WING XIII of ISD GREY WOLF
NEWSLETTER NO. 4
by CM Tomaas Banys
":)
I'm proud of you, people. We're beginning to form a good team now. I found you active and dedicated to our squadron. However, there is a lot of ground to cover. Let's get on with it.
RECRUITMENT
The situation has changed and we could make use of some new faces, but it's not a critical priority this time. If you find a promising pilot somewhere, you can invite him. But only the best should be flying here with us, so check them out before you aprroach them.
NEWS
1. VA Cyric became a father! Give him a big, friendly pat in his back when you meet him. He's on a short leave so try not to bomb him with e-mails unless they're very important.
2. We have a new pilot! It's Arcadius C.A. VULCAN Calidus - my trainee ;). He graduated from PLT Daedalus from Bravo Company recently and has already shot down some rebels. Good job. Give him a nice, warm welcome!
3. New pilot again! It’s Jatz SANDSTORM Crakker. Make him feel a member of the family.
3. MAJ Death is not very happy of the OP:S outcomes. However, I know you would try to fly if you had chance to, wouldn't you?
4. LT Juan Cortes has been transferred over to Reserves (AWOL) so we have 8 guys here.
5. I'll be taking a leave from 05/20/2001 to 06/04/2001. Yes, this is not something very good for the squadron, but I have to travel to a distant part of the country (Murzasichle + Karpacz) in personal matters. That's why I'm wondering on who will be acting commander why I'm there? I want both flight leaders to mail me on this issue. I'd also like COL Woobee to e-mail me as well. I will make my decision within 36 hours. I'd love to hear any comments because I want to things go smoothly when I'm gone. I'll be in touch, though only by phone, but I'll have knowledge of what's up here.
6. Avenger I WC, LC Shadowhawk, has got a nice set of COL uniform badges. Congrats.
7. Wing XV spot has been filled with MAJ Zippy Hawk. Congrats.
8. VA Adrenaline has replaced AD Jarak as a BGCOM. Congrats ;)
9. COL Inkwolf got TCCOM award for her duty as a WC of Wing II. Congratulations :>
10. Kawolski’s laptop is back! That’s great! This led to releasing NL74 (eventually). BIG congrats. B:)
11. CEHR.net radio is working. They need some new DJs… you might want to listen to them from time to time. The frequency is http://squadron.org:8000/listen.pls.
12. TAC is going on leave until May, 25
13. RA Dras Hempor took command of ISD Immortal. *** CONGRATS ***
14. VOGUE#1 is out! My, my… http://www.darklord.ukshells.co.uk/mairin/vogue/index.html.
15. ISD Subjugator, a newly constructed Imperial-II class star destroyer, has joined the DB. With this, Wing XX has opened for DB pilots (it’s Avenger Wing III, really ;)) and they have command positions open, like they need a COM (you have to be in the Brotherhood).
16. Avenger Wings have been renamed to Wing XVIII & XIX.
FICTION
This time, you have some fiction to read. LT DarkC, encouraged by me to do so, has written some fiction. I like the story so I wrote the second part. Vulcan's already over the third one.
THE ALTORIAN DEFEAT
Chapter 1: "A difficult choice" by LT DarkC
DarkC entered the briefing room... "You are late lieutenant!"
"I'm sorry but i have a good reason commander."
She oppened the door and an old man came in. His look was quite lost and tho at first everyone noticed a glance of hatred in his eyes, he stoped and looked around, saw all the young pilots starring at him and his eyes turned sad...
Everyone started mumbling..."He seems to be a rebel scum..."
DarkC throughed them an angry look: "Silence please pilots! Let's at least hear what this man has to say, before you jump to any conclusions! With your permission of course, commander."
"It's ok guys...let him speak!"
DarkC offered the man a chair..."This is engineer Virge Alkaar from Altora planet and was in charge of designing the rebels latest secret weapon...the one we've heared so many rumours about. I should also mention that his son is one of our prisoners. And now i think i'll let him tell u what's this all about."
