Sirens were blaring throughout the mighty warship, as the ISD-II Challenge reverted back into realspace. The moment the deceleration was complete, the hyperspace lights in the hangar bay dimmed, and Dempsey saw engines light up. It took only a few moments, and then the first of the X-wings leapt forward and left the safety of the hangar bay and the Challenge's shields.

On the bridge, the Wing Commander was staring at her tactical displays as twelve pips separated themselves from the outline of the ship. The twelve pips quickly assumed formations, and split up into three groups, each with their own destination. She watched, as the lead group went straight ahead towards their target.

'All batteries report ready, sir!' Came a voice from nearby. She waved her hand in acknowledgement and turned towards the helm. 'Full thrust towards the secondary target,' she said. 'Weapons control, stand by for my order.' She hit a switch, and the tactical display was replaced by a view from one of the forward cameras. In the distance, she could see the massive Golan III battle station high above the yellow planet. 'Finally', she thought, 'the first real battle since this ship came to life again.' She smiled.

'Sir, the enemy has launched a fighter screen. Our squadron is outnumbered at least three to one at this point.'

Lieutenant Colonel Denys Elara raised herself up. 'Launch second squadron,' she said. Signal all fighters they can fire at will. Weapkns control, fire all torpedo tubes as soon as we're in range.'

Another very interesting week, pilots of the TIE Corps, and pilots of the mighty ISD-II Challenge in particular. With RtF long forgotten, the Emperor's Hammer is well underway to reclaiming lost territory. New recruits are still coming, Star Wars Squadrons is finally released, with the COO Office now taking screenshot submissions for LoC and LoS awards, and we saw the commissioning of another squadron aboard this ship. With the return of Firebird squadron, we have taken another major step towards former glory as this is the first of many squadrons that will employ Alphabet fighters. Yes, the Infiltrator Wing has returned. Although at this point 'wing' is probably an overstatement.

I'd like to welcome COL Stryker back to pilot seat of his starfighter. For those who don't know, the Colonel is an old vet from the IW, and was there when the last remnant of this part of the EH, the MC80B Redemption was retiredall those years ago. It seems someone still needs to restore his historic record, as well as that of CPT Hermann I believe. Several pilots have volunteered for a Tour of Duty in Firebird squadron, so the good Colonel won't be lonely.

The short fiction above is hardly finished. I challenge all Challenge pilots (pun intended) to finish it for me. Deadline for submissions is this Friday.

Also, as some of you may have noticed, your Commodore finally got off her lazy arse and installed Discord. It takes some getting used to. 'But I will, I'm not too old for new things...

Lastly, the MSEs have made it onto the TCCOM's desk, so I hope they will be done by the end of the week. It promises to be an extremely good run this time around. The release of Squadrons also has ignited a mad rush of LoCs and LoSs being awarded this week, compiling a complete list took me a lot longer than usual. This means good things for next month's MSE! I like it....

Of course, all is not always only good news. Even though every cloud has a silver lining. The bad news is that the Hammer's Commodore, HA Elwood the Brave has decided to hand over the reigns of my former ship to someone else. The good news is I wasn't even tempted to do so.... Also the good news is that once a new Commodore has taken his place, he will take up a position in our very own Firebird squadron, claiming his former rank of general as he does so. I knew he couldn't be away from me for long....
 

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