Airspace B7R

Overview

Airspace B7R, also commonly known as "The Round Table", is a priority airspace located at north latitude 24° east longitude 235°.  The area is encircled by an old and weathered mountain range that starts near Hoffnung and branches off into the Waldreich mountain range in the Principality of Belka.  The area has vast stores of minerals underneath the arid ground above.  The wide range of of these untapped resources were one of the primary causes of The Belkan War.
 

History

Airspace B7R was originally part of the Principality of Belka, one of many nations on the continent of Osea.  After years of political unrest, the leaders of the Principality allowed several parts of the nation to break off.  Among these nations was the Republic of Ustio which was given Airspace B7R.  However, despite cutting off these areas, the instability of Belka continued to mount.  Various plans were formatted and put into action to restore the damaged Belkan economy, but each effort ended in failure.  Eventually, with each peaceful action begin stonewalled by politics, Belka prepared for war.
 
In 1995 Belka launched attacks on the bordering nations in an effort to restore its former glory.  The attacks on the Republic of Ustio were where the stores of minerals in Airspace B7R were discovered.  Belka, being the first to discover the area's significance, made Airspace B7R their top strategic priority.
 
The area gained fame from that moment on.  The Aces of Belka squared off constantly with their enemies, but each time the superior skill of the Belkan pilots repelled all attacks.  As more pilots were shot down, the area gained its moniker, "The Round Table".  Pilots who fought and survived in Airspace B7R became known as "The Knights of the Round Table" as tales of their skill and valor spread through the Osea continent.
 

The Demon Lord of the Round Table

On April 20th, the Republic of Ustio sent a fighter squadron on a recon mission to The Round Table as part of Operation Choker One.  This squad was Ustio's 6th Air Division 66th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Galm Team.  Made up of the player character Cipher and his wingmate Solo Wing Pixy, two mercenaries brought in to aid the losing Ustio forces.  The two Aces engaged the patrolling Belkan fighters and wiped them out.  As they encroached upon the Round Table itself, a squadron of Belkan Aces flew in to challenge them.  Which Aces are fought are dependent on the player's choices to that point.  A Mercenary Style Ace, someone who attacked any and all neutral targets, would face the Belkan forces poster boy squadron: Rot Squadron.  A Knight Style Ace, one who let all neutral targets go, would face the honorable Belkan team: Indigo Squadron.  A Soldier Style Ace, one who destroyed some neutral targets but let others go, would face the flexible Grun Squadron.  Regardless of whichever Squad came into play, the Galm Team succeeded in shooting down the entire Squad.  The Allied Forces Command contacted the two pilots and informed them that their mission was a success.  The Galm Team's attack on The Round Table had distracted the Belkan command and an allied strike force was moving up to attack a valuable Belkan position.
 
On May 28th, the Osean Federation launched Operation Battle Ax and attacked Airspace B7R.  Despite the having the element of surprise on its side, the Belkan defenses proved more than a match for the often inexperienced Osean pilots.  The Belkans guarding The Round Table quickly broke the morale of the Osean pilots turning the fight into a rout.  40% of the Allied Forces planes were shot down by the time reinforcements arrived from Ustio.  The reinforcements consisted of Galm Team and another mercenary squadron: Crow.  By this point in the war the Galm Team, and Cipher in particular, had become incredibly famous.  The duo had succeeded in multiple high-value sorties against Belka, from liberating the capital of Ustio to destroying the Belkan superweapon Excalibur.  The arrival of the two quickly changed the flow of the battle.  The Belkan pilots began to panic as "The Demon Lord", a new moniker for Cipher, began to bare down on them.  As the Allied Forces counter attacked successfully, a squadron of Belkan Aces flew into combat.  Mercenary Aces would fight the Escapee Killers, Schwarze Squadron, who were seeking the Belkan traitor Hukebein the Raven.  They are distracted by Cipher and Hukebein is instead shot down by another pilot, who would also shoot down Heartbreak One, Jack Bartlett, in the process.  Knight Aces would fight the Silber Squadron, led by an old Belkan Ace who was legendary in his time.  Soldier Aces would face the Schnee Squadron, who brought a jammer aircraft with them to confuse their enemies while using radar-guided missles.  Despite the odds arrayed against them, Galm Team emerged victorious once again against the Belkan air force.  With this latest victory, the Belkans lost all hope of offensive action and abandoned the southern reaches of its nation to the advancing allied forces.
 
In December of 1995, the Demon Lord of the Round Table was sent for one last mission.  He was to attack the Avalon Dam facility in Belka and stop the terrorist group, "A World With No Boundaries" from launching an experimental V2 nuclear weapon.  The fastest way to reach the dam was to fly over Airspace B7R.  As Cipher, and his new wingmate PJ, flew over the major cause of the war, they were ambushed by one of A World With No Boundaries Ace Squadrons.  Mercenary Style Aces would fight the traitorous Osean squadron Sorcerer.  Knight Style Aces would fight another traitorous Osean squadron led by the ringleader of A World With No Boundaries: Wizard Squadron.  Soldier Style Aces would face off against the Belkan squad Gault, led by the man who designed the numerous Belkan superweapons that Cipher had destroyed over the course of the game.  As Cipher and PJ fought and defeated the enemy pilots, the enemy aces would argue with their reasons for joining A World With No Boundaries.  They argued that the politicians debating on their small round table would just birth new conflicts over Airspace B7R.  Unfazed by their words, Cipher and PJ shot down all the enemy planes and continued on to the Avalon Dam.
 

The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is the final challenge in Ace Combat Zero.  Unlocked once you defeat every major Ace Squadron in the game, The Gauntlet is a series of combat against five enemy squadrons in a row.  Two of the enemies will always be the Gelb Squadron and Espada Squadron, but the other three will be randomly chosen.  If you are playing on Ace difficulty, the highest, and shoot down the Espada Team within a minute, then at the end you'll be facing the legendary ace Mobius 1.  The player character from Ace Combat 04.  The ace of aces is the greatest challenge in the game.