Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

The story of Ace combat zero
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (Simply Ace Combat: The Belkan War in Europe) is a retelling of the events of a war which happened earlier in the Ace Combat time line; the story recounts the actions of a legendary mercenary ace, "Cipher", and his effect on both the outcome of the war and the opposing aces he defeated in combat. The narrator begins by telling us that, in 1995, Belka invaded its neighbors and started a war which engulfed the world.

After years of internal political unrest, which started around 1988 with the Belkan federal law review, Belka allowed its eastern territories to secede. This however, did not remedy the vast economic crisis that had befallen the country. Osea, seeing a chance to make profit, assisted the eastern provinces in declaring independence and setting up Osean-friendly governments; one of which was the Ustio Republic. An extreme right-wing political group finally comes to power on the 12th of December 1991. Shortly thereafter, vast natural resources were discovered in the B7R region, and Belka invaded outwards on the 25th of March, 1995 recapturing lost territories in a blitzkrieg. These actions prompted both Osea and Yuktobania to combine forces and launch a counter-offensive against Belka.

At this time, the story of Cipher and Pixy begins.

Their early involvement in the war centers around repelling the Belkan forces out of Ustio. Relatively early on, they succeed in securing a direct route to the Ustian capitol of Directus, and, on the 13th of May, 1995, the capital is liberated from Belkan control.

The two pilots are immediately deployed into Belkan territory where they begin offensive operations against the military infrastructure within Belka. The anti-ballistic-missile shield, Excalibur, is destroyed on the 23rd of May, 1995 after a failed operation that alerted the Allied forces to the Excalibur's existence. Cipher and Pixy are involved in numerous sorties including an offensive bombing campaign against the city of Hoffnung on the 1st of June, 1995 where it is revealed that the Belkans are executing a scorched earth policy to keep their technology out of the invading armies' hands. This is a foreshadowing of things to come.

A pivotal moment occurs in the story on the 6th of June, 1995 during a mission to intercept bombers suspected of carrying nuclear weapons. Amidst the fighting, a large flash is witnessed and communication is greatly diminished. This is the date and time that Belka detonated seven nuclear weapons on its own soil to halt the advance of Allied troops. CROW 1 and 2 disappear sometime during the chaos. At this point, Pixy leaves the formation and flies outside of the mission boundaries. It becomes unclear exactly what has happened to Pixy.

Following this turn of events, "PJ" is assigned to the squadron and becomes Cipher's wingman. Their missions take them deeper into Belkan territory. On the very day when a peace agreement is being signed by Belka and the Allied forces (20th of June, 1995), they are involved in a covert operation to eliminate Belkan military holdouts refusing to "accept the Belkan government's official capitulation". Encountering very heavy resistance during this mission, PJ comments that there are too many enemies to merely be remnant forces.

It is only in the next mission, on the 25th of December, 1995, that the intentions of the terrorist organization, A World With No Boundaries, become clear. In this mission, ace pilots from Sapin, an Allied country, are found defending the Hresvelgr aircraft indicating that dissatisfied pilots from all areas of the conflict have banded together to fight the current world powers and remove the notion of "borders".

The final sortie has Cipher and PJ heading out to stop the launch of several ICBMs containing nuclear warheads. On the way to the site, they encounter aces from Osea now turned to members of the "A World With No Boundaries" organization. After defeating these pilots in the B7R "Round Table" region, Cipher and PJ arrive at the Avalon Dam in northern Belka. After destroying the V-2 launch facility, PJ's radio chatter is interrupted when Cipher's former wingman, Pixy, appears in the ADFX-02 aircraft as the organization's ace pilot and shoots PJ down. In order to stop a final V2, Cipher duels Pixy one-on-one, and finally defeats him.

The story ends with a final series of interviews the last of which is Pixy himself, fighting on a disputed border in present-day. He has reevaluated his perspective on why people fight for national identities and borders and has only one thing to say to his former wingman:

"Yo, buddy. Still alive? And thanks, friend. See you again..."

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