Firebird Report # 19 (2021-02-13)

This report was submitted by CMDR-WARD/COL Stryker/Firebird/Wing X/ISDII Challenge


FIREBIRD SQUADRON WSR
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Firebird PatchFIREBIRD SQUADRON WSR #19 (13-FEB-29 ABY)Firebird Patch

FROM: Colonel Stryker, Squadron Commander
TO: LC Denys Elara
CC: HA Anahorn Dempsey, Firebird Squadron
DATE SUBMITTED: February 13, 29 ABY

Firebird PatchFROM STRYKER'S DESKFirebird Patch

Chapter 2 – Eighteen Hours Later

Once again, Firebird Squadron’s ships burst from Hyperspace into a system littered with debris; the sensor data from the shattered Audacity had led them here, hot on the trail of the renegade Shadow Squadron. The wreckage this time was not Imperial, nor did it belong to the New Republic; instead, it looked as though a cargo convoy had been the target of Shadow Squadron’s aggression, the remains of several freighters drifted slowly towards the planet’s small star.

It was a travesty; Starfighter pilots were often assigned to strike at shipping, but the crews of those ships were usually military or supplying military installations. From what the scanners were showing, these ships had been ferrying nothing of value; they had been attacked simply because they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lieutenant Commander Turel in Firebird 5 reported the presence of engine emissions from several small craft and a larger ship of medium cruiser size or larger.

That probably meant they’d landed aboard the Deliverance, which made sense; the Strike Cruiser was slower through Hyperspace but the Y-Wings of Shadow Squadron had been on a fairly long-ranged strike mission against two heavily-defended targets and there was only so long their ships and crews could continue alone, they’d need to refuel and rest.  Fortunately, the slower speed of the Deliverance meant that Firebird might be able to catch up – they’d have to leave the Hermes behind, if they were to continue the pursuit, but the chase was now very much on.

With external fuel pods connected to their craft and the pair of support U-Wings loaded up with extra munitions and fuel, Firebird’s collection of craft plotted the course most likely taken by the fleeing Deliverance and jumped back into Hyperspace - the chase was on…

Emerging from Hyperspace at the end of the trail, the assorted fighters, bombers and support craft spreading out into formation to give their sensor arrays the best opportunity to capture any contacts that might be of use. The empty space between systems was always an odd place to operate, and as the ships continued their journey, their scanners revealed nothing; no exhaust emissions, no sensor contacts, nothing. Either Shadow Squadron had vanished from this plane of existence entirely, or something far more nefarious was going on – it had been a while since Stryker had actively used The Force, but it still worked reliably as a passive early warning sense on more than one occasion. It was going off like a battlestations klaxon now.

“S-Foils to attack positions; break by Flights and…”

He didn’t get the rest of the sentence out as a barrage of laser and ion fire sliced through space, slamming into the fighters of Turel and SkyHigh. Both ships fell out of formation, powerless and bleeding smoke as a shape flashed past Stryker’s canopy – the mottled black-and-grey made it difficult to spot with his naked eye, but the shape was unmistakably that of a Y-Wing, its cannon turret already swinging to aim at a new target as the attack craft looped around and started a run in on a U-Wing that was trying to tow the disabled Y-Wing of Travis Cook to safety. Cutting his throttle to increase the speed of his turn, Stryker banked in after the nigh-invisible Y-Wing, lasers paired as the speed began to close agonisingly slowly – the Shadow-class Y-Wing could reach 100MGLT, which paired with its upgraded cannon armament and expanded torpedo bays, made it a tough nut to crack – the Infiltrator Wing pilots cleared to know of its existence had known that, but nobody had exercised against them due to their secrecy – that was going to hurt them quite considerably. Swearing, Stryker diverted energy from his shields to his engines and the range began to close, the turret cannons began to swivel round to face the pursuing X-Wing and Stryker triggered a quick snap shot before rolling out of the line of fire – the turret came apart in a flash and the Y-Wing banked heavily away from its intended target. Swinging in behind it and now with a clear shot, Stryker armed his Ion Rockets and sighted them over the enemy craft as the danger sense began to tingle and Sparky hooted a shrill warning; with another curse, Stryker rolled to port and away from his target as bolts of azure ion cannon fire grazed his shields, battering them down but narrowly missing the frame of his craft and making his hair stand on end. The distraction was enough, however, Sparky hooted once more and Stryker was treated to the sight of twelve streaks of light – starfighters accelerating towards light speed.