They all sat down quietly and looked at the old man. They could see both anger and defeat in his eyes and it seemed that what he was about to do wasn't quite easy...
"First of all i have to say that i hate this war and i'm not here to help either you or the rebel leaders...i'm here to save my son, he's everything that's left to me....my wife was killed by the rebels and now i risk loosing my son too.I am too old for this...i only want my son alive!
But let's start with the beginning...when i first started my work as an engineer, my ambition was to design the best defence weapons for my people. Our planet, Altora, was very peacefull and we wanted to keep it that way. There was nothing of any interest there for either the rebels or the Empire. But then the war against the Empire became the most important thing for the rebel leaders. They started to search for the best people to improve their weapons and i don't know how, but they found out about my research and my latest inventions. They came to me and tryied to convince me to join them in their war against the Empire. I refused and told them that my work was purely scientifical and by all means is ment only for defence purposes, but they wouldn't listen...they tryied to take me by force...we struggled, they killed my wife and took me and my son to a secret place ...After a few days their decision was made...my son was forced to join the rebel fleet and i was put in charge of designing a deadly weapon against the Empire....i had no choice, they made it quite clear that this was the only chance to keep my son alive. They also decided that the best place to build up a facility for the weapon's designing seems to be our once peacefull panet...Altora.
I never felt that much rage ever in my life, but i had no choice...my son's life was in their hands.... But then,two weeks ago your fleet attacked us trying to find and destroy the facility..they sent a few squadrons to engage the enemy ..and even tho your were
unable to find the facility...u managed to take some prisoners....my son was one of them.
When i found out, i tryied to talk to admiral Vartalian to try and convice him to rescue the prisoners, i told him that no matter how loyal they are, they are still very young and still weak so they could be made to talk and the Empire will find out the location of the facility and it will be in danger. But i wasn't aware of the big mistake i was
making...Vartalian laughed at me and said...thank u Alkaar u just gave me an idea...hehe.. I freezed and managed to wisper: What's that?
"Well ,he said, your son is not a threat, he won't talk, he'll try to protect you, but you are right the other ones will do anything to save their skins..after all if they got cought they aren't good enough for our fleet, so...we could do two things at a time...we can have the first test for our weapon and in the mean time distroy the Imperial Star Destroyer...thus stop the informations to get to the imperial leaders...good
thinking Alkaar...you'r not that stupid after all... You can go now...and make sure that weapon is operational in time...i'll prepare the attack."
I was devastated, after everything they've done to me now they were asking me help them kill my own son...god!
I had to do something and very quick...so i ran back to the facility...after all i was still in charge there...and locked myself in the main computer room and tryied to make some changes in the program..there wasn't too much i could do...but anyway...here is a
disk....you give it to your engineers, they'll find there some kind of a jamming sistem...it will screw up their radars and in the mean time you'll be able to imediatly locate and destroy the ship that's carrying the weapon.
You don't have much time...they'll be here in a few hours....and don't start asking me how i managed toescape...there's no time for that.."
Tom stood up and said :
"Ok..this is a very precious information,but why should we trust you? What's in this for you?"
"As i told you, i want planet Altora safe again....after you destroy them out here, i hope you'll release my son, and i am willing to give you the exact location of the rebel base on Altora. We will take you there as long as you promise you'll only destroy the base and leave the planet in one piece. I think after all this time i've learned a lot, so once everyone is out of there i'm sure that with my son's help i'll manage to keep Altora safe from all of you...rebels or imperials"
Commander Tomaas looked to DarkC and she smiled...
"Hmmm..seems fair enough for me"he said
"Someone please take this man to his son....Col Woobee please take this disk and see what you can get out of it....Les please get the rest of the squadron ready....and DarkC please help me get in touch with the other squadrons aboard Grey Wolf, we will need all the help we can get!"
While they were heading for the communication's room Tom said....DarkC i wanna have a word with you before we go...tell me Chriss how do u know we can trust this
man? It all seems so weird...what if he's a spy?"
