"The remnants of our fleet are in bad shape, my lord. We have lost over 80 percent of our ships outright. Our personnel losses are even heavier. We did not lose a proportionally greater amount of family members and employees, but the loss of the Seeker of Wealth and the death of our great patriarch—"
"—Correct yourself." A stern and rumbling voice interjected.
The tense officer coughed. "My apologies, my lord. I mean to say that the 'involuntary retirement' of your still living father has largely decapitated what is left of our fleet and organization. When the alien warship destroyed our flagship and everyone serving aboard her, we lost far too many senior leaders and highly skilled professionals. Your father preferred to keep his cadre close to him. The Seeker of Wealth was by far our strongest and most survivable ship, so there were good reasons to put our eggs in our strongest basket."
