Tartarus WSR 18-Aug-2001 : COL Woobee reporting in

A dark pit in Hell...

Chamurky the Necromancer stabs and stabs and stabs at his foe, his poisoned dagger flooding his enemy with deadly toxins. His foe counter-attacks with vicious firey lightning, exploding rings of flame and brutal blows with icy talons. Chamurky stands firm, guzzling health potions and casting bone armour to help ward the blows.

It is a long battle, but Diablo, Lord of Terror, cannot withstand the punishment. With a great roar he collapses in a writhing heap upon the ground and expires.

Chamurky kicks the corpse in the guts for good measure, scoops up the pile of valuable loot scavenged from Hell's vanquished minions and then gasps.

"Crikey, I gotta get back to the ship and write a report!"


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Greetings Tartarusarians, and welcome to a shiny WSR, produced by a little bit rusty ex-CMDR. It won't be quite as pretty as the ones produced by the lovely CM DarkC, but then I'm not a pretty person. ;)


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News
COL Woobee is your acting Commander. So if you do anything or receive any medals etc, be sure to let me know, so I can report upon it. Well, almost anything. If you accidentally eat a bug or something you can probably keep it to yourself... well, it's your call.
The big Tartarus Squadron competition was approved by the Training Office! Head to http://www.imperialacademy.org/compdetails.asp?ID=754 to check out the details (I'm sure you all already have).
The Tartarus website http://www.powerup.com.au/~rbmcd/Tartarus has had some nice updates done to it this week. Most significantly, there is now a fiction section. I will be adding more to it in the next week. So now all our visitors can enjoy the fruits of our literary talents. (We get visitors? :P)
Commodore Khadgar gets a pay rise! He is now wearing a Vice-Admiral's badge. Congratulations mate!
XvT WoW is on right now! Wahoo!

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Fiction

We are lucky enough to have....

PART 3
Khadgar’s Tea

By Lt Jatz Crakker

While Jatz was coming to terms with his head, Leslaw and Woobee were bracing themselves to hit the coast. Warnings started to sound in Woobee’s cockpit as he was picked up on the enemy sensors. He popped up briefly as he crossed onto the mainland, and dropped once more to only 100ft. Dust and debris flew out behind the gunboat, whipped up by the crafts’ thundering twin engines. Lasers arced overhead as gun positions attempted to get a bead on the low flying craft. Up ahead the sky was a cloudy red, and Woobee could just make out Assault transports trying to descend amid the maelstrom. Some burst into small balls of flame as they were brought down by the heavy defenses. Glancing at his sensors, Woobee spied a heavy laser battery to his 2 o’clock. ‘Heavy battery acquired. Moving to engage.’

He armed a proton torpedo and waited patiently for a lock. The battery opened up in defence, a myriad of light shot forth to greet him. Woobee rolled the gunboat, keeping his sights on the battery as laser fire passed close. The battery itself was trying to lock onto the lumbering target. Woobee’s sight turned red, and he fired. ‘This is 3-2, torpedoes away!’ He pulled hard on the stick and the gunboat heaved away to the starboard.

The torpedo flashed as it sped away. The battery continued to fire until it was consumed momentarily in a blinding flash of blue light.

‘This is 3-1, that’s a hit’ Leslaw reported for Woobee’s benefit.

‘This is Grey Wolf to Tartarus 3-1, standby to receive targets…’

‘This is 3-1, roger…’ Leslaw responded.

Leslaw watched his display for the list of prescribed targets that the operations room onboard Grey Wolf had identified as lining the approach for the bomb-run.

‘This is 3-1, received.’ More heavy laser batteries and an ion cannon emplacement. He corrected course and sped off, now hurtling above the buildings and structures of the smoking city. Soldiers ran for cover through the streets as Leslaw and Woobee opened up on them with laser cannons. A flicker of light bouncing off something metallic caught Leslaw’s eye. He stopped strafing for a moment to look. A flight of X-Wings were slowly rising up from between a group of buildings to his left. ‘Grey Wolf this is Tartarus 3-1, I have 3 X-Wings here at these co-ordinates…’ he punched them through on his console ‘DarkC, I think we’ll need a little help here.’ Leslaw and Woobee descended lower still, now flying between buildings and towers, out of sight of the X-Wings.

