* * *
(Author’s note: The fighting that raged while the Shikkeron slipped away became known as the ‘Battle of Ekdikesis ChōrionLupē’ - Exothepobole’s Revenge. It lasted for the better parts of two days and did not end until Godenn’s fleet was forced out of the Trizentine and far beyond the Frontier. Both sides suffered heavy losses, the outnumbered Third Fleet becoming the victor primarily because of Godenn’s fear of being killed or captured.
This battle sounded the death knell for the Stasis as a formidable fighting tool in the hands of Asotos. What little remained of Salak’s pirate force was eventually hunted down by the growing numbers of Sarah’s ‘WolfPack Marauders’ as her Special Forces came to be known. The confederacy Salak had managed to weld among the Stasis soon disintegrated into individual colonies vying for each one’s own self-preservation. Those who did not escape into Asotos’ lair were pursued and destroyed.
Godenn’s fleet failed in its mission and was driven from the Trizentine. It would be months before it could muster enough strength to risk another assault on the Empire. The ferociousness displayed by Euroaquilo’s fighters and warships taught a painful lesson to Godenn…one he never forgot. When his armada again advanced into enemy territory, he remained overly cautious and careful, thus depriving Asotos of his desire for a lightning strike against the Trizentine and the Empire’s inner territories. Because of this, the capture of the Kalahnit Straits remained little more for him than a wistful dream.
But the victory gained by the Third Fleet consigned it to an ignominious fate. The loss in men and ships - especially fighters and heavies - crippled it. Besides the Oruomai, the fleet lost two cruisers, four frigates, two brigantines, one bark, twelve cutters, seventeen heavy bombers, and sixty-seven fighters. This was nearly a third of the fleet’s total fighting strength. The death toll amounted to better than twenty-eight hundred, including the two hundred fourteen who remained with Euroaquilo when he rammed the dry-dock carrier.
When battle damage and injuries were added to this number, the Third Fleet was down to less than half its strength, and most of its frontline ships were lost. It was decided to place the fleet’s remaining ships under the direction of Admiral StarKoffagus, commander of the Second Fleet. Some warships were dispersed to other duties. Those that remained, primarily to support the carrier Admiral Lonche, were now called the ‘Second Battle Group’.
For seven hundred years, the Third Fleet had protected the Frontier. Now it was but a memory. Still, in its last hour of fiery glory, it saved Darla from capture. And, as Euroaquilo had stated, that was ‘a price worth paying’…