Fort Norton infiltration

The Fort Norton Inflitration is a turning point in the Anean Continental War.

Premise
Weeks ago, the Emmerian military carried out a large scale invasion against Estovakian forces stationed in the Moloch Desert region, northwest of the Emmerian capital city Gracemeria. During the battle's climax, Emmerian forces suddenly were issued a general retreat order: the Estovakian commanders threatened to employ unspecified weapons of mass destruction to carry out a scorched earth policy on Gracemeria if the enemy continued it's advance towards the capital.

Coincidentially, aircraft from the elite 9th Tactical Fighter Squadron Strigon entered the battlezone in order to assure that the Emmerians withdrew from the Moloch Desert, at which point Marcus "Shamrock" Lampart of the 28th Fighter Squadron, hellbent on revenge against the men who had deprived him from his hometown, ignored the retreat orders, and in a maneuver that threatened Gracemeria as we know it, attacked the Strigon aircraft, assisted by his flight commander.

Utlimately, all Strigon aircraft were erased from radar. However, thanks to their stunt, the Emmerian Joint Chiefs of Staff subsequently and indefinitely grounded the Garuda Team, prohibiting them from flying any combat sortie.

Meanwhile, in Gracemeria, word of Garuda's suspension already had arrived to Estovakian ears, as evidenced by newly arrived Strigon leader Ilya Pasternak's reaction while speaking with former commander Victor Voychek.

Weapons of Mass Destruction
In March 26, 2016, the Emmerian Joint Chiefs of Staff had drawn an extermely high-risk plan to subvert the Stovie WMD threat: the weapons were stored in Fort Norton, an Emmerian military installation located in the Alma River region, defended by a large-scale radar network. The plan was simple: send aircraft into Norton at low altitude while evading detection and eliminating the WMD transport squad before they could ship their payload. In the flip side, there were no pilots available to perfrom such a risky operation, hence Emmerian command turned to the only logical choice, Garuda Team.

That same day, the Garuda Team, alongside AWACS Ghost Eye, were deployed in Fort Norton in order to carry out the WMD Suppresion Operation. Maneuvering through the ravines & bridges of Alma River evading radar detection, Garuda silently wiped out ground units in the sector before they could establish communication with the transport squad in eastern Alma. After a few minutes, the Emmerian pilots arrived at the designated attack point, much to the Estovakians' surprise, who immediately began to movilize the transport team. Nevertheless, the WMD carriers were taken out, thus erasing the scorched earth threat once and for all.

Boiling Point
However, not all was over yet. Even with the weapons of mass destruction destroyed, the Garuda Team still had to retreat from Alma River. As they left, a group of Estovakian fighters engaged the retreating aircraft in hot pursuit. However, as time passed, more and more aircraft began joining the pursuit, until Garuda were completely overwhelmed by angry Estovakian pilots. It all came to its climax, however, when a colossal airborne contingent ambushed the 28th Squadron in western Norton-- the two pilots were forced to engage their pursuers, even while being outnumbered 31-to-one.

However, the situation would soon change-- unexpectedly, an equally massive Emmerian formation, composed by all pilots Garuda had saved & fought alongside with throughout the entire war, approached Norton Fort at high speed. Being even with their Eastern counterparts, needless to say, a dogfight of biblical proportions broke out. In the end, the Emmerians came out victorious.

Result & Aftermath
With the ensuing carnage, the mission was a success. The Estovakian WMD threat had been supressed, and nothing could stop the Emmerian forces now from advancing towards Gracemeria.

Five days later, the Emmerian commaners gave the green light to the operation that would decide Emmeria's fate.