Disclaimer: Ace Combat does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Albertian Army Training Area Dhektiri, Sovereign Base Area of Akrokelia, Adamas Island, Osean Continent, Planet Earth.
March 25th, 1995.
"Target acquired!"
Seeing that his sights were firmly on what his gunner was aiming at, Corporal Paul Mabbit, called for the loader to load up a round.
"Loader, one HESH round!"
Trooper Sean "Donnie" Donaghue, the loader, extracted a L31A7 High Explosive Squash Head round from the ammunition bins, before sliding it into the breech with a fist.
Then he acquired an L3 bag charge and pushed it behind the HESH round, pushing it further in, before closing the breech.
Once the metallic clangs of the breech closing indicated that this was done, Donnie shouted the appropriate call, "Loaded!"
The gunner, Lance Corporal William "Tazey" Tazewell, checked over his gunsights, to check that the gun was dead center on target, in just a few seconds, and satisfied, he called out before pulling the trigger.
"3. 2. 1. Firing!"
With the trigger pulled, the Challenger 1's main 120mm Royal Ordnance L11A5 gun expelled the HESH round from it's rifled barrel, causing the ground to shake and dust particles to rise.
The HESH round, following a trajectory, soon impacted on it's target, right on the turret of a former Chieftain tank that was now a target hulk.
"Hit!"
Waiting for the smoke and fragmentation to clear, Paul could then see through his scopes that they had managed to obtain a perfect circle-like spall damage to the turret of the Chieftain hulk.
"One times enemy tank destroyed! Good hit, Tazey! Well done!"
"Thank you, Corporal!"
And before they could continue on, Paul was then contacted on the radio.
"Eight-Three, this is Eight-Zero. ENDEX. I say again, ENDEX. Return to Derek for debrief, acknowledge, over".
Pressing the button on his mike, Paul responded, "Roger, Eight-Zero. Eight-Three acknowledges your last. Returning to Derek, out", before he called out to his driver, "Speaky, reverse out, then turn left. Exercise is over. We're to head back to Derek for the debriefing".
After acknowledging that instruction, Trooper David "Speaky" Speakes, the driver, sitting in the driver's position, with his seat reclined, hatch all buttoned up, began manoeuvring the Challenger 1 Mk 3, to "Derek", the HQ of Albertian Army Training Area Dhektiri (or simply known amongst the lads as the ATAD).
Dhektiri was one of the Albertian Army's largest training areas, much larger than Talisbury Plain back home, but just smaller than the Albertian Army Training Area Rodwell in Aurelia (which was large enough to accommodate and perform live-firing and tactical effect simulation exercises up to division level).
A detachment of the Opposition Force Corps was based here proving OPFOR duties for Albertian Army forces stationed in Aurelia, with personnel from other regiments on attachment to serve as OPFOR, and Salamander and Sturgeon training vehicles as well as remote controlled vehicles.
It was ideal training ground for the men of 7th Armoured Brigade, and most particularly, for the tankers of the King's Royal Hussars (Duke and Earl's Own), as they continued on with their deployment on Adamas Island, which was in it's seventh month. They were meant to be going back to the UK by now, but apparently, orders came down from above that their deployment was to be extended for another five months.
While on the way back to "Derek", Paul turned to his gunner, who was in a slightly lower seat in front of his own, and began speaking with him on a few matters that he needed to raise with him, namely on some areas during the exercise that he did, that Paul reckoned Tazey could improve on, and also speaking to Donnie about the same.
"Alright, Tazey, well done on that last hit, but just want to let you know that you were slightly slow on that second to last target. Another few seconds more and we would have been dead. Try and make sure you bring the turret and gun around faster next time. Donnie, you were also a little slow in that breech loading. You need to work on that so that we can have a round ready to fire. Otherwise, all those seconds wasted would be enough for an enemy tank to get the first shot on us, and that means, basically, our tank is at risk at being taken out of the fight or destroyed completely. I don't care if the Army says that our armour is the best in the world. No tank is indestructible. Not even ours. All it would take, is one lucky shot and we'd be out of the fight or dead. So Donnie, you need to really work on the breech loading and get that round chambered in, ready for Tazey to get his shot once he has it. Is that understood?"
Both of them replied, "Yes Corporal!"
And with that, Paul nodded his head, "Alright, now, let's make sure we take that in for next time", before he saw that they reached "Derek".
