<salute>

Another COM's report! These things are almost getting regular again....

1.
The Third Flying Round of the Vanguard interactive Competition has proved that people can definitely fly inspection rounds... Don't worry the next mission coming is a lot more interesting...
MAJ. Strahd won the IS-SW for the HS (11) 4243 (again, he's unstoppable!) and CPT Damon Kast a IS-BW for coming in second with (9) 3620. CPT Damon Kast also won a IS-SR for sending in the best mission report (which is at the end of this report). Damon Kast's mission report was not too short, not a full novel either - just right and recognizable for anyone flying the mission. CM Bevel Leeson got the IS-BR for writing an actual mission report. No frills or anything - just the data I needed. Shows you that I'm not as much interested in a 20 page story, but in what happened when flying :-). Remember that your mission report has a lot more impact on the story line then your pilot file... which just told me the following:

MAJ. Strahd (11) 3643+600=4243
CPT Damon Kast (9) 3095+525=3620 [python]
(VA mBind (5) 2711+875=3586*)
LCM Johann Glorick (10) 2609+425=3259 [echo]
CM Blair Vallyn (7) 2421+650=3071 [echo]
LCM Da'Ger (6) 2343+650=2993 [echo]
CM Bevel Leeson (4) 846+150=996 [mantis]

2.
And then, the ASF: Supremecy Competition III has started! this like the BIG competition of the ASF and really shows which pilot, squadron or ship is the best of the fleet. And it means big prices and respect of course. You gain points by being active - those points decide the winners...
Started: 9/1/2001
Ends:  10/1/2001
URL: http://www.imperialacademy.org/compdetails.asp?ID=805
Participants: All pilots and Squadrons and Ships in the ASF.
Description: “The long awaited Third ASF: Supremacy Competition is here! The first Supremacy competition began on 17th April, and ran for six weeks, ending on 28th May. The Second between the 20th Nov. and the 23rd Dec 2000. Up for grabs both times were the titles of ASF Flagship and ASF Escort Squadron. Both 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. Both last times the Grey Wolf won ASF Flagship”
Additional: Go to the site and check it out, besides that it looks good it also has a lot of info on how to get all the rewards on offer here. With the ViB and the ASF:VC running at the  same time, I hope we'll be seeing a lot of LoCs, graphics and fiction from you guys anyway, plus extra missions made by the mission designers.
CURRENT STATUS: We're not doing very well here guys! Although we're still at the start.... I do want to note that we're the biggest ship this time - We can't let the Grey Wolf get away with a win AGAIN. We're far better suited as Flagship anyway:P
I suggest the squadrons concentrate on Citations, Multi Playing (don't forget the WoWs this month) and IWATS Courses as those rank the most points.
Ships:
1. ISD GREY WOLF [2669] (<- how the heck did they do that?)
2. ISD VANGUARD [538]
3. ISD INTREPID [426]

3.
Another way to score points is writing for the next edition of "the Vanguard"... But we'll need a lot more articles to make a newspaper! Hence, don't forget the connected competition:
Starting Date: 14/08/2001
Ending Date: 10/09/2001
Parties Involved: All crew members of the ISD Vanguard
Site:http://www.gimmie.tudelft.nl/homes/blok10b/ender/vanguard/vib/news/
Contact Names: VA Ender mBind, CM Bevel Leeson (a.c.w.t.zwegers@bk.tudelft.nl, skinner@matavnet.hu)
Info: "Crew members are encouraged to write articles for the Vanguard Newspaper. Best articles get rewarded an IS-SR, runner up IS-BR.
Articles can be anything, from Interviews, horoscopes, cartoons to short sports articles about your squad winning the bowling contest. Graphics like Adds or
Photographs of "News Events" are fine too of course - Anything that makes a newspaper a newspaper.
Participants are to keep in mind that this is a FICTIONAL, Black and White tabloid sized newspaper based in the Star Wars Universe. Also, text fills these pages up
pretty fast. Your articles don't need to be very long, check the earlier editions for examples. Participants are allowed to enter articles as many times as they want.
Articles will be judged by the COM and the Chief Editor. All usable articles will be used in the paper. (though with large participation we might keep some on file for
next issues.) Mail all articles to CM Leeson (Chief Editor), cc VA mBind"

Now Scramble!

