Upon the request of the Robotech Research Group and based in no small part on my highly successful books detailing the Global Civil War and the First Robotech, I have been commissioned to complete four more books to cover the Malcontent Uprising, the Sentinels’ War, the Second Robotech War, and the Third Robotech War. This book describes the Malcontent Uprisings, the general term given to the very turbulent period of history between the First Robotech War and the launch of the launch of the Pioneer Mission.
Due to the nature of this conflict, with multiple conflicts spread around the world occurring simultaneously, a chronological overview is virtually impossible and impractical. Instead, this overview will set the stage for the world as it appear at the beginning of the Malcontent Uprisings and describe each major conflict in chronological order from the time when they become important to world history. For example, this overview will deal with the major Zentraedi uprising that began in 2014 before it deals with General Zhu Lwen’s rebellion in 2017.
Following the disaster of the Zentraedi Holocaust, the United Earth Government completely collapsed. Nothing could prepare the world for the systematic destruction caused by the Zentraedi; in a single instant nearly every major city, industrial center, and military installation was eradiated. Nearly every part of the planet had to deal with the sudden destruction of not only their government, but also the destruction of every international organization that would help to repair the damage caused by the Zentraedi attack. The areas hit the hardest were densely populated cities around the world and the heavily industrialized countries of Western Europe, North America, Japan, and China.
During the first few months following the Zentraedi Holocaust, the remaining elements of the United Earth Government, which had been organized to provide unity to the world’s nations, formed the United World Government, which would govern the world as a series of quadrants and sectors. While national borders would still exist, they were relatively unimportant and the United World Government would operate based on the quadrants and sectors that it had organized across the world.
To fulfill its duty of protecting the Earth, the Robotech Defense Force took control of the remaining forces from the United Earth Defense Force and took command of any military unit that swore loyalty to the United World Government. Exploiting the political naivety of the RDF, the leaders of the United World Government placed themselves in control of the Robotech Defense Force by taking over all financial and most material support that the RDF received. Not wanting to instigate a civil war, the head of the RDF, Admiral Gloval, allowed the United World Government to usurp control over the objections of many of his advisors.
Reconstruction efforts in the months following the Zentraedi Holocaust focused mainly on four areas of the world. The first area was North America, especially the area immediately around where the SDF-1 landed, near the Montana and Calgary border. The second area was in Japan, where the Robotech Research Group wanted to rebuild its advanced technology labs and where a sizable amount of research was recoverable. The third area was the relatively undamaged country of Australia, which would become one of the most prosperous regions on the planet. The forth and final area where the United World Government would spend considerable resources in rebuilding was the Scandinavian countries of Norway and Sweden. The Scandinavian region was chosen to house the headquarters of the United World Government.
Not everyone was happy with the resurgence of the United World Government, and almost as soon as it was created places around the world declare their independence. The first such place was the city of York on the border between the former American states of Ohio and Kentucky. York declared its independence following instructions from the United World Government to develop educational programs to help integrate the Zentraedi population into the Human population. The people in York and the surrounding countryside are opposed to even allowing the Zentraedi to remain on the planet following the devastation that they caused. The city of York and the surrounding territory became the first formally recognized independent nation by the United World Government on September 1, 2011.
The second independent nation is also the most important. From the remains of the Russian Federation, the leaders of the communist party, having risen to power following the detonation of a nuclear bomb in St. Petersburg during the Global Civil War, began gathering their power shortly after the Zentraedi Holocaust. Together with a large number of refugees in Eastern Europe and many undamaged areas of the Middle East, the leaders of the communist party form the Eastern Block Soviet of Independent States (EBSIS). At the winter quickly approached, the EBSIS declared their independence from the United World Government as they saw the UWG spending most of their resources securing their own authority instead of rebuilding the world in a more equal manner. With the independence of the EBSIS, the United World Government had created a powerful and dangerous opponent. The EBSIS commanded the loyalty of a significant and important part of the world, and with the natural resources of the Middle East and the Caspian Sea the EBSIS was able to quickly rebuild their strength following the first deadly winter of 2011-2012. The EBSIS expanded its influence around the world and claimed all of the Middle East, the territory controlled by the former Soviet Union, and most of Western Europe, although it controlled very little of that and eventually had to back down from its claim over most of Europe.
