Ackerman sighed at the standard response from this so called elite squad. The two Ferirs winched a couple of mechs out of the water, one of them empty. Ackerman wondered if they were just that stupid, or feigning ignorance about the rather obvious launch a few seconds ago. Even so, it was not Ackerman's problem. Whatever that flying chunk of metal was, the rest of the Coalition could deal with it in due time.

The radio signal going out from the mech of the only active pilot was a bigger problem. Ackerman grabbed the safety rail in the ceiling of his cockpit and leaned out to meet Ghost's knowing stare. Of course she noticed it. He gave a curt nod to the woman and watched her vanish into her machine. Ackerman took a deep breath and popped back into his machine. His machine roared to life, screens flashing as the cockpit door closed. His thoughts collected, he pushed the radio button and broadcast on an encrypted frequency:

"Bould, target the empty suit with EMP. We don't need radio comms to their command." Moments later, the sound and heat signature of Bould's Breacher machine come to life. One heavy shot later, a metal canister impacted Maki's machine, followed by a surge of electrical energy in the mech's circuits, overloading and shutting them down, but leaving the machine and its pilot otherwise unharmed. When the two Ferirs pulled out the other two machines from the lake and extracted the pilot, two more such canisters struck those machines, taking them out of commission.

The massive, modified Hardballer lumbered into view of the UEE pilots, its shields set to protect the rear end of the mech, visible to the trained eye by a slight flicker at the back of the mech. Its plasma cannons were trained on the sole pilot outside of her or his mech. It speakers roared to life, broadcasting in a computerized voice:
"Do not attempt anything stupid. We are transferring you to a safe location." The two Ferir's struggled with hoisting and mounting two of the mechs onto an improvised 'sled', an old tracked trailer meant for transport of large goods. The pilots of the UEE were escorted or carried into an open truck, taking care to not stand close to any of the pilots and making sure they had no weapons of any sort in their possession.

Two more standard issue Ferir's approached, having had the foresight to stay concealed before, to lift the last empty mech and carry it between them.

The procession started off, to be joined by yet another curious machine. carrying an unusual large shield, its image distorted by powerful shielding. Ackerman snickered as he watched the camouflaged Guardian join the convoy, its massive shield and generators covering the truck to protect its passengers from harm, but its machinegun was still trained on the truck it was protecting, in case any of their new captives tried to escape. Sharp crackling alerted Maki to a Stealh Drive system being employed to conceal the truck and its guardian.

A minute later, four more mechs moved in the nearby forests, shadowing the convoy at a respectable distance to go unnoticed. One of them vanished a moment later.
The Coalition base was an hour away, and the Jackals were ready for combat.