Setting
Ace Combat 6 is set in the series' fictional universe of Strangereal, where Earth has entirely different nations, geography, and history. The game's story follows a war between the fictional countries of Emmeria and Estovakia on the continent of Anea in 2015, north of the continent of Verusa. Years prior to the war, an asteroid impact event devastated Estovakia and left it economically and politically unstable, but Emmeria was left unscathed and continued to thrive. Following a civil war, a military dictatorship known as "The Generals" seized control of Estovakia and began a massive military buildup to invade Emmeria.
Players take on the role of Emmerian fighter pilot "Talisman", leader of the two-pilot squadron "Garuda Team". Talisman's wingman, Marcus Lampert, goes by the callsign "Shamrock" and fights alongside Talisman throughout the entire game. Other main characters seen in cutscenes include Lt. Col. Victor Voychek, an Estovakian ace pilot who is reassigned to an intelligence officer role in Emmeria after being shot down by Garuda Team; Melissa Herman, an Emmerian civilian who attempts to find her missing daughter Matilda; Ludmila Tolstaya, an Estovakian civilian who travels with Melissa, seeking to be reunited with her fiancé Toscha, an Estovakian fighter pilot; and "Serval", an Emmerian tank unit consisting of Emmerian soldiers Louis McKnight, Donnie Torch, and Kevin Hobsbawm, who sneak behind enemy lines to rob a bank in Emmeria's capital.
Plot
In 2015, the Emmerian capital of Gracemeria is suddenly attacked by Estovakian aircraft. Talisman and Shamrock, part of the Emmerian forces intercepting the Estovakian aircraft, are assigned together due to neither pilot having a wingman, forming Garuda Team. As the battle begins, Melissa witnesses Estovakian aircraft destroy the bridge that her daughter Matilda's school bus is supposed to be crossing.
The air defense mission is interrupted by cruise missiles launched from offshore and the arrival of ace pilots from Estovakia's elite "Strigon Team" led by Lt. Col. Voychek, crippling Emmerian forces and forcing them to withdraw. Many civilians flee as well, including Melissa, who learns her husband, an Emmerian fighter pilot, was killed in action. Later, Melissa hears Matilda's voice in a radio broadcast from Estovakian-occupied Gracemeria and begins a journey back to the city to reunite with her. Meanwhile, Voychek is reassigned to gather intelligence from Emmerian POWs in Gracemeria, following injuries sustained after being shot down by Garuda Team; however, the POWs only taunt him to "go dance with the angels", a phrase spoken by Matilda over the radio and used as a slogan of defiance by the Emmerians.
Over the next three months, Emmerian forces on the mainland are forced west by Estovakian attacks, supported by their cruise missiles. The surviving Emmerian forces rendezvous at Khesed Island and reorganize to conduct a counterattack against the invasion. Garuda Team supports the Emmerian counterattack, but their advance is once again stalled by a cruise missile attack. Emmerian intelligence determines the source of the missiles to be an Estovakian airborne aircraft carrier, and Garuda Team leads an assault on the carrier to destroy it, distinguishing themselves among Emmerian and Estovakian forces. Meanwhile, Melissa meets and befriends Ludmila, who is attempting to find Toscha in Gracemeria. Elsewhere, Serval begins their push to reach Gracemeria and rob a bank, eventually meeting Melissa and Ludmila and giving them a ride to the city.
During the final push to Gracemeria, Emmerian military command suddenly orders a ceasefire; Garuda Team defies the order and shoots down several Strigon aircraft, and are grounded for insubordination. It is revealed that Estovakia is planning to deploy chemical weapons on Gracemeria in a scorched earth defense, should Emmerian forces reach the city. Offered a chance to redeem themselves, Garuda Team destroys the chemical weapons and is returned to duty. After an intense combined arms battle, the Emmerians manage to liberate Gracemeria, and Garuda Team shoots down Strigon Team's new leader Ilya Pasternak after the rest of the team withdraws. Melissa and Ludmila arrive in Gracemeria and Melissa finally reunites with Matilda, who survived the war by taking refuge in ancient passages under the city with other children and a repentant Voychek, and who were briefly trapped before being inadvertently rescued by Serval under the belief the passages were a bank vault.
That evening, Garuda Team conducts an aerial patrol over Gracemeria, during which Shamrock learns his family was killed in the war and announces his intent to retire. However, the city is suddenly attacked by cruise missiles fired from extreme distances, and Garuda Team intercepts the missiles. With assistance from Melissa, Matilda, and Voychek, the Emmerian military traces the attack to "Chandelier", an Estovakian anti-asteroid railgun repurposed to destroy Gracemeria by The Generals. Emmeria launches an operation to destroy Chandelier; after Shamrock sacrifices his plane to reveal the facility's weak point, Talisman destroys it, ending the war.
Following the destruction of Chandelier, a coup d'état removes The Generals from power, and the new Estovakian government negotiates peace with Emmeria. Ludmila reunites with Toscha, and the two marry in an internment camp with Voychek and Strigon Team attending. Shamrock survives his crash, but the injuries he sustained temporarily restrict him to a wheelchair. As he visits the Herman household to meet Melissa and Matilda, he narrates that peace between both nations had been what they had always been fighting for, and that it had finally come.