With their focus on rebuilding only a few areas of Earth, the United World Government may have been able to gain strength quickly, but the certainly did not make any friends. The area hardest hit by the government’s policies was Africa. With the removal of the governments that controlled them and the foreign aid that sustained them, Africa began a quick and violent descent into chaos. Through the lower level of organization in most parts of Africa, a large number of military units were untouched by the Zentraedi Holocaust and they became the worst threat to peace on the continent. Sometimes the troops would attempt to organize and protect specific parts of their former countries and some joined the United World Government and the RDF, but most were uncontrollable and undisciplined, killing all who opposed their rule.
The three formally independent Africa nations all came from very different sources. The first group, known as the New Empire of Greater Zimbabwe, was an alliance of local businessmen and corporations that largely survived the Zentraedi Holocaust, and through their shared resources, they were able to gain the support of the local military troops. The second group, led by the Moslem chieftain Sayad Abd-Allah, formed a powerful nation, called the Islamic African Peoples’ Republic, that held influence over the northern part of Africa. The final nation, led by a former American industrialist named John J. Needleman II and called the Ethiopian Free Holding, was formed around a series of industrial complexes protected by hired mercenaries.
In North America, the efforts of the United World Government were beginning to create a backlash. The government’s heavy-handed approach to governing the world, created resentment in two different areas that eventually declared their independence from the UWG. The first area was the Arkansas Protectorate, which violently attacked all United World Government offices within their territory, but left all RDF offices completely undamaged. At the insistence of the RDF, the United World Government withdrew from the Arkansas Protectorate and allowed it to declare its independence. The other independent nation in North America is the former Canadian province of Quebec. The rural communities of the eastern Ontario, of northern Quebec, and western Labrador, banded together and joined with a large number of Zentraedi refugees and declared their independence from the United World Government. As the area was not receiving very much support from the UWG, there was little disruption when the new nation of Quebec closed its borders and isolated itself from the world.
But by far, the most dangerous areas of the world were the areas that had been identified by the RDF as containing violent Zentraedi groups. The RDF designated five areas as Zentraedi Control Zones; they were located in the Amazon Rain Forest, the Congo Rain Forest, the Siberian wilderness, the Indochina quadrant, and the Canadian tundra. By the end of the First Robotech War, most of the rogue Zentraedi had congregated on these five areas, but a quick military assault resulted in the elimination or capture of the Zentraedi in the Canadian tundra regions.
With a powerful United World Government behind it, the RDF continued the colonization programs that had been established by the late Admiral Gloval. Several Zentraedi ships had already been modified to hold a large number of Humans and supplies, all they needed were crews and colonists. Starting in late 2013, alongside the preparations for the Pioneer Mission, the RDF devoted considerable resources to training and selecting crews and colonists for their makeshift colony ships. Using the Fold Drives on the Zentraedi ships, the RDF had already scouted several planets within the immediate vicinity of Earth and selected several as potential sites for colonies. With only a small number of ships that could act as transports and supply ships between the colonies, the RDF decided that there progress should be slow and only launched one colony mission a year from 2015 to 2021, building only seven colonies spread around Earth and the Sol System.
