Rho Report # 15 (2023-03-01)

This report was submitted by CMDR-ROA/CPT Alexandre Morgan/Rho/Wing II/ISDII Warrior/Battlegroup II


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RHO SQUADRON REPORT #15

REPORTING OFFICER: Captain Alexandre Morgan, Squadron Commander

RECIPIENTS: General Gilbert H. Frown, Wing II; cc: Rho Squadron

DATE SUBMITTED: 03.01.2023

SQUADRON COMMANDER'S CORNER

(Rho's new commander, Captain Alexandre Morgan, stood in the doorway of his new office, taking in the novel sensation. Gone were the days of a small desk against the wall in his XO quarters: now he had a six-foot mammoth of a desk with a nameplate and an embedded datapad. The room hadn't changed much since the arrival of its new occupant, only the already-changed art adorning the wall standing as a testament to the change: holos of Morgan's ship, Naboo plains, an early draft of Rho's path he had jocosely had Davalorn sign, and a group picture of Rho from after the whole Ishtari encounter began now shimmered there.

'I'm going to have to get an updated version of that one,' he thought to himself, noticing a couple new, yet already familiar, faces missing.

A polite cough shook him from his thoughts, and he turned around to see LC Davalorn standing there, holding a datapad that was not his. He peered over Morgan's shoulder into the room, and nodded in satisfaction. "I like what you've done with it." He smirked in anticipation of a joke. "Total overhaul of the room, I see, practically everything is new."

"Well, of course," Morgan responded in stride. "The previous owner had a terrible sense of interior design, so I wanted to change as much as I could." He chuckled, and stepped into the room to let Dav in. Morgan moved to behind the desk, and Dav chose a chair directly in front of him.

"I'm sorry I don't have a drink to offer you," Morgan apologized. "I need to stock something even though I wouldn't partake myself. So, what's the datapad for?"

Dav placed it on the desk, amusement written plainly on his face. "Mix had me swear to deliver this to you. I think it's some brief on the state of the craft, standard 'new commander' activity."

"Why couldn't Mix come up here and deliver it himself?"

"Well," Dav said, still amused, "what I gathered is that he's kind of afraid of you."

Morgan smiled in disbelief. "Afraid of me? What did I do?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe he just doesn't know you as well as he knew me and fr0."

"Because y'all spend your time in the hangar down there, with real ships," Morgan said, shaking his head, still smiling. "I fly in the sims, in the fake ships."

Dav shrugged again. "You can solve that, I guess. Alright, I have to go, I've got a group session with the Fight Three guys in the sims." He stood up, and made to the door.

"Thank you," Morgan blurted out.

"For the datapad?" Dav turned and smiled.

"Alright, jackass." Morgan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, thank you for the datapad, but thank you for everything else. For doing everything you've done for Rho, for teaching me how to do all of this." He paused. "And for being such a good friend. I'm glad you'll still be around."

Davalorn nodded. "It's been nothing but a pleasure. Except when I had to spend two hours in the Imperial University cataloging the courses you had taken." He paused for dramatic effect. "In fact, that gives me an idea for revenge..."

Morgan grimaced, shook his head, and sighed, gesturing to the datapad Dav had given him. "You and your threats better get out of here, I've got some terrible important paperwork to sign."

Dav saluted, and Morgan returned it. He took one more look around the room, saw the signed Rho crest, laughed to himself, and left, the door quietly hissing closed behind him.

Morgan looked down at Mix's report, saw many more words than he expected, and pushed it to the side. He instead booted up the desk's datapad, sad back, and pondered. 'Thank the void this isn't my first report,' he thought. 'But now, what to say...')

 

Pilots of Rho Squadron,

I’ll begin by extending my congratulations to LC Davalorn for the past year of his leading Rho Squadron. What we’ve achieved together the past year under his leadership and direction is nothing short of standard-setting, for the Warrior and the entire TIE Corps alike. Thank you for your extraordinary and exemplary service, and I’m glad you’re staying on with us as the Flight Three Leader. 

As for other roster changes, LC fr0Zen has stepped up and will be serving as Rho’s Squadron Executive Officer. I look forward to working more closely with him to continue Rho’s trajectory to the top! Additionally, a warm welcome is in order for LT Jaquel Rainrix, who joined into Flight Two and swiftly earned his lieutenant bars.

This month of February has been an outstanding one for the squadron, with half of us merit medaling at the end of the month! This is a fantastic starting point, and I look forward to seeing this number go up and up each month. Congratulations to CM Cray Xerious, LC fr0Zen, LT Jaquel Rainrix, CPT FamePlane, and LC Davalorn, and thank you for the hard work. Your contributions are recognized and reflectively awarded. 

Besides the excellent medal statistic, this month has been highlighted by both LC Davalorn’s and LT Jaquel’s studious work in the Imperial University. Davalorn passed sixteen courses and earned two qualifications, and Jaquel passed nine, earning a qualification for himself, too. Look to these two be an example of the activities the TC offers outside of the cockpit.

