A History of the Robotech Expeditionary Forces

Earth's first contact with the interstellar community occurs when an alien space ship crash lands in the South Pacific. The nations of the world ban together into a United Earth Government and work begins on reverse engineering the alien technology. This new science is dubbed Robotechnology. Along with new research, the technology is also put to use to reconstruct the salvaged alien craft.

The launch of the reconstructed alien vessel, now renamed the Super Dimension Fortress One (SDF-1), is interrupted with the arrival of the Zentraedi. These giant aliens have come to retrieve their masters' lost battle fortress. The First Robotech War begins as the Robotech Defense Forces battle the alien invaders.

The First Robotech War ends in a cataclysimic battle with the massive Zentraedi fleet. Earth is nearly annihilated but in the end the SDF-1 and newly-found allies among a breakaway group of Zentraedi emerge victorious. Reconstruction and recovery efforts begin among humanity's survivors.

Earth and its Zentraedi allies capture a Robotech factory satellite from hostile Zentraedi control. This satellite will enable Earth to build its own space fleet. Meanwhile, on Earth, many Zentraedi survivors encounter difficulty assimilating to civilian life and begin rebelling against the United Earth Government.

The SDF-1 and the unfinished SDF-2 are destroyed in a suicide attack that also kills the leaders of the Zentraedi rebellion.

Construction begins on the Robotech Expeditionary Fleet.

Navigational surveys are performed by long-range advance scout vessels. Their mission is two-fold: to seek out new worlds for humanity to colonize; and to seek out the homeworld of the Robotech Masters, the beings who created and controlled the Zentraedi.

The first of the Angel-class colony ships launches with 100,000 civilian colonists aboard. The Angel class vessels will settle Earth's first interstellar colonies. Thirteen of these giant space craft will be launched in the next decade, before increased hostilities makes further colonization efforts too dangerous. The remaining Angel class vessels sit idle in the factory satellite shipyards.

The SDF-3 Pioneer launches, beginning her mission to the Robotech Masters' homeworld of Tirol.

The Pioneer mission reachs Tirol only to find it has been abandoned by its rulers, leaving the remaining populace to fend for themselves in the face of an attack by the Tirolians enemy, the Invid. The SDF-3 helps liberate Tirol from the Invid but find themselves out of contact from Earth due to damage sustained to the vessel's FTL fold drives. Trapped far from home, the members of the Pioneer mission ally themselves with a group of aliens called the Sentinels, members of several alien races conquered by the Invid. Over the next several years, the Expeditionary forces assist Sentinels in battle after battle to free the aliens' homeworlds.

The last of the Sentinels' worlds is liberated and the Pioneer mission is able to re-establish contact with the rest of the Expeditionary Forces and Earth's colonies. With the Invid threat looming over the galaxy, the Robotech Expeditionary Force and the Sentinel races join forces again to combat this alien evil. The Invid War begins.

Earth comes under attack by the Robotech Masters, who fled their own homeworld and have come there to take possession of the last known source of the mysterious Protoculture. The Second Robotech War begins.

The Robotech Masters are defeated by Earth's defenders, the Army of the Southern Cross. The victory is a pyrrhic one, however, as the final battle claims the lives of the leaders of Earth's military and government. Also, as a consequence of the final battle, the Protoculture mutates and spreads spores of the Invid Flower of Life across Earth.

Alerted to the presence of the Flower of Life, Invid forces invade Earth. The planet's remaining defenders are overwhelmed and Earth is swiftly conquered. Already embroiled in the war with the Invid in deep space, the Robotech Expeditionary Force cannot spare any forces to help liberate humanity's homeworld.