'The main reactor output is stabilized at 107%, Admiral.' Dempsey nodded at the junior lieutenant reporting. Though dangerous, last week's maintenance had achieved exactly what she had hoped for. She knew both the Hammer and Warrior were also suffering from intermittent reactor issues as she had, and that their reactors were performing at around 95%. Not a concern, as it was well within the safety margins and operating standards for an Imperial-II class. Still, she liked to have the edge.

A moment later, a crackle came through the comms. 'Thunder 1 to Challenge, request clearance to return to the hangar.' Dempsey walked over to the station. 'Dempsey here, Major. What have you found?' A moment's silence.

'It is as you suspected, Admiral. We were able to maintain our cloak and have a look around. The outpost is handling a lot of cargo traffic, but we found weapons shipments ona number of them. One was carrying high-yield plasma explosives, enough to take out the entire outpost.' Dempsey grimaced. She nodded, and the comms officer handled the rest of the conversation, while she returned to her office. On the way she signalled the Wing Commander to follow, and LC Denys fell into step. 'Not the news you had hoiped for I take it?' the woman asked. Dempsey gae another nod.

Two hours later, the squadron Commanders were assembled in the briefing room. Over the table hovered a holo of the Rithgar outpost. 'The Rithgar outpost.' Elara started. 'It was created about half a parsec from our border a few months ago, and ever since we've been keeping an eye on it for potential security issues. This morning, Thunder squadron confirmed that indeed poses a serious threat to the security of our borders. Several freighter craft transporting illegal weapons were detected, and at least two of them left the outpost while on a course that would take them into our space. To ensure the safety of Imperial citizens, we see no alternative than to launch a pre-emptive strike against the outpost.

Several glowing lights appeared on the holo. 'At any given time there are at least a dozen freighter craft expected to be in the vicinity, several of them will be armed. Expect anything from an old bulk freighter with a customized turbo laser turrent to Corvettes with heavy weapon emplacements. There's also odds of medium to heavy cruisers making an appearance at the wrong time.'

Dempsey stood and walked towards the holo. 'Thunder will be lanuched about an hour before the rest of us. They will go in on a recon job. When I get there I want to know exactly which craft are in the area, and what they are carrying. Tempest will take the lead on the assault. Your target will be the outpost. The objective is simple, it is to be destroyed. Firebird will fly cover against enemy starfighter defenses. Inferno will be held back untuil we decide whrether or not some of these craft or their cargo are useful to us. If so, Flight 3 and its Reapers will engage them. The Challenge and Fairchild will hyper in together with Tempest. And remember - everyone is to return. As soon as any fighter in any flightgroups takes too much damage, the whole flight is to return to ensure its safety. No heroics!' Dempsey looked around the room at the Commanders, looking them in the eye one by one, and wondered if Stryker had noticed she had lingered on him a fraction of a second longer than on the others. This was not the time for the Alphabets to decide they wanhted to show their craft's superiority to the TIE range the rest flew.
 

So far, it's a quiet month. As some of you may have noticed, I sent out a Challenge report to the email list pretending to be a Hammer report. This was not a mistake on my part, I thought I'd give the Hammer pilots a taste of good reporting :)

Anyways..... Not a lot is happening. We're still awaiting the appointment of a new Warden or two. I understand there's some stuff going on with Squadrons, but as I still don't have the game, I wouldn't know what that's all about.

What I do know is that the November MSE is in full swing. All we need is the SOO's seal of approval and we can start handing out medals.

On the good news front: SL Kur Zattra received his first rank promotion, and LCM Dynamus was promoted to Flight Leader!
 

TRANSFERS

Challenge ship-wide competitions:

Dempsey's Weekly Screenshots

Every week, the report will have a screenshot. Not necessarily from a Star Wars movie. First Challenge pilot to send the correct answer to the mailing list wins. Each victory earns you an IS-BR. Unless it's a 5th victory, you then get a IS-SR. Unless it's a 10th victory, which gives you an IS-GR. A 25th victory will give you an IS-PR!
Remember - your answer has to go to the list.

Current screenshot:

Last week's winner: LCM Richlet

Current standings: COL Mell Kerrigan, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir: 2pt, LCM Richlet, CM EvilGrin, MAJ Hermann, CPT Kalve Ryder, COL Silwar Naiilo, COL Stryker, GN Elwood the Brave: 1pt

 
Challenge Pilot of the Month

One point per mission flown for the SP part of this competition, and 1 point per LoC/LoS for the MP parts of this competition. Stats will be taken from the killboards. As of this month, the PvP and PvE parts will be split.

December SP standings:

The year is coming to an end, and as always, activity in the TC dwindles. I can live with that. As long as everyone is going to be back with us in january!

COM-TACA-FSE/HA Anahorn Dempsey/ISDII Challenge, signing off

MoH/OoR/ICx2/GOEx3/GSx20/SSx36/BSx38/PCx15/ISMx7/IS-12PW-184GW-441SW-408BW-4PR-18GR-20SR-88BR/MoI/MoT-51rh-52gh-9bh/LoC-PSx9-RSx2-CSx9
   LoS-PSx21-TS-IS-CSx5-Rx2/DFC-SW-Rx3/MoC-10doc-10poc-11goc-10soc-87boc/CoLx14/CoEx4/CoS/CoB/LoAx3/OV-13E [IMPR] [Tan] [TAR]
{IWATS:MCBS-XAM-XMD-TM/1/2/TM/3-XTM/1-MP/2-AMP-XWAI-BFM-TT-XTT-SFT-CTW-AT-SU-CM2-MD1-DT3-ARTY1-VS4-ST-SC-SEA-SD-SZ-SR-AIR-CC-SFW-WPN-
    XWAC-ESET-ISET-TIE-SMA-AWAK-BWAK-XWAK-YWAK-SN4-SM/3/4}
{IU:C/TC,C/DB,C/DIR,S,UL,CRD,EJE,TD,REP,WM,FT,IO,INST,MI,BTL,LDR,COE,WD,AIM,ICQ,MS1,TLN,ASP,BX,CSS,CBX,DW,FLA,LIN,GFX,IBX,JS,WIKI,PHP,VBS,XML,
    MAN1,MAN2,WKS,INO,HIST,INTEL,PRER,GR,SPW,HAD,GHA,THR,OSS,M/1/2,IIC/1/2/3,IA,CA,ARG/1,STM}