XIAOMEI BAOCUN died at 16:44:35 on 32/6/4922, during the test flight of a prototype reconnaissance aircraft. Official reports stated: XR-20 serial number 14-4244 encountered a fire resulting from the breaking of an improperly-installed oil line. During acceleration to Mach 1.2, engine vibrations and noise caused the pilot to check oil pressure, which was below 30 psi and dropping rapidly. XR-20 14-4244 commenced a return to base due to the malfunction, beginning final approach at 2500 meters and 500 kph. On descending approach to the Chokusu Mountain Facility, the pilot noted oil pressure had dropped to zero. Radio failure occurred as pilot transmitted difficulties, including reports of smoke entering the roosterpit. At approximately 350 meters, the plane banked left 60 degrees and subsequently crashed. XR-20 14-4244 exploded on impact with the ground 3400 meters from Runway 2.
HOMURA YAMASHIRO continued to fly for the Kintharian Air Force at the head of a squadron consolidated from several other depleted units. In the countries of Clipton and Highler Ridge, she and her squadron hammered Imperial positions and fought off swarms of drones all the way up until the cessation of hostilities. She continued to serve in the military even after the birth of her son on 5/10/4921, albeit no longer in a combat role. In 4930, Yamashiro retired from the Air Force after 25 years of service, having reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Not willing to simply lounge around at home for the rest of her days after her son had gone off to military academy, she and her husband would travel abroad frequently. Sometimes by plane, other times by boat, but their most ambitious sightseeing excursion would be via their own car- traveling Mercana by road on a route that would visit every commonwealth capital. From the MCS Locklear museum ship in Almapolis, down south to the Elco City Motor Speedway, and back up north to Wykasstchay at the foot of the Sierra Vasto, the Yamashiros would be on the road for just over two months.
ILONA AND COAXOCH MUSASHI would resettle to northern Kintharia in the years following the former's discharge from the military. Not content to simply live off of Ilona's pension, they quickly found work at Zsuzsa National Park. Coaxoch faced no small amount of inequity from her Kintharian peers regarding her heritage- not to mention intimidating stature, but her experience behind the flight stick would land her a career as a park service aviator. Ilona on the other hand, would never fly again, owing to her permanent consignment to a medical exoskeleton. She would instead work a clerical position for a spell, before becoming a trail guide. Able to live comfortably between both of their incomes, Ilona would donate much of her pension to various charities. During the 4928 Laifeng earthquake and tsunami, the two of them would lend assistance in a more hands-on manner. Coaxoch and a few of her colleagues joined search-and-rescue teams, and Ilona volunteered at the relief camp set up by the ICBS.
LISA NAGATO, broken and disillusioned, left the military upon returning home and withdrew from society entirely. Kintharia being the highly automated country that it was, she found it all too easy to follow a reclusive lifestyle. Anything a human being could possibly want or need could be bought online and delivered by drone, without the recipient even needing to get out of bed. For eight years Lisa never left her house, with her two surviving squadmates being her only regular source of human contact. By the time she was 34, however, money was beginning to run out. Faced with the very real possibility of ending up homeless and with the support from Ilona and her former squadron leader, Lisa would finally snap out of her depressive stupor. To make ends meet, she took a menial job as a fuel jockey at Luzhou International Airport, where she would have a chance meeting with Ash Zaman just three months in. He had been living there since the early 20s and had amassed quite the list of contacts in such a short time, and a list of flying prospects was something he was more than happy to share with her. Through one of Ash's acquaintances, Lisa would finally find a full-time career as an air-tour pilot, flying single-engine props up and down the east coast and nearby islands.
On 27/3/4921, SVEN FALK and 153 other prisoners, mostly Aesthian, attempted a breakout of the Cuxhaven Military Detention Camp. After killing three guards and using their weapons to secure additional armaments from the barracks, the prisoners moved on the motor pool to secure transport out of the camp. Twenty vehicles were captured, but the prison commandant had already ordered the only road access blockaded with commandeered civilian vehicles, cutting off the Aesthian plan of escape. The would-be escapees refused to back down even as Imperial Guard forces surrounded the camp, and an hours-long standoff ensued. Two hours into the siege, aerial support arrived from Arx Cypristar fish in the form of one VTOL carrying four power armored soldiers and a second VTOL with a sniper team on board. Ultimately, only 9 of the initial 1,683 Coalition airmen who took part in the battle of Zentragothora would survive to return home, and Sven was not among them.
