Pilot's Lounge
A Short History of the Aggressor Strike Force, Part One:
Disclaimer: This is mostly made-up, misses a lot of details, and is just for fun. That should keep the lawyers away.
In the first days of the TIE Corps, pilots had strictly flown X-Wing and/or TIE Fighter. But in 1996, the "Aggressor Wing" was formed to house a new and exciting platform. That platform was of course Sid Meier's Civilization II. All proceeded well, and many people signed up with this part-time Wing. However, after a few months, the Command Staff got hold of Civilization II, and discovered that it was not Star Wars related. Exasperated, the Command Staff demanded that the Aggressor Wing find a Star Wars related platform. After careful consideration (and given that there only was one Multiplayer Star Wars platform), X-Wing vs TIE Fighter became the official platform of the Aggressor Wing.
Soon, the RS (Stands for Really Silly - Rebel Squadrons, that is!), the Aggressor Wing and other clubs were battling it out on IRC channels to see who was willing to fly X-Wing vs TIE Fighter. The "Outer Rim Nights" became a fixture in the Aggressor Wing for awhile.
With the considerable success of the Aggressor Wing, and a substantial donation to the Flight Office, the Aggressor Wing became a full Battlegroup. The Aggressor Strike Force was born. FA Bull became Combat Operations Office, and VA Yacko was the Battlegroup Commander. The new Battlegroup traded in the M/FRG Phoenix for a shilling and a few TIE Fighters. They instead used two famous ISDs, which everyone has come to know and love: The ISDs Greyrepid and IntWolf. It was quickly decided that these were pretty silly names, so they quickly became the Grey Wolf and Intrepid.
Somewhere along the line, the Vanguard also came to be part of the Aggressor Strike Force. However, in November of 1998, a fleet downsizing occured. The fleet downsizing was instigated by FA Darth Vader to quote, "Get these CMDRs asking for new pilots off my back before I go completely and utterly insane! Aaaaaah! Gaaaaah!" As a result, the Intrepid and the Vanguard vanished from service in late 1998.
However, the Grey Wolf quickly tired of not having other ASF ships to make quips about, and the Intrepid and Vanguard were restored. At this point, VA Fireclaw left the Combat Operations Office. AD Horn (or "Trouble", as he'd later come to be known, but that would be more one for an HCI history), with the support of Fleet Command, became Battlegroup Commander and Civilization II Commander at the same time. Just kidding, we all of course know that Civilization II isn't Star Wars related, right? He did in fact also get Combat Operations Officer.
The year 2000 saw famous names getting Commodore spots: Cyric, Pel and Priyum of the Grey Wolf, Intrepid and Vanguard respectively. After VA Sarok retired as BGCOM, Priyum was granted the title. Shortly after, the very first Aggressor Strike Force: Supremacy Competition began. Its mission statement was to, "Get the Operations Office to award a bloody lot of medals". This met with considerable approval from the pilots, especially the Grey Wolf, which had gotten ASF Flagship out of it.
In fact, everyone liked it so much that they did it again later that year. A Silver Star of the Empire was awarded to the top pilot (try getting that by the Training Office these days). This turned out to be Raven Arestar, who caused a stir by submitted files that he'd flown before ASF:SC II had even started. Second place pilot Brucmack is reported to have said, "Darn shame, I had to be on holiday at the end of ASF:SC II. That Silver Star would've gone nicely beside the Rebel heads on pikes I have in my quarters".
In 2001, Priyum moved up to a position within the Flight Office, citing that, "It will be an excellent opportunity to edit everyone's profiles". The Mon Calamari Wing XIII Wing Commander Chrusos Ichthys, better known as "Vitriolic Carp", took up the position. Soon, a lot of new positions were sold-that is, appointed. Really. Brucmack took up Wing XIII WC. VA Blade departed for the extensive bar on the M/FRG Phoenix, leaving RA Ender mBind in charge of the Vanguard. Valkyrie's purple mascot, Brakka, became Wing XIV Wing Commander. To fill his old spot, Ender mBind ended up with Khadgar as Wing XV WC. "I'd been drinking a lot that night," Ender remembers, "I had really meant to say 'Rum and cigar', but it came out sounding like 'Khadgar'. In the morning, I realized that Khadgar had become the Wing Commander. It was simply dreadful."
