No Vanguard Interactive Battle story this week.
The send-in date for last week's mission pilot files has been extended to this sunday.
there will be one in next week's report, you can read over the current story/download the mission at http://www.gimmie.tudelft.nl/homes/blok10b/ender/vib/

<salute>

Well I hope you all have had a great X-Mas, end of Ramadan, Hanukkah or whatever you might have partied about in the last week. As you might've guessed that's why this report is the latest ever. Oh well not much to report anyway, except the end of the ASF:SC and some less funny topics....

1.

Fist on a bit of a sadder note... Our numbers are going down. It might be the season (people making new years resolutions to do more schoolwork?) but we might also lose a pilot at a court-martial and there is some serious talk going on about closing down Raptor Squadron after it got another zero points in another ASF:SC. (Note: that means no activity at all). This would seriously cut our numbers and again cause lots of trouble... I hope Raptor will get this hint and either transfer to the reserves themselves or become active. I hereby call out to any Raptor members to mail me and Blade with their thoughts on this, though I do request to keep it within the confines of the flag officers and Raptor because I can imagine this a topic we want to concern the whole wing with.

The court-martial is something worse even then that. TAC has accused one of our pilots of cheating repeatedly and has sent the case to the High Court of Inquisitors. The pilot has said in his defense that the bad pilot files were "flown" by a cousin who was helping him out. As long as the HCI has not come to a verdict I do have to remind you all that all this are still just accusations, not fact (yet). But VA Blade and I will be requesting the removal of this pilot from the ISD Vanguard in case of any verdict that acknowledges that cheating has occurred. We do not like the names of the ship, wing or squadrons to be tainted by any cheating. Meanwhile the pilot's ASF:SC score has been suspended as well that Blade has taken back a reward he had bestowed on the pilot.  Might he be found not guilty, he'll probably get his rewards (back) then.

2.
And now for something completely different: The ASF: Supremacy Competition has ended!
The last week has been the deciding one again. With lots of points finally getting rewarded and many people making the extra effort for the end sprint. Echo made a brilliant run upwards in points and overtook the first GW squadron, Odin. Because of Krayt pushing up Hornet dropped a bit but at the same time Mantis has been catching up very well, getting all our active squadrons all places just after the GW... which after all won the comp... again.... :-\

In the pilots rankings many things changed too, with excellent leaps upwards by both LC DS-61-4 and LT Damon Kast (who even took over the lead in Python from his CMDR). Less surprisingly this also happened in the other wings, so most of our pilots are just outside the top 10. But I don't care: I really appreciate all the good work done by practically the whole wing over the last month - it has been GREAT. We've left the Intrepid far behind (even though we had the same amounts of participants) and gave the GW a run for it's money (even though we only had half as much pilots participating). We've showed once again that there might not be many of us, but we can definitely kick buttock :D

We'll have to wait for Admiral Priyum to award the medals for the comp and then Vice Admiral Blade and I will fill that up where we think someone has deserved some appreciation or missed out on awards that couldn't be handed out during this last month:)

Fleet News:

General TC News:
- After being on the IO Projects page for well over 6 months, it is finally here. Yes, it's the Emperor's Hammer: Greeting Card Centre. Go check it out, and send some of your EH friends some cards. http://www.emperorshammer.ca/gcc
- The long awaited Issue 6 is now available at http://www.darklord.ukshells.co.uk/cosmo/cosmo6/. Big thank yous go out to all those who contributed things and helped out.
- Due to a previously undiscovered bug in the XWA Pilot File BSF form, some pilots have received undeserved high scores if their CMDR was clumsy and uploaded the wrong pilot file. The form has been updated to fix this.
If you notice any strange high scores (like high scores for mission 6 when there are only 5 missions in the battle), please report them to Sector Admiral Kawolski.
- After three weeks of captivity, Tactical Officer Fleet Admiral Striker managed to escape from Rebel forces, after the hijacking of his shuttle earlier this month. Torture didn't manage to get a word from the Sith Battlelord, who suffers anyway from many injuries. Medical staff has taken care of the Fleet Admiral since his return, he will probably need several weeks to recover.
- Outer Rim nights will be returning as of next week! There are several changes. One is that the clubs participating include: the RS, the SV, the VE, the LSF, the NR and now us! The rules are posted at: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/outerrim/rules.htm. The games supported are: XvT, XWA, and JK! For more information on OR check: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/outerrim/. Check for updates here for more information!
- Earlier this week, CPT Brucmack, Vortex CMDR, was awarded with the prestigious Grand Order of the Empire merit medal. Captain Brucmack is a fine example of a first rate pilot AND Commander - this medal is very well deserved! Congratulations!

