If the First Robotech War set the Human race on the path to the stars, then the Pioneer Mission and the Sentinels’ War were the first steps along that path. Born from the desire to prevent another devastating war on Earth like the First Robotech War, the civilian and military leaders on Earth devised a plan to send a military force to Tirol, the capital of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire, to either form a peace agreement or, failing that, to wage war in the enemy’s backyard and not on or near Earth. The Pioneer Mission, with its peaceful goals, was to be the ark that would either signal a new era of peace or a new period of conflict. Unfortunately, the Human race would become involved in a war against a previously unknown adversary: the Invid.
This document, the executive summary from my book, covers the period known as the Sentinel’s War. It begins with the organization of the Pioneer Mission during the 2010’s, a period also known as the Malcontent Uprising, continues through the alliance with the Sentinel races, and ends with the REF Civil War.
First envisioned after the Zentraedi Holocaust and detailed discussions with the Zentraedi leader Breetai, the Human leaders saw the need to take the battle to the Tirolian Mercantile Empire. The Earth could not survive another attack like the Zentraedi Holocaust. While the early years were dedicated to establishing the requirements for such a mission and debriefing the loyal Zentraedi as to what to expect from the Robotech Masters, whom led the Tirolian Mercantile Empire, the largest supporter of the plan was the current head of the Robotech Defense Force, Admiral Gloval. He envisioned a mission that would launch by 2015, spearheaded by the nearly complete SDF-2. Unfortunately, Kyron’s attack on the New Macross City destroyed the SDF-2 and killed Admiral Gloval. The survivors from that attack, namely Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, continued to plan for the mission to Tirol, but they were forced to push the launch date back several years, till at least 2020, but more likely 2021 or 2022. The largest problem with the mission to Tirol was that not even the Zentraedi knew its exact location. It was believed that this knowledge was reserved to a select few Zentraedi, such as Dolza, mainly for security reasons. As such, from the very beginning, the RDF decided that it would necessary to send out many scout ships ahead of the mission's main fleet to locate Tirol.
As the Malcontent Uprisings heated up around 2015, the RDF was forced to focus on other needs across the Earth, so the United World Government formed a separate military department, called the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) to lead the planning for the mission to Tirol. Rick Hunter was promoted to the rank of Admiral, the youngest Admiral in the history of the United Earth Defense Force and the Robotech Defense Force, and placed in command of the REF. With its main office on Space Station Liberty, the captured Robotech Factory Satellite, the mission to Tirol, renamed the Pioneer Mission, entered a new phase of operation. Also in 2015, two critical milestones were reached in the Pioneer Mission; the first was the start of construction on the SDF-3 Pioneer, the flagship of the Pioneer Mission; and the second was the completion of the first Tokugawa Class Cruiser, the Hannibal, under the command of Captain John Carpenter. The Tokugawa class would provide most of the support for the SDF-3 and the Pioneer Mission. The Hannibal was the first ship in the growing number of REF ships that would be sent into deep space to probe the outer reaches of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire and to locate the Valivarre star system, where Tirol was located. Unfortunately, after several months of exploration, the ship failed to discover more then a string of abandoned or destroyed colonies.
In 2018, the REF finalized their plans for the Pioneer Mission, and the REF Council, which would lead the mission, was selected. At the head of the REF Council, and in charge of the REF’s military forces, was Admiral Rick Hunter. Other members of the REF Council included Admiral Lisa Hayes, the captain of the SDF-3, and Dr. Lang, the head of the Pioneer Mission's branch of the Robotech Research Group (RRG). Training and troop selection for the mission began soon after the formation of the council. Following the end of the Malcontent Uprisings in 2020, large numbers of troops were transferred from the RDF to the REF. By 2021, the RDF was completely gutted by the REF and the newly renamed Armies of the Southern Cross. The RDF possessed only a large military installation in Yellowstone City, North America; all space forces and naval forces were transferred to the REF or the Armies of the Southern Cross.
