***********
Location: aboard the CRS Windstorm
Status: Under attack, heading for hyperpoint
SRT: 1850 HRS
CRT: 1550 HRS

Spokes entered the lift and found a very young officer who looked to be on the edge of panic. "Why aren't you at your battle station?" Spokes asked before hitting the override that would take them both to the Bridge.

"Sir?"

"You hear the klaxons?"

"Yes sir. But, I just came aboard and I haven't even checked in yet."

"Then, you're with me." Spokes rolled out of the lift and onto a Bridge that was loud and frenzied. "Stay with me Lieutenant. If I need anything, you are going to make sure it happens."

Captain Don Moori was barking out orders and assignments as rapidly as anyone could, so Spokes decided not to distract him with any help. Lt. Donald Veit, the Windstorm's Tactical Officer would be more likely to be able to answer questions anyway. "Veit, what's our status?"

"Not good. Real not good. The Echo Hawk is taking a serious pounding, but should reach the hyperpoint soon. We're not so lucky ... the fighters are making their bombing run from directlt aft. We can't get a lock on them before they pump their torps into us." Veit had not taken his eyes off the tactical display and Spokes turned to the the Comm Officer just as a loud "Whump" reverberated through the big Cruiser.

Spokes lifted his personal comm unit. "EK? What the hell was that?"

"It's bad." The background noise of secondary explosions and people screaming back and forth all but drowned out the Fleet SO. "We took that last barrage directly in the launch bay. Everything that was prepped is gone. I can have a pair of A-Wings launched in a couple o' minutes, but we'll have to do it manually."

"Stay on it and keep me posted." Spokes shut down the contact and opened a channel to the snubfighters already in the air. "Focus on the fighters attacking the Windstorm. You'll have some help soon."

"Copy that."

Spokes turned to the Captain. "How long?"

"It's going to be close......" And, he turned back to the chaos that was the Bridge.

*****

Location: aboard the CRS White Dragon, White Guard command vessel
Status: Green, co-ordinating attack
SRT: 1850 HRS
CRT: 1550 HRS

Commander Frenzer took in the reports with a smile. They had managed to catch the Patriot Battle Fleet's Flagship holding steady. It would take it a while just to start moving. "Launch the first wave of X-Wings and tell them to focus on the big ships."

"Aye, sir." An ensign acknowledged. Our Frigates report that they are inflicting heavey damage already."

"Good. This time, they'll pay...."

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

Paladin Squadron is currently engaged in a covert Op. A Post-Mission debriefing will be issued, should they make it back.......

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

1) Lieutenant Colonel Gav Phalon has returned to the PBF and his PBF XO position. Thank you to all who submitted applications for the XO Spot. I will keep them on file.

2) The PBF Rules of Engagement have been revised to be a bit clearer. No substantive changes were made, but you may wish to review them at the PBF Missions Page. They are also set out below.

3) PBF 409 "White Guard Attack" is 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 Current Standings for PBF 409:


-----PBF 409 Current Mission Standings-----

Top Pilot: Capt. Jordi Fett 35 74,044 Green Squadron
Top Squad: Blue Squadron 233 493,892 11 (A Very Impressive Showing)
Top Wing: Valor Wing 405 844,279 20 (Also impressive)


-----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. FAILED MISSIONS count towards Squadron & Wing totals & activity. In addition, any score not accompanied by a pilot file for verification will NOT be counted by the PBF Command Staff. The PBF Command Staff may require additional verification when deemed necessary.

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 each time you 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 and will be reported as "0".

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 Patriot Battle Fleet 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 after the deadline are errors made by the Command Staff.

8. There is a Fleet Wide competition based on this tour. Every pilot submitting a valid report will receive 1 merit point. The pilot with the best overall score for the mission will be awarded the PBF Medal of Victory, along with receiving 5 points in the PBF Merit System. In addition participating members from the squadron with the best overall combined score will receive 5 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 PBF merit points. The reporting members of the Squadrons in 2nd and 3rd places will get 2 PBF merit points. The Pilot who receives the Mission Report Medal for the best Narrative will receive 5 merit points.

*Note* In the event that the Top Pilot for the mission also happens to be in the Top Squadron he may only receive the 5 Merit Points for one or the other. Same thing applies to each squadron Top Gun 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 "Independent". If a former member of the PBF submits a mission report without "rejoining" a Squadron, the score will be listed as "Independent".

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.

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,

LGN Tyrell "Spokes" Borran
PBF CO

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