Wing News:

General Wing News:
- ASF:SCII has ended! AD Priyum is no longer taking any submissions. Check Competitions for info and rankings.
- CM Edwan Lipit was forced to transfer to the reserves.  I hope he'll be back some day.
- ViB mission flying comp extended till next report

Medals:
FM/LT Damon Kast [ISM]
FL/LT Jack Pavz [ISM]

Promotions:
FM/LT Rhys von Pohl to FL/LT Rhys Von Pohl

Competitions:

ASF:SCII (ended)
Started: 20th Nov. 2000
Ended:  23rd Dec 2000
URL: http://www.emperorshammer.ca/asf
Participants: All pilots and Squadrons and Ships in the ASF.
Description: “The long awaited Second ASF:Supremacy Competition is here! The first Supremacy competition began on 17th April, and ran for six weeks, ending on 28th May. Up for grabs were the titles of ASF Flagship and ASF Escort Squadron. The six weeks saw an amazing amount of activity for all pilots. Thousands of missions were flown and scores of graphics, fiction and INPRs were submitted. At the end of the competition, well over a hundred merit medals had been awarded to the various participants. The competition had proven to be a success, and shown that the ASF was capable of amazing achievements. This Competition runs just the same way, with a slight change in the awarding of points."
FINAL STATUS: closed The last week has been the deciding one again. Echo made a brilliant run upwards in points and overtook the first GW squadron. Python and Hornet dropping a bit but Mantis catching up very well, getting our active squadrons all places just after the GW... which after all won the comp... again.... :-\ In the pilots rankings many things changed too, with excellent leaps upwards by both LC DS-61-4 and LT Damon Kast (who even took over the lead in Python from his CMDR). Less surprisingly this also happened in the other wings, so most of our pilots are just outside the top 10. But I don't care: I really appreciate all the good work done by practically the whole wing over the last month - it has been GREAT.

For the medals we'll all have to wait for Priyum to award them, currently he's thinking about
1st: SS
2nd & 3rd: BS
300+ --> Bronze Star (LC DS-61-4?)
200+ --> Palpatine's Crescent (CM Hawk, LT Damon Kast?)
100+ --> Imperial Security Medal (LT Rhys von Pohl?)

Ships:
1. ISD GREY WOLF [8909]
2. ISD VANGUARD [1902]
3. ISD INTREPID [971]
Squadrons: (top ten)
1. TARTARUS [2251]
2. CRUSADER [2042]
3. VORTEX [1720]
4. AVENGER [1458]
5. VALKYRIE [1125]
6. PHOENIX [832]
7. ECHO [694]
8. ODIN [680]
9. PYTHON [575]
10. KRAYT [402]
(11. HORNET [348])
(12. MANTIS [219])

Pilots:  (top ten)
1. CM Arestar [1050]
2. CPT Brucmack [886]
3. CM Khadgar [463]
4. CM Mace [457]
5. LC DS-61-4 [417]
6. LT JamieK [352]
7. LCM Weisio [335]
8. CPT Deamon [267]
9. MAJ Fondor [264]
10. CM Daisuke Airyu [247]

