With the Galactic Civil War heating up, the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire find themselves stretched thin. The abrupt militarisation and territorial aggression of the Hutt Cartel and Black Sun crime syndicate has effectively opened up a second front and numerous other setbacks have pushed both Rebel and Imperial forces to near breaking point.
The Imdaar Project suffered a significant setback with the destruction of their mining facilities in the asteroid fields of the Dreighton Nebula. The destruction of the facilities (and indeed the entire asteroid field in a cataclysmic explosion mirroring the legendary destruction of Peragus II) by the politically unaffiliated Libra Squadron left the Empire with a rapidly dwindling supply of stygium-348. The Imperial response was swift: new mining facilities were rapidly constructed on Aeten II to mine stygium-343 and the cloaking devices were adapted to the isotope's slightly different properties. This resulted in a slightly different cloak with a longer decloak time that requires the pilot to plan ahead (rather than suddenly switch positions at the last possible second). This has led to wide scale abandonment of the TIE phantom by lesser skilled commanders, although the more talented members of the Imperial Navy are already finding ways to tactically exploit the new cloak's different properties.
The Rebel Alliance has suffered heavy losses as the Empire reacts to their "Fat Hutt" strategy. The Fat Hutt Strategy involves loading a Corellian Freighter with the best in defensive technology available and wearing down Imperial formations by destroying small amounts and fleeing to hyperspace and proved to be one of the Alliance's only highly effective strategies against the TIE phantom. However, infiltration of MandalMotors by ISB agents has allowed the Empire to gain access to the schematics for the new Autothruster technology intended for the StarViper. A mass retrofit of the TIE interceptor with the high-tech maneuvering devices has left them significantly less vunerable and sometimes practically immune to turret fire. With the effectiveness of the Fat Hutt failing and the change in the cloaking technology of the TIE phantom, Rebel commanders are increasingly leaning towards massed starfighter formations that can more effectively deal with the new threats.
KDY executives remain in a state of terror after a second senior board member was telekinetically throttled by Lord Vader. Despite the Dark Lord's attempts at "motivation", the production of both the Raider-class Corvette and new TIE advanced model (designed to replace the practically useless TIE advanced x0) continue to be delayed with no date of rollout in sight.
Debate continues in Imperial High Command over Sienar's TIE defender project. While the Empire's top statistical analysts conclude that the TIE defender is simply not cost efficient compared to the Empire's other starfighter options TIE defender pilots continue to swear by the craft. Sienar itself refuses to comment on the issue although Alliance Intelligence believes it is working on an upgrade to the Twin Ion Engine.However, neither Alliance Intelligence nor industrial espionage experts in the employ of competitor Cygnus Spaceworks (embittered by the Empire's ongoing refusal to greenlight production of the XG-1 Assault Gunboat) have been able to glean any more information than a blurry schematic on a viewscreen in an unknown language visible on one of Sienar's promotional videos for its new heavy bomber design.
Likewise, Alliance Starfighter Command continues to be paralysed by the row over the Incom T-65 X-wing. Production of the craft is being hampered by repeated arguments over the starfighter's combat effectiveness. Some suspect this debate is political maneuvering by Koensayr to oust Incom's dominance in Alliance starfighter production. Koensayr catapulted their previously maligned BTL-S3 Y-wing to new popularity with the BTL-A4 refit, although many suspect the company of shady backroom deals with the refit's almost simultaneous appearance in pirate and Cartel hands. With the increasing reluctance by High Command to deploy the ever declining numbers of X-wings Alliance commanders are having to adapt, with formations of B-wings and older Z-95 Headhunters becoming increasingly commonplace.
Rebel and Imperial intelligence agents alike are regretting their decision to ignore the brief communication blackout at Mechis III as the reason has become suddenly and brutally apparent. A quartet of rogue assassin droids have taken over the planet-wide droid factory and are using it to duplicate themselve and its personal assault fighter en-masse. Operating in pairs, these duplicate assassin droids are tearing Rebel, Imperial and Pirate formations alike apart in a series of brutal raids. There are even reports of them attacking each other. One thing of note is that while IG-88s B, C and D clones have been manufactured en-masse (with IG-88B being the most productive line) the dominant unit IG-88A has all but refused to be duplicated with copies of itself being practically unheard of. Director Isard and Airen Cracken have both concluded that the key to shutting down the production lines and retaking Mechis may lie in this detail.
With all these manyfold setbacks, the Alliance and Empire need every pilot they can get. Where once pilots that demanded pay that did not match their skills and abilities were consigned to cleaning the flight deck due to production shortages of most starfighters and assault craft (particularly the Firespray-31 and YT-1300 freighter) now that the production issues are resolved the time has come to band these misfits together into a squadron the likes of which the galaxy has never seen. If they succeed, it'll be legendary victory worthy of the history vids. If they fail, well, at least they'll be out of our hair.
The goal is simple, build the best squadron you can (100 or 150pt) with the worst pilots you can. Bonus points for using unpopular upgrade cards and double bonus points for sticking in a bit of narrative.
Edited by TIE Pilot
