Irry looked up with a grimace as the alarms sounded, before shifting his glance back to the others. Around her, they all showed the same gut reaction she did; at least the reactions of fighter pilots were something that were the same across the species divide. They all moved instinctively, heading for their craft.
"Commander," Irry said, pausing to turn back to Hayes. "Are you going to return to the Macross?"
"No," said Lisa firmly, shaking her head. "Space is about to get a lot more dangerous in the next few minutes, and an unarmed shuttle is no place to be in the middle of it all. And besides - If I'm going to be working from the bridge from now on, I ought to take my place there instead of hiding. Now go; your pilots need you. I can find my own way. Good luck!"
Irry managed a passable imitation of the humans' salute, before she too ran for her SV-VII, hot on the heels of the rest of her welcoming committee. As she turned, she caught the eye of the blond human. He paused as he met eyes with her, giving a tight smile and an affirming nod. She twitched her tail and returned the gesture, and waved to the others. 
"Be careful!" she called, before running to her fighter and climbing aboard. A crewman tossed her helmet, and assisted her with buckling in, before the overhead grapple-crane arm locked around the points on the back of the fighter, and lifted it onto the elevator with the human and a handful of other Sentinel craft close behind. Armoured bulkhead doors slide closed behind the fighters, and the elevator lifted them to launch deck level. 
Fighters were already streaming off of the catapults, Alpha/Beta pairs, solo Alphas and Betas, and Delta fighters. Across the gulf between the two ships, she caught sight of the same routine underway on the [i]Macross[/i] as the two 'arms' of the ship thrust fighters into the void from their deck-side catapults. Then the deck-crewman waved her along with lighted batons, close behind Nawlin, who launched moments ahead. She glanced sideways and saw the blond human in his white-and-blue fighter, his head was down, but then he looked up and saw her again, giving a thumbs up.
The catapult shoe engaged, and she ran the engines up to power at the light-signal from ahead, before toeing off the brakes. A slam in her back, and the Alpha was airborne.

Gabe felt whisked along as events continued around him. The sirens going off had been the start of it, and he'd been swept up since then. So far, it was all so familiar; the grapple arm was a bit different, but served the same purpose as an aircraft tug, and the catapult deck was familiar enough. 
He caught sight of the red panda, who was looking his way. He gave her an affirmative thumbs-up, she seemed nice enough so far, and was looking out for the human contingent pretty well. Besides, he recognized her Alpha from the previous battle. She'd covered his ass at one point, and he'd done the same back. She had some skills, and had put herself out there for the RDF forces. That kind of thing was something you gave a little respect and understanding for. 
The Sentinel manning the catapult waved him forward, and the shoe engaged with a CLUNK. A blast deflector came up behind, and a familiar human voice crackled in his ear; another of the crew who'd crossed over as part of the RDF contingent, no doubt.
"Commander Strucker, cleared on takeoff. Form up with uh -" there was a quiet moment, before the voice came back "-Lieutenant Colonel Jacquo and her unit. Intercept enemy bandits, and draw them away from both friendly vessels so we can engage the enemy targets, over".
"Affirmative, CIC. Received and understood. Break. Ahlstrom, Suzuki - form up on me. We're joining the Sentinels lead on this op, the objective is to intercept the battle-crabs before they reach home-plate, and draw them off so they can bring the big guns into play. Over".

Irry monitored the stream of info going back and forth as the Sentinels and RDF pilots sorted themselves out of a muddle and into something approaching a tactical formation as the Invid ships closed in. Ahead of their [url=http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs35/f/2008/302/7/6/Shadow_Battlecrab_by_Amras_Arfeiniel.jpg]main ships,[/url] a trio of the clam-like assault carriers powered ahead, accelerating to reach the predefined point in space where they'd open their shell-like doors, and all manner of crab-like Invid mecha would vomit forth into the void. Unlike the bigger vessels, their hulls gleamed burnt red under the distant glow of Valivarre, the system primary star. 
"Stand by for contact," Irry advised in a tense voice over the squadron channel. "Launch long-range missiles on my mark, over"
"Wait one," advised Lisa's voice from the CIC. "Hold your current course and speed, over"
A flurry of flashes of light rippled from the [i]Sentinel[/i] and [i]Macross,[/i] as anti-ship missiles blasted forth from the VLS silos on both ships, and from the remaining escorts. The swarm of missiles rapidly overtook the fighter formation, lancing ahead toward the Troop Carriers and more distant capital ships. Bright beams stabbed out from the Invid ships, and numerous explosions dotted the silent expanse. However, almost as many of the cap-ship class missiles, each bigger than the fighters themselves, got through, and dotted the hulls of the enemy ships with silent wounds.
Then the Invid ships were through. The doors on their upper and lower hulls yawned open, and red and purple invid mecha blasted into the blackness on blue points of light, streaming globes of plasma and lethal frisbees of energy towards the fighters.
"All ships, [i]fire![/i]" called Irry, letting rip with her long-range missiles. Others followed suit, the missiles corkscrewing into the blackness on white trails. "Break and engage!" she followed up, and hauled her fighter into an effortless wingover, diving in pursuit of a shock-trooper as it attempted to sneak through the formation. Gabe blasted in hot pursuit, as Invid mecha barrelled through the formation and attempted to dodge-and-dive for the ships behind them, while their capital ships closed distance.