"Look Tom,i know it's weird, i had my doubts too, but at least now we know what we're up against...and by the way he agreed to stay aboard the Grey Wolf till the fight is over, i think we can trust him, if he lied to us, Grey Wolf would be the primary target which means that he will get himself and his son killed and i don't think that was his idea...There is something you should know hun...love is always more
powerfull than hatred and one thing i'm sure about this man...he loves his son."
"Ok...this time i'll trust your feminine intuition,i hope for all our sakes you'r right!"
"Hehe...right commander...when was i wrong?...Remember you owe me a bear when this is over....of course that's in case i was right."
They all gathered in the hangar....commander Tomaas looked at them and said "Good luck to you all...this will be a hell of a fight..but we all have to come back in one piece...that's an order!"
DarkC smiled and said "And please don't forget this:
"Never let hatred become more powerfull than love! We are the best because we do not kill the ones we hate....we fight against those who try to harm the ones we love!"
Chapter 2: "The fight begins" by CM Tomaas Banys
The mighty rebel armada was indeed impressive. MC-90 Resolution along with MC-90 Democracy held a defesive perimeter formation 'round and old but still deadly Golan III-class orbital platform. MC-80B Fearless and MC-60 Merciful just joined the fleet and Controller Jake aboard the Golan's FlightOps began his shift just in time to see the reinforcements coming... along with a group of unidetified debris exiting out of lightspeed just behind them?
"Merciful, this is Control calling. We have a read of 7... 8 pieces of scrap metal right behind you... what is this?"
"Ah, negative control, can't get a lock or a read on them... seems that they're some phenomena or something... we're sending out a transport to check it out."
Indeed, a transport left the cruiser and headed in direction of the debris field.
"Oh my god! Imperials!!! Sector ale--" the transport exploded as it tried to inspect the debris... or rather 8 imperial fighters masked using pieces of smuggler technology. There were 3 modified modular TIE Interceptors with shields and hyperdrive with a full heavy rocket load, 3 modified TIE Bombers fitted with double heavy rocket load and finally, there were 2 Assault Gunboats carrying a double load of advanced missiles. A deadly force.
"Ok squadron, get to it. I have no current readings on any starfighter patrols, but I doubt they'll sit tight there... try to take those MC-90s down!!! Flight III, split and cover each group as we'll be making bombing runs right now. Stand by for updates. Now, because I don't want to much chatter, give me radio silence code blue." Commander Tomaas Banys told them while observing the MC-60 explode after his salvo. He had some warheads left so he rejoined the first flight taking on the Resolution. But they didn't have a fire opportunity, the two MC-90s jumped out within seconds after their arrival. Yes, they had fine commanders knowing the situation. However, older MC-80B, the Fearless, had no luck. Flights I & II devastated its hull before the shields were raised and the wreck slowly drifted away from the platform. No rebel fighters yet.
"Ah, I am beginning to wonder if those rebel pricks will send out fighters or not..." said sub-lieutenant Arcadius Calidus over the radio "... as it's boring to me, Wolfmaster."
The commander smiled. "So have fun and go for the Golan, kid. At least if you think it's safe... oh wait, here you have fun, squadron. I have a confirmation of 32 Y-Wings and 37 X-Wings inbound. And 1 A-Wing, having some sort of extra thrusters. Ignore the jerk, I'll handle him, kill X-Wings first."
Then it began. Wolfmaster tailed the A-Wing but it did a roll and found itself right behind the Interceptor. Wolfmaster did a drag left and the A-Wing took the bait, however it's pilot did not create a good counter opportunity for Tomaas. Meanwhile, the rest of the squadron engaged in a deadly turmoil against the rebels. Wolfmaster checked it... there were 15 X-Wings left after the first Tartarus attack. All of sudden, all X-Wings went for one of the targets: LT Juan Cortes. His TIE Bomber had shields, but it was nothing compared to a squadron of rebel X-Wings on his tail. But still, the pilot did not request cover.
