Mission Briefing - PBF 4.09

***********
Location: aboard the CRS Windstorm
Status: Green, holding steady
SRT: 1825 HRS
CRT: 1525 HRS

Spokes was sitting in Slyder's office, holding the last batch of reports Chris Earthkeeper had just handed him, and giving the Second Officer a look of reproof mixed with resignation. EK just grinned back, not bothered by the tired look in Spokes' eyes. "Here are those after action reports you were looking for, sir."

"Thank you, Commander," Spokes sighed as he poured the last of Sly's good whiskey into a glass, "Anything especially interesting you'd like to point out to me before I get started reviewing them all?"

"Well, there's just a few notes here and there. It'll only take a few minutes to point them out."

"Spokes gestured to a chair, "Let's get started."

The door to the office swung open and Rahj strolled in and started talking before anyone could even think to salute. "Slyder has been declared MIA, so, Spokes, you just got promoted. Don't screw anything up."

"Aye, but Sly has the Intel we need." Spokes stated before the RS Fleet Commander could leave.

"Perhaps, but if he has it, then you'll have to make do without. Carry on." Rahj said as he turned and headed straight back to his shuttle.

EK looked across the desk at Spokes and said, "I don't think congratulations sounds quite right..."

"No, it doesn't. Especially since Slyder's mission was confidential. We couldn't mount a rescue Op if we wanted to."

*****
Location: aboard the ISD Judicator, deep space navigation point
Status: Green, picket duty
SRT: 1827 HRS
CST: 1527 HRS

"We have a Rebel Squadrons shuttle on our scopes, sir!" And ensign called out, reading a shuttle entering their picket area.

Captain Wynwyth looked up, suddenly interested in his duty and ordered, "Pin him down - don't let him get away, and TRY to bring the pilot in alive, this time."

"Sir, he's moving into the asteroid field. Our fighters report difficulty keeping up with him"

"He's in a shuttle. They had better keep up with him, or they'll be coming back to court martials!" The Captain pounded the console with his gloved fist, making several ensigns jump. "Just shoot him down and bring him in!"

*****
Location: General McGrath's personal shuttle, enroute from Bakura
Status: Yellow, in asteroid field
SRT: 1834 HRS
CRT: 1534 HRS

Slyder swore as he locked down another sparking panel. He had lost the two fighters that had gotten the drop on him as he came through system, by hiding in the asteroid field that had brought him out of hyperspace to begin with. That's where the good news stopped. Half of his onboard systems were dead or dying. Fortunately, nothing that impaired maneuvering or fighting, but the comm was slagged. Even if help had been available, calling for help was no longer an option. The proximity indicators beeped, and he dropped the quick-fix he was working on to shift the shuttle out of the way of a large, whirling asteroid. His sensors flickered, and brought up the silhouettes of two TIE Interceptors. It looked like they hadn't seen him yet, and he could stay out of their sights all day - but as soon as he left the asteroid field, he'd be spotted again. "This is not part of the plan." He said to no one in particular...

*****
Location: aboard the CRS White Dragon, White Guard command vessel
Status: Green, ready for attack
SRT: 1835 HRS
CRT: 1535 HRS

An ensign at the edge of the bridge pit stood by his console and saluted, "Sir, we've got the Unforgiver and the Courageous reporting in right now. They say they're fully operational
and ready to go on your order."

Commander Frenzer nearly smiled and placed a hand on the command console, looking at the readouts. "Excellent. We're going to hit them hard and fast and finally turn the tables on them. I'm sick of playing hide and seek and getting the worst end of the deal. We're going to end this little game once and for all. We launch in two minutes!"

Over at the communications station, another crewman reported, "Sir, we have a report from the Judicator. They've pinned a Rebel Squadron shuttle down in the asteroid field. Requesting..."

Frenzer interrupted the report. "Forget the shuttle. It can limp back on it's own. It will be too late to do anything useful. Recall the fighters and jump on my mark."

