Mule induced surrenders

“Despite the loss at Horleggor?”

“It was not a loss. You have swallowed that spreading lie, too? We were outnumbered and betreasoned—”

“By whom?” demanded Mis, contemptuously.

“By the lice-ridden democrats of the gutter,” shouted Indbur back at him. “I have known for long that the fleet has been riddled by democratic cells. Most have been wiped out, but enough remain for the unexplained surrender of twenty ships in the thickest of the swarming fight. Enough to force an apparent defeat.

Chapter 17