Count

alert

SPOILER WARNING -- FULL ARTICLE

This entire article contains spoilers from Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Proceed at your own discretion.

"As they say in my house, there's a thin line between bravery and stupidity."

― Count^[1]

Count is an Osean Air Defense Force fighter pilot and a member of the Long Range Strategic Strike Group, as well as a former member of the Spare Squadron.

The self-proclaimed leader of the Spare Squadron, he often inflated his kill reports, garnering significant attention from the base commander D. McKinsey.

His propensity for exaggerating his own feats, most especially his kill count (hence his callsign) has made out an impression of him being something of a pathological liar, as seen during his time as a member of Spare Squadron, where none of his fellow squad mates and even AWACS Bandog regarded any information he gave out to be trustworthy and reliable. ^[2]

Biography

Spare Squadron

At some point prior to the Lighthouse War, Count spread rumors that he came from a noble family, hence his nickname.^[2] He was later convicted of fraud and was incarcerated. At the war's outbreak, he was transferred to the 444th Air Base's Spare Squadron in Zapland.^[3]

As Erusea began attacking the fake base next to the 444th base, Count and the rest of Spare Squadron were repeatedly deployed in order to make the base look legit.^[4] On July 1, 2019, Count and the squadron engaged multiple bombers after contact with their superior Colonel D. McKinsey was lost, and was thrown in solitary along with the rest of the unit for disobeying orders.^[5]

On July 4, 2019, Count participated in Operation One Pair where he assisted in crippling Erusean bases situated in Roca Roja.^[6]

On July 12, 2019, he participated in an operation over the Yinshi Valley. He bailed out of the operation area when Sol Squadron appeared.^[1]

On July 22, 2019, Count took part in Operation Three of a Kind, where he attacked the oil depot at Artiglio Port. He later assisted in tracking down several tank trucks that were attempting to flee the area, attracting several drones when he was near Erusean territory.^[7]

During Operation Flush over the Waiapolo Mountains, Count assisted in destroying radar sites in the area. As a formation of drones posing as an Osean squadron entered the area, Count and the squadron proceeded to engage them once they were identified as hostile, while avoiding Helios projectiles. Following the dogfight, Count was ordered by AWACS Bandog to shoot down the last enemy who was posing as an ally, only to be revealed as fellow Spare Squadron member Full Band, who was tagged by the AWACS as hostile.^[8]

On August 5, 2019, Count and Trigger were personally handpicked by the General Staff Office to escort Colonel McKinsey over Bulgurdarest. He escorted the transport carrying the commander, while Trigger destroyed any SAM sites and incoming aircraft, as well as an unidentified aircraft.^[3]

Following Operation Full House, Count and Trigger were transferred to the Long Range Strategic Strike Group and joined the ranks of Cyclops and Strider Squadrons, as Cyclops 2 and Strider 1 respectively.^[9]

Long Range Strategic Strike Group

Five days after Operation Full House, on August 10, 2019, Count, alongside Trigger, were transferred to the Long Range Strategic Strike Group as new pilots for Cyclops Squadron and Strider Squadron respectively. Count's first mission as a member of the LRSSG was Operation Siren's Song, where Cyclops and Strider raided Snider's Top and attack the primary Erusean Navy resupply junction, dismantling the valley resupply base, destroying the marine aircraft launching platform, and sinking the formidable Njord Fleet stationed there, resulting in the weakening of Erusea's naval power for the rest of the war.

On August 19, 2019, Count, as part of Cyclops Squadron, took part in Operation Dragon Breath, where Cyclops and Strider were deployed to provide air support for Osean Defense Forces Major Deanna McOnie's clandestine research group tasked with repairing the previously disabled 8th Stonehenge turret in order to shoot down Arsenal Bird Liberty. The operation was a success, significantly reducing the potency of Erusea's air superiority.

On September 2, 2019, Count flew, this time without their squadron leader Wiseman taking charge, alongside Strider Squadron in destroying Erusea's IRBM silos by coordinating with Osean Air Defense Force B-2A Spirit strategic stealth bombers to drop bunker busters on them, during Operation Magic Spear in Sierraplata.

Prior to the culminating attack on Farbanti, Count took part once again with Strider Squadron on a canyon run alongside Basilisk Team on a night raid against Cape Rainy's AFB, the closest forward air base towards Erusea's capital city in preparation for the decisive attack.

On September 19, 2019, Count flew as Cyclops 2 now that Wiseman had returned to take up his role as Cyclops 1 during Operation Giant's Step. Sometime later in the operation, Sol Squadron arrived and clashed with the LRSSG's two squadrons. During the dogfight, Wiseman let himself be (voluntarily) chased by Mister X in a bid to allow Trigger to shoot the Erusean ace down while the latter was distracted, much to Count's concern. Unfortunately, Mister X managed to shoot down Wiseman towards the end of the chase, killing the Cyclops leader instantly. Count was audibly shaken at Wiseman's sudden death and lost his composure during the dogfight, prompting Jaeger to sternly remind Count of his position as the next flight lead after Wiseman. When all but Mister X of Sol Squadron were shot down during the drawn out air battle, Osea deployed its A-SAT attack with the intent of dismantling Erusea's communications network as planned, although Erusea pulled off the exact same tactic at almost the same time their enemy did, causing mass confusion which Mister X took advantage of to retreat. As AWACS Long Caster ordered the LRSSG to return to their base of operations, Count bitterly commented on Wiseman's ineffective sacrifice, and remained vengeful towards the Erusean experimental squadron about his squadron leader's demise throughout the rest of the war.