The Pioneer Mission was launched, with much fanfare, on February 2, 2022. When it was launched, the Pioneer Mission consisted of the SDF-3 Pioneer, 5 Tokugawa Class Cruisers, 22 Tristar Class Cruisers, 12 Ajax Class Landing Ships, and 30 Battle Class Destroyers. But most of these ships had already launched years earlier to scout out the Tirolian Mercantile Empire. The overriding goal of the Pioneer Mission was to establish peace with the Robotech Masters, but if peace could not be established, the leaders of the Pioneer Mission were prepared to wage a long campaign against the Tirolian Mercantile Empire to save the Earth from further conflict. The REF Council had no way of knowing that not only was the Pioneer Mission going to fail to achieve peace with the Robotech Masters, already on their way to Earth, but it was going to be embroiled in a completely different conflict.
After launching in 2022, the SDF-3 and the main fleet of the Pioneer Mission joined up with the other REF ships in the Tirolian Mercantile Empire and began a coordinated search for Tirol. The REF Council originally believed that this search would already be finished by the time the SDF-3 was launched, but the early ships had discovered nothing but broken and abandoned colonies, with no record of where Tirol could be. The Zentraedi with the Pioneer Mission were very confused at the utter destruction the Pioneer Mission discovered, some of these colonies had been founded centuries earlier and would not have been abandoned easily. The search for Tirol continued, bringing the REF ever deeper into the heart of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire.
During their search for Tirol, the REF encountered several new alien species, but contact was extremely limited and often forbidden unless it appeared that the civilization might know the whereabouts of Tirol. In addition to these aliens, the REF also encountered some of the last remains of the mighty Zentraedi fleet: rouge ship squadrons. Without leadership and without new orders from the Robotech Masters, these Zentraedi had to adapt and modify their ships in order to survive their Protoculture depletion, but they became incredibly aggressive and would attack at the sight of the Pioneer ships, although the appearance of the SDF-3, which resembled a Tirolian ship, would confuse the Zentraedi, at least until they saw the other ships in the fleet. The battles against the rouge Zentraedi served as excellent training for the REF and many design problems with their new equipment were discovered and fixed during the years spent searching for the home world of the Tirolians.
The Pioneer Mission maintained constant contact with Earth and the Human colonies through the captured Factory Satellite, renamed Space Station Liberty. But in 2029, communications from Space Station Liberty suddenly stopped. Curious as the cause of the stop, the REF Council sent the Hannibal, still under the command of Captain John Carpenter, back to Earth. The ship arrived in 2030 and was shocked to discover that the Robotech Masters had arrived and were waging a war on the Armies of the Southern Cross. Unfortunately, the Hannibal was destroyed before it could send a message to the REF and Carpenter told the United World Government on Earth that they should not expect any more reinforcements from the Pioneer Mission. Carpenter's prediction proved incorrect when the REF finally received a broken distress call sent by Space Station Liberty after its FTL transmitter was partially repaired. The REF sent two waves of ships, mostly Tirstar Class Light Cruisers and Battle Class Destroyers, back to Earth to help the Armies of the Southern Cross. Unaware of what was causing the danger on Earth, the REF Council and the the Plenipotentiary Council, the civilian representative from the United World Government, contemplated returning the entire REF fleet to Earth, but before they could make a final decision, they received another broken message from Space Station Liberty announcing that the danger had passed. Still unsure whether they should return some of their forces back to Earth, the matter was settled when in December 2030, the REF finally located the Valivarre system and Tirol.
In December 2030, the first Tokugawa cruisers arrived in the Valivarre star system. The search for Tirol finished, the cruisers remained hidden, waiting for the rest of the REF fleet to arrive. Completely unaware of the presence of the Invid on Tirol, the rest of the REF fleet arrived in the Valivarre system on January 3, 2031. without any escorts, the SDF-3 approached Tirol and was quickly detected by the Invid brain controlling the Invid forces in the Valivarre system. Recognizing the ship as a Tirolian Sian Dereta Class Battle Fortress, which the SDF-3 was modeled off, the brain ordered its troops to attack. Unfortunately, the REF had planned and designed their forces and training around the mecha, ships, and tactics of the Zentraedi and continued to hone those skills during the search for Tirol. Within a matter of hours, the SDF-3 was severely damaged and even with reinforcements from the rest of the fleet, the Fold Drives on the SDF-3 were destroyed, stranding the ship in the Valivarre system for years.
