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Wing XIII
Wing
XIII New Year’s Newsletter January 7, 2001 Aboard
the Bridge of the ISD-II Grey Wolf Wing Commander Chrusos Ichthys stands before the
great view port of the bridge of the ISD Grey Wolf and looks down the nose of
the Grey Wolf into the starry future. Ichthys wonders where the Grey Wolf should go next? He looks to Commodore Cyric, who is sitting
comfortably in the command chair and going through various reports. To chart a course for the future, it helps to know
where the Grey Wolf has been. What was
the GW like 365 days ago? So much has
changed. One year ago, Kessler was Fleet Officer. Sarok was ASF BGCOM. Bilbo was Grey Wolf Commodore. Javelin had recently become Wing Commander
XIII, stepping up to replace the recently departed RA FireFox/SSD Avenger. Vortex CMDR was Slage who had just taken the
squad from Kermee; Brakka and Sarn Erec were his able right-hand men and
NiksaVel was temporarily chilling as a Vortex FM. Phoenix was commanded by ATX.
Crusader was under Satai Dukat who replaced the recently promoted WC Shups of
Avenger Wing I. Shups had led Crusader
with Tiger and Smitroc as his capable FLs. Odin fell under Kaji Ryoji’s domain
and Death was his second in command.
Tartarus was led by the Buu-miester and freelance death-distributor Seggybop
and Klick Sabre led Tartarus on the flying flont. Coursca led Valkyrie.
Despite the new appointment of WC XIII Javelin and Vortex CMDR Slage,
things were about to change – dramaticly.
Please note that at this time, the Grey Wolf numbered about 38-42
pilots. Dragoon seemed an unattainable
FCHG goal. Only Crusader had squadron
citations – and the number of the citations was 2. For reasons unknown, Bilbo decided to step down from
COM GW. RL difficulties consumed
Javelin and he too resigned from TC.
But the seeds of change were in place.
By January 16, 2000, the GW had new leadership. The former Commander of WingXIV, Cyric
became COM/RA GW. He immediately
appointed his best CMDR, Woobee of Asp, to be WC XIII. Also to be mentioned - Brucmack joined Odin
from the Zone shortly before this; Marcin Szydlowski joined Crusader shortly
after Cyric and Woobee took the GW helm.
The Grey Wolf lay sleepily in space – like an egg lying quietly in a
nest. In February, the egg began to
rock. Slage and his friend from Asp, LT
Darwin Matir set up IRC channels #EH_ASF and #WingXIV and used these channels
to run a weekly melee comp “The Vengeance Comp” on Tuesdays in #EH_ASF. SureFire was a bot Matir made to organize
this comp (SureFire’s primary purposes were to be an X substitute, to arrange
melee matches and to record melee scores.)
The most frequent participants were Shups, Tiger, Smitroc and a newbie –
ShadowHawk - from the SSD Avenger and Brucmack from Odin. When Satai Dukat was promoted to WC of some
Sovereign Wing, Major Woobee appointed the newly promoted LCM Brucmack to be
CMDR Crusader (Feb 18). This created
some furor among the long-standing FLs in WingXIII. Not only had Brucmack never been an FL, but he also had barely
been in TC seven weeks. On an unrelated
note, FL Brakka left Vortex to be an FL in Sadhe Wing V to be with his friend
and former CMDR. Another small but significant
event happened in February. A CT joined
and graduated Daedalus on February 11.
He was assigned to Wing VI on the Sov.
On February 12, he earned an LoC in OR night. Nearly a week passed with no communication from his CMDR, despite
the 3-4 inquiries the young SL had sent.
He met Klick Sabre on the Zone and soon thereafter transferred to
Tartarus. He sent a flood of IWATS
courses and pilot files to his CMDR Seggybop.
He participated in the active Wing Comp and the ASF Comp. The Vortex CMDR, Slage, openly questioned
why a newly transferred-in SL had an LoC (rather, why this LoC-winning SL was
still an SL). When BGCOM Sarok noticed that an SL participated in the ASF Comp
and immediately responded when e-mailed a query about that comp participation,
Sarok promoted the young SL to LT (February 22). Commander Slage took this new LT under his wing to be his FL 2-1
in Vortex (February 25). Another event took place in
February that shook up the Grey Wolf.
