When the fleet returned to Orb, massive floodlights stood along the harbor and coastline. Countless lamps illuminated the entire port and its surroundings as brightly as day, while people in Orb Army uniforms and Akatsuki Works uniforms bustled about under the glaring lights.
Beyond the people, the chaos and devastation of the port and its surroundings were equally moving. The once orderly and magnificent Military Port was now almost unrecognizable. Rubble lay scattered everywhere, along with massive craters blasted out by overwhelming firepower. Not a single building in the port remained intact, and no dock could still be used. On the seaward side of the harbor, the port had become a vast, uneven ruin as if shaped by a colossal explosion. Everywhere the lights reached, fragments of MS of every size littered the ground, most of them belonging to Orb.
More conspicuous still were the two Destroy Gundams. Surrounded by soldiers and numerous Akatsuki Works personnel, they appeared relatively intact, yet had completely lost the ability to move. One lay half-reclined on the ground, while the other was sprawled face-down.
The condition of the military harbor made it impossible for Orb's fleet or the captured Combined Fleet vessels to enter safely. Helicopters began flying back and forth between the ships and the port, mostly transporting Orb's ground troops onto the vessels to guard the prisoners, then carrying the wounded and officers from Orb's ships back to land.
Xiao Ran and the officers who had accompanied the fleet into battle were brought to the Defense Building at once. When Xiao Ran stepped down from the helicopter, he discovered that even the area in front of the Defense Building bore traces of the fighting. One could imagine just how perilous the situation had been.
When Xiao Ran entered the Main Command Center