- "If Gracemeria falls, they'll no doubt bring ruin upon the entire world!"
- ― Emmerian pilot[3]
The assault on the Chandelier, referred to by Estovakians as the Chandelier Defensive Operation,[2] was the final battle of the Emmeria-Estovakia War. Emmerian pilots performed a long-range strike on the Chandelier cruise missile system[1] to defend Gracemeria from missile attacks.[3]
Estovakian military forces who opposed the ongoing Emmerian peace talks, including Strigon Team, defended the Chandelier. Despite suffering heavy losses, Emmeria's forces, especially Garuda Team's leader Talisman, destroyed the system, thereby ending the war.[1]
Prelude[]
Following the liberation of Gracemeria, Emmeria began negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Estovakian leaders.[4] That night, Estovakian officers who opposed the treaty[1] activated the Chandelier and launched a cruise missile attack on Gracemeria. After repelling the attacks, AWACS Ghost Eye and Emmerian intelligence tracked the missile trajectory back to the area around Sonne Island.[5]
Despite having some knowledge of the Chandelier, Emmerian intelligence on the weapon was scarce. The following morning, numerous Republic of Emmeria Air Force squadrons flew north to investigate Sonne Island and destroy any hostile Estovakian forces.[3]
On route to Sonne Island, the Emmerian pilots were contacted by Melissa Herman with the help of Zed Waters' radio station in Gracemeria. Along with Ludmila Tolstaya, she and her daughter Matilda Herman had convinced former Estovakian ace pilot and intelligence officer Victor Voychek to provide information on the Chandelier that would assist in its destruction.[6] The radio station sent the relevant data, which marked the Chandelier's hastily-constructed cooling units as its weak spots (and also hinted at the presence of a back-up cooling unit as described by Matilda), to AWACS Ghost Eye, who, upon request from Shamrock, then relayed the data to all participating Emmerian aircraft.[3]
Battle[]
The odds were heavily stacked against the Emmerians as the Chandelier was covered with AA weaponry, multiple cooling units covered with protective barriers, guarded by the remnant Estovakian naval warships and the Strigon Team survivors. Numerous F-22A Raptors and Su-47 Berkuts also took part in the Chandelier Defensive Operation.[3]
Despite the odds, the Emmerian aircraft were undeterred, as they destroyed both the remnant Estovakian warships and Strigon Team aircraft, and whittled down the defenses of the Chandelier. Every so often, they had to break off their attack to destroy Stauros shells before they were loaded and shot towards Gracemeria. Thanks to Garuda Team, all of the main cooling units were eventually destroyed.
However, just as Matilda Herman hinted at, the Chandelier had a back-up cooling unit in the railgun factory, at the end of the loading chute. Shamrock decided to volunteer to destroy the cooling unit, and despite his allies warning him that it was too dangerous, Shamrock told them that while it was dangerous, it was time for him to "dance with the angels". He then dove into the chute in order to locate the cooling unit, but the enemy fire caused heavy damage to his plane and he was forced to bail out. As Ghost Eye and his fellow allies mourned Shamrock's apparent death, Talisman followed his fallen wingman's route and flew into the chute, first destroying the final Stauros shell, then the back-up cooling unit. General Gustav Dvornik attempted to take advantage of the confusion to escape, but before he could take off, he was shot down and killed by Talisman. The barrel of the cannon then opened up and revealed the location of the weapon's core. Talisman then flew into the barrel and destroyed the core before narrowly escaping the resulting explosion.
The core's destruction caused the Chandelier to implode upon itself. Ghost Eye then said he "saw the cannon go down" and told all planes that the war was finally over. As Talisman joined him, Ghost Eye told Talisman that the sun was coming up and that "even in the darkest nights, morning always comes."[3]
Aftermath[]
There were no further attempts of retaliation by Estovakian officers after the destruction of the Chandelier, and a coup d'etat in the Estovakian capital overthrew The Generals. The ceasefire agreement between Emmeria and Estovakia was signed later that month, restoring peace between the two nations.[1]
Ludmila married Toscha Mijasik at an Emmerian POW camp soon after, with Victor Voychek serving as the latter's best man. Later on, back in Gracemeria, Marcus Lampert, at this point temporarily confined to a wheelchair due to the injuries he suffered, visited with Melissa and Matilda. He then told Talisman that peace between both nations was what they had been fighting for all this time, and that it had finally come.[7]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Aces At War: A History 2019, page 059.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation Assault Records #09 - Aleksei Cheshenko.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Mission 15: "Chandelier", Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
- ↑ Mission 13: "The Liberation of Gracemeria", Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
- ↑ Mission 14: "Gracemeria Patrol", Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
- ↑ Cutscene 16: "Resolve", Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
- ↑ Cutscene 17: "A Brand New Day", Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.