A long time had already passed.
Thinking back carefully, Mu, Nicol, and Michel had not only mentioned spotting a potential enemy presence during that chaotic battle, but had also sent an urgent transmission about "ZAFT in the rear."
How much time had passed from that moment until now? Ten minutes? Twenty? That was more than enough time to decide life and death in a space battle.
The voice of communications officer Miliaria came faintly over the line. She was desperately calling for the three missing units, but apart from the chilling static in the background, there was no response.
Under normal reconnaissance patrol conditions, they should have already left the interference zone and returned by now.
Unless something had happened. Something so extreme that even an ace of Mu's caliber could not easily escape, or even send out a single warning.
Why—why had he failed to notice at a time like this? Was he really such a hopeless idiot!?
Before the battle had even begun, before everything had descended into chaos, he had still clearly remembered that man's threat in the back of his mind.
He knew this was where that man's Destiny had begun. He knew that bastard would never let this stage go.
But because of Flay, because of that inexplicable new Earth Forces machine, his view had become so narrow. He had grown as careless as a rookie stepping onto the battlefield for the first time.
Rau Le Creuset...!
That name lodged in his throat like a poisoned thorn.
He had known it. He had even foreseen that man's inevitable involvement in this melee, that he would complete his script in this cursed place of birth!
Just as Xia Ya sank into intense self-loathing and panic, a voice came through the communicator—a voice that had always reassured