As the yellow sun set behind the horizon, Dempsey walked out of the only bar in what Lorest called it's primary space port. It had taken some time, some convincing, and some violence, but she had the information that she had come for. The Rodian bartender had agreed for her to use his landspeeder while she was on Lorest, which certainly would make traveling around easier than flying the X-wing. As the last rays of light disappeared and darkness overcame the landscape, she fired the landspeeder and shot off into the desert.

Dempsey couldn't see much. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness a bit, but even the nocturnal animals in this galaxy required some light to see in the dark. Fortunately, Dempsey had some help. Using the Force, navigating the desert surface was a lot easier. The trip was taking longer than she'd expected, and by the time she reached her destination, the first faint glow of light was already appearing behind her. Soon, the desert would again be basking in the full light of the star.

Another 10 minutes later, and Dempsey slowed the landspeeder down and came to a stop behind a small homestead. Somewhere it reminded her of the homes used by the moisture farmers on Tatooine. There were definite similarities. She got out of the landspeeder, and walked around the building. She already knew there was no one home, and so she took her time. In the end, she walked in. Standing in the doorway, she looked around. Inside, a single table and chair were pretty much the only furniture. She took her time looking around, but there was little to be found. Whoever lived here obviously didn't spend a lot of time inside. Nor did he care much for luxury. Dempsey took the chair, and sat down, back to the opening in the wall that functioned as a door. The long waiting had begun.

Over 500 light years away, LC Denys Elara was sitting on a crate in the Challenge main hangar bay. She was getting tired of this. For six days now, endless progress reports has come up to her. This ship was beaten and battered. Still, no Challenge crew member had ever given up, and no Challenge member ever would. This ship would fly again, of this she was sure. But, it would be a while for that moment to arrive, and she would have to work her way through hundreds more of those progress reports. But for now, she was taking a few moments to herself, watching the work and the progress instead of reading about it. A whoosh in the distance signalled that the turbo lift was opening. She glanced in the direction of the turbo lift, and saw an officer run towards here. Here we go again, she sighed. The officer came to a stop \\ a meter away from her, and gave a short salute. 'Sir, TIE Corps Commander is on his way here. Estimated arrival time is fifteen minutes.'

Elara let out a curse and got off the crate. What else could go wrong today?
 

May is well underway. Squadrons that want to finish up a few more tasks for Squadron (Re)Mobilization 3 still have a few weeks to do so. Meanwhile, other competitions for the Challenge are flourishing:

- Dempsey's Mad Musings in May is due to start next Wednesday. Watch the email on Wednesday for exact instructions;
- Infiltrator Wing Face-off is a friendly showdown between Eagle and Firebird, let's see how that goes :)
- The Challenge with Words is a word-search puzzle competition - anyone can enter;
- Inferno Signal Scramble is another interesting idea, and has been expanded to include the whole ship now;
- Trivia for the Challenged is our usual trivia competition;
- Dempsey's Weekly Screenshots is the now-familiar screenshot competition in my reports.

Aside from these, there's also the usual flying competitions, Ace of the TIE Corps (for MP, COOP and SP), COO Scramble, COO ScrambleCOO Star Wars Squadrons, TIE Corps in Battle and of course the oddities around: TIE Corps Book Club, Trivia Grand Tour and Stay in the Lines. As you can see, plenty of stuff to use for your activity, and plenty of choice. So go out there and do something. And if you don't want to enter a competition, simply take an IU course.

Speaking of TIE Corps in Battle, yes it's aimed at getting the highest score, but don't let that fool you! Every contribution made counts for the ship, no matter how low your score is (and believe me, I've seen some low ones come by). So if you are unable to get those higher scores, or unwilling to spend over an hour flying a single mission, then submit it anyway, as your participation matters (and will still earn you an Iron Star with Copper Wings if we win)!

Next up, welcome aboard to SL Sylas Pitt, whose arrival brings our total number up to 60 (including myself and the Wing Commander). Over 10 pilots more than the other ships, Unfortunately, we won't be staying at that number once the MSEs for the month are done, but not much to be done about that. Speaking of MSEs, the SOO currently has them on his desk. Shouldn't be long now until everyone gets their medal. Outside of this, CM Graf D'Jinn, COL Silwar Naiilo, CPT Kalve Ryder, LCM Morgoth, and SOL Stryker were awarded a Silver Star of the Empire for their contributions to the new TC logo. The Chalquilla Cup competition has yielded a few Distinguished Flying Crosses for Challenge pilots. Nice job, COL Stryker, COL Ricaud, CM TI-40026.

TTT3 is also on the horizon, so this will be interesting. I haven't seen it yet, but it's supposed to be great!
 

TRANSFERS

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:
COL Silwar Naiilo for Battle Beyond the Stars

Current standings:
5pt: CPT EvilGrin
4pt: COL Stryker
3pt: COL Mell Kerrigan, MAJ Tygra Shadowclaw
2pt: LCM Richlet, LC Phalk Sturm, LC Kadon Beir, GN Elwood the Brave, COL Marenta, COL Silwar Naiilo
1pt: LT Dougal Cealleigh, LT Wrecker, CM TI-40026, CPT Kalve Ryder, MAJ Talon Jade

 
Dempsey's Mad Musings in May

On the 13th of May I will send 9 images. I want to know what the images are of. Of course, it won't be easy as that as the images are all garbled up. In groups of 3, new images were created from the old 3. Identify as many of the 9 images correctly as you can. As a hint: 4 of them are Star Wars related, the other 5 are celebrities. In all cases: be specific as to what you mean (eg: 'jedi' will never be correct, I'd need a name...)

We're approaching the end of the big squadron competition. Things are looking good!

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

MoH/ICx2/OoR/GOEx3/GSx21/SSx43/BSx39/PCx16/ISMx9/MoT-51rh-52gh-9bh/MoI/MoC-11doc-11poc-11goc-10soc-91boc/IS-12PW-192GW-443SW-408BW-4PR-18GR-
   21SR-89BR/LoC-PSx9-RSx2-IS-CSx2/LoS-PSx23-RS-IS-CSx3-Rx4/DFC-SW-Rx3/CoS/CoEx4/CoLx14/CoB/LoAx3/OV-14E [Imperator] [Tan] [TAR]
{IWATS:MCBS-XAM-XMD-TM/1/2/TM/3-XTM/1-MP/2-AMP-XWAI-BFM-TT-XTT-SFT-CTW-AT-SU-CM2-MD1-DT3-ARTY1-VS4-ST-SC-SEA-SD-SZ-SR-AIR-CC-SFW-WPN-
    XWAC-ESET-ISET-TIE-SMA-AWAK-BWAK-XWAK-YWAK-SN4-SM/3/4/5}
{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}