Since Jiliang and Mu were already there, their combat strength should theoretically have been sufficient. He was probably going to support those two... But why had he disregarded tactical common sense and personally gone there, scattering their limited forces? Was it because he was worried about the lover and brother most important to him? Nicol had seen Xia Ya's feelings for Jiliang. It was a bond that transcended life itself. Yet although they had not known each other for long, he felt that man was deeply devoted but exceptionally rational. As a leader who commanded the battlefield, he should have been prepared to accept risks for the greater good.
Xia Ya, what on earth was wrong...?
Though it had only been for an instant, when that white mobile suit streaked past, Nicol could not sense Xia Ya's usual calm elegance. Instead, it carried an almost frantic urgency. The roar of its engine at full throttle was like a physical manifestation of the pilot's inner scream.
What had happened? Inside that unseen satellite, had something occurred that could make even that composed man lose his calm?
Though he was filled with worry and wanted to immediately catch up to find out what was happening, Nicol knew what his duty was now. No matter what had happened over there, that was Xia Ya, Jiliang, and Mu's battlefield. His battlefield was here. What Nicol needed to do was not obsess over the situation there, but focus on what lay before him. He had to fully tell the companions before him—Yzak and Dearka—what he was thinking. That was why he had deliberately taken the risk of asking them both to come down and talk. That was why he had stepped out of the cockpit despite the risk of being shot.
Nicol took a deep