GATE: The Emmerian War

The Empire Strikes

3 July 2021, Capitol District

Tavaris Mulligan, a young Officer in the Emmerian Army, and a 29-year-old vet from the Estovakia-Emmeria war, was enjoying the afternoon of Ulysses Day, and he spent the day mostly around the Statue of the Golden King. He was with a group of friends, also vets from the war. He was always fascinated by the fact that an asteroid had nearly wiped-out civilization and that he got to bear witness to it. He remembered sneaking out of his parent's house to this very spot to view the fragments as they hurtled down to earth that night.

"Yo, Taurus, you alright over there?" his friend asked. "You've been staring off into space for the longest."

"Yeah, yeah... I'm just reminiscing about the planetfall." He said with a smile.

"You do this every year. You just stand there with a goofy look on your face while everyone is just going about their day."

"Steven calm down." A young lady was with them, Steven's girlfriend Delilah. "Maybe this is how he copes with it."

"You didn't lose any family to that thing, neither of you did." Tavaris sighed. "I, however, did. I lost an uncle who was close with my mother. He was in Farbanti on business when it hit. Anyways, I still remember seeing those...huh." Something had grabbed his attention. The civilians around them were starting to crowd a few blocks down.

"Somethings going down over there. You wanna take a look?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, I think I do." The group of three began making their way down the road when they heard a roar from what sounded like the impossible.

"What the hell?" Tavaris looked on in amazement when what seemed to be a dragon flew overhead and a horn sounded. What followed was something he never thought he would see in person again. His fellow Emmerians, the ones he had fought and bled for, running away in fear from a foreign foe. All he could do, was head into the fight.

Gracemeria Air Base...

For the first time in six years, the alarm sounded on base. Enemies were advancing through the streets of Gracemeria, killing police and civilians alike. Airmen and soldiers alike rushed to their vehicles, ready to advance into the city under any circumstances to repel the attackers. The Republic was once again being invaded and the military being mobilized.

A young helicopter pilot attached to the "Dragon Busters", would soon live up to the units name. He was soon tuned into the radio, listening for any calls for close air support, but it was mainly just the tower controller hurriedly getting the aircraft into the air. The rotors on the young man's helicopter began turning, increasing in RPMs until the distinct humming took over through his headset.

"Jack, you ready to rock?"

"Let's kick some ass, D-Ray."

"Tower, Shooter team is moving out."

"You are cleared for takeoff, Shooter, good luck." The engine increased in power and the Apache Squadron took off from the air base. They climbed up to about 1000 feet and maintained that height for the duration of their short flight over to Gracemeria.

Meanwhile, crossing King's Bridge was a small detachment of the Emmerian National Guard. It consisted of a few M113s, a couple of VADS, a Gepard, and a Singular Chieftain MBT. They were the ones to spearhead the counterattack from these foreign invaders. Up on top of the MBT, codenamed Rhino was the unit's Commander. He was trying to get a hold of anyone higher in the chain of command, but to no avail. The only responding unit was a Helicopter squadron that was still a few miles out.