Location: Sector 01924-45
Status: In the green, waiting for call
Shipbaord relative time: 0630 Hrs
Coruscant Standard Time: 1930 Hrs

The low runnble of the shuttles engines could be heard and felt through the thisck durasteel walls. Slyder placed his hand on the opaque window and felt it course through him. The "Hawk" was no where near as comfortable as his personal shuttle. But why should it be? This wasn't his personal shuttle, it was a boarding craft. Stripped of a Tydirum class's refinements, it has been converted to carry as many troops and weapons as possible. He was lucky enough to be in the cockpit.
"Poor souls sitting in back..." he thought to himself.
"Sir! Reports are comming in now. Would you like the feed?" the pilot shouted over the hum. The battle had begun.
"Yes, patch it through." he replied as the video screen in front of him lit up.
A mobil floating cam that had been dropped by one of the Y-wings gave the boarding craft the opportunity to see the battle as it happend, ensuring they would arrive on time.
Slyder panned and tilted the camera, patrolling it through space. It was so small that the targeting computers werent picking it's presencee up.
The area was relatively empty. An Imperial Nebulon B class Frigate stood in ordinary space. A small group of mines hoverd near the front end. It appeard that there was some damage to that area of the ship, as there was heavy amounts of debris in the area. Slyder assumed the mines were there in order to help protect the ship. He swuung the camera around and saw two corvetts sitting at the other end of the ship, no doubt protecting it's sweet spot. Exactly as they had expected it to be.
A flash of light broke accross the right side of the camera.
"Here they come!" he shouted to no one in particular.
Six Y-wing class fighter/bombers appeard at the center point of the flash, and immediately went to spread formation in order to make it mroe difficult to target them.
Seconds went buy....but no support craft arrived.
"Lieutenant, raise the whiteguard outpost in this sector, request that they send their A-wings immediatly!!!" Slyder barked at the pilot to his right. She turned to her monitor and began talking to it as Slyder turned his attention his screen.
The Ys were now under heavy fire as one group of 3 eyeballs and one group of 3 squints had launched and bore down on them. The wishbones were still 3 clicks away from the frigate when they broke formation. One and two broke high right, three and four low left. Five and six then went high left, and low right repectively. The perfec spread formation exit, to the T. The groups of two broke appart and engaged in their own fighters, as five and six swung back at eachother, catching a lone squint in crossfire. Slyder whinced as one was torna ppart by green lances before his wingmate could help. But as two pulled the trigger, two eyeballs snuck in from his starboard side, and the canopy blew off, sucking the life out of the pilot, and the fighter. Two Y-wings down and no support to speak of yet. He again turned to the shuttle pilot.
"Status on those A-wings!" he yelled.
"General Gah'vor says they are en-rout. ETA 5 minutes!"
A foul look grew on Slyder's facec. Something wasn't right here.
"In 5 minutes, those A's wont be able to do anything, cause there wont be any Y's left to disable that ship!" he shouted as if he were yelling at the General himself.
A birght flash drew Slyder's attention back to the monitor in time to see six get caught in a hail of green fire. Five flew into view and quickly removed the remaining two fighters in the area, and headed to assis three and four, but both were destroyed in a head on collsion as they had the same ship targeted. That was it. They were down to one lone Y-wing. Slyder was about to call the mission off, but as he watched the pilot, he couldn't believe his eyes. The pilot seemed to be one with his ship. It appeard that the imperials were excelent pilots, but unbelieveably, the PBF pilot was better in a much slower, les agile craft. He weaved in and out between the enemy craft. He moved so quickly, that the squints and eyeballs scored several hits on eachother from beeing in the way. Soon enough, the rest of the fighters seemed to be gone. The lone Y'wing danced between the green arcs that were flying twoards him, only taking minmal damge for a split second before his the sheilds on the craft were back online.
The mine field fell quickly, exposing the tender area of the frigate. however, instead of attacking it then, the pilot manuevard over head of the frigate, and straffed the corvettes. With perscision accuracy, he removed the gun turrets from the lumbering craft, and made short work of their sheilds and systems.
Another bright flash this time way in front of the camera.
"Sir, the A-wings have arrived." the Lieutenant mutterd.
Slyder's face was red with anger. They were seven minutes and forty two seconds late. Three PBF piltos were EV, and two were dead because opf their tardieness.
"Get them on the com, now!" he barked.
A patch of static broke through his headset, and the pilot notified him he had contact.
"White Guard one, come in. White Guard one, this is the shuttle Dove, please respond...."
........static.........
Slyder hit the transmit button again.
"White Guard one, do you copy. This is the shuttle Dove, come in White Guard one."
........static.........
The general became extremely frustrated, not knowing wether to jump into the battle in the shuttle to assis, or to pull out his blaster and shoot the communication equipment. He chose neither and proceeded to call again.
"White Guard one, this is the shuttle Dove. Your tardyness today has cost the lives of some of our pilots. If you can hear me, get your sorry asses infront of the turrets on that frigate and protect our last pilot."
Again, there was no responce, but as Slyder watched the monitor, the two small ships turned hard on the frigate, buzzing around it like sand flies over a fresh pile of bantha dung. At least they had heard him.
Slowly but surely, the last Y-wing did run after run on the ever increasingly tender frigate sheilds. Eventually, both A-wings were caught in a hail of fire, and a squad of two more jumped in. They picked up right where the other two had ended, but just as they got there, the craft was disabled.
Slyder turned to his pilots. The first stage of the mission was completed. He felt a tremendous weight removed from his shoulders.
"Punch it! It's time for us to earn our pay!"
The 4 boarding craft made a quick hop into the combat zone, circling oncec, then ehading twoards their respective targets.
"Hawk 1, dooing docking operation with the Frigate." the comm rang.
"Hawks 2 and 3 dooing docking operations on the Corvettes."
Then Slyder pressed the commuunication button.
"Shuttle dove boarding in Hanger one of the frigate, see you White Guard boys aboard."
With half a smile creeping on his face, Slyder stared at the growing figure of the capital shipls hanger in his forward view. He could jsut start to see the movement of imperial troops getting ready for the landing.
He did a quick frequency change, and hailed the remaining Y-wing.
"Yes'sir General?" the pilot replied.
"Excelent job pilot. Can I ask who this is?"
There was a brief pause. No response followed.
"Well...regardless. Good job pilot. Keep us coverd untill the docking operations are completed, then come aboard.

