The path of the seemingly dead warship through this starsystem had not gone unnoticed. In fact, it had attracted the attention of not one, but several curious parties. And none of them were Imperial. High Admiral Anahorn Dempsey had a feeling there were more interested parties out there, hiding behind moons and asteroids, waiting to see what was going to happen. She smiled inside. With any luck, whatever pirate group made the first move would be attacked by the others. After all, the Empire didn't want pirates to have control of a Star Destroyer, but neither would anyone else in the region. They would be unstoppable.

Unless they ran into a TIE Corps Star Destroyer of course.

Dempsey could feel the anxiety building up. Not aboard the Challenge, she had tuned out the crew of the ship, but outside. It wouldn't be much longer. Which was a good thing, as she desperately needed to be elsewhere. Her own private little ventures had paid off another lead, and that needed to be investigated. But this was an operation she could not rush. She had to let things play out, because if the Challenge suddenly came alive again and left the area, no one would ever fall for the trick again.

She stared through the transparisteel viewport and wondered if she was seeing things. She looked at the Captain of the Star Destroyer. He looked back at her and nodded. He, too, had seen something.

'It would seem the game is afoot, people,' she said out loud. 'Everyone, do absolutely nothing whatsoever until told to. Expect incoming damage.'

Few people on the bridge stirred. This had been part of the briefing before this game of charades had started. Dempsey had fully expected the pirates to start taking a few shots at her ship to see what would happen. The outer corridors of the ship were evacuated to limit the possibility of casualties. After all, she couldn't raise the shields, and so hull damage was to be expected.

A moment later, she saw red flashes of light in the corner of her eye. She turned her head just in time to see the turbo laser bolts smash into her ship.

'Hull breach, deck 9,' someone shouted. 'Repair crews are already underway.' Efficient as ever.

'I can't be sure, Admiral, but it looks like three light cruiser heading this way from behind the third moon.'

Dempsey nodded. 'Let them come, ' she said.

Another volley of turbo laser fire smashed into the Challenge and Dempsey thought she could feel a slight tremor throughout the ship. Someone said something, but she didn't hear it. A moment later, she could see explosions on the hull of one of the approaching cruisers. She smiled, as she realized she'd been right. The first of the pirates had made its move, and someone else was going to stop them.

'Signal the hangar bay,' she said. 'Prep Tempest and Firebird for launch on my orders.'
 

As of this report, Febraury will last for a few more hours. If anyone wants some extra activity logged for the February evaluations, now's the time to do that.

Quote on Discord COL Stryker: Ugh, definitely not getting that IS-GR for Dempsey's music competition.

Well, as I said on Discord, I call bullsh*t on that one. Congrats, Colonel. You're the only one who got more than 20 correct... Medal is on the way. For those interested: answers are down below in the competitions section. Every show was guessed correctly at least once, so I did a good job there.

There's some new things happening at the TC at various levels. For one, which most applies to us, a new position was created and if I read correctly, implemented in the database: SQXO or Squadron Executive Officer. Squadron Commanders can appoint one of their pilots to this position, which will allow the designated pilot to perform some official duties when the CMDR is away. Commanders are not required to appoint a SQXO, and they can decide which duties the SQXO can perform. Appointments are handled by request via COM and TCCOM via email, and the appointee should be apprised of the task before this of course. The same applies to removing a pilot from SQXO.

There's still talk going on about some other changes to be made, we'll see what happens on that front soon I hope.

The big news for this ship was the promotion of MAJ Talon Jade to Lieutenant Colonel. It's been a long time coming, as the good Major had held this rank for almost 12 years now, serving as Flight Member, Flight leader, Squadron Commander and Wing Commander in this time. Congrats on your promotion! Kudos are also up for grabs for LCM Graf D'Jinn who was promoted to Commander this week. Been awhile since I saw one of those. Keep going and we'll make a Captain out of you yet! Our newest sub-lieutenant, SL Critical Hit also received his first promotion, as well as LT Shawn Erso who moved up to LCM Shawn Erso. LT Kalfer Araske apparantly wants to move up in the ranks too as he completed the TIE Corps CORE exam with a nice 100% score. And this was all in a single squadron, so Eagle squadron will pick up the bar tab for the rest of the month for the whole ship. To be fair, these are not the only promotions, as LT EchoVII and LCM Richlet should also be mentioned for their well-earned promotions.

To anyone keeping tabs, we have said goodbye this week to LT CzR, who will henceforth be known as LT Wrecker. A might fine decision, as now I can at least pronounce his name without breaking my tongue.

For me, a project I've been working on for a few weeks now has come to an end with the last of my XvT Battles being submitted to the TAC Office. With any luck, we'll have 7 new XvT Battles featuring the Challenge and its squadrons to fly soon! On to my next one, which is a XWA battle to give some background story to our esteemed Wing Commander. XWA is a b*tch.

Due to a delay which was probably my fault, it took awhile for the January MSEs to be processed, but we got that out of the way as well this week. All medals are in save one, and we should be able to get things done a lot faster next month.... Well, next week that is. MSEs due by Friday, people :)

Lastly, this week saw quite some activity on our roster. Several people were removed due to being AWOL, others were added, and some ranks were changed. Nothing like keeping the ball going. Keep it up!
 

TRANSFERS

RANK PROMOTIONS

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!
Remember - your answer has to go to the list.

Current screenshot:

Last week's winner:
CPT EvilGrin for Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader

Current standings:
4pt: CPT EvilGrin
3pt: COL Mell Kerrigan
2pt: LCM Richlet, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir, COL Stryker, GN Elwood the Brave
1pt: LT Dougal Caelleigh, CM TI-40026, CPT Kalve Ryder, MAJ Talon Jade, MAJ Tygra Shadowclaw, COL Silwar Naiilo

 
Challenge Trivia Intermezzo

We've had 25 TV shows. COL Stryker takes the win with 21 correct, and CM Richlet, CM TI-40026, LT Morgoth and LT Wrecker win an IS-BR for getting at least 15 of them correct.

Correct answers: Battlestar Galactica (the original), Dynasty, Knight Rider, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate: SG-1, Thunderbirds, Doctor Who (2005 reboot), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Modern Family, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, The Avengers, Space Battleship Yamato, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, The Simpsons, Airwolf, Star Trek: Discovery, Dexter, Northern Exposure, Dexter's Laboratory.

It's been a good week for this ship. Let's see if we can make next month any better. Squadron Commanders: consider if you want to appoint a SQXO, and if so, who that would be.

COM-TACA-FSE/HA Anahorn Dempsey/ISD-II Challenge, signing off

MoH/OoR/ICx2/GOEx3/GSx21/SSx39/BSx38/PCx16/ISMx9/IS-12PW-188GW-442SW-408BW-4PR-18GR-20SR-88BR/MoI/MoT-51rh-52gh-9bh/LoC-PSx9-RSx2-IS-CS-Rx1
   LoS-PSx23-RS-CSx2/DFC-SW-Rx3/MoC-10doc-11poc-11goc-10soc-89boc/CoLx14/CoEx4/CoS/CoB/LoAx3/OV-13E [IMPR] [Tan] [TAR]
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    XWAC-ESET-ISET-TIE-SMA-AWAK-BWAK-XWAK-YWAK-SN4-SM/3/4}
{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}