Although there were those within the United World Government that opposed the colonization mission, the leaders of the RDF were adamant, wishing to realize one of the dreams of Admiral Gloval before his untimely death at the end of First Robotech War. Colonists were selected on a volunteer basis and although highly skilled and dedicated individuals were the most desirable, the RDF created programs to train the thousands of uneducated people from China, India, and sections of Africa, where volunteers were plentiful. In the end, almost 70% of all colonists came from these regions and had to be specially trained and educated by the RDF before they departed. Each colony mission, while tailored for their specific destinations, was to be based around the colony ship, which would land on the planet and serve as the main facility for the colony. This plan saved the RDF considerable resources and provided the colonists with a huge resource for the early years of the colony. The landing colony ship would serve as the headquarters for the colony and was equipped with research facilities that colonists may need, as well as an extensive hydroponics bay to grow crops, and a small manufacturing plant to build tools and machines that the colonists might need. Each mission had a total of 10,000 colonists living in relatively cramped conditions, but it was necessary in order to provide the colony mission not only with the critical mass of people needed to establish the new colony, but to provide the new colony with all of the specialized personnel that it would need to build rapidly. The RDF did not want to wait centuries for the colony to become productive, the planners were hoping that each colony would become highly productive and be capable of building new space ships by 2030 or 2040 at the latest. Unfortunately, the RDF's plans did not work out quite that way.
At first, everything went according to plan. The first two colonies were slowly growing and new towns and outposts had already spread across each planet. The first colony was growing slower then originally projected, but it was still within the parameters that the RDF had expected, and the second colony had required an emergency shipment of food after an accident in the hydroponics bay and robbed the colony of nearly all its good for the coming year, but beyond that, nothing was out of the ordinary. With no warning, a group of pirates, using old Zentraedi ships captured in the Sol System, attacked the first colony and stole nearly a billion dollars worth of supplies and equipment. A few months later, a different group of pirates attacked the second colony. Within days of establishing the third colony, another group of pirates attack there. The RDF were baffled by the sudden appearances of these pirates. They were obviously not real Zentraedi soldiers, because they fought more like the Malcontents in South America then real Zentraedi, and there were a few Humans and micronized Zentraedi in their ranks as well. Realizing that they had to defend the colonies or they found be continually attacked by the pirates. The RDF redirected the conversion that some of the fold-capable Zentraedi ships were undergoing and converted them into orbital space stations instead. These space stations were sent to each of the old colonies and a new space station was built for each of the new colonies, but instead of building fourteen colony ships by 2021, the RDF had only built seven and had had to use seven fold-capable ships for the defense of the new colonies. Even with those space stations, the piracy did not stop completely, although it was severely impeded. In total, the growth of all the colonies was slowed by as much as 50%.
With piracy and project delays in mind, the RDF's colonization missions were cancelled in 2021, at the same time the RDF was gutted to find the people necessary for the Robotech Expeditionary Force and the Armies of the Southern Cross. In the years to come, the United World Government still sent the occasional supply ship to the growing colonies and used captured Factory Satellite, renamed Space Station Liberty, to communicate with them, but it rarely put much importance, militarily or politically, into the colonies. The government that had come to power in 2020's had never supported the colonization mission and was just as happy to ignore the problem. Being mostly cut off from the Earth had startled many colonists, but their dire situation on their home world, in areas that had been traditionally ignored by the United World Government, allowed them to adopt their new homes even faster.
Starting in early 2014, the RDF decided to explore Zentraedi activity within southeastern Asia, also known as the Indochina Quadrant within the United World Government. The Indochina Quadrant had been badly hit by the Zentraedi Holocaust, with all central governments in the region destroyed, the local villages and towns were left to themselves and the jungles proved a perfect hiding place for the rouge Zentraedi. With the UWGs focus on other parts of the world, the problems in the Indochina Quadrant went unnoticed until a reconnaissance mission in early 2013 discovered that a large number of Zentraedi had taken refuge in the area. Soon after a much larger reconnaissance force was assembled with the mission of established an RDF presence in the region.