*****
Location: aboard the CRS Windstorm
Status: Red Alert, launching fighters
SRT: 1845
CRT: 1545

"Now, this pilot, well, we're going to have to keep an eye on him. This is the third time he's been placed on report and by two different officers. This time he's gone and... " EK was interrupted when the claxons began to flash and blare. A voice over the comm said, "All fighters to your ships! All fighters to your ships! White Guard Frigates have hypered in! We are under attack!"

Without a word, both officers dropped the reports. EK scrambled for the hangar and Spokes headed for the bridge.

*************
Paladin's Status

DEEPSPACE
CORVETTE GROUP PERSECUTOR

Rezmann looped his A-wing back around, just in time to see the two captured corvettes make heir jump into hyperspace. They were away! Checking his displays he noticed only one target close enough to be an immediate threat. Rez pulled the A-wing into a hard turn, coming up on the tail of the White Guard X-wing and pumped it full of red light., the explosion marking yet another kill to be painted on the side of Rezmann’s cockpit. Checking his sensors, to double-check his own safety, Rez pulled back on the hyperdrive lever and stars turned to starlines...

ASTEROID FIELD IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (MERCILESS KRAYT DEN)

A small base had been set up on one asteroid, well defended and making the perfect hide out for smugglers or pirate groups. Indeed, the base could accommodate four corvettes, and a squadron of starfighters along with the odd transport craft, which is exactly what currently filled the hangars at the moment. A state of the art magnetic/particle holographic shield protected the hangar entrance. The shield a specialised piece of equipment, that made a perfect image of an asteroid side, masking the entrance from casual observations. The high metal content of the asteroid making it almost impossible for anything other than the most sensitive and thus expensive scanners to detect the base hidden within. The base itself, contained amongst other things a paint shop, with each and every star-fighter having all markings even remotely identifying them as PBF fighters removed, and replaced by custom paint jobs. Corvettes Phalon I and II were undergoing similar modifications, having their identities changed, being fitted out to now carry a pair of star fighters, a method many small groups used to allow their pilots down time whilst still in transit. Corvettes Persecutor I and II were both being completely searched by both the Katarns and NRI agents for any information possible, not to mention also being modified for the part they would play in bringing the White Guard to their knees.

Deeper inside the base were the crew quarters, medical center, mess hall with obligatory bar, and briefing room. It was in the latter that all of the Paladin pilots had assembled. Dev and Rez stood at the front, standing next to fourteen boxes, each with a name and rank on them. None of the names were familiar.

"G’day all, you are probably wondering why we are here and not back aboard the Rebel Vengeance like your jump co-ordinates said you should be." Rez began. "Well it is simple, as of this moment you are not who you were before the last mission. I have next to me 14 boxes with new uniforms and identities. As of now we are to be known as a pirate organisation called the ‘Merciless Krayts’. Over the next few weeks we will be running several operations against PBF convoys. This will be our way of gaining supplies, and also maintaining our cover. Slyder has agreed, along with a trusted crew to stage several pirate attacks, each time we will board the supply ship after we disable it, and each time the Rebel Vengeance or Windstorm will arrive to ‘drive us away’, but only after we have had enough time to transfer supplies, or obtain the latest orders. It may also be necessary to occasionally raid Imperial groups, though in this case the actions will be real and we may completely take the ships."

Rez watched the curious looks begin to form on the faces of the Paladin pilots.
"Why are we doing this you may ask. It is simple. It has been detirmined that the best way to weaken the White Guard is to strike it from within. Our role is to infiltrate the White Guard as a pirate group. To meet these ends we needed to capture the two corvettes which were determined to contain vital intelligence about the location of their ships."

"As we speak." Dev took over speaking whilst Rezmann drank a glass of water. "Slyder McGrath is currently leaking the location through NRI operatives the location of the White Guard’s star destroyer. It is expected that the Empire will try to run their own show here and claim the kill them selves as a matter of personal pride. We are banking on this to happen to make our own mission less complicated. The ‘Merciless Krayts’ will jump in during the battle to assist the White Guard by destroying as many Imperial ships as possible. Now this meets two ends, the first is that we should gain the trust and or friendship of the White Guard, secondly, it allows us the chance to strike at the Imperials, who have been building up their forces to use against us once the truce between us is broken."