Vanguard Interactive Battle (running!)
Started: December 19th
Ends: hopefully never, but every 3 weeks (=turn) medals and other scores will be awarded
Next mission deadline: Sun December 31th (new!)
URL: http://www.gimmie.tudelft.nl/homes/blok10b/ender/vib/
Participants: All pilots onboard the Vanguard.
Description: “The Wing XV Commander will add a piece of a story to his wing reports, together with a XWA Mission based on that part of the story. Participating Pilots in the wing send in their pilot files of that mission to their CMDRs - including a short written fictional account of their experiences in the mission. The CMDRs check the pilot files, forward the scores, the reports and their own files to the Commodore and Wing Commander and include the best fiction of their squadron in their weekly reports. The best fiction in the wing will be taken up in the wing report, arranged into "propaganda"-type news coverage. Medals are awarded to the best flying and to the best writing but also to outstanding activity like helping to run this competition.
Flying and fiction both influence the story, and so the missions: the Pilots' performance in one mission has consequences on the next mission they'll fly. Making this a true Interactive Battle with a flexible story line, centered around the ISD Vanguard and it's Squadrons.”
CURRENT STATUS:  First mission was attached to the last report and downloadable from the site. It's XvT I'm afraid - but XWA missions were taking too long... and as this is a Prologue (test) missionrun anyway, I hope you guys don't mind too much. The storyline should be clear, you can read it in this report. The mission includes a intro-text and a briefing to get you along further. If you encounter any bugs - warn me at once and I'll see what I can do.
SUBMISSION DETAILS: Fly the mission with a new pilot at whatever difficulty you usually fly it at, but keep your eyes peeled - you should be able to report your experiences later. (a hint given for this was to keep your camera running). After you fly the mission, write the fictional report on what you saw happening during the mission. Zip pilot file and a .txt version of your report to the same officer you normally send your pilot files to. They'll check it for scores and stuff and forward it to me. Make sure the CMDRs get your zip by the 27th. Normally it would be just 5 days, but since it's Christmas and all it's easier to extend it a bit... also gives you guys a chance to fly it during the holidays:)
check http://www.gimmie.tudelft.nl/homes/blok10b/ender/vib/rules/index.html for more details and help!
AWARDS: For the best pilots and the best fiction writers there would be two PCs per turn (3 weeks), the two runners up in both categories will receive ISMs . Special awards will be given to those who get involved into the running of the ViB, such as in helping write the storylines, designing or testing the XWA Missions, creating "the Vanguard" or making graphics.

All missions will be submitted to the TAC Office upon release, giving the XWA Mission Designers the chance of their Medal of Tactics and the pilots the chance to submit their pilot files for FCHG points. But this ofcourse can take a while.

BattleCry Flying Contest (new!)
Starts: January 13th 2001
Ends: January 6th 2001 (don't ask how this is possible... it's just what their site says:) )
URL: http://www.emperorshammer.ca/battlecry/battlecry10/contest/flying/flying.html
Participants: The whole TIE Corps
Description: “The Flying Contest is different this month. Since it is part of the BIG Competition the medals that are to be awarded
 are greater. So here's your chance to earn yourself a Silver Star if you win in any of the platforms. Also, all of the missions are brand, spanking new with a Christmas twist."

Weekly  TC Online competitions
Starts: various
Ends: various
URL: http://www.tiecorps.org/combat/calendar.asp?month=12&year=2000
Participants: All pilots in the Tie Corps.
Description: “On the combat calendar are all the weekly competitions like the Vengeance Comp, EuroLoC, Thursday Night – Training Night… etc. Check the combat calendar regularly.”
CURRENT STATUS: the Outer Rim Night will return as of next week!

Wing Squadron Status:

ECHO SQUADRON: VIP Escort.
Commander: MAJ. Archon (Invincible__007@hotmail.com)
Page URL: http://echo.squadron.org/
MB URL: http://pub11.ezboard.com/fasf4062isdvanguard
Squadron Citations (9):
   TC-XWA Battle 1 - Avenger Encounter
   TC-XWA Battle 2 - First Contact
   TC-XWA Battle 3 - The Darkon Mystery
   TC-XWA Battle 4 - Privateer
   TC-XWA Battle 5 - Show of Force
   TC-XWA Battle 6 - Enemy Defector
   TC-XWA Battle 7 - Assault on Chimera
   TC-XWA Battle 8 - Hammer to Anvil
   TC-XWA Battle 10 - The Phare Encounter (new!)
Status: 6 out of 12 positions filled. The unofficial final results have been calculated!  Achieved by an amazing trivia writing performance from LC DS-61-4, Echo Squadron has placed FIRST on the ISD Vanguard!!  Echo ended up 7th overall, just ahead of Odin Squadron.  Not too shabby considering that there are 17 active squads in the ASF.  Archon wants to personally congratulate all who participated, even if you only got a few points, by flying battles before the comp you helped get us citations.  CM Edwan Lipit was forced to transfer to the reserves. LCM Kaymin D'Varak was AWOLed from Echo Squadron.