However, the High Court of Inquisitors burst into the Grey Wolf shouting, "Nobody expects the EH Inquisition!" They charged VitCarp with submitting pilot files from Brucmack, and he confessed. His final words as BGCOM were said to be, "So long, and have fun getting rid of the huge fish tank in the BGCOM's office", the latter referring to his Mon Calamari origins. The person that would in fact be charged with getting rid of the fish tank was Cyric, formerly of the Grey Wolf Commodoreship. Woobee returned to the TIE Corps to take up this position.
That's enough writing this week, so I'm going to take the classic "tune in next week" tact.
Letters from the Cardinal...
There's a title now for the third Star Wars movie, "Revenge of the Merchanising". Sorry, little joke there, it is of course, "Revenge of the Sith". Ever wondered how they come up with these? It's simple with the Cardinal's Star Wars Title Generator!
Choose one of:
Return
Revenge
Attack
Vengeance
Rise
Punishment
Retribution
Retaliation
Defense
Add "of the".
Choose one of:
Jedi
Sith
Empire
Rebellion
Hutts
Clones
Droids
Flight Simulators
Lawyers
News
- LC Justin is the new Wing XV WC. Congratulations to him!
- XvT WoW ended, and XWA WoW is on until next Friday. Congratulations to Nightmare, Fox Malloy and Azrael, who will be getting Iron Stars for their efforts in the XvT WoW.
- The ISD Predator is slated to open as a new place for Freeworlds recruits. However, the Flight Office stresses that this doesn't give them a monopoly on Freeworlds activity.
- The Summer Patrol competition I mailed everyone about is off to a nice start. You've got a bit more time to get in on this if you want an IS-GW!
- The Combat Operations Office theme song is now officially, "Get Me to the Church On Time". Congratulations to COO Sarin on his upcoming wedding.
War Room
"Pull out the stopper! Let's have a whopper! But get me to the church on time!" - Sarin?
BGCOM's Legate
Deadline: Monthly.
URL: http://www.emperorshammer.net/competitions/details.asp?ID=1487.
Description: Titles for the top three pilots in the ASF each month. An IS-GW and the title of "BGCOM's Legate" for the winner.
Week of War Incentive
Deadline: Monthly.
URL: http://www.emperorshammer.net/competitions/details.asp?ID=1403.
Description: Iron Stars for ASF WoW winners! Hurray!
Recruitment Incentive
Deadline: Monthly.
URL: http://www.emperorshammer.net/competitions/details.asp?ID=1461.
Description: Recruit RSVists and help CTs train to help the ASF! Do it for the Flight! Do it for the Squadron! Do it for the Wing! Do it for the ship! Do it for the division! Do it for the club! Do it for your loved ones! Do it for the Emperor! Do it for the Fleet Commander! Do it for Vader! Whatever helps, really.
Night of the Monks
Deadline: Each Friday at 3 AM - 6 AM EST.
Description: Weekly Multiplayer competition! Held in #EHCOC on IRC.
Battlegroup Commander's Office
The really interesting news this week came from the Flight Office regarding the new plan for Freeworlds. Apparently the ISD Predator is officially slated to house new Freeworlds pilots, and a new training company is coming to train people with Freeworlds.
That Summer Patrol competition is really quite a nice way to get into the summer flying spirit. It really gets the blood going when you have a mission critical craft survive with 1% hull strength. Seems like a pretty good way to get a IS-GW!
Oh, and if you're a CMDR and reading this, go appoint some Flight Leaders if you don't have two! Yes, you!
Picture of the Week
Aggressor Strike Force
ISD Grey Wolf - 47
ISD Intrepid - 38
ISD Vanguard - 41
Avenger Squadron - 4
Doomed by the Revenge of the Lawyers,
Admiral Khadgar
Aggressor Strike Force Battlegroup Commander
BGCOM-FOA-COOA-PROF/AD Khadgar/Aggressor Strike Force
GOE/GS/SSx6/BSx6/PCx8/ISMx16/MoT-2gh/IS-2BW-8BR-1SW-7SR-1GW-1GR/LoC-IS-CSx5-Rx3/CoL/CoB/LoAx32/OV-4E
[ARCN] {IWATS-AIM-ICQ-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-PHP-SM/2/3-TT-VBS-XTM/1}