Current News:

1) Paladin Squadron
Yes, there finally is a name for our Aces unit...Paladin Squadron. Reminder, the first 12 members will be selected follwing the end of 406. The top 12 pilots overall will be given the opportunity to join, at which point from 407-410 a new 12 will be choosen. There are some great things shaping together for the unit. Their TOD will be intertwined with the fleets, as well as we are beeing joined by the Katarn Commandos....so get flying and try your best.

2) New PBF SO
With Fion beeing sort of back, but unable to fully return to active duty, we now have a new SO. Please welcome Lt. Colonel Gavin Phalon...Drinks are on him for the week!

3)New Provider CO
After a few weeks of trial runs, we have finally found a new CO for Provider. Give your congrats to Colonel Taan Ronar Hawk. Drinks are also on him this week.

4) New Automated Uniforms
The uniforms office has finally completed their mighty chore of setting up the new unniforms. They are automatically updated when medals are awarded and promotions are handed out. No more requests in the UO to get yours fixed :) You can view yours by logging into your profile on the RDB, and clicking View Uniform. Right now, the PBFf has a blueish color scheme. I have forwarded a new color scheme I came up with to your PBF COs. The pic was made by Vender, and it looks great. White/Silver coat with grey left breast. The sash is a red color with black trimming. If you'd like to see it and voice you oppinions on the experimental color, beg your COs to forward the message.

5) 405...2 weeks!!!
That's right boys and girls....PBF 405 is due the 28th!!! So get your butts in gear. 12 days is all you have left.

Old News:

1) Potential MOD for X-Wing
There has been an extended discussion among the PBF COs about the possibility of creating a MOD or Patch for X-Wing to allow different ships (both starfighters
and Cap Ships and/or Platforms). The PBF CS has authorized Argon Viper and Joseph Oberlander to head up a group to determine whether this can be done for
all gaming platforms. If you are interested in working on this project or have the programming skills to help decide whether a MOD or Patch is doable, please
contact Argon and Joseph directly.

