Maia Sterling

Infobox animanga character
name = Maia Sterling
series = Robotech


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voiced by = Edie Mirman
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gender = Female
species = Human/Zentradi
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hair = Pink
eyes = Pink
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occupation = Veritech Fighter Pilot (Skull Squadron), Robotech Expeditionary Force
title = Lieutenant Commander
relatives = Miriya Parina Sterling "(Mother)"
Max Sterling "(Father)"
Dana Sterling "(Sister)"
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Maia Sterling is a fictional character from the Robotech series. She appears briefly in the Wildstorm comic and is a major character in the movie "". Maia may have appeared briefly in episode 60 of the original Robotech series, "The Robotech Masters", but it is unclear whether the girl seen here is Maia in the rebooted timeline or is another daughter of Max and Miriya Sterling.

Maia is strict like her mother and yet witty like her father, and like her parents, marks 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.

Maia Sterling is voiced by Edie Mirman, who also provided the voices of Miriya Parina Sterling and Nova Satori in the original Robotech series.

Story

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 many members of the REF, was born during the mission and has never seen Earth.

In the Wildstorm Comic Maia is briefly scene towards the end of the last issue (Issue 5 of 5). 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. [Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow ChroniclesIssue #5 - January 18, 2006. Written by Tommy Yune and Jason & John Waltrip, Art and cover by Omar Dogan & Udon Studios] Fans have speculated that Dana, who was left behind on Earth when Max and Miriya joined with REF, feels that her parents had "replaced" her with Maia. Another reason that fans have suggested is that Miriya died while giving birth to Maia, which would also explain why there is no mention of Miriya in the comic.

In , Maia, like her parents and her sister, proves to be a skilled pilot and warrior. Shortly before the REF launch a full scale assault on Earth in 2044 to dislodge the Invid, 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 the Neutron-S missile. During the battle, Maia distinguishes herself during the battle 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 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 Marcus is attracted to her, and the fact that she becomes visibly annoyed when Marcus is fascinated by the android, Janice, 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 Haydonties 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 Space Station Liberty to the Ark Angel in order to detonate the Neutron-S warheads. 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 but just before the Neutron-S missiles denotate, Ariel uses her teleportation power to save him. On 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, his commanding officer (Daryl Taylor) and his best friend (Alex) 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 approaches Earth, a planet 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. The fate of the SDF-3 is left as an open plot thread which fans believe will be revealed in a future Robotech installment.

Continuity with Original Robotech Series

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.

References

External Links

* [http://www.theshadowchronicles.com/ Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles] Official Website of the Movie