After they parked in an indicated spot, Paul exited from "Bandit", followed by Tazey and Donnie, and Speaky followed suite.
Like all tanks in B Squadron, Eight-Three's Challenger had a name beginning with a 'B'.
And thus, their Challenger in particular, was "Bandit".
They were part of 8 Troop, commanded by Captain Stanley Ryeland, an officer on attachment from the Queen's Royal Lancers.
His tank, callsign Eight-Zero, was known as "Bolton".
While the rest of 8 Troop was consisted of Staff Sergeant Henry Faber's tank "Brooks" (callsign Eight-One), and "Bucky", with the callsign of Eight-Two, and commanded by Corporal Steven Noakes.
Once they were all out of "Bandit", Paul, Tazey, Donnie and Speaky all began making their way to the after exercise briefing.
But while the crew of "Bandit" were concerning themselves with the aftermath of today's training exercise, two senior officers were currently in an office within "Derek".
Lieutenant Colonel Neville Errigo, the Officer Commanding of the King's Royal Hussars (Duke and Earls' Own), and Brigadier Philip Cadogan, the Officer Commanding of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the infamous 'Desert Rats' that carried on the legacy, name and shoulder flash of the original 7th Armoured Division that earned the infamous nickname during the North African Campaign in WW2.
Known as simply, the Duke and Earls, their brown berets bearing the cap badge of an black eagle with the Prince of Welk's feathers in the chest, the initials of D and E on the wings, a orb and a sceptre in it's talons, they were an amalgamation of the King's Hussars (Prince of Welk's Own) and the 16th/22nd (Duke of Hareford and Earl of Barweck's Own) Royal Hussars in 1992.
They were what the Albertian Army referred to as a heavy cavalry regiment, a unit equipped with main battle tanks, whereas a light cavalry regiment was equipped with Scimitars and Scorpions.
The Duke and Earls had around fifty-seven FV4030/4 Challenger 1 Mark 3 main battle tanks, which in combination with the 57 Challenger 1s of the 2nd Skottish Dragoon Guards, gave the 1st Armoured Division around 114 tanks.
Originally, it had simply been called Challenger a few years before. But there was now a Challenger 2 tank, which had been formally handed over to the Albertian Army on the 7th August last year, with confirmed orders for the Sultanate of Azdia, and it was due to be replacing their Challenger 1s at some point in the near future.
But the Challenger 2 had failed acceptance trials last year and was undergoing more series of tests to rework around some of it's problems.
So, for now, the original Challenger was still the workhorse of the Albertian Army's Royal Armoured Corps.
"So, Neville, how's everything working out for the Duke and Earls? Any recent concerns that I need to be worried about? This extended stay for all of us was not on a whim, after all".
Ever since September last year, the 7th Armoured Brigade had deployed as the resident brigade of Albertian Forces Adamas Island (known as AFAI for short), which was a change in pace for the personnel of Adamas Island, who usually relied on a resident infantry battalion that would usually rotate every two years.
Numbering 5,000 military personnel, the brigade augmented the 1,500 or so men of AFAI already stationed on Adamas Island, thus putting around 6500 personnel on the island currently.
Adamas Island had been a Albertian colony since the 1800s, with independence having been granted in 1960.
However, in exchange for it, the Albertian government managed to get an agreement with the new Adamas government to continue having a military presence on Adamas Island.
For not only was the island was an ideal strategic location and staging point for the Albertian Armed Forces in the region, but their presence also provided a deterrence to neighbouring Leasath, which held a territorial claim to the island. At the time, the deployment, known as Operation Standard, was tasked with ensuring the peace on Adamas Island, due to the tensions around the multiple factions during the early days of independence, which would often break out into fighting.
Nowadays, Operation Standard was tasked with ensuring an Albertian presence on Adamas Island to provide a deterrence against Leasath, which from time to time, would make a half-serious 'flexing' of military muscle, before they got into their heads that a war with Albertia was not worth it.
However, there were a number of occasions in which the Leasathians, would send out aircraft on low-altitude, high speed approaches to Adamas territorial waters to 'rattle the nerves' of the Albertians and test them, with only under ten instances in which the incidents became hostile, with weapons fired and Leasathian planes shot down.
When the brigade's deployment was announced, Leasath had issued protest through diplomatic channels over their presence, nothing more than just them raising 'concern over a deliberate provocation towards Leasath'.