A now fully clothed and pleasant smelling RA Khadgar listened intently on the bridge of the Grey Wolf. ‘X-Wings, eh? Rebels I should think. Typical of them to come to the rescue of such a pathetic little system such as this’ he snorted to nobody in particular. A young ensign scurried up to him with a cup of tea. ‘Thankyou Douglas!’ Khadgar beamed. Taking a sip, he grimaced and spat it back at the young officer. ‘Darjeeling? What sort of tasteless joke is this, man? Quite clearly, Dajeeling is an afternoon tea, hence should be taken then. Obviously it is NOT noon, but morning, hence….’

‘M-My apologies Sir!’ the ensign stammered ‘The Victuals Officer said he was fresh out of English Breakfast!’

‘What?! On an ISD?!?’ Khadgar was incredulous. Somewhere on his temple a vein started to throb. ‘I can’t get a descent cup of tea on a ship with a complement comparable to a small city? Somebody onboard HAS to have some!’

The ensign shrugged in despair. Khadgar thought to berate the ensign further on the subject of tea, however his gaze fell upon a tactical display on the bridge. His eye settled on a ‘Target Bravo’. A HQ perhaps, he thought. A Rebel HQ…plenty of officers in there….hmmmm. ‘I wonder…’ he thought to himself. His face screwed up as he thought very hard indeed. There was silence on the bridge as the Rear Admiral pondered away.

At last Khadgar reached for the intercom.

‘Flight Operations, this is Khagar. Ready a shuttle for me at once!’ He said into the intercom.

‘Er….roger… Sir…?’ came the reply.

Khadgar turned to the ship’s Executive Officer, whose statement was one of helpless confusion. ‘XO, take charge. I’m going planetside.’ Khadgar gestured to the planet below. ‘Have the alert 5 craft….er….even more alerted. I want my ship in one piece when I return.’ Khadgar rummaged around in cardinal robes. Presently, he produced a set of keys and threw them at the XO. ‘Oh and here’s the keys to the ship. Mind you don’t loose them on me. There’s a good chap.’

And with that, the RA spun on his heel, and marched off to the hanger.

‘Douglas, come with me, please!’ he called back at the ensign.

The ensign shivered and made a despairing look at the XO, who returned a helpless shrug.


NEXT WEEK, PART 4 of this monotonous saga. Khadgar sets off in search of tea on the war-torn planet, with the ensign Douglas in tow. DarkC and Tomaas ‘mix it up’ with X-Wings, and Tartarus’ bombers thunder in to kick the Rebels where it hurts most!


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Poetry

Being the big tough bloke I am :P, I've never really displayed any natural talent or indeed taste for poetry. However, if it is good enough for my CMDR, it is good enough for me.

So I have grabbed a book of poetry from my lovely girlfriend's bookshelf (she's a civilian, and very nice) and opened at a random page. Here's a few lines of verse that fell under my eye:

SHINING black in the shining light,
Inky black in the golden sun,
Graceful as the swallow's flight,
Light as a swallow, winged one,
Swift as driven hurricane -
...

That is only a bit of it, but I can only do poetry in small doses. It made me think of my Assault Gunboat though, so I like it. :)


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Record of the Week

I know I am copying Our DarkC's ideas. Even an old lizard-skin like me can learn a new thing or two from the younger pilots. :)

My tastes are a bit varied. I am quite keen on a fair bit of Australian music. I shalln't inflict my passion for bands no-one else has heard of. Well, Jatz might have heard of a little Brisbane band called Custard, (remember 'Girls Like That [Don't Go For Guys Like Us]?) but I shalln't go there.

So, I will tell you about an abulm that I have been listening to alot. It is an oldish one by a band that has been around for years and years. The album is Flood and the band is 'They Might Be Giants'. What a brilliant album! 'Birdhouse In Your Soul', 'Particle Man', 'Hearing Aid' & 'Whistling In The Dark' just to name a few tracks. Maybe it means nothing to you all, but this record rocks! So go get it! :)


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Medals, Promotions, Transfers

This week saw Les become a CM! Not only that, but Vulcan became a LCM! Congratulations guys!