Fleet News:

General TC News:
- After four years and an a month, Fleet Admiral Kramer has chosen to hang up his Sovereign Commodore uniform. In his place I have appointed Rear Admiral Proton, the former Wing V WC. Proton has proven his abilities very successfully in the past, and was not only my first choice, but also came highly recommended from FA Kramer and Admiral Havoc. Many congratulations to RA Proton!
- Following Colonel Ricaud's retirement, the new Relentless Commodore has been selected by Vice Admiral Adrenaline, and approved by the Flight Office - congratulations to Rear Admiral Lohr Zadash! A long standing member of the Wing, Lohr was the former Wing Commander, and highly qualified for the COM position.
- Congratulations are also in order after the promotion of Colonel Badlands, Wing XI WC, to the rank of General - a request that came with glowing recommendations from both his COM and BGCOM.
- Another big one is the promotion of our own BGCOM: Vice Admiral Cyric, Battlegroup Commander of the ASF, to the rank of full Admiral. Cyric is undoubtedly one of the hardest working Officers in the TIE Corps, who's sterling work often goes unnoticed by most. As one of his COMs I can only agree. Congrats Cyric!
- The battles, now sorted by platforms rather than subgroups, have new abbreviations, subgroups and platforms are swapped. For example Xwing Alliance TIE Corps Battles change from TC-XWA to XWA-TC. ID, BHG and CAB battles gain a "TIE-" addition to their abbreviation.
- The Science Office, handing craft slicing, are now looking for a new SCOA again. The main duties will include searching the various SW related sites looking for slicing related news and testing of various patches and programs. Having working knowledge of slicing the X-wing series is a big plus and the DF series is even a bigger plus but neither is needed. Send applications to the SCO (darkhill@scienceoffice.org) and his CA Kermee (kermee@softhome.net) stating your qualifications and why you want to join the Science Office.

Other Information:

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 after all:)
Additional for if you do not know what IRC is: IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and it's a protocol specially for chatting. Easiest way to get on IRC is to go to http://www.mirc.com and download mIRC free. The Emperor's Hammer is based on the Undernet servers, but if you need any more help setting up, don't hesitate to call in help from either your squad mates or me.

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
- ISD Vanguard/Wing XV Message Board - http://tiecorps.org/mb/view.asp?b=38&v=0

Vanguard interactive Battle:

ViB Python Prologue V:
by: CPT. Damon Kast, Python CMDR

Lieutenant Commander. Damon Kast stepped out of the pilot ready room adjoined to the main fighter hangar, and took a deep breath, filling his nostrils with the smell of oil, ozone and fighter exhaust.
It was slightly chilled in the hangar due to the mag-con field that kept atmosphere in, but unfortunately, not the heat. He walked underneath the racks where Python Squadrons fighters hung, seeing Commander. Rothmans and Commander. Crazy R2, getting into their fighters, or in R2`s case, uhm, rolling into his fighter. His fighter was sitting a few meters away on the flight deck under some spotlights. It wasn't with the rest of Pythons fighters because one of its ion engines had been damaged during his last flight. He stepped closer and saw the bottom part of Vanguard mechanics legs sticking out of the engine cowling. “How's it look Wash?” he used the mechanics nickname. He heard swearing inside the cowling and saw some told clatter out from underneath the fighter , seconds later the mechanic followed. “Ogh , she looks all right , sir. I think a micro-meteor hit you in that engine , luckily you it shut down before it could tear all the way through. She's ready to fly , sir !” Kast nodded his appreciation. “Thanks Wash , Ill buy you a drink when I get back.”

