With the rising conflict between Chancellor Ky'Lian and Council President Kain Eriston and the seeming inevitability of open war, Taldryan's Clan Summit is presented with two opportunities to gain the advantage in the imminent hostilities. The Office of Secret Intelligence has uncovered a plot to have mercenaries assassinate Chancellor Ky'Lian after she leaves the capital moon of Chyron for her personal estate on Elysia. Meanwhile, SRI has determined that the superintendent of the Caelus government's fuel station at Iosan is a Collective sympathiser, and that eliminating their control over the station would prevent the Caelus Patrol Fleet from supporting the Collective in a battle against the Taldryan Navy. The current political situation prevents Taldryan from acting openly, and the Clan Summit's contacts in the Caelus government only have enough influence to guarantee the secrecy of one operation, forcing Taldryan and its supporters from other parts of the Brotherhood to choose which battle they'd rather fight.

Participants will be asked to write a piece of fiction centred on their character (alts allowed), using one of the prompts below. As in the prelude competition, submissions to this event will affect the storyline of later phases of the competition. The Caelus Security page on the Wiki contains more information about the Caelus Patrol Fleet and Caelus Security Force.

Format: Fiction (minimum 500 words, in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format, via a GDocs link, or through the text box below)

Grading: Grading for this competition will follow the official VOICE Fiction Grading Rubric.

The top three scores in this event will be awarded second-level Crescents, and participants will be awarded Clusters of Ice according to the policies listed on that award's Wiki page. In addition to Crescents and Clusters, participation in this event will contribute points to the member's overall score for the Unsteady Ground event as follows:

• First Place: 5 points
• Second Place: 4 points
• Third Place: 3 points
• Participation: 2 points

Participants must select one of the following prompts:

Prompt 1: Defend Chancellor Ceyra Ky'Lian against an assassination attempt by mercenary forces. The assassination attempt can happen at any point after Chancellor Ky'Lian's departure from the capital moon of Chyron, whether en route to or after arriving at her seaside estate in the tropical Western Rift Valley of Elysia. Chancellor Ky'Lian travels with a pair of bodyguards, and will spend the journey from Chyron to Elysia aboard her official SoroSuub 3000 yacht.

Successfully defending Chancellor Ky'Lian will ensure the loyalty of the Caelus Security Force, but will cause the Caelus Patrol Fleet to defect to the Collective.

OR:

Prompt 2: Conduct a raid against Iosan Fueling Station, an XQ2 platform in orbit around Iosan, with the goal of preventing the Caelus Patrol Fleet's Carrack-class cruisers and Lancer-class frigates from refueling. Exactly how this is accomplished is up to the writer; sabotaging the station's fueling systems is one option, as is convincing the station superintendent to switch sides (simply killing people until a Taldryan supporter is in charge isn't, though, since that would expose the Clan's involvement). The station is open to both civilian and military traffic, but the wing of the station reserved for military use is guarded by a company of Caelus Security soldiers, and a squadron of TIE Fighters patrols the space around the station.

Successfully preventing the Caelus Patrol Fleet from refueling will remove them from the events of Phase II, but will cause the Caelus Security Force to defect to the Collective.