The mission, under the control of Lieutenant Zaria, a loyal Zentraedi warrior that had joined the RDF just prior to the Zentraedi Holocaust, was to proceed up the Mekong River and establish a series of bases that future RDF forces could use to locate and disband Zentraedi forces within the Indochina Quadrant. At first, the mission proceeded without too many problems. While there were occasional Zentraedi raids, Lieutenant Zaria had enough soldiers to prevent them from causing too much harm. But suddenly, and without warning, all communication from the RDF forces in the Indochina Quadrant stopped. A small reconnaissance force was dispatched to the region to discover what was wrong, but they discovered that many of the RDF forces were killed, several bases were incomplete even though the frequent communication reports had listed some of them as fully operational, and some of the remaining RDF soldiers found suffered from obvious mental illnesses.
The original reconnaissance force was given additional reinforcements and the RDF proceeded further upriver in the direction that the remaining RDF forces traveled. Eventually, the RDF discovered that Zaria and a large number of the RDF troops had been exposed to a mind-altering substance. Zaria had developed an intense pathological hatred for humanity and the substance sharpened her already keen intelligence. In addition, a number of RDF engineers had been exposed to the substance and had been convinced by Zaria to develop new mecha and modify existing mecha for the Zentraedi. From her secret base north of the RDF bases she had started building, Zaria was modifying an army of Zentraedi mecha. Zaria had had no intention of revealing her plans to the RDF for several years, but an accident involving some insane RDF soldiers had destroyed the only remaining long range communication array, alerting the RDF that something was wrong in the Indochina Quadrant.
After the RDF located Zaria’s secret Zentraedi base, they launched a large assault against it, with support from the super carrier CVS Phoebe. Unfortunately, Zaria, the RDF engineers, and a large number of her modified mecha were able to escape the area. After nearly three months of searching through the wreckage of her secret base, the RDF determined that she was headed to the city of Manaus, which the Zentraedi had occupied shortly after the Zentraedi Holocaust. Without the resources necessary to assault Manaus directly, the RDF resorted to sending in several commando teams to locate Zaria. After several weeks of searching, the commandos located Zaria and her new factory. The RDF ordered the commandos to destroy the factory and capture Zaria and the former RDF engineers. Unfortunately, the operation did not go as planned. The commandos were able to destroy Zaria’s factory, and many of her design plans, and they successfully captured or killed all of the former RDF engineers, but Lieutenant Zaria escaped from Manaus.
Following the disaster of Zaria’s mission, the RDF scaled back their plans for the Indochina Quadrant and instead shifted their focus on containing the Zentraedi in the Congo Control Zone. The Zentraedi located in Africa, like the Zentraedi in South America, seemed to be much more numerous and violent then the Zentraedi in the Indochina Quadrant.
The largest and longest military campaigns during this period of history, which became known as the Malcontent Uprisings, all involved the Zentraedi and was mainly focused in South America and the Zentraedi Control Zone located there.
Following the Zentraedi Holocaust, a large number of Zentraedi forces landed in South America and used the Amazon Rain Forest to protect themselves from the RDF. The number of Zentraedi within the rain forest soared after Kyron moved his main base there, and soared again with the defeat of the Zentraedi located at Kyron’s former base in the northern Canadian tundra. To deal with the problem, the RDF and the armies of the regional powers sealed its borders. The ultimate goal of the RDF was a strategy called Restrictive Containment, where they would contain the Zentraedi within the borders of the Zentraedi Control Zone and then slowing push the border inward. While this strategy looked good on paper, it was not very successful and the RDF often went years without making significant dents in the borders of the Zentraedi Control Zone.
During the relatively peaceful year of 2014, the Zentraedi from the Zentraedi Control Zone in South America launched an assault on Cavern City and the Grand Cannon III facility in South America. While the Zentraedi are eventually pushed out of the city, civilian casualties are high. Also during the same year, the Zentraedi from the Congo Control Zone launched an attack that successfully destroyed the Grand Cannon IV facility in Africa. Unfortunately, for the Zentraedi, they suffered massive casualties and for many years they were unable to mount any serious military operations besides raiding nearby communities.
