Greetings, Members of the RS. ":)

The summer days of August are upon us! With the added heat, I'm sure some people are trying to get away from the computer a little more often. I'm certainly one of them! Of course life, and more importantly, the RS, still proceeds. The inexorable march of life waits for no person, so we must all march with it or be swept along in the wake.

So it is also with the Rebel Squadrons. There are things going on, and I'd be pleased to introduce you all to some of them.

Firstly, General Shikkie Kaaran and BGN Patrick Blastfire are busy working on RSIRC version 4.0. Current features include favorite servers, favorite channels, character map, bookmarks, nick completion, dice, dictionary/thesaurus, clone scan, !seen, timer central, op tools (autoban list, autoop list), Messenger w/ buddylist, Quotes, Away system, weather.com map reader, Tic Tac Toe game, Tanks (Courtesy of Andy), Theme system, and a configurable title bar. In the works are an mp3 player and even an AIM client! This new version looks to be real exciting. Shikkie may need a couple beta testers, so if you are interested, get in contact with him!

The Executive Officer, Rear Admiral Rahj Tharen, is working on an RS planets project. He is compiling system descriptions, planet pictures, and other sorts of information to create a database which is leaps and bounds beyond what we currently have to describe RS fictional territorial holdings. The project is very interesting and shows promise. We'll keep you updated with details as they become available!

Also, as was announced yesterday, another competition is in the works. The focus right now is single player, but it would also be nice to integrate multiplayer into the same competition. You may feel free to begin salivating in anticipation now! More on that as it becomes available.

On the High Command front, a couple of discussions were going this past week, although most seemed to have calmed down for now. With the 3 new XO's that were announced yesterday, we have a full council and everybody seems to be active and cooperative, which is always good news. More information on High Command can be obtained by reading the recently released High Command NewsFlash, of course.

That's all the hard information for now. Thank you all for reading! Keep reporting on those missions, updating those webpages, sending out those squadron emails, and MOST importantly, having fun! That's what this club is all about, and that's what we should be doing. Until next time...

Reach for the stars, and you will find that you can often catch them!

":)
Dave "Raptor" Trebonious-Astoris
Rebel Squadrons Fleet Commander
=The Rebel Squadrons=
...a H.I.E.R.* Organization
*(Honor, Integrity, Equanimity, Respect)

-Commanding Officer, Rebel Squadrons
-Member of the High Command
-Grey Squadron, Grey 5

-Former RS Executive Officer
-Former C.O, Redemption Fleet
-Former C.O, Crusader Fleet
-Former C.O, Kalidor Wing
-Former C.O, Delta Squadron
-Former RS Medals Officer
-Former pilot, Rza Squadron, RgF
-Formerly of many other things

(The Excellency of Service, awarded by MO Mike Bullian)
|//Oo\\| (The Tatooine Suns, awarded by MO Ben Jynzer)
||U|| (The Kessel Kup, awarded by FC Castor)
|**| (The Combat Medal, two stars. Adm Jim and MO Ben Jynzer)
*†* (The Alliance Dagger, one. Awarded by Adm Jim)
^|VCC|^ (The Valiance Combat Citation. Awarded by MO Ben Jynzer)
*V* (Five Year Veteran Service Medal)

"I want you to understand this, and I want future generations to believe it; you and they will do more than adequate service to my reputation if I am held to be worthy of my forebears, careful for your interests, steadfast in danger, and not afraid to be unpopular if I am serving the national good." -Tiberius Caesar