A mild tremor went throught the huge hulk that was the mighty Imperial-II class Star Destroyer Challenge as it dropped out of light speed. As the main engines came back online, the starlines disappeared and were replaced by the darkness of space. As her eyes adjusted, more and more dots representing stars and galaxies immense distances away started re-appearing in her view.

As did today's target.

In the distance, orbiting a lifeless world, was the Rithgar outpost. Even though she had seen the holos, the size of the outpost surprised the Admiral. To say it was large would be an understatement. She nodded towards one of her officers, and a holographic display of the outpost appeared on the bridge. Moments later, red, green, purple and yellow dots started popping up indicating the contacts in the near vicinity. She made a quick count and counted twelve red dots representing the twlve TIE Phantoms of Thunder squadron. The other dots were representing today's targets. Everything that was considered hostile had been tagged green: the outpost, and every freighter that had been confirmed to be armed and carrying weapons. The freighters carrying harmless cargoes had been tagged purple, and the freighters carrying contraband were now showing up yellow. Dempsey counted no less than 23 freighters, most of them armed and green. 'Launch Tempest and Firebird,' she said.

From the corner of her eye, she watched another red blip appear. The Fairchildhad arrived as well, so there was no escape for the enemy. As instructed, the Interdictor cruiser had jumped in well behind the Challenge. Should the enemy get any ideas about trying to escape, they'd have to go through the Star Destroyer first. That wouldn't be happening.

'Shields are operating at 100%, Admiral. All turbo laser batteries and proton torpedo launchers are standing by.' Dempsey gave the man a nod to acknowledge that which she had already known. Her crew was well-trained. She concentrated on the new red blips appearing. The fighters were starting on their attack runs. She couldn't see, but she knew what was happening. The Missile Boats of Tempest squadron would be firing their insane amount of torpedoes at the outpost. Considering the size of it, Dempsey anticipated they may not have enough firepower with them to actually punch through the shields. The TIE Defenders that accompanied them were armed with rockets, which carried a lot more explosive power. They would finish the job. After that, the Missile Boats would use their concussion missiles to target and destroy the enemy's weapons emplacements and from there one it would be a matter for pouring as much energy bolts into the outpost as possible. At some point, its shields would fail, the hull would start taking damage, it would start venting atmosphere, and in the end, it's main reactor would experience a meltdown as all safeties had been destroyed. That would be the end of it.

Assuming of course, things would go as planned. Dempsey didn't doubt they would, in the end. Despite good intel, it was still not known how many squadrons of starfighters the outpost carried to defend itself, or what ability they had to summon reinforcements at short notice.

'Admiral, report coming in from Thunder 1 with a cargo manifest of all freighters present. They don't appear to be carrying anything useful.' Dempsey smiled. That just made their job a lot easier. She turned to the man. 'Signal the hangar bay. Inferno is to be armed with torpedoes. Their primary target will be the freighters. Tell them to consider this some well earned target practice.'

'New contact,' someone yelled. 'Enemy is launching fighters. I'm counting 4 squadrons being launched.' A moment silence. 'Identified as Z-95 Headhunters and Y-wings.'

Dempsey frowned. The wishbones were unexpected. Usually outposts like these didn't carry a complement of heavy bombers. 'Watch those Y-wings,' she said. 'Let me know their target as soon as you have a fix.' This was an interesting development. She'd expected the enemy to have plenty of fighters for its defense, but she had expected interceptors like the Headhunters, or maybe some older model X-wings. 'Y-wings are headed for the Fairchild, they're following a trajectory theat will keep them outside out firing range.'

Dempsey nodded. 'Withdraw Inferno,' she said. 'Their target is the Y-wings. Have the Missile Boats target the freighters. TIE Defenders will form up with Firebird to engage enemy starfighters. Call in the Illustrious and take us into the battle. We'll take on the outpost.' A frenzy broke out among officers on the bridge as they relayed the new battle plan to the pilots in space. A few moments later, Dempsey saw most of the red blips in the holo break off from their course and move in on their newly asssigned targets. A new blip appeared between the Y-wings and the Interdictor cruiser, as the Assault frigate Illustrious was pulled out of hyperspace by the Interdictor's gravity well projectors, exactly at her designated location. Things were going as planned.

'Admiral,' another voice said. 'New targets just came out of hyperspace. We're picking up one.... no, two heavy cruisers. Identifying one Dauntless-class heavy cruiser taking poisition on the dorsal side of the outpost, one Munificent-class Star frigate taking position between us and the outpost.' Dempsey frowned. 'Say again,' she said. 'Did you say Munificent?'

The man paused for a second. 'Yes admiral.'

Dempsey frowned. She'd heard of these ships. She'd never seen one. No one had since the Clone Wars had ended and the Intergalactic banking Clan was destroyed. She was more concerned about the arrival of the ships so soon after the battle had started. She had anticipated reinorcements, but not this soon. Still, both new arrivals shouldn't be able to do too much damage to a Star Destroyer. 'Target the Munificent,' she said. 'Fire at will.'

She felt the Star Destroyer accelerate as the main engines went to full power. Her course was directed to the starboard side of the target, so that her portside turbolaser batteries would be best used. Moments later, they opened up and green bolts of super-heated plasma started on their way. Blue ion streaks of the Challenge's proton torpedoes sped away and locked in on their target. In the distance, she could see the first hits bouncing harmlessly off the Munificent's shields. Many more would follow, but it was only a matter of time before they would break through. As the enemy frigate started to return fire, the blast shields protecting the bridge's transparisteel windows slowly descended. Inside, Dempsey let out a sigh. She always preferred to see with her own eyes what was happening, instead of relying on holos. Still, there was little choice. There had been stories of Star Destroyer Captains who had lost their ships because they simply refuse to lower the blast shields. She'd heard the stories where enemy pilots had used suicide runs against their ships, ploughing their fighters through the transparisteel and into the bridge where they would explode. But even if they wouldn't, once they broke through, the bridge would be exposed to the vacuum of space. She wasn't about to let that happen to her ship.

And so, she sat down, and activated her displays. Five of them, allowing her to keep track of different aspects of the battle. This was going to take awhile.
 

Well, it's finally happened, people. The ISD-II Challenge now has FIVE operational squadrons. Congratulations to MAJ Talon Jade, who has taken command of Eagle squadron. Yes, another squadron of alphabets. For the time being, there are only 4 pilots assigned toi Eagle, but I'm sure that won't last for too long. Good luck on your new assignment, Major!

As such, Firebird has lost a few pilots. So if you're interested, there's now a Flight Leader spot open in Flight II. Contact COL Stryker if you're interested. If you'd rather take up position in Eagle as Flight Leader, contact MAJ Talon jade.

The November MSEs have also been completed, and the Commanders will be awarding some merit medals soon. Well, except those for Tempest, as they've already been awarded.

Two more weeks until this disastrous year comes to an end. I'm fully expecting activity all across the board to go down, and you've earned it. Just be sure to be back in january. As for those who will not slow down in December - enjoy your flying!

With the opening up of Eagle squadron, we welcome back another old vet from the M/FRG Phoenix. Welcome back, COL Drachen!
 

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: LT Dougal Caelleigh

Current standings: COL Mell Kerrigan, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir: 2pt, LT Dougal Caelleigh, 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:

Not much to say. This has been a good year for the TC. I'm happy :)

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}