"All pilots, 7 is under attack. His radio's probably down, but he won't handle it anyway. Clear him out!"
2 TIE Interceptors, 2 TIE Bombers and 2 Gunboats chased 15 X-Wings that were shooting at the defenseless TIE Bomber. The Y-Wings were still way too far behind to help their friends at the moment.
"This is 7, stop helping me. I'll handle it!" LT Cortes yelled over the radio. "Trust me." However, only 1 X-Wing remained to fight him. The squadron engaged the Y-Wings. Or rather the Y-Wings engaged the squadron.
"Tartarus Leader, incoming missiles!" somebody cried. Tomaas slid left and commenced an eight, making the projectiles lost their traces for a while. In the meantime, the A-Wing fired.
With a 'fzzzt' sound the sensors and half of Tomaas' engines ionized, making combat flying mipossible. However, the commander spinned a bit and managed to hit the A-Wing with a heavy rocket fired almost in the blind. The fighter did not explode, though the pilot was dead for sure - he floated in space next to his stranded fighter.
"Hmm... that A-Wing is almost invincible" thought Wolfmaster as he tried to get back where the squadron was still fighting. "Les, how many enemies left there?"
"Tom, there are 4 Y-Wings and that lone X-Wing... oh crap, they got Juan!"
LT Juan Cortes was hit. His fighter exploded in a ball of fire. He had minimal chances of survival out there, but Wolfmaster called up the medical like everything was a normal fight. Meanwhile, the rest of the rebel fighters hypered out.
"Golan Fenhra, lower down your shields and prepare to be boarded in the name of Emperor's Hammer!!!" Wolfmaster spoke. No response.
"Commander, shouldn't we destroy the weapon and the base?" SL Vulcan asked.
"No, I want it captured intact. I know that many seek it, but I'm sure that GA Ronin is the most imperial of them. I want it to be a present for him."
Nearly four minutes fifty seconds later ISD Grey Wolf exited in the area, deploying Crusader Squadron. 4 TIE Interceptors and 4 TIE Advanced.
"Drako, nice to see you. We hand this facility over to you now." said CM Tomaas Banys recognizing the paintings on the lead fighter.
"Yeah, you'd better get to the recreations. They have something for you, but I can't say it is good news." The fighters passed over the squadron as Tartarus pilots approached the main hangar. In the same time, the station decided to surrender. It's funny how weak people change their minds by only realizing that something's not as the planned to go.
"Khad, are you sure about this?" major Marcin Szydlowski, commander of the Crusader squadron asked the big boss with a wild look in his eye. The Tartarus Squadron has just returned from a cleanup sortie which turned out to be a capture operation more than a normal fight. The A-Wing Tomaas hit was already in the hangar, under heavy brainstorm analysing by a group of Navy's finest science and intelligence officers.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure, it's no doubt that it is all just a fake. The weapon's not here, our boarding parties confirm that there is only skeletal crew on the Golan. The fighters were probably prepared to leave this place just like those MC-90s did."
Wolfmaster entered the room, wearing his duty uniform. "Khad. Az. Mike."
They all nodded. "Sit down, Tomaas." major Azazel said "because you've noticed that this is not a normal briefing. You're being loaned."
"Excuse me, sir? Loaned? You mean transferred, right?" - Tomaas was a bit shocked but he quickly changed to an imperial officer he was again.
"Yup, VSD Wraith of the EH Rapid Reaction Force has called on you. You are to remain on that ship until the altorian conflict is over, we can't afford to keep an ISD here. With this, you will be fitted with more advanced options - including fighter resupply. You will take a shuttle that leaves from the main bay in 40 minutes. And I want you to brief all pilots in the meantime. Here are specific assignments for all of you." Azazel handed Tomaas 7 small datacards containing encrypted data for them to review later.
"Sir, I see only 7 cards, what is going on?" Tomaas asked.
"Well, I don't like to share that kind of news personally, but Juan didn't make it. He's technically alive, but his brain doesn't function anymore. We can't get to him in any way -- he's just like a plant right now. I know it hurts-" said RA Khadgar "-but don't let that inflict your mission in any way. Focus on the mission, commander."
