Even though Kenneth had urgently seized command, the other regional Kimberley units were still following the previous orders, relentlessly funneling mobile suits and manpower into the meat grinder that was Palmerston North.
The casualty reports flashing across his screen made Kenneth's heart skip a beat; for a moment, he felt as though he had been transported back to the One Year War, the Gryps Conflict, or the First Neo Zeon War.
Most critically, the Penelope—a machine whose development he had personally overseen—was listed with no further description other than "crashed in the Tasman Sea."
The staggering losses made the incoming commander, who hadn't even set foot on Earth to officially take his post yet, feel as though his heart was bleeding.
A sense of profound unease spread through Kenneth. While spare parts for the Penelope had departed from Anaheim Electronics today, he himself wouldn't be able to reach the Kimberley base until the Haunzen shuttle landed on Earth tomorrow.
"To completely withdraw from a battlefield saturated with Minovsky particles, the next wave of troops has to move in just to fire signal flares... Kimberley, you absolute bastard!"
Kenneth slammed his fist onto the desk. His fury echoed through the guest room of the hostel, so loud that even Hathaway Noa, who had just arrived carrying a bag of souvenirs purchased on the Moon, stood frozen in shock at the doorway.
-----------------------------------
The battlefield of Palmerston North was a vision of hell. Destroyed reinforced concrete buildings and smoldering houses sent thick columns of black smoke into the sky.
The streets and the few surviving structures were littered with the mangled husks of Jegans and Gustav Karls.
Most residents had already fled to safety while the Federation and the "Zeon Remnants" were locked in their death struggle.
The few who remained—the self-armed locals—watched the combat with the fervor of bloodthirsty spectators, cheering from behind their makeshift barricades.
After the atrocities committed by the Man Hunter and Kimberley units, even the most loyal Federation citizens had reached their breaking point.
High above the debris, a mechanical claw shot out from the shield of a brilliant crimson machine. Its thrusters erupted with blue flame as it carved a graceful arc through the air, snapping shut around the waist of a Jegan.
"What?! Whoa—!"
The Jegan pilot, who had been huddling behind his shield, felt a violent jolt followed by the terrifying sensation of being reeled in like a fish.
The machine was dragged directly into the reach of the Infinite Justice Type II piloted by Luna.
With practiced coldness, she seized the Jegan by its collar and hurled it away with a powerful toss.
"Ugh, aaaaah!" the pilot screamed as the world spun.
But in the next second, a massive, white-hot fist materialized in front of him.
The Banshee Norn had just crushed the chest of a Gustav Karl with its Armed Armor VN claws, leaving behind a jagged, molten ruin.
Now, shifting from a claw to a fist, it delivered a scorching blow straight into the Jegan's midsection.
The "Fire Punch" liquefied the armor instantly, snapping the Jegan in two. Molten steel sprayed across the street like lethal rain, hardening back into jagged slag as it hit the cool air.
Seeing the seamless combination attack between the two mobile suits, the locals erupted in another roar of approval.
"It's never-ending..."
Shinn caught his breath after finishing off the Jegan. He manipulated the Banshee's free right hand to draw the Beam Magnum, which docked and transformed with the Armed Armor BS on the suit's back to form a massive greatsword.
If they hadn't been in a dense urban area, Shinn would have started sniping with the Magnum long ago, but the fear of the weapon's "collateral damage" leveling entire city blocks stayed his hand.
The Banshee swung the greatsword in a wide arc, twisting its torso to evade a beam saber strike from a Gustav Karl that had managed to sneak behind it.
Shinn countered with a devastating downward cleave. The beam-edged physical blade bit deep into the Gustav Karl's heavy plating, carving a horrific, glowing wound across its chest.
The Gustav Karl seemed to lose all power; its legs buckled, its knees hit the pavement, and it slumped forward into the dirt.
"Haven't they received the retreat order yet? Does the Kimberley unit really have this many MS pilots?"
Luna surveyed the battlefield from the cockpit of the Infinite Justice Type II. Her double-headed beam saber spun like a lethal disc, effortlessly carving a nearby Gustav Karl into jagged segments.
Without missing a beat, the twin beam cannons on her backpack roared to life, sniping the remains of the cockpit to ensure the kill.
Up in the sky, however, the violence was on another level entirely.
Stellar Loussier, tasked with guarding the airspace over Palmerston North, was driving the Psycho Zaku into a state of pure combat frenzy.
CLANG!
A Gustav Karl attempting to leap from the ground into the air was instantly swatted aside by the Psycho Zaku's massive shield-mounted thrusters.
"I won't let any of you get near Mayu!"
Stellar's eyes were wide, her voice a manic scream as she jammed the twin beam Gatling guns mounted on her right shield directly against the Gustav Karl's frame. She held the trigger down. "GET... OUT!"
The Gatling barrels spun in a blur, unleashing a relentless storm of light. The anti-beam coating on the Gustav Karl's heavy armor held for barely two seconds before eroding under the concentrated fire.
Successive beams punched through the plating, turning the cockpit and its despairing pilot into a shredded mess of molten metal and static.