However, Brigadier Cadogan knew that 7th Armoured Brigade's presence was not anything to do with Leasath at all, for Belka had been recently turning it's eyes onto territories it had been forced to give up due to it's economic woes in the late 1980s.
And there were worries that a war in the Osean continent would break out at some point.
So, the MOD had sent down the 7th Armoured to Adamas Island, their closest military base to the Osean continent. In the event that a war should break out, then they'd be close enough to be able to assist the Oseans, or respond to any military threat Belka would make towards Ustio. Or give aid to Belka's neighbours.
"Well, other than the issue with our spare parts, not really any major problems. Unless you count that fracas of a beach party that the Dragons had to deal with".
A sigh came from Philip as both officers remembered how that came about.
Apparently, three days ago, a group of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Prince of Welk's Royal Regiment (Suthridge and Hanteshire), otherwise known as the Dragons, were on leave, having gone through another routine day of boredom on Adamas Island.
So, it was a relief for them to have gotten leave. And they headed to a bar on the beachfront near RAF Adamas and had a few drinks. But one of the soldiers overdid on his drinking, and ran afoul of a local, who started flying insults and soon enough, fists were flying.
Thus, the Adamas police were called in, and before long, the soldiers were in the nick, held until the Redcaps arrived, to take the soldiers into their custody.
Following this, it was left to the 1st Battalion's Officer Commanding, Lieutenant Colonel Charlton Roberts, who gave the soldiers a series of punishments, which included, fines and revoking their leave privileges for a certain amount of time.
Brigadier Cadogan cut through Neville's thoughts, "Yeah, that was quite a nasty business. I get the feeling that it'll be continuing on the moment we continue on with this deployment. Unless we do something to relieve the tensions that have been building up", before he elected to change the subject, "I hear you're due for a promotion to Colonel soon".
Neville scoffed, "Only once the brigade returns in July".
"Any ideas on where to head to?"
"No. And I'm not going to waste a thought on something that isn't even official yet. This promotion idea was just some rumour mill being passed around, that everyone thinks is definitely something happening today. Well it's not, and it may actually still not happen. Until then, I'm still the OC".
But before he could answer, the phone began ringing.
The Brigadier picked it up, "Yes?"
Neville looked upon Brigadier Cadogan's face as he received the message, which left him frowning before he stood up and began departing his office, Neville being prompted to follow him.
"CAFAI requests my presence at AFAI HQ at once. Says it's urgent".
They were now in Brigadier Cadogan's own Vauxhall Senator B, driving up to RAF Adamas, a Royal Air Force base that was essentially the central hub of Albertian Forces Adamas Island.
And they had switched on the car radio.
"Belkan forces have invaded Fato, Gebet, Recta, Ratio, Ustio, Sapin and the Osean Federation earlier today in a surprise attack. The ?..."
Switching off the radio, the two exchanged glances at one another, and knew that this invasion would be a topic of discussion with CAFAI.
Passing the Westland Whirlwind HAR.10 gate guardian at RAF Adamas, they headed to the gate where they were checked over by a RAF Regiment gunner for authentication of their IDs.
Curiously, the gunner was fully dressed up with webbing, pouches full of magazines, and had a fully loaded L85 assault rifle in his hands.
After checking their IDs, the gunner went, "Alright, go ahead, sir", before the gate was opened and they were clear to go through into RAF Adamas.
As they went through the gate, and started heading to the headquarters, they could see two Phantom FGR.2s of No. 19 Squadron, fully loaded with weapons, taking off from the airfield on full afterburner.
RAF Adamas had currently twelve Phantom FGR.2s, to provide aerial defence duties for Adamas Island, as well as potentially providing immediate close-air support for Albertian troops and the Adamas National Guard (the armed forces of the Republic of Adamas), supported by three Victor K.2 tanker aircraft of No. 55 Squadron and Westland Wessex HC.2 and HAR.2s of No. 84 Squadron, which performed troop transport, cargo transport and search & rescue duties on Adamas Island
Next, once they had parked the car, the two officers entered the headquarters, and began heading their way to the office of Air Vice Marshal Roger Nutter, the Commander Albertian Forces Adamas Islands (or CAFAI for short).
Once they got to the door and knocked, a curt voice went "Enter!"
Cadogan and Errigo entered the room, to see the Air Vice Marshal in his stone coloured version of the Service Working Uniform, sitting behind his desk and going through papers.
They stood for a little while, as the Air Vice Marshall went through his papers, before he turned his focus onto Cadogan and Errigo, and gestured for them to sit down.