2) Survey of OS & Hardware
There is also an "unofficial" Survey being circulated to determine exactly what people are using for gaming. You are not required to participate in this Survey, but the
Team working on The MOD/Patch would like to have this info. It can also be used, potentially, to help people upgrade their equipment or OS if they want. Send
your info directly to your Squadron CO.

3) Elite Squadron
Gavin Phalon is the CO of the unit and has chosen Dan Rezmann as his XO. The way this works basically is: Over the course of 404-406, the top 12 spots on each
mission will be analized. Those pilots will be awarded points based on criteria set forth by Gavin, including rank in the mission (place) and so on. At the end of that
time, the top 12 pilots from that unit will be selected to be a part of this aces group. It will act as a squadron, but not be a true squadron in the PBF roster. Those
12 pilots will be expected to fly every mission for the PBF AND any mission the aces group flies. This is about being the best in the fleet, and showing us you are.
Failure to complete any of your goals will result in removal from the unit. Then, over the course of the next three missions (months) the top 12 in the PBF will be
re-evaluated. Any members in the elite squad are welcome to continue their stay, but they must re-qualify after every 3 missions.

-----PBF 404 Mission Standings-----

Top Pilot: LCM Daniel Rezmann 40 39,341 Green Squadron
Top Squad: Green Squadron 115 110,659 3 MRs
Top Wing: Hope Wing 229 217,462 6 MRs

-----PBF Medal of Victory-----

The medal awarded for the best overal performance in the current PBF TOD mission.

[<|=(V)=|>]


-----PBF Mission Report Medal-----

[<|=(PBF*MRM)=|>]

The medal awarded for the best written narratives for the current PBF mission.


-----PBF Activity Medal-----

Given to each member of a squad that reported with 75% of it's pilots for the current mission.

{[-PBFA404-]}


Bonus merit for squads flying or sending in a non-flying MR at 100%:
None at this time

-----PBF "Beyond Belief" Ribbon-----

Awarded only to those Pilots who actually Follow Orders:

||[BB--;)


-----PBF Mission Info-----

The current Patriot Battle Fleet mission is:

PBF 405

The deadline for the current mission is:

Sunday July 28th 11:59 pm EDT

You can download the current mission at:

http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/pbf/missions.html

Send reports with pilot files attached to:

pbfreports@yahoogroups.com

Plus your own squadron CO and/or squadron egroup.

The rules for flying the mission are:

1) You may run this mission as many times as you like but you MUST
get the MISSION COMPLETE message and have a valid *.plt file in order
to be eligible for the PBF Medal of victory. In addition, any score
not accompanied by a pilot file for verification will NOT be counted
by the PBF Command Staff.

2) Run the mission as "defect.xwi" ( this will place it as X-Wing
X-Wing TOD 1 Mission 1 ) so that your stats will be recorded in your
*.plt file.

3) Make a new pilot file to run the mission. If you fail the mission
and wish to run it again make sure to use a new pilot file instead of
re-running it with the same pilot. Any pilot file found to be
"unclean" will result in the score NOT being counted by the PBF
Command Staff.

4) Destroying "Friendly" craft to pad ones stats is strictly
prohibited. *.plt files containing "Rebel" craft kills will be
considered invalid.

5) You should also include a written report with your score laser/ion
shots and hits, missile shots and hits and kill totals in the email.

6) Pilot files will be manually calculated using the Official PBF
Standard scoring chart for X-wing. Anyone interested in obtaining a
copy of this chart, can email me to do so.

7) No individual scores will be changed after the deadline! If a
report is submitted that is never received at the report address
given above, it will not be added after the deadline. Neither will
the PBF CO accept a late pilot file. The only thing that can be
changed afterwards are errors made by the Command Staff.

8) There is a Fleet Wide competition based on this tour. Every pilot
who sends in a valid report will receive 1 merit point. The pilot
with the best overall score for the mission will be awarded a special
PBF Top Gun medal, along with receiving a 5 point bonus in the PBF
Merit System. In addition participating members from the squadron
with the best overall combined score will receive 5 bonus merit
points in addition to "Top Squadron" bragging rights. Also, the pilot
with the top score for each squadron (excluding the winning squadron,
and Top Gun) will receive 3 bonus PBF merit points. The reporting
members of the Squadrons on 2nd and 3rd places will get 2 bonus PBF
merit points.