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MP Flying

We have a great opportunity to get some excellent MP exposure. The XvT Week of War is on right now. If you have any confusion about what the hell I'm talking about, send me an email, and I can explain all. It is fun, and it is where I get most of my LoCs.


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Combat Ratings

No change from last week in this area folks. Well, lets see if we can do something about that.

Marksman 2nd (20 points)

[23] COL Woobee
Trainee (1 point)

[2] CM Leslaw
[1] LT Jatz Crakker

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Fleet Commander's Honour Guard

Pending submissions waiting for processing by the TAC means many FCHG points are being delayed in being applied. I don't have access to the database to see what we are waiting on, but I know there is a LOT. Ah well, it has been promised that they will be done, so all we need do is be patient.

The red numbers are the change since last week.
Centurion [CNTR] (400 points)

[471] COL Woobee (+8)
[457] CM DarkC
Paladin [PLDN] (300 points)

[305] CPT Tomaas Banys
Knight [KNGT] (250 points)

[267] LT Jatz Crakker
Gallant [GALL] (200 points)

[245] CM Leslaw
Cavalier [CAVL] (150 points)

[179] LCM Arcadius Calidus

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Competitions

Tartarus weekly (august) competition (APROVED!!!!)

It will be a weekly competition starting every friday of the month.
The battles that are counted for this one will be TC-TIE #25 - 50 and TC-XvT #11-15
Also fiction or graphics submissions as well as battle creation will be taken into consideration as following:
- each battle flown (no matter the number of missions) - 5 points
- fiction or graphics - 3 points
- battle creation - 5 points
The pilot who will get 25 points or more every week will get an IS-BW.

Here is the total points accrued in this compettion since it began:

Leslaw - 50 points (TC-TIE #26,27,28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 44 TC-XvT #12,13)
Jatz - 22 points (fiction * 2, graphics * 2, TC-TIE #25, 26)
Woobee - 10 points (TC-TIE #34, 36)


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Squadron Activity

This has been probably one of the quieter weeks I have seen in a while. We do have a number of people away on leave, so I am not greatly surprised or concerned. I have seen good activity from some pilots this week, which is most encouraging.

CM DarkC "Chrissy"- On leave. Still in touch with us though. Posted on the message board, and telephoned some pilots.
CPT Tomaas Banys "Wolfmaster" - On leave. Hopefully enjoying the family vacation.
LT Jatz Crakker "Jatz" - Good to hear from you mate. Submitted our fictional suplement for this report, flew TC-TIE 25 & 26, plus did up some snazzy graphics I hope to have in the website sometime this week. Great work bloke!
LCM Arcadius Calidus "Vulcan" - On leave. Take it easy buddy.
SL TK-7253 "Grand Moff JM" - No word this week. Drop me an email mate, I want to hear from you. It's about time we got you a LT badge!
CM Leslaw "fire19" - Flew TC TIE 28, 29, 31, 32 and 44! Also is working on some new material for the squadron website.
COL Woobee - That's me. :) I flew TC TIE 34, did some major website updates, and made a MB post.
LT Song Dynasty "Song" - No word this week. Please send me an email mate,

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Roster

TARTARUS SQUADRON OF WING XIII : Pacification
COMMANDER: CM DarkC (sweetchrissyro@yahoo.com)
NICKNAME: The Hellraisers
MOTTO: With Death, Comes Supreme Justice
HOMEPAGE: http://www.powerup.com.au/~rbmcd/Tartarus
MESSAGE BOARD: http://www.tiecorps.org/mb/view.asp?b=36&v=0&s=1

FLIGHT I - TIE INTERCEPTOR
Nickname: Masters of Torment
Motto: Real Men don't need shields.
1) CM DarkC (sweetchrissyro@yahoo.com)
2) CPT Tomaas Banys (incomtech@poczta.wp.pl)
3) TBA
4) TBA