"It is the first objective that is our primary concern." Rez resumed. "So what ever you do, do not fire upon the White Guard. Whilst we await confirmation of this mission, I want everybody to learn their new names, make sure that you get them right, and also make sure you know your past. NRI operatives are on base to assist you in acting out your covers. In the meantime I want everybody to take the box from the top and work left then down in squadron order for your uniforms and ID’s" Rez concluded the briefing.

BULK FREIGHTER CHISHOLM
DEEP SPACE TWO WEEKS LATER

"Ok thanks Sly, we’ll launch the mission to coincide with the Imperial attack, we’d better run, the Rebel Vengeance has just shown up time for us to escape, your clutches!" Rez commented, taking the datacards with orders and details of the White Guard’s operations.

Several minutes later, the Corvette Phalon 1, now known as the ‘Merciless Dragon’ detached itself from the freighter and made for the jump point at maximum speed, firing token shots in the general direction of the Frigate Rebel Vengeance as it did so, the capital ship replying in similar fashion.

MERCILESS KRAYT DEN

LCM Daniel Rezmann, otherwise known as Supreme Baron Dash Gessle addressed his pilots, and several of the Katarn commandos.

"This is it people, we strike today. Attack only Imperial targets. I want the Katarns to capture a corvette or freighter belonging to the Imperials, we will donate this to the White Guard as a sign of our good faith. The Corvette Merciless Dragon will join the fight and attempt to organise a meeting with the White Guard leaders. Protect anything they may send to meet us. The imps are sending three Frigates to take on a star destroyer, we need to drive them back, destroy one if you can. We will be using both X-wing and Y-wing fighters in this attack. Everybody make sure you remember your names and callsigns, we don’t want to blow our cover before we can use it. Everybody to your ships." Rezmann concluded the briefing.

************
NEWS:

1) Lieutenant General Slyder "Ice" McGrath has gone on reserve due to some very positive changes in his RL. Unfortunately, RL has absorbed all his free time. Thanks for everything Sly! You had a knack for reminding everyone that we are here to have fun and I'll do my best to carry on that tradition. Hopefully, you'll get to a point where you can come back a fly. Until then, Enjoy!!!

2) The PBF XO position is Open and I am taking applications. Everyone is encouraged to apply, but I want each applicant to submit their previous Command Experience (RS and otherwise), any IO skills, mission-building skills and what your goals are for the PBF. Including any ideas that will increase activity or recruitment would be appreciated. I hope to fill the XO position by the end of the month.

3) PBF 409 "White Guard Attack" will be due January 26, 2003. Narratives will be due on January 31, 2003. This long time span should allow everyone to enjoy the holidays, get resettled in work or school, and still have time to fly and report or draft a Narrative. Starting February 1, 2003, we will again be on the "3 weeks flying, 1 week narrative" schedule.

Here are the Final Standings from PBF 408:


-----PBF 408 Mission Standings-----

Top Pilot: BGN Garrik 'Face' Loran 59 59,550 Red Squadron
Top Squad: Green Squadron 414 388,596 9
Top Wing: Hope Wing 642 612,874 18

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

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

Garrik "Face" Loran

[<|=(V)=|>]

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

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

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

Nils Omar ad Handansira

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

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

{[-PBFMoA-]}

Gold
Green

Bonus merit for squads flying or sending in a non-flying MR at 100%:

None at this time

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

The current Patriot Battle Fleet mission is:

PBF 4.09

The deadline for the current mission is:

Sunday January 26, 2003, 11:59 pm EST

Narratives are due Friday January 31, 2003, 11:59 pm EST

You can download the current mission at:

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

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 TO 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 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.

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 oplanvarok@yahoogroups.com

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/

Out for now,

MGN Tyrell "Spokes" Borran
PBF CO

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