So many things could go wrong with piloting an MAS. It's why the UEE insists that their pilots spend years training how to be a pilot after they're done training to be soldiers. They spent a lot of time ensuring that the very expensive training wouldn't go to waste on someone who didn't know what to do if their suit lost power, or to make judgment calls on the fly about how far they could push both their body and the machine. That was just regular MAS pilot training. When one got recruited into an esteemed unit like the 101st, they also made sure those pilots knew not just how to kill, but how to stay alive.

There were things training didn't prepare pilots for, however. Maki's time with the Raiders proved that. She had at first thought their eccentric behavior were just "privileged" soldiers make use of their prestige, but in time learned that those bastards spent so much time behind enemy lines they pretty much came up with their own manual for surviving hostile territory and capture. One of those tricks was to mentally count every step and turn they made so they could recreate from memory a pretty accurate map of the area. A trick they made sure Maki learnt quickly by blindfolding her, dropping her in the middle of nowhere and forcing her to retrace the route back to camp. Each of them would drop a light stick on the way and if she didn't collect all of them, they'd make her do it again.

The Coalition soldiers had only put a sack over her head and made her walk around randomly before directing her to the cell, but the Japanese woman had a pretty good picture of the rough layout of their path through the camp from the moment they got off the transport. There had been an elevator at some point, so she wasn't sure what floor they were on exactly, but that really didn't matter as long as she knew the path back to it. The entrance would be on the ground floor, after all.

When the sack finally came off and she was shown into her cell, Maki smiled. A windowless room with lights and a glass wall? They were making this easy. Even with the shields in place, Maki was certain she could fight her way out if she needed to. She scanned the room for cameras. Didn't seem like there were any. Good. It meant they relied on the guards to visually check the cells and patrol the halls. That meant a pattern, or at least some time to ensure privacy.

Unzipping the her flight suit, Maki let the top half of it fall around her waist before wrapping the sleeves together in a knot. Her standard issue UEE vest and slacks were underneath, but she figured that with three of their best pilots down here, the Lincoln would be sending a party to the surface soon. That meant she needed to be ready to jump back into action at anytime, so she opted to keep her attire on her as much as possible. It didn't mean she wasn't going to play mind games with the guards though. Maki intentionally lowered the waistband of her slacks to give them a peek at the black panties she was wearing. Her vest she removed, showing off her torso and sports bra underneath wrapped bandages.

[i]Please let one of them be dumb enough to try and make a move.[/i] She hoped silently.

History was full of prisoners who turned into McGyvers during their incarceration, including a German man who somehow build a working shotgun using only what he was given access to. These stories had inspired some of the female pilots in the Raiders to get creative as well. Knowing that most soldiers were looking for obvious weapons like knives and guns, they took to keeping materials that could be fashioned into weapons if needed but also easily missed in a pat down or body search. That meant the age old hiding spot for women that most people tended to overlook - their boobs.

Undoing the first layer of wrappings revealed a two inch long razor blade hidden inside the bandages, along with a metal wire. Since the man who had run the metal detector over her body had no clue how female apparel worked, she had managed to convince him she was simply wearing a bra wih an underwire. The metal wire she bent and twisted together until it was firm enough to form the skeleton of the blade handle. The rest was simply a matter of wrapping the bandages around until she had a makeshift dagger easily concealed on her person. While not a weapon that would be able to handle much abuse, Maki could use it to kill a guard or two if she had to. Besides, it was more for her own defense than offense.

Trapp had a good view of all this, since they had been placed in opposite cells. No doubt the Coalition intended to interrogate them and use this to their advantage. Make one watch the condition of the other deteriorate with multiple beatings, and hope the other one cracks to save their comrade. Though all it did now was inform the man that he happened to be trapped with the craziest bitch in the 101st. Maki winked at Trapp and started talking, even though she was certain he couldn't hear her. He could read her lips, at least.

[color=00a651]"Care to wager how long it takes for those sorry asses to come get us?"[/color]

UEE protocol would call on Alexis to cut her losses and retreat, declare the mission a failure. Ardin might make a fuss but ultimately decide to save his own sorry hide and blaming the Captain for her ineptitude. Alice being down here changed things, but Maki knew that the captain wouldn't rush the mission, even if her favourite supermodel Japanese pilot risked having her pretty face ruined.

She was sure the Hellcat had managed to at least broadcast her "death letter" and last known position to the Lincoln, but it would take them time to use that location to pinpoint where the pilots were being held. Take too long, and the Coalition might decide that two hostages were plenty useful bargaining chips. Assuming they wouldn't be moved to throw off the scent or killed outright, there was still plenty of time for things to go wrong.

Hopefully the soldiers stationed here would be too busy trying to find Alice to respond effectively. A rapid orbital descent would make it to the surface long before infantry could in this terrain. The only real threat would come from other MAS or anti-air defenses, and even the only for the heavier machines. Some of the lights would simply evaporate the defenses before then.