Escaped! Again! This is twice now that this new type, Resurgent-Class, Star Destroyer has escaped us. First in our battle over a week ago and now against the MC90 Renegade this last week.
They may have the luck of a sabacc player but eye witness reports say that the hull integrity of the ship was at a critical state.
We must now move onto getting into position for attacking Zephyron but I hear that AD Setzer has deployed our probe droids looking for our damaged quarry...
ATTENTION! Pilots of the TIE Corps we have many combat actions on going against these First Order clowns. Over in BG2, they are engaged with a recently damaged Resurgent Class Star Destroyer that escaped them this last weekend. While here in BG3 we have two battles underway.
First the MC90 Renegade and her escorts have found our own Resurgent that got away from our main fleet a few days ago, where as the MC40 Roost has come across a asteroid installation bristling with fighters and bombers. We will need all pilots to man their ships for these battles if we are to emerge victorious once again.
Ha, we showed those arrogant "First Order" pilots that we are no meek imperial splinter group, but the TRUE torch bearers for the true vision of order the Emperor had for the galaxy.
Each of our Battlegroups faced what seemed to be a heavy cruiser class ship, that records from after the battles show are known to the enemy as "Maxima Class Heavy Cruisers." And our forces decimated their paltry fighter screens and we here, and in other Battlegroups to, if my sources are correct, we managed to get Hammer's Fist stormtroopers aboard and to the command areas quickly enough to not only take the First Order cruisers out of the fight, but to capture them as well. As we move further into the system, the CRV Reaper and M/CRV Predator are working to tow the captured cruiser "Basilisk" out of the area and firmly into the hands of the Science Office.
If nothing else, this campaign has started off with a bang and a resounding success, thanks all to the valiant efforts of each and every pilot in the Corps. But we should not let our guard down, something tells me that this First Order has more forces in this system than just a few heavy cruisers...
It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of Sector Admiral Sarin's passing. In recent years Sarin has been more active in the Brotherhood and his friends Dracaryis and Valhavoc posted details there - Dark Jedi Brotherhood - In Memoriam.
While I shared my thoughts and feelings on the Brotherhood's post, I would add here. Sarin was the Executive Officer of this club during a challenging time. He had to manage through the decline in Star Wars games in the early 2000s, the transition of many of this club from teens into college students, and (above all) Astatine as Fleet Commander.
For those that knew Sarin he was a direct man. He was an officer in the US Army, how else would he be? Yet he always believed in this club and this community. He was my friend and I idolized him and while I may have become the Executive Officer and a Sector Admiral I have so much more to learn and do to be like Sarin.
If you knew him please read the post on the Brotherhood's site. At this time they are asking no one attempt to contact the family. As more information becomes available it'll be shared.
Below is what I shared within the Brotherhood's post:
When I first met Sarin, I was a teen and he was already a Captain in the Army. I remember thinking how cool that must have been, though I never told him that. He seemed somehow wiser than me, despite being just a few years older than I was. Yet, somehow, he always had that cool, calm, collected, captain Matt image in my head.
To no surprise, Sarin rose quickly through the ranks of the Emperor's Hammer and the Brotherhood and I gravitated towards him in a desire to learn how I could be as impactful. Over the years we agreed and disagreed on a wide variety of things. Sometimes we were in lock steps. In other times, he'd delete his telegram messages and we'd start over. That is the way of things with someone like Sarin who could see beyond today and tomorrow. He saw the potential this club and people could be and he wanted us all to get there with haste.
There are two key memories for me for Sarin that have forever stuck in my memory.
On September 3, 2005 he sent an email to a small group of us when he was XO of the Emperor's Hammer and Astatine removed him. That email starts "All of the people on this email have received this letter because they are either my friend or because they are of a like mind..." and I cannot tell you what it meant to me to know he considered me a friend.
In 2020 while the world was isolated and I was spending considerable time in the hospital with my wife and, later, our youngest son in the NICU, I got to speaking with Sarin again and he reminded me of this community and invited me back. I, in a wishy-washy way, said I'd come back if I could have my dossier restored to where it was before the Exodus. I thought he'd give me some run-around and it would die. Sarin, to my surprise, said "We can get that done" and the rest has been history.
I've been on several podcasts over the years where I talk about what this community has meant to me. It means what it does because of people like Matt. I've been processing my emotions since I learned this news...and, honestly, right now I'm mad. Matt and I would talk about Disney and how much he loved it and he said anytime you're down here we'll finally grab that drink. My wife and I finally are booking that trip for September and the day I found I was going to tell him that I was going to buy the first round.
