Operation High Card

"Commencing deception and interception."

- Osean control

Operation High Card was a battle over Zapland during the Lighthouse War. The operation, initially a deception strategy, later turned into an intercept mission.

Prelude
After being trialed and found guilty by the IUN, Trigger is transferred to Air Base 444 and assigned to its penal unit, Spare Squadron. A squadron comprised of convicts, Spare was being used to trick the Erusean Forces into believing the base was active when it was actually a decoy.

Battle
On July 1, 2019, Spare Squadron was ordered to take off and draw the attention of Erusean aircraft bombing Air Base 444. Initially, members of the squadron had their FCSs locked and were not allowed to engage unless Colonel D. McKinsey said otherwise. However, after losing contact with the colonel, AWACS Bandog authorized use of weapons and ordered Spare to engage the bombers. During the battle, Trigger managed to shoot down a majority of the bombers and all aircraft returned to base shortly afterward.

Aftermath
After safely returning to base, Colonel D. McKinsey threw all members of Spare Squadron who shot down Erusean aircraft into solitary for engaging without his permission.