TEXT: -  -
  TRAVELLER
  Special Supplement 5
  Short Adventures
  
  Special Supplement 5:
  Short adventureS
  a Supplement for traveller
  traveller - Science fiction adventure in the far future
  BASED ON THE AWARD-WINNING TRAVELLER GAME SYSTEM AND UNIVERSE BY MARC MILLER
  creditS
  Expedition Leader
  Martin J. Dougherty 
  patrons and consultants
  Michael Taylor
  William Andersen
  Ewan Quibell
  expedition personnel
  Megan Anderson (Scout and Point Person)
  Angus MacDonald
  Michael Taylor
  Eric O’Dell
  Ewan Quibell
  Nick Middleton
  native Guides and porters
  Dan Hammersley
  Shane McLean
  Richard Perks
  Pete Scarrott
  Stephen Herron
  missing in action
  Personnel who could not be matched to contributions
  Copyright ©2007 Avenger Enterprises in association with Comstar Media LLC. All rights reserved.
  Traveller is a trademark of Far Future Enterprises and is used under license.
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  taBle of contentS
   
  4 
  About this book 
   
   
  4 
  Standards and assumptions 
   
  6 
  Part : amber zones 
  6 
  Amber zone: starport pioneers  
  7 
  Amber zone: mine rescue 
   
  9 
  Amber zone: unsavory characters  
  0 Amber zone: water rats 
   
   Amber zone: a clear conscience 
   
  13	 Amber	zone:	going	first	
  	
  4 Amber zone: ships in the mist  
  5 Amber zone: acid extraction 
   
  7 Part 2: mercenary tickets 
   
  7 Mercenary ticket: joint operations team 
  8 Mercenary ticket: dissidents on ice  
  9 Mercenary ticket: q-ship 
   
  20 Mercenary ticket: the hole 
   
  2 Mercenary ticket: wrong place, wrong time
  22 Mercenary ticket: in country 
  24	 Mercenary	ticket:	field	test	
  25 Mercenary ticket: self-defence lessons 
  27 Part 3: patron encounters 
  27 Patron encounter: shuttle pilot 
  28 Patron encounter: export license 
  29 Patron encounter: the trade factor 
  30 Patron encounter: industrialist 
  3 Patron encounter: water war 
  32 Patron encounter: grizzled belter 
  34 Patron encounter: falo den erty, solicitor at law
  35 Patron encounter: belter 
  36 Patron encounter: musician 
  37 Patron encounter: merchant 
  38 Patron encounter: research support 
  38 Patron encounter: racing team 
  39 Patron encounter: take him away! 
  40 Patron encounter: the family 
  4 Patron encounter: lost relatives 
  42 Patron encounter: practice good dental hygiene
  43 Patron encounter: prospectors 
  44 Patron encounter: space tourists 
  45 Patron encounter: insurance evaluation 
  47 Patron encounter: honest broker 
  49 Patron encounter: strike! 
  50	 Patron	encounter:	have	fire	truck,	will	travel
  5 Patron encounter: patient transfer 
  5 Patron encounter: art dealers 
  52 Patron encounter: starport authority 
  53 Patron encounter: valance industries 
  54 Patron encounter: imperial agent 
  55 Patron encounter: respectable scientist 
  56 Patron encounter: adventure school 
  57 Patron encounter: retired spacer 
  58 Part 4: linked adventures 
  58 Amber zone: binary survey 
  60 Amber zone: binary rescue 
  6 Amber zone: binary running 
  63 Amber zone: binary ticket 
  64 Amber zone: binary progress 
   
  
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  aBout thiS BooK
  There are times when any Traveller Referee needs to 
  generate a quick adventure. Whether this is to cope with 
  players who have wandered off the planned path, as part of 
  a large-scale adventure or as the core idea of something the 
  Referee wants to work up, the need is much the same.
  This book presents two kinds of ready-made adventure 
  seeds, each with enough detail to get started straight away 
  but generic enough to be dropped in more or less anywhere. 
  This is not a book of complete adventures; there are no stats 
  or maps herein. This means that the adventures can be used 
  in any setting and with any rules set. They can be ‘tweaked’ 
  and reused if necessary.
  The adventures in this book follow standard formats which 
  have been used by Traveller Referees for many years. These 
  are as follows:
  amBer ZoneS
  An Amber Zone type adventure outlines a situation in a page 
  or so, explaining why things are as they are, who is involved 
  and their motivations. Usually a general idea of what will 
  happen next is given, but once the player-characters enter 
  the situation the Referee must decide where things will go 
  next. Amber Zones can be very varied and can spark long-
  running adventures.
  mercenarY ticKetS
  Large-scale mercenary jobs (‘tickets’) are similar in style to 
  Amber Zones, but are more formal and military in nature. 
  Mercenary tickets proper call for an organized and trained 
  mercenary force of squad size or larger. Most of those 
  presented in this book are fairly small-scale and can be 
  handled by a small ‘expert crew’ instead of a formal military 
  unit if needed. Larger merc tickets are best used as a 
  backdrop for the actions of a small number of characters 
  who may be mercs, their opponents or just caught up in the 
  general mayhem.
  patron encounterS
  Patron Encounters are generally shorter. The usual format 
  is that someone (referred to as the ‘patron’ since he or she 
  usually pays the adventurers to perform their task) wants a 
  job doing. The scenario description lists the type of person 
  the patron is, what skills are required to carry out the task, 
  and what equipment will be necessary. In some cases the 
  task can be completed by anyone and in others there is 
  no special equipment needed. Some ‘patrons’ are in fact 
  rumors, clues and other things that may lead characters into 
  the adventure.
  Next the scenario lists players’ information. This is what 
  the patron tells the characters, the contents of the rumor 
  or whatever. The Referee may of course embellish, distort 
  or otherwise alter this information, and of course it may 
  not be the whole story anyway. Underneath is Referee’s 
  Information, which includes any special notes as well as a 
  set of possible outcomes. The Referee may decide to pick 
  one, or roll D (d6) to determine which of the potential 
  outcomes represents the real situation.
  General noteS
  How the players tackle any given job is of course the stuff 
  of	Traveller	games,	and	the	Referee	may	find	that	events	
  during the task lead on to other adventures or further 
  employment with the patron. These Encounters are a useful 
  way to introduce a recurring character into the game. As 
  the travellers carry out tasks for their new employer he will 
  gradually reveal more about himself and what he really wants 
  from them. In short, Patron Encounters are a starting point 
  from which the players and Referee can begin to create a 
  fun game, and should be viewed in that context.
  Most of the Encounters in this book assume a group of 
  2-6 adventurers with a range of skills. Larger or smaller 
  groups can tackle the same job in most cases, perhaps with 
  increased opposition or some help in the form of an expert 
  provided by the patron.
  In many of the adventure descriptions, worlds are named. 
  These are generic names and not located in any particular 
  part of the Traveller universe. They serve merely to identify 
  a location and can be changed or substituted for another 
  location at the Referee’s whim.
  StandardS and aSSumptionS
  Patron Encounters can be used with virtually any rules set 
  – Traveller or another game entirely. Many of the jobs herein 
  could be converted to a fantasy or low-technology setting 
  easily	enough.	There	is	thus	no	specific	set	of	equipment	
  necessary to use this book. We have assumed, for our 
  convenience when writing them, that the adventure seeds 
  are to be used in a universe that looks somewhat like the 
  Official	Traveller	Universe	–	that	is,	with	worlds	populated	
  mainly by humans, connected by starships using Jump 
  drives and so forth. In most cases this is not critical and 
  the adventure could be set anywhere, but in a few cases 
  it will be important. For example, in the standard Traveller 
  setting faster-than-light communications are not possible, 
  so characters cannot call for help on the tachyon radio or 
  whatnot. They are truly cut off if they need to send a starship 
  for help and don’t have one, and in any case sending for help 
  could be a matter of weeks. In a universe that does have FTL 
  communications, rescue could be en route in hours, which 
  creates a rather different situation. A creative Referee can 
  still use the adventure ideas of course.
  What You need to plaY
  Please note that this is not a standalone game. It requires 
  that you have access to a set of game rules of some kind. 
  We are assuming that this will be one version of the Traveller 
  
  - 5 -
  RPG or another. These adventures were not created for use 
  with	any	specific	rules	system.
  You will also need some dice as appropriate to your chosen 
  rules set plus pens, pencils, paper and probably some 
  kind of furniture to improve player and Referee comfort. 
  A suitable gaming area with appropriate atmosphere and 
  gravity conditions is taken as a given.
   
  
  - 6 -
  part 1: amber Zones
  amBer Zone: Starport 
  pioneerS
  Situation:
  SpaceLanes LIC is a small corporation based out of a mid-
  sized	frontier	starport.	The	firm	is	interested	in	developing	a	
  starport on a nearby low-population world, and has found a 
  way to do it on the cheap. The planet has had a ‘real’ starport 
  for at least two short periods in its history, and one of these 
  ports, situated at the town of Vindell’s Holding, could possibly 
  be reactivated, making it the obvious choice for visiting ships 
  and thus establishing a basic port and startown arrangement 
  that can later be expanded.
  SpaceLanes has money and backing but few assets of 
  its own, and those are tied up in other projects. Thus they 
  want to hire several characters, pay them handsomely and 
  send them off in their own (streamlined) ship to effect the re-
  commissioning of the original Starport’s infrastructure. If the 
  characters do not have access to such a ship, they would be 
  loaned	a	Scout	ship	for	this	specific	purpose.	Ultimately	this	
  would affect the going price of their mission.
  The town of Vindell’s Holding has a population of 220. It is 
  built on a corner of the old port, using materials scavenged 
  from the buildings there. This has resulted in the destruction 
  of most of the port, which was never more than a basic Type 
  C, however the basic infrastructure is still intact. There is 
  water storage, treatment and piping plus underground power 
  lines,	all	in	fairly	good	shape.	Some	areas	will	need	fixing	
  but this is much cheaper than installing a whole new set of 
  pipes and cables. Once this is done, it should be possible 
  to clear out and repair the original structures or set up a few 
  prefabricated buildings, install a portable power generator 
  and communications gear, and clear a few decades’ worth 
  of	debris	off	the	landing	field.
  While this may sound like simplicity itself, StarLanes is at 
  pains	to	point	out	that	the	locals	are	a	‘difficult’	population	to	
  deal with, and should be handled with kid gloves during the 
  enterprise.	The	situation	is	made	a	little	more	difficult	since	
  the proposed new port is not located at the planetary capital. 
  Vindell’s Holding was set up several decades ago during an 
  aborted redevelopment project and is located in a distant 
  backwater region. The characters are going to have to sell 
  the plan to the local and planetary leaders as well as carry 
  out the simple engineering work required.
  reSolution:
  The	characters’	first	obstacle	is	to	get	the	world	government	
  to accept the plan. Such an important decision must be taken 
  at the very highest level – after appropriate consultation with 
  absolutely everyone else, of course. The characters must 
  present a solid argument why the world needs a central 
  starport, something it has done very well without for a 
  long, long time, and why it should be located at Vindell’s 
  
  - 7 -
  Holding. Assuming the characters present a decent case, 
  the arguments and wrangling go on for several days before 
  presidential council agrees to let the characters proceed – but 
  only if they can get permission from the local authorities.
  Next, the characters have to jump through the same hoops 
  to persuade the locals at Vindell’s Holding that they really 
  want a starport on their doorstep. These are the people who 
  allowed a previous one to decay into a cracked and weed-
  pitted landing area, which perhaps illustrates their attitude.
  If granted permission, the characters can begin the actual 
  work. The port site is very overgrown and has lain in ruin for 
  decades. The PCs will have to spend several weeks clearing 
  the grounds of the original Spaceport of vegetation and 
  wildlife. A fair amount of equipment is still there, although 
  rusted and useless for the most part. Repairs can be made 
  using some of the junk, and two or three items can be 
  patched together from the spares. With enough burning, 
  scraping and messy work, the Starport main buildings and 
  the basic infrastructure may be retrieved.
  Of course, nothing is that simple. The port area provides 
  good cover for local predators, and all that crashing about 
  in the wreckage may attract one or more examples of the 
  local wildlife, which might include territorial megafauna. And 
  of course some of the locals may decide that stealing the 
  characters’ gear is a good idea.
   
  amBer Zone: mine reScue
  Situation:
  One evening during shore leave, the party is approached by 
  a	security	officer.	His	uniform	is	crisp,	but	he	appears	very	
  tired as if he’s been awake for days. He introduces himself 
  as Paul Manaras, a Lieutenant in the Underwater Security 
  division of the local world’s Security Forces. He says he has 
  a job for the party, but is unable to submit details until the 
  party signs acknowledgement of a gag order, preventing 
  them from speaking to anyone about the operation until 
  mission completion. The gag order goes on at some length 
  about severe legal penalties but is nothing unusual.
  Paul has a situation which he needs help with. Several 
  days ago, an underwater mining facility sent a distress 
  call, which was quickly cut short. Two rescue squads have 
  gone to attempt a rescue, neither has returned. The last 
  squad managed to send half a message which is still being 
  analyzed, but it seems they were attacked by someone or 
  something on approach to the mining facility. The message 
  received was unintelligible due to the background noise, 
  mostly sounding like metal being stressed beyond its limits. 
  This was followed by a roar which has been determined 
  to be water entering the crew compartment of the rescue 
  submarine. Paul again notes that the message is still under 
  analysis, and the characters will be informed of the contents 
  as they become available.
  Between the loss of the two eight man rescue teams, and 
  a situation elsewhere with an abnormally large build up of 
  seagoing predators attempting to eat the underwater farmers, 
  the security forces do not have the manpower to attempt 
  another rescue. Their planners have spent some long hours 
  trying	to	find	a	way	to	resolve	the	manpower	issue	internally,	
  but time is running out. Soon they will be forced to release 
  the information to the press, as they’ve been getting calls 
  from the miners’ families about lack of contact for the last 
  few days.
  Paul admits that the situation has been handled badly and 
  that the information should have gone out almost immediately, 
  but the company has been too busy to organize the press 
  conference that would be required. He offers to make the 
  PCs into company deputies (the basic rank for a security 
  officer)	 for	 the	 length	 of	 the	 operation,	 with	 full	 pay	 and	
  benefits	(including	free	medical),	as	well	as	a	severe-hazard	
  payment, bringing the fee to Cr500 per day per person. Given 
  the length of the mission, the minimum fee will be Cr2,500 
  per rescuer.  The party will be issued a standard rescue 
  submarine, which can make the trip in about 6 hours; a 
  pilot can be scrounged up if the party is unable to pilot the 
  vehicle.
  The crew at the mining station consists of 24 men and women. 
  The station is mostly automated, allowing for the small crews. 
  Each of the rescue subs had a crew of 8 each. The rescue 
  
