It didn’t take long for Baron, his entire force, and whatever they could salvage of the other two fleets to retreat back to the main base of operations, their most important strategic advantage. If this place fell, then they would have a near-zero chance to gain the upper hand as they had in the beginning.

It was only until they were halfway to their destination were they able to use their communications to inform the back-line strategists of what had happened. Coincidentally, they arrived just as Madam Zheng and her fleet had successfully captured, bound, and tortured information of the group that they were chasing. She did not seem to be any worse for wear and it seemed as if she found the entire ordeal more of a chore than anything.

After going through all of the proper procedures, Baron was given an audience to Madam Zheng. Baron walked into the room knowing full well that he had performed extremely under par. For all of his confidence, he really bungled everything up this time.

(BM) “Madam Zheng, forgive me, I was not able to get the results you wanted and instead came back with less than a fifth of what you had sent out to deal with the enemy fleet,” Baron said in with the feeling of guilt in his heart.

(MZ) “I didn’t expect much from elder Hu nor Zheng Zhi Long. However, you are a different case, Baron. I’ve heard the entire report that you’ve submitted while getting here and I must say, it’s quite disappointing that both of them fell to something like whirlpools.” Madam Zheng was very cross. Though there wasn’t much she could do about the past, every moment now was precious to the survival of her faction.

(BM) “There truly are no excuses this time. They led us into a trap and we fell for it as easy as stealing candy from children.” Right now, Baron adopted a more respectful tone than what he was going with the last time that they spoke. The reason for this was that Madam Zheng was his greatest ally, pleasing her now would negate some of the fury that was evident in her entire demeanor.

(MZ) “What’s done is done. I have already sent for both the First and Second to come back here as soon as possible.”

(BM) “Then I take it that we are giving up everything we have been fighting for the past little while?”

(MZ) “I don’t have much of a choice. Their progress into enemy lands has been much slower than I had originally thought was the bottom line. It seems we underestimated both of our opponents just a bit too much this time around. We will need to focus on defense at the moment and if those two are isolated while we are defending any longer, then it would spell quite a disaster for them as well.”

(BM) “What would you like me to do?”

(MZ) “Go and get your aces up into the air. I am recalling the vast majority of my forces to within the last few lines of defense.”

(BM) “Why is that necessary?”

(MZ) “I just have a gut feeling about all of this. With very few strategists patrolling the waters, and with you and I out on the field in opposite ends, then it wouldn’t be impossible to sneak through all of our other defenses.”

(BM) “A hunch? That is a bit too illogical for my liking, but if you feel confident in this, then I will do as you wish.”

(MZ) “I am quite certain about this. Plus, worst-case scenario, we just end up mobilizing an army that didn’t need to go fight.”

(BM) “And if you’re right, then we will be prepared for a surprise enemy attack. Got it. I’ll go do a routine search immediately. Is there anywhere in particular that you think might have higher chances of an enemy hiding?”

(MZ) “Your guess is as good as mine. However, I have prepared a small map of the regions that I traveled to that might be possible candidates. The rest is up to you. Don’t let me down again.”

Baron received the map, left the chamber, ordered his aces to suit up and rev up the engines, then studied the map that he had been given. After everything was fully functional, his aces all were given special instructions on how best to deal with likely scenarios.

This time, Baron would not be participating in this and instead, he would be the ones to guide them through the entire process. Though Baron really didn’t think that it was possible to have enemies right at their doorstep without them noticing, he followed his orders to a tee.

After roughly half a day of searching, he found a potential lead in this field and decided to investigate this strange location even further. At first, he sent in a few to do a little recon, but they were all later shot down by some phenomenal marksmanship. This greatly intrigued Baron but he felt it best if he were to give the information to Madam Zheng first.

She was one of the greatest in terms of naval warfare strategies and a very capable leader. There was much more wisdom and experience that Madam Zheng possessed than she led on. It was best for Baron to bring it up for her to decide.

Just as they were in the middle of their second chat, Baron and Madam Zheng were interrupted by one of Baron’s messengers. Apparently, there was more than one enemy lying in the shadows waiting for the perfect time to load. And judging by the reports that they were given one after another, it seemed neverending.

By the time Madam Zheng had come up with a solution to all of these problems, more popped up and seemed neverending. Currently, they weren’t engaging in any suspicious activities, but how long can that last?

Time was of the essence now, and the remaining fleets were carved up and distributed among the most influential persons in the Forever Pirates and Baron. They had to be cautious now, the danger was much closer now than what they had previously estimated their foes to be.