Furious with the ease at which the squadron had been led into a trap, Stryker rounded up his wayward pilots and arranged for the disabled ships to be taken under tow until the Hermes could arrive. The Shadow Squadron pilots had deliberately aimed to disable, as the Firebird pilots had whilst firing upon the Kawolski’s pilots – did that cast doubt upon their treason, or were they merely not willing to add more crimes to their records? It was a mystery that the pilots of Firebird Squadron were going to have to solve, and quickly…

Firebird PatchSQUADRON NEWSFirebird Patch
MSEs have been commented upon by the Commodore and are currently awaiting approval by the Admiralty Board; of the currently-active player base that isn't on leave or brand new in the last week, most of you are getting something shiny to add to your uniform. Well done.

Flight of the Firebirds: Shadowhunters, aka the February narrative campaign, continues! Chapter 2 of the story was, as you have read, slightly less successful than last week with 6/11 pilots taking part. Woody has run rampant in Multiplayer, claiming the top spot for a second week running. Once again, Single Player and Other received only a few submissions, with Major Jedgar taking the top spot in both. Chapter 3 of the story will be e-mailed to you shortly. Your new challenges are as follows:
SP: XvT-Free 223; highest score in BSF form.
MP: Star Conflict (all modes) and Squadrons (Dogfight): Highest Efficiency/Points.
Other: Star Wars X-Wing Fighter: Highest Score on 'Defend Maz's Castle' level.

Team Foghorn Leghorn (aka Firebird 1) has slid into second place in the Chalquilla Cup (by 1 kill) and faces off against the Jolly Rhogers and The Flockers (Rho and Lambda) this evening. Team Chickenhawk (Firebird 2) is due to face Beta Squadron's representatives soon.
Firebird PatchSQUADRON ACTIVITYFirebird Patch
Callsign Echelon
Rating
SP MP
(PvP)
MP
(PvE)
Comms Competitions IU Medals Other
1-1 COL Stryker
13th
(1,066 pts)
BoP-F21
EABF2,
SWS

X
Shadowhunters,
Chalquilla Cup, TCiB


Wiki & WARD stuff

1-2 GN Jarek La'an

15th
(1,880 pts)

SC

X
Shadowhunters


COMM stuff
1-3 GN Elwood the Brave

21st
(43,851 pts)
BoP-F21,
TIE-TC223

SC
X
Shadowhunters


CA:TO
& DGM stuff
1-4 COL Ricaud

10th
(478 pts)

SWS

X
Chalquilla Cup



2-1 LCM Turel

9th
(346 pts)

SWS

X




2-2 LT Ein Bowman

2nd
(33 pts)







No Activity :(
2-3 MAJ Jedgar
11th
(746 pts)
BoP-F21
SWS

X
Shadowhunters,
Chalquilla Cup



2-4 LCM SkyHigh

4th
(87 pts)

SWS

X



On Leave
3-1 CM TI-40026
10th
(440 pts)

SWS

X
Shadowhunters



3-2 SL Golf
None
(0 pts)







No Activity :(
3-3 VACANT









3-4 COL NiksaVel

11th
(526pts)
BoP-F21


X
Shadowhunters,
Chalquilla Cup




Firebird PatchSQUADRON EVENTSFirebird Patch

Firebird Squadron Training: Every two weeks, Firebird will assemble for Multiplayer Training! Star Wars Squadrons, EA Battlefront 2, and others; let's try to get full flights working together!

Flight of the Firebirds (Shadowhunters): Narrative campaign starring Firebird Squadron, story progresses each week. Challenges issued to squadron every Saturday in report, with rounds concluding every Friday.

Chalquilla Cup: 3v3 Multiplayer event using Star Wars Squadrons. Match pairings and results can be found here.

TIE Corps in Battle (TCiB): The TCCOM's High Score Hunt, one battle each from TIE, XvT, and XWA will be assigned monthly.

Firebird PatchCLOSING COMMENTSFirebird Patch
February is proving to be something of an odd month for us; we've had successes and losses in the Chalquilla Cup, and a few formerly die-hard MP players are coming back to the SP way of life. This makes me very pleased, as it puts us in good stead for Corps-wide competitions like Imperial Storm and Raise the Flag, neither of which can be won by MP activity alone!

Regarding MP activity, getting games in on Squadrons has been problematic lately; I'm not sure if this is a server error or a sign of things to come, but it might be worth acquiring backup games to play. Star Conflict is a great way to grind LoCs and LoSs for minimal time investment if that's your thing, and Battlefront 2 remains popular online in both PvP and PvE lobbies.

COL Stryker
CMDR-WARD / COL Stryker / Firebird / Wing X / ISDII Challenge


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