The Larkinson Clan finally achieved victory!
After disabling as many superweapons as possible, forcing thousands of pirate chs to retreat and overcoming an artificially-induced anomaly with all of the horrors that followed, the attackers finally won the long and exhausting day.
Certainly, around 3000 pirate chs had retreated into the secure ch hangars at Ulimo. The chs of the Dry Snakes, Xona Stalkers, Farmund's Own, Hapid Qlinters and the Ulimo Militia successfully rode the artificial anomaly out in their protective hideouts.
Yet compared to an inexplicably powerful god-like apparition, these palty pirate chs seed completely inconsequential to the Larkinson Clan.
They aid to wipe out the remainder of the pirate ch forces with as little losses as possible. Speed was of the essence.
"Don't let these pirates group up again!"
Reacting quickly, Major Verle ordered the hundreds of Penitent Sister chs to storm the ch hangars and wipe out everything inside before the pirate chs had ti to erge back into space.
Stuck in their hangars, the third-class chs of the various pirate groups were not only highly concentrated, but also boxed in by their environnt! The ranged Hexer chs of the Penitent Sisters easily slew them without incurring any aningful damage!
Of course, there weren't enough Penitent Sister chs to cover every ch hangar, but the surviving pirate combatants experienced several hindrances due to several reasons.
First, the pirates lacked critical direction at the top. The unexplained absence of Grand Protector Roshaw took out a critical authority who possessed a complete overview of every pirate asset. Due to the strict hierarchical structure of the pirate command authority, none of the surviving pirate commanders possessed enough authority to issue orders to everyone.
What was particularly detrintal to the pirates was that the missing pirate lord closely grasped every secret and trump card at Ulimo Citadel! Due to a perennial lack of trust, the Grand Protector never shared many of these secrets to his subordinates. Now that he was gone, every secret asure that hadn't fallen victim yet to the Larkinson Clan remained completely unused because no one learned of their existence!
Of course, with sufficient communication, the pirates might be able to overco these issues in ti.
It was too bad that their enemies did not intend to give the remaining pirates the ti to reorganize their ranks!
"The Grand Protector is dead and every major threat to the Larkinson Clan is taken care of. This is our best opportunity to redeem ourselves!"
Even if the pirates were still capable of fielding 3000 chs, now that they were dispersed and stowed in many different ch hangars strewn across Ulimo, it beca critical to stop them from consolidating together.
Though the Xona Stalker defectors that accompanied Ketis and Lucky to the shrine had perished, there were many hundreds more compatriots spread throughout the core sections of the pirate stronghold! Stationed in critical positions, they surreptitiously or overtly sabotaged many critical power or communication nodes!
With many ch hangars cut off from communications or losing power entirely, it beca more and more difficult for the pirate officers to understand what they needed to do or understand what was happening elsewhere.
The Mirror Raiders also stirred so trouble. They turned their weapons against the other pirate outfits in the Ulimo Militia and rapidly wiped them out at close range while their victims were completely caught off-guard!
"Ahh! What the hell?! What are you doing!?"
"Damnit, these black-and-white chs are on the enemy's side!"
It had beco clear that while the artificial anomaly had not inflicted significant harm to the core pirate forces, almost every pirate was left in the dark about this asure. Perhaps the Grand Protector himself never really thought that any opponent of the Hallowed Abyss Temple was able to overco its ritual!
Through this backdrop of chaos and uncertainty, the Larkinson Clan vigorously crushed the disorganized pirate forces. Thousands of pirate chs never had the chance to showcase their might after being taken out while they were still attempting to deploy into space!
Even the elite chs of the Dry Snakes tragically missed the opportunity to make their last stand. The Penitent Sisters were grief-stricken after the anomaly caused them to lose hundreds of their chs and sisters. They vented all of their rage at their inability to defeat the grey apparitions at the pirates!
Even if many of their chs were running a bit low on energy and ammunition, the endurance and energy capacity of their second-class machines was not comparable to lesser products.
Against unusual threats such as the grey abominations or the avatar of the Unending One, the Penitent Sisters might not have any effective answers.
That did not an that they were weak! When facing purely conventional products of technology, their Hexer heritage gave them a decisive edge! Not even the rare bridge chs fielded by the pirate elites posed a significant hindrance!
"Wipe out these filth as much as possible! We must avenge our fallen sisters!"
Within just two hours, the pirates lost all of their chs. Even so, the pacification of Ulimo Citadel had just begun.
Spanning multiple underground levels and complexes, Ulimo Citadel encompassed a lot of territory. The ordinary pirates who were in charge of managing many critical systems such as power generators, life support systems and more slowly learned that their side had lost the battle in space!
Without the crucial support of chs and with all of their remaining fixed defenses taken out of commission, these pirates reacted in different ways.
So despaired and collapsed in place.
A few pirates tried to offer their surrender, hoping that they might receive so rcy.
Others went crazy and tried to tamper with every important device within reach!
A lot of chaos ensued for at least an entire day. Though the Larkinsons could have sent in their chs to pacify the situation faster, the sheer amount of destruction they unleashed would only leave the victors with nothing but ruins.
Therefore, only so Larkinsons chs entered the various underground caverns. Their presence mainly served as a form of deterrent and backup.
