Maia Sterling

Maia Sterling is a female character that features in Robotech.

Biography

Lieutenant Commander Maia Sterling is a daughter of Max Sterling and Miriya Sterling, and is Dana Sterling's younger sister. Like her sister, Dana, she is half human and half Zentraedi. She has short, pink hair, and appears to have adopted the color for use on her equipment. Unlike Dana, who was born on Earth, Maia was born during in space during the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) mission to find the Robotech Masters' homeworld of Tirol. Before the Battle of Reflex Point, Maia, like the other young members of the REF who were born in space, have never seen Earth. Maia's exact age is not stated but she was presumably born shortly after the REF departed from Earth in December 2022. Since the events of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles occur in July 2044, her age is estimated to be approximately 20.

Onboard Space Station Liberty, Maia discusses the upcoming offensive against the Invid with Commander Daryl Taylor of Wolf Squadron as well as Taylor's selection of pilots Alex Romero and Marcus Rush for his Squadron. As they are talking, Dana walks up to them. Maia simply says "Dana" and the two sisters look at each other intently for a moment before Dana walks off without saying a word, with a look of sadness on her face. Daryl states: "That was awkward Maia. She's still not talking, eh?" but Maia immediately changes the subject back to the upcoming offensive. It is clear there is tension between Maia and Dana, as judged by Dana's mostly non-verbal behavior but the reason for this tension is not known.

Shortly before the REF launch a full scale assault on Earth in 2044 to dislodge the Invid who have occupied the planet for 13 years, Maia is promoted to leader of the Skull Squadron, the same squad that her father led before being called by Rick Hunter to the SDF-3 to observe the test firing of a Neutron-S missile in the omicron sector. During the battle of Reflex Point, Maia distinguishes herself by inflicting heavy losses on the Invid and saving the lives of a number of other pilots, including Marcus Rush and Alex Romero of Wolf Squadron. However, losses among the fighter squadrons are heavy, and among those killed is Daryl Taylor. Following the battle, General Reinhart decides to merge Wolf and Skull sqaudrons, which places both Marcus and Alex under her command. Maia becomes annoyed after she overhears Marcus, who has lost both his sister and his commanding officer to the Invid, stating that all aliens should be wiped out. Maia tells him that she is half-alien and reminds him that if all aliens were wiped out, she would not have been able to save his life during the battle. Despite the awkward introduction, Marcus is clearly attracted to her, and the fact that Maia becomes visibly annoyed when Marcus is fascinated by the android, Janice Em, suggests that she is interested in him as well. When the Haydonites, turn on the REF, Maia initially leads her squadron into battle, but is called back by Captain Vince Grant after it becomes clear that the technology the Haydonites gave to the REF, including the Syncro-Cannons equipped on their fighters, contain weaknesses that the Haydonites are exploiting. Unable to fight back, the squadron retreats but are pursued by Haydonite fighters. Alex Romero tries to engage them but his syncro-cannon, crippled by the Haydonite attack, malfunctions and his fighter becomes stalled. Despite the pleas of Maia and Marcus for Alex to eject, he flies into the enemy squadron as his fighter explodes, destroying himself and all of the enemy fighters. Maia is visibly upset by Alex's sacrifice while Marcus, who was Alex's best friend, is completely devastated.

After retreating to Space Station Liberty, Maia and her squadron acquire new super-shadow fighters which have not had shadow technology installed. Vince Grant orders Maia's and her squadron to hold the Haydonites long enough to evacuate Liberty's personnel to the Ark Angel and to prepare the Neutron-S warheads aboard Liberty for detonation. During the battle, Maia's fighter takes damage and she is forced to eject. Marcus grabs Maia's ejection pod and throws it towards the Ark Angel as it prepares to enter a spacefold. Marcus then launches a suicide run against the Haydonites to hold them off but just before the Neutron-S missiles denotate, Ariel uses her teleportation power to save him. Later onboard the Ark Angel, Maia and Marcus console each other over the recent events. Marcus is despondent as he states that everyone he has been close to; his sister (Marlene Rush), his commanding officer (Daryl Taylor) and his best friend (Alex Romero) have been taken by war. Maia is also despondent as she states that most of her family was aboard the SDF-3, which is lost in space and may have been destroyed (following the disastrous test firing of a Neutron-S missile in the Omicron sector.) Maia puts her head on Marcus' shoulder and the two look out a viewport as the Ark Angel flies over Earth' surface, which neither of them has seen until now. Like the rest of the REF, Maia can only hope that the SDF-3 has survived, and that if it has, that the REF can reach it before the Haydonites do.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Maia Sterling was an attractive female human with her Zentraedi roots not being evident besides her short purple hair.

Maia was shown to be strict like her mother yet witty like her father. She said that she did not tolerate 'lip' from subordinates under her command. This was shown when she threatened Alex Romero for his comments after she had assigned him to her command. Despite that, she cared for her pilots as she showed remorse for their deaths and was saddened after Romero was killed.

Powers and abilities

Similar to her parents, she came to mark her fighter with her own personal colors - in this case, a combination of the standard blue paint scheme, and her own personal pink. Her personal flight suit uses a similar color scheme. From a young age, she came to rise in the ranks of the R.E.F. to the position of Lieutenant Commander and headed Skull Squadron.

Notes

• Maia Sterling was voiced by actor Edie Mirman where she made her first appearance in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.
• In Robotech: The Southern Cross Saga, Dana Sterling had a vision of a sister who was named Aurora but she was named Maia Sterling in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Alternate Versions

• The other daughter of Max and Miriya was seen by Dana during a hallucinatory sequence in Catastrophe, the final episode of the Robotech Masters segment (episode 60). This character gave rise to the Aurora Sterling character seen in the Jack McKinney novelization. Maia's characterization has nothing in common with Aurora as depicted in the novel and her hair is a different color. Due to the re designation of the novels to secondary continuity, it is unclear whether Maia is meant to replace Aurora or simply be another daughter along with Aurora.

Appearances

• Robotech:

External Links

• Robotech Wiki Entry

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