  - 8 -
  sub can pack up to 30 people aboard at maximum capacity, 
  so two trips may be needed. The mining facility is at a 
  depth of 500 meters, which requires the use of special high 
  pressure suits. Training on these will be quickly provided. 
  The submarine is armed with a single medium laser tuned 
  to blue-green frequencies to function underwater, though its 
  range is severely limited.
  reSolution:
  The trip out should be uneventful except for several large 
  sea creatures, including one that dwarfs the submarine by a 
  factor	of	five.	This	beastie	will	only	be	picked	up	on	sonar	and	
  does not molest the submarine in any way. What will molest 
  the submarine, however, is a huge creature previously not 
  cataloged, though it falls into the category of local wildlife 
  known by the initials HBM (Honkin’ Big Monsters).
  The creature will attack by wrapping its tentacles around 
  any projections on the submarine and then do its best to 
  tear its way into the hull using its armored jaws and head. 
  The creature is massive, mean, and smart. If it is severely 
  injured, it will disengage and get away from the PCs as fast 
  as possible. It does not leave the area, as it has a good food 
  source nearby (PCs and miners) and it is very angry. If it 
  manages to tear through the hull at 500 meters, the travellers 
  will meet the same fate as the other two submarines.
  Upon reaching the mine, the PCs will discover that both 
  airlocks	are	wrecked,	allowing	seawater	to	flood	most	of	the	
  mines. Several large pockets of air exist though, allowing 
  2-2 miners to survive for the PCs to rescue. Also, up to 
  two of the crew from the last rescue submarine may have 
  managed to escape to the mines, as they were in deep suits 
  when the creature attacked. The HBM has its own entry 
  into the facility besides the airlock and it can wiggle through 
  almost any habitable space in the mines. This in turn makes 
  it a very dangerous threat to the PCs as it is heavily armored 
  and standard weapons will not be very effective against it.
  All of the miners will require decompression either prior 
  to leaving the mines or prior to exiting the submarine. 
  The submarine can do the job, but will require the PCs to 
  acclimate themselves to the pressure and then decompress 
  everyone. This process will require 2 days spent at sea, and 
  if the HMB has survived, it is going to be stalking them until 
  they reach solid ground.
  Returning to port, the PCs will be given a heroes’ welcome 
  and be accepted as family by the relatives of the miners 
  and security forces (most of the population of the coastal 
  region). They will receive a Cr5,000 bonus for bringing back 
  at least one survivor, and upon departing the planet, receive 
  enough home baked cakes, pies and similar sendoff gifts 
  to last the crew the next 3 years. If the PCs are looking for 
  cargo, they will receive ore at a huge discount from Iranus 
  Mining, and cargo handling fees will be waived. Any PCs 
  so desiring will be offered a permanent commission in the 
  company’s Security Forces or a job in the mines if they even 
  need one.
  If the PCs decide not to assist, they will be intensely 
  scrutinized at every opportunity by law enforcement. One 
  week later, they will hear word of the loss of the mining 
  facilities and all personnel aboard, along with the crews of 3 
  rescue submarines.
   
  
  - 9 -
  amBer Zone: unSavorY 
  characterS
  Situation:
  Arriving at a frontier class E starport, the characters are faced 
  with an interesting challenge. The landing pad is occupied 
  by a 500-ton wedge-shaped starship, covered in burn marks 
  and scars of combat, and parked at a very awkward angle. 
  Normally the pad can accommodate three or four such ships, 
  but this one has been landed and left in the middle of the pad 
  with obvious disregard for other starfarers.
  It is possible to land, but this means squeezing in between 
  the berm that surrounds the pad, the control huts and the 
  grounded	ship,	a	tight	squeeze	made	more	difficult	by	a	gusty	
  wind. The grounded ship is tracking the characters’ vessel 
  with	 its	 fire	 control	 radar	 and	 one	 of	 its	 turrets	 is	 slewing	
  around, ostentatiously pointing at a location exactly two 
  ships’ lengths behind the characters ship. Instruments show 
  that the weapons (a dual laser mount) are not powered, but 
  they could quickly be brought into action. The gesture is, 
  obviously, an arrogant warning not to bump the grounded 
  ship rather than an actual threat.
  If	 the	 characters	 open	 fire,	 not	 only	 are	 they	 making	 an	
  unprovoked attack on a grounded ship, but it could retaliate 
  with	five	turrets	of	weapons	–	it	is	unlikely	that	either	ship	
  would survive an engagement at such short range.
  If the characters attempt to land, they can manage it, but it 
  requires a tricky maneuver. If successful, the pilot squeezes 
  his ship in with no real problems. Failure indicates the 
  characters have clipped the berm and their ship has taken 
  some minor damage, but they are down. Failure by a serious 
  margin means the pilot has collided with the grounded ship 
  (which	does	not	actually	open	fire	even	if	they	do),	causing	
  some minor damage to both vessels.
  reSolution:
  The ship is the Hamali, a custom design registered out of a 
  dubious freeport in the region. It belongs to ‘Captain’ Mikhyl 
  Teiss, a member of one of the smaller but more adventurous 
  pirate bands operating in the area. He is in a bit of a jam at 
  present. He has landed himself a lucrative job smuggling 
  weapons to illegal militias on various worlds, but just couldn’t 
  pass up the chance to bushwhack a juicy merchant or two 
  along the way.
  Teiss’ latest victim wasn’t a merchant at all, but turned out to 
  be	a	Q-ship	operated	by	StarSecure,	a	merc	outfit.	Teiss	“had	
  a feeling” about the target and left himself a large window 
  of opportunity to escape, which was just as well. The short 
  exchange	of	fire	that	followed	his	challenge	caused	a	great	
  deal of damage to both vessels, but the Hamali was able to 
  Jump out and carried on her gunrunning mission while the 
  ship’s engineer made running repairs.
  Tiess is on a tight timeframe and stands to make a lot of 
  money from his smuggling mission. He simply dare not go 
  home to his superiors and tell them he blew the job out of 
  greed, so he has pressed on in disregard of common sense. 
  Things worked out well enough for a while, until the ship’s 
  engineer	got	into	a	knife-fight	with	one	of	the	gunners	and	
  died shortly thereafter. Shooting the gunner didn’t make Tiess 
  feel any better, and now he’s two men down, behind time 
  and unable to space out without an engineer and a damage 
  control team. And perhaps worst of all, he’s stuck on this 
  low-population desolate rockball. He isn’t a happy man.
  The arrival of the characters’ ship represents an opportunity 
  to solve his problems. He needs an engineer desperately, and 
  he’ll go to any lengths to get one.  
  Possible ploys Tiess 
  might try include challenging the characters to a drinking 
  contest, getting them drunk and abducting their engineer, 
  or	 angrily	 demanding	 some	 help	 to	 fix	 the	 damage	 the	
  characters did colliding with his ship, getting the engineer 
  aboard then locking down his ship and lifting off. He’d quite 
  happily disable the characters’ vessel as he did so.
  Of course, if the characters are amenable, he would actually 
  hire one of their engineers on a good salary, and would be 
  quite willing to cut a deal with suitably amoral characters, so 
  long as he gets an engineer to keep his ship running until he 
  can	find	someone	permanent.	Characters	who	agree	to	work	
  with Tiess have many opportunities, such as playing decoy 
  by sending out a distress signal to summon assistance, as 
  if the Hamai was attacking them, then catching the would-
  be	 rescuer	 in	 a	 crossfire.	 Or	 the	 characters	 might	 act	 as	
  information gatherers for Tiess. They might even be able to 
  get in on some gunrunning action.
  On the other hand, if the characters are not inclined this 
  way, then they are stuck in a backwater port with a bunch of 
  heavily armed thugs. They can’t take off because the Hamai 
  would gut their ship. Unless Tiess and his crew are stupid 
  enough to antagonize the locals, the characters are going to 
  be	on	their	own.	They	will	have	to	find	a	way	to	neutralize	the	
  hostile	vessel	without	resorting	to	a	suicidal	firefight.
   
  
  - 0 -
  amBer Zone: Water ratS 
  Situation:
  The	Meraxes	Floating	Habitation	Unit,	or	“Meraxes	Flab”	as	it	
  commonly referred to, is one of several high class residential 
  units designed to cruise the extensive seas of the high tech 
  world the characters just landed on, giving its rich (and 
  largely retired) residents a different view of the planet every 
  day.  It is a peaceful place full of happy citizens living out 
  their pensions eating, drinking, socializing or doing whatever 
  they	find	enlivening.
  Due	 to	 plentiful	 food	 and	 lack	 of	 exercise,	 a	 significant	
  proportion of the residents of such complexes are excessively 
  overweight. This is the primary reason why the appellation 
  “Flab”	came	about,	rather	than	the	official	“FHU”	or	some	
  other	contraction.	However,	the	residents	find	this	no	great	
  drawback, due both to the amount of water available for 
  transportation and socializing in, and the fact that space 
  is not as limited as it is in the many land-based cities, so 
  everything has been built large to accommodate them.
  For the really large individual who wishes to leave the water 
  sections of the habitation (which are treated, non-saline, 
  heated, and sealed off from the surrounding sea) specially 
  designed grav-belt units are readily available, and the 
  Meraxes Operating Company (MOC) maintains one of the 
  best heart clinics in the subsector.
  The characters are offered employment by an MOC 
  representative to provide standard security services, the 
  equivalent of street police level enforcement, for a six month 
  tour of duty. It is a fairly easy job which mostly just requires 
  the characters to be visible and helpful when the inevitable 
  minor crises such as lost keycards and straying pets come 
  to light. Criminal detection, surveillance and detective 
  services are provided by the complex’s Model 7 computer 
  system running specialized programs, and actual crime is 
  quite rare.
  The MOC representative will offer Cr5,000 per month to each 
  member of the team. A wary character will realize that this 
  rate is a little on the high side for a job that should consist 
  primarily of baby-sitting a bunch of rich retirees as they drift 
  lazily around the planet. The Meraxes Operating Company 
  representative will say that this is because they know that 
  good	security	personnel	often	find	the	environment	of	the	
  Meraxes Flab boring and possibly even a threat to their 
  status as rough and ready men;  mercs coming off such an 
  assignment are sometimes considered to be as soft and 
  flabby	as	the	residents.
  Should a character think to check, a cursory search of the 
  local data-net will reveal that the last security enforcement 
  unit employed on this duty lost half its personnel to a terrorist 
  bomb attack planted by a member of one of the security 
  teams. The MOC believes employing off-worlders reduces 
  the risk of another mole. Deeper research may reveal that 
  the Meraxes Operating Company is in fact a wholly owned 
  subsidiary of an off-world corporation, so the majority of 
  profits	from	this	company	will	end	up	going	off	planet.	It	is	
  possible that there are locals who resent this setup.
  reSolution: 
  The mission could be as peaceful as the MOC representative 
  claims. However it could just as easily become a nightmare. 
  The	 ‘flabs’	 are	 a	 prime	 target	 for	 dissident	 groups	 which	
  resent	the	increasing	influence	of	offworld	corporations.	The	
  most prominent in the region is the Broad Straits Alliance.
  To the troublemakers of the old Broad Straits Alliance, the 
  very existence of the Meraxes Flab is an affront to the spirit 
  of independence. On the Flab, the decadent rich live lives 
  of idleness and luxury while paying off-worlders for the 
  privilege	of	working	in	comfortable	offices	next	door	to	the	
  best	 restaurants	 on-planet.	 In	 fact	 the	 term	 “on	 the	 Flab”	
  has come to describe someone the dissidents see as acting 
  against the interests of Lunarmise and getting rich doing it. 
  For instance, they consider most of the current government 
  to	be	“on	the	Flab”.
  The	floating	habitation	units	have	become	a	symbol	of	both	
  the	influence	of	off-world	interests,	and	the	general	apathy	
  and decadence of the majority of the planetary population. 
  As such they are increasingly coming under threat from 
  the more militant elements of the Broad Straits Alliance. 
  The Meraxes Flab is about to enter waters once controlled 
  by the Broad Straits Alliance, as part of its well-publicized 
  schedule. Despite attempts by Meraxes’ captain to convince 
  the MOC that the Flab should alter its schedule, there are 
  some beautiful tourist venues in the Broad Straits area, and 
  its occupants would not be happy to miss seeing them.
  The party will be deployed together as single security team, 
  all on the same shift. At least two other off-world security 
  teams will be employed, to cover the other two shifts. The 
  referee should choose from the following events that the 
  security force will need to deal with during their tour of 
  duty, or they may roll randomly to select an event.  Events 
  may occur more than once but the referee should try to 
  differentiate them or may build them into an ongoing plot if 
  she so desires.  Of course, every incident will need to be 
  investigated which may in turn lead to further adventures…
  if random events are desired, roll 2d6 (2d):
  2. Squid Surprise. A large (just over large human size in 
  diameter) ten-tentacled squid has (somehow) managed to 
  get	through	the	filtration	systems	and	is	loose	in	the	internal	
  water transport system. The team must protect the residents, 
  and there are calls to rescue the squid unharmed and return 
  it to the sea – these naturally come from people who are 
  located at a safe distance from it.
  3. The Dealer. A team member notices a member of 
  one of the other security teams acting suspiciously and 
  
