Dana Sterling

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Dana Sterling is a fictional character from the Robotech anime television series. The character was adapted from the originally unrelated characters Komilia Maria Fallyna Jenius in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Jeanne Francaix in The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross. She is the daughter of Max Sterling and Miryia Sterling, heroes of the First Robotech War.

Dana remained on Earth while Max and Mirya joined the Robotech Expeditionary Forces aboard the SDF-3. Dana is a graduate of the United Earth Forces Military academy along with childhood friend Bowie Grant. She was placed with the 15th tactical armored squadron then under the command of Sean Phillips near the beginning of the Second Robotech War. With Sean's demotion for flirting with an admiral's daughter, Dana was promoted to Second Lieutenant and command of the 15th.

Gregarious and outgoing, Dana proved to be a competent tactical leader in battle. She was also torn between her half alien heritage and the fact that the enemy she was killing could be her own relatives. Because of this, she had several clashes with supreme commander Anatole Leonard over his bigoted treatment of captured bioroid pilots. Leonard seemed to tolerate her because of her relationship to Chief of Staff Rolf Emerson. Dana, along with Bowie were left under his care by his friends, the Sterlings and the Grants who also joined the REF.

Dana was attracted to Zor Prime who was attached to the 15th squadron and helped him regain his memory. During the final battle with the Robotech Masters, Dana accidentally touched the terminals of a protoculture chamber and the surge awakened racial memories inside her. Through a waking dream, she met a young girl, the younger sister she had yet to meet but had been born in deep space during the SDF-3's mission. Zor sacrificed himself to destroy the Earth mounds where the ruins of the SDF-1's protoculture matrix were located as they had mutated and began to attract the Invid Sensor Nebula. Unfortunately, he only spread the spores throughout the planet causing Earth to become a fertile greenhouse for the Invid flower of life. The arrival of the Invid was a certainty now and their chances of winning were non-existent as the United Earth Forces and the Robotech Masters had exhausted themselves.

In the shadow of impending doom, Dana became more somber and pessimistic and a pale shadow of her former cheerful self. It is believed that she and other survivors of the 15th joined in the initial but unsuccessful resistance against the Invid Invasion. Other accounts have them acquiring a returning ship from the REF, piloted by Colonel Jonathan Wolfe, and using that ship to rendezvous with the remnants of the REF. Whatever the case, eventually, as depicted in the Wildstorm comics, Prelude to Shadow Chronicles, at least Dana and Louie Nichols reach Space Station Liberty.

[edit] Difference Between Baby Dana and Adult Dana

Many fans have criticized or spoofed the apparent discrepancy between the green haired baby Dana of the Macross Saga (Komilia Jenius), and the blonde haired adult Dana in Robotech Masters (Jeanne Francaix). Though this was partially reconciled with the short-lived Sentinels series showing a very young, but very blonde girl whom Miriya refers to as her daughter; some fans have joked that either the original baby was a natural blonde and had it's hair dyed to match her parents, or that Max and Miriya's infant was switched at birth with the illegitimate daughter of Lynn Minmay. The real child of Max and Miriya then apparently grew up to become Lana Isavia (Nova Satori).[1]