Still hoping to achieve peace with the Robotech Masters and with the Zentraedi in the Pioneer Mission confirming that the attackers were NOT Tirolian, the REF attacked the Invid forces on Tirol in hopes of liberating the planet. In the process of liberating Tirol, General T. R. Edwards, the head of the REF's ground forces, personally led an assault consisting of troops loyal to him. During the operation to liberate Tiresia, the capital of Tirol and the location of most of the Invid troops on Tirol, the General discovered the Invid brain and deactivated it. A section of his loyal troops, known as the Ghost Squadron, occupied the ancient Imperial Pyramid, where the Invid brain was located, and prevented any other REF troops from seeing the brain, including scientists from the Robotech Research Group. During the liberation of Tirol, an old Robotech Scientist and his pupil, named Cabell and Rem respectively, contacted the REF. From Cabell, the REF learned that the Robotech Masters had left for Earth and that within the SDF-1 was the only known source of Protoculture within the galaxy. Cabell also identified the attackers as the Invid, an ancient enemy of the Tirolians that had occupied the world where the Flower of Life, the source of Protoculture, was discovered. The Tirolians had thought that the Invid had been destroyed centuries ago, even before the Zentraedi were created.
Before the REF Council could determine their next course of action, the Regent, having been informed of a small Zentraedi incursion on Tirol, sent a small force to deal with the threat. The Invid reinforcements attacked the already damaged fleet of ships and managed to destroy several ships before being beaten and forced to retreat from the Valivarre system entirely. Following the retreat of his forces, the Invid Regent, the absolute ruler of half of the Invid race, finally learned that the newcomers that had liberated Tirol were not Zentraedi or the Robotech Masters at all, but a completely new and unknown threat.
Realizing that they would be stranded on Tirol for a long time, the REF Council and the Plenipotentiary Council, the civilian representatives from the United World Government, began establishing a more permanent presence on Tirol. First, the micronized Zentraedi that came with the Pioneer Mission under the command of Breetai volunteered to return to full size and begin mining the other moons of Fantoma. The Zentraedi hoped to mine the valuable monopole ore that would be needed to build new Fold Drives. Reconstruction on the Tirolian Orbital Shipyards began soon after, with the damaged ships of the REF fleet receiving immediate attention. Due to the poor performance of the Tokugawa cruisers, changes to the class were designed and a refit on the remaining ships was started and new ship designs were drawn up by the RRG. Another important activity for the REF was the reconstruction of Tirol, which had suffered years of neglect following the departure of the Robotech Masters, not to mention the years it had spent under the control of the Invid. As a sign that the Pioneer Mission has moved into an area that it had never intended, the Plenipotentiary Council, which also included Dr. Emil Lang, assumed control over the REF Council, as opposed to simply acting as advisors.
While the REF were establishing their more permanent presence on the liberated Tirol, a Tirolian ship of the same class as the SDF-1 Macross was suffering a massive slave revolt. The ship, captured during the battle for Kaberra, had been used by the Invid as a mobile zoo and had collected specimens from all of the major races in the local group. Originally presented to the Invid Regis, the ruler of the other half of the Invid race, by the Regent, the ship was returning to Optera, the home world of the Invid, when the revolt occurred. While many of the ship's systems were damaged in the revolt and in the original capture of the ship, the freed prisoners formed an alliance and repaired the ship and even renamed it the Faarago. The prisoners, calling themselves the Sentinels' learned about the unknown alien presence on Tirol from the computer systems maintained by the Invid. Knowing that the Faarago and the few ships that had escaped the Invid invasion of the Local Group would not be enough to liberate their home worlds, the Sentinels decided to travel to Tirol to contact the alien presence that had thoroughly defeated the Invid located there.
