Ace Combat: Stricken Soul

Here Comes The Storm

5/14/19 Farbanti, Erusea

Six years later. Luca had achieved the rank of Captain and was now a full-fledged member of Sol Squadron with nearly fifteen-hundred flight hours under his belt at the age of twenty-four. He and his wife also had their first child and were living a life that he never would've dreamed to be possible just a few years ago.

To kill some time between military exercises Luca would spend some time in the garage tinkering with his 1968 Dodge Charger that his dad had left him after he died during the Continental war when he was just a child. While he was tuning the carburetor he heard the door opening and closing followed by the pitter patter of his daughter's feet as she scurried into the garage.

"Daddy. Mama wants you to come inside. She really sounds worried." Aria said as she hugged him.

"I'll be right there in a bit, kiddo." He chuckled.

"Okay! I love you Daddy!" Aria replied before going back into the house.

Luca put the air cleaner back onto the carburetor and closed the hood. He walked into the house and breathed a sigh of relief as the air conditioning flowed onto his light brown skin before walking into the kitchen to wash the grease and dirt off of his hands. He saw his wife holding an envelope in her hands.

"So what's going on, Elisa? Are you okay?" Luca asked as he reached for a napkin.

"While you were working on your car...I went to check the mail and I found this letter from the EASA." Before she handed the letter to him she hugged him tightly fearing what it might contain.

Luca held Elisa in his arms and caressed her long black hair and kissed her forehead to try and comfort her. He then thought of something to say until he finally remembered a memory from when they first met the Erusean king and his daughter Rosa.

"Remember when I first joined Sol Squadron? You were so damn proud of me...Aria here was just a little baby too." He pat their daughter's head, "We even met Princess D'Elise when she was what...thirteen or fourteen? It was a family day...and what a fun event it was. You and I were so excited to meet the Princess and I myself was shocked to find out that someone like her would like my Charger even though it was still in primer. I doubt that girl even has a single war mongering bone in her body." Luca chuckled and kissed Elisa again.

"Yeah..I remember. She begged her father to ask you if she could sit in it...and how excited she was when you actually let her start it. Then again aside from singing, she seemed to kinda like mechanical things I guess."

"Yeah...Seymour was not happy. Turn that Osean piece of shit off! It sounds like a dying pig! And put a muffler on it too before we all choke to death!" Luca said, doing an impression of Sol 3.

While Elisa and Luca continued to reminisce about their memories he opened the letter and his heart skipped a beat.

"What is it, daddy?" Aria asked.

"The Erusean military by order of the King is being placed on high alert status effective immediately. All pilots are to report to their Squadron headquarters and await further orders..." He said.

"A-Are we going to war, Luca?" Elisa asked.

"I don't know. Please keep your eyes glued to the television and if they give an evacuation order then only pack the things that you need for you and Aria and leave immediately don't even look back." He cupped her cheeks and looked deep into her emerald green eyes, "Please if you have to evacuate then go and don't worry about me...I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of you."

"Luca...how do you feel about all this? Can you at least tell me that?" Elisa placed her hand on his shoulder.

"All I can tell you is that when I read and listen to what the people of Erusea...hell the whole Usean continent have to say about the Space Elevator and Osea. All I can say is that many aren't happy. It feels like Osea is trying to assert itself as the world police and it pisses people off." He sighed, "Because when you try to assert your dominance around the world like that some people tend to see you as a bully rather than someone doing things out of compassion. I need to get going now."