On the way back to the hangar, Maya noticed Claire's silence and said, "You did a good job out there, all of you.  And Claire," Maya said, using her first name, "I hope you don't resent me, but despite the fact that Asteria is more of a'medic'-type unit, your utility is best served in the front lines instead of the back.  I mean, you kept the lance going and prevented us from getting overwhelmed.  It's practically unheard of four mechanized units, no matter their power, to take on a force that size and come out of it practically unscathed.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, you may have seen some things out there today that you didn't want to see, but if it wasn't us leading the offensive, then it would have been those Cepheus guys out there, and believe you me, they would have lost a lot more men trying to do what we did."

Maya wondered if such words would help.  Was less people dying really that much better than more people dying if people died anyways?  It was something that Maya, as a solider, tried not to think about, was conditioned not to think about, but she was well aware of the shock most people received when facing the horrors of war for the first time.   Maya looked up at Orpheus, who was taking the elevator down, back into the hangar, and was glad that she had Israfil stay in the back, where as far as he was concerned, he was just shooting at some faceless, lifeless buildings.  She could tell by the boy's demeanor that he wasn't mentally ready for this.  Solomon on the other hand,hadn't surprised her, though that in itself was unsettling.  The members of Homeworld were pretty much all Wildtypes, and Solomon seemed to have absolutely no problem gunning them down; she even heard a small chuckle as he blasted a small squad of enemy soldiers, their scorched and dismembered corpses plainly visible.  Blythe seemed to be coping well, which Maya chalked up to Blythe being probably jaded.  As for Tera, though Maya could tell she was a non-combatant at heart, she wondered if Tera had the ability to become a literal 'killing machine' the way she had seen Sion do before, them both being Quantums.

The cogs all docked in the hangar, so Maya dismissed everyone with, "Good job everyone.  You can return to your routines until further notice.  The Captain has notified me that the Incubator will be heading back into space.  Get some rest."