Dana Sterling - Appearance in The Sentinels

Appearance in The Sentinels

Dana is briefly seen as a child in Robotech II: The Sentinels. As children, Dana and Bowie Grant (who is a nephew of Claudia Grant) have already become best friends, despite Dana's teasing of him. Dana also sports a very blond hair colour, in sharp contrast to the seagreen hair (similar to that of her parents) that she had as an infant; whether some recessive gene in her family heritage triggered the change or if the girl began dying her hair at a young age is unknown. On the day before the SDF-3 launches, Dana serves as a flower girl at the wedding of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes.

Dana remained on Earth when Max and Mirya joined the Robotech Expeditionary Forces (REF) aboard the SDF-3 in 2022. Although the Sterlings hoped that the mission would be over quickly, events would keep the SDF-3 away from Earth for the rest of Dana's childhood.

It is not stated in the television series why Max and Miriya left Dana behind, since other families had brought their children with them and many children were born during the mission. However, the decanonized Jack McKinney novel "The Devil's Hand" (book 13 of the Robotech series) states that Dana, as the only child of a Human-Zentraedi union (who had been studied, tested, and evaluated since birth), she was judged by Professor Lazlo Zand as too valuable to risk going with the REF. Max and Miriya were very reluctant to leave their only child, who was barely 10 years old (or 7 in the novel) behind but ultimately accepted this decision. Dana's childhood friend, Bowie Grant, for health reasons, was also unable to join his parents, Vince Grant and Dr. Jean Grant, on the mission.

Both Dana and Bowie were left under the care of their godparents, Major General Rolf Emerson and his wife Laura. Dana and Bowie subsequently grew up as near siblings, but without their parents. In the Robotech novels, Dana is depicted as missing her parents considerably and longing for their return.