The Aurelian War was a large-scale conflict between the Federal Republic of Aurelia and the Democratic Republic of Leasath.
Background
Prior to the Aurelian War, a civil war broke out in Leasath when their economy collapsed at the time when the government were planning to export future arms industry markets all over the world. The result of the civil war was unknown, but General Diego Gaspar Navarro managed to unite the remaining troops. Its neighboring country, Aurelia aided the country's people with vital supplies.
Invasion
In October 2020, the Democratic Republic of Leasath invaded the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Aurelia's border defenses immediately fell to the Leasath forces. Within just a few days, 60% of Aurelia was under Leasath control. Phuku Lagolla Air Force Base, located to the south-west of Griswall, was one of the last military bases still under Aurelian control. To defeat Aurelia once and for all, Leasath dispatched several bombers to destroy the base. They were intercepted and destroyed by Falco Squadron, an experimental aircraft testing squadron. The leader of the squadron, Falco 1, quickly gained the nickname The Southern Cross, a name that would be shared with the later Gryphus One. After this defeat, Leasath launched an attack on army base Sallqa, the Aurelian army field HQ, but was defeated by Falco Squadron. Leasath then launched a naval invasion on the port of Challwa, located to the south of Griswall, but this attack was also repulsed by Falco Squadron.
Counterattack
As revenge for their previous defeat, the Leasath Air Force attempted to destroy Sallqa, but was defeated by Falco Squadron. By now the Aurelian's war strategy was based on maintaining a supply line between Sallqa and Griswall. Giving up on trying to destroy Sallqa, the Leasath Air Force instead decided to cut off this supply line. They sent a number of fighters, including the legendary Chimera Squadron, to gain air superiority, but they were all shot down by "The Southern Cross".
The Tide Begins To Turn
With Leasath's invasion running out of steam, Aurelia decided to go on the
Gandr
offensive. Falco 1 was sent to destroy several supply warehouses protected by an anti-aircraft system and succeeded. Aurelia then decided to move a fleet of undamaged warships from Port Patterson to defend Griswall. Leasath sent a huge fleet to stop them, but with the help of Falco Squadron the Aurelian fleet survived and left the port. With defeat now starring them in the face, Leasath high command decided to deploy the Gandr, an experimental prototype of the Gleipnir. Intercepting the Aurelian fleet, the Gandr fired a single SWBM and instantly destroyed the entire Aurelian fleet. Falco Squadron immediately engaged. Despite having to fight through the Chimera Squadron and dodge numerous SWBMs, Falco Squadron destroyed the Gandr. Despite that, the loss of the naval fleet was a crippling blow that Aurelia didn't manage to recover from until the end of the war. Not long after, Griswall fell. Falco Sauadron would be withdrawn from the front lines for a time, and Leasath’s advance continued.
Skies of Deception
Leasath Ground Forces Armored Vehicles & Tanks marching after capturing Monte Breeze
The Leasath Forces were led by Commander Diego Gaspar Navarro, during their full-scale offensive against Aurelia.The Leasathians were not only large in numbers but also possessed large numbers of state-of-the-art unseen equipment, vehicles and weapons. By October, after only 10 days when they declared war, they now invaded 95% of Aurelia.
Leasath T-90S's during a live fire exercise.
A large Leasath bomber group was launched in order to destroy one of the last Aurelian Air Bases at Cape Aubrey peninsula in North West Aurelia. Aurelian ace Gryphus One was scrambled with an entire fighter squadron and successfully managed to intercept the bombers. After the Leasath aircraft were shot down, however, the Gleipnir over the Puna Plains launched an SWBM shortly after decloaked from its optical camouflage system and wiped out most of the Aurelian aircraft with only Gryphus One, Five and Six in the skies afterward. The last stand against Leasath's brutal blitzkrieg was deemed 'futile' by several newspapers.
Counteroffensive
When the news of the near decimated Gryphus squadron at Aubrey Air Force Base, it was claimed resistance was futile by some newspapers, as Aurelia's final troops surrendered. However, not long after Gryphus One and two Aurelian fighters were launched for a surprise attack to Puna Base, which was a great success and the Aurelians managed to get hold of vital supplies. An Aurelian Army assault team then moved to retake Port Patterson for their forces, in an attempt to mount a counterattack with the help of the Gryphus Squadron. Despite a Leasath amphibious fleet preparing to land vehicles and tanks, it was sunk thanks to Gryphus squadron. The Gleipnir had returned to a replenishment base in Terminus Island, Southern Aurelia.
Gryphus Squadron was then deployed to Kingshill to stop a Leasathian counterattack to recapture Port Patterson. The deployed forces, including the elite Miller Unit, were all destroyed.
Gryphus One was then deployed to Stand Canyon in order to defend the Davis Unit, which were being cut off from the main force. He protected the ground unit while it was being attacked by Gleipnir's SWBMs. The unit was successfully defended. After this, the Gleipnir has flown to Santa Elva.
Gryphus Squadron was deployed to Terminus Island. Alongside an allied diversionary fleet, the squadron was tasked with destroying a Leasathian fleet while the Aurelian submarine, Naiad, travelled to the area where a friendly scientist was being held captive. When the fleet was destroyed and the Naiad reached the area, enemy E-767s were deployed to detect the submarine. They were ultimately destroyed by Gryphus One. After the commandos rescued the scientist, the Naiad had struck an undersea mine, forcing it to surface. The control system was also destroyed, which put the submarine on a collision course towards an iceberg. At this point, Leasath had deployed stealth bombers to destroy the Naiad. Gryphus Squadron successfully destroyed the iceberg and the incoming bombers.
