Vampire Squadron

From Emperor's Hammer Encyclopaedia Imperia

Vampire Squadron was an Interdiction squadron attached to Wing XI of the ISD-II Immortal. It was active briefly in 2001, but primarily operated from January 2002 until April 2004, when Wing XI and the Immortal were closed.

History[edit]

Wing XI and the Immortal were opened in April 1999, but not all squadrons were immediately activated. Slowly, each squadron on the Immortal opened, until at last Vampire Squadron was finally activated in April 2001. It was the last of Wing XI's squadrons to finally open. Its first Squadron Commander was Ric Gravin.

Unfortunately, it would soon be the first squadron on the Immortal to close. After serving for 42 days, Ric Gravin was replaced by Nic Rety, who would only last twenty-five days until the squadron was closed again, merging with Demon Squadron (which Nic Rety would then command).

But this short-lived false start was soon put to rest when Vampire Squadron was reactivated again on January 23rd, 2002, under Adren Silvori (then known as Sharp) as its new squadron commander. Its first members under this second iteration were Sharp (Squadron Commander), Abel Malik (as Flight Leader of Flight II), Holu (as Flight Leader of Flight III), Apophix, Aregorn, and Lara Nostril.

Vampire Squadron's longest running squadron commander (and arguably its most successful) was VinDoros, who took command of Vampire Squadron in November 2002 and helped establish Vampire's reputation as a "big flying squadron", as Immortal Commodore Locke Setzer once said. Under his command, Vampire Squadron was awarded multiple squadron of the month awards, including TIE Corps Battlegroups Squadron of the Month in May 2003.

At the time of the Immortal's closure, Vampire's final commander, Airamags, was given the option of reactivating a closed squadron on another TIE Corps Battlegroups ship, or merging with an existing squadron. Airamags chose to merge Vampire with Eta Squadron onboard the ISD Colossus, which was active but did not have a squadron commander. Unfortunately, Airamags was soon removed from his command position and forcibly demoted to Sub-Lieutenant as a result of a High Court of Inquisitors case against him. Instead, another Colossus pilot, Curtis, was given command of Eta Squadron and in turn took responsibility for the remaining pilots of Vampire Squadron.

Mottos and Nicknames[edit]

Upon its opening in April 2001, mottos and nicknames for Vampire Squadron as a whole and its individual flights were immediately created. However, these original mottos and nicknames were changed early in Vampire's second run in late February of 2002 to its current versions, which did not change and have not been modified since the squadron's closure in 2004.

  • April 2001 - February 2002
    • Squadron Nickname: Little Recon
    • Squadron Motto: We strike from With in.
    • Flight I Nickname: Backup
    • Flight I Motto: Watch Your Six!
    • Flight II Nickname: Destroyer
    • Flight II Motto: Attack forward shields up to full
    • Flight III Nickname: Search and Rescue
    • Flight III Motto: Deep strike force
  • February 2002 - present
    • Squadron Nickname: Predators of the Night
    • Squadron Motto: Darkness is our ally
    • Flight I Nickname: Daywalkers
    • Flight I Motto: There are worse things out tonight than the Empire
    • Flight II Nickname: The Nightstalkers
    • Flight II Motto: Like the Vampire of Legend we cast a shadow of fear into the hearts of our opponents
    • Flight III Nickname: Silent Assasins
    • Flight III Motto: Quick as Wind, Deadly as Fire

Note: Flight III's later Nickname and Motto were mixed up until around June of 2002.

Awards and Competitions[edit]

  • BGCOM's Squadron of the Month (May 2003)
  • Wing XI Squadron of the Month (July 2003)
  • Winner of competition against Aleth Squadron (December 2002)

Command History[edit]

Commander Start Date End Date Start Rank End Rank
Ric Gravin 04/2001 06/2001 Commander Commander
Nic Rety 06/2001 07/2001 Commander Commander
Adren Silvori (Sharp) 01/2002 03/2002 Commander Commander
Riccardo Grazioli 03/2002 05/2002 Commander Commander
Adren Silvori (Darkmage) 05/2002 10/2002 Commander Captain
Abel Malik 10/2002 11/2002 Captain Captain
VinDoros 11/2002 8/2003 Commander Major
Kane Reese 9/2003 ? Captain ?
Airamags ? 04/2004 Commander Commander