At the end of the month, BGCOM Sarok retired. On about February 25, Priyum Patel became BGCOM of the ASF. As the former CMDR of Avenger elite, the ASF
waited with bated breath to see what changes he would bring to ASF. BGCOM Priyum Patel appointed COL
NiksaVel/Vortex to be Avenger elite CMDR. Many events happened in March that
also added to the stew brewing aboard the Grey Wolf. It had long been a myth that ASF CMDR slots were inherited and
held for life. The Ides of March came a
little late – but they served to dispel that myth forever. The Commanders of Phoenix and Odin
were staying a bit scarce. ATX finally
told WC Woobee that he was stepping down due to RL constraints. Also in March, CMDR/CPT Coursca was doing
his habitual name-calling of people with foreign vulgarities. ShadowHawk took Coursca to task. Coursca replied with various forms of ops
abuse, involving kicking and banning.
Logs of these activities were sent to the channel administer (COM Cyric)
who immediately took action to get Coursca to cease this oppressive form of
behavior. When Coursca would not, Cyric
removed him from Commander. The two
CMDR slots opened at the same time.
While WC Woobee was accepting applications, CMDR Slage became CA:RO VA
Slage; Vortex CMDR position was also now open.
Slage posted a note on the Wing Message Board saying his good-byes and
nominating LT Ichthys to be the next Vortex CMDR. Woobee replied with an affirmative, stating directly that he
would place Ichthys in charge of Vortex.
A furor broke out in WingXIII among those who had been FLs for some
time. Who would be the next CMDRs? There were an unprecedented number of open
CMDR slots – THREE! Maybe four! What
would happen to the CMDR of Odin, Kaji Ryoji, who had been taking much leave
and overextending his reported return times of late? The day came when WC Woobee
announced his decisions for the CMDRs.
He chose LCM Darwin Matir from Asp to lead Valkyrie, an unknown, CPT
Fels, from the Sov to lead Phoenix and Ichthys to lead Vortex. Death and Sarn Erec were incensed and felt
unappreciated. Ryoji finally
capitulated and resigned. Odin opened.
Since the Grey Wolf was down to 35 members, Woobee closed Odin. Death left Odin
for Avenger squadron. Sarn Erec left
Vortex to be with Brakka and Sickman in Sadhe.
Now the Grey Wolf stood at 33 pilots, including Commodore Cyric. March ended on a low note for the
ISD Grey Wolf. April didn’t begin much
better. Priyum’s plan to register
#EH_ASF came to be on April 8. X came
to roost in #EH_ASF and Priyum set strict guidelines for X access. As channel creator, CMDR Matir did not
appreciate the low access he was given and he became highly upset. </mild
under-statement> After narrowly avoiding a field court martial by the HIGH
INQ, Matir decided to take a day or three vacation to chill out. When he came back from vacation, he noticed
that Cyric had removed him from CMDR Valkyrie.
Matir immediately went back to Asp where he proceeded to go AWOL. So ended Matir’s illustrious 13 day career
as a Wing XIII CMDR. But things began to look up for
the Grey Wolf. New pilots were coming
in – from Daedalus and from other places.
Pilots began actively competing for CMDR positions – not just applying
and waiting. DaWurm came from the
Relentless, SCUD from Daedalus, Raven Arestar while still in Avenger and
another very new face, Khadgar in XIV began vying with Klick Sabre for CMDR
Valkyrie. Ultimately Klick Sabre was
selected to be CMDR – but it is a tribute to friendship of all these pilots
that SCUD and Khadgar transferred to Valkyrie to be the new FLs. Imperial Storm begun – and in the
first conflict, the GW was lost with all hands. GW pilots fought bravely but the damage inflicted upon the enemy
was minimal. But the excitement
generated by that first conflict set in motion the true creation of the Naval
Corps. On April 16, BGCOM Priyum set in
motion the first ASF Supremacy Comp.