  -  -
  amBer Zone: a clear 
  conScience
  Situation: 
  Having completed customs formalities at their current 
  destination, an impressive highport, the party set about 
  enjoying the palatial facilities for which the high port is 
  famous. The intention is to seek out some light weight, high 
  value trade goods. After an uninspiring afternoon and a 
  night of conviviality they return to their vessel. There they 
  discover the ship’s anti-hijack facility has been disabled and 
  that they have a visitor, a female of apparent middle years. 
  She is unarmed, and introduces herself as Beniji Kaserlin. 
  Her manner is decidedly ‘no-nonsense’. The party, she all 
  but demands, are to aid her in an important service. In return 
  she offers a number of high value archaeological items. 
  These would fetch a high price in the markets off world.
  Beniji Kaserlin reveals herself to be a potentate of a political 
  movement	 named	 “Social	 Conscience”.	 The	 movement	 is	
  not mainstream but seems to be entirely legal. Its charter is 
  the preservation of a free society and to ensure the continued 
  absence of despotism, tyranny and totalitarianism. Beniji 
  suspects	the	movement	has	been	infiltrated.	She	fears	that	
  SC itself has become a target. She wishes to turn matters to 
  the movement’s advantage.
  She needs a group of individuals, offworlders, unknowns, 
  with mercenary motivations and no local connections. The 
  mission	is	to	find	proof	positive	that	three	named	individuals	
  are, in fact, members of the proscribed organization called 
  RIM, the Real Independence Movement. She can provide 
  little by way of leads other than the individual’s names and 
  places of employment. She suggests a good place to start 
  would be to do some background checks followed by a little 
  second storey work.
  Kalath Minagoran, Beniji explains, is a potentate of SC and 
  is	 a	 senior	 customs	 official	 at	 the	 highport.	 She	 suspects	
  him of being a member of a RIM cell operating in the port. 
  Any computer records showing favorable customs treatment 
  of	any	known	RIM	activists	would	be	sufficient.	Any	other	
  intelligence on the organization or its members would be 
  extremely useful.
  Arion Krell has a day job as a weapons trainer in the local 
  system navy. Beniji reveals that his other role is as a lieutenant 
  in	 the	 “Social	 Conscience”	 secret	 combat	 arm	 known	 as	
  the Hand of the Justice (colloquially known as The Fist). 
  The Fist’s primary purpose is to be ready for the day when 
  freedom must again be defended from within. The Fist is not 
  in any way legal and would probably be considered a terrorist 
  organization for all it’s ostensibly positive motivations.
  The Fist stands ready to resist overt tyranny, but in the 
  meantime there is plenty to do including the elimination of 
  placing a package in a pipe. If the party are aware of the 
  possibility of terrorist action, play this up, but actually the 
  person is providing illicit anagathics or recreational drugs to 
  residents.
  4. The Cork. A resident has become stuck in one of the 
  internal	water	transport	tubes.	The	security	force	must	figure	
  out how to extract the resident before the pressure builds 
  enough to be dangerous. Flab engineers will help, but they 
  claim it’s not their responsibility, and anything involving 
  residents needs to be handled by the medical staff. Guess 
  what the medical staff say…
  5. Falling Down. A resident’s grav-belt fails leaving them 
  stranded on precarious part of the Flab’s architecture. The 
  team needs to rescue and calm the scared, and possibly 
  irate, resident.
  6. Accusation. One of the many people employed as 
  service	personnel	on	the	flab	is	accused	of	a	crime	(possibly	
  theft, assault, rape, selling illicit drugs, etc.) by a resident. 
  Whether the accusation is true is up to the referee.
  7. Domestic. There is a dispute between two residents and 
  the security team is called to defuse the situation. Domestic 
  disputes are always complicated and unpleasant, with the 
  real possibility of the participants turning on the security 
  people.
  8. Armed Domestic. As 7, but one or both of the parties 
  produce a weapon, probably a kitchen knife or other domestic 
  object, and attempts to use it to ‘settle’ the dispute.
  9. Pressure Down. A system failure leaves many residents 
  stranded when the transport tubes they are using lose water 
  pressure.		The	system	is	fixed	but	residents	are	still	stranded	
  in the miles of transport tubes, and must be found and 
  removed before water pressure is restored, as the sudden 
  influx	of	water	on	repressurization	will	endanger	them	–	or	at	
  least make them think they were in danger, and the security 
  team do not want to have to deal with a horde of angry rich 
  people.
  0. Storm Warning. A large storm is approaching. While 
  the Flab is designed to withstand even the most severe 
  hurricane conditions, it has been a while since it has had 
  to	 “batten	 down	 the	 hatches”	 and	 the	 Captain	 details	 the	
  security force to examine the exterior of the Flab to ensure 
  that all is secure.
  . Terrorist Attack. A small motorized boat approaches the 
  Flab and launches a salvo of unguided rockets at the Flab. 
  The team needs to deal with both the boat and the results of 
  the rocket attack.
  2. Terrorist Assault. A large, well-organized, and heavily 
  armed, terrorist team seizes the Flab’s bridge while the party 
  are off-duty. The party members get enough warning to 
  disappear into the Flab’s maintenance tunnels before being 
  rounded up by the terrorists, but not enough to retrieve their 
  weapons, as the terrorists knew exactly where the team was 
  supposed to be. The party will discover that the Flab’s First 
  Officer,	Todd	Bartholomew,	and/or	one	of	the	other	security	
  teams, is or are in league with the terrorist team and the 
  security system has been locked down.
   
  
  - 2 -
  demagogues, would be dictators and anyone that would 
  jeopardize the greater stability and societal freedoms so far 
  achieved. In Krell’s case, Beniji suspects him to be weak and 
  a danger to the movement’s other members. She suspects 
  him of having been the betrayer of a number of recently 
  murdered	 “Social	 Conscience”	 agents.	 Any	 information	
  linking him to the killings, the killers, or directly with RIM 
  would	suffice.	His	quarters,	she	suggests,	would	probably	
  be a good place to start.
  Linka Molliakoi is a minister in the Church of Celestial 
  Consciousness	
  and	
  intelligence	
  analyst	
  for	
  “Social	
  Conscience”. She sees most of the information gathered 
  by	 “Social	 Conscience”.	 She	 operates	 out	 of	 her	 temple	
  in Styles Square, an important cultural hub. A wily old fox, 
  according to Beniji, Linka is unlikely to be easy to reveal. 
  The temple is a good place to start but the best results could 
  well be achieved from checking out her associates. Care is 
  cautioned as her tendrils run deep and wide in local society.
  reSolution:
  “Social	Conscience”	has	indeed	been	infiltrated	by	agents	of	
  the radical terrorist organization called the Real Independence 
  Movement. The RIM (known to the media as ‘Rhyme’) has 
  as its stated aim the return of the principals of their distant 
  forefathers.	They	want	strong,	firm	leadership	for	the	world	to	
  maintain its economic and political independence. The aim 
  of	the	infiltrators	is	twofold.	Firstly,	they	wish	to	ensure	that	
  the	efforts	of	“Social	Conscience”	to	hinder	RIM	activities	are	
  rendered impotent. Secondly, it wishes to publicly discredit 
  “Social	Conscience”	and	all	it	stands	for.
  Kalath Minagoran already knows that an off-world group 
  have	been	hired	by	someone	within	“Social	Conscience”.	Her	
  bureaucratic efforts to frustrate them will be truly impressive. 
  When she discovers that they have a ship in port (and she 
  will),	they	will	find	themselves	tied	up	in	bureaucratic	knots	
  for months. If things go badly for her, she will orchestrate a 
  plant of contraband. An arrest warrant will see the party out 
  of the way for quite some time unless they already have hard 
  evidence against her.
  Arion Krell has a RIM mission to frustrate the efforts of The 
  Fist. He has been warned that a group is seeking out RIM 
  members but knows little else. Cut off from his RIM chain 
  of command for long periods, he is decidedly uncertain and 
  even edgy. A number of navy people are growing suspicious. 
  His	“Social	Conscience”	fellows	fear	his	betrayal.	His	RIM	
  handlers fear his cowardice. He doesn’t know it, but his days 
  are numbered. At the appropriate time (probably when the 
  player characters are at hand) an assassin will kill Krell. Pre-
  established evidence will point to the travellers.
  Linka Molliakoi has masterfully saved quite a few RIM 
  members from the clutches of The Fist. She is aware that 
  Arion Krell’s position is a threat. Ironically, her superiors in 
  “Social	Conscience”	have	warned	her	that	Krell	can	no	longer	
  be trusted. An off-world RIM operative will arrive in a few 
  days to eliminate that little loose end. The player characters’ 
  activities will provide an excellent opportunity for this agent 
  to	deflect	blame	and	establish	a	frame-up.
  Finally, if the mission succeeds, Beniji Kaserlin will hand 
  over a collection of archaeological artifacts. These will fetch 
  between 2D (2d6) x Cr0,000. The party will also have made 
  a	seriously	influential	friend.
   
  
  - 3 -
  understand the planetary culture. It is common for young 
  people who have ‘Gone First’ to experience an initial 
  homesickness, but it usually passes and they almost always 
  reject outside intervention. The government has sent a 
  request for information about Kiara to the major southern 
  settlements, but a response might take months. Quite likely 
  one will never be made.
  The authorities were not totally unsympathetic to Duluk, and 
  have been able to narrow her location at the time of the call 
  to a 00 hundred kilometer square area in at the edge of the 
  desert region that lies between the two cultures’ homelands. 
  Duluk has turned to an old friend, who is a shipping agent 
  for many free traders. Together they have decided the best 
  approach is to hire offworld help to locate and if necessary, 
  recover, Kiara. Duluk’s friend has contacted the characters to 
  see if they are interested in helping out. Duluk has Cr20,000 
  to fund this mission, he will be willing to offer the characters 
  half up front, with the rest payable if they successfully locate 
  his daughter and bring her home if that is what she wants. If 
  she does not wish to return he will respect her wishes if he 
  can be sure she is not under duress.
  reSolution:
  Kiara is actually in very deep trouble. ‘Going First’ turned 
  out to be very easy, but she quickly realized she didn’t know 
  many people, and after a short period of welcome and 
  support, survival in First culture is very much a matter of 
  who and what you know. She eventually befriended a group 
  of Firster youths who had come in to pick up some supplies 
  at the settlement she had been dropped off at.
  Unfortunately for Kiara, the youths she befriended are a 
  group of rebellious Firsters who have been kicked out of 
  their various tribes because of their appallingly inappropriate 
  behavior. The youths were subsequently hired by an offworld 
  corporation interested in doing some research in the ancient 
  cities left over from the failed colonization effort, and needing 
  some ‘locals’ to provide cover for their activities. The youths 
  caught Kiara eavesdropping on their conversations about 
  how cushy their job is, and made a panicky decision to force 
  her to return to the desert campsite with them.
  The corporation is interested in researching the original 
  culture and technology of the early colonists, and they are 
  not adverse to digging up burial sites and poking around in 
  tombs, which would deeply upset the Firsters. The youths 
  do not really know what is going on, and are simply helping 
  allay local suspicions. Kiara has been forced to do menial 
  work around the camp, and since she snuck into one of 
  the researcher’s tents to make her distress call, has been 
  restricted to the youths’ area of the camp.
   
  amBer Zone: GoinG firSt
  Situation:
  Duluk Stellane came to this world 6 years ago with his 
  two year old daughter Kiara, having buried her mother and 
  older brother and left behind a life wrecked by tragedy. Their 
  deaths were an accident, but Duluk could not remain in his 
  old life. He needed to make a new start and a semi-wild 
  frontier world seemed like a good prospect. He brought his 
  only surviving child, his daughter, and set about building up 
  a small manufacturing business. Today he is reasonably 
  prosperous.
  His daughter Kiara Stellane has ‘gone native’ to a great extent. 
  She considers herself a local, and her father a dear but out 
  of touch old man. After spending an increasing amount of 
  time right out on the frontiers of society, she has fallen in love 
  with the way of life of a segment of the planetary population. 
  Descended from an early, unsuccessful, colony mission 
  these people reverted to a semi-nomadic lifestyle. They do 
  have some villages and even towns, but people often wander 
  between	them	and	a	significant	segment	of	the	population	
  do not have any permanent home. The semi-nomads get on 
  well enough with the technologically-advanced settlers who 
  came later. Neither has the numbers that would require huge 
  amounts of land, and their homelands are divided by both a 
  tradition of mutual respect for the other’s territory and a very 
  real barrier in the form of a broad region of rocky desert.
  The semi-nomads are colloquially known as ‘Firsters’ on 
  planet,	 since	 they	 are	 descended	 from	 the	 first	 colonists.	
  Their lifestyle is simple in the extreme but they have a great 
  cultural heritage. Their oral traditions go back millennia, and 
  they have produced a number of great poets. Occasionally 
  some of the ‘Laters’, as the later, more advanced colonists 
  are known, visit the Firsters or even go to live with them 
  permanently. Some Firsters go the other way, but not so 
  many.
  Kiara	is	one	of	those	Laters	who	finds	the	life	of	a	Firster	
  attractive, preferring it to the high-tech, high-stress life 
  of the Laters. As a newly recognized adult she has taken 
  the appropriate steps to cut herself off from her old life, 
  which included booking her high-tech belongings into a 
  government run holding station for safekeeping. The local 
  governments (or what passes for one on the Firster side) are 
  quite supportive of those who choose to change allegiance, 
  believing	that	individuals	must	be	allowed	to	find	their	own	
  way.
  Kiara’s unexpected departure worried Duluk, but to make 
  matters worse he has received an urgent and distressing 
  vid-call from her. The vid-call was cut-off before she was 
  able to say anything, but he was left with a vision of her 
  bedraggled, with sun burnt lips, wearing sandy rags in what 
  looked like a Firster desert tent. The authorities dismissed 
  Duluk’s worries as those of an offworlder who just doesn’t 
  