Without warning, the Faarago defolded in orbit of Tirol and was nearly destroyed by the REF. Had the officers on duty in the SDF-3 not immediately recognized the design of the Macross class ship, the ship would probably have been destroyed. Following its sudden arrival, the Sentinels contacted the Humans and with Cabel acting as an interpreter, the Sentinels and the REF formed an alliance to operate against the Invid. While the SDF-3 was stranded in Tirol, the majority of the Pioneer Mission's ships would remain in the Valivarre system, but several ships and a large number of soldiers would join the Sentinels' to liberate the Sentinels' home worlds. Among the soldiers that volunteered to join the Sentinels included Admiral Hunter and Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter, both of which resigned their commissions and their positions on the REF Council. Due to their command experience, Lisa Hayes-Hunter was given command of the Faaraga and Rick Hunter was given command of the REF section of the Sentinels. In the absence of Admiral Hunter, General Edwards was placed in charge of the REF Council.
The Sentinels' plan to liberate the Local Group was designed based on two principles. The first principle was to attack the planets that the Invid captured last in order to prevent the Invid the time they needed to build their defenses. The second principle was to attack planets that would provide the Sentinels with ever increasing resources. The first target was Kaberra, which, prior to the collapse of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire, was the second most industrial and powerful planet in the Local Group, second only to Tirol itself. With the planet liberated, the Sentinels believed that Kaberra could begin production on new ships within a few short years. The second target would be Praxis, which was the last planet in the Local Group captured by the Invid prior to the arrival of the REF. Following Praxis would be Haydon IV, another powerful but heavily fortified planet that would add a huge resource base for the Sentinels to use, and then Garuda, Spheris, and finally, Peryton. If all of this was successful, the Sentinels' next move would be to attack Optera, the home world of the Invid that they had abandoned centuries earlier and had only reclaimed when they began their invasion of the Local Group.
After four months of preparation, the Sentinels, with their new Human allies, left the orbit of Tirol for their first destination, the planet of Kaberra. The Invid maintained a large garrison on Kaberra, but most of those troops were required to secure the planet's population and only a small force was used to defend the planet from external threats. Even warned that their was an alien presence on Tirol, not even the Regent was prepared for the small fleet that defolded in orbit of Kaberra and attacked the garrison's ships. After the first hour of battle, the Sentinels' had defeated the Invid's space fleet and they quickly moved to attack the garrison's ground forces. As the Sentinels' advanced across the planet, liberated Kaberrans swelled their ranks and with only basic weapons and armor, the Kaberrans fearlessly charged the Invid's ground soldiers. Within a month, the Invid garrison was completely overrun and the planet was liberated.
As the Sentinels began their attack on Kaberra, the Plenipotentiary Council was continued the reconstruction of Tirol. With the support of the Tirolians, a huge RRG facility completed within the REF’s military complex outside of Tiresia. To help their own construction efforts, the REF Council ordered Space Station Liberty to fold to Tirol, bringing with it all of its ships and troops, a portion of which were dispatched to join the Sentinels. Unfortunately, General Edwards, seeing the absence of Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes-Hunter, and Dr. Lang, who was busy on Tirol, as an opportunity to secure his authority, he quickly dominated the REF Council and began to influence several members of the Plenipotentiary Council. Using the captured Invid Brain beneath the Imperial Pyramid, General Edwards even contacted the Invid Regent to secure a secret agreement. The Regent, willing to delude General Edwards, agreed to an exchange of information. General Edwards gave the Regent the Sentinels next destination, the planet of Praxis, and the Regent provided accurate, but incomplete, information regarding the Invid Brain.The Sentinels moved to the next phase of their plan and began a rapid reconstruction effort on several industrial centers across Kaberra, including the Kaberran Orbital Shipyard. Although the Sentinels suffered only minor losses during the liberation, they remained on Kaberra for nearly four months to repair some of their aging ships and to recruit new Kaberran soldiers. With the Kaberran shipyard marginally operational, the Sentinels left for their next destination, the planet of Praxis. Unfortunately for the Sentinels, the Invid Regent had been told that Praxis would be their next target and the Invid had prepared an ambush. Using most of the planet's garrison, and a large section of Optera's defense fleet, the Invid fleet was large, but still not able to overcome the strength of the Sentinels. Unfortunately, the Invid managed to inflict very heavy casualties and the Faarago was destroyed, but not before it could be evacuated. With the Invid fleet destroyed and the Praxis garrison drained, the actual liberation of Praxis was relatively quick, but the Sentinels were forced to spend many months rebuilding their forces and repairing their ships.
