There had been a moment when he could see the missiles coming at him. It had been unreal in some way. The cracked shield was shattered in an explosion, son followed by another missile zooming into the cockpit. He had only barely been able to shift himself to his right, the exhaust burning his arm before another explosion behind the heavy seat. Everything had gone black at that moment. No one survived a thing like that. Not even Old Guts'n'Bones. He coughed, his eyes opening slowly as he reach forward, his arms gripping the edge of his seat, trailing up over his abdomen and chest, trying to feel if he was missing anything vital. He sighed in relief as the sound started to come back to him, the sound of Bastion roaring down and spreading death of all varieties. How long had he been knocked out? His hands traced along the neurohelmet, which seemed fine except for the severed cords and cables in the back. He unhooked the clasp with aching fingers and took a deep breath as the cool air brushed in on his face, squinting in the strong light.<br/><br/>He was on his back in the seat, the controls and panels scorched by the explosion, his old era jumpsuit still pretty intact except for his left sleeve which had been cooked away by the missile's exhausts. He looked down at his badly burned arm, imagining the stump he had sported unless the ancient suit had taken the brunt of it. He unhooked his seat belts and rolled over to his side. He could hear the familiar footfall of Erich's Awesome coming closer and he reached up to the edge of the ruined screen and heaved up through it. He looked up at the Shadow Hawk and Awesome and waved an ok, even though he was badly burnt, his hair and beard singed and face covered in streaks of blood. He looked towards the hangar and then signaled to the nearby 'Mechs to change their focus. There were a lot of Combines in that Hangar, and strangely enough, the strange armored suit that had delivered the missiles through his shield stood unmoving  in front of them.<br/><br/>He jumped down on the chest of MacLeod and opened up a small luggage hatch from where he produced a headset. He wrapped it around his neck and stuck in the ear plugs before opening the emergency channel the only one available since it was emergency equipment. As such he spoke to the whole company.<br/><br/>"Erich, keep your guns at the bastard in the armor. Miyoko, keep yours on the Combines..."<br/><br/>He reached down into the luggage again and produced a heavy submachine gun before he jumped down on the ground and approached the hangar.<br/><br/>"Walter, what the hell! Don't scare me like that, I thought I had to give a raise to one of these goofs..."<br/><br/>"Not now, Perkins!" He closed in on the gathered prisoners and the suit, the elderly Combine MechWarrior giving him a curt nod in recognition. He didn't reply, but instead stopped in front of the hulking suit. As he did, there was a whirring noise emanating from it which made him tense up, almost firing upon it. The whole front of the thing seemed to open up and part to the sides like the mandibles of some giant insect. Inside there was a woman. A very strong one at that, looked like she could easily rip him a new one. Her dirt blonde hair was cut short and the was a scar going across her face over her nose which gave her a vicious look. Not that she needed it, her eyes were just about flamers projecting his way. "Who are you?"<br/><br/>"I will only speak to your Commander, chalcas."<br/><br/>She spoke English, but there was some strange sort of accent to it. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he recognized it. "I am the commander. Speak!"<br/><br/>She recoiled a little, surprise on her face before a smile broadened on her face. "In that case I'm honored to have downed your 'Mech in combat, Commander. Though it seemed you have bested me in turn. I guess that is why your subs started running around like headless Surats..."<br/><br/>"Who are you?" He repeated the words through clenched teeth. He wasn't very fond of his enemies insulting his company.<br/><br/>"Aff! I am Cera Chafkas of Clan Ghost Bear. At your mercy. I'm the Star Commander of the 2nd Elemental Stars of the 1st Binary."<br/><br/>"Which House do you serve?"<br/><br/>She watched him for a while, seemingly confused by his query, before she smiled again as if she remembered a variable in the conversation.<br/><br/>"Right. Houses. I serve House Kerensky then, of Faction Ghost Bear. I'd ask you to surrender to our superior might, but unfortunately you have bested me, Commander. My battle armor overheated when I fired my SRMs at you."<br/><br/>Walter squinted. What the heck was this? She didn't speak like anyone he had ever encountered. Even now he was pretty sure she could have moved even with the overheated battle armor, and she probably could have punched him out and made a run for it. He had kept the channel open for now, but...<br/><br/>"Erich and Elisa on me, the rest of you keep up the perimeter." He shut the comm line down. He had suddenly realized where he recognized the accent from. Now he needed Elisa to confirm it.