In its new configuration, the SDF-1 is able to repel the attacking Zentraedi forces, although at great cost to Macross City. The modular transformation destroys much of the city, due to the radical effects on the fortress’s basic structure. In the months that follow, the citizens pull together and repair the damage. Once again, they try to lead normal lives. In its new configuration, the SDF-1 is able to repel the attacking Zentraedi forces, although at great cost to Macross City. The modular transformation destroys much of the city, due to the radical effects on the fortress’s basic structure. In the months that follow, the citizens pull together and repair the damage. Once again, they try to lead normal lives.

Rick Hunter decides to join the Robotech Defense Force after all and becomes a Veritech fighter pilot. As Rick gets the unsettling information that his new commanding officer is Lisa Hayes, someone he still refers to as “that old sourpuss”, Captain Gloval receives his own bad news. In trying to trace the missing fold system generator, his crew has discovered that its disappearance may have distorted the actual fabric of the space/time continuum. Gloval can only guess at how this will affect their attempt to return to Earth.

The Zentraedi track the SDF-1 to its hiding place in the rings of Saturn. Captain Gloval attempts a blitzkrieg maneuver to take them past the alien armada. As the SDF-1 battles its way through, Rick Hunter takes part in his official combat duty. On the bridge, Lisa Hayes comes up with an offensive strategy of her own – the Daedalus maneuver – which allows the SDF-1 to defeat the main Zentraedi destroyer.