Unknown to the Sentinels, the Invid Regis and her half of the Invid race had moved to Haydon IV in order to allow the Regis to conduct her genetic experiments using the planet's resources, vastly increasing the planet's garrison. Had the Sentinels not decided that they could not defeat the original Haydon IV garrison, they would have been easily destroyed by the Regis and her Invid. Moving to the planet of Garuda, the Sentinels began a month long siege to defeat the Invid garrison and the planet's own defense systems that the Invid had occupied. Though ultimately successful, too many of the Sentinels' troops had breathed the planet's toxic atmosphere and the Sentinels were forced to remain on the planet for almost a year. During this time, the soldiers recuperated and fresh supplies of mecha, ships, and soldiers arrived from Kaberra and Praxis to bolster the Sentinels' military. Unfortunately, all requests for additional aid from the REF were denied by the REF Council as it prepared to send a small fleet back to Earth to defend the crumbling United World Government from a potential Invid invasion.
During the Sentinels’ long stay on Garuda, three events occurred in the Local Group that would help shape the future of the war. First, the Invid Regis suddenly departed the Haydon IV, taking her entire half of the Invid race. This caused the Invid Regent to actually see how few troops he had remaining and how they were spread across much of the old Tirolian Mercantile Empire. To compensate, the Regent began construction of even more of his Inorganic robots and sent out couriers to bring some of his soldiers back to the Local Group. Second was the formation of two factions within the Plenipotentiary Council and the REF Council. General Edwards dominated one faction from his headquarters on the SDF-3, while Dr. Emil Lang led the other faction from his headquarters in the RRG facility on Tirol. Using his influence on the Plenipotentiary Council, General Edwards had all mining operations on the moons of Fantoma placed under his authority, giving him direct control over the materials needed to rebuild the damaged Fold Drives. General Edwards replaced all of the soldiers that had been working on the non-Zentraedi functions of the mining operations with soldiers loyal to him. The final event was the departure of the Venus Defense Group. The mission of the Venus Defense Group was to defend the Earth from any Invid attack, since the crumbling United World Government was incapable of defending the planet. Many supporters of Dr. Lang and even some veterans of the ongoing Sentinels' War, including Colonel Wolff, who was selected to command the returning fleet, were chosen by General Edwards to crew the Venus Defense Group. In effort to prevent the Invid from accidentally detecting a transmission from Earth, the planet went silent soon after the arrival of the Venus Defense Group and the REF on Tirol never knew that the Invid Regis and her half of the Invid race had arrived on Earth on June 5, 2034.
Following their long stay at Garuda, the Sentinels were once again on the move, bringing their increased forces against the planet of Haydon IV. After the first few days of battle, the Sentinels were forced to land ground troops before they secured superiority in space. The Sentinels hoped that if the Haydon IV's planetary computer was reactivated, it could control the planet's dormant, but still functional, defenses against the Invid. It took many attempts and heavy casualties, but an REF assault team was able to penetrate the Invid's main hive complex to reactivate the computer. With the defenses of Haydon IV on their side, the Sentinels quickly regrouped and overwhelmed the remaining Invid. By the summer of 2034, the Invid had been pushed from all but two of the Sentinels' home worlds.