With its left hand, the Psycho Zaku seized the ruined machine and hurled it skyward. Simultaneously, a sub-arm from the massive backpack manipulated a beam bazooka, firing a thick yellow bolt that vaporized the tumbling wreckage mid-air.
With the reactor finally detonated, the Gustav Karl erupted in a mid-air explosion. Jagged fragments, still glowing with heat and wreathed in flame, rained down upon the soil of Palmerston North.
"Huff... huff... the next target... where is it?!"
Stellar panted heavily, her eyes scanning the New Zealand sky like a predator. She casually locked onto a Jegan exposed in her flight path; the sub-arms at her waist manipulated their bazookas, slamming two rockets into the unfortunate machine.
Beep-beep-beep...
The radar shrieked as it picked up incoming signatures. Stellar tracked the markers across her monitors.
Unlike the previous waves, two Jegans were approaching Palmerston North accompanied by several empty Kessaria transports.
Just as Stellar prepared to lunge forward and intercept them, the two Jegans fired a series of signal flares into the atmosphere.
At the exact moment the flares blossomed, a crimson mono-eye machine—painted in a shade similar to her own—cut across her path and seized the Psycho Zaku's arm.
"Stop the pursuit, Stellar."
Roz's voice broke through the short-range comms, physically and mentally checking Stellar's momentum before she could continue her rampage.
"Captain... Roz..."
Stellar fought to regain her composure, responding with a voice that sounded strained from the adrenaline.
"Those are their withdrawal flares. The Battle of Palmerston North is over."
Watching the various Federation MS begin a frantic, disciplined retreat from the sector, Roz let out a weary sigh. "Prepare to pull out."
With that, Roz raised the Sinanju's left arm and fired three signal flares of his own into the sky.
-----------------------------------
If one had to find an adjective to describe the withdrawal of the surviving mobile suits, it would be something akin to the historical Dunkirk evacuation of the AD era.
Palmerston North, a peaceful city once defined by tourism and academia, now lay scarred and broken because of the clash between these two mechanical titans—a tragedy birthed entirely from the "greed" of certain individuals.
Driven by a raw hunger for survival and a stinging shame for the reasons behind their mission, the surviving Federation pilots couldn't get away from the meat grinder of Palmerston North fast enough.
Although the orders were to recover survivors and intact machines, the reality was a graveyard of scrap; the pilots who had directly engaged the "Zeon Remnants" had almost all perished.
Two Kessaria transports deployed their heavy grappling cables, snagging the shattered, waterlogged remains of the Penelope drifting in the sea.
Burdened by the weight and the two Jegans clinging to their backs, they strained in a near-overloaded state as they banked toward their base.
Watching the Kessarias limp away with their battered cargo, Tsubaki Kakyoin instinctively moved to raise her twin Mega Particle Cannons, aiming to put a final hole through the retreating enemy.
But in the next instant, a blue-and-white machine trailing fading cyan flames intercepted her line of sight.
"It's over, Tsubaki."
Graham watched the retreating forces and the three different colored signal flares drifting over the outskirts of Palmerston North.
"The Captain has already given the signal."
Graham disengaged the NITRO System. As the blue-green flames were scattered by the sea breeze, a surge of irritability washed over him.
Suppressing the lingering rage and the primal urge to continue the hunt, he took a deep, steadying breath.
When he opened his eyes a second later, he felt his control over that inner fire—and his ability to channel it—had grown noticeably stronger.
"Yeah. It's time for us to withdraw, too."
Louise brought her ReZEL alongside Tsubaki and Graham. "Let's go home. Back to the Nahel Argama."
-----------------------------------
Meanwhile, back at the Kimberley unit's base of operations.
Adjutant Fran, who had just moments ago bravely stood his ground against Kimberley's orders, was now appointed as the acting commander by Kenneth.
He was already busy coordinating the Kessaria formations to extract the remaining forces from the Palmerston North sector.
As for the wreckage left behind, that would have to wait until Kenneth officially arrived on Earth to dispatch a dedicated recovery team.
As for Kimberley himself—summarily relieved of duty on the spot—he could only watch helplessly as the authority that was once his was handed over to Fran. He sat there, isolated and ignored by his own staff.
He stared blankly as his dreams of "military merit" vanished into thin air, all thanks to the sudden appearance of those "Zeon Remnants" and Kenneth Sleg.
His legs gave out, and he slumped back into his command chair. The officers in the room spared him only a fleeting glance before returning to the tasks Fran had assigned.
Before Kimberley could even process his next move, the heavy doors of the command center were thrown open with a violent crash, causing more than a few people to jump.
"Kimberley Heymann."
Several men in the distinctive black uniforms of the Federation's Internal Affairs Bureau marched into the room and stopped directly in front of him.
"We are with the Federation Internal Affairs. Based on formal reports, you are under investigation for abuse of power and multiple counts of regulatory violations. Please come with us."
Before Kimberley could even mutter a subconscious defense, two of the black-uniformed agents seized him by the arms, one on each side, and began dragging him out.
As he watched the command center recede from his field of vision, Kimberley knew with absolute certainty: he was finished.
.....................