Second Robotech War

In the fictional world of Robotech, the Second Robotech War (2029-2030) was a conflict between the earth-based Army of the Southern Cross and the alien Robotech Masters. The Second Robotech War ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the Army of the Southern Cross, weakening the Earth's defense forces and providing the motivation for the Invid who were seeking the Invid Flower of Life to invade less than a year later in the spring or summer of 2031.

Roots
For a full discussion of the preceding First Robotech War, see the associated article. The Second Robotech War traces its roots to the end of that conflict; specifically to the defeat of Supreme Commander Dolza's Grand Fleet. With the failure of this fleet to capture the SDF-1's Protoculture factory, the Robotech Masters travelled to Earth to capture it themselves. At the same time and unaware of this development, the Robotech Expeditionary Force which comprised of most of the Robotech Defense Force and loyal Zentraedi forces, led by Admiral Rick Hunter and Admiral Lisa Hayes with the SDF-3 as their flagship, eventually departed from Earth to confront the Robotech Masters at their home system. Among those who joined the mission were Max Sterling, Miriya Sterling, Vince Grant, Breetai and Exedore.

In their stead, The United Earth Forces (UEF), including the elite Army of the Southern Cross, was charged with the defense of Earth, under the command of Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard. Among those who would lead the defense of Earth against the Robotech Masters are Lieutenant Dana Sterling, Private Bowie Grant, Major General Rolf Emerson, Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard, GMP officer Nova Satori, and Lieutenant Marie Crystal. Dana, the daughter of war heroes Max Sterling and Miriya Sterling, is the catalyst for much of the conflict due to her excellent tactical skills and her half-Zentraedi heritage.

Earth had changed considerably since the end of the First Robotech War in 2014. The old capital, New Macross City, had been sealed off due to radiation contamination resulting from the destruction of the SDF-1 and survivors were relocated to the new capital of Monument city. The elite Army of the Southern Cross was based here as well, with a headquarters consisting of a massive complex, with several large circular towers, located at the centre of the city.

Democracy had largely ceased to function and in its place an unstable feudal society had evolved. This society, evolving out from the 70,000 survivors of the Zentraedi holocaust of 2011, had survived seemingly insurmountable odds against alien forces that had sought their annihilation. While the United Earth Government (UEG) still existed, its authority had become secondary to Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard whose decisions and orders, military or otherwise, were never questioned.

The Global Military Police (GMP), also based in Monument City, held considerable power. Due to the feudal nature of earth society, the GMP constituted the only truly worldwide law-enforcement organization, and was a check and balance on those who had at their disposal the tremendous power of Robotechnology. As a result, the GMP was not merely a police force but also maintained its own war machinery, combat forces, and intelligence network.

Robotech Masters Timeline
2015
 * Construction of Expeditionary Forces vessels continues in preparation for large scale mission to find the homeworld of the Robotech Masters.

2016
 * Preliminary navigational surveys are conducted with long-range advance scout vessels, laying the groundwork for the main Robotech Expeditionary Force.

2022 December
 * SDF-3 launches and takes its position as the flagship of the Robotech Expeditionary Force, marking the official start of the "Pioneer" mission.

2029 January
 * The Robotech Masters fleet arrives in the solar system and take up a position in orbit around Saturn. Shortly thereafter, contact with Earth's strategic orbital observation outpost, Space Station Liberty, is lost.
 * Responding to loss of contact with Space Station Liberty, an Earth fleet comes under attack from the (as yet unidentified) Robotech Masters' forces. Additional Earth forces arrive and the enemy fleet retreats after gathering battle data.

2029 April
 * One of the Robotech Masters motherships enters Earth orbit and launches a probing attack against Earth defense forces near Monument City. The attack is repulsed, but the mothership remains in Earth orbit.
 * In the face of imminent hostilities, the Army of the Southern Cross (made up of elite troops from the United Earth Forces), prepares its counterattack. Details about the enemy are announced to the public and the government and military prepare for war.

2029 May
 * A combined attack by Earth's defense forces against the Robotech Masters' flagship results with heavy losses. The Masters retaliate, and attack a major military base near Monument City. The attack is successfully repelled by the quick action of several local units, but the weaknesses of the United Earth Forces against Masters have become apparent.

