Macross, Robotech

In the fictional world of Robotech, the First Robotech War (February 2009-April 2011) was a conflict between the earth-based Robotech Defense Force and the alien Zentraedi. more...

Though it ended with the Earth Forces victorious, that victory was won at a terrible cost, with much of the Earth's surface and population devastated.

Roots

The First Robotech War's roots were laid in 1999 when an alien spaceship (known then by the rather graceless moniker of ASS-1) crash landed on the fictional Macross Island in the South Pacific, ending a decade of global warfare. Given teeth by the secret discovery of alien people over two dozen feet tall, the United Earth Government acted quickly to unify the warring factions and rebuild the spacecraft. The rebuilt ship was christened Macross after the island on which it had landed and was given the designation SDF-1 (which during and after its operational life it was most frequently called).

Unknown to mankind at the time, the Zentraedi were hot on the ship's tail, and headed for its last known location: Earth. Fortunately, battles with the alien Invid delayed the Zentraedi for several years.

The War

The war began on the day of the scheduled launch of the SDF-1 in February 2009 (during the early summer in the Southern Hemisphere location of Macross Island) when a large Zentraedi armada led by Commander Breetai arrived on Earth and began an assault in order to recover the battlefortress. The SDF-1 managed to lift off amidst an urban battle between the Robotech Defense Forces and the Zentraedi in the streets of Macross City. An attempted counterstrike by two ARMD class carriers of the Orbital Fleet failed miserably, so the SDF-1´s commander, Captain Henry J. Gloval ordered a space fold maneuver to evade the Zentraedi. The space fold also caught Macross Island along with the fortress, and transported them farther than Pluto instead of the dark side of the moon. Rebuilding Macross City inside the fortress and relocating the city´s 70,000 inhabitants onboard, the SDF-1 began the long voyage to Earth.

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