Specifics

You are aboard your personal vessel running diagnostics and making repairs when a subspace message from the Dark Council appears on your screen. The message reveals that you are given temporary release from your current duties in order to immediately undertake a classified mission for the Council in the guerrilla war being waged against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Reading further, you realize the cryptographic functions of the computer core you just installed must be faulty as part of the message remains encrypted. Due to the time sensitive nature of the orders, you realize you must quickly decipher the encrypted portion manually. Wishing you had spent the extra credits on the name-brand computer core, you set to work deciphering the message...

http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/raken/message/Message1.jpg

Do not fail...

OOC: This is the first phase of a three phase competition. The writer will translate and decipher the encrypted text. Using the decoded information, he will write his story from that point forward following the parameters of the order until the mission is successfully completed.

Encryption Hint: Hail, Caesar!

Platform

(Fiction/Puzzle) Word or Rich Text Format in 12pt standard font. Single-spaced. Four page minimum.

Comments

In addition to normal crescents, the writer with the best, complete three-phase story will be declared the overall winner and have his character featured in a future plot update and be permanently added to the Dark Brotherhood storyline. If no writer submits a complete three-phase story over the course of the competition, then no writer’s character will be added to the storyline and the competition will award all medals normally.

If you don’t submit a story for this first phase of the competition, you can still submit to subsequent phases, but unfortunately won’t be in consideration for overall winner.

If the puzzles prove too difficult to solve (they shouldn’t though) email me for an additional hint. The best written story with correctly solved puzzle will be this phase’s winner.

Email submissions to [Log in to view e-mail addresses] Please put [Fiction] in the subject line of your email. Include basic ID Line and PIN in the document file name or the submission cannot be counted.

Awards

2nd level Crescents for First, Second, & Third place. See comments for additional special award information.