Competition: Operation Cobalt: Always consult the locals!

Finished
Operation Cobalt: Always consult the locals!

Upon the discovery of 'Cobalt', intelligence operatives were sent ahead to identify potential points of interest. Initial reports came back showing a technologically advanced society, complete with a star port seemingly designed exclusively for trade. It is that star port that caught Keira Viru's interest, and being left in charge of ensuring the Clan was not operating blind, it is there that she has assigned our forces.

You are to enter the port, through your own means, and download the system's traffic data pertaining to the Dominion's movements. Specifically, we need to determine where they went, and if they happen to be 'frequent' visitors of 'Cobalt'. This is a high risk venture, and advanced security is certain. The Clan will not be providing additional support in the event of your capture or if you are otherwise unable to complete the mission.


The minimum word count is 500 words and submissions should be in the following formats: .doc/.docx, .pdf, .txt (Please do not share a google doc and use the export feature instead)

Grading will be based on the Fiction Grading Rubric.

Competition Information
Parent Competition
Operation: Cobalt
Organized by
Darth Renatus
Running time
2016-01-10 until 2016-01-24 (15 days)
Target Unit
Clan Naga Sadow
Competition Type
Fiction
Awards
Third Level Crescents
Participants
9 subscribers, of which 5 have participated.
Results
Member
Qyreia Arronen
File submission
Zeltron_Wiles_and_Cobalt_Hospitality__QA14369.docx
Textual submission

Coincides with Forceful Recruitment submission (https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9802)

Placement
1st place
2nd place
Quo-Wing-Tzun
Member
Quo-Wing-Tzun
Submission
Quo-Wing-Tzun opted out of publishing his submission.
Placement
2nd place
Member
Tasha'Vel Versea
File submission
GettingBySecurity.pdf
Placement
3rd place
Member
Master Bentre Stahoes
File submission
OperationCobaltConsulttheLocals14185(1).pdf
Placement
4th place
5th place
Armad
Member
Armad
Textual submission

Armad’s comlink chirped with the sound of a message being received to his datapad. Pausing in his work, he pulled his datapad out from under a pile of wires and discarded parts, and opened the new message. It was a call for those that were proficient in computers and data retrieval, for a mission to a planet code named Cobalt. Responding in the affirmative, he immediately received another message detailing what information that he was to gather and the coordinates to the Cobalt, and what little information that they had been able to gather. Going to his office, Armad picked up a couple of small droids that he had created earlier, and added some new gadgets with additional programming, then headed to the nearest hangar. After commandeering a Clan freighter, Armad punched in the coordinates for his home planet of Umbara. He wanted to stop there, one to check on his company and pick up a more businesslike attire, and as a backstop, should the local authorities or the Dominion decided to track where he originated from. Switching ships on Umbara, Armad set out for the planet codenamed Cobalt.

Arriving in system, Armad was immediately greeted by an automatic welcome greeting, which gave the rules and regulations speech and a frequency to contact when wishing to gain entry into one of the planets cities. As he neared the planet, Armad could see that it was mostly a barren planet, with very sporadic areas that held vegetation, as well as seeing several large circles dotting the continents. After contacting the being on the other end of the frequency given, Armad was given permission to land in the spaceport of the largest dome city. Making a semi-flawless landing, Armad was greeted by a port official, who gave another welcome speech, but this time with the where and where-not to go areas. As Armad was about to go through the door out of his hangar, the official turned and gave one last “rule”, of a recent incident that had quarantined a hangar and several rooms on the other side to the port, he cautioned him to steer clear of the area until the quarantine had been lifted.

Thinking that that was rather suspicious, Armad nodded his acknowledgement and made it way out to the promenade. He was immediately assaulted by the busy sounds of vendors talking and selling up their wares. Walking past the different stores, Armad got to see the different products that this planet can produce. He wanted to stop in several of the tech stores and see where their level of tech compared to his own, but he knew that if he did he would get stuck in them and the chances of accomplishing his mission would suffer. Suppressing his curiosity, Armad continued on past until he came to a relatively isolated terminal and started making random inquiries into the local security companies and seemingly innocuous data retrievals to see, if any, red flags were raised. He felt that someone was watching him, but they felt more security making sure I didn't do anything wrong, than for what he was doing. Deftly pulling his droid, he was glad to find that the technology was compatible with each other, he plugged it into the terminal and let it do its search.

While it was searching for his mission data, Armad decided to look up what he could on this suspicious quarantine thing. He found that it had happened about a week and a half ago, no official reason had been given, and there had been reports of strange noises and missing people that had been curious enough to venture close.

Placement
5th place