To my Pilots,

The Feud known as Fractured Mirror is now upon us! With a whole sleu of challenges and events, I feel obliged to remind you of the one BT-exclusive event in the Mirror...SPECIAL OPERATIONS!

Title: Special Ops

Specifics: With impending doom on the horizon, Jedi Master Urias Orian has put Operation Plan Z into effect. In the event of a major invasion, teams of Jedi had been formed and designated to defend the major planets of the Sepros system. With the defeat of the Dlarit Navy, those teams were activated.

SEPROS – Sapphire Squadron

Warmaster Varesh Shai and the Uro-ik V’alh battleship Slayer’s Sword have begun the initial assault on the planet Sepros. To strike fear and destruction into those on Sepros, Shai has unleashed numerous reptilian Rakamats, a Yuuzhan Vong siege creature. <

That's us! The Serpents are on Aeotheran and the NH and NRs are on different planets for HMR. (Notice how we're on the capital planet? Can anyone say...ELITE?!)

A nice good choice of events pertain to Special Operations and they are listed below:

Each battleteam will use their designated target to take part in the following events:

Part One: Fiction

Describe the events that take place as your team tries to defend your assigned planet. (Minimum 2 pages)

Part Two: Graphic

Create a graphic showing an event that takes place while your team defends your assigned planet.

Part Three: Screenshot

Take a screenshot from any game that represents your Battleteam.

Pretty awesome stuff. If anyone needs any help with the fiction for references, just remember that Sapphire Squadron are the premier pilots of HLK and the badass DSC (Deep Strike Commandos) which pretty much utilize elite armor and weaponry and gunships to board and capture enemy ships.

The Past Week

The AWOL Check concluded and HLK now has 26 members, I believe. 26 is a nice number, but not when it comes to a BT. Including me, your Commander, SS now has THREE (3) pilots/DSC. It didn't help that Flight Leader Shin'ichi Keibatsu Sadow was awesome and got HLK RM....=P

The current Roster is:

** Angral, Commander

/ Macron Goura Sadow, Flight Member

** Pylarus, Flight Member

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On the good side, Shin'ichi succeeded the very awesome Jossem as HLK RM, but that means he was taken away from his home in Sapphire.

In Ze Mind of Your Commander

So I've been thinking about competitions for us and I've come up with some pretty good ideas. Now, I still need approval from the Summit and even then, I won't run the longer ones till after FM concludes. Here we go....

~ Say My Name -- Every pilot, whether you're cannon fodder or the legends like we are, needs a name for the cockpit. A call sign. I want you all to create your own callsigns and a half-page explanation on why you picked that name or were given/awarded it. (Will be run upon approval, before NPCs)

For example, my callsign is 'Warden'.

~Sapphire NPCs --With the much-earned elite status of SS, I believe we need NPCs to man our communication arrays and keep Zafrio Torre nice and tidy while we're gone. Oh yeah, and with our now-reduced Flight Count, we need NPC pilots and DSC personnel. Your assignment is to create two (2) SS NPCs with a half-page description for each. The first place entry will earn a 5th level Crescent and the first placer will also have their entries posted on the Wiki pages. (Will be run upon approval)

~R.E.C.O.N -- With Antei reclaimed, the Dark Brotherhood has shaken off the moniker of nomads and are now truly what one would call a rising Empire once more. Ludo Kressh, on orders from Aedile Sadow and Quaestor Ming, mobilize Sapphire Squadron to do recconanisance on a heavily-foritied planet of pirates, just outside the Orian System. I would like you to write a 2.5 page (minimum) fiction of a recon mission against these pirates that involves both 1) A space battle/skirmish and 2) Deep Strike action. (Won't be run till after Mirror)

~Operation: Sapphire Serpent

/Apologies, information concerning the file 'Sapphire Serpent' or File: Z251X_ODST is unavailable, please check back at a later time. Thank you for your cooperation\

Oh dear, no information on a mysteriously titled event under the compeition section that has to do with names of both BTs in the House? Hmmm! Don't worry, pilots, Sapphire Serpent is still under heavy construction and secrecy, but will be awesome.

Bye for Now!

And that, my pilots, is the conclusion of my second report. I apologize for the belated delivery, but I had exams and then...yes...after-exams partying. However, I am off for summer, and since I got great grades on my exams, I'm allowed unfettered access to the laptop so I will be here all summer. Remember the open door policy!

Signed in Kressh,

~Angral

Commander of Sapphire Squadron

Ludo Kressh of Naga Sadow

....

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You all didn't think I forgot about the IC section did you? Here we go! Chapter II

Angral sat on the long bar of Zafrio Torre, clad in his Deep Strike armor. The armor was a full suit composed of plasteel leggings, gauntlets, boots, chestplate, and helmet with a total gray paint job and dark blue stripes going veritcal down the helmet and chest. However, the helmet sat next to the Sith as the Commander sipped his Corellian ale and looked out on the packed boxes of two of his Flight Members.

It had only been a week and a half since Angral had taken over command of the Squadron but for unknown reason, two of Sapphire's pilots had been sent to the Independant Dark Jedi on Antei to reinforce the garrison there. Whispers around the bar/headquarters circulated that the pair had pissed off the House Summit or some other similarly serious grievance.

"Commander? Are you alright" asked one of his two remaining pilots, Pylarus, who was the Commander's personal trainee in the ways of the Deep Strike Commando.

"Aye, Pyl, I am. But if we thought Torre was empty before, it's about to be a lot more so now" replied Angral, draining the last of his beverage.

A red-armored figure, sitting in one of the bar's booths, spoke up, his voice husky as the halogen light illuminated the spiky yellow hair and chalk-white face of Macron Sadow.

"True words, Commander, but Sapphire Squadron has been nearly decimated before and we have survived. I have no doubt with the unity of us three and our support staff...we will do so again"

Angral nodded as he scooped up his commando helmet and placed it on his head, the gray plasteel and deep blue visor obscuring his youthful features and he pulled out his sidearm.

"I'm going to shoot some rounds. Have a nice night, Sapphire" announced the Sith Commander as he hopped off the bar and walked out the back door, just as the sun kissed the lip of the sky and began its descent into night.

As the repitive 'b-zu b-zu' of Angral's weapon rang out, he muttered to himself the words of his father's favorite quote

"The night is always darkest before the dawn"

No truer words would apply to Sapphire Squadron in the coming days...weeks...and months.