  - 4 -
  between earnest attempts to dissuade the adventurers on 
  safety grounds, contempt for their stupidity, and at least 
  one example of real fear. Some locals believe that ‘devils’ 
  live in the hell of the lower valley and disturbing them may 
  endanger everyone on the planet.
  Once north of the settlement, the land begins to get lower 
  in general, though there are a long series of smaller ridges 
  and valleys going generally north.  As the group descends, 
  the atmosphere goes from breathable to slightly hazardous, 
  then downright lethal. Long before the group reaches the 
  valley	floors,	they	are	engulfed	in	corrosive	mist	that	restricts	
  visibility to a few meters and seems to interfere with other 
  instruments too.
  The route to the wrecks is not very well plotted, though the 
  location	of	the	wrecks	is	pretty	well	defined	–	if	you	are	in	a	
  ship in orbit. For those that have to make their way through 
  the corrosive soup, navigation is a real challenge. Once the 
  party is in the area of the wrecks they may need to check 
  several	valleys	to	find	them.
  One interesting thing that the characters will discover is 
  that plant and animal life in the valleys is only slightly less 
  common and varied than on the mountains. Plants tend 
  toward mosses and fungi more than other types.  One of 
  the fungi types that is unknown on the mountains looks 
  like a Terran toadstool and can grow taller than .5 meters. 
  Animal life is primarily insect, though variants of armadillo-
  like creatures are spotted. They appear to be omnivorous.  
  A larger creature (about .5 meters long) looks like a cross 
  between an anteater and an armadillo. The party is most 
  likely	 to	 meet	 this	 kind	 if	 walking	 outside	 in	 a	 “toadstool	
  forest.”		If	the	party	investigates,	it	will	find	this	to	be	this	
  world’s top predator even though it is omnivorous, with a diet 
  enriched by toadstool spores.
  As the party travels north, the geology shifts from tectonic 
  plate edge mountain range to land forms of volcanic origin.  An 
  increasing number of hot springs and eventually geysers will 
  be noticed.  The sulfur taint of the atmosphere will increase 
  greatly near any of these active hot spots, sometimes to a 
  level	that	will	endanger	the	ATV	and	definitely	the	suits.
  Events the Referee might impose during travel include:
  Earthquakes
  Thin crust over sinkhole (empty or full of hot water)
  Active	volcano	or	lava	flow
  Acid lake
  Landslide
  Animal or insect attack
  Toadstool	spore	in	the	ATV,	grows	quickly	at	first	then	dies	
  without sulfur
  When	 the	 party	 finally	 arrives	 at	 the	 wrecks	 they	 will	 find	
  there are several of them. They are quite similar and look 
  to be about 600 tons each. Covering most of the tops and 
  about halfway up the sides is plant growth. The ships now 
  amBer Zone: ShipS in the 
  miSt
  Situation: 
  Dansone is a hell-world with a dense corrosive atmosphere. 
  At low altitudes the acidic mists are lethal, though it is 
  possible for humans to live high up in hilly or mountainous 
  country. Despite the obvious unsuitability of the world, it was 
  colonized by a small group some years back. They live in a 
  sheltered area at the top of a range of hills and operate a 
  basic starport. The entire planetary population lives in this 
  area; about 700 people all told. Their main income comes 
  from chemical extraction from the atmospheric vapor. Theirs 
  is a hazardous lifestyle, and they never venture down into 
  the mists beyond the hardened extraction plants. Anyone 
  who would choose to descend into the corrosive hell ‘down 
  there’ must be quite mad, the locals think.
  However, Dr Alex Levei wants to do just that. He has heard 
  rumors that there are spacecraft remains in the bottom of 
  one of the deep valleys. They may be of alien origin in which 
  case	they	are	well	worth	the	risk	inherent	in	finding	them.	
  When the party meets Dr. Levei, he is searching for a team 
  to help him travel to and explore the ships.  He is willing to 
  pay Cr,000 per week per person for the time it takes to 
  travel to and study the ships.  If this requires traveling to 
  Dansone, he will also pay for Middle Passage tickets.
  If	the	party	has	a	starship	with	significant	cargo	capacity	(at	
  least 30 tons), then Dr Levei would be willing to charter the 
  ship to get him and his equipment to the planet. He insists 
  that all members of the party have Vacc Suit skill, and that 
  someone in the party have skill in driving tracked ATVs.  He 
  wants someone in the party with starship Engineering skill if 
  possible.
  Dr Levei will provide a TL5 tracked ATV and TL5 hostile 
  environment suits that are specially designed to resist the 
  corrosive atmosphere of the valleys on Dansone, probably 
  for as long as several weeks.  The ATV is stocked with food, 
  water, and other consumables for the party to last at least two 
  weeks.  The ATV’s equipment locker includes: mechanical, 
  electrical, and metalwork tool kits, a medical kit, a lock pick 
  set,	 radiation	 counter,	 five	 atmosphere	 testers,	 five	 30m	
  lengths	of	acid	resistant	rope,	four	rifles	and	four	handguns	
  with	 fifty	 rounds	 of	 ammo	 each,	 recording	 equipment	
  (still	and	holographic),	 and	several	boxes	filled	with	small	
  containers of white powder which the professor says is a 
  chemical somewhat similar to baking soda.
  reSolution: 
  The party travels through the hills for a few days before 
  coming to the north end of the inhabited ‘island’.  The 
  locals they meet are interested in the party, its technology, 
  and its intentions.  When the idea of going into the deep 
  valleys to study the ships is brought up, reactions are split 
  
  - 5 -
  look a bit more like small mesas than they do ships. They 
  appear to have been streamlined originally.
  As the party arrives and starts looking for entrances to the 
  ships	 they	 will	 find	 that	 the	 airlocks	 after	 a	 little	 digging	
  should be usable. The seals on the airlock doors have been 
  eaten away by the acids in the air, rain, and soil. Even the 
  hull plating is showing serious corrosion problems, and all 
  external markings have been etched away.
  Inside,	 the	 party	 will	 find	 less	 direct	 corrosion	 and	 more	
  damage from plants and insects. Dr Levai will be in his 
  element, taking measurements and pictures of absolutely 
  everything, and the drone of the professor’s voice making 
  notes may annoy other members of the party. He will 
  constantly be stopping to point the cameras at various bits 
  that	 might	 give	 clues	 to	 the	 origins	 of	 the	 ships.	The	 first	
  ship turns out to have crashed, and the large openings in 
  the hull allowed the plant and animal life to work over the 
  interior pretty well. There are a number of toadstools in 
  various places in the ship, particularly in what might have 
  been the bridge. The second ship seems to be in better 
  condition inside, though it too has a number of plants and 
  animals living inside. In fact, the bridge in the second ship 
  seems to have toadstools only in front of where the control 
  panels likely were. The second ship also has control panels 
  and markings that are still discernible. The control panels 
  are oddly spherical and the few markings are hexagonal.  
  After the professor has time to study his recordings he will 
  determine that the ships are of Hiver design. He will want 
  to make one more trip into the second ship to pick up a few 
  artifacts that are more peculiarly Hiver in origin.
  Once the characters are familiar with the environment around 
  the ships and are more concerned with getting the job done 
  than their environment, the Referee might like to throw in a 
  challenge like an animal attack or natural hazard.
  Once Dr Levai is done with the ships the party can turn south 
  toward the starport.  In the next valley south, through which 
  they	 had	 come	 on	 the	 journey	 north,	 the	 party	 will	 find	 a	
  fresh stream of lava pouring out of a hillside. Dr Levai is 
  concerned as to whether the lava will reach the ships, but 
  it looks like it would take some months at least for the lava 
  to run that direction if it ever did. He will still want to hurry 
  back to see if he can arrange to get the ships moved to a 
  safer location (though how that might be done presents an 
  engineering challenge). Though the party is now following 
  a route somewhat familiar from the outbound journey, the 
  Referee will want to roll more often for mishaps as Dr Levai 
  urges the driver to greater speed.
  Once back at the starport, Dr Levai requests the party’s 
  assistance with his salvage operation if they have done a 
  good job for him. If they don’t want to do the salvage mission, 
  he will pay them the agreed amount. He might also be 
  persuaded to write a letter of introduction to his colleagues.
   
  amBer Zone: acid 
  eXtraction
  Situation:
  While in a starport lounge, the players are approached by a 
  very tall man with black hair and huge hands, who is dressed 
  in coveralls that have seen better days. Mazun Havelock, 
  as he introduces himself, is a co-founder and director of 
  Corex LIC. He offers to buy the players a drink, and indicates 
  that he might have some work to offer them. If they accept 
  Havelock will show the PCs to a table that is occupied by 
  a man who he introduces as Gillian Best. Best is the other 
  co-founder and director of Corex. Best stands to shake the 
  players hands, and organizes the drinks while Havelock 
  explains what he has asked the PCs over for.
  Havelock and Best are looking to charter a Starship, at 0% 
  above normal price, to take them to Dansone and back. 
  Dansone is a nearby world with a very nasty corrosive 
  atmosphere, and Corex hopes to negotiate a contract to 
  provide atmospheric processing equipment to the colonists 
  there in return for rights to set up a mineral extraction 
  operation.  As they can’t guarantee that there will be a 
  starship to bring them back they will pay for the crew to stay 
  on Dansone and do some work for them. The charter will 
  involve the shipment of hazardous material, and the work 
  involves the hazardous environment on Dansone itself. 
  The players are offered Cr5,000 each for the week spent 
  working between the charters. This is in addition to the fee 
  for chartering the ship both ways.
  Havelock and Best recently patented a new form of gaseous 
  filtering	 technique	 and	 they	 formed	 Corex	 to	 exploit	 it,	
  however they found that there was not enough incentive 
  to use the new technique in the production of any product. 
  None	of	the	companies	they	contacted	who	produced	filters	
  were interested in a product that reduced ongoing revenues. 
  The companies saw that the new technique would reduce 
  the	number	of	times	that	filters	would	need	to	be	replaced	
  and	this	would	reduce	their	ongoing	profits	from	the	existing	
  market in replacement parts.
  Havelock and Best were about to give up and do something 
  else when a representative of Ling Standard Products (LSP) 
  approached them. It turned out that LSP had been looking 
  into this type of technique for the extraction of metals from 
  tainted	 atmospheres	 as	 a	 low	 cost,	 and	 highly	 efficient,	
  mining process, however Havelock and Best had got their 
  first.	 LSP	 proposed	 that	 they	 would	 fund	 a	 year	 trial	 of	
  the technique to analyze its effectiveness. If the trials are 
  successful then LSP proposes to purchase exclusive license 
  to use the technique, and a controlling interest in Corex, for 
  a very large sum of money.
  Havelock and Best looked around the region and decided 
  that there was a need for sulfur and sulfuric acid for 
  
  - 6 -
  industrial purposes. They thought that Dansone would be an 
  excellent place to start the trial. Having researched sales and 
  distribution	of	the	finished	products,	they	are	now	heading	
  out to Dansone to negotiate for mineral rights in exchange 
  for clean air and ongoing revenues, having already agreed 
  permission for an initial week-long experiment.
  If the players agree Havelock and Best will arrange to be on 
  board in two days with the necessary equipment. Havelock 
  will authorize the PCs to purchase fuel and life-support 
  equipment for a month, and will urge the PCs to offer passage 
  and freight space to Dansone as long as Corex can take 50% 
  of	any	profit.	Havelock	encourages	this,	as	the	charter	costs	
  will be recovered as an expense of the trial, while any extra 
  monies earned from the charter can go directly to Corex as 
  new business. This will increase the sale price of Corex if 
  the trial works. It is therefore in everyone’s interest to make 
  a little money on the side whilst on charter.
  reSolution:
  The equipment that needs to be taken to Dansone is a 
  prototype-filtering	machine,	ancillary	devices,	an	advanced	
  base, an ATV, an enclosed Grav Vehicle, and numerous 
  hazardous	environmental	 suits,	filter	masks	and	breathing	
  apparatus. Upon arrival and unloading at Danson, Havelock 
  will start the negotiations with the bureaucracy, while Best 
  and the PCs ready the equipment for the initial experiment. 
  The players will have to set up the portable base at a suitable 
  location	and	work	with	the	ATV	and	Grav	to	set	up	the	filtering	
  machine	in	the	one	of	the	acid	mist-filled	valleys	below	the	
  settlement.
  The	device	filters	the	acid	from	the	atmosphere.	Some	of	it	
  is concentrated into sulfuric acid while the rest is extracted 
  as pure sulfur and made into bars that are stored in a light 
  water resistant oil. The resulting clean air and water are 
  piped away from the machine as waste products. The acid 
  and sulfur bars need to be moved from the machine to the 
  ship where they need to be stored safely for transportation. 
  After the Corex team have returned to their home base the 
  sulfur bars and acid will be analyzed for purity.
  The players will need to set-up a corrosion-treated pipeline 
  for the clean air and water to be transferred to the portable 
  base. This will involve the negotiation of rugged mountainous 
  canyons with the added danger of the corrosive atmosphere, 
  acid storms and other dangers of the terrain. The air and 
  water transported to the base will need to have the amount 
  of sulfur left in them analyzed.
  The	players	and	Best	will	find	the	locals	friendly	and	helpful	
  for the most part. They will be offered advice on materials, 
  transport and storage of the acid and sulfur, on weather 
  forecasts, and on times to descend into the depths. This 
  advice will prove invaluable, but it is accompanied by 
  warnings not to venture too deep into the valleys as there 
  are ‘bad things’ down there in addition to the hazardous 
  environment. Nobody has ever seen anything of course, but 
  there are old tales of when the early colonists were foolish 
  enough to venture down into the deep valleys.
  The Referee should decide if there really is something 
  inimical	lurking	in	the	mists,	or	if	this	is	just	a	figment	of	the	
  locals’ collective imagination. There is enough danger to go 
  round already, with the hostile environment to contend with. 
  People concentrating on the task at hand may forget to take 
  proper care and get themselves into trouble, and there is 
  always a chance for mistakes or accidents to create new 
  hazards. Perhaps some other band of offworlders might be 
  on-planet at the same time, exploring in the depths against 
  the locals’ advice. If they get into trouble the travellers will be 
  the only ones able to help them.
   