I'm not okay. We're not okay...but we will be. All of us will be. There will be sad moments but so much more joy and smiles and deep barrel laughs of the memories. So, for tonight I'm going to cry. I'm going to toast the legend, and then tomorrow I'm going to keep striving to be like that Captain I met years ago and wanted so badly to be as cool as.
XO/SA Kamjin Maverick Lap'lamiz/CS-2/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/GOEx2/GS/SSx3/BSx5/PCx5/ISMx4/IAR/MoI/MoC-4doc-3poc-4goc-7soc-35boc/MUA/IS-GW-3BW-4SR-5BR-CR/ORA/LoC-IS/LoS-CS/CoLx4/CoB/LoA/OV-29E [Aquilifer] [Marksman 2nd] [Private 4th]
{TCCORE-MCBS-MP/2-SM/2/3/5-XAM-XMD}
STAND DOWN!? SUBMIT?! OBEY?!
Who does that "Grand Marshal Takeda" think she is!? The Emperor’s Hammer was formed by the Emperor's orders directly! And we haven't had to hide out here in the Unknown Regions to stay safe from the Rebels. We took what we wanted and dared them to try to pry it from our hands.
To your ships! Let us show her where the TRUE power lies in this system.
I have heard back from my sources around the Fleet, and it seems what General Master found out there is some sort of Imperial Remnant! This could be huge. Are we about to find a hither to unknown group of allies in our fight to bring order to the Galaxy?
True, they did scramble fighters at the sight of Master's reconnaissance patrol, but as they we are Infiltrator Wing craft, and therefore look like Rebel craft, this isn't too surprisingly or concerning.
I also hear that the Command Staff will be sending out a Corps wide broadcast soon so we hopefully will soon know more of what is to come.
There is a Storm brewing out there pilots of the TIE Corps, and warriors of the Emperor’s Hammer as a whole. My sources aboard the MC90 Renegade reported to me that they witnessed General Master return from a recent scouting mission visibly out of sorts. They even reported that he had a frown on his face! This is troubling news indeed if he found something to trouble his affable soul.
And even more concerning, after he filled his initial report with Major Drosa, he was almost immediately placed on a shuttle, and I am told, taken to report directly to Grand Admiral Rapier. If whatever he saw wiped his ever-present smile off his face AND caused the Grand Admiral to actually want to risk having HIM aboard the Grand Admiral’s ship, we know that a Storm of momentous size is about to strike us all!
But we here on the Challenge know all about how to weather a Storm for we are on "The Storm's Eye" and "Storm is our business, destruction is our target, fear is our ally."
The Emperor’s Hammer is looking to add to our web development team within the Internet Office. This position plays a key role in a small all-volunteer group that implements features on the Emperor’s Hammer web site and APIs, and provides functionality that the membership interacts with on a daily basis.
Required skills include:
Preferred skills include experience and general familiarity with Emperor’s Hammer processes and functions.
A successful applicant will be recognized as a PHP Developer for the Emperor’s Hammer, Inc. (our corporate entity), and appointed within the club as an Internet Office Assistant (IOA). Applicants will be subject to validation of identification and suitability screening before appointment.
Interested members should contact HA Turtle Jerrar for additional information, or to submit their application. No formal resume is required, however you should be prepared to discuss your abilities and experience.
The Emperor’s Hammer stack uses:
Missing some (or all) of the classic Star Wars games? You can pick up a bundle on sale for about $8 here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/star-wars-classics-collection. The collection includes:
(Information courtesy of WAR TheBlackxRanger and D Surgo)
One of my priorities as we have continued to modernize our online presence has been safeguarding, and as practical restoring, key elements of our historical record. I'm please to announce that with today's maintenance update we have bulk restored the majority of historical award records (TC and EH main fleet). This brings in over 39k historical awards for members who currently had no records in the database, i.e. those where a manual profile restoration had not yet been performed. We've also populated join dates, dates of rank, and callsigns where this data was currently blank for historical members.
While this does not have a direct impact for most of our currently active members, it streamlines the process for returning members who have been gone for a while and provides a more complete picture of awards over time on our Medal Board.
On a different bit of more practical news, several small site updates have recently been made (details in the changelog). Among these is a "EH Link" option when using the Markdown editor to help you quickly create links to members, battles, game patches, and competitions in the multiple areas of the site that use the editor. This is especially helpful when using functions that also sync to Discord. Simply click the "Insert EH Link" option to gain access to selectors that will help you quickly search for and insert these links. Enjoy!
