Author's Note: The settings and characters with recognizable names are property of Namco, and some credit must also be given to the Electrosphere and Ace Combat .
Thank you for researching hardware, for making maps and timelines, and for reading. This story has been in my head since I first played AC04 so many years ago. It is good to finally work on it now.
This is the story of the Usean Continental War from the PoV of an Erusian ground soldier named Charlie Sharitarish. This is about what he saw, what he did, and why he did it. His story is reflected by countless more soldiers who find themselves fighting for causes that don't exist and countries and people that cease to be.
Chapter 1: Tiger Coat
I was already 14 years old when Ulysses came and changed everything forever. I remember it so well. It was actually very unreal, to hear the news reports of asteroids coming to destroy us all. My parents didn't talk about it very much around me, but I'm sure they were as secretly scared as the rest of the world. I was born in 1985, just 4 years before the Revolution. I don't remember that as well. I remember soldiers parading down the street, flags hanging from just about every building, and smiles. My parents were happy too, after all they were very patriotic. They had given me my great-grandfather's name, the name of a hero: Charlie Sharitarish. I was the latest in a long line of veterans proudly fighting and dying in Erusea's many wars. But now I think that my parents never wanted me to continue that tradition. As outwardly patriotic as they were, they wished I wouldn't have to live through as much chaos as they did. They were tired of war. Unfortunately they were alone. Everyone was happy on the 14th of September, 1989. The weak, corrupt government of aristocrats and 'politically reliable' idiots had finally collapsed the and the new leaders proposed an era of power and prosperity. They were right. Our country had a sharp rise in its economy, producing a new generation with all the old grudges and ambitions with a new sense of arrogance and self-importance.
In 1996 the FCU announced their findings about the Ulysses XF041994 asteroid. By then the name of Erusea had changed from the 'Federal' to the 'Free' Republic of Erusea. The government had instituted many socialist and military-first policies that a lot of people did not like. But then, most people stopped having trouble with them when they realized it'd be more trouble than it was worth. The entire military had grown drastically after a short war with the bordering nation of Amber and intervention the Delarus Civil War. We were on constant alert with the FCU, and our soldiers and theirs in the other nations were in each other's sights.
When I turned 14 I saw several army grunts on leave in Farbanti running around a mall having fun and causing trouble like high school students, and no one did anything about them. The staff treated them like kings of the castle as they trampled everywhere, went in areas they weren't allowed, and treating the place like a playground. I'd seen things like this all the time, but that day was when I made up my mind to join the army as soon as I could. My parents didn't say a word when I told them. My mother just stopped for a second and then continued what she was doing, pretending I hadn't said a word. And my dad just said that he was proud as quickly as he could in an unconvincing tone. That same year everyone starting worrying about the sky. Everyone ramped up efforts to stop Ulysses. Donations from everywhere went to Stonehenge. TV programs and magazine articles praised the 'Titan Guns'. Even paper models of the cannons became a commodity. I was beginning high school and trying my best to just get through life. The asteroid hurtling towards our planet was pushed to the back of my mind, behind homework and girls. Most of the time it never crossed my mind. Sure they had documentaries and all sorts of other broadcasts, but none of it particularly concerned me. But one day, July 3rd 1999, that illusion of an ordinary life was shattered the asteroid came in a flash, breaking into a thousand pieces over Usea.
I was at school when one chunk of rock flew overhead. Everyone could see it. It was sunset but the sky lit up as if it was midday. The air warmed up quite a bit. The asteroid had landed in the municipal section of the city with loud boom that sent a blast of hot air and walls of dust, debris, and water everywhere. Emergency teams were rushing everywhere. The sounds of sirens and horns filled the city for hours and continued for a while during the rescue efforts in what was now the Sunken City. I was in the makeshift shelter in the school gym for days as I wondered what happened to my family. It was three days before I found out they were alive in a shelter away from Farbanti.Those were some of the most hellish days of my life. For those three days I just hunkered down in that gym trying not to imagine that the worst had happened. All of Farbanti was flooded at least a foot or two for weeks. A lot of taller buildings by the municipal area and the port were set aflame. The whole thing was unreal. Wading through waist deep water downtown, watching gashed skyscrapers in the distance burn like gargantuan candles. A couple of my friends received news that their families had died. The look on their faces scared me more than anything. Later I found out that an acquantance was taking a sick day when Ulysses came. He was buried under five stories of rubble. Rats and other animals were everywhere, even a ton of pets that had been seperated from their owners. Disease was rampant and many people, especially the injured, were dying of infections, sickness, and disease. The whole city had looked as if a war had came and left in the blink of an eye. Combined with the other impacts in Goldberg, Faith Park, and Allenfort, 500,000 people had died, just stolen away by the stars. A signifigant portion of these were from Farbanti. Although the city was quickly rebuilt, it would later look almost exactly the same in several years.