  
  - 7 -
  part 2: mercenary tickets
  mercenarY ticKet: Joint 
  operationS team
  miSSion tYpe: cadre
  unit SiZe: Squad
  BacKGround:
  Jeysi is a very wet world inhabited by both humans and large 
  numbers of dolphins. Relations between the two groups 
  have never been very good, and contact has been limited for 
  much	of	the	time.	Open	conflict	has	occurred	at	times.	The	
  situation has not been eased by sporadic attacks on human 
  and dolphin groups. Both have blamed the others for these 
  attacks (sometimes rightly) but it is gradually becoming clear 
  that there is a third group involved. Who these people are 
  and why they feel the need to massacre small populations 
  or work groups is a mystery but the two populations of Jeysi 
  have	finally	agreed	on	something	–	they	need	to	deal	with	
  this threat together.
  Human and dolphin leaders have agreed to cooperate in 
  an	 historic	 venture:	 the	 creation	 of	 a	 joint	 human/dolphin	
  commando force trained and equipped to be the elite of the 
  two forces and a symbol of new cooperation between the 
  two races.
  miSSion:
  The two sides have decided to crate the Joint Operations 
  Team	(JOT),	a	joint	sea/air/land	commando	group	of	squadron	
  size (about 200 of all ranks). A group of mercenaries with 
  experience in commando operations are to be hired to train 
  the	force,	which	will	be	equipped	to	TL7/8	standard	(the	most	
  that the locals can afford at this time) with inter-operable 
  equipment for both humans and dolphins. The training cadre 
  must	then	remain	in	the	region	with	the	unit	for	its	first	four	
  months, acting as cadre. The mission is success-only.
  reSolution:
  All of the recruits will be drawn from the experienced 
  dolphin	pods	and	from	the	human	defense	forces.	The	first	
  two months of bringing their skills up to commando level 
  will proceed with no major snags. Obviously the physical 
  differences between the two races will raise a number of 
  training issues that need to be addressed, and there will be 
  bickering and mutual mistrust. However, nothing major goes 
  wrong during this initial training period.
  The remainder of the contract will involve the gradual 
  integration of the JOT into the operations of the human 
  and	dolphin	forces	on	the	planet.		“The	Threat”	is	a	vicious,	
  powerful and mysterious enemy, one whose capabilities 
  and limitations are unknown. The cadre will discover that 
  there are very few citizens of Jeysi who have run into 
  these unexplained adversaries and survived the encounter. 
  Therefore, the cadre must concentrate on teaching 
  
  - 8 -
  excellence in leadership, courage and resourcefulness, as 
  well as military skills. This will make all the difference in any 
  future encounter with the unknown enemy.
  The Threat turns out to be a species of semi-intelligent 
  squid-like creatures that are both adaptable and immensely 
  powerful	in	combat.	They	are	also	very	difficult	to	kill,	but	this	
  is not the main problem the operation faces. The main issue 
  is that the two groups simply do not trust one another and 
  find	it	hard	to	work	as	a	team.	Accusations	that	one	side	or	
  the other did not pull its weight in an encounter breed further 
  ill-feeling, with a good chance of wrecking the project. The 
  cadre will have to do more than train the JOT; they will have 
  to teach them to work together. The best way is of course 
  to give them a shared victory – but that itself might be a 
  problem.
   
  mercenarY ticKet: 
  diSSidentS on ice
  miSSion tYpe: commando
  unit SiZe: Squad
  BacKGround:
  The government of Tecred is a legitimate but extremely 
  unpleasant dictatorship which remains in power by giving 
  its citizens what they have been conditioned to want most 
  – stability, order and a distinct lack of change or progress. 
  There is nothing about the activities of the world’s government 
  that would provoke Imperial censure. Taxes are paid, quotas 
  are met and Imperial High Law is not broken. However, the 
  dictatorship is very close to the wind in some areas. One 
  such is the summary execution of certain kinds of dissident. 
  Another is the treatment of those who the state would like to 
  shoot but cannot legally do so for lack of evidence.
  These unfortunates are forcibly placed in suspended 
  animation in low berths ‘pending further investigation’, which 
  means	indefinitely.	The	dictatorship	spouts	a	lot	of	rhetoric	
  about sparing these people the experience of being in jail 
  while their case is investigated – if found innocent they will 
  not have lost months or years of their lives. However, the 
  fact is that these people, once on ice, stay there. It is not in 
  the state’s interest to investigate their case since they are 
  out of the way. No High Laws are (quite) broken as it cannot 
  be shown that the accused will not be granted a fair trial or 
  released at some point.
  The Imperial representative for the world, Sir Leine Biarin, is 
  shocked	and	horrified	at	the	sentients’	rights	abuses	being	
  carried out, but as Imperial representative or a world that 
  is not quite breaking the law, he cannot act without clear 
  evidence. He has decided to obtain such evidence.
  miSSion:
  The mission is a success-only contract for a squad-sized 
  unit to covertly approach a cryogenic prison in a remote area 
  and retrieve as many of the inmates as possible. This will 
  require crash-waking them and getting them to a vehicle to 
  make rendezvous with a ship Sir Leine will have on standby. 
  He can manage to have small arms smuggled close to the 
  prison site but cannot be directly involved. He wants to get 
  the inmates out of the system and to a press conference that 
  he has orchestrated through third parties. Once their story 
  becomes public he will then offer to investigate to ‘disprove 
  such wild claims’, which will grant him the chance to go 
  in with a Ministry of Justice team and bring the dictator’s 
  wrongdoing to light.
  reSolution:
  Sir Leine is entirely sincere in his intentions. He is not a native 
  of	Tecred	but	was	given	a	fief	there	a	couple	of	years	ago	
  
  - 9 -
  when	the	old	representative	died.	At	first	he	was	impressed	
  with the orderly society, but gradually became aware of just 
  how sinister the world’s government actually is. Sir Leine 
  believes that it is his duty to put a stop to this oppression 
  even if it means bending the rules somewhat. He will come 
  right out and say that he does not care if the guards are 
  killed or even shot while prisoners – if the team does not 
  get caught it won’t matter, and the dictator’s thugs have it 
  coming. It sounds like this is a personal crusade.
  The installation is in a remote area of a high-law world, 
  but once the team is on-planet then the mission becomes 
  simply a matter of not arousing suspicion while they get into 
  position. All Sir Leine can provide is handguns, SMGs and 
  a couple of military shotguns, but the installation is guarded 
  only by a dozen bored security personnel with batons and 
  sidearms. There are a couple of shotguns in a locker, but 
  nobody is expecting trouble and the team should have no 
  problems overpowering the guards. However, there is still 
  the problem of waking some or all of the 200 or so inmates. 
  Which ones should be saved? How many can the team get 
  out? Realistically they can rescue no more than a dozen and 
  will have to leave the rest behind.
  Reaction to the assault will not be quick. There is no plan 
  for this, and so the response will be uncoordinated. Law 
  enforcement and military units will be sent to the area but 
  will take a while to arrive. Once they do, they just keep on 
  coming – the locals’ response is as vigorous as it is confused. 
  The	result	will	be	a	running	fight	as	the	team	try	to	reach	
  their rendezvous point. The inmates may not be cooperative, 
  which will not help matters.
  If the team manage to reach the pickup point they can get 
  offworld, and events will play out as planned – an investigation 
  is soon launched. However, if the assault was extremely 
  aggressive, and if captured guards really were murdered, 
  then security camera footage of this will be used to help 
  justify the policy of keeping people who’d do something like 
  this out of the way. The team’s actions may in the end be the 
  factor lets the dictatorship of Tecred off the hook.
   
  mercenarY ticKet: q-Ship 
  miSSion tYpe: eScort
  unit SiZe: StarShip creW
  BacKGround:
  There is an ongoing problem with corsairs in the region, 
  and part of the problem is often that the local patrols are too 
  easily avoided. It seems that the corsairs have some local 
  help, as patrol vessels time and again miss corsairs by a 
  matter of days, even when ‘surprise’ patrols are instigated. 
  In particular corsairs heavily affect Wulo, as it has a small 
  population heavily dependent upon interstellar trade. To 
  counter this, the Wulo World Council purchased a high-
  tech Q-ship from an offworld source through a third party, in 
  the hope that they could avoid tipping their hand. This ship 
  appears to be a 400-ton subsidized merchant, but that is 
  actually a heavily armed anti-corsair vessel.
  The Q-ship never made it to Wulo. Apparently the corsairs 
  found out about the vessel before she even left dock, and it 
  was ambushed by several corsair vessels whilst en route to 
  Arnigi. The Wulo World Council suspects loose lips at the 
  starport, and have decided to solve the problem another 
  way.
  miSSion:
  The World Council of Wulo is looking to either hire a 
  mercenary Q-ship, or a free trader willing to have their 
  armament upgraded, whose crew are willing to take on a 
  regular route through some of the worst systems for corsairs. 
  Obviously the council would prefer a dedicated mercenary 
  ship that has a proven track record, but there are some 
  advantages to upgrading an existing trader – primarily that 
  the existing reputation of the ship would prevent that corsairs 
  being suspicious of it.
  If the characters’ ship needs an armament upgrade, then the 
  council is willing to pay for additional popup triple pulse laser 
  or	missile	turrets,	and	for	the	modifications	necessary	to	add	
  fighter	launch	capability	to	the	cargo	hold,	as	well	as	up	to	
  four	fighters	and	their	pilots.	Note	that	the	more	the	council	
  needs to do to make the ship a Q-ship, the less reward the 
  characters can expect.
  A fully kitted out mercenary Q-ship will be paid Cr00,000 
  for each month’s hire, whilst a merchant ship that requires 
  extensive	modification	will	only	be	paid	Cr40,000	for	each	
  month’s hire, and in addition will be expected to disarm at the 
  end of the contract. There is a Cr0,000 bonus for identifying 
  a corsair ship, a Cr00,000 bonus for each corsair vessel 
  disabled/destroyed	and	a	Cr50,000	bonus	for	each	corsair	
  base	identified.	On	top	of	this,	the	World	Council	is	willing	
  to offer salvage rights to any corsair ship the mercs disable, 
  once their techs have examined the ship for evidence and 
  
  - 20 -
  intelligence to use against the corsairs – and incidentally 
  ensured that the vessel really was a corsair.
  reSolution:
  The characters will need to equip their ship and then begin 
  operating a fake trade route that takes them into harm’s way. 
  It is up to the characters to decide what route they want to 
  take. Vessels have been hit in several systems but mainly 
  in those with poor starports and little in the way of naval 
  presence.
  Imperial Navy patrol ships sweep part of the route about 
  once a month, usually visiting one or two systems for a 
  period of a few days each. There are thus long periods 
  where there is no naval presence in the troubled systems, 
  though corporate and Scout Service vessels do help take 
  up some of the slack when they are passing through. Tukera 
  Lines	has	established	an	unofficial	‘courtesy	convoy’	system	
  whereby its armed freighters will allow smaller vessels to 
  accompany them and shelter under the big ship’s guns. 
  Thus far no convoy has been attacked.
  The corsair raids do not have a particular frequency, but they 
  do manage to avoid the scheduled patrols. This is due to 
  informants in the ports along the way, taking basic measures 
  such as reading shipping manifests and news reports for the 
  most	part,	though	the	corsairs	do	have	a	number	of	officials	
  in their collective pocket. The more assistance the characters 
  accept from the authorities, the smaller their chance of an 
  interception.
  If the characters manage to identify a corsair vessel and 
  live to report it, that will be a minor success. If they severely 
  damage, or disable a corsair vessel that will be a major 
  success in the council’s eyes. To identify a corsair base, 
  or locals harboring corsairs, would be a great coup and 
  the subsequent military response would likely put a dent in 
  corsair operations for some time.
   
  mercenarY ticKet: the 
  hole
  miSSion tYpe: recon 
  unit SiZe: Squad
  BacKGround:
  Deep Sea Mining Station 34 sits in some 200 meters of 
  water astride an underwater mountain chain rich in rare 
  ores far from the populated centers of the watery world of 
  Graygreen. Most citizens of Graygreen don’t know of its 
  existence,	and	the	majority	would	be	horrified	to	learn	of	it.	
  Originally,	’34	or	“The	Hole”	as	it	is	referred	to	by	those	who	
  know of its existence, was a largely automated deep sea 
  mining platform. But the robots alone could not deal with 
  the instability of the rock in this area, and costs began to 
  skyrocket as humans miners had to be employed to watch 
  the robots and deal with the things they couldn’t handle.
  At this time the Graygreen government found it had a dire 
  need of a place to send dissidents who could not be allowed 
  to surface again, but it balked at actually killing them. This 
  availability of warm bodies coincided with a need for cheap 
  labor to operate the mining machinery, which was hard to 
  find	on	Graygreen	where	there	are	relatively	few	people	hard	
  up enough to take on such work. They solved both problems 
  by turning DSMS34 into a detention centre.
  The warders inhabit a way station that is a mere 25 meters 
  below the surface, where the freight submersibles load. The 
  detainees live in the working part of the mine some 200 
  meters deeper and are left to their own devices. The wardens 
  send food and pipe oxygen to the mine. Most of the time the 
  warders do nothing but process prisoners who are on their 
  way down, and receive processed ore back. Every now and 
  then a problem comes up that requires the direct attention of 
  one of the civilian crew, a geologist or an engineer, and can’t 
  be handled by one of the remotes. When this happens the 
  warders have to mount an armed expedition down the Hole. 
  Very rarely someone makes an escape attempt or there is 
  a riot. The usual solution is to cut off the oxygen supply until 
  everyone is subdued.
  So far there has only ever been one release of a prisoner 
  and one successful escape, though the escapee died when 
  he ran out of air during the long journey back to civilization in 
  the hold of an automated freight submersible.
  miSSion:
  A 
  government 
  representative 
  approaches 
  the 
  unit 
  commander personally, claiming to have been given his 
  name by a former employer. The rep states that this is an 
  emergency reconnaissance mission to determine the status 
  of a Deep Sea Mining Station. Contact has been lost with the 
  station during a severe storm. The continuing storm makes 
  effective orbital surveillance impossible.
  
