Operation Game Bird

The Okchabursk plot was a failed conspiracy towards the end of the Circum-Pacific War involving a nuclear bombing of Yuktobania by the Gray Men.

Background
With the failed Osean invasion of Cinigrad, the Circum-Pacific War entered a stalmate. To continue exhausting both countries, the Gray Men decided to orchestrate the detonation of a nuclear weapon in Yuktobania, thereby causing the war to escalate into a nuclear exchange. The attack, which was to be carried out through the Arkbird against the city of Okchabursk, was scheduled to occur at 14:00PM in December 19 of 2010.

Belkan communications related to the plot were intercepted and decrypted by the Osean ship Andromeda after the Razgriz Air Command Squadron's operation in the Payavlenie Ravine. A particular message, which read "N attack by A-Sat on Okchabursk to begin at 14:00 hours", revealed the meaning of the transmission, prompting the crew of the OFS Kestrel to devise a plan to halt the attack.

Operation Game Bird
"I never thought I'd see the Arkbird fall into Belka's hands."

- Kei Nagase

The movements of the Arkbird were monitored by the Kestrel's fleet until the day of the attack. According to their analysis, the ship was required to descend into the Earth's atmosphere to slow down through friction, rendering it vulnerable to attack. At 10:06, the Razgriz took off from Kirwin Island and headed to the Arkbird's descent point over the Ceres Ocean. At 13:09, President Vincent Harling, who was present on the Kestrel itself, wrote and signed a document authorizing the squadron to use all methods necessary to stop the Belkan plot.

Blaze and his wingmen later arrived to the site. As the Razgriz briefly spoke with each other, a lone astronaut taken hostage by its Belkan operators tampered with the Arkbird's controls before escaping, causing it to plunge into the earth. The squadron then attacked the spacecraft, alerting it of their presence. Adler, the main operative inside the ship, relayed the situation to another Belkan named Schenze, who ordered him to use the UAV launchers mounted on the Arkbird.

After launching a swarm of Vogel attack drones, it activated its engines, prompting the Razgriz to pursue it. They stripped the Arkbird of its launchers and onboard SAM batteries, causing it to activate its A-sat lasers. The lasers were soon destroyed, and the ship lost its main engines. Knowing that a flight to Yuktobania would be impossible, Schenze ordered Adler to enable a backup plan, wherein the Arkbird would be steered into Osea and detonate its payload there.

The crew activated its emergency booster in a final attempt to carry out their plans, but lost it to the attacks of Razgriz's pilots. Having lost all flight systems, Adler cursed the squadron as the Arkbird sank into the ocean, where it vanished in a large explosion. The crash site was later investigated by crews of the Kestrel's fleet, who confirmed that the nuclear weapon inside the ship disappeared with it, with no fallout being released. Days after the incident, the loss of the Arkbird was known to the public in Osea. The government refused to acknowledge the cause of the crash.