EXCERPT FROM ACI FLIGHT LOG: LT. CMDR. LUCAS PAIGE "FROST"
CLASSIFIED – EYES ONLY
ACI COMBAT LOG // PILOT ID: 07–FROST
TIME STAMP: 0430 HRS
LOCATION: CENTRAL ATLANTIC DEFENSE CORRIDOR
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Day 1,209 of the Aeris War.
Funny how the numbers stop feeling real after the first hundred.
You start measuring time in losses, not days.
Command wants us to keep these logs "for historical accuracy."
I guess that's one way of saying:
"If we don't make it, someone should know what happened."
So here it is. My truth. My record.
The Xynes made landfall again tonight.
Breach Zone Delta, one of ours.
Doesn't matter how many times we burn them out of the sky; they come back, thicker, louder, smarter.
We scrambled from Deck Twelve at 0411 hours.
I took Blackbird-9 vertical and cleared the hangar before anyone else even hit afterburn.
The sky was already crawling with metallic wings, neon glare, and a hum you feel in your teeth.
They look like insects.
They fight like predators.
They think like armies.
For now, this log stays open.
As long as I'm breathing, I'll keep writing.
If it cuts off suddenly…
Well.
That tells its own story.
— Lt. Cmdr. Lucas S. Paige "Frost"
Senior Ace Officer
Aeris Combat Institute (ACI)
Blackbird Division — Blackbird-9 Squadron
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LORE ARCHIVE: THE AERIS WAR
CLASSIFIED ARCHIVE // AERIS COMMAND NETWORK
DOCUMENT TYPE: HISTORICAL PRIMER
STATUS: DECLASSIFIED FOR TRAINING USE
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I. The Aeris Conflict (Year 0–Present)
The Aeris War began with the first recorded breach above the central Atlantic Corridor.
Signals detected at 0320 hours revealed a swarm formation descending from low orbit: metallic organisms with coordinated flight patterns and unknown intent.
Contact was made one hour later.
Humanity labeled them Xynes.
The war did not begin with diplomacy.
It began with impact.
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II. Nature of the Threat
The Xynes resemble terrestrial insects only in silhouette.
Their bodies are metallic, their movements unnervingly precise, and their sizes range from hand-span scouts to organisms rivaling naval carriers.
They are fully capable of long-range attacks, firing alloy projectiles from bio-mechanical chambers embedded in their thorax plates; living weapons that function like integrated ballistic cannons.
Up close, they are even deadlier.
Bladed limbs, crushing mandibles, and adaptive armor make direct contact with a Xyne unit a near-certain death.
Despite their alien appearance, they demonstrate coordinated intelligence, swarm strategy, and rapid learning across every front—air, sea, and ground.
The emergence of the largest morphs—Breach-Class Entities—forced the immediate global formation of the Aeris Defense Alliance (ADA).
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III. Aeris Defense Alliance Framework
To survive, humanity organized into specialized branches:
1. GDF — Ground Defense Front: Holds the line on land. Manages urban defense, anti-burrow operations, and frontline attrition.
Branch: Army
Domain: Land, urban zones, underground territories
Primary Enemy: XN-G classes
Role:
• Armored divisions (bunkers, tanks, walkers, mech-suits)
• Urban fortification & evacuation
• Burrowlord counter-warfare
• Heavy artillery & suppression
• Direct support for ACI and NMI
Personnel Title: Sentinels
Elite Unit: Ironfall Regiment
2. NMI — Naval Maritime Initiative: Controls sea lanes and anti-Leviathan warfare. Protects coastal populations and fleet convoys.
Branch: Navy
Domain: Seas, oceans, underwater warfare
Primary Enemy: XN-S classes
Role:
• Battleship and carrier operations
• Anti-Leviathan engagements
• Submarine reconnaissance
• Coastal defense
• Supports ACI during joint operations
Personnel Title: Mariners
Elite Unit: Tidebreak Division
3. ACI — Aeris Combat Institute: The Ace Corps. Elite pilots, experimental tactics, and the strategic spearhead reserved for crisis strikes. ACI is humanity's hope in the sky—deployed selectively where skill, speed, and precision can turn the tide.
Branch: Air Force
Domain: Air superiority, high-altitude combat, interceptor operations
Primary Enemy: XN-A classes
Role:
• First-response aerial division
• Protects cities and naval fleets
• Executes deep-sky strike runs
• Houses elite pilots like Lt. Cmdr. Lucas "Frost" Paige
Personnel Title: Aviators
Elite Unit: Blackbird Division
4. JQC — Joint Quantum Command: Central coordination, logistics, and strategic forecasting across all branches.
GDF and NMI perform sustained frontline defense; ACI conducts decisive, high-risk interventions and strategic counterstrikes.
Each branch specializes in countering specific Xyne tiers and swarm evolutions.
Domain: Full-spectrum command
Purpose: Coordinates large-scale anti-Xyne operations involving Air + Sea + Ground.
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IV. The Role of ACI
ACI pilots are not the bulk of the defense — they are the edge. Trained to execute impossible intercepts, surgical strikes, and morale-defining sorties, they are deployed when conventional forces cannot blunt a Xyne advance. Their victories are costly; their existence is the line between survival and collapse.
Its pilots—augmented, superhuman, and trained beyond conventional limits—operate high-speed interceptors capable of combating aerial swarms and supporting ground and sea theaters.
Among these squadrons stands the Blackbird Division, home to ACI's most adaptive pilots.
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V. Current Status
The war has no end date.
Humanity's front line remains the sky.
As the Xynes evolve, so do the soldiers trained to meet them.
This archive exists to prepare new recruits for the stark reality of the fight they inherit.