RIKARD ZOLNEROWICH continued to serve in the Aesthian Air Force as an instructor at Corpus Kolos Airbase for many years after the end of the war. The death of his wife during childbirth in 4933 weighed heavily on him, and he ended up using his work as an outlet for his frustrations. Despite his semi-frequent temper flares and extensive use of corporal punishment, Rikard was judged to be an effective tutor by his fellow officers, and was respected in hindsight by most who graduated under him. Following the deaths of two of his students on their first combat sortie in Palestra, he finally snapped. On the morning of 6/9/4935, he walked down to the base's docks, flashed his ID, and stole an ekranoplan that was being readied for patrol duty. Jets were scrambled to pursue, but were reportedly unable to locate the stolen craft. Rikard was presumed to have crashed or run out of fuel in the ocean, but no wreck was ever found.
Suffering a severe injury to his lower back, MORTEN BERGMAN would never walk again, much less fly. He was given an honorable discharge and returned to his home in Saarivaara, where he would frequently disappear into his workshop for days at a time to work on his garage guns. Financial troubles stemming from his injury forced him to sell some of his finished projects to make ends meet, and upon seeing the interest his handmade hand cannons drew at the swap meet (and the prices offered for them) he decided to make a living out of it. Taking out a loan and obtaining the proper license, he began working out of home with two of his sons manufacturing novelty, oversized-caliber firearms and rounds for recreational shooting. By 4942, Bergman & Sons Outdoor Company had grown significantly and its focus had expanded to more practical civilian firearm manufacturing. In 4946, he was approached by Aesthian firearms conglomerate Toivonen with an offer to buy his business from him- an offer which he readily accepted, retiring at 65 to a ranchhouse in the Liettuan countryside.
After being released from Cuxhaven Military Detention Camp, ILLARION FRISK and a handful of like-minded individuals who met there got together to found their own private military firm. Ultima Thule Security Services began operations in the Chryssali Islands in 4925, providing training and logistical support to local forces as well as Coalition-aligned forces overseas. During the Aesthian Civil War, Thule fought on the side of the separatists, and plundered the inventory of Shatlovo Air Force Base following its brief capture by Grevegardan forces. Eleven Conglomerated Avionics combat jets were stolen from the air base and relocated to separatist territory, with Frisk himself taking the last one out. Though the civil war would end with the separatists crushed, Frisk and his cohorts made out like bandits. Under Illarion's tenure as CEO following the civil war, Ultima Thule would transition into a fully fledged mercenary battallion, with over a thousand ex-separatist soldiers, more than two dozen combat vehicles, and a full squadron of aircraft. Illarion and his company would go on to offer more than just logistical support in the years to come, even fighting on the front lines during the attempted Aesthian Federation annexation of Palestra. Unfortunately, Illarion would not live to see the heights his company would go on to reach. In late Chryssali winter, 4936, he would be killed when his limousine veered off the road and into the forest at 70 miles per hour.
ARKHIP ORLOV dutifully continued his tour with the Imperial Air Force, the Coalition attack only reinforcing his belief that he made the right decision leaving the country behind. One month after the battle of Zentragothora, he was approached by Bell Kibble, who had caught word that Cualli was being held at Cuxhaven Detention Camp and was attempting to broker her release. Arkhip would corroborate Bell's assessment of her character and offer her a place to stay once she was released from the prison. The Aurussican integration soured Arkhip's opinion of the Imperium, though he never let on to anyone apart from his wife. Despite his doubts, he continued to serve the Imperium for years to come, feeling more at home in Zentragothora than he ever did in North Aesthia.
ADRIAN PALADIUS would become a minor celebrity in the eyes of the Imperium following the war. His beginnings as a young cadet thrust into a pitched aerial engagement, subsequent capture and impressment by the Huitzitlatoani, participation in the sinking of the rogue Deltan armada, and his role in defending the Imperial City from the Aesthians, made him a person of great interest to the general public- and by extension, the Ministry of Culture. Though he tried staying out of the public eye, feeling unworthy of admiration by the lower classes and irritated by the constant prying of the press, his fiancee at the time convinced him that he could use the attention to both his and the peoples' benefit. Adrian made the transition to politics following the completion of his service in the Air Force, using his popularity back home to take a seat in the elected Lusitania Provincial General Assembly. His pushes for increased provincial self-governance and insinuation that the Aurussica situation would set a dangerous precedent made him well-liked among the population back home; but his peers in the Assembly viewed him as an overly-ambitious upstart at best, and outright seditious at worst. In 4932, the Provincial General Assembly voted to appoint Adrian as one of Lusitania's representatives to the Imperial senate, kicking him upstairs to where they hoped his outspoken voice would either be drowned out, or forcibly muzzled.