  - 2 -
  mercenarY ticKet: 
  WronG place, WronG 
  time 
  miSSion tYpe: retrieval 
  unit SiZe: Squad
  BacKGround:
  Kelly	Terell,	a	relative	of	the	owner/operators	of	the	highport	
  is currently wanted for charges of murder in the neighboring 
  system	 of	 Kandrie.	 She	 has	 fled	 to	 her	 home	 on	 Miskel	
  and is hiding out in one of the small island communities, 
  begging protection with her family, who are quite powerful in 
  local politics. Security cannot actively search for her without 
  offending	this	family,	which	would	lead	to	many	difficulties.
  miSSion:
  Kelly is a very dangerous, very unstable woman. She is cold 
  and calculating, and able to manipulate people easily. She 
  has convinced her family of her innocence and family being 
  what it is, they are protecting her. Security knows the details 
  of	her	crimes	and	has	a	psychological	profile	that	is	pretty	
  convincing of her ability to carry out these acts. To avoid 
  offending the local families, they have decided to quietly hire 
  a small mercenary party to apprehend Mrs. Terell.
  Security has a small fund set aside for eventualities such 
  as this. They are able to pay Cr5,000 for the arrest itself. 
  In addition, upon returning the prisoner to Kandrie, the 
  recovering party will receive a Cr30,000 reward for the 
  capture	 of	 Kelly	 once	 her	 identity	 is	 confirmed.	 Expenses	
  such as transport will also be reimbursed.
  Security will provide any intelligence they are able as long 
  as the PCs ensure that the local families do not blame them 
  for the investigation or the arrest. The mercs will be on their 
  own	in	finding,	pursuing,	and	capturing	the	prisoner,	not	to	
  mention extraction. Property damage and casualties are 
  to be kept to an absolute minimum, and the mercs will be 
  held legally responsible for any damages or injuries that 
  occur. Transport to Kandrie aboard a commercial ship can 
  be arranged. If the team thinks to ask, it is possible to have 
  the suspect shipped in a low berth for security, though this 
  comes close to a sentients’ rights violation and needs to be 
  treated with care. Handover will be made at Kandrie Highport 
  and the team’s involvement will end there.
  reSolution:
  The Mercs are headed for a mess. The clan, over one 
  hundred individuals, is NOT going to cooperate with the 
  investigation. Though there may be some that actually think 
  that she did commit the crimes, on this world, family takes 
  precedence.	 The	 PCs	 will	 be	 very	 hard	 pressed	 to	 find	
  someone to talk, even among Kelly’s enemies in the family, 
  and the information obtained will be very limited.
  No regular units are currently available for the operation, and 
  the reconnaissance must occur before the next automated 
  freight submersible arrives at the station in four hours. The 
  representative will not reveal that ’34 is in fact a detention 
  centre. The team will be provided with a G-Carrier if it is 
  not already equipped with one, and the authorities will 
  arrange any reasonable other (non-weapon) equipment as 
  requested, such as diving equipment, and the like.
  When the recon team arrives the storm will not have blown 
  itself out, so the G-Carrier driver will require some careful 
  maneuvering to make a successful landing on the platform’s 
  surface pad.
  This ticket has four possible outcomes in the style of a Patron 
  Encounter. The Referee should roll D to determine which is 
  in effect, or might invent a wholly new situation.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . There is nothing wrong at the mining station, other than 
  that	the	fierce	storm	has	destroyed	the	station’s	long-range	
  communication systems beyond local repair. However, 
  the warders will be very wary of unexpected visitors with 
  a G-carrier, treating them as possible accomplices for an 
  attempted escape. The mercs will have to be careful to avoid 
  a	disastrous	firefight.	
  2-3. The storm has severely damaged the surface part of 
  the mining station. The surface pad is destroyed, oxygen-
  pumping equipment is non-functional and there is no obvious 
  means of accessing the station other than dropping into the 
  ocean. If the mercs have had enough foresight to bring diving 
  equipment they can reach the upper module relatively easily. 
  Once there, they face the same issues as in , plus, once 
  they	convince	the	wardens	of	their	bona	fides,	they	will	have	
  to consider what they can do to get air back to the base or 
  the occupants out. Additionally, the g-carrier will not be able 
  to loiter in the area for long in these weather conditions.
  4-5. There has been a successful revolt at the station. The 
  miners/detainees	have	managed	to	gain	control	of	the	upper	
  module during the storm. They have taken several hostages 
  and are waiting the arrival of the freight submersible to 
  escape. When the mercs arrive the escapees will try to 
  pretend that nothing is wrong and that they are the wardens. 
  Of course, someone in the merc unit is bound to notice 
  something is wrong…
  6.	 The	“Bughunt”	Scenario.	After	a	brief	burst	of	hysterical	
  comms from the criminals far below, all contact is lost with the 
  mining	platform.	The	warders	flood	the	complex	with	enough	
  sedative gas to make all the prisoners fall unconscious, 
  fearing a revolt or attempted jail-break, but somebody has 
  to go down and see what really happened. When the merc 
  unit arrives, only the civilian personnel are left in the upper 
  module, and they are very twitchy, having heard nothing but 
  screams from the warders who went down to investigate….
   
  
  - 22 -
  On	the	other	hand,	when	Kelly	finds	out	about	the	Mercenaries	
  searching for her, she will go out of her way to prepare a 
  reception. She will gather her closest friends and ensure that 
  the mercs’ transportation is sabotaged, their equipment is 
  damaged or destroyed, and maybe one or two sniper attacks 
  depending on the mercs’ actions. The attacks will become 
  more and more serious the closer the party gets. The 
  attackers cover their tracks well – they have been playing 
  the violence and intimidation game for a long time.
  Even upon Kelly’s capture, she has already told her family 
  she’d rather be dead than sentenced to prison, and her 
  closest cronies will try to carry out her last wishes. Kelly 
  has managed to acquire a shoulder mounted surface to air 
  missile unit and as the PCs set off for on the starport they will 
  be attacked by this. If they are shot down, security will arrive 
  at the crash site within a half hour to render aid. Everyone will 
  be	locked	up	until	an	‘official’	story	can	be	worked	out,	and	
  if Kelly survives the crash, she will most likely be returned 
  to her family due to political pressure and the PCs escorted 
  back to the highport with empty hands.
  If Kelly is successfully captured and taken off world, she 
  will do what she can to make a nuisance of herself during 
  the entire trip to Kandrie, and do everything in her power 
  to escape. If she is successfully delivered, the highport 
  authorities will reimburse all expenses as agreed as well as 
  pay the bounty for Mrs. Terell.
   
  mercenarY ticKet: in 
  countrY
  miSSion tYpe: patrol
  unit SiZe: platoon/companY
  BacKGround:
  Diiskaii has been troubled by political divisions for some 
  years	 now,	 and	 open	 fighting	 between	 well-organized	
  insurgent groups and the planetary security force has 
  occurred on and off for most of that time. Things are quiet 
  at present, and optimists believe that the rebels have given 
  up the struggle. However, the local intelligence agency has 
  been receiving reports (which are considered reliable) that 
  a battalion-strength rebel force is carrying out exercises 
  in the vast and impenetrable swamps to the south of the 
  world’s main inhabited zone. Acting on this information, 
  the planetary security force has been carrying out patrols 
  in the area. The intelligence service has good reason to 
  suspect that informers in the security force have warned the 
  insurgents of such sweeps in the past, thus explaining why 
  no contact has occurred so far.
  An upcoming ceremony, marking the end of the last open 
  hostilities between the insurgents and security forces will 
  draw the majority of the security force to the capital for about 
  three weeks. The insurgents, if any still exist, will know that 
  they should not expect a sweep during this period, so the 
  intelligence service  is taking the opportunity to insert what 
  should be an unexpected (and also information-secure) 
  force into the area.
  miSSion:
  A	military	officer	(actually	a	member	of	Military	Intelligence)	
  approaches the unit commander and states that they have 
  need of a recon unit to search for some possible insurgents. 
  He will explain that the recon sweeps need to be continued 
  during the ceremony, and the world’s meager security forces 
  cannot handle both activities without external support. 
  Standard salaries will be paid for the operation, with bonus 
  clauses	if	the	unit	makes	contact	and	inflicts	a	defeat	on	the	
  rebels or brings back useful recon information about them.
  The patrol will be landed by G-carrier to carry out a sweep 
  on foot from one way-point to another. Each sweep is 
  estimated	to	take	five	days	on	foot	after	which	the	team	will	
  be recovered by the same G-carriers, given two days rest 
  at the closest security force base, and then dropped in for 
  another mission. Three sweeps will be carried out during the 
  period of the ceremonies and the contract. The patrols must 
  be dropped and picked up away from the primary search 
  area to avoid alerting the insurgents by G-carrier over-
  flights,	so	contact	is	not	expected	on	the	first	or	last	days	of	
  the sweep.
  
  - 23 -
  This mission is has several possible outcomes. The Referee 
  may choose one, or may wish to roll D (d6) to determine 
  which outcome applies.
  reSolution: 1d6 (1d)
  . No Contact. Patrol is ‘routine’ and ‘boring’. No recent 
  evidence of insurgents is found. 
  2.	 Storm	 Front.	 The	 patrol	 gets	 a	 warning	 that	 a	 fierce	
  tropical storm is bearing down on their position and they 
  must dig in to wait out its effects. The storm will last three 
  days. During this period roll again. If 2 is rolled again, the 
  storm worsens and lasts longer.  Remember the team is 
  stuck in low-lying swamp during this storm.  Creatures will be 
  disturbed and looking for shelter as well, and some deeper 
  sea creatures such as ten-tentacled squids, could be driven 
  up out of the depths by the storm.
  3. Deliverance. The patrol runs across a group of armed 
  people living in the swamp. As long as they are not 
  antagonized it will be easy to determine that they are not 
  insurgents, but merely a bunch militant back-to-nature types. 
  If, however the patrol annoys them, perhaps by treating them 
  as yokels, they disappear into the swamp and begin laying 
  traps and sniping at the patrol. 
  4 
  Light Contact. Sporadic sniping, traps and mines are 
  encountered, as well as signs (camp sites, tracks, etc.) of 
  a numerically superior force. No hard evidence of a large 
  force is found, but the signs imply one. In fact, there is no 
  large force, a small group is trying to give the impression 
  of a large force. The referee is encouraged to give the 
  players a chance to discover this, and to speculate on who is 
  running the scam. Is it actual insurgents, or possibly Military 
  Intelligence themselves?
  5.	 Heavy	Contact.	The	patrol	discovers	a	well-camouflaged,	
  occupied	camp	containing	a	significantly	numerically	superior	
  force. It is protected quite well against orbital detection and 
  has what looks like very effective communications and 
  jamming equipment. There is also some surface-to-air 
  missile capability. The patrol is forced to silence a sentry to 
  avoid detection, and then must determine what plan to follow, 
  whether to creep away hoping the sentry will not be noticed, 
  or attack and hope surprise and confusion will allow them 
  to escape. They may call for an extraction, but the G-carrier 
  pilots will be unwilling to descend into a an area which might 
  have surface-to-air missile coverage
  6 
  Ambush. A numerically superior force ambushes the 
  patrol. Most of the non-player patrol members are killed or 
  wounded	in	the	first	volley.	Through	luck,	the	players	gain	
  an opportunity for escape. They are then hunted through the 
  jungle as they try to make it back to the rendezvous point. If 
  they manage to salvage the satellite up-link, they may call 
  for an extraction but the G-carrier pilots will be unwilling to 
  descend	into	a	possible	fire-fight.	
  noteS:
  During all patrols the Referee should make rolls for animal 
  Encounter in the swampy terrain. Also, emphasize that the 
  characters are never dry. Regardless of the outcome above, 
  once the patrol reaches the rendezvous point the Referee 
  should roll d6 to determine when the G-carriers will arrive. 
  . The G-carriers are early. The pilots will be waiting for the 
  patrol when it arrives. They grouch about the patrol being 
  late and getting their nice shiny G-carriers all muddy. 
  2-3. The G-carriers arrive on time.
  4-5. The G-carriers are late. The Referee should determine 
  just how late the G-Carrier will be (minutes, hours, days) 
  depending on what the current situation is, and how nasty 
  she feels. If nothing happened in the current sweep it might 
  be fun to have them wait around for a day or two, dealing 
  with more fauna.  
  6. The G-carriers are unavailable. Through a combination 
  of circumstances, (storm damage, a sudden need to move 
  some of the security force because of a disaster elsewhere, 
  or whatever) no G-Carriers are available for at least 3 days. 
  If the patrol can still make radio contact they will be told that 
  they must travel some hundred kilometers to the coast where 
  they may be extracted by a submersible. 
  Note that any delay of over two days, whether caused by late 
  G-carriers, storm, or any other reason, will result in the patrol 
  running	out	of	rations	unless	extra	rations	were	specifically	
  asked for by the team. In that case, they will have to carry 
  them for the entire mission.
   
