As Mei was finishing off another fight, the Starwolf leader flew past her, drawing her gaze temporarily as the enemy fighter exploded. She watched as they let loose a barrage of attacks aimed at the assault carriers, wreaking havoc on the ships’ hulls, as well as their internal structures. From there, they began to take out a plethora of enemy fighters that descended on them, switching between forms to do so.<br/><br/>She couldn’t help but feel rather envious of the fighter’s maneuverability. What she wouldn’t give to spend a little time in a fighter like that. She could wreak a lot of havoc with that kind of maneuverability. Unfortunately, that would have to wait for now, as she had no real prospects for satisfying that itch, and she had other things to attend to.<br/><br/>She focused on the task at hand for the moment. Emile, it seemed, had reached his limit, as he decided to head back to the Elysion, as many of the other pilots had done. Mei was glad that he had the presence of mind to recognize his limits and withdraw before he ended up getting himself hurt, or worse. For her part, she was feeling no such effects as of yet, and she’d not taken any hits that required repair, so she opted instead to remain in the battle.<br/><br/>She fired several of her own missiles at a group of incoming fighters as she moved to intercept them. Of course, it wasn’t as though the Akula pilot needed any assistance, as it seemed that he had the situation well under control. Still, he was already swarmed with fighters, even if he was making quick work of them, and it wasn’t as though she had anything better to do. It appeared that they were at least temporarily allies, so it wouldn’t hurt to provide some cover for him, whether or not it was necessary.<br/><br/>The first two fighters in the group fell to her missiles before she’d even moved to block their path forward. She grinned to herself as she got into position and prepared to strike. What she wouldn’t give to have a blade in her hand. For now, her current weapons would have to do. Much like before, she blasted forward, into the fray, before coming to an abrupt halt in the midst of the fighters and immediately transformed into her guardian form, firing off missiles at two of the fighters, one directly behind her and one in front of her that was hovering higher than the others.<br/><br/>At the same time, she deployed her guns and targeted the two to either side of her, the carefully aimed bursts tearing through their armor as the other two exploded. She then propelled herself upwards, towards one of the remaining fighters. Firing a burst from her guns, she watched the fighter begin to fall as she transformed back into her fighter mode and pulled up, turning her fighter back around to fire at one of the three remaining fighters.<br/><br/>She had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid being struck by the missiles that flew her way, courtesy of one of those remaining fighters, clicking her tongue when she only narrowly managed not to avoid one of those missiles. Annoyed, she transformed back into her guardian mode and spun around, firing a few more rounds than was strictly necessary into the offending fighter. That left two more fighters.<br/><br/>She reassessed their locations, finding that one had broken away and was nearing the Starwolf leader, while the other had remained behind, presumably to distract her. “Tsk. Like it’d be that easy,” she shook her head and aimed at the one who had broken away. Again, she knew that he could handle the fighter just fine on his own, but it was a matter of pride at this point. She’d decided not to let them reach him, and she wouldn’t.<br/><br/>They were almost out of the range of her weapons, but she wouldn’t miss. She fired the rounds and, knowing they wouldn’t miss, immediately transformed back into her fighter mode to evade the oncoming assault from the fighter behind her that was now almost on her tail. The fighter ahead began to fall from the sky after their engines exploded into flames just before they might have reached their target.<br/><br/>She grinned victoriously to herself as she watched the wreckage fall, but it didn’t last long, as she rolled and evaded more oncoming fire from the fighter on her tail. She didn’t have a wingman this time, so she would have to shake them off and deal with them herself.  She floored it, jetting forward and as the fighter behind her gunned it to follow her, she abruptly slowed her speed, transforming and coming to a complete standstill as they blew past her. “Buh bye,” she said as she aimed her guns and fired, watching as yet another pile of wreckage fell from the sky.<br/><br/>She let out a sigh, glad she had been able to finish the last one off herself, rather than having to ask for help. Not that she was above doing so, but if she could avoid it, especially from someone who had been her enemy until very recently, she would. While she had a moment, she reassessed her armaments. She had been judicious in her use, to make them last as long as possible before she would need to rearm, but she would need to go in soon at this rate.<br/><br/>For now, though, she would have to make do with what she had remaining, as another squadron of enemy fighters was heading this way. She would fall back when it was necessary, as she couldn’t very well be a bad example for her wingman. For the moment, though, she had enough to last a little longer, and she had a little fight left in her yet.