Desperate for more troops, the Regent sent many of its returning garrison forces to Spheris and Peryton, the next obvious targets of the Sentinels. Even these extra troops were not enough to prevent the Sentinels from sweeping in and liberating Spheris. in the fall of 2034. At this point, the Perytonians with the Sentinels recommended that the fleet immediately move to liberate their home world, while others argued to forgo Peryton and move directly to Optera, but Rick Hunter recommended neither course of action, instead he advised that the Sentinels wait on Spheris to build up their forces so that they could quickly liberate Peryton and then quickly move to Optera. The Sentinels eventually agreed with Rick Hunter's recommendation, and the Sentinels remained on Spheris until late 2036. During the nearly two years between the liberation of Spheris and Peryton, the Sentinels had had very little contact with the REF on Tirol. Unknown to the Sentinels, General Edwards was continuing his plan to achieve total power and had the majority of the Plenipotentiary Council under his influence, although Dr. Lang still held significant authority both in the Plenipotentiary Council and in the REF Council. General Edwards purposely restricted contact with the Sentinels in an effort to isolate his largest threats, Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes-Hunter. Fortunately, Dr. Lang was able to secure and send a small fleet of newly built ships, including the recently designed Horizont Troop Shuttles and Garfish Troop Transports; most of these ships were crewed by troops either neutral in the conflict between General Edwards and Dr. Lang or were loyal to Dr. Lang. To complicate matters even worse, the Zentraedi involved in the mining operations on Fantoma’s other moons were beginning to chafe under the authoritarian and often cruel treatment of General Edwards’s men. All subsequent protests from the Zentraedi to the Plenipotentiary Council were ignored or voted down by the faction controlled by General Edwards.
In November 2036, the Sentinels moved on the last planet in the Local Group that the Invid had occupied and one of the first they had captured during their invasion of the Local Group. The battle for Peryton was a long and hard ordeal. The garrison, heavily bolstered by the Regent and with years to prepare its defenses, proved incredibly difficult to overcome, but through determination and attrition, the Invid garrison was slowly worn down. By early 2037, the Sentinels had liberated most of the planet's surface and the Invid garrison was contained in a series of heavily fortified hive complexes. It was not until May 2037 when the last of these hive complexes was destroyed and within days of the final liberation of Peryton, the Sentinels moved towards the final destination of their war, the seat of the Invid Regent's power, the home world of the Invid, the planet of Optera.
The siege of Optera was the longest and hardest battle that the Sentinels had waged. The Invid Regent had access to most of his remaining troops, although a significant portion of his forces had not been reached by his couriers and had no idea that the Sentinels' War was being fought. Slowly, one hive complex at a time, the Sentinels' advanced on the Regent's royal hive complex, the heart of his power. The final straw that broke the Regent's power was the destruction of his Brains dedicated to controlling the Inorganics. The Regent had too many creatures to control with his remaining Brains and as each new Brain was destroyed, more and more of his soldiers stopped functioning. In the end the Sentinels took control of the Regent's Royal Hive Complex and the Regent was killed during the fight. As far as the Sentinels' knew, the Invid threat had been stoped, they suspected that the Invid maintained garrisons on other planets, but they represented a relatively small number of troops. The Sentinels had no idea that the Invid Regis existed, nor did they know that she controlled just as many troops as the Regent, except she was smarter and all of her troops were grouped together on the last place the Sentinels or the REF expected, Earth.
The Sentinels stayed on Optera for several months following the death of the Invid Regent, both to mop up his remaining forces and to rebuild their own forces. By July 2038, the Sentinels departed Optera and their fleet split up so that it could return to their own home worlds. The REF section of the Sentinels, still under the command of Rick Hunter, set course for Tirol, but were completely unaware that they were returning to a civil war.
The history of General T. R. Edwards is long and difficult. He began his career as an American fighter pilot, and a personal rival of Roy Fokker, during the Third World War and joined the United Earth Defense Force soon after it was formed. Through a combination of luck, determination, and astute use of connections, Edwards was able to secure himself a position at the headquarters of the United Earth Defense Force in Alaska. While at the headquarters, Edwards became a close associate of Senator Alfonso Napoleon Russo and Admiral Nicholas Hayes, the father of Lisa Hayes-Hunter. Together, the three formed the United Earth Defense Council in 2006, and they became very influential within the permanent sections of the United Earth Government. During the Zentraedi Holocaust, then Colonel Edwards was seriously injured but witnessed Lisa Hayes being rescued by Rick Hunter. Neither of the two saw the colonel, but Edwards still feels betrayed decades later. During the Malcontent Uprisings, T. R. Edwards joined the REF and received a promotion to General, but he was heavily involved in the politics of the United World Government. While his activities were suspicious, Admiral Rick Hunter gave the general great leeway because his political connections allowed the Pioneer Mission to continue after several roadblocks were put up by the UWG. During the Malcontent Uprisings, General Edwards made two new political connections, one with a Governor from South America named Anatole Leonard, who would form the Armies of the Southern Cross, and the other with Senator Moran, a powerful political figure within the United World Government. The three had formulated a plan that would have Senator Moran and Antatole Leonard seizing the reins of power on Earth after the Pioneer Mission left. General Edwards was to do nothing until the Pioneer Mission returned to Earth, but would join the two of them to rule the planet with absolute authority.
