Red laser bolts were flying through space. Most of them never found a target and fizzled out into oblivion, but a good number of them struck one of the droid fighters. One by one, the Vulture droids exploded as the Firebird pilots kept shotting them down.

'Seven more to go,' came the voice of their Commander over the comms. One of the squadron newbies, Lieutenant Pitt jerked his X-wing out of the way of another exploding vulture droid, His eye fell on the Venator in the distance. And they opened a little wider.

'Negative on that, Colonel,' he yelled into his comms. 'We have more launching from that Star Destroyer!' He could almost hear Stryker curse.

'Flight III, get onto that Star Destroyer. Let's drop some torpedoes into that hangar to keep them from launching more of them. We can't keep this up all day, not to mention we actually have work to do.'

He watched as his computer indicated the three remaining Y-wings in his squadron veering off. A few seconds later two X-wings followed them, making sure the droids wouldn't pick them off. He turned back to his own fight, and locked his targeting computer onto the next droid fighter. This fight was not over yet. Not by a long shot.
 

Welcome to my last report as your Commodore. A few days ago makred the 1 year anniversary of my commission here, making me the longest serving Challenge Commodore (at least as far as I could trace back). This is also the 50th report I did (including the 4 WC reports I did), so what better way to tie things up. As of tomorrow, I'll be returning to a FM position in one of the Challenge squadrons. Unfortunately, there is no official word yet on the next ChalCOM.

As my last official act as Commodore, last week I recommended that Firebird Commander COL Stryker be promoted to the rank of General, foloowing is exemplary service as Commander of Firebird. He's also served a long time as Commander of one of the Infiltrator Wing squadrons, as well as their Wing Commander, so it's about time. Congrats, General Stryker!

As you may have noticed, Imperial Storm III has begun. We haven't encountered any hostile forces just yet, but I do expect everyone to pull their weight once we do. We need to win this one!

Speaking of winning, TIE Corps in Battle is scheduled to end next Thursday the 8th, and when this round began we had a solid lead over the Hammer and the Warrior. The more pilots in the Challenge that fly the assigned battles, the greater the chance that we will remain in the lead. I for one submitted pilotfiles for all 3 battles this time, although I doubt they will be deemed worthy of a top finish. If you want to fly: TIE TC 202, XvT TC 14 and XWA TC 25.
 

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!

Current screenshot:

Last week's winner:
COL Marenta for Romeo + Juliet

Current standings:
8pts: GN Stryker
6pts: MAJ EvilGrin
3pts: COL Mell Kerrigan, LC Tygra Shadowclaw, LCM Wreckage, COL Marenta
2pts: CM Richlet, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir, GN Elwood the Brave, GN Silwar Naiilo
1pts: LCM Dougal Cealleigh, CPT TI-40026, CPT Kalve Ryder, MAJ Talon Jade

Dempsey folded her Commodore's uniform and laid it down in her duffelbag. The High Admiral's rank badge was facing up and for a moment she stared at it.

You will adorn my uniform again one day, she whispered to herself. I don't know when, but the time will come.

She then closed the duffelbag and looked around her quarters. It was bare, without her stuff in their usual place. Nothing forgotten then.

She turned about, opened the door, and stepped outside. As the door whosshed close behind her, she walked off to the turbo lift. The pilot's quarters were a few decks below her Commodore's quarters. And so, a few minutes later, she stepped onto the deck. She realized the last time she'd been stationed on this deck was well over a decade ago. It's almost as if she'd come full circle.

Almost, as her new squadron was not called Cyclone...
 

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]
{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/3/4/5}
{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}