likable colleagues.
"The battle took place twenty hours ago," Midebesh added.
"And they're only informing the entire fleet now. Looks like they took quite a beating," Sobek said, the corner of his mouth twitching. He didn't like Lieutenant General Karaman either. To be precise, no decent person could like those so-called "blue bloods"—the kind who put on airs just because they came from a prestigious family.
Midebesh nodded. "They lost four ships. And his flagship was hit by an antimatter torpedo from Earth."
Sobek winced. Just hearing about it hurt. He was a good person, after all. He disliked colleagues who put on airs, but that didn't mean he wanted to see them killed.
In all honesty, if his own Jade Hare were torn apart by a spatial-bubble torpedo, he'd be heartbroken.
Fortunately, the torpedo had only ripped into Lieutenant General Karaman's dreadnought. It hadn't struck anything vital, and the ship suffered no significant impact on its ability to fight or travel afterward. But it had left a huge gash along the side of the hull, even ripping the Empire's insignia to shreds.
It was a humiliating slap in the face, but in practical terms, it meant very little.
Besides, losing a mere four ships was hardly a scratch for the fleet as a whole.
Even so, the