Josh was sitting at his desk staring at reports of all types including damage and casualties, of which there were many. "How could I have been so foolish?" A question asked to no one but yes he still expected an answer. Letting out a long sigh he dipped into his bottle that he brought back from Derra IV, a bottle that is almost empty he noticed. He shrugs and downs what's left in the bottle and tosses the empty into the trash been at his feet. "Now what do I do?"

Not hearing the door alarm, and not seeing MacMan walk in made for an interesting kick start of Josh's heart. Especially when Mac answered, "We send the Injured ships and people back to Greeop and continue our search."

Josh snapped out of his own thoughts and almost reached for his blaster, that conveniently he doesn't carry anymore for this reason. "Aye, Load up the Hawk with all the casualties, and have them escort the Ghost and the Warden back home. I'll let the old folks home know what's going on."

"So what's our plan now? Everyone's here except Max and the retribution crew, any idea what's holding them up?" Mac asked as he took a chair and started looking at all the casualties and frowning.

"Max made mention that they found a convoy that heavily guarded. he's going to check it out real quick and then report back. We should begin repairs as soon as we can here. That attack was too well thought out and too easy. We're lucky to come out alive."

"Aye, and Biggie's X-wing was miss wired, we're looking into now. There might be a spy on board, or it could be coincidence. I won't know until the report comes in."

"I guess I never took these guys serious enough, I didn't expect anything like this to happen. If I still have my job after this it'll be amazing. The pilots did a great job defending us, they prevented a lot more damage than we could have sustained. Now we get to rebuild the fighters."

"We'd be fools to think they won't attack now. They were using imperial tactics, and that means they'll try and put down the injured animal."

"Aye, well get a couple pilots out in yacks and have them escort the Hawk and company until they hit hyperspace. Have them also keep an eye on the McGrath too, her shield generator took a hit. Contact Haven if we need anything, there should still be some folks friendly to the new republic there who are willing to help."

"Shall do chief." Mac got up and snapped a quick salute and started to walk out.

Josh returned the salute, "Hey mac?", when Mac turns back to face Josh he continues, "Thanks for everything Mac."

Mac smiles, "No problem."  and turns to walk out and head back to the bridge to give the orders needed to get us out of this mess.

"Ugh,  I've been a fool. That General told us what he knew, but they didn't tell him everything. They must have known he would defect. A pilot of the Derra IV massacre, one that just wants to retire. So who would his boss be?" Another statement to the absent air around him. This time an answer didn't come. So now Josh was left to his thoughts and an empty bottle to find a replacement for. Plus he needs to send a message to the old folks home, they won't be happy.
Pressing a couple of buttons on a computer Josh begins recording his message.

++++Priority Code: Beta+++
---Encryption: Yes, Access: RS Command----

===Begin Message:====

	Report from the Cluster, LGN Joshua Hawkins PBF CO.

Taken casualties and damage by ambush. Sending Crimson Ghost back to Eagles Nest for repairs. Sending Echo Hawk back with casualties, and having the Warden escort both. Request they be sent back immediately upon completion of repairs and their current mission.

Ambush imperial in tactics, we're not dealing with a simple pirate group. Defecting General Kinneer not told everything about strength. He told what he knew, but they didn't tell him everything.

Request any information on the attack at Derra IV. General Kinneer believes the people involved here were also involved in the ambush.

With regrets, report end.

====End of line======


*********************************************************************

Apologies for the late mission folks. It's been a busy month for your CO, and it's going to get busier yet I'm afraid. Please fly the missions as soon as you can, so if there are any bugs I can fix them immediately. The missions are passable but the Xwing might be too tough for some. TIE mission is passable, but I'm not entirely sure about the secret and bonus goals. 

Speaking of, the Xwing mission has folks in a y-wing. Since I know there aren't many of those missions around I figured this was a good one to do. TIE mission you're in a gunboat, cause well I wanted a gunboat mission. :)

Anyway, merits and medals were already handed out. Now it's time for the promotions. There's a few here, and these aren't immediate in case anyone wants to object. If I don't hear from you in a couple of days You're getting promoted whether you like it or not. :)

First up, Gavin Starseeker, For your dedication to Gold, your skill to challenge Spokes and Damon for the Top Gun, and for your desire to make a Gold TOD, (And possible help out the MBA when it starts up) This is truly earned. I here by promote you to 1st lieutenant. Congrats Seeks, drinks are on you.

Maj Bonaparte, from the time of your return you have offered to help out here in the PBF as well as other parts of the RS. For your dedication and hard work, I am honored to promote you to Lieutenant Colonel. Congrats Bones!

David Vaughan, this psycho has almost single-handedly straightened out the RS fictionally. For work that I can't even understand, and for your dedication to the RS and everything we are, I am very honored to promote you to colonel. Congrats!

Maj. Hermann, for your help in the PBF as mission maker and for helping me fix a variety of mission mistakes I have done. I am pleased to promote you to Lieutenant Colonel. Congrats Hermann!


Pilots! To your ships!


================================
The current Patriot Battle Fleet mission is: 

PBF 7.05X "Return to the Nest"

& 

PBF 7.05T "Curiosity" 

The deadline for the current mission is: 

Sunday December 10th 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/ 