A Note from the Author

Finally, after years of waiting and putting it off, I've decided to blow the dust off the laptop and start writing again. I have Ace Combat 7 to thank for my return to writing. I'd make up excuses about not being able to write because of joining up, or some serious writer's block but hey. Here I am.

I'd like to give a special thanks to both Loose Cannon Doccy and Karaya 1 for giving their time to proof read and review each chapter draft before they're posted. Also while I'm here, I'd like to recommend Flash Fire by Karaya 1, an excellent fic and fantastic read.

Without further ado, here's my return to writing. I read all reviews and reply to every single one, so let me know what you think!

Ever since my obsession with The Belkan War, and the legendary mercenary pilot known as The Demon Lord, my interest in the untold stories of conflict has only grown. My research and investigations shifted from Belka across the Spring Sea to the Usean Continent. Not long ago, another war broke out that engulfed the whole Usean continent. The Usean Continental War.

The war has its roots in the discovery of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid in 1994. While war raged in Belka, the Usean nations banded together to create Stonehenge, a railgun network designed to shoot the asteroid fragments as they entered the atmosphere. Despite this, parts of the asteroid hit the planet, causing widespread destruction. Two million Useans died over two weeks, causing a massive refugee crisis.

Erusea, struggling from the impact, refused to accept further refugees in the spring of 2003. When the Usean nations boycotted the Federal Republic of Erusea, it launched a surprise invasion of the Usean continent, and seized control of Stonehenge. The Usean countries created ISAF, the Independent States Allied Forces, and prepared to retaliate. The Usean Continental War had begun.

All of this can be found in any history book, however. Having learnt from the Belkan War that there are many sides to the same story, I wanted to grasp a unique insight into the war. Using contacts I had in the military, I managed to track down and interview a member of the legendary Yellow Squadron who survived the war.

And so, without further ado, the curtain rises.

The pilot in question is known by his TAC name Raccoon, former member of the Federal Erusea Air Force, 156th Tactical Fighter Wing 'Aquila'. Also known as Yellow Nine. He joined the squadron just after the outbreak of the war, and remained with them until the end. He agreed to speak to me about his experience of the war and his time as part of Erusea's most infamous squadron, but he asked me to keep his identity secret. "For personal reasoms." He explained. "I'd rather not have the publicity."

I asked about his TAC name and he laughed. During basic training, he was caught doing through the bins in search of some missing paperwork. For weeks he was known as Trash Panda until he could bribe off the name for Raccoon.

"I joined the Air Force on the turn of my 21st birthday." Raccoon explains to me. He is sat with his legs crossed, relaxed as he speaks. The photograph I have of him is old, his once young features have grown rugged and weathered. Like me, he is dressed casually in jeans and a shirt. "My teenage years were filled with stories from the Belkan War, and that drew me to sign up. I never expected to be assigned to Erusea's ace squadron, I guess I must have impressed the right people."

"When I got to the squadron, the war had already started. Our forces had captured San Salvacion and had begun turning Stonehenge into a powerful anti-aircraft weapon. Our squadron was assigned to defend it from the enemy fighters, and so my first taste in combat was doing just that."

"We got the call that the ISAF were planning a long range strike against Stonehenge. It was Yellow Thirteen who gave the brief, that we were to intercept the strike before it reached the superweapon. Our base at the time was in northeast Erusea so we took off that morning before the sun had risen in order to reach Stonehenge on time. We were prepared with both long and short range missiles."

I asked him what it was like to see Stonehenge in person for the first time. He smiled as he answered, gesturing with hands that bore scars of old burns.

"To this day I have never seen something so impressive. When it first appeared just over to the left of us I thought it was a small city with a few fledging skyscrapers. But it was only when we got closer that the details became clear. Seven of the railguns were aimed to the skies, the eighth had been damaged I think so it's nose was buried in the sand. I remember thinking to myself, the thing was so wide I could easily land and take off again with room to spare!"

"The same poor weather that had prevented closer squadrons from taking off had also hindered the ISAF fighters, so we took advantage and flew out to meet them. Our radars picked them up, and we were given the order to engage. We fired long range missiles first, they hit two or three of the strike fighters. It was clear at this stage that we weren't up against your average joe, these were some ISAF veterans using the clouds to disrupt the missile tracking."

"The cloud cover over the engagement zone was low, we were at maybe angels three and we were just skimming the top of them. Their fighters turned to engage us but our focus was taking out those attackers. We knew that without them, the ISAF mission would be a failure. So Thirteen gave the order, myself and the other two would continue on and engage from their six while he and Four would cover us from the fighters."

"The enemy fighters were the standard Osean F-15, twelve of them. But together, Thirteen and Four made them look like amateurs. There was a certain synergy between the two of them, I later learned that Thirteen was the one who trained Four to be a pilot. But the way they danced the Terminators around the Oseans, downing bird after bird, it was a display of true airmanship unlike anything I'd ever seen."

"By this time, the rest of us had managed to get behind the Strike Eagles. Their planes were weighed down with bombs, they lacked the same agility their fighter escort possessed. I myself claimed four kills that day. It was an outstanding victory for us, and a crushing defeat for the ISAF. Had they destroyed Stonehenge that day, I'm not sure if we'd been able to achieve almost total air supremacy for the rest of our push east."

The ISAF mission Raccoon speaks of is Operation Stonehenge Assault, a failed ISAF mission to disable or destroy Stonehenge. It was the first time the Yellow Squadron had engaged the ISAF forces, and had resulted in a complete mission failure for the ISAF. Without the air support they needed, Los Canas and Istas Fortress surrendered to the Erusean Army several days later.

"We landed back at base that afternoon...I was exhausted! For the entire engagement, the adrenaline of air combat had taken over. But Thirteen and Four seemed unaffected by the mission, carrying out their post mission tasks like a whole day in the cockpit was nothing to them. I knew that if I could learn from them, perhaps one day I too would be able to do the things they did in the skies above Stonehenge."