The battle raged on, their ship itself combating the enemy forces that approached. A stray shot from a Coalition ship lanced itself just around the arm of the Messer, striking a piece of debris from a destroyed MAS instead of her. It wasn't just the Ferirs that she had to mind. It was hard to maneuver while trading fire with other MASs, but the ship fire blocked openings she could've otherwise been able to take. The Wargods had superior numbers after they downed a few Ferirs though, so this particular engagement looked like a solid victory.

	... Or rather, it [i]did[/i] look like a win to Nat. As the MAS pilots held each other at bay, the Coalition Ferirs were able to single out one of their allies while simultaneously blocking anyone that tried to help their comrade. Everyone on the battlecom heard his desperate cries as the missiles honed on the man with empty point defenses. Nat tried to intercept the attack as she had for Web, as did several others, but their strategy didn't give enough time for the worn-down MAS pilots of the Solace to respond before Jenks' voice was replaced with radio static. The resulting explosion was blinding in multiple ways.

	Autocannon fire brought Nat's attention back to herself, the Messer having stalled as she watched one the anti-ship specialist's MAS spin lifelessly through the cold of space. She cursed herself for having made such a rookie mistake as several Ferirs shot at her. Out of the corner of her eyes, as she shot down a missle headed her way with the last of her AM ammo, Nat noticed Jenks' biometer disappear from the HUD of the MAS. She kept repeating in her mind that it was only normal to lose soldiers, that this was the course of war, but apparently she hadn't seen enough ally death for that feeling to go away. She wanted to rip the hole herself.

	Nat unclenched her teeth, her jaw aching from how long she'd been stressing the muscles of it. A few deep breaths later, and her teeth were back to clenched. There was too much stress in her head to not channel it somewhere, and it wasn't going anywhere soon seeing as an ally ship had dragged their own group of Coalition MAS's into the fray. She wanted to scream into every mic she had, but she needed all the breath she had to keep moving. Besides, the comm channels were busy enough.

	Looking around, there didn't seem to be much Nat could do. She was running low on resources, CQ engagement was risky with their numbers, and the tides had already started to shift away from the UEE forces. That third point was obvious from the collapsing space dock. After that happened, UEE forces either followed soon after or disappeared otherwise, leaving the Solace (and subsequently the Wargods and the Agincourt) with the rest of their problems. Namely, several Coalition ships and two groups of Ferirs. Nat's earlier optimism leaked away from her like a faulty fuel line, torn asunder by plasma weapons and autocannons. A message from the Admiral Bishop of the 5th, accompanied by flares, ordered all the remaining MAS fighters back onto the ship. She wanted to let out the breath she had been holding, but Nat forbid herself from doing so until the timer on her HUD hit 0.

	Until that happened however, Nat had one thing left she could do: make it back onto the Solace. She cranked on the Messer's controls, veering away from her current engagement as her allies did the same. Of course, the enemy Ferirs followed suit and tried to keep them from retreating-- or better (for them), down one of them. This was made very clear when Nat noticed a Ferir she accidentally got too close to in her rush tried to stab through her weakened shields with an alloy knife. Luckily, the pilot was as tossed around as she was, so she was able to dodge the thrust. In response, however, the Messer drew its hybrid saber from its shoulder and took a quick swing at the Ferir. The plasma-edged blade skimmed along the surface of the Ferir's arm, only managing to do surface damage and pushing it away a bit. Fortunately, Nat wasn't trying to win any fights anymore, and she capitalized on the stagger of her enemy and dove past the Coalition MAS and towards the Solace's hangar. The time it took for the Ferir to clumsily resituate itself with its gun was enough for the Messer to veer out of any worthwhile aiming range, the Ferir having to make chase before it could make a good shot.

	Nat felt herself lurching forward as her MAS made its way into the hangar, a sour sense of relief flooding into as she noticed the others making their way into their respective bays at the same time. As she started to switch off her mech in some weird panic, it took all her muscle control to keep her fist from slamming into the control-board. Once the airlock was set, Nat basically leaped out of the Messer, her knees wobbling a bit as she landed hard on the floor of the hangar. The twenty-five-year-old's helmet tumbled across the floor to the side as she slumped down to her knees, running her hand through the sweat-matted hair on her forehead. It would've looked she was crying if she hadn't gotten up a few seconds after and plucked her piloting helmet off from the ground, recomposing herself as she made her way over to the nearest human being. Focus on the living. She recognized said nearest person as Halcyon, or Erwin Freund.

	Her gloved fist rose to lightly punch him in the arm, but instead, her hand just fell onto his shoulder. "Good to see you Freund," Nat whispered, unsure of what expression to make. They didn't know each other awfully well besides the basics, but the face of the kid, no matter how much she empathized with the distraught expression he wore, was comforting beyond belief. So... she decided on giving the boy a weak smile that betrayed the emotions in her eyes. Not everyone was back in the hangar however, so she kept herself from saying anything else in case she jinxed anything.