Minutes later he was out in space , breathing the slightly stale air of his life support unit. “Python 1, form up on me , we have ships to inspect."  R2 called over the com. The mission was going fine , inspecting freighters wasn't very high on the excitement list , until a M/CRV , the Hope , jumped in system. “1, 2 here , request permission the inspect the CRV please ?” their was a moment of silence over the com. “Why 2 ? Its got an Imperial IFF , and she's on the correct approach vector.” Kast smirked “I know 1 , but I got a feeling about this.” “Fine 2 , just hurry up.” Damon pulled back slightly on his stick and lined his fighter up with the CRV. As he came within .45 clicks of it , a flight of four rebel A-Wings burst from some hidden hangar bay. “1 I got rebs inbound ! Scramble !” Damon dropped in behind the rear A-wing and launched two missiles into its aft , the resulting explosion and shockwave destroyed all four of the closely flying A-Wings. “2 , You’ve got X`s inbound , theyre nehind that Super Freighter !” Kast slowly turned his fighter around and headed for the X-wings , as soon as he cleared the Freighter , he dropped to zero thrust and painted the each of the four X-Wings with a missle lock , and calmly dispatched each of them in turn. His onboard computer reported a a YT-2400 heading away from the scene at a high speed , and Kast gave persuit , he quickly tried to finished it off with multiple laser blasts into its engines, but it was able to hyper out. By then the remaining rebels had fled the scene , Kast returned to the Vanguard with a smile on his face.

ViB Prologue XIX:
by: VA mBind, VanCOM

Vice Admiral Cyric, Battle Group Commander of the Aggressor Strike Force, which included the ISD Vanguard, was already waiting on the rack as Ender popped the hatch of his TIE Bomber. Still half inside his cockpit, Ender took his helmet off, hanging it on a hook on his belt and threw a salute.
  “Cyric! I'm ever so sorry I couldn't give you a proper welcome when you arrived on board, but I wasn't informed of you coming here.” He apologized.
  “At ease Ender,” Cyric grinned, “Climb out of your brick first and climb up here so we can talk.”
  “Yes, of course,” Ender agreed and he climbed out of his TIE Bomber, or “Brick” in imperial fighter pilot slang, and climbed up on the rack.
  Cyric offered Ender a hand, which was of course accepted. “You weren't alerted to me coming here because I didn't want them to,” Cyric smiled as shook hands. “You seemed to be having so much fun out there.”
  They started walking towards the elevator as one of the Dragonfly Shuttles landed on the deck below.
  “Well, yes at first I was,” Ender agreed, “Now I'm only hoping I don't have to get myself another Squadron Commander. And you know how hard it can get nowadays to find a good one.” They entered the elevator and Ender pressed the down button. “I already had to assign a droid to do a man's job… but then again: since I've started to like that old b0t.”
  Cyric nodded in agreement. “He was a fine Grey Wolf pilot before, I know him well. Lets go ot and see how it looks all right?”

  CrazyR2 didn't look all right at all. The torpedo that had hit his TIE had caused a brief EMP burst, which had had the same effect as a ionblast. Though he'd been blasted away from the main explosion, R2 was now in fact ‘dead’ for as far you can say something like that about a droid.
  All the Python Pilots and many others of Wing XV were standing around as the crew of DragonFly 1-2 floated the scorched droid down the walk way, but they instantly made room for the two Vice Admirals – who were joined by the Wing Commander, Khadgar.
  Khadgar had brought two engineers of the Ship's Droid bank with him and immediately dropped to his knees to see if there was any sign of ‘life’ from the droid. There was none. Khad looked up to the engineers in an almost pleading manner a he asked if there was anything they could do.
  Several of the Pilots offered to chip in for parts on costs, but Cyric assured them the Emperor's Hammer would pay. It would also pay for any medical costs for more human pilots too after all. This assured the collected Vanguard crew members a lot – especially since the engineers confirmed that they'd surely be able to fix the Python Commander. “But it will take a week or two and we can't assure he'll be as ‘a live’ as he was before,” the higher ranking one of them warned before he and his companion floated CrazyR2 off to their repair shop.

