From Dust and Ash
Cohort Theta-2, simply known as Theta-2 or Theta2, is formed from nine new recruits. They don't have much in the way of resources and they don't have much beyond their basic kit. But they want clear of desk duty. The problem is that Tribunii Leeds has made it clear that they won't until she clears them, and she won't clear them until their reports lead to a collar. Frustrated, Theta2 decide to act on their own to get a collar. And actionable intel is the first step to a good collar, so they double down and work together.
They take their days off at the same time to apprehend a smuggler that happens to be on planet, and everything that could go wrong does. They mess up a sting operation by going to a disreputable marketplace looking like undercover Keleres. They profit from back alley trading. They kill two pirate informants from different ship crews. They destroy any chance of taking down the Hacan sellswords. And they go outside the containment wall into the Sea of Dust and bring back contaminants!
But they do capture the target.
Results aren't enough in this case, however, because those results came with a cost. Tribunii Myrr wants them on permanent desk-duty for the operations they ruined. Luckily for them, Tribunii Jalatai wanted to speak with Tribunii Myrr before he rendered judgement. The Cohort is left to await their eminent declaration of data-delving doom.
Plot points/Scenes
Actionable Intel
Theta-2 is languishing on desk duty. Intel comes in, Alerts go out. No action. Boredom rules the day. It seems that the Tribunii are keeping Theta-2 out of commission for petty reasons. A good collar is all Tribunii Leeds says Theta needs to get off of this assignment...
Knock, Knock.
Then, suddenly, there's a pattern in the intel. A criminal might have slipped past the security of the planet and landed on Mecatol Rex. They might be in the city. Research and pattern recognition predict the point they could be taken into custody.
Free Guy
Theta-2 takes their days off together and does a "team-building exercise" - they're gonna catch that criminal. And they wear their uniforms into the lower levels of the city, stick out like sore thumbs and cause an incident. Or they don't, they go in under cover and are spotted out, but either way the perp rabbits. Everything that can go wrong will in this scene, just to build tension.
Ash and Dust
Into the Sea of Dust. The Perp runs into the wasteland. For all that went down in the lower city, if Theta-2 doesn't bring them in, their deskwork assignment will never end. Time to hunt a criminal through the bowels of an irradiated hellscape on foot.
A Good Collar
Theta-2 returns victorious. The thief is in custody, and the battered Keleres are granted fieldwork duty only grudgingly. Their first Assignment, a routine Interrogation of the smuggler.
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