MANTIS SQUADRON: Deep Strike.
Commander: LC Garik Hizad (Heartofgold42@hotmail.com)
Page URL: http://mantissquadron.homestead.com/home.html
MB URL:  http://mantissquadron.homestead.com/messboard.html
Squadron Citations (7):
   TC-XWA Battle 1 - Avenger Encounter
   TC-XWA Battle 2 - First Contact
   TC-XWA Battle 3 - The Darkon Mystery
   TC-XWA Battle 5 - Show of Force
   TC-XWA Battle 6 - Enemy Defector
   TC-XWA Battle 8 - Hammer to Anvil
   IW-XWA Battle 22 - Abyssi Ianua - Gates to Hell
Status: 7 out of 12 positions filled. No Report Received because of the Season.

RAPTOR SQUADRON: Heavy Bombardment.
Commander: COL Kaye (jekaye@total.net)
Page URL: http://www.total.net/~jekaye/
MB URL: http://pub11.ezboard.com/fasf4062isdvanguard
Squadron Citations (0):
Status: 7 out of 12 positions filled. No Report Received because of the Season.

HORNET SQUADRON: Interdiction.
Commander: MAJ. Ace Armageddon (ace_armageddon@hotmail.com)
Page URL:  http://hornet.squadron.org/
MB URL:  http://pub11.ezboard.com/fasf4062hornetsquadron
Squadron Citations (9):
   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 10 - Abduction of VA Priyum
   TC-BoP Battle 1 - Double Cross at Coronada
   DB-XvT Battle 1 - Jedi Academy
Status: 9 out of 12 positions filled MAJ Ace is still on leave but he can be contacted for BSFs and the like. LT Pavz is acting CMDR. Hornet did very well in the SC.  Thanks to all that participated.  The squadron objective for this week for everyone is to try and fly for the Battlecry comp. This is really easy, and if we all participate, it's almost guaranteed that e can all earn ISMs! You can fly some brand new custom missions for TIE, XvT and/or XWA. An SS is up for grabs for the top pilot in each platform.

PYTHON SQUADRON: Interdiction. (WC’s Own)
Commander: CM Fraggle Hawk (fraggle.hawk@freeuk.com)
Page URL:  http://www.pythonsqd.com/
MB URL:  http://www.coolboard.com/msgpost.cfm?msgboard=41209031262784&idDispSub=81299250849214
Squadron Citations (6):
   TC-XWA Battle 1 - Avenger Encounter
   TC-XWA Battle 3 - The Darkon Mystery
   TC-XWA Battle 6 - Enemy Defector
   TC-XWA Battle 8 - Hammer to Anvil
   IW-XWA Battle 22 - Abyssi Ianua - Gates to Hell
   IW-XWA Battle 24 - Rion's Shadow Campaign: Seeds of Corruption (new!)
Status: 8 out of 12 positions filled. No Report Received because of the Season.

Wing Squadron Fiction:

Hornet Squadron Fiction. "Good Times"
written by: LT. Jack Pavz (PAVZ99@aol.com)

 The Striker came out of hyperspace in a flash; the shields immediately came to life, casting a bright glow over the sleek silvery white hull of the Victory Star Destroyer.  All decks were a flurry of commotion, with officers, engineers, and pilots alike all rushing about to make the ship battle ready.
 “Enemy frigate in vicinity… and there's the Artemis, boys!” Lieutenant-Commander Syrtaras announced over the intercom.
 Captain Stele’s voice boomed throughout the ship:  “Kappa, Omicron squadrons get ready for launch.  We have incoming fighters E.T.A. 3 minutes.  Man the batteries!  Helm, set full course for that frigate – we won’t let the rebels get away this time!”  The Captain’s eyes sparkled with excitement, for he loved the heat of battle.
 The engines of the Striker roared to life as the ship advanced into the battle zone.  Kappa and Omicron squadrons were already pouring out of the docking bays, ready for the upcoming conflict.   Kreed and Omicron took control of the fighter battle, the veteran squadron commander organizing the fighters and choreographing their movements.  Several enemy fighters were either destroyed or disabled on the first pass.  Kappa squadron flew straight past Omicron and the rebel fighters, trying to reach their main target, the rebel frigate.  “Target weapons and engines,” Pavz directed.  “We want it captured, Captain Agony might be on that ship!”
 As Omicron squadron proceeded to tally up an impressive number of rebel fighters to their kill tally, Kappa managed to cripple the Salvation.  Meanwhile the Striker was occupied in the boarding and recapturing the Artemis.  The remaining few rebel fighters eventually fled, after suffering 15 of their pilots’ deaths.  Omicron and Kappa flew magnificently, only suffering half of those casualties.  The Artemis was restored to imperial control, after releasing a majority of the crew from the brigs of the rebel frigate and captured cruiser.