One of the worst events in Human – Zentraedi relations occurred in the Brazilian Quadrant in 2015. Food shortages were a constant problem in the overcrowded cities in South America, but this problem was compounded by the common practice of redirecting some food destined for Zentraedi communities to Human communities. In July 2015, a large riot broke out in the Zentraedi district of Federale and the governor of the city, Anatole Leonard, ordered the military to enter the city. The resulting massacre, and the UWG sponsored cover-up that followed, caused many Zentraedi to feel betrayed by the Human population. The Zentraedi in South America left the cities in droves and joined forces with the rouge Zentraedi already in the Zentraedi Control Zone. This large influx of Zentraedi into the control zone caused two major problems for the RDF. The first problem was the sudden increase in micronized Zentraedi into the control zone, but the most important problem was that many of these Zentraedi had been carefully educated and trained in the years following the Zentraedi Holocaust and many were considered highly skilled professionals.
Early in 2016, the Army of the Southern Cross, established only months earlier by Anatole Leonard, built Camp Alpha outside of Monument City to act as a detention center of rouge Zentraedi located in North America. Thousands of Zentraedi, most of them innocent, were arrested and sent to the center, which quickly grew larger then the original designers had ever intended. Funded through the Army of the Southern Cross, a micronization chamber was built and all full-sized Zentraedi were forced to use it to become Human-sized. Built from several damaged chambers and without the support of Dr. Emil Lang or Dr. Lazlo Zand, the leading experts in Zentraedi technology, the micronization chamber was highly unstable and resulted in the deaths of 32 prisoners. Hundreds others forced to use the chamber suffered from physical and mental problems for months afterwards. It was not until the end of 2016 when the camp was closed at the urging of Miriya Sterling; unfortunately, it was too late and many of the once loyal Zentraedi soldiers had come to hate the United World Government and joined the rouge Zentraedi forces.
The introduction of the Stingers in 2016 shifted the intensity of the Malcontent Uprisings. Before the Stingers, most Zentraedi were forced to fight from the ground, as their original mecha was damaged, destroyed, or depleted of its Protoculture energy. The Stingers offered the Zentraedi valuable protection and versatility and with them, the Zentreadi launched a series of deadly raids against the communities of South America. The Stingers, reconstructed from parts from many different sources, were the brainchild of a group of Zentraedi known only as the Scavengers. Two prominent members of the Scavengers were Seloy Deperra, a former friend of Miriya Sterling and often considered the leader of the Scavengers, and a former RDF lieutenant named Zaria. Unlike many Zentraedi groups, the Scavengers rarely fought; instead, they dedicated their time to building Stingers and improving relations between the other Zentraedi groups.
The RDF in South America, along with the Army of the Southern Cross, spent considerable resources tracking the Scavengers down. While they did successfully destroy several manufacturing facilities and captured a large shipment of Stingers, the leadership of the Scavengers remained elusive.
Using a poisonous toxin that causes severe paranoia and intense range, and a small robotic device to deliver it, the Scavengers launched their only assault on the United World Government in mid 2017. A central African country, following the end of the Global Civil War, had originally developed the poisonous toxin and it had been discovered by two Zentraedi chemical warfare experts and brought to the Zentraedi Control Zone for mass production. The attack, mostly directed at Cavern City, resulted in widespread chaos and damage. The Army of the Southern Cross was called in to control the chaos, but they only succeeded in containing the rioters within designated areas of the city. While the chaos was finally brought under control, the city would never be fully rebuilt, and street gangs would become increasingly powerful, as the Army of the Southern Cross had armed and deputized them during the most chaotic hours of the riots.
