As the Macross heads for space, Roy catches up with the ship to fly escort. He calls Hikaru and gets no response, so he figures Hikaru must still be in shock from the encounter with the enemy. He calls Misa and tells her he is going back to South Ataria Island to get Hikaru. Misa says something was odd about him, and Roy explains he is a civilian pilot. Hikaru is indeed still shocked by his encounter with the Zentradi, and he doesn't want Minmay to see the corpse. He tries to take off, but the Valkyrie crashes because the Zentradi soldier is holding onto the foot. Roy destroys several Regults before finding Hikaru. He sees the corpse holding onto the Valkyrie and jokes that aliens have the hots for Hikaru. He disconnects the cockpit from the Valkyrie and tucks it underneath his arm. Several Regults appear and attack, and Roy escapes. He reaches the air safely and heads for space. Hikaru and Minmay tell him they don't want to go to the Macross, and Roy promises to take Minmay back to South Ataria Island once the war ends. Hikaru and Roy begin arguing on the radio, and Hikaru calls Misa an old lady when she gets involved. Everyone on the bridge laughs, much to Misa's embarrassment. She gets angry and tells Hikaru he has some explaining to do about being in a Valkyrie. Nearby, Vrlitwhai and Exsedol track the ship's progress. They see the Macross is trying to join with it's space fleet, and they also want to prevent it from performing a space fold. Roy drives Hikaru and Minmay through the large corridors of the ship, and Hikaru wonders why war has started. Roy arrives at his destination, which is a hangar containing Hikaru's racer. Emergency stations are sounded, and Roy tells Hikaru and Minmay not to wander around because the ship is so large. As the Macross prepares to dock with two ARMD carriers, Vrlitwhai orders his ships to attack.
The Zentradi fleet begins its barrage and destroys the ARMD carriers. Global orders Claudia to take the ship back over South Ataria Island and activate the fold system. Claudia and Misa protest because the system hasn't been tested, and Global says if they stand still they'll be destroyed. He tells Claudia to set course for the far side of the moon, and when she protests again, he yells at her. Hikaru performs some repairs on his plane and tells Minmay that he'll take her back to South Ataria Island. As the countdown to the fold continues, Hikaru opens the nearby hangar door. He and Minmay squeeze into his plane and take off. As the Macross settles over South Ataria Island, Global orders the fold system to be engaged. A bubble of energy envelops the Macross, Hikaru's plane, South Ataria Island and some of the surrounding ocean. Vrlitwhai is shocked that they performed a fold within a planetary atmosphere, and he orders Exsedol to calculate their de-fold position. When the Macross de-folds in space, Vanessa detects and object beneath the ship. Global thinks it's the moon, but it's actually South Ataria Island, which the ship crashes into. Hikaru and Minmay find themselves in a field of junk, and several large objects hit the plane and cause air to leak out. Hikaru activates the rocket booster and heads for the Macross. Regult pods are attacking the ship, so all the hangar doors are closed. When a Regult crashes into the hull and creates a hole, Hikaru flies into it and performs a rough landing. Once all the Regults are destroyed, Global orders the civilians to be brought into the ship. Vanessa reports that they have de-folded near orbit of Pluto, not the moon. Everyone is shocked, and Global says they will just fold back to Earth again. He receives a call from the engine room and is informed that the fold system has vanished. As Global heads down to the engine room, he sees that they're in for a long trip.
The battle begun in the first two episodes continues here and reaches a brief conclusion, which sets up the space arc of the series and the journey back to Earth. There's more joking between Hikaru and Roy, and Hikaru has his first encounter with Misa. Though she is certainly not an old lady, he probably was so busy thinking about Minmay that he didn't get a good look at her. That will come back to haunt him in the near future. Global makes a miscalculation here that ends up dragging the Macross and South Ataria Island into deep space. And Hikaru and Minmay are trapped deep in the ship, which is what Roy warned them about. The crew may have escaped the Zentradi for the time being, but they'll be back very soon.
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