The fallout from the battle was far from over.
A hush had settled over the Flying Pirates.
Only twelve Fleet Commanders remained, down from nearly thirty.
They had lost more than half their strongest fighters, too.
These were the fighting forces the Flying Pirates relied on.
They had barely begun to recover from the Bloody War, and now they were back where they had started.
Their losses were even greater than in the Bloody War.
The Bloody War had lasted three months. This battle had lasted only four hours.
Neither Shiki nor Reinhardt could easily accept that outcome.
Of more than a hundred officers, only nineteen remained after those few hours—and that count excluded Goenitz and Pain, who had been at Marine Headquarters.
If Goenitz and the others had not returned in time, their losses would have been worse.
Most of the survivors were badly wounded and would need a long time to recover.
The losses would send shock waves through the Flying Pirates.
With so many Fleet Commanders gone, the system Reinhardt had built to divide their territory among the fleets would collapse.
Only the Fleet Commanders had died, but without their commanders, there was little reason for those fleets to exist.
A Fleet Commander was the heart of a fleet.
They could promote replacements, but that was easier said than done.
A Fleet Commander needed the strength to keep the other pirates in line.
Someone too weak could easily be assassinated, throwing the Flying Pirates into chaos.
Besides, not every pirate wanted to command a fleet.
The battle was over. Now they had to decide what came next.
Some losses had been unavoidable.
But losses on this scale were beyond anything the Flying Pirates had expected.
Apart from the three leaders, only twenty-one members of the Flying Pirates