Roughly two weeks after the assault on Farbanti and the loss of the continental communication network, the LRSSG was deployed to escort a certain Erusean military defector out of Anchorhead Bay, which has been turned into a chaotic urban free-for-all between the confused armies of both Osea and Erusea. Count took part in this operation, and at some point, managed to procure a radio and tape it onto his cockpit--making good on his self-request of wanting a radio "to keep his spirits up" during his previous operations as a member of Spare Squadron. He was dejected at the fact that everything "has gone to hell" as he was tuned in on the local media broadcasting station documenting the concurrent situation on the streets of the city, noting that the troops on the ground were indiscriminately shooting at each other due to the lack of proper identification.

On October 10, 2019, Count participated in Operation Reflux in Tyler Island as part of the LRSSG to provide air support for retreating Osean troops. During the later phase of the operation, where the LRSSG squadrons narrowly manage to shoot down the Supply ships bound for the Arsenal Bird Justice stationed at the International Space Elevator, Count commented on how he preferred being a fighter pilot, claiming that he didn't have to see the atrocities of war on the ground below when Avril Mead, who was part of the operation alongside other Spare personnel, including Tabloid alongside Rosa Cossette D'Elise, who was narrowly rescued by them earlier in the chaos, stated how the Princess' daring move to throw flares on their besieged position was partly due to her witnessing the possibility of the deaths of innocent children in the area had the LRSSG not intervened sooner.

After Operation Reflux, the LRSSG found themselves lacking in both a communication network and more importantly, supplies. Under the guise of an official mission, Count flew in the Cyclops Squadron alongside Strider Squadron as usual towards the autonomous state of Shilage to raid supplies from Shilage Castle, which had been turned into an impromptu storage facility during Operation Beehive. When the LRSSG were close to neutralizing the rather weak defenses around the area, Sol Squadron reappeared and challenged the two squadrons once again, now loyally affiliated to their origin as a squadron of the Voslagian Air Force. When Wit, aka Sol 2, taunted the LRSSG over an open channel about them "talking bold" even after "one of their leaders got killed", Count was incensed at the Voslagian's callous words, and as they fought over Shilage Castle, Count made angry remarks about wanting to kill and destroy every single Sol Squadron member, mocking their "pride" as "knights" in the sky.

Just when the LRSSG was about to defeat Sol Squadron, however, Mihaly A. Shilage intervened in his new X-02S Strike Wyvern equipped with the powerful "Arclight" EML railgun, and challenged Trigger to a one-on-one duel in the skies. During the dogfight, Count compared Mihaly's flight patterns to the "drone they shot down over Bulgurdarest" earlier in the war, causing Jaeger to chime in stating that it was likely that the advanced UAV from before was more or less likely based off the old ace's flight patterns and not vice versa.

In the final stages of the war, Count was among the last to retreat after Operation Daredevil when the pair of super-advanced UCAVs Hugin and Munin arrived and started shooting down the new Osea-Erusea coalition force's aircraft. Count noticed Princess D'Elise jumping down from the Space Elevator, and when he saw one of the Ravens flying towards her general direction, Count swerved in between the UCAV and the Princess, taking a direct hit on a missile presumably meant for the girl. With his plane heavily damaged from the defensive maneuver, Count is directed by AWACS Long Caster to the derelict OFS Admiral Andersen to land, escorted by his old partner Trigger, in which he manages to succeed, subsequently guiding Trigger's landing process.

In the early hours of the next day, after a grueling battle between what little remained of the Osea-Erusea coalition force's aircraft and the ADF-11Fs, in which several pilots, Wit/Sol 2 among them, are shot down and killed, Count follows Trigger towards the latter's pursuit of the last ADF-11 towards the tunnel leading upwards to the Space Elevator in order to prevent it from transmitting the combat data it had received over both the course of the war and in the recent dogfight, managing to glean Trigger's flight data as well. Count kept up with Trigger relatively well, up until the ADF-11 managed to sneak behind the two pilots, shooting up Count's engines, damaging its ability to generate more thrust. Upon arrival of the subterranean base of the Space Elevator, Count attempted a belly landing while urging Trigger to escape the structure through the Elevator windbreak.

During his landing process, Count's last transmissions abruptly end in a crash and a cut-off of his transmission feed, presumed KIA. This causes a concerned Húxiān to call his position out, and, after a period of silence that followed Trigger flying out of the tall windbreak, reveals that he survived the crash and watched his partner fly out into the blue skies above, saying that it was probably his fate to watch from down below, with Húxiān agreeing to Count's words.