The REF Civil War was a conflict between the forces of Rick Hunter and the Sentinels against the forces of T. R. Edwards and the Invid Regent.
Prelude[]
After the end of the First Robotech War, the Robotech Expeditionary Force launched the Pioneer Expedition to Tirol. Their plan was to directly contact the Robotech Masters and negotiate a peace or, if necessary, crush them.
The SDF-3 arrived to Tirol and found it occupied by the Invid led by the Regent, wbo wanted revenge against the Tirolians for stealing the Flower of Life but found that the Masters had abandoned their homeworld and yet proceeded to slaughter the local population. The leadership of the SDF-3 felt compelled to help them but in the ensuing campaign, the SDF-3 was damaged, and unable to return to Earth. After a long campaign, Tirol was liberated, and to the shock of the Expeditionary forces, they were told that the Masters had left for Earth looking for the Flower of Life.
After REF created a colony on Tirol, they were contacted by the Sentinels, a group of aliens of several races also dominated for the Invid, and both groups joined forces, managing to free Tirol and the other planets.
However, the Invid leader, the Regent, wasn't the only enemy of the Sentinels: the worst was an internal one. One of the REF leaders, General T. R. Edwards, felt a personal hatred towards the REF leader, admiral Rick Hunter, and was also xenophobic towards any alien lifeform, hostile or not. During the battle for Tirol, he was vocal in opposing to any colaboration with any alien, but his forces, mainly the Ghost Squadron, keep a low profile. However,they didn't hesitate to resort to sabotage and murder to attain their objectives. During a battle, Edwards' loyalists had captured a priceless artifact: a portion of the Invid Brain, a biological super computer able to control parts of the Invid army, and Edwards was determined to use it exclusively.(Robotech II: The Sentinels)
The Conflict[]
Edwards secretly used the Brain to communicate with the Regent, while making believe the rest of the REF than the Brain wasn't functional. However, after the Sentinels' campaign ended, and all the REF returned to Tirol, the council eventually ordered him to give the Brain to Dr. Emil Lang. That forced the general to act. After kidnapping Lynn Minmei, the woman he felt attracted to, and murder his cousin, Lynn Kyle, he made his move. The REF had uncovered part of his activities, and the expedition attempted to arrest him. Edwards used the brain to launch a wave of Inorganics against the infantry which searched him, and made his escape with his loyalists onboard the finished cruiser Icarus. Wolf Squadron attempted to intercept him, but Ghost Squadron, thanks to his newly developed Shadow Technology, easily downed nine of their Alpha Fighters. The SDF-3 attempted to stop Edwards' cruiser, but before they could fire, the Regent's Invid Carrier appeared and shoot them, blowing the frontal part of the SDF-3. The rest of the REF wasn't able to intercept the Icarus, and the cruiser and the Regent's Carrier escaped together.(Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles 1: The Enemy Within)
Rick Hunter's wife, admiral Lisa Hayes, survived the SDF-3's destruction, but lost the baby she was waiting. the SDF-3 was crippled, but the Sentinels offered the REF their help to rebuild it. A newly-built cruiser, the Tokugawa, was finished sooner and sent to search Edwards, led by Vince Grant. About a year after Edward's evasion, the Tokugawa located them over Optera, the Invid homeworld. A shot from the Icarus' Synchro Cannon crippled the Tokugawa. The Regent's Carrier engaged them and the Regent uncovered that Edwards used the Invid Brain to take full control of his forces. A boarding team of the REF, led by Breetai, boarded the Carrier, and they moved the ship to shield the Tokugawa from the Icarus. But that didn't stop Edwards, which shoot the carrier anyway, killing both the Regent and Breetai. The Tokugawa began falling to Optera. Meanwhile, the rebuild SDF-3 was already finished and the REF forces were provided with their own version of the Shadow Technology, developed thanks to the Haydonites' help.(Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles 2: Retribution)
The SDF-3 travelled to Space Station Liberty, to finish equipping it, and then received the Tokugawa's distress call. The Tokugawa's crew, falling to Optera, managed to evacuate the ship, with Vince being the last one, but before they could reach the ground, they were intercepted and captured by Invid forces under Edwards' control. After gathering all the prisoners in a former Invid hive, his new command post, Edwards explained to Grant his intentions, which included transforming all the REF prisoners which didn't join him into Invid monsters throwing them into a Genesis Pit. Edwards attempted to recruit Vince to his cause, but then was informed than the REF forces have landed and were engaging their men.(Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles 3: Necessary Evil)
Admiral Hunter led personally the ground assault, in the Battle of Optera. In the air, his forces were crushing the Invid and Ghost Squadron, thanks to his Shadow Technology. When Edwards ordered his Invid to concentrate, Hunter made his cruisers to use his heavy weapons to annihilate them. When Hunter's forces reached Edwards, he unleashed a horde of Invid creatures exiting from the Genesis Pit. The general, distracted by the android Janice Em, which posed as Minmei, wasn't able to react. Janice informed Hunter about Edward's using the Invid Brain, and after firing at it, Janice, Edwards and the Brain fell to the pit. Without his leader, the last survivors of Ghost Squadron surrended.
But the battle was far from over: soon after, Edwards emerged from the Pit, turned into a gigantic monster combined with the Brain. He killed several troopers and directed his Invid space units to attack the SDF-3, but Hunter ordered his people to evacuate. Janice, partially active, contacted Lisa, which commanded the SDF-3, to shoot at her signal. The SDF-3's Synchro Cannons shoot at Edwards. Right before it was destroyed, Janice leaved her body and transferred her conscience to another one. The shoot destroyed Edwards, and without the Brain, all Invid units died. Hunter and the Tokugawa's crew escaped onboard the Icarus. The REF civil war was over.(Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles 5: The Children of the Shadows)
Aftermath[]
The end of the conflict didn't weaken the REF too much, and apparently, left them stronger than ever: all the remaining Regent's forces were destroyed, and the only REF lost ship, the Tokugawa, was replaced by the Icarus. Besides, their forces were now much more advanced, with fighters and ships equipped with Shadow Technology and the Neutron-S missiles as ultimate weapon.
But the Haydonites, really, were manipulating the REF: though the Shadow ships were useful during the Third Robotech War, the Neutron Missiles were in fact a poisoned gift, intended to destroy Earth and all the human forces. The Haydonites only wanted to destroy any race using Protoculture, and all their upgrades had trojan horses, which would be devastating for the humans during the Fourth Robotech War.(Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles)
Appearances[]
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