The Grey Wolf pilots bounded off like wolves hounding after easy
prey. Ichthys noted that free missions
were the “Single Player money-making” items of the ASF:SC-I and encouraged the
wing to fly as many as possible.
Brucmack discovered that Zone matches counted as participation in an EH
comp – and wins would be accorded LoCs.
A new gold mine had been found.
During this ASF Supremacy Comp, Brucmack, who had become the third pilot
(after Shups and Havoc) to reach 100 LoCs, now rocketed his way to 400
LoCs. He became the first possessor of
the newly created title “Top Gun”. Midway through the ASF:SC,
Seggybop stepped down from Tartarus.
DaWurm, SCUD, Khadgar and Arestar again competed for the CMDR slot. SCUD won out but the battle had been much more
intense. Tartarus gained much in the
ASF:SC (SCUD was the highest scoring pilot at the ASF:SC half mark), but
Valkyrie lost some of its competitiveness.
New pilots like DarkAlpha and ToughPhoenix were too new to really get
into flying hard. Toward the end of the ASF:SC,
Fells stepped down from Phoenix CMDR.
RL had been pressing hard on him and he had been unable to contribute
much to the Grey Wolf’s strong showing.
Another round of intense competition and Khadgar was selected as CMDR
Phoenix. Although at the beginning of
April, the Grey Wolf had a mere 32 pilots – by the end of the Supremacy Comp,
the Grey Wolf had grown to 44.
Squadrons, especially Vortex and Crusader, were filling and maintaining
12 pilots. (Vortex began April with 6 pilots; by 1 May it was at 12. Some were new comers – like Azazel, Achim
Schwarick and Raxis Krieger and Raven Lockholme; others were pilots looking for
a more active but friendly wing – like Deamon and Brakka) During May, Cyric initiated two
more EH intramural comps to train pilots.
Both of these took place on Wednesdays.
The Greenwich Wolf Comp and the Wednesday ASF Compeach began with the
first Wednesday of May. Participation
was good and it was a good source of LoCs for ASF pilots. The Greenwich Wolf
comp was set at a timeframe more conducive to Europeans so that they would have
opportunity to fly. The Grey Wolf had handily won the
first ASF:SC and it went ranging on for other game. It challenged its former leaders, FireFox and Shups, to a ship
FCHG race between the ISD Grey Wolf and the SSD Avenger. This month-long race was somewhat intense;
but in the end, the Wolf Pack howled in glee over its victory. Although the Avenger began with twice the
FCHG points of the Grey Wolf, the Wolf had narrowed the gap considerably. In June, the ship continued to
grow. When the Grey Wolf reached 48
pilots, WC Woobee re-opened Odin.
DaWurm was its new Commander.
Raxis Krieger and DarkAlpha went to Odin to help it grow and be active. Then things changed. CMDR SCUD or Tartarus decided to go on leave
for the summer. Ghost Rezdar took his
place. CMDR Klick Sabre thought the
Naval Corp offered many more exciting possibilities and decided to devote full
attention to the Navy. He became COM of
a Naval Craft with its accompanying promotion to RA. Gravin took his place CMDR
Brucmack decided to go on leave for the summer. Ya-qoob stepped up to take his place. More importantly, WC LC Woobee decided he hadn’t time to run an
active wing like XIII was becoming, so he stepped down. The recently promoted VA Cyric appointed
Ichthys to head WingXIII on July 4. Azazel became Vortex CMDR to place
the newly promoted Ichthys. But somehow
the wing had not reach stability.
Gravin decided he hadn’t the time to be CMDR. Ichthys appointed Brakka to head Valkyrie. DaWurm also had some RL difficulties and
stepped down from CMDR. Raxis Krieger
stepped up to take his place. Raven
Arestar saw the continued activity WingXIII and joined Vortex. The UPA/EH war commenced. Many WingXIII pilots participated – but it
was obvious that the UPA outclassed EH pilots in skill and piloting
ability. Ichthys saw that more training
was needed. Intramural EH training was
not enough. Another FL – Mind_Ender, Krayt/WingXIV
was notable by his presence and high participation. In August, the LSF/EH War
ensued. Fewer EH pilots participated –
but Arestar still won a Bronze Star out of the deal. Rezdar decided he couldn’t devote the time necessary for good
squadron management and stepped down.
