Ace Combat: Fall of an Empire

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. This is an alternate timeline purely conjured from my imagination, and all events are purely fictional and not intended to predict or create any occurrences of similarities which may take place in the years to come.

Fall of an Empire

Calm Before the Storm

4^th November, 2018;

Nearly three years after the election of President Donald J. Trump, the United States of America was a much divided country with increasing civil unrest and littered with nationwide protests and a strong economy which favored only the rich. It was on this day a military mutiny would tip the boiling pot and spill all its scalding contents and burn all those that get in its way. A US Navy destroyer in the Chesapeake Bay launched several Tomahawks at Capitol Hill, the Federal Reserve and the White House, effectively killing all members of administration and government and leaving the US dollar useless. A very carefully orchestrated military takeover, commanded by Colonel Hall ensued all across the country with the exception of the State of Hawaii. Hall declared himself Chief of Armed Forces and control of all administrative activities was taken over by military personnel, all high ranking generals and other personnel were arrested. The people, in many states violently opposed this military rule and the pockets of resistance, mainly in the south, Appalachia and the Midwest had to be neutralized. In some cases the fighting between armed civilian militias and the army went on for two weeks, but eventually they surrendered due to being unable to push back the well trained and equipped United States Army. The total casualties of these fights came up to nearly 10 000, of which nearly 3000 were dead. The Armed forces lost an estimated 300 soldiers.

3^rd December, 2018;

With a weak currency, frail economy, and rapidly crumbling infrastructure, Hall was struggling as leader as secessionist movements gained popularity throughout the country. This civil-administrative discord was used by the Anarchists groups to further their agenda and they fed into the unrest. Eventually, fearing another violent rebellion like the one that got him into power, and due to international pressure, Hall reluctantly held a referendum. The overwhelming majority of the country wanted nothing to do with Washington anymore and it was decided that all the states form their separate administrative bodies and independent economies and militaries. Hall stayed at Washington and watched helplessly as the country which he once served splintered away. This new decision gave rise to many problems for the internationally stationed armed forces of the US, as there were now thousands of men and women posted abroade with no legal status. The international governments could not have these people in their respective countries and were pressured to remove them by their native residents. In places like the Philippines and Japan, where the protests for the removal of American personnel were decades old came to fruition. Thousands of officers returned home in dozens of military and civilian aircraft from Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, Germany, UK, Italy, Eastern Europe, Far East and South Asia, Philippines, Australia, Iberia and the Caribbean; full of soldiers, APCs, Tanks and Humvees, along with families as well as Naval vessels from the Middle East, Black Sea, Spain, Japan and N. Korea returned to a broken nation. A few hundred officers stayed behind, and were then hired as mercenaries by the governments of their posted nations or went to active conflict zones such as Yemen, Iraq and Syria seeking employment. As the division plans were being drawn on the board, it was fundamental that the military personnel and resources be divided in accordance to each states population and land area, the question of the nuclear arsenal came up, and it was agreed upon mutually by all state representatives that they be demilitarized and used in existing power plants. While the planning ensued, a drastic weather system moved in from the North Atlantic in to the North East, bringing with it strong winds and very low temperatures and heavy snowfall.

This forced all returning Atlantic naval vessels to be anchored in the Gulf of Mexico, but were not allowed to land on any port, as the division of assets was still in the works.

1^st January, 2019;

By the arrival of the New Year, most matters regarding state sovereignty, boundaries, economic independence had been determined. The state representatives had started to return to their respective states. Military personnel of Land and Air Fores were slowly trickling into their newly assigned states, but the naval vessels and personnel remained largely at an "undetermined" status; anchored and occasionally moving around in the international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm in the north east persisted and had resulted in a steady flow of refugees from Appalachian states to low-lying areas in Republics of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. With the newly found nationhood of the Republics of North America, the main focus of all the new born states was to rebuild themselves, and even though the road to dissolution had been bumpy the final days of the independence planning had passed w/o incident and small scale commerce had returned; yet there were forces in the shadows which would ruin this newly found peace. A series of meetings of economists and politicians had been taking place in Philadelphia. The main goal was to consolidate the economic might of the N. East by binding together the economic hubs likes New York, Boston, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia along with many others. This would be achieved by financing a public funded Central Bank. It was a grand project, but if any of it were to work, the centralist corporations must be removed. As agreed upon, the N. Eastern Coastal republics began to make all assets public and the corporations were driven out. Soon they had devised their own currency and united as Federation of United Appalachian Republics (FUAR).