Max Sterling - Robotech Expeditionary Force

Robotech Expeditionary Force

In December 2022, Max and Miriya joined their friends Rick and Lisa Hayes-Hunter aboard the SDF-3 as part of the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF). By this point Max has gotten his hair cut shorter, possibly because he didn't like his daughter Dana playing with it when she was an infant. Although difficult for them, they left a young Dana on Earth with her godfather, General Rolf Emerson and his wife Laura. Dana, the only child of a human/Zentraedi union, was deemed by Professor Lazlo Zand to be too scientifically valuable to risk going with the REF. Max and Miriya hoped that the mission would be over quickly but events would keep the SDF-3 away from Earth for the rest of Dana's childhood. Dana eventually becomes one who first graduates from the Robotech Military Academy, following in the footsteps of her parents. During the mission, Max assumed Rick's former role as commander of the famed Skull Squadron. The REF expedition, which failed to return to Earth against the Robotech Masters, got caught in a war with the Invid on a number of planets, as chronicled in Robotech II: The Sentinels and was unable to send significant aid back to Earth during the Second Robotech War. REF divisions were sent against the Invid following the invasion of Earth in 2031 but all failed against the Invid's superior numbers.

During the expedition, which lasts almost 22 years, Max and Miriya have a second daughter, Maia Sterling, who assumes command of Skull Squadron from her father before the battle of Reflex Point in 2044. Like Dana, Maia proves herself to be a highly skilled pilot. The canonical status of Aurora Sterling, who is a character in the decanonized Jack McKinney novels, is unknown, although it has been suggested that Maia is meant to replace Aurora in the rebooted Robotech timeline.