With the help of Miriya Sterling, who had been called to South America by Seloy Deperra, who had claimed that there was an emergency involving her son, the RDF was able to locate the headquarters of the Scavengers. Coincidentally, at the same time as the RDF launched an assault against the Scavengers headquarters in late 2017, Seloy Deperra had called a meeting with the heads of the most powerful Zentraedi groups within the Zentraedi Control Zone. The successful RDF assault, not only destroyed the Scavengers and the source of the Stingers, but killed or captured the leaders of the most powerful Zentraedi groups.
With its relative unimportance in the eyes of the United World Government, it is surprising to know that one of the most important events that occurred during this period of history came from Africa. With three powerful and completely independent nations and with most of the continent being run by officially sanctioned dictators, the UWG had very little control over what occurred in Africa. While the Robotech Defense Force had a significant presence in the area, and the Southern Cross had a growing presence, the RDF did not involve itself in the politics of the region. At least, that is what the policies of the RDF were throughout the world, but the head of the RDF forces in Africa, General Zhu Lwen, had a completely different idea as to how the world should work.
The origins of the rebellion began with Lieutenant General Zhu Lwen, promoted in September 2013 to the head of the RDF forces in the decimated China quadrant. The Lieutenant General, a survivor from the Untied Earth Defense Force had very clear ideas about how the world should be run following a disaster like the Zentraedi Holocaust, and was continually disgusted by the efforts of the United World Government. Knowing of his dislike for the United World Government, the leaders of a plot to unite the China and Manchuria quadrants and leave the UWG ask the Lieutenant General to join them and lead their army. Zhu Lwen refused their offer and turned the leaders of the plot over the United World Government. For his actions, Zhu Lwen was promoted to a full General and was given command of all RDF forces in the entire Eastern part of Asia. Unfortunately, personal differences between the General and the top UWG officials in the area prompt the RDF to reassign General Zhu Lwen to Africa in 2015, where he was placed in command of all RDF forces on that continent.
For the next two years, the General gathered allies throughout Africa, especially within the city of Lagos, and began organizing a secret army. To further his plans for a secret army, the General and his allies within the RDF force in Africa, falsified many reports, claiming large numbers of mecha were being destroyed in conflicts with local mercenaries, the three independent nations, and especially against the Zentraedi in the Congo Control Zone. By 2017, the General had placed the finished touches on his army and his mobile command post, the giant Land Ship.
On March 2, 2017, General Zhu Lwen launched his coup against the United World Government by eliminating most UWG officials in key positions throughout the continent. Forces loyal to the General took control of Lacos, which would be the General’s major supply center, with its secret manufacturing facilities. The first target for the General’s army was the Congo Control Zone, where his forces attacked and crippled several major fortifications belonging to the rouge Zentraedi. Without enough forces in Africa, the RDF is forced to bring in troops from South America, North America, and Indochina.
With the Zentraedi unable to interfere with his plans for the foreseeable future, the General brought his army against the Islamic African Peoples’ Republic. As the battle against the republic begins, General Zhu Lwen declares himself the supreme ruler of Africa. Once the Islamic Republic was defeated and its leader killed, the General’s army was quickly moved towards the Ethiopian Free Holding, but it was attacked on route by the RDF troops from the Red Sea Fort. Unfortunately, the RDF forces were defeated and the base was destroyed in a retaliatory strike, but the Land Ship was heavily damaged, forcing the General to split his forces until the Land Ship could be repaired. Even with the General’s army at reduced strength and with Southern Cross reinforcements, the Ethiopian Free Holding is defeated and General Zhu Lwen personally executes John J. Needleman II.
To complete the next phase of his war to “liberate” Africa from the United World Government, General Lwen sends his forces against the RDF’s Fort Victoria in the Conga Control Zone. Reuniting with the repaired Land Ship and the rest of his forces, the General believes his victory is assured. Unfortunately for the General, the RDF had landed troops in the New Empire of Greater Zimbabwe and reinforced its position at Fort Victoria. Attacking the General from two fronts before he reached Fort Victoria, the RDF are finally able to achieve victory and the Land Ship is destroyed along with a large portion of the Genreal’s army, the remaining troops and the General are able to retreat from the battle and begin traveling towards their only remaining stronghold: the city of Lagos. Before the army can reach Lagos, the RDF, with intelligence provided by the EBSIS and reinforcements from the Southern Cross, intercepted the General and defeated his remaining forces.
