The Aggressor Wing has undergone several changes since the last Newsletter was released unto the general throng of Emperor’s Hammer’s members. I will try to explain and detail everything I can. 

First off: a general overview of the Aggressor Wing. To those who don’t know what the Aggressor Wing is for, we are the Emperor’s Hammer’s elite pilots who utilize X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter to combat the Rebel Squadrons and any other clubs, EH-based or not. We consist of several squadrons, but the real way to categorize the members of the Aggressor Wing is by skill. We are split into two groups: the "Qualified Pilots" and the "Non-Qualified Pilots" (or the Trainees).  

In an earlier Aggressor Wing, the means to Qualify pilots was simple. A Combat Qualifier would meet the Trainee in question on IRC and co-ordinate with them. The Qualifier would host a game of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and give the Trainee their IP Number. Once connected, the two flew a single game, with both pilots flying TIE Fighters. The results of the match determined whether or not the Trainee could become Qualified. 

Now in the new and improved Aggressor Wing, I have, with the help of the Tactical Officer, created a more comprehensive Training Regime. It spans a six-mission battle of sorts. We cover basic ship piloting and combat to capital ship assault and defense. All Trainees are required to complete this course. 

I have also begun the renovation of the Aggressor Wing. When I received command of it (and even before when I was a general member) the pilots were strewn all over in a general manner. I have begun the process of renovating the Aggressor Wing into the way it was originally intended to be. A structure similar to the TIE Corps will be used. 

Recently I have been given the use of the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer/2 Intrepid. Before that I was given the Victory-Class Star Destroyer Aggressor. Currently the Intrepid is the flagship of the Aggressor Wing. I have designated Avenger Squadron the elite of the Aggressor Wing. It will be based on the VSD Aggressor as strictly an honorary position. All members of Avenger will keep whatever positions they have in the rest of the Aggressor Wing. Currently, it contains the Command Flight, Tartarus, which is made up of the four Aggressor Wing Command Staff Members: The Commandant (myself), the Executive Assistant, the Tactical Officer, and the Internet Officer. The other squadron commanders will hold the other eight positions.

In the past few months, the Aggressor Wing has undergone several Command Staff resignation and appointments. When I first received the position of Aggressor Wing Commandant I appointed a Command Attaché to help me with my duties. I decided on then Brigadier General Kessler. He served me more than adequately in his duties. In fact, he earned a promotion to Lieutenant General! During his tenure I renamed the position of Command Attaché to Executive Assistant.  

When Kessler was forced to resign, I chose Fleet Admiral Donitz as his replacement. He served admirably for a short period of time, but elected to leave the position to join the renegade Intruder Wing. 

The Tactical Officer was first held by General Chode, but when his America On-Line account was terminated, I was forced to choose a replacement. I decided on Rear Admiral NiksaVel. He possesses excellent mission building skills. Unfortunately, NiksaVel was recently forced to resign due to the low quality of his Internet Service Provider in Croatia and his lack of extra time in real life. I have chosen Brigadier General Volkov as his replacement.  

The Internet Officer was held by Rear Admiral Stretch for a good deal of time. He served the Aggressor Wing excellently, hosting a great web page for us. Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication and other unhappy things, we agreed to replace him with the recently promoted Major General Kessler. Once again, Kessler was forced to resign, as his position in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy required all of his time. I have appointed Lieutenant General Howlader as his replacement. A new web page will be posted soon. 

The Minos Cluster is a series of star systems that is being contested by the Emperor’s Hammer and the Rebel Squadrons. Grand Admiral Ronin first developed the Minos Cluster; I, with the help of many others, have turned it into a reality.  

Currently the Minos Cluster is under contest only through our "Melee Nights", which take place every Saturday at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. We meet on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) on the Undernet in the channel #EHvsRS.

In these Melee Nights, the pilots of the Emperor’s Hammer and the Rebel Squadrons are invited to fly one another in X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. The matches are scored, tallied, and reported to the person in command (generally myself). At the end of the Melee Night (11 PM EST) the matches are stopped and the winner determined. 

Currently, the Emperor’s Hammer is winning. It has ten wins. The Rebel Squadrons have six wins. There have been two ties so far.  