"Easy for you to say. All right, would you now excuse me, sirs, I have to get my squadron ready." Wolfmaster saluted and left WC's office. He did not show the suffering, but he had tears in his eyes. Per aspera, ad astra... for the glory of the Emperor's Hammer!
COMING SOON: Chapter 3: "The Fire" by LT Arcadius Calidus
MEDALS
Well, I got a Medal of Instruction for Vulcan. No more medals this week.
PROMOTIONS
CT Arcadius Calidus has been granted a promotion to SL and from SL to LT within 24 hours. Good start.
TOPIC: MP FLYING
Hmm. Try to fly a bit. I'll see what I can do myself. I've already challenged LT Calidus to a duel next time we both be online, so I expect some other matches soon. Beat others' asses and show'em we are part of the elite strike fleet indeed.
COMBAT RATINGS
Marksman 3rd - COL Woobee (19)
Trainee (1) - LCM Leslaw (2), CM Tomaas Banys (1)
None (0) - LT Callousness, LT DarkC, LT Arcadius Calidus, LT Brian, SL Jatz Crakker
FCHG TRAIN
Paladin (300) - COL Woobee (329)
Gallant (200) – LCM Leslaw (232)
Cavalier (150) – CM Tomaas Banys (165)
Dragoon (100) - LT DarkC (126)
Lancer (25) – LT Callousness (33), LT Brian (27)
Grenadier (10) - LT Vulcan (22)
None (0) - SL Jatz Crakker (0)
COMPETITIONS
EH Ladder (SEASON II)
Ladder is on! Brian has already flew there. It's on till 4th of July (remember the significance of this day?) and it pays off even more. XWA, XvT, JK... I want everybody to try at least two matches there. Details: http://www.imperialacademy.org/ladder/join.asp ...
EH Graphics Competition
Ends by 06/20/2001. A banner for EH and the RECON Office is needed. It has to be 400x40 pixels. http://www.angelfire.com/pa4/RECONmanual/banners.html is the URL to check. They offer some IS-class stuff. AD Keiran Idanian (KeiranIdanian@aol.com) is the guy to ask.
My uniform competition (REPOSTED FROM LAST WSR)
Simple and sweet. I need a new, good uniform. If I find the uniform nice and comfortable, the author will get an ISM. If not... well, there is always another try, isn't it? In general, I'd like it to be fully official and to bear appropriate markings. I want no crappy-looks.
Graphics and fiction competition (REPOSTED FROM LAST WSR)
Similar one. We really need some material for the webpage so we could outshine our mates from other squadrons. Have a look at the Crusader webpage I previously did (http://wolfmaster.4t.com) and think if you might get me something that would suit us now? ISM for most creative people. The same applies to the fiction writers. If it's good enough, ISM is yours.
TOURNAMENTS (aka COMBAT CALENDAR)
Sunday:
XWA Zone Sunday (XWA) the Zone 1:00 - 2:30 PM EST
Monday:
Praetorian Competition (XvT, XWA) #praetorian 19:00 - 21:00 EST
Wednesday:
Greenwich Wolf Competition (XvT, XWA) #wingxiii 1:00 - 4:30 PM EST
Wednesday ASF Competition (XvT, XWA) #wingxiii 7:00 - 10:30 PM EST
Thursday:
Avenger Training (XvT, XWA) #avenger 8:00 - 11:00 PM EST
Saturday:
EuroLoC (XvT, XWA) #euroloc 10:00 - 11:30 AM EST
Kampfegemetzel (XWA) the Zone 1:00 - 3:00 PM EST
CONTACT INFO
Depends on who (or what) do you want to contact with. Just ask me.
SQUADRON ACTIVITY
Nice week. I've seen activity from most of you and it was rather high. That's good. It makes me feel some sort of shame because I still have no joystick. Mmm.
