The final trek back to the Bastion had been mercifully silent; Erich had turned off all but the comms reciever so people knew he was still alive, but clearly not talkative, as his crippled War machine staggered through the forest, shouldering aside younger trees, and stepping around the old-growth trees that were wider than his mech could reach with both arms spread wide. The burning ache in his side had turned into a dull throb as the warrior focused on his final objective, knowing full well that it would be a long time before he, or his 'mech were going to be considered combat-ready again.<br/><br/>Due, in part to the blood loss and the constant nausea caused by the damage to the 'mech's gyroscope, His final slow steps into the Dropship's mech bay were accentuated by the dangling barrel of the right-arm PPC swinging wide and banging a dent into the inner bulkhead of the loading hatch. The echoing Bang of the impact causing most people to look over at the savaged ruin of the 80-ton 'mech, several of the Techs already swearing as they saw the huge amount of work needed to repair the Awesome. Slowly, Erich managed to get his crippled ride into the heavy equipment cradle designated as 'his' due to the usual amount of punishment the Awesome took, right next to the limp-limbed King Crab. Alroy had already disembarked from his own Assault 'mech, and, from Erich's vantage point in the twelve-metre tall 'mech, he could see Alroy already getting poked and prodded at by a pretty lady; probably the new medic he had heard the raven pilot mention.<br/><br/>Slowly hoisting his Neurohelmet from his head, he was quietly glad that he had sprung for a Star-League standard Helmet, which weighed around five pounds, instead of the Pre Helm Core helmets, which weighed closer to forty. By the time the helmet had been placed in its storage rack, two of the dropship's medtechs had already popped open the Awesome's cockpit hatch, moving swiftly to put several pressure dressings in place around the chunk of metal sticking out of his right side. Helping Erich stand, the two medtechs eased the tall warrior from the damaged cockpit, careful to not disturb the shrapnel that had harmed him so. A few moments later, one of the Astechs headed into the assault 'mech to shut down the weapons, reactor, and so on, letting the charges on the PPCs disspiate and slowly cutting off the flow of visible radiation bathing the 'mech's innards in a sickly blue light; Between the radiation from the damaged PPC capacitors, the damage to the reactor shielding, and so on, the 'mech was a giant toxic wasteland until service crews could properly decontaminate the war machine from top to bottom.<br/><br/>Using a service lift, the Medtechs kept Erich propped up to prevent aggravation of his injuries, until the three finally arrived at the 'ground floor' of the mechbay, where an emergency gurney was set up so he didn't have to talk over to the actual medical bay, which was several levels above the 'mechbay in the dropship. The new doctor, who had apparently ordered Alroy to go through a full battery of tests to ensure that the Ammo explosion hadn't fried his brain more than usual, headed over to Erich as he slowly sat on the gurney, his light shirt and right leg soaked with his blood from the visible chunk of metal. Another woman stood nearby; clearly Capellan based on her ancestry, she was staring at his 'mech, the fact that, despite the damage, it still stood upright apparently more than her mind could easily comprehend.<br/><br/>She quickly came over to where he sat, excitedly babbling about how she had never seen a 'mech take that much punishment and still stand under its own power. To his pain-hazed mind, it looked like the doctor simply shooed the Capellan away, though he was likely just blocking out the actual language and physical motions, which were probably far louder and angrier in regards to the fact that he still had a rather sizeable chunk of metal stuck in him. Erich simply grunted and laid down on the gurney, the pain and exhaustion on his face showing as even that short movement pulled against the shrapnel.