[color=00a651]"I'm not happy about it, but sure."[/color] Maki replied in a hushed whisper, only to find Trapp had gone out of earshot. [color=00a651]"You're welcome, Maki, I know it's asking a lot after you got your own ass captured to save my ass."[/color] She added in a mock impression of the man. The sooner she got back to the Hellcat and got off this god forsaken rock, the sooner she could get some rest and work off the anger.

It didn't take them much longer to hit the data centers, but that was the only part of their plan that had gone smoothly. The moment Alice was plugged in, the hornet nest had buzzed to life. Thankfully, there was only one entrance in or out of the place, and the Coalition soldiers had all been funneling down a single hallway. If only there was a way for them to salvage more ammo off the dead soldiers without having to traverse down said hallway.

Still, it had been relatively easy, if tense. Any time someone poked their head around the corner, they ate a round. If they charged, Maki put two in their chest. She didn't like the Coalition rifles, but they had some stopping power. That, coupled with the fact that the two pilots made sure at least one of them was able to fire down the hallway at any given time, pretty much bought them the time they needed for Alice to do her thing.

Well, the three of them couldn't claim all the credit. A blast shook the building and caused all the base security forces to dive for cover as pieces of ceiling threatened to drop on them. That was the window they needed to bust out of there. With only a quick warning to Alice to stay close, Maki ran a full sprint down the hallway, keeping close to the ground and grabbing any loose magazines she found.

Her rifle was reloaded with a full mag of ammo right as she rounded the corner. A few of the soldiers were stumbling from the bombardment, just getting to their feet. She didn't have time to pick them off slowly, so she sprayed at anything that moved, ensuring no one got back up in time to resist. She barely had time to acknowledge Trapp's plan before going their separate ways and making sure Alice was close by.

The rest of the 7th raining hell outside had shifted the guards' priorities. They were scrambling to get the big guns and turrets, anything that could punch a hole through an MAS. It meant that the pair of them met token resistance or just got the jump on people running to their positions. Still, every small platoon or squad of soldiers they slowed down to dispatch gave the Coalition more time to destroy the Hellcat and Eagle before the 7th could recover their machines.

When they arrived at the hangar, however, there was hardly anyone around. With a full on assault on the base, the guards were fortifying the main entrance that led outside, not the access door from within their own base. A couple of techs seemed to be preparing charges to disable their machines, however, and Maki couldn't have that. She aimed her rifle, and fired.

She heard only the click of the firing pin hitting an empty chamber.

[color=00a651]"Fuck."[/color] She cursed, turning to Alice. [color=00a651]"Get to the Eagle and stick to the shadows. I'll take care of the techs."[/color]

She pulled out a combat knife and sidearm, moving from cover to cover, making sure not to be seen. A pile of ammo crates, MAS parts or just a simple pillar, she made sure to get close before jumping them. The closest one she stabbed, sliding the blade between the man's ribs. The second tech took three rounds in her chest. The remainder of the demolition team dove for cover, but Maki calmly emptied the remainder of her magazine and took out as many of them as she could, striding towards her Hellcat briskly, trying not to throw off her aim too much.

That got the attention of the guards, but Maki was already climbing up the ladder with her Hellcat covering her as she got up on the walkway and sprinted straight for the cockpit. Once the doors were sealed, the Coalition in the hangar didn't have a chance.

The cockpit lit up as Maki hit the boot up sequence and engaged the point defense systems. Once the rotary guns were confirmed to be on target and firing, she let the AI do her thing as the rest of the systems spun up, her comms coming to life as she secured her helmet. [color=00a651]"Hunter, back online! Systems spinning up, ETA 30 seconds! Keep your fire off the western hangar! Alice, head out and join the fight once I've got the doors open, I'll take care of the small fry in here!"[/color]

The Hellcat wasn't tethered down or anything, so the first step her MAS took had the surviving defenders scrambling for cover or trying to turn their biggest guns around to engage her. They didn't stand a chance. The Hellcat simply crushed the ground based cannons underfoot as it walked up to the door and engaged its energy saber, slicing straight through the metal gates, thick as they were. She ripped them off the tracks and used one as a shield, as she moved through the hangar and towards the Coalition machines docked there for maintenance.

It took mere minutes for her to slice through the inactive machines, and turn around to see a Ferir lighting up as some pilot managed to get in his machine before she got to it. Switching off the energy saber, Maki engaged her missiles and fired. The Ferir barely had time to raise its weapon before the explosive slammed home and detonated the reactor, just as the Hellcat swung the makeshift shield between itself and the explosion, the wreckage bouncing harmlessly away.

>>Right shoulder launcher offline. Ammo rack sealed.
>>Missiles remaining: 3.
>>Ammo capacity: 60/100
>>Shields: Online.
>>All combat systems operating at 83% efficiency.
>>Switching to Atmospheric Combat settings...

She supposed it was too much to ask that the Hellcat landed in the lake without too much damage. Well, being one launcher down wasn't too bad. She could work with that. Maki scanned the hangar's structure, targeting the main supports and blasting them away with her remaining missiles. The building began to groan as its structural integrity was comprised and the ceiling began to cave. The Hellcat was out of there and back in the open as its prison crumbled behind it, surging back into the fight.