With 8 X-wings and 3 Y-wings parked on the moon's barren surface, and their pilots gathered in a circle, Stryker looked at his astromech. He tried to look sternly, but he knew it would make no difference, He could be angry all he wanted, but the astromech couldn't help the situation any more then he could. The squadron fell silent for a moment to remember their fallen comrade, and then Stryker signalled the astromech. It warbled, and a holographic image came into view. As he and his men removed their helmets so they could actually hear the message, he looked around. His pilots were ready for action. After a while, he recognized Dempsey in the hologram. Not what he had expected.

'Firebird, I knew you are wondering why I sent you here. I'm not sure I will be able to satisfy your curiosity in that matter, but rest assured the mission I have for you, how lame it may be, is of the utmost importance. Out there, you will likely have see the debris of an old Venator class Star Destroyer. That is the wreckage of the Star Destroyer Acclamator. It served the Jedi during the Clone Wars and was reported missing in action a few weeks before the end of the war. It was never found, but now, you have located it. What I need you to do, is go aboard, get to the main bridge, assuming it's still intact, and download the entire navigational database for me. As I said, it's not exactly a mission for starfighter pilots, but I can't send a team of slicers. That's too dangerous, and I do believe your slicing skills are capable of the job.'

With that, the image flickered and disappeared. Stryker frowned. He looked round, and saw his pilots were as puzzled as he was. When the astromech warbled again, Stryker looked up. 'We gotta go,' he said. 'Sparky tells me the atmosphere here is breathable, but we shouldn't stay too long.' He watched as his pilots went for their starfighters, and he followed suit. Five minutes later, the squadron broke atmosphere and changed course, converging on the Star Destroyer in the distance. Stryker's mind was racing. A few weeks before the end of the war, that was almost five decades ago. How could that ship still be here, drifting in space. The gravity well of the star should have grabbed hold of it long ago.

'Keep your distance,' he said into the comms. 'I have a nasty suspicion there's more going on here than meets the eye. Lay behind and I'll do a quick flyby.' With that, he accelerated towards the Star Destroyer. Once there, he flew a few circles around it, giving the astromech time to do its thing. A warble caught his attention. He glanced at the readings and cursed. Sparky indicated an energy spike coming from the ship, although he couldn't say what it was. The, as he passed over the ventral side of the ship again, a slow movement caught his eye. He foxused, and saw the two large, red doors that ran from the bridge superstructure to the very tip, slowly move apart. For a moment, Stryker stared. The he let out another curse, punched a button, and yelled into the comms. 'Weapons hot, this thing is alive!' He yanked his yoke and veered off, back towards the other fighters, as he flipped the switch that changed the configuration of his fighter. He heard a click, telling him the X-wing's strike foils has locked themselves into position.

'I'm picking up fighters being luanched from the target,' came the voice of Commander Turel. 'No IFF transponder signal.'

Stryker punched up the enemy starfighter as it slowly exited the Star Destroyer's main hangar bay, and noticed a few more blips. There were 6 fighters by now, flying single formation. 'What are those,' he asked himself. Sparky soon answered by displaying a schematic before his eyes. He punched the comms again. 'Watch it people, those are vulture droids. They're unmanned, but they're very lethal. Group into pairs, pick a target and go!'

His pilots didn't need to be told again, as they broke formation and headed towards the enemy fighters. By the time the first shots were fired by his wingmen, the counter stood at 3 full squadrons of ancient droid fighters. His day was just getting worse and worse by the minute.
 

As you may have noticed, I skipped last week's report. I went out skydiving again today, and pretty felt the same. But I can't skip 2 weeks in a row. How can I do that to you guys :) So here we go. My memory is a bit wonky though, so I might not list all events that have happened since then.

On the 'big news'list for sure is the Squadron (Re)Mobilization 3 rewards coming through. Tempest squadron has chosen to change their Flight II and Flight III Mk.II Missile Boats to Spectre Advanced Missile Boats. Not much extra firepower, but plenty of benefits there. I've also heard that Firebird is pondering some changes on that front.

We've seen a few pilots depart the ship this week, And I'm afraid there will be more. The last MSE round has shown there are a considerable number of pilots who no one has heard from in well over a month. This can't be, as that means they are taking up roster spaces that could be given to pilots who are actually active. Fortunately, we're also seeing new people come in to take up those empty spots.

Important news for me this week I can strike off another medals from my wanted list, as COL Marenta was kind enough to recommend I be awarded a Iron Star with Copper Ribbon. Thank you very much for that. 2 down, 3 to go.

I'm happy to report an increase in SP flying since my last report. There's been a lot of bumps in the Fleet Commander's Honor Guard listings this week. The same applies to the Combat ratings and COOP/PvE Ratings, but those are regualr, and FCHG promotions are pretty rare. Well done folks!

Lastly, If you're wondering where LT Hijacker went.... he didn't leave, he just revealed to us his actual name: LT Jaxx Nassin.
 

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!
WARNING: there seem to be some issues with emails sent in response to this report not getting through on the mailing list, so be sure to email the list, and also send a mail directly to me!.

Current screenshot:

Last week's winner:
COL Stryker

Current standings:
6pts: MAJ EvilGrin, COL Stryker:
3pts: COL Mell Kerrigan, LC Tygra Shadowclaw
2pts: LCM Richlet, LCM Wreckage, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir, GN Elwood the Brave, COL Marenta, COL Silwar Naiilo
1pts: LT Dougal Cealleigh, CM TI-40026, CPT Kalve Ryder, MAJ Talon Jade

The month is halfway through. Two more weeks to earn yourself another shiny medal!

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

MoH/ICx2/OoR/GOEx3/GSx21/SSx43/BSx39/PCx16/ISMx9/MoT-51rh-52gh-9bh/MoI/MoC-11doc-11poc-11goc-10soc-91boc/IS-12PW-192GW-443SW-408BW-4PR-18GR-
   21SR-89BR/LoC-PSx9-RSx2-IS-CSx2/LoS-PSx23-RS-IS-CSx3-Rx4/DFC-SW-Rx3/CoS/CoEx4/CoLx14/CoB/LoAx3/OV-14E [Imperator] [Tan] [TAR]
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    XWAC-ESET-ISET-TIE-SMA-AWAK-BWAK-XWAK-YWAK-SN4-SM/3/4/5}
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    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}