Appearance
M01 — Four of a Kind
| Field | Data |
|---|---|
| Date | March 2027 |
| Location | San Salvacion neutral zone, Usea |
| Weather | Broken cloud, afternoon |
| POV / aircraft | Thorne ("Over") / F-35C |
| Wingmen | Six (Marsh), Nine (Asano), AME (Eirhei) |
| Enemy | Neo-Belkan cells with stolen hardware: MQ-101 drones, older fighters, mobile SAMs |
| Type | Air-to-air and strike; squadron command tutorial |
| Time limit | 15 minutes |
Related: Victor James Thorne · Relationships · Squadron and Wingmen
1. Narrative Purpose
The prologue ends with a machine overriding a pilot. M01 opens with the inverse: a human wingman overriding his leader's picture, and the leader choosing to trust him. It introduces the four pilots, their friction, and the squadron's founding moment.
2. Briefing
ISAF Revival Initiative, North Point. Neo-Belkan cells operating from the San Salvacion neutral zone have assembled a strike force from proliferated hardware: MQ-101 drones, older fighters and mobile SAM launchers. They intend to strike a refugee transit hub on the zone's eastern edge. National forces cannot enter the zone. You can.
Destroy the strike force before it reaches the hub. This is your first sortie as a unit. Fly like one.
3. Objectives
| Type | Objective |
|---|---|
| Primary | Destroy the drone strike group before it reaches the transit hub |
| Primary | Destroy the mobile SAM launchers |
| Secondary | Issue at least one order of each type (Attack, Cover, Disperse) |
| Hidden | Obey Six's break call within one second |
4. Flow
Phase 1: Approach. Formation flight into the zone. Wingman command tutorial: Attack, Cover, Disperse, and the special weapon order. Thorne's Command Picture shows all contacts with sensor fusion. Friction on the radio: Marsh joking, Thorne correcting, Asano needling both, Eirhei mediating.
Phase 2: Drone strike group. MQ-101s in loose swarm, escorted by older fighters. The player uses Command Picture to designate targets for the flight.
Phase 3: The missile. As the player engages the SAM sites, a launcher hidden in a ravine fires on Thorne from outside the fused picture. The HUD shows nothing. Marsh calls it.
SIX: "Over, break left, break left, missile on your six — your actual six, not me—"
The player has one second to obey a call the instruments do not support. If the player obeys, the missile misses. If not, the missile strikes and the mission continues with heavy damage (no failure). Either way, Six kills the launcher.
Phase 4: Clearing the zone. Remaining fighters and SAMs. Asano takes cover position before being ordered; Eirhei's first Translate call ("Over says 'regroup.' He means he wants us close.").
5. Key Radio
NINE: "Six, that's the third time you've said 'trust me' today." SIX: "And I've been right twice, which is a great average." OVER: "Radio discipline." AME: "He means 'focus, please.' Kindly."
Debrief:
OVER: "I did not see the missile. Six did. That was my error."
6. Systems Showcased
| System | How |
|---|---|
| Squadron commands | Phases 1–2 |
| Command Picture (Thorne) | Phase 2 |
| Trust calls | Phase 3: a wingman call that overrides the instruments |
| Translate (Eirhei, as wingman) | Phase 4 |
7. Failure Conditions
- Any drone of the strike group reaches the transit hub.
- Thorne is shot down.
8. Debrief and Circle
The circle is introduced. Eirhei explains it. Marsh jokes. Asano names something honest ("I liked that we were loud"). Thorne passes.
Cutscene: the bar. The insignia is built as described in Relationships: the dice, the flipped six, "Game Over," the inverted OVER, the four aces. The scene ends on the patch and the squadron's designation: 6AMEꓤƎꓥO9.
9. Ledger Entries
None. The Ledger does not exist yet for this squadron. It opens in M04.