  
  - 24 -
  mercenarY ticKet: field 
  teSt
  miSSion tYpe: cadre
  unit SiZe: Squad/platoon
  BacKGround:
  Combat Systems LIC used to be a big player in the arms 
  market	about	50	years	ago,	but	the	firm	went	into	eclipse	
  and then decline as much of its consumer base was taken 
  by	Instellarms	and	other	weaponry	firms.	Combat	Systems	
  never quite faded away but was forced to sell off several 
  of its regional operations in order to fund the long-term 
  recovery	of	the	firm.	It	gambled	its	success	on	a	new	range	
  of lightweight combat and support vehicles intended for merc 
  units and planetary forces on a tight budget. Cheap, reliable 
  and easy to maintain yet reasonably capable in combat, the 
  range should for the basis of Combat Systems’ resurgence if 
  it	can	prove	itself	in	the	field.
  Soldiers are traditionally suspicious of anything new, and 
  Combat Systems does not have much of a reputation any 
  more. Some of the projects implemented in the declining days 
  of the corporation failed rather badly and this has increased 
  the general reluctance to try out the new gear in situations 
  where its failure may be fatal to the user. To counter this, the 
  firm	has	come	up	with	an	interesting	solution.
  Combat Systems has taken to acting as a third party in 
  mercenary contracts, taking on responsibility for hiring and 
  equipping a team for whatever jobs present themselves. A 
  couple	of	small	units	have	thus	far	benefited	from	the	offer	
  of a job and a couple of vehicles they can use on it – and 
  keep afterwards. Generally the vehicles have performed well 
  enough and this has generated favorable attention.
  Now Combat Systems has become aware of a perfect 
  situation for its largest project yet. The world of Sinjar has an 
  ongoing insurgency out in the remote areas, and recently a 
  number of regional bases have been set up to help combat the 
  problem. Resupply of these bases has been problematical, 
  and a new military formation is being raised in the form of 
  specialist	‘fighting-logistics’	troops.
  A handful of mercenaries (up to a platoon) are needed to act 
  as advisors for the new force, which is to be equipped with 
  vehicles supplied by Combat Systems LIC. The team will 
  familiarize the locals with their new hardware and accompany 
  their	first	missions	as	advisors.
  The locals have been provided with twelve amphibious off-
  road transports, which are essentially a lightly armored truck 
  carried on six big balloon tires similar to those used on an ATV. 
  It mounts a mid-tech heavy machinegun in a cupola. Four 
  ‘escort variant’ trucks have also been provided, along with 
  two ‘command variant’ vehicles. All use the same chassis. 
  The escort variant has a 20mm autocannon in a larger turret 
  and carries a squad of eight infantrymen in the back, who 
  can	fire	through	ports	or	debus	to	fight	off	a	threat.	The	recon	
  variant has the same armament but an up rated powerplant 
  and communications equipment. It does not normally carry 
  troops, though the excess space has not been entirely used 
  up by the extra machinery.
  This family of vehicles uses many common parts and is 
  designed to be cheap to operate. All vehicles are armored 
  only	against	small	arms	fire,	though	mine	protection	for	the	
  crew is good. These vehicles are obviously incapable of 
  fighting	tanks	but	do	their	main	job	well	enough	–	their	off-
  road performance is very impressive for wheeled vehicles and 
  they	seem	well	suited	to	fighting	off	insurgent	ambushes.
  miSSion:
  The mercs will be paid standard salaries to train up a unit of 
  local soldiers to operate the vehicles.  They are told to expect 
  a month of familiarization time and then a short operational 
  deployment before retuning to training, evaluating the 
  performance so far. Combat Systems offers a 50% bonus 
  at	the	end	of	the	contract	if	the	mercs	generate	significant	
  positive publicity.
  Logistics is not a glamorous duty and the troops are almost 
  all conscripts detailed to the job, some of them straight from 
  basic.	Their	officers	and	NCOs	are	unenthusiastic	and	more	
  than a little second-rate, and though they do not resist the 
  merc attempts to train them, these people are slow learners. 
  For the most part they are earnestly inept rather than stupid 
  or	deliberately	awkward,	though,	and	patient	mercs	will	find	
  them a pleasant crew to work with.
  reSolution:
  Three weeks into the training period, new orders arrive. The 
  unit is detailed to pick up an urgent load of medical supplies 
  and ammunition and proceed to Outpost Oldendorff, which is 
  under protracted attack. The troops exchange nervous looks 
  at that; the outpost is a good two hundred KM out from the 
  nearest base and the route to it is notorious for ambushes. 
  Indeed,	the	first	resupply	column	sent	out	was	ambushed	
  halfway and straggled home in a terrible state. No mention 
  of	the	mercs	is	made	in	the	orders,	and	no	clarification	is	
  forthcoming. Simple fact is, though, that these inexperienced 
  troops are sent out, they will be massacred.
  The route to Outpost Oldendorff is mountainous and air 
  support will be limited. However, opposition for most of the 
  route will be light, consisting of mines, snipers and small 
  ambushes intended to wear down or slow the convoy. Then, 
  somewhat more than halfway, the insurgents spring their 
  trap. Mines and roadblocks are used to contain the convoy 
  while it is eliminated by insurgent infantry. Most of the latter 
  have only small arms and cannot hurt the vehicles much 
  – the previous convoy had only conventional trucks – but 
  there are heavier weapons available.
  
  - 25 -
  The light armor of the new combat vehicles has bought the 
  mercs and their charges a few moments. They will need to 
  find	a	way	out	of	the	trap	before	it	is	too	late.
   
  mercenarY ticKet: Self-
  defence leSSonS
  miSSion tYpe: cadre
  unit SiZe: Squad/platoon
  BacKGround:
  The world of Vista is sparsely colonized, with small 
  communities scattered all across the globe. Over the last 
  generation,	however,	a	new	influx	of	settlers	has	begun	to	
  arrive.	Some	are	properly	authorized	by	the	Colonial	Office	
  and the world’s loose government, but most are simply 
  squatters who wish to grab some land and hold it until it is 
  recognized as theirs. This has up to now not caused too much 
  friction since the population is so low, but recently a band of 
  squatters has occupied an area of fertile land near the town 
  of	Teben.	At	first	the	locals	and	the	squatters	tacitly	agreed	
  to	ignore	one	another,	but	a	steady	influx	of	immigrants	has	
  led to tension over resources. It seems only a matter of time 
  before the legitimate residents are edged out. 
  The only option seems to be to draw a line and enforce it, 
  but the squatters are fairly well armed and while the locals 
  have	plenty	of	shotguns,	hunting	rifles	and	the	like	they	are	a	
  peaceable	lot	and	lack	the	confidence	to	take	a	stand	against	
  what they perceive as rough, aggressive and somewhat 
  scary offworlders.
  Thus the townsfolk have found the cash to bring in a small 
  unit	 to	 train	 them	 and	 build	 confidence	 in	 the	 skills	 they	
  need.	The	 have	 no	 intention	 of	 provoking	 a	 fight	 with	 the	
  newcomers; they just want to use their new capabilities as 
  a bargaining chip and a deterrent. Some of the locals are 
  resigned	to	the	idea	that	they	may	actually	have	to	fight	but	
  most cling to the belief that if they can take a strong stand 
  backed by force of arms then they can retain what they see 
  as theirs. What the squatters do elsewhere is someone 
  else’s problem.
  miSSion:
  A small unit of squad or possibly platoon size is needed to 
  train a general militia up from the population over the course 
  of two months. There will be over a hundred members, who 
  cannot all train at once, and they will be armed with what 
  they	bring	–	hunting	rifles	and	shotguns	for	the	most	part.	
  All they need is basic weapons-handling and soldier-craft for 
  the most part. Rudimentary small unit tactics are about all 
  there will be time for.
  However, a band of about a dozen locals are to be given 
  more thorough training as leaders for the militia. These 
  individuals will operate at the head of local militia rather than 
  a unit, and thus need leadership and tactics skills rather than 
  unit	 training.	 Most	 importantly,	 they	 will	 need	 confidence.	
  The leaders will be more or less constantly in training and 
  
  - 26 -
  weapons have been purchased for them. These consist of 
  mid-tech	assault	rifles,	handguns	and	body	armor.
  The locals do not want to confront the squatters, and are 
  correct in thinking that even if they were to defeat them, 
  others would eventually arrive. What is needed is a long-term 
  solution that allows the locals to negotiate from a position 
  of strength rather than just passively complaining about the 
  expansion of their new neighbors.
  reSolution:
  Some of the locals have a decent grasp of weapons use and 
  not much else. They are used to potting vermin and taking 
  out dangerous predators, but the idea of shooting at actual 
  people is upsetting to most of them. They almost totally lack 
  aggression	and	fighting	spirit,	and	it	is	in	this	area	that	the	
  mercs will have to do most of their work. The locals think that 
  they are going to get an advanced course in marksmanship 
  and maybe do some running around shouting orders at each 
  other. If this is what the mercs deliver, they will fail utterly.
  It will be necessary to train the militia to work together, to trust 
  one another and to be aggressive in combat. This means 
  finding	training	methods	that	foster	these	attitudes,	and	this	
  will be resisted by the locals who don’t want to participate in 
  boxing matches or team-building raft-making exercises.
  The	newcomers	will	not	react	much	at	first	–	not	with	trained	
  mercs on site – but later on in the training program a dispute 
  over rights to use a ford some way from the settlement begins 
  to spiral out of control. Word comes in that the squatters 
  have started building what amounts to a fort at the crossing 
  and are charging tolls from the outlying farmers who have to 
  use it to get to town. The fort is a half-built affair of logs and 
  earth, defended by a couple of dozen people with weapons 
  ranging	from	handguns	to	assault	rifles.	Taking	it	out	would	
  be an easy job for the mercs, but this is not within the remit of 
  their contract and more importantly it would solve little.
  If the mercs just clear the fort (which the locals will urge them 
  to	do),	this	will	simply	spark	an	armed	conflict	between	the	
  two groups and after the mercs leave the locals will lose. A 
  more effective solution is to demand its removal and, when 
  it is removed, to lead the militia to remove it. They are not 
  confident	 and	 not	 very	 skilled,	 so	 this	 action	 will	 make	 or	
  break	them.	Success	will	give	the	militia	the	confidence	to	
  stand on their own two feet, and permit the locals to bargain 
  from a much stronger position. Defeat will be a disaster for 
  the town of Teben.
   
  
  - 27 -
  part 3: patron encounters
  patron encounter: 
  Shuttle pilot
  required SKillS: pilot, Ship’S Boat
  required equipment: vacc Suit
  plaYerS’ information:
  The players are dirtside at First landing D-class feeder 
  Downport. A hurricane has been brewing off the coast of this 
  peninsular port for several hours, and the edge of the storm 
  is already over the place. The Players may be on liberty and 
  have	to	get	“topside”	or	miss	their	shipping	out	window	in	
  a few hours. The Administration Authority won’t allow their 
  shuttles down till it blows over, and advises anyone lifting off 
  planetside that they do so at their own risk.
  There is one spacecraft warming up on the pads, despite 
  the weather, with an owner crazy enough to risk a takeoff. 
  The ship belongs to a Vargr known as Khaergr Maghiz. Like 
  the players, Khaergr’ has to make it to the highport for a 
  deadline. Problem is, his copilot is in the drunk tank (again), 
  and his engineer eloped of with ‘some lawyer fellow’. The 
  “Miss	Pristine”	is	one	of	two	cutters	owned	by	the	800dtn	
  Jupiter-class	merchant	ship	“Fortune’s	Fool”,	and	has	been	
  downside speculating, awaiting pick up. He needs a co-
  pilot,	 a	 comms/sensor	 man,	 and	 an	 engineer.	 His	 29	 ton	
  cargo module has only 5 tons of mail, and six stainless steel 
  suitcases,	but	he	can	drop	in	passenger	seats	to	the	floor	
  out of their wall.
  Problem	is,	the	“Miss	Pristine”,	is	anything	but.	She’s	a	hand	
  me down TL5 cutter with spares and patches in her parts all 
  the way down to TL9. The cabin and the engineer’s station 
  are	air	tight,	but	the	cargo	module	“leaks	a	bit”	he	says,	so	
  passengers & crew have to suit up. Khaergr’s strategy is to 
  launch just before the eye of the hurricane is upon them, 
  and shoot up to the orbital station through it. This is risky, 
  because timing it will be an eyeball call. The port authority 
  will not transmit any telemetry while the storm is ongoing.
  Just before warm up, his engineer runs up, wet and 
  bedraggled,	crying.	Her	“fiancée”	has	jilted	her	at	the	altar.	
  Wanda Perkins is fantastic at engines but has no luck with 
  men. She is too upset to do her job, and so rides up in a vacc 
  suit in the cargo compartment, red-eyed and miserable. At 3g 
  thrust, it is a twenty minute shot to the station’s orbit. The trip 
  is pretty hazardous due to very high winds initially (Referees 
  are encouraged to make this as scary and bumpy a ride as 
  possible for the players (roll dice ominously, describe wind 
  whistling through the patched hull, and so forth).
  Once docked at the highport, Khaergr thanks the PCs, and 
  asks they take Ms Perkins to dinner nearby while he drops off 
  the mail and gets some cash to pay them for their help. The 
  players have six hours before they too depart. Ms Perkins 
  forgets something at the cutter and goes back for it, shortly 
  
