• Extracted from Afterwards: A new dawn by Lynn Evans, c2040, Brittanic Press

As I sit here, I still find it hard to believe that it has been four years since the Invid departed Earth. To many, it still seems like it was only yesterday that they ruled the planet. Yet, at the same time, the incredible changes that have occurred since then makes it seem like centuries.

Life on Earth is so strange. The average person can enjoy the benefits of 21^st century technology. Yet, Earth is still primarily agricultural and most technology comes from rebuilding from what was left over after wars over a decade ago. At the same time, Earth is so sparsely populated. The 2042 census; the first one since the fall of the Southern Cross in 2030; gave a rough figure of 300 million people alive today across the world. A scary figure, when one considers that in 2000, the figure was seven billion. (The current population is something like 0.5% of the 2000 population.) Dolza's fleet decimated the human race, reducing it to a mere five hundred million. While the population grew during the 2020s, the Invid slashed that population by more than half. Even then, that is not counting Earth's Zentraedi population. No accurate figures were ever obtained as to how many sought refuge on the planet after the war. What is known is that most of them perished either during the Invid invasion, or in the years of the occupation. At the time, Australia was the world's least densely populated country, with a mere 17 million people, or roughly two people per square kilometer. Now, it is closer to two people for every three square kilometers for the whole planet. We are truly a lonely planet.

Most people live in small towns scattered across the globe. A very large town might have 20,000 inhabitants. And that town could be hundreds of kilometers from the next one. Between the Zentraedi, the Robotech Masters and the Invid, virtually no large cities remain on the face of the Earth. Sometimes it seems that people don't want to form large cities. It's a holdover from the wars; large cities become large targets. Smaller towns fall through the cracks.

Ironically, the largest city on the globe is New York City, the capital of the Unified Earth Government. And yet, New York's skyline has barely changed since 2000. It's strange to think about. Even then, New York is very thinly populated. Cavern City (Or, as it is more often called, Trenchtown) in the Southlands is another example. Even four years after the war, very few people live there. The city can barely make 10% of its pre-war population.

When the Invid left, everything changed. The departure was complete. No stray troops, no abandoned bases, nothing. Their hives were not abandoned; they simply vanished. The Earth around them healed to leave no sign of their presence. Explorers found no traces of their Genesis pits. And in a few cases where they had adapted human structures for their own uses, no sign could be found of the modifications they had made.

Of course, that's not all that changed. It was strange, but after the departure the wastelands of the Earth simply healed themselves. It's strange; ever since Dolza's assault we've been trying to repair the damage done to the planet. And yet, the Invid departure seems to have done it for us. And not only the damage suffered during three alien invasions. Much of the damage that humans themselves had done to the planet also healed. Areas that had been stripped of forest centuries ago re-grew seemingly overnight. Poisoned lakes and rivers were cleaned as if they had never been polluted. Toxic waste dumps and radioactive waste that would be lethal for centuries to come had simply vanished.

Human civilization remained, however. And the ruins of other civilizations as well. The rusting hulks of Zentraedi warships still dot the globe; yet their surroundings have healed. A mile-long wreck sticking out of a dense forest is a strange yet common site. Many ruins of large cities have been reclaimed by the re-growing Earth. It's becoming harder with each passing year to believe that some of them even once existed. It is not unheard of for an Earth Reclamation exploration team to come across the ruins of a 20^th century city in the middle of a dense forest. Such a city could have housed thousands or even millions, yet there is very little to mark that it had even existed.

In other places, Humans seem to be at odds with the re-growing Earth. Laako City is in the midst of dense forest, yet it is still a mess of decaying buildings and rusting military hardware. Half of the city has been abandoned to slowly decay and crumble, with the tiny population of the other half seemingly content to live amongst the ruins of their city.

Despite the rosy outlook, the Invid's departure caused numerous problems, many of which are related to the collapse of authority caused by the fall of the Southern Cross. During the intervening months between the Second Robotech War and the Invid Invasion, power shifted from a centralised government to smaller factions. Gangs, bandits, criminals, former members of the Southern Cross; they all formed the basis of the new order. Their authority was based on strength, usually enforced with military equipment. The Invid only made matters worse. The Invasion destroyed what was left of the organised Government and army. They also severed all long-range communications. Once again, communities were isolated from each other and forced to fend for themselves. Many adapted, such as in New York where Central Park was handed over to farming for food production. Others collapsed into fighting over dwindling food supplies, or just died out from starvation. A small town would rarely communicate with its neighbor, if ever.