After the Pioneer Mission left Earth, Senator Moran and Anatole Leonard would achieve their goals, but General Edwards found himself in a completely different situation. He was stranded in orbit of Tirol with no chance of returning to Earth for many years. Fortunately, the general’s situation improved when he gained control of the Invid Brain and an army of deactivated Invid mecha and then in another stroke of luck, his main rivals in the REF, Admirals Rick Hunter and Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter, suddenly joined the Sentinels and left Tirol. This gave General Edwards the opportunity he needed to begin his plan to take control of the REF so he could eventually return to Earth and either join Senator Moran and Anatole Leonard in controlling the planet or take it from them. But as the General’s control over the Plenipotentiary Council grew, so did his ambition; the Earth was no longer enough for him, he wanted to rule a galactic empire that would rival the Tirolian Mercantile Empire.
Throughout the Sentinels’ War, the General had increased his influence over the Plenipotentiary Council and had secured the loyalty of many of the soldiers in the REF. As his ace in the hole, the general was prepared to activate the Invid Brain and use it to control the Invid army his troops secured under the Imperial Palace on Tirol. To increase his control over the Pioneer Mission, General Edwards had the Plenipotentiary Council place all mining operations under his direct control. This allowed the general to replace neutral soldiers and troops loyal to Dr. Lang with his own soldiers and gave him control over the resources needed to build the precious Fold Drives. Soon after the general’s soldiers took control of the mining operations, the Zentraedi began complaining about mistreatment and the lack of respect the soldiers were giving them. Even Breetai brought complaints to the Plenipotentiary Council, but the faction controlled by General Edwards ignored him. When the problems in the mining operations turned violent, the general sent in more soldiers and began treating the Zentraedi as slaves and prisoners instead of equal partners who volunteered to perform the mining operations.
Three events helped shift the delicate balance of power within the Plenipotentiary Council and the REF Council. The first event, which occurred in 2033, was the launch of the Venus Defense Group, sent to Earth to secure the planet from the Invid. As the acting head of the REF, General Edwards personally selected the soldiers that would be included in the fleet of ships returning to Earth, and all of them were soldiers loyal to Dr. Lang or prominent soldiers that could present a threat to General Edwards, such as Colonel Wolff. The departure of the fleet gave General Edwards the slim majority that he needed against Dr. Lang if it ever came to an open fight. The second event was the launch of the new Ikazuchi Class Cruiser from the Tirolian Orbital Shipyard. These ships gave General Edwards the opportunity to crew a large capital ship with troops loyal only to him. The third and final event was the decision to place the Plenipotentiary Council as the highest political body on Tirol. Although opposed by Dr. Lang, the Tirolian people chose the Plenipotentiary Council over a resurrection of the old Tirolian senate.
In June 2038, the Zentraedi forced the general to launch his plan earlier then he had wanted. After one of the many violent clashes between the Zentraedi and the general’s men, Breetai led his troops in an assault against the soldiers’ barracks. Following his successful attack, Breetai seized control of one of the large cargo ships used to haul the mined ore from the other moons to Tirol and the orbiting shipyards. Loading all of his soldiers onto the cargo ship, Breetai left the Valivarre system to rendezvous with the Sentinels on their way to Tirol. Furious, General Edwards declared the Zentraedi as traitors and ordered them hunted down and executed. Seemingly impossible, the members of the Plenipotentiary Council acted independently of General Edwards and refused to agree to his orders. The General’s response was to launch a coup d’état and arrest the members of the Plenipotentiary Council that were not fiercely loyal to him.