2029 June
 * A mission is launched to reestablish the link between Earth and Space Station Liberty, its Moon Base counterpart and the Robotech Expeditionary Force in deep space. Despite heavy harassment by the Robotech Masters' forces, the mission succeeds and contact between Earth and Liberty is temporarily reestablished.

2029 July
 * The Robotech Masters launch a clandestine expedition to excavate the ruins of the SDF-1. They are discovered by two UEF soldiers on patrol. One soldier is captured and held in the Masters' command vessel.
 * An unauthorized mission is launched that succeeds in rescuing the captured soldier. During the ensuing battle, reinforcements arrive on both sides, and the fight quickly devolves into a stalemate. A Robotech Masters mothership arrives on the scene and the bioroids and command vessel withdraw.

2029 August
 * An undeclared cease fire is broken when the Robotech Masters attack and destroy a UEF base. Twenty human survivors are taken captive, leading to public outrage.
 * Under pressure from government leaders, General Anatole Leonard (Supreme Commander of the Army of the Southern Cross) orders an immediate retaliatory strike against the counsel of some of his advisors. The resulting attack against the Master's mothership is a complete failure.
 * Research proceeds on Robotech Masters technology. The bioroid pilots are concluded to be human by Earth scientists, and not micronized Zentraedi, as had been assumed. This information is kept top secret.
 * A weakness in the Robotech Masters mothership is discovered and a squadron of hovertanks (15th ATAC) is air-dropped onto the hull of the Masters' flagship to exploit this vulnerability. The attack is successful and the alien mothership is brought down and crashes to Earth within sight of Monument City.
 * The 15th ATAC Squadron, led by Lieutenant Dana Sterling, succeeds in infiltrating the crashed mothership. Valuable intelligence is gathered from inside, including the capture of a bioroid mecha.

2029 September
 * Analysis of the captured bioroid reveals much information about the Robotech Masters' mecha as well as their use of android clones.
 * Constant patrols begin around the downed flagship as debate within the general staff continues regarding the Masters and their true objectives toward Earth.
 * The Robotech Masters launch attacks against the civilian populace of Monument City, and over two hundred prisoners are taken.

2029 October
 * In their quest to find out more information about the humans on Earth, the Robotech Masters decide to insert Zor Prime, one of their prized clones, into human society as a spy. He is allowed to be captured during a battle in which the Masters successfully recover the mothership that had crash landed on Earth.
 * A wounded Zor Prime is captured by the Global Military Police. With the cooperation of Army of the Southern Cross Chief of Staff, General Rolf Emerson, Zor is sequestered and receives medical attention in a secure location.
 * A ship from the Pioneer Mission arrives from deep space and is destroyed while ramming and destroying one of the Masters' motherships. General Leonard and Emerson are informed that they cannot expect any immediate help from the Robotech Expeditionary Force.

2030 January
 * Under the direction of General Emerson, Zor Prime is assigned into a Southern Cross unit. It is hoped that a military environment will awaken his memories as a Bioroid pilot. Lieutenant Sterling's 15th squadron is chosen because of her part Zentraedi heritage, and because of her previous encounters with him in the field.
 * Zor Prime overhears General Emerson's comments that an attack by the Earth fleet is in preparation, and this information is intercepted by the Masters, who have implanted a neurosensor into Zor's brain to monitor him and gather information on the human battle plans.

2030 March
 * Earth launches its first major offensive against the Masters in space. With the Masters tipped off to the attack and to the strength of Earth's forces by the implant in Zor Prime's brain, it is quickly and soundly defeated, and the few surviving capital ships fall back to the ALUCE-1 base on the moon.
 * Zor begins to remember the Triumvirate nature of the Robotech Masters. This is confirmed by observations made during the battle in space. Dana Sterling and Zor Prime also discover the presence of alien flowers within the ruins of the SDF-1.
 * Supreme Commander Leonard orders that a second assault wave be deployed with orders to link up with the remnants of the first assault wave and then launch a combined attack on the Masters.

2030 April
 * The Robotech Masters, through information provided by their unwitting spy, Zor Prime, ambushes the Cavalry-1 relief expedition that has been sent to relieve the battered remnants of the 1st Assault Wave. Despite the odds, the 1st Assault Wave and Cavalry-1 succeed in their counterattack, forcing the Robotech Masters to withdraw. Cavalry-1 proceeds to the moon and the remaining ships of the 1st Assault Wave safely return to Earth.
 * General Rolf Emerson is appointed to lead the second major offensive against the Robotech Masters.

