Josh is sitting at his desk reading what seems to be an endless report of ship and troop counts from the mind of General Kinneer. Seems a large force is gathered at the Gesaril system, which is fitting as an old imperial prison planet. Seems the rumors might actually be true, someone is trying to gather the imperial remnant together. Seems the Arcanus is the contact for this sector, and when we spotted him with the BattleKing it was an accident. The BattleKing was other contact in the area, but we managed to fix that. Rifling though some more notes reveals that General Kinneer might not know everything that's going on. *I don't like the idea of splitting up the fleet, but it's the easiest way to find out information.* Picking up a datapad and entering in some more notes, he hears the door alarmand presses a button to open the door.

"Come" Josh says as he puts down his datapad to greet the person standing at his door.

"Hey Josh, how are ya?" Max says as he strolls into the office and takes a seat in front of the desk. "What's all this?"

"Hey Max, just going over information provided to us by a defecting General. This is supposedly all the ships and troops in the Cluster, but I have a funny feeling that it's either completely wrong, and there's nothing here, or there's alot more that the general didn't know.

"So what is our next move? Search out all this stuff and verify it?"

"Well, kinda. I have Crusader wing stationed at Adarlon. They'll patrol the trade routes there and report back anything of interest. I might leave Retribution here at Kerideph, and I'll take Hope wing off to Yelsain. With Yelsain being home to Jedi at one point, we're sure to find something of interest."

"Sounds good, what do you want me to do?"

"Stay with Retribution for a bit and report on anything you find. I figure when we have enough information to piece together we'll assemble the fleet together again and head out."

"Works for me, I'll head out soon and let everyone know what's going on." Max salutes when he stands up completely and heads out to make his way to the hanger to head home.

Josh stands and salutes as well, then returns to his seat to look over some more paperwork.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
0542 Ship Time
Ship: ISD II Prometheus

Mat just landed his TIE Interceptor on the launch bay after coming to the PBFs assistance.  Well, he thought, we couldnt stay on shore leave too long.  After all, it is nice to get some flying in every now and then.  Mat then walked to the cafeteria and sat down to a nice steaming cup of caf in the pilots lounge in his favorite spot.  As he was staring into empty space, he noticed a brown blob floating around in front of him.  He realized that it was his caf; Mat then realized that the grav plating had gone out again.  He turned to see blobs of booze, food, and other liquids go flying across the room along with people, silverware, trays, and every thing else in between.  A loud BANG was heard from under the deck and everything came crashing down again.  Mat looked around and saw stains everywhere, though he was miraculously unscathed.  Meeting times in not until 1330- Id better get some sleep.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Relative Shipboard time 1330
Meeting room: WindStorm

Josh is sitting near the holoprojector in the center of the room. He hit's a button and is now in a secure broadcast to all ships in the fleet. Hearing the responses that everyone is present, Josh begins the briefing for this next mission.

"According to the information provided to us by the defecting general, we have reason to believe that the White Guard fleet is stationed at Gesaril. Some of you may have heard of this planet, it's an old imperial prison. A fitting place to hide a fleet. Right now I give you Commander David Vaughan, from Intel to brief you further on the White Guard"

Josh hits a button to activate the secure holofeed and David flashes to life across the fleet. "As you might have heard, one of the pirate factions weve encountered here in the cluster is a reformed incarnation of the White Guard.

Several campaigns ago, Patriot Battle Fleet reconnaissance forces discovered an Imperial munitions base in the Halas Sector, which led to Patriot Battle Fleet assault on the position co-ordinated and backed up by the Frigate Rebel Vengeance.

During the assault several unexpected starfighters joined the assault on the Imperial base, which led to negotiations with the group identifying as the White Guard. They claimed to be a rogue group separated from the Rebel Alliance when their commander turned traitor, defecting and betraying them to the Empire.

Eager to gain a potential ally, it was decided to embark on a major capture operation of Imperial shipping, with many of the captured vessels to be presented to the White Guard to restore their faith in the New Republic and help sow the seeds for a more long-term alliance.

So an ambitious operation was launched, with White Guard and Patriot Battle Fleet forces neutralising starfighter defences, while commandos stormed the Imperial Frigate Despoiler II.

The Imperial craft were easily captured, with minimal losses, however the White Guard then executed their own objectives, and opened fire on our troops and ships.

A number of the fleet command staff had personally taken part in the capture effort of the Despoiler II, so the immediate objectives were presumably an attempt to assassinate several ranking officers of the Patriot Battle Fleet at the same time as the capture of the Imperial task force.

After that crushing blow, our commando forces and officers managed to escape, with Patriot Battle Fleet reinforcements helping rescue our ambushed forces.