The new powers, however, thrived. The Invid often didn't care about the way local towns were run, just as long as there was no resistance to their rule. Local government was left to whoever they saw fit to leave in charge. If the local authorities stayed in line, the Invid would leave them well alone. In some cases, things went further. Norristown in the Southlands, for example, had a strong millitary government, run by former GMP officers. The government was, in turn backed by the Invid. Norristown's authorities collected protoculture cells and stored them in their fortress, thus preventing them from getting into the hands of would-be freedom fighters. In return, the Invid allowed the town to prosper unmolested.

After the war, things changed. Many a local government found itself without its backing and suddenly faced angry populations. Witch hunts for collaborators, real or imagined, became almost an everyday part of life. Other communities, particularly former slave colonies, faced ruin, as the Invid had kept the communities alive as long as they remained useful. Some towns collapsed into infighting, others just slowly died.

Into this void stepped the REF. The battered remnants of the REF's Jupiter and Saturn assault groups remained in orbit high above the planet. Simply put, they represented the single most powerful force in the entire solar system. While the fleet had been decimated by the Invid departure and many of the surviving ships were in dire need of repair, there was simply no force that could stand against them. The Battle of the Reflex Point had served to unify the disparate remnants of the Southern Cross and the REF's earlier attempts to retake Earth under one banner. While those forces had suffered severe casualties, they remained a coherent force under a unified command. Out of these elements, a new government was formed.

The formation of this new order was simple. The surviving REF officers used their military forces to seize control of several major communities across the globe, using force where necessary. Smaller communities were bought under the control of larger ones, which were in turn run by a council of REF officers and local authorities (Or those who were deemed acceptable to them.) The new government was given the veneer of legitimacy by appointing several former ASC ranking officials to the council of REF officers. The REF was summarily renamed the Earth Defense Force, apparently to signify its new role. Strangely enough, there was no protest or outcry. Many people saw this new government as a necessary evil, one that would be tolerated for the good of the planet.

The truth is that the new government is no less harsh or oppressive than any of the governments that had proceeded it. The first United Earth Government was far from a democracy, and put all the power in a council of a few politicians and numerous military officers. The second United Earth Government had an entirely civilian council, but the military wielded the actual power. At the very least, it can be said that the new government relies a lot more on local authorities than the other two. On the other hand, those in charge are still military officers. The government has made overtures about instituting true democracy "eventually", but for now the situation is "too unstable". Many people predict that the situation will only change with aid from Tirol or another world.

The biggest downside to the EDF fleet is the fact that they offer a form of asylum to some people who are not welcome below. Numerous former army officers have "escaped" by joining the EDF fleet and joining the crews of the ships. The new UEG's seat of power may be in New York City, but the actual authority comes from Orbit. And while EDF remains in orbit, these people remain immune to prosecution. This has allowed some more infamous officers to escape unscathed, such as former GMP commander, Colonel Alan Fredricks. Fredricks is, apparently, now employed in the EDF's intelligence service, performing roughly the same job now as he did fifteen years ago.

Unfortunately, the EDF has not solved everything planetside. Many of those who prospered under the Invid's rule escaped unscathed afterwards. Biker gangs, bandit groups and former military officers have resorted to their old ways to get by in the new world. As a result, outlaws still plague smaller communities. The EDF has tried in past to bring these criminals to justice, but they are yet to completely succeed. The growing fear is that these people may eventually become strong and unified enough to work together.

In spite of these things, the outlook is optimistic. For the first time since before the second Robotech War, the world situation is relatively stable. The planet is healing, the government is stable and there is no threat of an imminent alien invasion. Most importantly, the human race has survived and is reclaiming their planet.

Robotech and all characters are copyright Harmony Gold/Revell. Don't get too worked up over it. Reflections in the light was created by Rick R. Mortis.

Thanks to Stan "Basara" Bundy for his comments on Robotech continuity and timelines, as well as a lengthy discussion of Earth's population during the Robotech Wars which was quite useful in the making of this fic. He is a Stoat.