  The pilots fairly quickly scattered, having enough to talk about in ‘the Hole’ as it was already, which left the ASF Command Staff members as alone as is possible in a Star Destroyer's hangar.
  “Khad, we can't leave Python without a Commander like this, any suggestions?” Ender asked his Wing Commander.
  “Well I was fairly impressed with Damon Kast’s performance in the whole incident. He'd make a good replacement for sure,” Khadgar said with an air of confidence.
  “I agree, he came out of that trap mostly undamaged and has been showing good performances for a while already.” Ender turned to Cyric. “You're all right with this?”
  “Of course!” Cyric smiled, “Its your ship after all. I'm not VitCarp, remember?” He addressed Khadgar. “Don't forget to reward some medals to the pilots. I saw some excellent performances out there.”
  “Yes sir,” Khadgar said. “Anything else you need me for? I need to run a debriefing before they spent too much time boozing”
  Cyric and Ender both thought that was a good plan, returned the salute Khadgar threw at them and watched him make his way to the turbo lift.
  “That's a good officer,” Cyric told Ender.
  “Yes, I've been really happy with his work ever since he started here,” Ender agreed, “Probably the best Wing Commander I could wish for…”
  Cyric cleared his throat with a slight cough“ before he spoke at a low voice: ”How would you feel about it if I promoted Khadgar to Grey Wolf Commodore?”
  Ender felt like he had just been hit by a sledge hammer… If he hated selecting Squadron Commanders already… he fully detested taking applications for Wing Commander. And that was besides the fact that he'd never thought about the possibility that Khadgar might leave one day while he himself was still COM. “Euh,” he stuttered, “Well it would be great for Khadgar of course, and I surely would wish him that honor… but euh…” He looked around a bit, “I actually would hate to loose him too of course… Why? Has Woobee resigned or something?”
  “Well yes actually, and I want Khad to replace him, I just wanted to know if it it was ok with you.”
  “Of course it's all right with me – Khad is too good a friend for me for me to stand i the way of his career… I'll just miss him.” Ender looked sad. “Imagine the fight over being the next Wing Commander between Hizad and jay-dee-ef alone… this will probably make my life a living hell for the next few days, but I do wish Khadgar the best.”
  Cyric patted him on the shoulder and maneuvered them to the nearest turbo-lift. “Good, let's head on to your ready room, I brought more guest for you and you really don't want to keep this lot waiting.”
  Ender looked at him in surprise. “Who?”
  Cyric just smiled at him with an almost evil grin: “Lets say, that we've got enough racked up for you to keep your mind of other things for a while.”
  “Great.” Ender sighed as they stepped into the turbo lift.