FLIGHT II - TIE BOMBER
Nickname: The Emperor's Shackles
Motto: Sending fools into the pits of Tartarus
1) LT Jatz Crakker (easyentertainer@hotmail.com)
2) LCM Arcadius Calidus (vulcan5@polbox.com)
3) SL TK-7253 (jdm1@another.com)
4) TBA


FLIGHT III - ASSAULT GUNBOAT
Nickname: The Imperial Lunatics
Motto: Wake up and smell the burning rebels
1) CM Leslaw (fire@vlo.ids.gda.pl)
2) COL Woobee (rbmcd@powerup.com.au)
3) LT Song Dynasty (cjeu@columbus.rr.com)
4) TBA




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Citations
Unfortunately no movement this week on citations. Until the TAC gets properly organized, it is ging to be slow going. However, once all those files get processed... BOOM! We should have a big stack of citations roll in. So keep flying, because we are really going to smell all flowery once those BSFs are approved!

Squadron Citations (41):
TC-TIE Battle 1 - Capture of Zaarin
TC-TIE Battle 2 - Strike at Calamari
TC-TIE Battle 3 - New Dimensions
TC-TIE Battle 4 - Recapture Zaarins Technology
TC-TIE Battle 5 - Pirate Uprising
TC-TIE Battle 6 - Destruction
TC-TIE Battle 7 - Betrayal
TC-TIE Battle 8 - Strike Against the Pirates
TC-TIE Battle 9 - Tracking the Defectors
TC-TIE Battle 10 - Battle for the DeathStar
TC-TIE Battle 11 - Renegade Battle
TC-TIE Battle 12 - Jedi Hunt
TC-TIE Battle 16 - Dacian Downfall
TC-TIE Battle 24 - Save the Emperors DNA
TC-TIE Battle 36 - Weekend Retreat
TC-TIE Battle 38 - Deepspace Syndicate
TC-TIE Battle 121 - Battle of Principles
TC-TIE Battle 133 - Punishment Tour
TC-XvT Battle 1 - The Verpine Encounter
TC-XvT Battle 2 - Capture of a Murderer
TC-XvT Battle 3 - Preparing for Battle
TC-XvT Battle 4 - Encounter with the Black Sun
TC-XvT Battle 5 - Phoenix Saga
TC-XvT Battle 6 - Wolf Pack Aggression
TC-XvT Battle 7 - The Resupply
TC-XvT Battle 8 - The Loshen Resistance
TC-XvT Battle 9 - The Black Sun Incident
TC-XvT Battle 10 - Abduction of VA Priyum
TC-BoP Battle 1 - Double Cross at Coronada
TC-BoP Battle 2 - Behind Enemy Lines
TC-BoP Battle 3 - Smuggling at Vector 29
TC-XWA Battle 6 - Enemy Defector
TC-XWA Battle 8 - Hammer to Anvil
DB-XvT Battle 1 - Jedi Academy
DB-XvT Battle 2 - Rascar Political Disruption
IW-XvT Battle 10 - Hunt for Fleet #18
IW-XvT Battle 12 - The Miranda Passage
IW-XvT Battle 17 - Dar'Telis Expansion: Exterminate the Mechanoids
IW-XvT Battle 23 - Rion's Shadow Campaign: Infiltrate Rion
IW-XvT Battle 25 - Rion's Shadow Campaign: Eliminate Friendship
IW-XvT Battle 26 - Rion's Shadow Campaign: Ambassadors



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Final Thoughs

Although a little time consuming, I'm sort of enjoying being the CMDR for a while. You guys aren't really working me too hard just yet. ;)

For the greater glory of Tartarus squadron, we pursue citations. For this week concentrate on the Tartarus August competition. We will pick up a lot of citations this way.

LT Brian is begging me to come and wing him in XvT WoW, so I better stop writing.

Regards,

FM/COL Woobee/Tartarus 3-2/Wing XIII/ISD Grey Wolf
SS/BS/PCx5/ISMx5/MoI/MoT-1gh/IS-1BW-1SW-1GW/LoC-PSx23/CoL/CoB/LoA/OV-2E [CNTR]
{IWATS-IIC/1/2-M/1-SM/1/2-XTM-XTT}
Tartarus - WC Own May 2001
rbmcd@powerup.com.au