The White MAS nimbly dodged out of the way of scattercannon rounds, its superior maneuverability allowing it to weave through the cones of fire created by the scattergun. Taking advantage of Gerard's single minded chase, the enemy machine slowly began to draw him out away towards his own lines and closer towards his enemy. 

[color=lightblue]"Gerard! Pull back! You're getting singled out!"[/color] McKnight called through the mic as he flew after him, his standard thrusters struggling to keep up as he had to avoid using his booster to maintain his shields and weapons system. 

The white MAS, once it had satisfactorily led Gerard into the open, it spun on a dime and flew back towards the Marauder, plasma claws and blade ready to bear. Quickly closing the distance, the MAS swung upwards with its long plasma saber, the energy blade slicing clean through the Marauder's forearm, the blade's momentum sending the arm gripping the scatter cannon tumbling into space. It reared back to puncture the Marauder's cockpit through with its claws. Through some sort of intuition, the machine suddenly ceased its attack and juked to the left, right as a flurry of EKP rounds tore through the space it had just occupied from above. The White MAS looked up to see a McKnight's Shrike charging it, EKP cannon firing in one hand, the other hand discarding its slagged shield to draw a plasma saber. 

Using some of his precious boost power, McKnight tore through space, slicing at the enemy machine with his saber. His heart tightened in his chest as he saw the machine sidestep him, its own saber prepared to strike. Deflecting the first blow through sheer luck, the second energy saber strike knocked McKnight's guard open, and he spun away erratically as the third strike cut his machine's left leg off at the knee joint. 

[color=lightblue]"Fire support on my location!"[/color] McKnight called through the mic as he boosted away from the enemy, the disarmed Marauder in tow. 

A warning flared in the corner of his peripheral. Shooting a glance at the warning, his computer zoomed in on an image of Trapp, Maki [i]and[/i] Alice glowing read as they fell into the planet's atmosphere. The implications on their current conflict were obvious. Even if the three of them were to survive the fall, the loss of 3 pilots constituted 25% of their fighting forces. Even though they had succeeded in destroying several Ferir Mk II and Mk IIIs, the enemy still outnumbered them, and the White MAS seemed to be more than a match for several of them combined. If they could gang up on the White MAS, they'd be able to defeat it easily, with the very least overwhelming numbers and firepower. But as it were, the 7th were spread out, and forced to fend off multi-pronged attacks against the Lincoln and its escort ships, and could not afford to focus their firepower on a single machine, at the risk of allowing the lesser, but still dangerous Ferirs to get past the Lincoln's point defenses and destroy it.

[color=lightblue]"7th Team! Fall back to the Lincoln!"[/color] McKnight called over the squadwide comms. Opening up a second channel with the command ship, McKnight reported in.

[color=lightblue]"Command, this is McKnight, assuming control of the 7th Team."[/color] McKnight reported, [color=lightblue]"We're no longer in control of the situation, advising a tactical withdrawal."[/color]

[hr]
[COLOR=LIME]ONBOARD THE LINCOLN[/COLOR]

The bridge of the Lincoln shook, as one of the orbital platforms fired on it, the kinetic shell rumbling against the Lincoln's active shield. The bridge was a controlled cacophony of noise, bridge crew communicating with different parts of the ship, as well as the escort ships. The Gemini I's shields had failed, and several holes had appeared in its hull where orbital platform shells had struck, fire and atmosphere venting from the breaches. The Gemini II fared only slightly better, exchanging fire with the both of the Coalition Destroyers as it provided cover for its damaged brother. 

[color=lime]"Captain, we're taking a beating."[/color] Aston stated as a fact, though she could sense the concern in his voice. [color=lime]"A tactical withdrawal will allow us to rearm and repair the MAS team as well as send support to the Gemini I and II."[/color]

[color=lime]"The moon orbiting the planet can provide us ample cover if we stay on the other side of it."[/color]

[hr]
[COLOR=LIME]ON JEHAN[/COLOR]

As the three MAS's collided with the water, Alice's scanners picked up a rough map of their immediate surroundings. There was what appeared to be a small outpost to the south, as well as a larger complex towards the north. The lake they were landing in opened into an ocean to their east, and a small mountain range bordered the west. The MAS's crashed into the water, the sudden impact overloading the Hellcat's shield, causing sparks to fly off the controls, and bouncing harmlessly off of Maki's visor. The impact destroyed the Eagle's remaining missile launcher, and rendered its left wrist shotgun inoperable. Trapp was half-flung into the interior wall of his cockpit, as the impact strained the harness, ultimately causing it to snap. On impact, the Sentry powered down completely, shutting Trapp in darkness, as a breach in his cockpit began to let water to seep into his cockpit. Luckily for him, his flight suit's comms were still working.