FIREBIRD SQUADRON WSR #19 (13-FEB-29 ABY) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FROM: Colonel Stryker, Squadron Commander |
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FROM
STRYKER'S DESK |
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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… |
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SQUADRON
NEWS |
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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. |
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SQUADRON
ACTIVITY |
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SQUADRON EVENTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
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CLOSING COMMENTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 |