Robotech - Second Robotech War

Background

The Second Robotech War began with the end of the first. When their Zentraedi slaves failed to recover the Protoculture Matrix from Earth the Robotech Masters had little choice but to come and retrieve it themselves. Taking what they deemed as the best of their civilization, the Robotech Masters abandoned their homeworld in a fleet of giant motherships intent on taking back the Protoculture Matrix at all cost. Due to their own dwindling supplies of Protoculture the Robotech Masters could not fold directly to Earth so the journey would take them years longer than it would have when they were at the peak of their power.

Open Warfare

Almost twenty years after they had left their world the Robotech Masters arrived in the Solar System, appearing near Saturn. Detected by Liberty Observer Group, a deep space reconnaissance group of the Tactical Armored Space Corps, the Masters destroyed the fleet and followed that attack with one that disabled the primary space monitoring station at Moon Base Luna. Afterward the Robotech Masters retreated back to their hiding place near Saturn while the United Earth Forces attempted to identify the mysterious attackers.

After several months of observing Earth the Robotech Masters made their move. The fleet of motherships advanced quickly, taking up positions in Earth orbit and immediately began disabling the surveillance and communications satellite network. This was followed up by an attack against Monument City, the largest military presence the Robotech Masters could detect near where they believed the Protoculture Matrix to be hidden. Earth forces initially believed the attackers to be rogue Zentraedi, remnants from the original fleet or leftover Malcontents, but intercepted and deciphered transmissions soon identified the mysterious attackers as the Robotech Masters themselves.

North American Theater

Being the resting place of the lost Protoculture Matrix as well as the site of several major United Earth Forces bases, North America was the site of the majority of the major combat action during the war. Monument City was particularly heavily targeted due to its proximity to the SDF-1 ruins (site of the Protoculture) and it being the central headquarters of the Southern Cross. The presence of Protoculture-powered NWO mecha in Quebec Quadrant made that area a major target as well, with fierce fighting occurring for much of the war.

Most UEF bases also found themselves under frequent attack by the Robotech Masters, including Ontario Base, Fort Baker, New Albuquerque, as well as the RDF bases at Yellowstone and Mexico City. Nomad and refugee centers along the devastated eastern coast were also subject to periodic attacks later in the war, when the Robotech Masters were seeking human subjects for capture and were later the target of the extermination raids when the Masters decided to wipe out humanity.

The western portion of the Confederate States were also subject to periodic attacks, notably the cities of New Atlanta, Little Rock and New Orleans. The southwestern region around the rebuilt city of Phoenix also came under attack by Bioroids several times throughout the war.

South American Theater

South America was not the site of any major battles, but there were frequent minor attacks against UEG holdings across Venezuela Quadrant as well as down in Ascendance City. The eastern coast, from Brazilia Quadrant and the Merchant Republic down through Argentine Quadrant also came under periodic attack by the Robotech Masters.

European Theater

The United Earth government and military centers came under heavy attack throughout the war, making much of Scandinavia Quadrant on of the areas of fiercest fighting. Eastern Scandinavia Quadrant, the former nations of Sweden and Finland was not subject to as many attacks, but did not escape conflict completely.

The European portion of the Russian S.P. of EBSIS was subject to attack as well. Though not under siege like the major United Earth centers had been, the Russian territory did suffer from minor, but almost constant, incursions by Robotech Masters forces; apparently attracted to the EBSIS technological and military centers around Moscow, St. Petersburg and Murmansk.

African Theater

With no major military of government centers, Africa suffered the least during the war. The attacks that did occur concentrated mainly on southern Africa (Luanda and the Southern Cross base at Fort Hope) and eastern Africa (the EBSIS holdings in the former Ethiopia and the Southern Cross forces in the Congo, centered around Fort Victoria).

Asian Theater

Asia saw its share of battles during the war. The largest conflict zone was Japan, where Tokyo and the Robotech Research Facility were under constant attack. Major EBSIS military centers in the Middle East wastelands were also subject to attack, as were the space launch facilities around Baikonur.

