Aboard the SDF-1, Vanessa reports to Captain Gloval that twenty-four unidentified objects are touching down just offshore. Gloval asks why they weren't detected earlier, and Vanessa tells him the energy drain from the firing of the main gun knocked out their radar. "Those scout ships were just a decoy," Gloval muses. "Very clever strategy." He asks Lisa to recall Lt. Comm. Fokker's forces, but with the Veritechs still busy fighting off the first wave, Gloval instead orders the carrier Prometheus to send out reconnaissance choppers. Lisa says she's already called for them, and they should arrive in five minutes.

Lieutenant Commander Fokker returns to bring Hunter and Minmei to the safety of the SDF-1. Captain Gloval tries to determine the Zentraedi strategy while Breetai puzzles over how to capture the SDF-1 with the least amount of damage. Exedore warns his commander that, once free of the planet’s gravity, the ship can execute a hyperspace fold that will carry them beyond the reach of Zentraedi weapons. Breetai reluctantly increases the laser bombardment.

While the bridge crew of the SDF-1 plans its next course of action, Rick Hunter tries a maneuver of his own. Initially trapped in the vacuum of space outside the battlefortress when the SDF-1 executed the fold, Rick and Minmei enter an unexplored area of the ship. With the radio broken, they have no way to call for help. Although Roy Fokker quickly determines that his friend is missing, he is ordered to assist in retrieving the surviving 70,000 civilians of Macross Island. The two young people are left to their own resources.

Despite the incredible disruption in their lives, the citizens of Macross City make the best of their situation. Reunited with her aunt and uncle at their restaurant, Lynn Minmei persuades them to reopen. The first Chinese restaurant in space – and Minmei – prove to be very popular with the inhabitants of the SDF-1.