Inside the cockpit, LC Davalorn again led Rho, flying just short of 200 skirmishes this month alone. Joining him in the dogfights, we saw LC fr0Zen, CM Cray, LT Jaquel, CPT FamePlane, LT Gorna, and LT Skwidjm put forth the effort to fight back the Rebels, the Ishtari, or whatever other foes they encountered. Thank you all for your efforts in defending the EHTC, and glorifying Rho’s name. 

Speaking of the cockpit, we are now in the month of March! All hands are on deck for our renewed fight against the Ishtari, in the form of Imperial Storm V! Instead of an inter-ship competition, however, we are now united against our foe. This doesn’t mean we can slack off, however, so I’m asking for 100% participation to make sure that Rho leads the pack, showing the rest of the TIE Corps who we and the Warrior are! Tune into Discord for more instructions on how we will tackle this new challenge.

For the Empire! Long may it reign! 

SQUADRON NEWS
  • Imperial Storm V has started! Let's all hop in the cockpits and contribute to the fight against the Ishtari! 
  • Every Friday we will be grouping up and alternating between playing Battlefront II and Squadrons.  Attending three BF2 sessions or three SWS sessions will automatically earn you an Operational Readiness Award.  Come hang out for fun games with cool people! For details, check out the Competitions section below.
  • Please welcome LT Jaquel Rainrix!
  • Congratulations to LC Davalorn, LT Jaquel Rainrix, and LT Gorna Mago on their promotions!
  • SL Chuundar has left us for the reserves. We wish him well, and hope his return is swift. 
  • The participation details below constitute the entire month of February, from 2.01 to 2.28.
COMPETITIONS

The full list of current competitions can be found in the Competitions Center.

Ground Rhovers and Star Rhovers

Alternating Friday nights on a weekly basis, starting on February 3rd, 2023, Rho Squadron will gather and play Star Wars EA Battlefront II or Star Wars Squadrons together. The event will conclude after 6 bi-weekly opportunities for each game, with the final opportunity on April 21st, 2023.

For a pilot to be successfully marked as participating in a session, a screenshot of the group with all names visible must be sent to the competition runner. These screenshots are accepted throughout the entirety of each participant's local Friday time.

Whoever attends the most play sessions for each game over the time period f are awarded an IS-SW. The runner-ups are awarded an IS-BW, and the third place an IS-CW. Any pilot who attends three or more of the six sessions for each game is also awarded an ORA.

Imperial Storm Five

The Imperial Storm is upon us! Imperial Storm is a turn based war game that the TIE Corps runs every year. Previous incarnations have seen the three Battlegroups spar over a sector of space seeking to claim dominance. Whilst the teams move their fleets around the map, combat which occurs when the opposing forces meet is decided by the accumulation of Legions and performance in a selected Single Player mission over a 48 hour period.

This year we are trying something slightly different. Instead of having the three TIE Corps Battlegroups oppose one another, they will be flying together although each as a separate unit under the TC banner against the forces of the Ishtari who will be led by FA Jarek La'an.

Imperial Storm V sees the TIE Corps moving against the Ishtari, the enemy we faced in Raise the Flag 22. They are an oppressive species and our aim is to liberate a number of worlds that sit around the fringes of the map during the initial twenty days of the campaign (you'll see this called Phase One). The final ten days will see us push into the core of their star cluster for the final attack (colloquially called Phase Two).

Each Team Captain (the BGCOM or a nominated individual) will be responsible for deploying a fleet based on the current Order of Battle. This fleet will move around a hex based map seeking to liberate the worlds that the Ishtari have subjugated.

The final medals will be awarded based on how many worlds we manage to liberate during the game, alongside how much of the Ishtari fleet we destroy. If we somehow lose and the Ishtari led by La'an win....

There will also be an accompanying fiction competition based off of the event, Competition ID 3533. 

Signal Scramble Infection

Before VA Marenta's time as the Warrior Commodore, she used her faithful TIE Reaper, BESSIE, during a mission in which her com circuitry was corrupted and led to cascading and repetitive damage. Being the brilliant logistician she was, she decided to appropriate her vessel from Inferno Squadron and bring it with her to the ISDII Warrior. Unfortunately, it still has the bug of a strange frequency being transmitted into her ship. The messages are simply random 3, 4, and 5 letter combinations repeated for approximately 2 standard weeks before the letter combinations change again. In an effort to help figure out what the messages mean, Marenta has tasked the Warrior to make up phrases for the letter combinations and polling the fleet to determine which is the most likely. Every 2 weeks VA Marenta will generate 3, 4, and 5 random letter combinations and create a Google Form to allow personnel onboard ISDII Warrior to fill out with a time frame of 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the responses will be put up in a poll where the Warrior members will vote on the responses provided. The members voting will NOT be able to see which phrase was submitted by which member. After a 2 week voting period, to keep the submissions along the same time period as the voting, VA Marenta will announce the winners. Each season will have 6 full rounds of entries/voting/results. Example: VTK Vocal Tauntauns? Kill! FTWN Free The Wookies Now! VAAAS Vacations At Alderaan Are Stupid