Gryphus Squadron was then deployed to Santa Elva in order to destroy the Gleipnir once and for all. The squadron first destroyed the optical camouflage system, which rendered its stealth capabilities useless. Gryphus Squadron then targeted the SWBM ports, which dealt severe damage to the Gleipnir. The crew of the airborne fortress made one final stand, which was using the Shock Cannon on the city. Gryphus One dealt the final blow at the Gleipnir by destroying the cannon. The Gleipnir, whose engines were failing, finally crashed into the Lenal River.
With the loss of the Gleipnir, Aurelian forces began to push the Leasath forces back on all fronts. The largest Aurelian Air Force base was re-taken, denying reinforcements to the Leasath ground forces at the Kalana Steppes. Remnants of the Leasath Army that retreated to the Kalana Steppes after their defeat at Santa Elva were also destroyed. Afterwards, Aurelian forces assisted by the Recon units Seagull, Jaguar and Puma managed to destroy transport aircraft leaving the Monte Breeze Industrial Complex carrying MBSRs to enhance the Meson Cannon's power output. Before the final push to the capital, Gryphus 1 went alone to destroy the Nevera Jammer preventing radar interference from affecting the upcoming battle. However, the Skylla Unit managed to escape both attacks at Sachanna airbase and the Nevera Jammer and headed towards the capital.
Before a plan to retake Griswall was formed, it was discovered that a civilian militia force known as the Aurelian Liberation Corps had managed to infiltrate Griswall via the railway. With the citizens' support, they managed to push the occupying Leasath forces out of the city. However, Leasath had surrounded the city setting their sights on crushing the ALC and retaking Griswall. Aurelian forces headed by Gryphus One, now known by the Leasath military as "Nemesis", launched an emergency operation to save the ALC from utter annihilation. The battle then took a turn for the worst when the Skylla Unit appears determined to destroy Griswall since they were unable to recapture it. They began launching cruise missiles at the city. Gryphus 1 defended the city by shooting down the missiles.
During the attack, Leasath commander Diego Navarro had fled Griswall and retreated to nearby Leasath territory. Meanwhile, Leasath forces and all remaining cruise missiles were destroyed and the Aurelian capital was retaken. Soon after this, all Leasath forces were pushed out of Aurelia.
After a few days of regrouping and reestablishing their flow of supplies, the Aurelian military was on the move once again, this time to stop Diego Navarro once and for all. General Navarro and his remaining forces had fled to an unknown complex at Sentry Island. It was confirmed that a secret Leasath attack aircraft was under development there, code-named Fenrir according to Leasath reports. The Aurelian forces were then sent to Leasath territory at the Danern Islands to put a stop to Leasath's plans.
End of Deception
Gryphus One and a fighter squadron flew East of the Danern Straits and destroyed a large research facility in Cobalt Cave, which was developing technology to make this new super weapon even more powerful. The technology would have used microwave energy to target an aircraft's fuel tank and force it to ignite. Unfortunately, this let Leasath's elite aerial fighter unit known as the Alect Squadron to fly to Archelon Fortress in S-32s (Su-47 Berkut prototypes) within the Danern Straits, where Navarro and this new super weapon were waiting.
In an effort to limit the capabilities of the Alect controlled Fenrirs, the Aurelian Navy sought to launch an amphibious assault onto Sentry Island itself and disable the electrical transmitter which was used to power Fenrir's optical camouflage. However, before the assault was carried out, Gryphus One and the rest of the fighter squadron were sent to the Danern Straits to intercept a large Leasathian Navy sent to reinforce Archelon Fortress. Despite the fierce resistance from both ships and carrier-borne aircraft (F35s), Gryphus One was successfully able to destroy the entire Armada and limit the forces stationed at Sentry Island.
When Gryphus One and the Aurelian forces reached the area, they were attacked by the Alect Squadron in an aircraft known as the 'Fenrir' equipped with optical camouflage. The advanced fighters, Fenrir, were Navarro's reason for initiating a war between neighboring Aurelia. It was found that the point of the war was to gather battle data from the Gleipnir, steal funds and resources from Aurelia and develop the Fenrir in order to sell it to nations around the world.
Gryphus Squadron then engaged the Alect Squadron along with several Su-37s, F15s and a S-32 ace in a head on confrontation. With the assistance of the Aurelian Navy, Gryphus One managed to destroy the electrical transmitter exposing all Fenrirs both on sight and radar. Shortly after, he destroys all Alect Squadron Fenrirs. The landing unit proceeds to open Archelon Fortress' front gate reveal Fenrir prototypes and a single pilot flying off in one of them. The pilot contained data from the battle which, if given to Leasath hands, would result in the war between Aurelia and Leasath to never cease. Gryphus one then flew into the Archelon Fortress, shooting down the pilot, destroying the Fenrir prototypes. And in the ensuing chain reaction, destroying Archelon Fortress and Navarro's hopes of exporting the fighter.
Epilogue
With the destruction of Navarro's beloved Fenrir and his true motives of the war exposed to the public, the enraged citizens of Leasath stormed his press conference, tearing apart his model of Fenrir and killing him in a public mob. This moment finally marks the end of the Aurelian-Leasath War.
With the war over, Gryphus One heads back to Cape Aubrey as said by Eugene Salano "He says he's never really liked hot weather."
Peace returns to Griswall and was covered in the colours of the Christmas spirit. Reporter Albert Genette after once again failing to have an interview with the Southern Cross, picks up a souvenir; one that he could only find in Aurelia. A surfing Santa Claus bearing the emblem of the Southern Cross.
References
- ↑ Ace Combat X Progress Report. IGN. Published July 14, 2006. Retrieved November 20, 2015.