Phoenix was appointed the new CMDR of Tartarus. Azazel had a serious back injury and temporarily
stepped down from CMDR. Achim Schwarick
took his place. During the summer, the ASF tried
its hand at its own MP campaign and Operation: Dark Hammer raged on. It began,
stalled with the development of an unexpected funeral and then re-started and ran
to completion in October. The element
commanded by the Grey Wolf led the entire campaign and then gambled its lead
away with a costly final fray. Also during the summer, Crusader Squadron
while led by Ya-qoob was greatly enabled by the activity of Marcin
Szydlowski. “Mike” Szydlowski
encouraged Crusader pilots to fly both MP and SP incessantly. For its great MP and SP flying, Crusader won
WC’s Own for August and September. Considering the humiliating loss
to LSF in the LSF/EH war and the other loss to UPA, Ichthys decided it was time
to move to the Zone. He encouraged a
number of pilots to fly with him on he Zone.
EH ranked 22 out of the 26 active clubs flying that WoW. In September, Brucmack returned
from leave and relieved CPT Ya-qoob from CMDR Crusader. Operation: Dark Hammer raged on. WingXIII challenged WingXV now under the
command of MAJ Mind_Ender to a Zone-based contest. WingXIII did very well in the Zone. But Mike had acquired a taste for commanding an active squadron
and soon Brucmack moved to Tartarus.
Phoenix developed internet connection problems and Raven Arestar stepped
up to take Tartarus CMDR. Azazel
recovered from his back problem sufficiently to re-take CMDR of Vortex. Krieger returned to school and fell in
love. TC no longer captivated his
attention – so Raven Lockholme was passed the helm of Odin Command. Matir returned from his self-imposed leave
of absense and idled as FL Valkyrie for about 4 weeks. The IO noticed Matir’s unusually high
ability to idle profusely while making promises and breaking promises and
decided to appoint Matir to the grand position of CA:IO.
October Crusader challenged Odin to a duel and won. Raven Lockholme stepped down from Odin CMDR
and Raxis Krieger returned to duty.
Operation: Dark Hammer concluded with the surprise upset – and it seemed
no one cared. In XvT Brucmack placed
second in WoW. November saw CMDR Azazel step down
from Vortex CMDR. Brucmack decided to
try his hand again at CMDR. In XvT WoW,
EH placed 14th out of 29 participating and ranking clubs – the highest it had
with so many pilots participating. The
Grey Wolf had 4 pilots place in the EH top 5.
Arestar seemed to have forgotten how to fly MP so CrazyR2 took his place
as Tartarus CMDR. Also in November, the Grey Wolf
challenged the ISD Immortal to a fiction/SP/MP comp. The GW won this initial comp by a narrow margin but then lost
disastrously on a WoW based re-match. A
second ASF Supremacy Comp kicked off.
The Grey Wolf won handily.
Tartarus claimed ASF Escort Squadron and Arestar top pilot. Then Arestar accepted an invitation to Praetorian
and moved out of ASF. Ichthys returned to the present
and looked out over the length of the ISD through the view port. Where do we go from here? No one seems interested in competing with
the Grey Wolf in XvT – in either Multi-Player or Single-player. Do we continue to press for competion with
our left hand of XWA? TAU wants
competion. Maybe I should organize an
ASF vs TAU Zone comp. It seems the Or should I press for an XWA ladder comp
with some one? Or do we just continue
to exercise our Zone ability and try for a higher placement in the January
WoWs? He turned to look at Commodore
Cyric over in the Command chair – but he was preoccupied with other more
pressing details. I’ve rambled long enough. Let me know what you think. WingXIII: We love to fly –
and it shows! J WC/LC Chrusos Ichthys/Wing
XIII/ISD Grey Wolf SSx3/BSx3/PCx6/ISMx10/MoI-BC/MoT-1rh-1gh/LoC-PSx142/DFCx2/CoS/CoL/CoB
{IWATS-GFX-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-SM/2-XTM-XTT}
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