With General Zhu Lwen in custody, the United World Government returned to Africa to reassert its authority. The General’s loyal forces in Lagos surrender to an army from the Southern Cross without firing a shot and Lwen’s remaining forces throughout the continent either surrender or slip away to join the mercenaries and bandits that plague Africa. With the leaders of the Islamic Republic and the Ethiopian Free Holding killed, there is nothing holding those independent nations together and they rejoin the United World Government. To reassert its authority over Africa, the United World Government increases the presence of the RDF and transfers a significant number of troops from South America to Africa.
Following a swift trial, the United World Government convicts General Zhu Lwen of high treason, murder, and crimes against humanity. The General is executed on March 2, 2018, the anniversary of the start of his failed coup.
After suffering years of constant fighting with the RDF and the local militaries in South America, the Zentraedi in the Zentraedi Control Zone were running out of options and time. The leaders of the largest remaining faction of Zentraedi, Commanders Heric and Alina, were becoming increasing worried about their situation. They were running low on supplies, mecha, and disposable troops. For years the RDF policy of Restrictive Containment had accomplished nothing, but the growing number of RDF and Southern Cross troops deployed in the region, the border around the Zentraedi Control Zone was becoming smaller and smaller. From their base of operations in the captured city of Manaus, Heric and Alina began planning their last major offensive against the RDF, Operation Sirius.
Operation Sirius was a large-scale offensive meant to force the RDF to deploy their forces away from the real target, the city of New Patagonia and the Mecha Factory located there. With this mecha factory, Heric and Alina believed they could rebuild some of their shattered forces and gain needed supplies. Operation Sirius was only possible because of a traitor within the RDF at New Patagonia.
Doctor Derek Varn, the Special Projects Director and Mecha Factory Administrator, was highly ambitious and furious at the RDF for canceling several of his research projects. In his anger, Dr. Varn secretly contacted Commander Heric and began leaking information to them to gain their trust. After several months of giving information, Dr. Varn, convinced Heric and Alina to begin preparations for a large scale operation. To keep his identity secret, Dr. Varn became known as Lord Sirius within the Zentraedi Control Zone to those that did not know his true identity.
By June 2019, the Zentraedi were finally prepared for Operation Sirius. It had taken Heric and Alina months to gather the forces they needed for the main operation and the many diversionary attacks, while at the same time maintaining the raids and attacks throughout the border region. Fortunately, with the deaths of nearly all of the other leaders of the rouge Zentraedi, Heric and Alina were able to take complete control of nearly all remaining Zentraedi within the control zone. Dr. Varn had made his preparations in and around New Patagonia, and he had finalized his deal with Heric that would allow him to become a hero to the Zentraedi and the Lord of New Patagonia.
On June 6, 2019, Operation Sirius began with a massive attack on three border posts on the Parana Grande River. The posts, known as Ruiz-14, Anton-17, and Fuente-16, were quickly overrun by the main Zentraedi force, which then moved southwest towards Campo Grande. Within a few short days, the Zentraedi have overrun the entire border region along the Parana Grande River, including several large bases. Expecting a possible deception, the RDF deployed their forces both in Campo Grande and in Juaquin, a major city in the region. The area to the southeast of the border region, in the direction of New Patagonia, is completely free of Zentraedi. After the first two weeks of the operation, a large number of Zentraedi soldiers are secretly deployed in an around Lake Olando, located near New Patagonia. The mission of these soldiers is do destroy the dam at Lake Olando to create a large distraction in that area to pull the remaining RDF forces within New Patagonia before the Zentraedi occupy the city and the critical mecha factory.