2030 May
 * En route to the Moon, General Emerson's force is attacked by a battlegroup of small Robotech Masters capital ships and bioroids. After a vicious firefight, Emerson employs a dangerous technique known as a "Molecular Vacuum" to defeat the Masters' forces and is able to deliver troops and supplies to Moon Base Luna.

2030 June
 * Along with reinforcements from deep space, General Emerson's Second Offensive launches a combined attack on the Robotech Masters fleet, allowing the insertion of the 15th Tactical Armored Squadron into the alien mothership. The Robotech Masters reassert their control over their clone, Zor Prime, and succeed in capturing the insertion team. Dana Sterling and her team manage to escape and rescue Zor Prime while also destroying the Masters' mothership in the process. Both sides withdraw as a final decisive battle looms on the horizon.
 * The situation for the Robotech Masters has become desperate. Their clones are becoming harder to control and increasingly unreliable while most of their protoculture pods have become infected by the Flower of Life. An event that foreshadows the imminent arrival of their archenemy, the Invid. The Masters resolve to recover the protoculture factory, locked within deep recesses of Zor's battlefortress (now the ruins of the SDF-1.)
 * Triggered by being inside the ruins of the SDF-1, Zor Prime regains the memories of the original Zor, founder of the great Robotech civilization and creator of Robotechnology. Zor Prime vows to destroy the Robotech Masters and the protoculture matrix once and for all.
 * Despite the Masters' ultimatum demanding the humans leave Earth immediately, Supreme Commander Leonard orders all forces to gather for a final assault. Casualties on both sides are heavy, with Leonard and General Emerson both being killed in action. Despite heavy losses, the Masters press on toward their objective: the ruins of the SDF-1.
 * With the assistance of Dana Sterling and the 15th Squadron, Zor succeeds in having his revenge on the Masters and stops them before they can recover the protoculture. After ensuring that Dana and her friends are safely on Earth, Zor attempts to destroy the protoculture matrix by detonating the Masters flagship over the ruins of the SDF-1. However, Zor's last valiant act only succeeds in releasing the spores of the Invid Flower of Life into the sky; spreading the protoculture far and wide instead of destroying it. The Second Robotech War ends as survivors of both sides await the coming of the Invid.

The War
The Second Robotech War began in January of 2029, shortly after the graduation of the first graduating class of the United Earth Forces Military Academy. The new graduates, few of whom were over the age of 20, had pledged to defend Earth but had never expected to face war so soon. The Robotech Masters' first offensive was a surprise attack on forces from Moon Base Luna.

The Robotech Masters' fleet fought against Earth's Tristar-class cruisers, destroyers, and other vessels. Earth's military consisted of the United Earth Forces (UEF), including the elite Army of the Southern Cross, and local militas. Most of the war took place on Earth or near Earth, and it involved the Tactical Armored Space Corps and the Alpha Tactical Armored Corps. Other units which saw action were the Tactical Air Force, Global Military Police, Civil Defense Unit and Civil Defense Flying Corps. In the war's most important battles, the TASC (including Lieutenant Marie Crystal) and the 15th ATAC (led by First Lieutenant Dana Sterling) inflicted much of the Terran forces' damage upon the Robotech Masters fleet (including one of the six motherships shot down by the 15th).

Determined to achieve victory at any cost, the Masters turn their weapons on the cities of Earth. Using a very powerful electro-magnetic fisson beam, the cities Newton and Manville are demolished as they disappear under huge mushroom clouds. The attacks result in numerous civilian deaths since many had been unable to reach the shelters in time. Military units defending the city are also destroyed as well as a number of Masters' bioroids soldiers who had been engaged in ground combat in the cities. The Masters then contact Supreme Commander Leonard and order him to surrender and evacutate the planet. Leonard refuses and orders all remaining Southern Cross forces to assemble at Monument City for a last stand. Monument City has already suffered severe damage and refugees, stream out of the city in search of safety but are largely left on their own as the military continues to utilize all resources available to fight the Masters.