 Captain Neil "Agony" McDougall marched into the captain’s/admiral’s office aboard the Striker, followed by his first officer, Lieutenant Commander Priyum.  Expecting a reprimand, Agony avoided eye contact with the Grand Admiral, who was seated at the desk.  He still managed to send off a sharp salute.  “So,” Daemon started off, casting a stern glare in the Recon officers’ direction.  “You let a small rebel band capture one of His Majesty’s special ops ships and make a fool out of the empire?  How could you let this happen?”
 Agony grew uncomfortably hot in his uniform.  “Uh, sir… I’m sorry sir, there was no way to predict that– “
 “I thought you were smarter than that, Captain McDougall!” the Grand Admiral’s voiced resonated throughout the office.  “I have only one thing left to ask you… How did you manage to keep the rebels here and not hyperspace with the Artemis out of the system and into safety?”
 “Priyum and I had a few of our technicians trash engineering before the rebels got there.  Both sublight and hyperspace engines were completely useless when the rebels finally controlled the entire cruiser.  We hoped our pilots would be able to get away and send a rescue team before they fixed it.”
 “Agony, old boy, you’ve done it again,” Daemon smiled, sending the Recon officers into complete shock.  Their supreme commander had just gone from yelling at them to praising them.  “I knew you’d think of something like that.  And because of your quick wit, we’ve managed to win an important victory for the Empire as well.  The Frigate was a Recon ship as well, and much information will be gathered from its crew and computers.  As for the Artemis… I’m disappointed, but you’ve compensated for it.  Make sure it doesn’t happen again.  If there is a next time I won’t be so kind.  I expect a full report in front of me by 1800.  Dismissed!”
 Agony and Priyum saluted and walked out of the office.  After the door closed behind each gave a deep sigh of relief.  “Close one, sir.”  Priyum said.  Agony gave a weary nod.

 Laughter was coming from the pilots’ bar inside the Striker.  A celebration party was being held for all members involved in the capture and recapture of the Artemis.  Pavz and Ace were the center of attention, telling everyone their tale of escape…
 “And then…” Ace said in the midst of laughing and draining his glass of Corellian whiskey.  “And then a rebel jumped in front of Pavz and popped him in the stomach!  You should have seen the look on his face!”  His laughter pealed throughout the cantina.
 Pavz chuckled and sipped at his drink.  He enjoyed his time in the empire.  These were good times, with good pilots, good friends, and good people….

the end.
 

And to finish up:

Meetings.
- Fleet-wide meeting on IRC-Undernet channel #emperor's_hammer (every Saturday at 5PM GMT)
- TIE Corps meeting on IRC-Undernet channel #tiecorps (It's every Sunday at 9PM GMT)
- Don't forget our own IRC-Undernet channel #Vanguard it's a fun place to be afterall:)

Messageboards.
- Emperor's Hammer Message Board - http://www.tiecorps.org/ehmb.asp
- TIE Corps Message Board – http://www.tiecorps.org/mb
- Aggressor Strike Force Message Board -  http://www.tiecorps.org/mb/view.asp?b=21&v=0&s=0

I think that's it – If I've forgotten anything, let me know via email (use only a.c.w.t.zwegers@bk.tudelft for official TC/Wing mails.) or ICQ (9706474)

Al these reports are online now as well: you can reach them via the Wing's roster on the TC database. This is also the reason why this report has been changed around into a negative of it's old self. This report you can read back at http://www.tiecorps.org/reports/tcreports.asp?wingid=15

Until next time, Happy New Year, good luck and have fun.

<salute>
WC/LC Ender mBind/Wing XV/ISD Vanguard
GS/SiS/BS/PCx3/ISMx12/LoC-PSx62/DFC/CoL/CoB/OV [HUSS]
{IWATS-SM/2-XTT-XTM-M/1/2-IIC/1/2/3-GFX}