Some of you may be aware of a rule that has limited the pilots of the Emperor’s Hammer to only Aggressor Wing Qualified Pilots and Infiltrator Wing Elite Guard Pilots. I have decided to rescind this rule, due to the insufficient amount of pilots showing up. I invite all members of the Emperor’s Hammer to show up. 

I plan to have the Aggressor Wing receive the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer/2 Vanguard in the near future. We may also be getting a Modified Corvette for the Phalanx 181^st (the unofficial, Internet Gaming Zone group).  

We will be competing in several events with the TIE Fighter Alliance (TFA) and the other clubs allied with them. I will release details of these later. 

Also, I hope we will be initiating the custom missions to compete for the Minos Cluster. Expect more news on this soon. 

Current Aggressor Wing Roster:

Aggressor Wing Command Staff (VSD Aggressor Staff)

Aggressor Wing Members (Aggressor Squadron)

Aggressor Wing Trainees (Daedalus Squadron)

Command Staff: 4

Qualifiers: 5

Qualified Members: 19

Trainees: 16

Total Member Count: 44 

The Aggressor Wing has grown in leaps and bounds since the former Commandant, Admiral Iver, retired from the Emperor’s Hammer. He helped begin the communications with the Rebel Squadrons (formally known as the Republic Shield). I began my career in the Aggressor Wing as the Tactical Officer, and then was promoted to Iver’s Command Attaché (now known as the Executive Assistant).

When Iver retired, I replaced him as the Commandant. I appointed Brigadier General Kessler as my Executive Assistant. He helped cut out the members of the Aggressor Wing who had retired since Iver’s leave or who didn’t have interest in the Aggressor Wing anymore. This process took about two weeks, but left us with a much better roster. Due to his excellent work with the roster, I promoted him to Lieutenant General.

After the roster work was completed, I began the Minos Cluster Discussion again in earnest. I owe much thanks to Rear Admiral Jim of the Rebel Squadrons for helping me understand what the current status of the Minos Cluster was, since Iver never included me in the discussions.

We finally decided to hold a "Melee Night" every Saturday night at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time as a kind of introduction to the Minos Cluster for members of both sides. The Melee Nights have been a total success. The current standings are 5-4-1, with the Emperor’s Hammer in the lead.

During this period, Kessler was forced to retire from the Executive Assistant position due to his work requirements as the Wing Commander of Wing X and real life concerns. I chose Fleet Admiral Rivian von Donitz as his replacement. I also gave the position of Tactical Officer to Lieutenant General NiksaVel.

We should be beginning to create custom missions to compete against the Rebel Squadrons soon. I am also beginning discussions with a few other on-line groups to compete against. I’m sure that the Aggressor Wing will continue to grow and achieve countless victories. Everyone who owns a copy of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is invited to join up and fight for the glory of the Emperor’s Hammer! 

The looming bulk of the derelict spacecraft floated dead in the deep space of the Minos Cluster. A small cargo-ship had just reentered real space after it’s hyperdrive engines had mysteriously cut off. Being light-years away from the nearest civilized star-system, and without the ability to travel at faster than light speeds, it’s situation was precarious indeed. 

The Captain, Hirgo Fald, of the tiny cargo-carrier made the decision to try and dock with the enormous craft. "Ensign Lire, power up the sub-light engines to full throttle and head for that… thing. Use your scanners to determine possible points of entry." 

Lire complied with the Captain’s orders quickly and efficiently. A low hum came over the craft as the engines powered up. The ship sped toward the monstrous craft.  

A look of astonishment came over Lire’s face. "Captain," he stammered, "I think you’d better have a look at this." 

Fald let out a sigh and walked over to the station where Lire sat. He was expecting some small anomaly, (Lire was a good Ensign, but he seemed unable to work out problems for himself) but instead let out a breath of amazement. 

Suddenly, a red klaxon blared into life. Unfortunately, the humans didn’t have any time to react to it - the small ship was turned into plasma a nanosecond after the klaxon started its death cry. However, another piece of machinery was able to react. A powerful, wide-range, broad-spectrum Holonet message was sent a millionth of a nanosecond before the entire ship was destroyed. 

The message contained a brief call for help, but something more important was inside: information about what the Minos Cluster held in it’s large territories. Gigantic deposits of valuable minerals were plastered in all the star systems.