China and Manchuria Quadrants, both part under EBSIS control at the time, were also the site of several battles during the course of the war, as were the United Earth Force bases in India Quadrant. Borneo, with its large refugee centers plus the sizable mercenary mecha forces of Brunei also attracted a great deal of attention from the Robotech Masters.

Oceania Theater

Being one of the major UEG centers on the planet (along with North America, Scandinavia, and Japan) made Australia a major target. Early on the Robotech Masters established a major staging area in Western Australia and from there launched constant attacks against UEG and Southern Cross forces from Darwin down through Alice Springs to Perth. The sparsely populated areas between these major targets were not spared either, nor were the refugee center of Brisbane and the wasteland areas around the ruins of Sydney, home to nomads and raiders. Settlements on New Zealand were also subject to periodic raids, while the Southern Cross bases at Queensland and New Guinea were frequently under assault.

Near Earth Orbit and Deep Space Theater

The bulk of the Robotech Masters fleet remained in Earth orbit, with periodic sorties down to the planet. Several space battles were fought, with United Earth Forces usually coming out the worse for it. The moon became a major support center, with the civilian base ALuCE-1 being taken over by the military. Mars bases generally escaped most of the fighting, mostly because the Robotech Masters were concerned solely with the Earth. The final conflict of the war was a major space battle involving all of Earth's space fleet.

Victory

Initially Southern Cross high command was divided on what tactics to use, with Supreme Commander Leonard desiring nothing short of the total annihilation of the alien threat while Chief of Staff General Rolf Emerson favored attempting a negotiated settlement. In the end Field Marshal Leonard solved the problem by transferring all senior officers that disagreed with him to front line positions, including the Chief of Staff. By the end of the war the Robotech Masters, tired and desperate, issued an ultimatum to Earth to evacuate the entire planet or face annihilation. At the same time Leonard ordered all remaining Southern Cross forces into an all or nothing offensive. When the smoke cleared all of the Robotech Masters' motherships had been destroyed but at the cost of Earth's entire space fleet. On the ground Robotech Masters forces had succeeded in destroying nearly every major United Earth Forces center before their forces had been defeated. Earth was saved, but the UEG and the Southern Cross were crippled and on the verge of collapse.

Aftermath

The Robotech Masters' final stratagem was one of scorched earth. In the last days of the war their forces had systematically attacked and annihilated nearly every major, and most minor, Southern Cross and UEG military and civilian centers. As one of his final orders, Field Marshal Leonard had ordered all forces to consolidate around major centers. This meant that the bulk of the government and military leadership was present the central command centers when the Robotech Masters launched their final assault, meaning the majority of the senior military and civilian government personnel were all killed in the last few days of the war. In the wake of the final space battle, the few remaining ships limped back to Earth, crippled and never to fly again, or managed to make it to one of the Moon or Mars bases before succumbing to the massive damage inflicted. This left Earth's space capabilities effectively destroyed and cut off the Moon and Mars bases from support from Earth, not that the planet had much to offer.

The loss of almost the entirety of its central command and control meant that surviving military forces were on their own. With no central authority many areas of the world descended into chaos. Some of the abandoned military forces were simply overwhelmed, destroyed in the violence of the immediate aftermath. There were also still isolated surviving pockets of Robotech Masters forces scattered around the planet so periodic battles continued until well after the officially recognized end of the war.

In some areas the surviving military forces simply seized power for themselves, leading to the creation of dozens, if not hundreds, of small independent baronies popping up across the planet. In other areas civilization simply collapsed into total anarchy where the population struggles daily to survive.

Amongst the few remaining political entities the EBSIS has fared the best, as much as it can be considered. Though subject to the Robotech Masters' final assault as much as the Southern Cross had been, the EBSIS did not lose its central authority figures and apparatus. After the war's end the EBSIS moved quickly to contain the chaos erupting across its territory. Once control was reestablished they began a rebuilding effort that has restored much of their core infrastructure to almost the levels they were at when the war began. This has left the EBSIS as the dominant world power on Earth and they have begun plans to expand into former Southern Cross territories in a bid for total world domination.