In the final stages of the war, both sides resort to desperate tactics. For the Earth forces, every available resource was thrown into the battle, including all reserve and militia units and every piece of machinery capable of aiding the fight. In some cases, even children took up arms to defend their planet. The Masters, facing energy and manpower shortages, resorted to even more desperate tactics. Soldiers who could still fight were given massive doses of painkillers, stimulants, and adrenaline to enable them to truly fight to the end. The Masters also resort to setting adift on smaller ships all of the clones that are unable to fight in order to conserve power.

In the final stage of the war, the Masters, desperate to retrieve the protoculture at any cost, launch a diversionary assault. Half of their forces are secretly sent to seize control of the ruins of the SDF-1 and destroy Monument City. With the bulk of UEF forces sent into space, the Masters' forces quickly overwhelm the remaining defenders, seizing control of the ruins and devastating Monument City and its surrounding military installations. In particular, the massive headquarters of the Southern Cross is vaporized, killing Supreme Commander Leonard and much of the senior leadership. However, the Masters pay a heavy cost - with only half their forces remaining in space to protect the motherships, the UEF forces that had been dispatched to space easily overwhelm them and begin attacking the now defenseless motherships. The Masters, determined to retrieve the protoculture from the SDF-1 ruins at any cost, send their flagship down to the surface, while the remaining motherships are left almost adrift. This tactic results in the UEF forces concentrating their attacks on these motherships, and destroying all of them while The masters' own mothership easily reaches the surface. It is only through the efforts of [Dana Sterling] and Zor Prime, who were onboard the Masters' flagship, that the command Triumvirate is killed and the Masters finally stopped.

The war's end came in June of 2030 when Zor Prime, after jettisoning Dana Sterling in an escape pod, rigs the flagship of the Robotech Masters' fleet to self-destruct above the ruins of the SDF-1 in hopes of destroying the spores within the SDF-1. However, the resulting explosion inadvertently frees the spores within the Protoculture factory's matrix. Another alien race called the Invid would detect the spores and would travel across the galaxy to Earth to harvest them.

The Aftermath
The Second Robotech War had left the Earth's defense forces weakened and leaderless with both Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard and Major General Rolf Emerson being killed. The war also left the industrial and political infrastructure of the Earth in tattered shape. With the authority and capabilities of the United Earth Government (UEG) and the Global Military Police (GMP) nearly destroyed, the feudal society that had evolved to slide into lawlessness as surviving cities became city-states and warred with one another and men and women rose quickly to positions of power only to fall just as swiftly.

With the disruption of the Japanese centers of Robotech research and the military and economic infrastructure of North America severely crippled, the defensive capabilities of the surviving members of the United Earth Forces (UEF), including the elite Army of the Southern Cross, swiftly degraded from advanced mecha and starships to late 20th century (pre-SDF-1) technology. When the Invid invaded less than a year later in 2031, the few military units that were even combat-capable were forced to fight the Invid with conventional ordinance and a small supply of Nuclear weapons in a battle that they could never hope to win. In less than a week, the remaining forces of the UEF and the Southern Cross were completely destroyed and the remaining bastions of the United Earth Government collapsed. The Invid took complete control of the planet, and ruthlessly hunted down and destroyed any resistence.

Thus, one year after the Second Robotech War ended, the Third Robotech War began, a war which would last for 13 years, during which the remaining suvivors on Earth found themselves at the mercy of the Invid who utilized the humans for labour and for scientific experiments. Many major Earth population centers are destroyed, while others are simply abandoned. Some humans would ally with the Invid in exchange for power, while criminal gangs, self-appointed leaders and a variety of cults took power in areas not under Invid control while others fled to isolated areas of the planet and reverted to simple hunter-gather socities.

The Robotech Master's advice - that Earth be evacuated - was never a viable option. The Jack Mckinney Robotech novels state that even if the birth rate dropped to zero and all resources were devoted to construction of spacecraft, it would take at least 10 years to evacuate the planet. In addition, the war had destroyed most of the UEF's spaceships and severely damaged the industrial base of the planet. This, combined with the political fragmentation of the planet following the war, made any evacuation nearly impossible. However, a small number of people were able to reach Moon Base ALUCE or Space Station Liberty. In addition, several ships managed to escape and rendevous with the Robotech Expeditionary Force to inform them of Earth's fate.