*Note* In the even that the Top Pilot for the mission also happens to
be in the Top Squadron he may only receive the 5 bonus Credits for
one or the other. Same thing applies to each squadron Top Pilot and
2nd and 3rd place squadrons.

9) Mail problems including undelivered mail and corrupted *.plt files
are not the responsibility of the PBF command staff. If your *.plt file
becomes corrupted and you do not include a written accounting,
then your score will be counted as "0".

10) If a pilot retires from the PBF at any time during the course of
an active mission after having submitted a report, his report will no
longer count for his former squadron. He will still receive credit
for running the mission, but will be listed as "Inactive".

11) If a pilot transfers from one PBF squadron to another (such as
attaining a squadron CO position) during the course of an active
mission after having submitted a report, his report will will now
count towards the newfound squadron.

12) Flying/Incentives
After a unanimous decision by the PBF Command group (all COs and XOs at every level) I have decided to implement an incentives program. This was prompted
by the overwhelming number (percentage wise) of reports on 312. The new incentives are as follows:

A) For every squad that reports at 75%, a ribbon will be awarded for that mission. This ribbon will be a small graphic that can be added to pilot uniforms. I haven't
created it yet...but I will be talking to those I need to shortly.

B) For every squad that reports at 100%, the same mission ribbon will be offered, as well as an additional merit point for the mission (not counting top ace, or squad
merits.)

You may ask, "What is required for the reporting.

1) A valid mission file and physical report (same as normal)
2) We know some people can't report in some instances. This will not be held against squads. If it comes to pass that you could not report for any reason, such as
computer issues, you were gone...A properly written narrative will suffice for the flying report. This does not cover, "Oh, I forgot to fly" Or, "I didn't want to fly."
These narratives are for the use of people who cannot fly the mission, and need another method of counting a report.

Guidelines for narratives:
The narrative needs to be more then "I got in my ship, launched, flew around, shot this and this up, went home and drank beers." A quality written narrative (Under
the discretion of PBF command staff looking at reports) needs to consist of some bulk. It can be, however, a report of anything. Since by using this method of
reporting, you weren't able to fly for whatever reason, the narrative DOES NOT have to be about the mission directly. You could write a substantial narrative about
since your hip was damaged, you stuck back to make repairs to join the second wave. Or, since you couldn't fly, you volunteered to join the rescue shuttle to help an
EVA pilot. What you write about is up to you. However, we have command people watching these reports, and they need to be involved, decent reports, or they
will not be counted to the squad total.

Also note: If a squad is at say 10 pilots....the 75% rule would apply to 7 pilots minimum...the 12 pilots per squadron will have no effect. The 75% and 100%
requirements will be based off of the current squad roster...for those that were curious about that.

-----PBF Information-----

1) IRC---

I'd like to invite all pilots, new and old, to take part in whatever
activities they have running in the Rebel Squadron's Bar and Grill,
on the Undernet IRC network; #RS_Bar_and_Grill is the name of the
channel. The Patriot Battle Fleet has it's own channel as well, #PBF.
I spend a lot of time on these channels, and it's a good way to
contact me if you have problems. It's also a good way to meet new
people and gather information about the RS. Make sure you're
connected to an Undernet server, and if you have trouble connecting
to the Undernet, visit the Undernet homepage at:

http://www.undernet.org

To download an IRC program for Windows PCs, and also learn a lot about
how IRC works, visit the homepage of the program mIRC at:

http://www.mirc.co.uk

To download an IRC program for macintosh, visit the ircle homepage at:

http://www.ircle.com

2) Masters of Combat Tactics---
Do you think you're the best? If so, then ComTac might be for you!
ComTac is a set of missions that you can run to increase your ability
level and gain fame! You can download the ComTac missions at:

http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/academy/postgrad/xwcomtac/

3) Operation Lanvarok---
For anyone who wants to fly a bit more than you are now, there's a
group for you. It's called Operation Lanvarok. This group flies the
Academy missions weekly in a storyline. If you're interested in
joining, contact Gabrich Varmer at: varmer@gmx.net

4) X-Wing Mission Building Academy---
If you would like to learn how to build missions for the game this
fleet is based on, join the X-wing Mission Building Academy You can
find more information at:

http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/academy/mba/

MGN Slyder McGrath

--Rebel Squadrons, A H.I.E.R.* organization--
--(* Honesty, Integrity, Equanimity, Respect)--