While the bridge crew of the SDF-1 plans its next course of action, Rick Hunter tries a maneuver of his own. Initially trapped in the vacuum of space outside the battlefortress when the SDF-1 executed the fold, Rick and Minmei enter an unexplored area of the ship. With the radio broken, they have no way to call for help. Although Roy Fokker quickly determines that his friend is missing, he is ordered to assist in retrieving the surviving 70,000 civilians of Macross Island. The two young people are left to their own resources. While the bridge crew of the SDF-1 plans its next course of action, Rick Hunter tries a maneuver of his own. Initially trapped in the vacuum of space outside the battlefortress when the SDF-1 executed the fold, Rick and Minmei enter an unexplored area of the ship. With the radio broken, they have no way to call for help. Although Roy Fokker quickly determines that his friend is missing, he is ordered to assist in retrieving the surviving 70,000 civilians of Macross Island. The two young people are left to their own resources.

While Fokker and his pilots salvage what they can, Rick and Minmei explore their surroundings and try to find their way to the center of the ship. However, the size of the battlefortress is more than they can handle, and eventually they are reduced to simply finding the means to stay alive. They pass the time in conversation, becoming good friends. Rick Hunter finds his companion charming as well as beautiful. His sense of responsibility for Lynn Minmei evolves into genuine affection.

They spend many days trapped in the confines of the ship, but just as they lose hope of ever seeing friends and family again, a freak accident caused by a construction crew assembling Macross City within the SDF-1 results in rescue of the two young people.