Date Submitted: November 10, 2022
From: CPT Vapen "Doc" Vanman
To: Theta Squadron, VA Marenta Jean – Warrior Commodore
CC: TIE Corps Fleet

"Doc was seated in one of the eight stateroom suites of the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle that was taking him back to the ISDII Warrior from his most recent visit to the VSDII Aggressor. Ever since his appointment as an Assistant to the Combat Operations Officer (COOA), Doc had made weekly trips to the Aggressor to take care of his responsibilities aboard the Victory II-class Star Destroyer. One of the benefits to the job were the Lambda shuttles he was currently on; they had been modified for diplomatic delegations and other, more ceremonial, tasks such as transporting the COOA's to and from the bigger boat. Doc sat on a couch that was just small enough to fit in the relatively tiny stateroom; the rooms were made to accommodate two people per room with a desk, couch, and bed that folded out of the wall for longer trips.
The Major had just finished brewing himself a cup of Deychin tea, one of his favorites after a long day of work. It had indeed been a long day, processing updates to pilot records, successful missions, and combat ratings. There had also been some recent changes in the Combat Operations Office, changes Doc had not seen coming; but nothing a good cup of tea and some contemplation couldn't fix. Lost in his thoughts, the ping over the shuttle comm caused him to jump slightly, spilling some of the hot tea on his hand.
"Fark!" Doc cried out in frustration, his personal feelings leaked through, "What do you want?"
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but would you mind coming up here for a moment?"came the clearly nervous pilot's response.
"On my way,"Doc replied, less annoyed after having cleaned himself off.
Doc entered the cockpit and stood behind the pilot's seat as he asked, "What can I help you with Lieutenant Commander...?" as he noticed the pilot's rank.
"Brogan, sir. Well, we are approaching the Warrior and as I began approach maneuvers, I noticed there is no elevator control. I really tried not to call you up here, but I can't seem to fix it," the newer pilot explained.
Doc sat down in the co-pilot seat, despite the interruption to his relaxation in the back of the ship, the task was a nice distraction. He did the customary checks: power was flowing to the engines and nav system, the controls weren't jammed, and the trim was set properly. Just as he finished, the comm unit buzzed to life,
"Lambda Shuttle, this is the Warrior bridge, you are within minimum distance for landing procedures, please adjust course to dock."
The Lieutenant Commander responded, "Warrior Bridge, this is Lambda Shuttle, we have lost elevator control. Working the checklist now."
Doc had checked everything that made sense, there was no reason, as far as he could tell, that the shuttle was in such a state. It occurred to the Major that he hadn't even bothered to check the autopilot; it was the first step on the checklist so he had assumed the pilot would have already checked. Sure enough, every switch for autopilot was switched off except for the elevation control.
"Lieutenant Commander Brogan, did you bother to double check the autopilot controls?" Doc asked, annoyed.
Brogan glanced at the panel, quickly realized his mistake, and flipped the corresponding switch. Suddenly, the shuttle started to pitch downward, elevation control restored.
"I know you haven't been here long, pilot, but not only is that step one on the checklist, it is also the easiest thing to fix. I will make sure this is noted on your record." Doc barked, upset his relaxation had been disturbed for something he considered basic. Doc turned on his heel after his remark and made is way back to the stateroom for the docking procedure. He sat back down on the couch and sipped what remained of his spilled tea. As he did, he realized he had snapped at the pilot in a manner that was justified for the difference in rank, but not necessarily appropriate for the situation. After all, it had taken him just as long to figure out the problem.
As he pondered his actions and sipped his tea, Doc heard the shuttle's wing elevator motors turn on and, shortly after, felt the gentle shutter as the shuttle touched down on the Warrior's hangar deck. He gathered his belongings and made his way to the mouth of the ship. Lieutenant Commander Brogan stood at attention in the opening to the cockpit, as he waited for his superior to exit the shuttle before beginning his flight back to the Aggressor.
"Brogan, walk with me," Doc said as he started down the ramp. The junior officer fell in step behind him, clearly nervous he was about to be chewed out again, "While the mistake you made was clearly a simple one, I had a chance to think about it as we landed, and to be fair to you, it took me a while to notice the problem, too. And as I pointed out, it is the first step in the checklist. I was wrong to snap at you like that. I'm not making excuses, but it has been a really long week for me, and I am sorry, I should not have taken it out on you. I'll tell the bridge we had a temporary power loss and had to divert power; no reason for something we both missed to end up on your record."
"Thank you, sir. It won't happen again" Brogan replied.
"Make sure it doesn't," Doc replied in a gentle tone accompanied with a wink, "Dismissed."
As the two pilots parted ways, Doc felt a weight lifted from his chest, he knew he had overreacted and taken it out on a subordinate simply because he could. However, he knew better than that, just because you could doesn't mean you should.