Through a fortunate series of events, such as the return of a deep undercover agent from Manaus and the premature discovery of the suspicious looking soldiers wearing RDF uniforms, the Zentraedi are forced to destroy the Lake Olando dam several days ahead of schedule. Fortunately for the Zentraedi, Dr. Varn convinces the commander of the RDF troops in New Patagonia to deploy to Lake Olando against the advice of the intelligence operatives that have been hearing rumors about Operation Sirius. By August 2, 2019, the Zentraedi have successfully occupied New Patagonia and have claimed the mecha factory. Dr. Varn reveals himself to the RDF as the mastermind behind the operation and takes his position as the Lord of New Patagonia. Within a few days of his announcement, New Patagonia is occupied by thousands of Zentraedi soldiers.
While it looks as though Operation Sirius was a complete success, the Zentraedi have lost thousands of soldiers through the course of operation and their positions in the border region were recaptured by the RDF. Even though the Zentraedi control New Patagonia, Commander Heric and Alina, realize that they will be unable to hold the city and the mecha factory for longer then a few months. It takes the RDF considerably less time to recapture the city.
On August 20, 2019, the RDF and the Southern Cross launch Operation Manaus, aimed at liberating New Patagonia and capturing the city of Manaus. The first part of the operation cleared out nearly all Zentraedi forces in the Argentina Quadrant and prevented New Patagonia from receiving supplies from the Zentraedi Control Zone. Desperate for more troops, Dr. Varn requests aid from Heric and Alina; reluctantly they agree and send some of their personal troops from Manaus to New Patagonia. Expecting such as move, the RDF intercept these troops and destroy them. With the now lightly defended Manaus and increasingly desperate Zentraedi in New Patagonia, the Operation Manaus moved into its second phase. Launching an assault from several sides simultaneously, the RDF and Southern Cross are able to isolate bands of Zentraedi within New Patagonia, forcing these troops to surrender or die. Dr. Varn is killed when the mecha factory collapses under heavy fire from the RDF. While civilian casualties are kept as slight as possible, many people die, mostly by the Zentraedi using civilians as Human shields or through careless attacks.
With the fall of New Patagonia and the destruction of their forces located their, Heric and Alina are desperate, they are nearly out of supplies and troops, and of their remaining forces, many soldiers are slipping away from Manaus to escape the coming assault. Throughout October 2019, the RDF and the Southern Cross explode through the Zentraedi Control Zone, sweeping through territory that the Zentraedi had held for nearly a decade. Finally surrounding Manaus in early November, the RDF and the Southern Cross attack the city and defeat the last remaining organized stronghold of the Zentraedi within the Zentraedi Control Zone. Commanders Heric and Alina are both killed during the assault, but many of their deputies are captured and placed on trial by the United World Government.
The capture of Manaus signaled the end of the Malcontent Uprisings, but it would not be until mid 2020, when the RDF and the Southern Cross would be satisfied that the main Zentraedi strongholds within the Zentraedi Control Zone and the Congo Control Zone had truly been destroyed.
The period from 2014 to 2020, which has become known as the Malcontent Uprising saw many changes throughout the world. A new government, the United World Government, came to power. The power of the RDF was focused first on containing and defeating the Zentraedi and then it shifted to prepare for the Pioneer Mission with the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF). The Armies of the Southern Cross rose to prominence under the command of Field Marshall Anatole Leonard and his allies in the United World Government. And following the defeat of the Zentraedi at Manaus, no Zentraedi force would pose a threat on Earth again.
The future of the people of Earth would diverge in the coming years with the departure of the Pioneer Mission and the corruption of the United World Government by Anatole Leonard and his allies. While independent countries, especially the EBSIS, would continue to plague the United World Government, their strength continued to decrease and they would never pose a significant threat to the dominance of the Armies of the Southern Cross.