Following the arrest of the Plenipotentiary Council, the General’s loyal troops quickly seized control of vital areas throughout Tirol and onboard the SDF-3. Fortunately, the general had fewer resources on the Tirolian Orbital Shipyard and no resources within the RRG facilities on Tirol. The General relocated to his personal flagship, the Xerxes, a Tokugawa Class Cruiser, and directed his operations from there. On Tirol, the general’s troops forced the troops loyal to Dr. Lang to retreat to the well defended RRG facilities. Seeing a turning point in the civil war after only three months, the general relocated his headquarters to the recently finished Ikazuchi, the first Ikazuchi Class Cruiser, leaving the Xerxes with many of his most loyal troops.
The Sentinels’ fleet arrived in the Valivarre system in September 2038, but having already rendezvoused with the Zentraedi, they knew what to expect. Within the first few hours of fighting, General Edward was forced to withdraw his forces to the area immediately around Tirol, but one of his most powerful ships, the Xerxes, was destroyed when it rammed the Tokugawa, the flagship of the REF during the Sentinels’ War. Following the arrival of the Sentinels, Dr. Lang allowed Rick Hunter to take command of all the military forces that opposed General Edwards. For months, the two sides were locked in a deadly stalemate. Neither side was able to gain an advantage over the other, but the battles continued to rage across Tirol, the other moons of Fantoma, throughout the Valivarre system, and even on the SDF-3.
Lost for nearly eight years, Dana Sterling finally located Tirol and the Valivarre system and her ship, the Marcus Antonius and the small fleet of ships holding hundreds of thousands of Tirolian clones tipped the balance of power away from General Edwards. The General's troops hesitated when they were ordered to fire upon the ship's holding the Tirolian refugees, but Rick Hunter took advantage of the situation and launched a surprise attack against the General's new flagship, the Ikazuchi. With his ship heavily damaged, the general fired upon the Tirolian Orbital Shipyard, severely damaging it and destroying the nearly complete Fold Drives for the SDF-3. As his final gamble, General Edwards reactivated the Invid Brain and the army of Invid mecha and escaped onboard the Torbay, a Tristar Class Light Cruiser. With an escort of Invid ships and mecha, the general set course for Optera, virtually abandoned following the end of the Sentinels’ War, but still possessing the bases built by the Sentinels and a huge army of inactive Invid troops.
On Optera, General Edwards made his last stand using his remaining loyal soldiers and his army of Invid mecha. Refusing the help of the Sentinels, the Rick Hunter launched his second assault on Optera in April 2039. With General Edwards trapped on the surface of the planet, the REF were able to quickly secure control over the space around Optera and continually attacked the General's forces. Unfortunately, as more Invid troops were killed the Invid Brain under the General's control simply took control of more of the inactive mecha remaining from the fall of the Invid Regent. Lasting a few short weeks, the second battle for Optera ended with the destruction of the base that General Edwards was using as his headquarters. With the death of the General and the Invid Brain under his control, the rest of General Edwards's loyal soldiers were quickly defeated. it is rumored that in the final moments, General Edwards was killed by one of his personal aides, but if this rumor is true, that aide was killed during the explosion that destroyed the General's base.
The Pioneer Mission’s original goal was to contact the Robotech Masters and establish peace between them and the Earth or wage a war against the Robotech Masters away from Earth. Immediately from the start, the Pioneer Mission could be considered a failure; not only were the Robotech Masters not on Tirol, but the REF was pulled into a war against the Invid. Fortunately, the Sentinels’ War introduced the REF to many new allies throughout the Local Group. These allies would allow the Humans to rebuild their forces, devastated following the REF Civil War, and send relief missions back to Earth to defeat the Invid that had invaded the home world of the Humans.
While General Edwards cast a horrible influence over the Pioneer Mission, the original intent of the mission, to establish peace, was preserved and no war would ever be fought between the people of Tirol and the REF. However on Earth, the forces of the Robotech Masters and the Armies of the Southern Cross, both led by arrogant and stubborn leaders, would fight a second devastating Robotech War on Earth. With a sturdy alliance between the REF and the Sentinels, the Human race was able to expand its influence throughout the Milky Way Galaxy and into dangers no Human had ever imagined.