But then I had no way of knowing what was to happen in the future. Back then I wasn't even concerned about the future. The present was worrying enough. Me and my parents made do in a refugee center, and later a small apartment for the next three years. The government gave us what we needed for the most part. The government was all over the place helping people. Soon we were as confident as ever. The city was almost completely repaired aside from a whole section being several stories underwater. The Sunken City was left untouched as a memorial, and a reminder of how we picked ourselves up from disaster. The government made sure we were as proud, confident, and especially patriotic, as we had been before the Impact.
Three years after the asteroid hit I joined the Free Erusian Land Forces as soon as I could. As soon as I graduated from school and said goodbye to my parents I left for the recruitment center. I remember how badly I wanted to enlist back then. I wanted to be one of those untouchables, part of the proud Erusian war machine. And I found myself on a bus full of other people, all as young as me, and with generally similar reasons for joining. It turned out to be the bus ride from Hell. The driver took us out to a base far out from Farbanti, and felt like going over every bump and pothole in the road as fast as he could. In two hours we disembarked, hauling our bags and stretching our backs while groaning. When we looked around we saw nothing but dense forest and our destination, the base.
The one uniformed soldier on the bus led us to the gate, above which the name stood in bold red letters: Fort Renegade. The place was surrounded by tall fences covered in barbed wire. The entrance was part of some kind of bunker. Behind the gate I could only see a great many dull-looking barracks and hangar structures. As soon as we entered the gate slammed shut and a tall and imposing soldier greeted us with a crooked smile and a beaming, scarred face. "Welcome to Renegade! I hope you like what we've done with the place, because it's gonna be your new home. As for me, I'm Sergeant Kurtz, and you are my next victims. Head to Building 14, that's your barracks. Now!" His pleasant, if extremely creepy demeanor, vanished and was replaced by complete anger when he gave us the command.
We all ran away from the sergeant as fast as we could. While ambling all over base looking for it a female Air Force lieutenant in a flightsuit walking by smiled mockingly and said, "Hope you enjoy your new home, boys!" and laughed as she passed by. Coincidentially we just arrived as she said that. Our barracks were no better than most of the places my family had to go to since the Impact. It was dark, the windows provided hardly any light as the walls were of a dark, moss-colored wood. Our bunks were simple cots arranged in stacks four. And I got the top one. I made a mental note to try and not roll in my sleep. One overweight recruit moaned, "Aww, this is where we have to stay for the next few days?"
A tall man piped up, "Hey, biggie, training is gonna take weeks, man! Get used to it." He said no more and jumped to the top bunk next to mine. I asked his name. "Alex Jackal." He said and shut his eyes, trying to sleep. The intercom would not let him.
"All new recruits!" It blared sharply. "All new recruits! Report to the drill square immediately. Report!"
I was worried, and so was everyone else. "Where the hell is that?" I asked. Unfortunately a familiar face appeared. Kurtz came to lead us there. We all got there in due time to group with some more recruits and Kurtz yelled for us to get in formation. New that we were, we stood in as rough an imitation of a proper formation as we could and an officer, a colonel, mounted a podium in front of everyone.
"Recruits. I am Colonel Tryffel. I am glad, the generals are glad, the nation is glad that you have decided to take the greatest step of your lives into Fort Renegade to join this army. We are already over one million strong thanks to you, we are fast becoming the largest and most powerful army in Usea. The next several weeks will not be easy. You will undergo the hardest training day in and day out to become to hardest and the best soldiers there are. And when you finish basic you will train some more. But this will help lead Erusea to our greatest heights! Now you will receive your uniforms. These will be the only clothes you need, your tiger coat. As long as you wear this you are untouchable. Take care."
With that the Colonel left and we turned to go into lines as we got our uniforms. When I got mine I put it on as soon as I got to the barracks and just stared at it in awe. In the way of uniforms it was nothing special, just fabric camouflaged in a predominately green with brown tiger stripe pattern. But the FELF badge on that jacket was what made it, and therefore me, special. As long as I wore that coat I would be answerable only to the military. My tiger coat.