Just seeing them was enough to uplift the Larkinson infantry soldiers and discourage their pirate counterparts!
Though plenty of wily pirates managed to hinder the invaders by luring them into various devious traps, in the end their final last gasp did not accomplish much. The Larkinson soldiers coordinated extensively with the defectors of the Xona Stalkers to root out and preempt many of these desperation moves.
Ulimo Citadel fell in earnest at that point.
In the anti, the task force's fleet had closed in to retrieve the spent and exhausted Larkinson chs. Search and rescue parties were already scouring across the debris field to retrieve the usable wrecks and see if there were any ch pilots left alive.
The various ch forces were already tallying their losses. While the Larkinson Clan perford very admirably in the previous rounds of combat, the coming of the dark sphere changed everything.
Major Verle waited for half a day after the end of the ch battle to present the numbers to Ves at his stateroom.
"How bad?" Ves asked with a grim expression.
"It's bad, sir." The older man replied. "The losses we've suffered would have broken many outfits and ch regints. It's a testant to our discipline, cohesion and culture that our clansn are still holding together. If not for the imnse jubilation that erupted after Jannzi Larkinson's dramatic breakthrough and display of might, many of our ch pilots would have started to voice their discontent right now. As it is, achieving a bitter victory is hardly sothing to celebrate about."
"Will we need to worry about any protests?"
The major shook his head. "No. The propagandists under my charge are at work as we speak. While we cannot hide the truth of our substantial casualties, we can still steer the overall sentint of our task force in a direction that is more favorable to us. Simply emphasizing our great accomplishnts while downplaying all of the ugly news should be sufficient in keeping our combat troops under control. I do have to warn you that this will only tide us over in the short term. We need to act more extensively to make sure that discontent within the clan doesn't rise past a certain level."
"Tell the numbers." Ves ordered.
"Let's begin with the Avatars of Myth. Owing due to their higher-quality chs and superior training, the Avatars have acquitted themselves fairly well. So far, we estimate that around 150 Avatar ch pilots have died."
Ves winced at that figure. "You make it sound like it is good."
"It could have been worse, sir." Verle shrugged. "A disproportionate amount of them were either rookies or weaker-performing pilots. While it's unfortunate that so many individuals with high potential have perished, the remaining Avatars have each survived the gauntlet of the dark sphere. Not only have the survivors proven to be strong, the intense pressure of fending off the grey ghost chs on their own has pushed them beyond their existing limits."
This was what Ves had intended from the start, though there was little for him to be happy about. While the survivors of this battle would surely erge from this excursion stronger and more battle-tested than ever, the price the clan had paid was too bloody.
When Major Verle handed over a data pad, Ves scoured the list of nas. Admittedly, he hardly knew any of these people. The Larkinson Clan adopted too many outsiders, and Ves never bothered to acquaint himself with any of them. Now that read through the list of 150 or so deaths, the anguish he felt was muted due to the abstract way that Verle presented the information.
That was probably deliberate on his part. By keeping the deaths as distant and impersonal as possible, Ves was spared from feeling too much guilt for the decisions that led the clan to this battle.
"What about the Sentinels, major?"
"As you can already guess, the Living Sentinels suffered most of all. They are not only the most nurous, but also the weakest of our ch troops. Conservatively, we are looking at 250 or so deaths, though this figure might rise. Combined with the losses the Sentinels have suffered in previous battles, less than half of the Sentinel ch pilots we have brought into the Nyxian Gap have survived. Their morale has dropped the most and it will take a lot of effort to comfort the survivors."
"Understood. Please pay close attention to them. The Sentinels were never ant to take part in proactive battles. It's a bit of an injustice to drag them along this excursion. Commander Magdalena must be pissed at for driving so many of her n to their deaths." Ves sighed.
The major moved on to listing out the remaining losses. "The other ch forces have lost fewer ch pilots, but that is mainly due to their smaller numbers and higher combat strength. The Battle Criers have lost around 60 ch pilots, the Vandals have lost around 30 ch pilots and the Swordmaidens have lost just 4 ch pilots."
Proportionately, the Battle Criers suffered the most as they only fielded 160 chs and ch pilots to begin with. As for the exceptional performance of the Swordmaidens, Ves wasn't surprised.
"What about the Penitent Sisters?"
"Their situation is difficult to gauge as our communications with them aren't entirely smooth. As far as we have ascertained, they have lost around 200 ch pilots. Despite their stronger chs, they suffered substantially worse in the artificial anomaly. Our expert candidates managed to rescue many of our Larkinsons chs in ti. The sa could not be said for the Hexers. An additional factor that contributed to their losses was that the anomaly actually invested most its energy in taking them down. Whatever intelligence was guiding the anomaly prioritized taking down the second-class chs first."
That made a lot of sense. The subsequent performance of the Penitent Sisters after surviving the anomaly proved how overwhelming they could be despite being outnumbered by an order of magnitude!
All in all, while the numbers were still being adjusted, Task Force Predator lost a huge chunk of ch pilots. What was worse that the Larkinsons lost even more chs. This left them dangerously understrength against any threats until the ch technicians rapidly managed to restore so the fallen chs back to working condition!
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