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<block> BAC Harrower, Bridge

Despite his being the overall commander of the Harrower Arden didn't actually spend that much time on the bridge. He preferred to leave the day to day operations to Captain Grant and the other Willing officers. From time to time though he was known to make an appearance on the bridge, either to oversee some operation personally or simply to take in the view the command station offered. In this case it was some of both.

Taking something of a lark on a bit of solid intelligence he'd come across while on a slicing expedition, Arden had taken his forces to raid an under-escorted corporate convoy as it made a stop outside the normal shipping lanes running into the Corporate Sector. The convoy had promptly surrendered when they realized their escape was cut off and their communications jammed. His troops had just had time to get aboard the transports and start rounding up prisoners and cargo when Grant got his attention.

"M'lord, orders coming in from the Dread Lord. "

Arden sighed. "He got wind of my little raid and wants us out of civilized space, doesn't he."

The Hapan officer shook her head as she handed over a datapad. "He applauds your initiative as a matter of fact. However this expedition is not the reason for the order. "

Arden glanced at the datapad and quirked an eyebrow. It seemed the House's success on Nfolgai and Khar Delba had gotten the attention of the Iron Throne and thus another task was being placed before them. An interesting one at that. As he finished reading he looked to Grant.

"Send word to our boarding parties and fighters, I want them back and ready to jump in thirty minutes. Priority cargo only, and bring as many prisoners aboard as can fit in the shuttles. Execute the rest."

The Hapan glanced to the communications officer who promptly started transmitting. "Anything else m'lord?"

"Once our forces have returned, prepare to jump to the indicated coordinates. The Crusade continues, and I mean for us to be prepared."

Grant nodded, "Our target m'lord."

"Our target is Ch'Hodos."

</block>

This Friday, May 17th, the third round of the Dark Crusade begins. We've been successful the last two rounds, but now the challenge truly begins.

ACTIVITY REPORT

Independence Games

Final Points

1. Arden Karn -119 points
2. Ronovi - 74 Points
3. Brimstone -44 points 4.Alaris - 37 Points
4. Celevon - 32 points #### House Total: 376 Points

Submissions

1. Arden Karn - 13
2. Brimstone - 11
3. Silent - 10
4. Ronovi - 7
   
5. Alaris and Kuro - 4 #### House Total - 60 Submissions

Crescents and Awards

*Arden Karn: Gold Nova (Category Champion, "Why So Serious"), 2 Diamond Crescents, 1 Ruby Crescent, 1 Amethyst *Ronovi: Bronze Nova (Category 3rd place, "Why So Serious"), 1 Diamond Crescent, 1 Ruby, 1 Amethyst *Silent: Gold Nova (Category Champion, "High Score Hunt"), 2 Amethyst Crescents *Tra'an Reith: Bronze Nova (Category 3rd place "Gaming With a Twist") , 1 Ruby Crescent * Brimstone: 1 Ruby Crescent, 1 Sapphire *Celevon: 1 Ruby Crescent, 1 Sapphire *Alaris: 1 Diamond Crescent

Other Awards

Competition Awards

Brimstone: Crescent with Sapphire Star for 2nd Place in the "March Madness" competition.

Arden Karn: Crescent with Amethyst Star for 3rd Place in the "March Madness" competition.

Clusters of Fire

Arden Karn: 88 Xenithius: 60 Furios: 20

(Acting) Rollmaster Report

Eiko's Absence

As stated on the E-mail list, Eiko has had to step away from the DJB for a time to deal with some real life issues. I will be filling in for him while he's gone and doing my utmost to fill his shoes. Anyone who has master-student related issues, please bring them to me along with anything else that you'd normally bring to Eiko. I for one wish him well and I hope I'm only keeping his chair warm for a short time.

Competition Spotlight

First, we just wrapped up the Independence Games and I must say I'm pleased with the results. Two folks in the top 10, two category winners, two category thirds, and 18 total crescents is fairly impressive in my book. It shows that even when we're not pushing you to compete, you'll still step up and give it a good show.

However a good show is not going to cut it in our next competition. The next round of the Dark Crusade kicks off in a few days and despite, and perhaps because of, our past successes, we're going to have one heck of a brawl on our hands this time out. The competition will be stiffer and folks will come gunning for us. Seriously, we have a giant red dot on our foreheads and the other houses are gunning for us. Given that we're a few hands short this round, we're going to need everything you guys can muster. As always, the Summit is here to help so feel free to bug us.

As mentioned in the fiction, after taking your input into account along with other factors, we've chosen to go after Ch'hodos. Read up on it and be prepared for fun under a red sun.

Communication

While we do our best to communicate via the E-mail list, there are a couple things I want to start implementing to help improve communication within the house. Oh, and some of these might result in some fun being had along the way.

First, the Forums. Little known fact, while we have one of the most active e-mail groups in the DB, we also have one of the least active forum groups.

We want to change that. Our first efforts to push more things to the forums have been moving the "Ask the Summit" segment there as well as posting more and more fiction there as well. I've started putting some of my fiction submissions on the Forums and I encourage all of you to do the same. Feel free to comment, constructively critique, laugh at, or gasp in awe at the work up there. All of my IG submissions should be there by the end of the week. However this is not the only thing we want to do on the Forums. We have some of our own ideas that we hope to implement by the time the Crusade round ends. We also want to hear yours. What cool stuff do you want to see on the boards? Tell us, and we might just use your ideas.

My other idea has to do with getting together in a more interactive form. Quick note on this bit, where have you folks been on IRC? Our channel is mostly populated by other houses and that for one bugs me. Are you having trouble getting on Undernet ? Are you afraid that I bite? Let me know and I'll see what we can do about it.

Back to the point, I'd like to start doing regular get-togethers on either Skype or, preferably, Google+ Hangouts. I prefer G+ because you get to see my lovely face in the process and we can do all sorts of fun stuff like watch YouTube videos together and stuff. I'm targeting either Friday or Sunday evening for this, but if you want to chat other times, I'll be sending around my Skype and G+ info so we can do impromptu things.

Closing

I wanted to conclude by addressing something I put out in a recent e-mail. I, like a number of our fiction mavens, write to music. I have a few set things I listen to when I'm writing, depending on the mood I'm trying to set in that particular piece. I'll be happy to share that list, but I wanted to share one particular piece I want you all to think about for the coming round of the Crusade.

A Musical Thought

Oh, and to borrow something from an old Solus tradition, here's your Moment of Zen .

~SW Arden Karn</block>