117th Long Distance Research Fleet
Between the years (2047 - 2048 ) the 117th fleet dispatched to study the Vajra alien race that was discovered c. 2040. The fleet was headed by Dr. Mao Nome and her team of scientists, which included Ranshe Mei and Grace O'Connor. Researcher Ranshe Mei was already infected by the V-Type microbes and her daughter Ranka Mei (renamed Ranka Lee) was a carrier of the disease as well. However, she was resistant to its lethal effects after developing some sort of immunity since she became infected in utero during her mother's pregnancy.
The fleet's flagship was the SDFN-04 Global, a first-generation Macross Class SDF transformable space warship. The Global was named in honour of Bruno Global, commander of the first SDF-1 Macross during Space War I. The fleet's true function was not publicly known, only that it was doing deep space research of some kind. The fleet was able to capture some Vajra while its research team's publicly known mission was to research the V-type virus.
A few years later, a Vajra fleet would appear over the planet Galia 4 where the fleet had settled as a research base/colony. The 117th defense forces fought the surprise attack of the Vajra war fleet but lost and the Global having been shot down from orbit crash landed on that planet. While the surviving members of the fleet were trying to escape, Ranka's biological brother, Brera Mei (renamed Brera Sterne), put her into an escape pod and ejected her from the doomed starship they were escaping on. Ozma Lee, a fighter pilot of the 117th's defense forces, later discovered the escape pod containing Ranka who had somehow escaped the fate of the rest of the fleet. She would be later adopted by him, thus becoming Ranka Lee. Only a very few survivors were known to exist, none of which were very well known. Publicly, the fleet's location when it was lost was not known neither. It is believed that the New U.N. Spacy was aware of the location of the 117th's last stand and quietly sent what became the N.U.N.S. 33rd Naval/Marine Battalion (a macronized Zentrandi force) to be stationed on planet Galia 4 to confront further attacks. It was unknown if anyone knew that the wreckage of the Global still existed on the planet surface or if the Vajra had ever left the planet at all.
Read more about this topic: List Of Macross Frontier Terminology
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