Robotech

The United Earth Forces Military Academy produces its first batch of officers for the Army of the Southern Cross, including 2nd Lts Dana Sterling and Bowie Grant. Bowie is uneasy about being commissioned into the armed forces, but Dana helps him get over it by telling the story of how her famous parents met. The narration is interrupted by the in-system appearance of the Robotech Masters after a 15-year trip.

Dana is thrown into the brig after running afoul of Tactical Armored Space Corps (TASC) officer First Lieutenant Marie Crystal but is released in time for the Southern Cross' first ground-based encounter with the Robotech Masters. The aliens are caught by surprise at the human forces' capabilities. Dana's skills during the battle earns command of the 15th Alpha Tactical Armored Corps (ATAC) after its commanding officer, Captain Sean Phillips, is demoted to private second-class for flirting with a colonel's daughter. Dana is intrigued by visions of a red Bioroid and its pilot.

The 15th Squadron is assigned civil defense duty during an aerial offensive. Dana initially laments the posting, especially when she sees the Masters' counterattack fall upon her base but proves her worth when she orders the 15th ATAC into action. Dana is promoted to first lieutenant after her team repulses the aliens.

Answering a call for volunteers, Dana and members of the 15th ATAC join forces with Marie Crystal in an operation to reestablish communications with Space Station Liberty, which lost contact with Earth shortly after the Robotech Masters' arrival.

Dana and Bowie stumble into an excavation operation by the Robotech Masters in the remains of what was once New Macross City, centered on the earthen mounds that hold the remains of the SDF-1, SDF-2 and Khyron's battlecruiser. Bowie is captured. Enraged by her superiors' refusal to authorize a rescue operation, Dana fakes a late-night training exercise to launch the mission herself.

An impulsive frontal assault ordered by Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard against the Masters' flagship results in the Southern Cross Tactical Armored Space Corps (TASC) hit with heavy losses. Corporal Louie Nichols, one of Dana's troopers, theorizes a potential weakness, and Dana gets approval for a different tactic. Their subsequent attack succeeds in bringing the flagship down to Earth. Meanwhile, Earth scientists study the remains of a Bioroid pilot and discover that the intruders are human, not micronized Zentraedi.

The 15th Squadron's successes make them the military's talk of the town as they are selected for another dangerous mission. The unit is hampered by Bowie's behavior, which has caused him to be arrested twice by Global Military Police (GMP) Lieutenant Nova Satori. Dana decides to leave him to his fate, but his guardian, General Rolf Emerson, intervenes to get him out of the stockade in time for the mission to begin.

The 15th ATAC penetrates the Robotech Masters' flagship, where Bowie encounters a beautiful alien woman who shares his love for music. The Masters entrap the team, but they fight their way out, capturing an enemy Bioroid in the process.

The Southern Cross High Command reviews the footage of the 15th Squadron's reconnaissance of the alien ship and concludes that the Robotech Masters are probably after the remains of the Protoculture Matrix. Commander Leonard rules out negotiations with the aliens. The Masters are frustrated by their failures to clone Robotech genius Zor and consider getting humans as test subjects.