Tartarus 1-1: CM Tomaas Banys: (that's me) - final exams from most of this degree classes. More coming soon, but I'll get my activity up when I'm back, I promise that. Summary of my activity this week: I've finished the code for our new webpage and I'm searching for a good hosting company to put it on; finished training supervising for Vulcan; worked a bit on MP flying course for our squadron (our internal project, coming soon); did lots of other stuff, like always. Could do better, but you can't have everything obviously.
Tartarus 1-2: LT Callousness: E-mail. Exams and some RL matters. Understandable.
Tartarus 1-3: LT Brian: Ace of the week. He did TC-XvT#1-2,7-8,10 and FREE-XvT#3-4,17. Without his help, we wouldn't have 7 citations right now. I'm pleased with his performance. Good job.
Tartarus 2-1: LT DarkC: A weaker week, but still quite good. TC-TIE#24-26. And of course, a great piece of fiction! B:)
Tartarus 2-2: LT Arcadius Calidus: Good week, nice activity. Joined squadron. Completed TC-XvT#1-5. Will be working on the third part of the story. Good.
Tartarus 3-1: LCM Leslaw: Haven't seen much of him this week. Hmm.
Tartarus 3-2: COL Woobee: Good week. TC-TIE#2-3,6-7. That's what I like. He still tries to become the #1 Tartarus and he's closing in! Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for the run! I'm pleased.
Tartarus 3-3: SL Jatz Crakker: Just joined the squadron. Welcome!
ROSTER
84th Imperial Starfighter Squadron: TARTARUS of WING XIII
CURRENT ORDERS/DUTY: PACIFICATION
COMMANDER: CM Tomaas A.J. WOLFMASTER Banys
NICKNAME: The Hellraisers
HOMEPAGE: *** none ***
MESSAGE BOARD: http://www.tiecorps.org/mb/view.asp?b=36&v=0&s=1
FLIGHT I - SFS F2E TIE Interceptor
NICKNAME: Masters of Torment
MOTTO: Real Men don't need shields
[1] CM Tomaas Banys
[2] LT Callousness
[3] LT Brian
[4] TBA
FLIGHT II - SFS B2F2 TIE Bomber
NICKNAME: The Emperor's Shackles
MOTTO: Sending fools into pits of Tartarus
[1] LT DarkC
[2] LT Arcadius Calidus
[3] TBA
[4] TBA
FLIGHT III - Cygnus Starwing Xg-1a Assault Gunboat
NICKNAME: The Imperial Lunatics
MOTTO: Wake up and smell the burning rebels
[1] LCM Leslaw
[2] COL Woobee
[3] SL Jatz Crakker
[4] TBA
COMMANDER'S OFFICE
This time, I have to tell something about citations. To be honest: we need them to show the brass we care (and you know that, because I keep mumbling about it in most of e-mails I send) so here's the plan.
When I'm gone, I want you, pilots, to score new citations. First of all, our priority is to hold all TC-XvT ones (we have 8/10, so little more) and as much of other XvT battles as possible. And I hereby make all those battles a priority to fly.
As for those who don't have XvT. Our next priority are TC-TIEs. I want the first 3 held by the squadron. So if you find yourself in need of a break from XvT or you don't own it, fly those battles! (TC-TIE#1-3).
Everything takes time. But eventually, we shall stand ultimate.
CM Tomaas A.J. WOLFMASTER Banys
CITATIONS
When LT Cortes left, we held only 2 citations. But activity pays off: here we some new citations. Currently we hold the following (total of 8, last week's change of +4):
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 7 - The Resupply
TC-XvT Battle 8 - The Loshen Resistance
TC-XvT Battle 10 - Abduction of VA Priyum
Respectfully submitted,
CMDR/CM Tomaas A.J. WOLFMASTER Banys/Tartarus/Wing XIII/ISD Grey Wolf/Agressor Strike Force
Wing Commander's Own [March, April 2001]
ISMx2/MoI/CoB [CAVL] {IWATS-ICQ-M/1-SM/2}
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