Once the two of them did, the Air Vice Marshall relayed the situation.
"Well, I can pretty much guess that you know why you're here. And yes, it's true. The Belkans have invaded pretty much the entire Osean continent. They've practically overrun Fato, Gebet, Recta and Ratio, Ustio is practically on the way there and heavy fighting's raging all over Osea and Sapin. We don't know too much details. It's still a little fluid situation at the moment, but what we do know at the moment, the Prime Minister's been in direct communication with the Osean President, so evidently, we're going to get involved in some form or fashion. There's nothing official from the MOD just yet on any sort deployment, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. It'd be more likely that the RAF and the Royal Navy will see most of the action. The most action you'll probably get, is likely anything to do with base security. In the meantime, be vigilant. Or in this case, be prepared for any eventuality. And Brigadier, you might want to consider stepping up training for your brigade. Adamas Island currently is the closest Albertian military base to all the action over there, and if, and I absolutely stress if, Landun gives the word, the 7th Armoured would undoubtably be the first into battle".
Around March of 1995, the Albertian Ministry of Defence did take notice of the crisis around Belka and Ustio. Albertian Prime Minister Norman Faulkner had been in close communication with Osean President Jack H. Ronald, in which they were both in agreement that the Belkan threat needed to be kept in check.
Anticipating an possible Albertian Armed Forces intervention in the future, the 7th Armoured Brigade, which had been stationed on Adamas Island since September 1994 to augment the two resident infantry battalions, found it's stay on Adamas had been extended by another couple of months while the crisis was happening, and rumours were amok that another brigade had been called up to join them on Adamas.
The No. 190 Expeditionary Air Wing, the permanent RAF presence stationed at Adamas Island at RAF Adamas, was soon expanded to the No. 191 Expeditionary Air Group, with more squadrons stationed to bulk up Adamas' air defences, in spite of protest from Leasath and some in Parliament who thought that Albertia was blowing the whole Belkan/Ustian crisis out of proposition.
-Excerpt from Belka's Raging Storm: History of the Belkan War of 1995, by Professor Norman Calder-Marshall in 2005.
And so begins my first proper fanfic into Ace Combat, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you!
After becoming well into the idea of doing a Ace Combat fic focused around a Strangereal equivalent of Britain, and after reading a bunch of Gulf War material, I felt covering it from the perspective of an armoured unit would be a change from all the usual, fighter pilot stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with doing stuff with fighters, but I felt like doing something a bit different from that.
In this fic, regiments in the Albertian Army will be a mix of real-life British Army ones, as well as fictional ones. Opposition Force Corps is one of those fictional ones.
Whilst, the unit that this fic is focused on, The King's Royal Hussars (Duke and Earls' Own), is based of the real life King's Royal Hussars (as is their cap badge), but is more or less based of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars' own participation in the 1991 Gulf War.
And if Adamas sounds familiar to you, well, Adamas is actually an island in the Strangereal universe, but I've given my own spin to it.
Namely, I envisioned Adamas Island to be akin to Cyprus and Gibraltar, so the history of Adamas is somewhat inspired by Cyprus' own, with some of Gibraltar's.
Albertian Army Training Area Rodwell is based of the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada, but instead of being in Emmeria, which is my Strangereal equivalent of Canada, is in Aurelia, my Strangereal equivalent of Australia.
The Prince of Welk's Royal Regiment is based of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, as well as the 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment's participation during the 1991 Gulf War.
RAF Adamas is essentially based of RAF Akrotiri.
In this fic, some of the personnel do have a basis of actual Gulf War personnel (and some Bosnian/Kosovo war as well).
Philip Cadogan is based of Patrick Cordingley, the Officer in Command of the 7th Armoured Brigade during the Gulf War, who wrote In the Eye of the Storm: Commanding 7th Armoured Brigade in the Gulf War, an account of the 7th Armoured's days in the Gulf War.
Neville Errigo is based of Arthur Denaro, the Officer in Command of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars during the Gulf War.
Steve Ryeland is based of Tim Purbrick.
The excerpts will be a way of providing more big picture information in a way that the story can't as well as other in-universe events.
Took inspiration from Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson's Fox on the Rhine, and Fox at the Front, with a fictional history book excerpts within those stories.
I had originally intended on using Salamanders and Sturgeons, which were basically dressed up Scorpions and dressed up Spartans in use before I decided against it as I just couldn't get it to work.
Don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!