The Challenge with Words

After a particularly bad batch of Chalquilla was distributed by Inferno Squadron, medical was inundated with severely hungover and somewhat illiterate members of the fleet. The tanks had been infected with a spore that ate sugar and spit out alcohol, like yeast. But, this spore also had a side effect, it secreted a neuro inhibitor that ate away people’s knowledge. To help “stimulate” some learning, Inferno, along with the medical crew, have started sending out word puzzles to help the members of the fleet regain some of their lost knowledge.

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.

This competition will utilize the time test on the website in lieu of using the first-entrant on the host site.

TIE Corps Jigsaw Puzzle Part 2

For 4 months, each month a new puzzle will be announced and pilots will compete for the best time with medals up for grabs for the top four fastest pilots as well as points accrued. At the end of each season, the top five pilots with the most points accrued will earn medals based on performance. In the event of a tie, the tie breaker will go to the pilot with the most 1st place wins.

Rules: Screenshots need to show the number of pieces from the bottom-left corner of the screen, the time shown in the middle, and the completed puzzle. Working through the puzzle multiple times and using all the options available in the app are allowed, except one: Don't change the number of pieces from 80. Pilots are encouraged to create a profile on https//www.jigsawplanet.com/ for extra fun and competition.

When you're satisfied with your time, take a screenshot and send it to vapinvanman@gmail.com. One entry per pilot, multiple submissions will not be accepted and only the first submission will be counted.

Have fun pilots!

ROSTER

Rho Squadron - Deep Strike
The Steam Rhollers || 'Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy'
Wing II - ISDII Warrior - Battlegroup II

Flight I - TIE Avenger
Dagger Flight || 'Death Comes on Dagger Wings'
[1-1] CPT Alexandre Morgan
[1-2] LT Skwidjm
[1-3] CM Cray Xerious
[1-4] LCM Bronx Bluar

Flight II - TIE Avenger
Emperor's Will|| 'In Peace, Vigilance - In War, Victory - In Death, Sacrifice'
[2-1] LC fr0Zen
[2-2] LT Jaquel Rainrix
[2-3] CPT FamePlane
[2-4] Vacant

Flight III - TIE Avenger
Nightshrikes || 'Hunters of the Void'
[3-1] LC Westric Davalorn
[3-2] LT Tarlo Keeg
[3-3] LT Gorna Mago
[3-4] LT Rotarg Kradak

ACTIVITY

Flight I

[1-1] CPT Alexandre Morgan

  • Flying: 15 LoC, 143 LoS
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Ground Rhovers, Sky Rhovers); New MP PvE Combat Rank Achieved: Master Ranger 2nd 

[1-2] LT Skwidjm

  • Flying: 3 LoS
  • Non-flying: New MP PvE Combat Rank Achieved: Qualified

[1-3] CM Cray Xerious

  • Flying: 13 LoC
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Ground Rhovers, Sky Rhovers, Signal Scramble Infection); New MP PvP Combat Rank Achieved: Marksman 4th; Flight Certification Wings Awarded: 3rd Echelon

[1-4] LCM Bronx Bluar

  • Flying: None
  • Non-flying: Flight Certification Wings Awarded: 7th Echelon

Flight II

[2-1] LC fr0Zen

  • Flying: 39 LoC, 8 LoS
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Ground Rhovers, Sky Rhovers) 

[2-2] LT Jaquel Rainrix

  • Flying: 6 LoC, 3 LoS
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Sky Rhovers)

[2-3] CPT FamePlane

  • Flying: 13 LoC
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Star Rhovers)

[2-4] Vacant

  • Flying: None
  • Non-flying: None

Flight III

[3-1] LC Westric Davalorn

  • Flying: 3 LoC, 194 LoS
  • Non-flying: Competition Participation (Ground Rhovers, Sky Rhovers, Signal Scamble Infection); New MP PvE Combat Rank Achieved: Master Ranger 2nd; Flight Certification Wings Awarded: 17th Echelon

[3-2] LT Tarlo Keeg

  • Flying: None
  • Non-flying: None

[3-3] LT Gorna Mago

  • Flying: 5 LoC
  • Non-flying: New MP PvP Combat Rank Achieved: Trainee

[3-4] LT Rotarg Kradak

  • Flying: None
  • Non-flying: None
CLOSING COMMENTS

To your cockpits, pilots! The Imperial Storm is upon us!

CPT Alexandre "ossus" Morgan
CMDR-ROA/CPT Alexandre Morgan/Rho/Wing II/ISDII Warrior/Battlegroup II


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