What followed was a bloody campaign against the White Guard, which were revealed to be a major pirate organisation consisting mostly of Imperial deserters. The Imperial presence in the Halas Sector was originally hunting the Guard before we intervened and sparked the three-sided conflict.

It was only through the dual efforts of the Patriot Battle Fleets military campaign and an undercover operation by Paladin Squadron and the Katarn Commandos that they they were finally defeated.

The head of their military forces, Commander Frenzer, was personally executed by the leader of the organisation, General GahVor, for incompetence, and the General himself was hunted down and killed not long after the White Guard flagship was hulled in a pitched battle against the Valour and the McGrath.

Due to the espionage operation excucted by our undercover forces, much of the organisations internal operations were eroded away, with the military victory shattering the militant arm of the group. And with both the military and organisation leaders dead, that seemed to be the end of it.

The White Guard was dismantled from within and without, and was for all intends and purposes dead. However, that was some time ago, and it seems that someone else has picked up the remaining pieces and moved the reformed group from their original operation zone out in the Enomea Rim to the more highly-trafficked Minos Cluster. " David salutes and signs off ending the holofeed, which turns attention back to Josh"

"We know this fleet has at least one ISD and a frigate, but who knows what else is there. You're mission is to figure out the strength of this fleet, and head home. Do NOT engage any capital ships! You have clearance to destroy any fighters that get in your way of the objective, but do not engage the capital ships. That is a seperate mission. Just identify what is there and head home, we're short on equipment and pilots, so no heroics! You do however have a choice of ships for this missions, we have a couple shielded squints, or the standard A-Wing"

"On a seperate note, Wing commanders, you are each stationed around a planet here in the Cluster, please keep active patrols there and inform me of anything interesting. Misko and Shane, you and Crusader have the planet Adarlon. Max and Retribution, you have this planet Kerideph. While Blazer and Hope will be stationed near Yelsain shortly. "

"You all have your orders, so get some drinks in you now and get a good night sleep for tomorrow. Mission begins at 1400. Pilots, good luck!"

Josh salutes and closes the link down ending the briefing. While watching the pilots exit the room he can't help but wonder just what could be waiting for them at this planet. He can only hope it's not some big trap waiting for them. 


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

":)

Greetings pilots! we had 44 pilots report in, which is a 63% reporting on both missions combined. That's excellent! I know we can do better though. The Squadron race for top gun is heating up, but Sabre takes it again. Blue comes in a close second and Crimson takes third for the Xwing Mission. Congrats to all of you! Those three squads and Green have earned the Squadron Medal of Activity for having over 70% reporting. Congrats to all of you! Hydra takes top squad in the TIE mission, with Blue again very close behind. Congrats! Spokes earns the top gun for the X-Wing mission, while Cantor Jon earns the Top gun in the TIE Mission. Congrats to both of you! The mission report medal goes to <name> for the Xwing mission, and  <name> for the TIE mission. Congrats!

On a separate note, the stage is set for Wing TODS to return. Even if the TOD is only 4 missions long you now have the opportunity to expand this story line and help improve it. Who knows, maybe you'll find that missing bit of info that leads us to the end! I know there are mission builders out there, so ask around, plus you can as anyone on our ITOD team for assistance. 

This new mission is a recon run, so leave the capital ships alone. Yes corvettes count as capital ships. Fighters are fair game, destory as many as you need to to get a MC. Mission is due September 24th. Good Luck pilots!

One other note, at this time I am looking for a Fleet SO, I have already heard from a couple people, but if you feel you have what it takes then please apply through the job application: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/jobs/ 
I will decide who gets the position at the end of this mission.  Also, All command staff, please goto the PBF website and check out the page called "command" It's only available to people who are squad CO,XO,SO, or higher. (Anyone is a CO,XO, or SO position can view it). That page is NOT set in stone, things can and probably will change, but I want you all aware of it and to offer up any suggestions/changes.

All Pilots, to your ships!
================================
The current Patriot Battle Fleet mission is: 

PBF 7.03: Recon at Gesaril

The deadline for the current mission is: 

Sunday September 24th 11:59 pm EDT 

You can download the current mission at: 

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

Send Xwing reports with pilot files attached to: 

pbfreports@yahoogroups.com 

Plus your own squadron CO and/or squadron egroup. 

Send TIE reports with pilot files attached to: 

r2wreports@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 /*.tfr file in order to be eligible for the PBF/R2F 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. Note: TIE missions have their own Battle file, so you will also be flying tour 1 mission 1.

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. Pilot  files containing "Rebel" or "Friendly" 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. Laser padding in TIE missions is strictly forbidden and will result in a 0 score.

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

9) 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. 

10) 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. 


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 beheld 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 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://pbf.rebelsquadrons.org/comtac/ 