  “…you've been sitting on your laurels for too damn long. It's time to get out of the cantina and back into the war against the Rebellion. And no, I don't mean your fancy state-of-the-art Tie Defender with mini bar and shields. You fly with Thrawn, you fly Tie Fighters and Interceptors, or you don't fly at all….”
  …“Probably because he can't afford better,” Ender grinned but read on…
“…Grand Admiral Thrawn asks you to produce the best squadrons and destroyers of the Emperor's Hammer, how you are supposed to pick the best out of you is a mystery to us. We wouldn't trust any of you to fly around the PLT Daedalus without crashing. But perhaps you might get the honor of fighting alongside with the ISD Chimaera in the next few months as our Grand Admiral pulverizes…..”
  Ender looked up to the other TIE Corps Staff members around his ready room. “This is an insult! The Fleet Commander should tell this ‘Thrawn’ where he can stick his request…”
  “Not too quick,” Flight Officer Priyum held up a finger. “You are forgetting that Thrawn and Ronin have been on a good standing for ages. And now he has returned from the Unknown Regions he's the Empire's best chance at destroying the rebellion once and for all.”
  “You must be joking,” Ender laughed, “He has a single Star Destroyer with antiquated fighters. He couldn't hit a dent in a package of butter. And if he really has been in the ‘Unknown Regions’…” Ender indicated quotation marks with his fingers, “… for years. How the heck can they still be Unknown then?”
  “Yes well,” Recon Officer Ramos answered his question, “That's unimportant. What is important is that Thrawn always has been recognized as the Top tactical genius of the Empire… Even by the Emperor himself, I’d like to add.”
  Ender almost folded double with laughter. “Ohh? Is that why Palpatine banished his alien butt to the arse-end of space for years? I should've known, it's sooo clear,” he said sarcastically.
  Ramos turned around to look at Priyum and Cyric. Priyum shrugged while Cyric had a face like he had a hard time repressing a laugh himself. “Shall I tell him?” Ramos asked them.
 “Go for it,” Priyum smiled with a wicket touch.
  Ramos turned back around to Ender, who had stopped laughing but still  had a large smile on his face. “This is exactly why we have chosen you for this next mission.”
  Ender instantly pulled a straight face. “A mission?” he inquired.
  “Yes, a mission,” Ramos confirmed and he took a sip from his drink before he continued. “Grand admiral Ronin would like to support Grand Admiral Thrawn’s campaign against the Rebellion….”
  “…Yes, but…?” Ender filled in.
  Ramos smiled. “…But he was not amused by the tone of voice these representatives of Thrawn used. They were even implying that Ronin wasn't a real Grand Admiral but just a plain Imperial Warlord!”
  “Wow… But why help Thrawn out then? And why me again?” Ender wanted to know.
  “The Fleet Commander is quite sure that his old friend Thrawn did not mean it like this,” Priyum interceded from behind his pint of dark ale. “But does want to return the favor, to cut Thrawn down a notch too before we actually ally ourselves fully.”
  Cyric finally cracked a full smile. “Which brings us to you and your crew,” he laughed.
  “Yes,” Ramos added as he stood up, “We think that sending you and your Wing commander in that rackety freighter of yours might be just the trick. You'll give Thrawn the same treatment as his representatives have given us for sure. And having done so, the both Grand admirals will either contact each other as equals or it will be the end of the whole deal.” He gestured to a door. “Is this your bathroom?”
  “It is,” Ender said, “Be my guest.”
  “Thank you,” the Recon Officer said and he made his way there.
  “But Pri,” Ender asked the Flight Officer who was pouring himself a next pint, “But I don't have a Wing Command…”
  They were interrupted by a loud female shriek, which made Priyum drop his can of ale – all over Cyric, who dropped his own beer and jumped up from the shock.
  Ender jumped up too. “Sithspit! That sounded like Miss Geldcent, my secretary!” But then he saw Ramos’ face as he stood in the door post… and Hawkie?
  “I can explain everything!” Hawkie exclaimed. “Just gimme a moment to get all my clothes back on…”
  “Hawk!” Ender fell back in his chair, slapping his forehead. “I should've known…”
  “I think we found you next Wing Commander,” Priyum said, standing next to a dripping Cyric. “At least he seems to know the way to your office very well already… Nice secretary by the way.”

IMPERATOR II CLASS STAR DESTROYER THE VANGUARD BATTLE SUBMISSION FORM:
SUBMITTED: VA E.mBind, Vanguard Commodore
 

you can read over the current story/download the mission at http://isdvanguard.eh.ro

I think that's it – If I've forgotten anything, let me know via email (use only a.c.w.t.zwegers@bk.tudelft.nl for official TC/Wing mails.) or ICQ (9706474) or AIM (Ender mBind). Also READ the Wing report! It contains far more useable information then my scribbles.

All my COM  reports are online as well: you can reach them via the Ship's roster on the TC database. http://www.tiecorps.org/reports/tcreports.asp?shipid=9

Until next time, good luck and have fun!

<salute>
COM/VA Ender mBind/Wing XV/ISD Vanguard
GS/SSx3/BS/PCx5/ISMx13/MoT-2rh-4gh/MoI/LoC-PSx79/DFC/CoL/CoB/LoA/OV
[DRAG] {IWATS-GFX-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-SM/2-TM-TT-XAM-XTM-XTT}