Fleet News

The tenth month of the Imperial Year has come to a close, also closing out Raise the Flag. The bonus competitions have been graded, memes and other extra points are being finalized. That said, the results are pretty much finalized with the Hammer solidly in first with an impressive 71,807 points, lead by Lambda with an equally impressive 38,267 points. And finally, a shout-out to General Genie with a winning score of 11,914 points earned. Congratulations to all the winners, a well earned victory across the board!

Ship News

As for the Warrior, we had a good performance that ended us in second place with 33,733 points. A solid performance, beating our last year by about 300 points, very nice! As for upcoming news, former Sin Squadron Commander, Talon Jade, has stepped down after his admiral service to Sin and the Warrior. That said, Sin is currently in the process of selecting a new Commander. Thank you to Talon for your service, and I look forward to seeing who will be joining the Warrior Commanders!

Squadron News

Finally, for the squadron, we placed 8th out of 17, a performance I am very happy with! I am most impressed with our participation numbers with 10 out of 12 members putting up some kind points for the month! That makes us the squadron with the second most participation, congratulations! I cannot tell you how proud I am of this, a very active showing for the squadron!

Finally, our current XO, COL Wolfverine, has requested that, due to some positive real life developments, he would like to step back from the XO position. Due to that, if anyone is interested (to be honest, I would prefer a squadron member, however, if someone reading this outside the squadron is interested) please reach out via Discord DM or email (vapinvanman@gmail.com).

Competitions that Caught the CMDR's Eye:

TIE Corps in Battle Season Five
One battle each from TIE, XvT, and XWA will be assigned monthly.
Pilots will fly the battles and submit their pilot files through the database normally.
XvT-TC 94: Envoy of Peace
TIE-TC 67: The Siege of Maltar
XwA-TC 26: Experimental Tie Evaluation

This competition ends on the 15th of November.

The Challenge with Words
At the beginning of every month, VA Marenta will generate a word search and post the link along with announcing the previous month’s entrants. Each month, the puzzle will be related to something specific like planets, people, craft, manufacturers, wars, a movie/book/series, etc. Each puzzle will be 50 words and the site will keep track of all submissions.

The TIE Corps Needs YOU!
The Emperor's Hammer TIE Corps advancing farther into the Unknown Regions, our next step is to garner support in the new systems we encounter. As part of this effort, all pilots are invited to submit proposals for recruitment/propaganda posters to be distributed among the local population.

Squadron Activity

Flight 1 - TIE Defender - "The Bus"

[1-1] MAJ Vapen Vanman

[1-2] GN Pete Mitchell

[1-3] LT Nerdle Eyeff

[1-4] LT Alistair "Vargus" Vianna

Flight 2- TIE Defender - "The Flying Circus"

[2-1] COL Wolfverine

[2-2] LT beach89

[2-3] LCM WhatsUpDock

[2-4] LT Speeedoflight

Flight 3 - Delta-Class JV-7 Escort Shuttle - "The Lone Ranger"

[3-1] LCM Lobsord

[3-2] LT TheFlyingMJ

[3-3] CM ERiSi

[3-4] LT Sitka

Commander's Office

I would like to take a moment to reiterate, congratulations on our Raise the Flag performance and participation! As we continue past RtF, remember to continue submitting your screenshots of wins on the website! Last thing that is on my mind: I would encourage everyone to check out the Competitions listed above as well as any other comps listed. This is the one area we could have some improvement as a squadron, whether it is graphics, the new Single Player XwA comp, or some of the puzzle competitions!