Aleksandar Costner (Wings of Freedom)

## Biography

### Early Life

Cipher was born in Dinsmark, Belka in 1976. He was very young when he was taken by Belkan officials led by Anton Kupchenko to the Avalon Dam Facility to be a part of Project ACES, where he was injected with an experimental chemical that boosted his cell's ability to grow and his vitality, basically turning him into a super soldier. He was officially designated "Patient Zero" and given the name Aleksandar Costner, since he was the first, and along with two others, named Ethan Costner and Leonard Costner, were the only ones who survived the process. He later forged an escape plan with the help of Kupchenko's assistant and wingman, Lorenz Reidel, and managed to break out of Avalon. Unfortunately the other two patients with him were captured and he was forced to leave them behind, not knowing what their fates were for several years.

He eventually found himself back in the capital and he enrolled himself in the Belkan Air Force Academy, learning how to become a pilot and eventually forging himself a reputation as the top of his class and one of the best pilots to ever graduate. He left, however, and became a mercenary for hire under the callsign "Cipher".

### Birth of a Legend (1995)

When the Belkan War occurred with the sudden invasion of Osea, Sapin and Ustio by Belka, he went to the Republic of Ustio to help bolster their nearly wiped out Air Force since most of it had fallen to the might of the Belkan Air Force. He was transferred to Valais Air Force Base and assigned as the flight lead for the 66th Tactical Air Force Squadron "Galm" of the 6th Air Division. There he met his wingman, Larry Foulke, who he became extremely close friends with due to their ideals and their want to bring an end to the war.

He was optimistic about winning the war early as they slowly pushed back the Belkan forces, but to his surprise after they had managed to expunge them from Ustio, the Allied Forces continued to push into Belka with an attack on Glatisant. He quickly dismissed it however and continued to fight whilst, unbeknownst to him, Larry began to grow tired of the endless fighting and become cynical about the war.

During a break in operations Cipher decided to leave Valais and travel across Ustio and up into Belka, finding his way to the border between its two halves and managing to get past the border guards with his old B.A.F license. His destination was the Avalon Dam, which at that time was filled and covering up the secret missile launch facility below, and he was discouraged to find out that he was too late to try and save his "brothers", the other two people he was with in Project ACES. He however was startled by the sudden appearance of a young recent college graduate named Elizabeth Rechsteiner. At first, not wanting to reveal his identity as a pilot for Ustio, he simply told her his callsign, but after calling him out on the carpet and pressuring him, he eventually told her his real name, the first person to ever know, and revealed to her the secret of Avalon, his past, and Project ACES. After hearing what he had to say, she made the decision to leave with him back to Ustio for two reasons, one to help him find his "brothers", and, in her words, because he was cute. This encounter led to development of their relationship in which they both reciprocated feelings for one another.

During the operation in which they were attacking the Excalibur Chemical Laser Tower he met Patrick "PJ" James Beckett, a young Osean mercenary who was a part of the Crow Squadron. He quickly got along with the rookie pilot and took a liking to him, eventually developing a sort of fatherly bond with him and wanting to protect him.

### The Demon Lord of the Round Table

Cipher's reputation as a fearsome fighter pilot that inspired both fear and admiration from both enemies and allies alike was set in stone when he and Larry were dispatched to B7R once again to assists Allied air forces currently engaging Belkan fighters over region. Even though they had the numbers advantage, the Allied Forces were slowly being push back by the Belkan Air Force's highly skilled pilots, so the Galm team's arrival in the battle was their last hope of victory.

Upon entering the battle, Cipher and Larry quickly got to work and began shooting down any Belkan aircraft that got in their way, slowly turning the tide of the battle back towards the Allied Forces. During the engagement, both sides began taking notice of Cipher's prowess on the battlefield and were either admired or afraid of him, a Belkan pilot gave him the nickname "Demon Lord", which eventually grew to his current nickname, "Demon Lord of the Round Table" by the end of the battle after he and Larry had shot down three Ace squadrons sent by the B.A.F as a last ditch attempt to stop the mercenaries.

His attitude toward the war slowly began to shift as well when during an attack on the Belkan manufacturing city of Hoffnung, Osean bombers initiated a carpet bombing campaign instead of preciosity bombing key military installations, which is what they had been led on to believe. He and the other mercenaries become disgusted by the action taken to deal with the city, their feelings becoming only more intense when Belkan soldiers in the cities began burning Hoffnung to the ground with a Scorched Earth initiative. Larry, in an attempt to stop the bombers from hurting any more civilians, tried to shoot down some of the Allied Bombers, Cipher managed to deter him from doing so by threatening to kill him.

### The Seven Pillars of Belka (June 6th, 1995)

Their relationship as Buddies only worsened afterwards, and the two began talking less and less, with Cipher wondering what could be going on in Larry's head since he had slowly descended from his usually casual self to someone who rarely spoke, and when he did he was critical and cynical. June 6th, however, was the straw that broke the camels back. During an engagement to stop Belkan bombers carrying nuclear weapons from dropping them on Ustio, the Belkan military detonated seven V1 tactical nukes along the Waldreich Mountain Range, killing over twenty thousand innocent people and shaking the world to its core. While Cipher was regaining his senses, Larry was contacted by Joshua Bristow, an Osean pilot who in actually had defected and had joined the paramilitary organization "A World With no Boundaries" which he had helped create alongside Larry.

Cipher, still appalled by the sudden nuclear attack, was caught off guard again when Larry came up behind him and attack him with an intent to kill. The two circled one another for a few before unmarked fighter aircraft entered the airspace, prompting Larry to retreat and join Bristow while Cipher was left to deal with the unknown enemies. After the dreaded circumstance, both sides of the Belkan War threw down their arms and agreed to hold peace talks to finally bring the war to an official end.

The mercenaries of Ustio, however, still had some more to do, so Larry was replaced by PJ as Cipher's wingman and were sent out to destroy Belkan military personal resisting the change in government stationed at Mt. Schirm.