  - 28 -
  after	Khaergr	rejoins	them	at	the	café.	Khaergr	offers	to	pick	
  up the tab, as a way of saying thanks, and offers Cr00 to 
  each PC who manned a station, and there is no charge for 
  those who rode up as passengers. Then he gets a call that 
  makes his fur stand on end. Someone has abducted Ms 
  Perkins,	and	“wants	the	money	back	or	she	dies”.	Khaergr	
  is warned that if he involves security or law enforcement, 
  his copilot will be spaced from an airlock. He has one hour 
  before this happens anyway.
  referee’S information:
  Khaergr	has	already	sold	the	speculated	cargo,	and	has	filled	
  in the time with taking on courier work for a local warlord, a 
  certain Mr. Hiisin Yukowa. The suitcases of course belong 
  to him. Khaergr’s fee for transporting Mr. Yukowa’s six 
  suitcases to the drop off point was a mere Cr,500. Inside 
  them is MCr36 in used Cr00 and Cr50 bills. This is not the 
  first	charter	trip	Khaergr	has	done	for	Mr.	Yukowa.	Khaergr	
  was to courier the money for the offworld money launderer 
  who works for Yukowa in a nearby system.
  However, one of Mr. Yukowa’s upper level underlings, a 
  certain Mr. Vasily Vaskhuunen, has decided to get one last 
  pay raise in before making a run for the frontiers. He has 
  kidnapped Khaergr’s copilot as leverage. Khaergr really does 
  care about Ms Perkins’ safety and will beg the PCs to help 
  him get her back. He leads them to the six wall lockers where 
  he stashed the cases, and gets them out. He will be evasive 
  about what is in the cases but would admit everything rather 
  than allow his friend to be murdered.
  The rendezvous to hand over the cases will be at a spacecraft 
  hangar berth which is not currently in use.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All is as stated. Khaergr and his engineer are in the 
  proverbial rock and hard place between two criminal hard 
  noses, and really need help fast. 
  2. Khaergr is actually a law enforcement agent, and this 
  is a sting operation which has gone wrong. The bad guys 
  (Vashkhuunen) have Khaergr’s partner, Agent Gwendolyn 
  Ghaanesh. Vashkhuunen’s thugs killed the other two of his 
  team; he dares not lose her too.
  3. Khaergr is the actual embezzler, and has swapped 
  broken thruster plate parts wrapped in foam & bubble wrap 
  into the cases. The money is stashed elsewhere, in a dirty 
  laundry bag behind the cutter’s makeshift fresher.
  4.	 Khaergr	 was	 set	 up	 by	 Mr.	 Yukowa	 to	 flush	 out	
  Vashkhuunen’s treachery. The money is still in the cases, 
  but the cases are laced with of hi-tech memory-plastic 
  explosives. If they are opened without the correct key, an 
  internal	fuse	will	count	down	in	fifteen	minutes	and	detonate	
  what amounts to a massive fragmentation bomb.
  5. Khaergr is smarter than he looks. He swapped the 
  cash and called Mr. Yukowa for reinforcements. He allows 
  the players to deliver the cases, but will go along to get Ms 
  Perkins back.
  6. Any combination of the above.
  patron encounter: 
  eXport licenSe
  required SKillS: electronicS, 
  computer, interperSonal
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The party is approached by a well dressed middle aged 
  individual of rotund and corpulent proportions. He explains 
  that he has a consignment of goods for export to a nearby 
  system. They are, however, bound in the high port customs 
  lockup. His complete fortune is locked up in these goods 
  and he faces ruin unless they can be released. He tried 
  ‘negotiating’	with	a	customs	official,	one	Kalath	Minagoran,	
  but too little avail.
  The merchant, who calls himself Beori Misanak, wants the 
  individuals	to	acquire,	“on	loan”,	one	of	the	customs	service’s	
  handsets from the headquarters on the highport. He will 
  provide a duplicate device and needs an electronics expert 
  to transfer the security codes to the copy from the original. 
  He then requires the borrowed handset to be returned. With 
  the duplicate he will be able to electronically swipe his pallets 
  and be quickly on his way.
  The party are offered Cr,000 each to deliver the original 
  handset and an additional Cr,000 to return it so that no-one 
  is any the wiser. He is adamant that this task is as vital as 
  acquiring	the	copy	in	the	first	case.	Without	a	willingness	to	
  return it, there will be no deal. He will double the offer if this 
  is what it takes.
  referee’S information:
  The acquisition will require careful planning and observation 
  to	find	the	opportunity	to	slip	the	security	screen	around	the	
  customs	offices.	There	are	many	possible	security	features	
  raging from pressure plates, beams, biometric scans, heat 
  sensors, DNA probes, cameras, holographic comparators, 
  micro-densitometers to detect masses of 20kg+ in motion 
  within the building and the ever-popular infrared or laser 
  beam across corridors. There are also bored and complacent 
  security guards, who become much more competent when 
  alarms are going off.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. All is as planned. The handset acquisition and return 
  are	difficult,	but	eventually	accomplished.	Once	the	crates	
  have been swiped, the merchant wipes the codes from the 
  duplicate set, declaring it a dangerous thing with which to be 
  found.
  3. The wands are keyed to individual DNA signatures. It 
  will	 be	 necessary	 to	 fabricate	 a	 false	 DNA	 “glove”	 from	 a	
  sample of a legitimate user’s skin tissue in order to be able 
  to use the duplicate device.
  
  - 29 -
  4. As 3, but a further retinal scan and voice analysis are 
  performed. The retinal scan is compared against holographic 
  base lines. Photographic impressions of the required retina 
  will	not	suffice.	The	real	eye	and	a	lot	of	ingenuity	will	be	
  needed, but only for a short time.
  5. As 4 but the highport suffers a total gravitic failure during 
  the operation.
  6. The merchant is a criminal wide boy. He will hightail it 
  with the duplicate handset. To further ensure his successful 
  getaway he will rat on the party to the law as they are 
  returning with the original handset.
   
  patron encounter: the 
  trade factor
  required SKillS: StreetWiSe, 
  tacticS, intimidation
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The party is approached by a local trade factor, Jeremy Britz, 
  to rescue his daughter, Ramona. The factor will assume 
  that the party knows both him and the situation relating 
  to Ramona because of the publicity involved in the case. 
  Any party member who has been on-planet over the last 
  month, or anyone who can do a little basic research, will 
  be aware of the following details: Exactly two weeks ago, 
  Britz’s daughter was kidnapped from his estate. Since then 
  the terrorists who kidnapped her have carried out a series of 
  raids on banks and other rich targets around the capital. At 
  each of these raids, the factor’s daughter has been used as 
  a human shield.
  The party is offered a lump sum payment of Cr500,000 for 
  the girl recovered alive and unharmed. The lump sum will be 
  reduced by 50% if the daughter is hurt, and nothing will be 
  paid if she is killed. Britz will explain that he has no faith in 
  the local security force’s anti-terrorist unit, given their poor 
  showing in a similar situation a few years back, and he thinks 
  the party can do better.
  referee’S information:
  The local security force will bow to Britz’s wishes and allow 
  the	party	to	fulfill	the	contract,	mainly	as	a	result	of	Britz;’s	
  local	connections	and	considerable	influence.	However,	the	
  rank	and	file	members	of	the	unit	will	definitely	not	be	happy	
  with the situation, and some of them will be hoping that the 
  party fails. They will be ready to jump all over the party if they 
  break any laws during the execution of their contract.
  The security forces will not volunteer anything though they will 
  grudgingly give the party the following information if they are 
  explicitly asked. They know exactly where the gang is holed 
  up and have had them under surveillance for three days. 
  They also have full dossiers on all members of the gang, 
  including Ramona. If the party gets access to Ramona’s 
  dossier and the surveillance tapes (and all they really have 
  to do is to think to ask nicely) it may give them advance 
  warning of the real situation (see Resolution, below).
  The gang’s leader, Marcus Rowse, is well aware that as 
  long as they have the Factor’s daughter, they will enjoy 
  “special	treatment”	from	the	security	forces.	In	other	words,	
  they	will	not	be	fired	upon,	and	Britz	will	veto	any	drastic	
  action against the group. There is at least one member of the 
  security forces who is utterly disgusted with this kid-glove 
  
  - 30 -
  approach and will, if he meets the gang, completely ignore 
  his superior’s orders.
  This	 is	 a	 very	 high	 media	 profile	 case,	 on	 a	 complacent	
  high tech, relatively high law level, planet  (i.e. one with 
  sophisticated information systems) where there has been 
  little exciting happening recently. The characters will almost 
  certainly be interviewed for television if they succeed and 
  charged with felony offences if they fail, especially if they use 
  illegal weapons in their operations. Any characters that don’t 
  want to be well known will be out of luck.  Characters may be 
  able to retire on the movie rights if the case is successful.
  Britz has been using his authority and calling in favors to 
  ensure local law enforcement and security personnel do not 
  shoot at or otherwise endanger the gang while his daughter 
  has been with them. Britz knows he cannot pull this off for 
  too long, as his superior is due back from a business trip in 
  a few days and will not be happy with the way the way Britz 
  has	handled	the	situation.	It	has	damaged	the	firm’s	relations	
  with the local security forces, and perhaps more seriously, 
  demonstrated just how much a person with suitable wealth 
  and	 influence	 can	 determine	 the	 actions	 of	 supposedly	
  impartial security forces.
  If the party does not get the daughter back prior to the arrival 
  of Britz’s superior on planet, which will occur D6+6 days 
  from now, the security forces will be given the go ahead, and 
  the party is unlikely to get paid.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. Everything is as described. Ramona is grateful for the 
  rescue.	 Her	 first	 act,	 if	 the	 party	 has	 secured	 the	 other	
  members of the gang, will be to assault Rowse in the most 
  painful manner possible. Rowse may be able to use this 
  distraction to attempt an escape.
  3. Ramona is a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, and 
  believes she loves Rowse. She will do anything she can to 
  save him and help him escape, including throwing herself in 
  front	of	weapons	fire	intended	for	him.
  4-5. Ramona acts as if she is grateful for the rescue. However, 
  she actually is in love with Rowse, and has been for some 
  time	 prior	 to	 the	 kidnap.	 Her	 first	 act,	 once	 everyone	 is	
  secured will be to assault Rowse as per -2. But she will 
  attempt to use this distraction to free the leader, give him a 
  weapon she had concealed about her body, (if she was not 
  frisked by the players) and join him in attempting to escape.
  6. Ramona acts as if she is grateful for the rescue, but she 
  is in fact the real ringleader of the operation and actually 
  suggested the idea of kidnapping herself to Marcus Rowse. 
  Rowse is in love with her, so will do all he can to protect her, 
  including shutting up and going to jail. Ramona knows she is 
  alright as long as the rest of the gang are kept quiet, so once 
  she realizes the game is up she will do all she can to ensure 
  the gang are killed rather than captured.
   
  patron encounter: 
  induStrialiSt
  required SKillS: none
  required equipment: vacc SuitS
  plaYerS’ information:
  While doing some provisioning at the starport of a vacuum 
  or trace-atmosphere world, one of the party is approached 
  by	a	service	droid.	The	droid	hands	over	a	small	locked	flight	
  case	and	says,	in	a	low	voice,	“Styles	Square,	Alicia	Planetia.	
  Noon, tomorrow. Bring the product. You will receive further 
  instructions on arrival”. It trundles off and says no more. 
  Interrogation is useless and capture and disassembly, etc. 
  will reveal that a message was delivered electronically from 
  an anonymous source. Unless opened correctly, the case 
  will destroy its contents with a small incendiary charge.
  The trip to Alicia Planetia would normally be by public 
  transport grav vehicle. The journey to Styles Square would 
  be by maglev followed by a short walk through pedestrian 
  only streets. On arrival, the party will be approached by 
  a street cleaning droid. He will inform them to deliver the 
  unopened case to one Graznid Shoriin. He is to be found at a 
  prospecting site three hundred kilometers to the south west, 
  outside the city. In return, the party can share Cr3,000.
  referee’S information:
  The	case	is	full	of	scientific	surveys	of	the	outer	planetoid	
  belt. The job is one of industrial espionage. The droid will 
  not be bargained with and should the party refuse to accept 
  the task they will be left with the case. The police will be 
  informed immediately. In minutes the party will be under 
  arrest on charges of corruption.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. All is as planned. Outside the city, the journey is 
  treacherous. There are ravines, rockslides, suit ruptures, 
  micro meteoroid impacts, and similar natural hazards to 
  contend with, but nothing unexpected. Once the journey is 
  completed, Mr. Shoriin will hand over the cash with a bonus 
  of Cr,000 for a job well done.
  3. As -2 but the party are followed by the police. They 
  have got wind of the operation through surveillance. At the 
  handover the group of ten policemen will have the location, 
  a canyon, sealed. Before the party have a chance to 
  surrender, Graznid Shoriin and his seven assistants draw a 
  combination	of	laser	carbines	and	SMGs.	The	firefight	that	
  ensues sees the party having to choose sides. The party will 
  tip the balance in favor of which ever side they join. Should 
  Graznid prevail, the party will be marked as outlaws. If any 
  policemen are killed, the party will be wanted throughout the 
  system and perhaps beyond.
  4-5. There is no Graznid Shoriin. The drop location is 
  deserted. The whole thing is a joke by some students out 
  
  - 3 -
  for some kicks. If the droid in the square is analyzed, it will 
  be obvious from its computer logs that the joker is a geeky 
  individual	known	as	“The	Glimmerman”.
  6.	 When	 the	 party	 arrives	 at	 the	 drop	 point	 they	 find	
  Graznid Shoriin dead. His suit is ruptured in many places 
  and his skin is covered in a strange fungus. A nearby test 
  hole in the ground is heavily coated with the fungus as is the 
  equipment (a long, long, drill) stuck in the hole. If the party 
  spend any time examining the remains they discover that the 
  suit that is in contact with the ground, and hence in contact 
  with the fungus, has been eaten away. Further, the soles of 
  the vacc suit boots have been destroyed. At this time the 
  party discovers that the soles of their boots are melting. Suit 
  failure will occur in 4D (4d6) minutes. The fungus reacts to 
  body heat. Once in contact with a warm body it absorbs the 
  heat and swells before exploding in a cloud of spores, within 
  the suit. The inhaled spores are highly toxic.
   
  patron encounter: 
  Water War
  required SKillS: computer, 
  forGerY
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  A holo-message arrives at the characters’ ship in the middle 
  of	offloading	some	cargo.	It	arrives	unsolicited	and	somehow	
  makes	it	past	the	junk	mail	filters.	Its	content	both	invites	
  and entices. The PCs are asked by a Mr. Van Der Miesen 
  himself	to	attend	him	in	his	offices	on	Concourse	17	for	“a	
  spot of work, well worth your while”. Their reputation has 
  preceded them, it seems. Concourse 7 is not far and is very 
  up	market.	Characters	can	easily	find	the	small	offices	of	
  “Van	der	Miesen	Associates,	LIC	Interstellar	Brokerage”.
  Van der Miesen represents a consortium of investors, who 
  will remain nameless, that currently pursue a project in the 
  southern hemisphere. An enormous subterranean aquifer 
  has been discovered. If it meets even half its potential, it 
  could transform the region (which is at present a worthless 
  semi-desert) into a lush garden, with possibilities for farming 
  or settlement. Progress in opening up the basin has been 
  slow	 because	 of	 the	 difficult	 terrain	 in	 the	 south.	 Extinct	
  volcanoes	with	ancient	lava	flows	pepper	the	area,	making	
  equipment	transport	and	deployment	very	difficult.	However,	
  just recently the project has made a breakthrough. A borehole 
  reached liquid water at a depth of seventeen kilometers. The 
  hole is capped in preparation for the building of production 
  facilities.
  The consortium, up until quite recently, had almost run 
  out of funds. Their troubles were severe enough that their 
  prospecting license for the region was not renewed. Work 
  continued in the absence of a license. Shortly after the 
  breakthrough, a rival group attacked the works and overran 
  it. They have a valid license and are claiming the region and 
  the works.
  The	consortium	has	managed	to	raise	significant	financial	
  support for the project but all of this is subject to the return 
  of the works into their hands. To achieve this end, the 
  consortium needs to have its license restored and the rival’s 
  license revoked or otherwise eliminated. The job in hand is 
  to replace the existing records with ‘corrected’ records. This 
  involves	breaking	into	the	computer	system	of	the	Office	of	
  Mineral and Natural Resources. These are a small adjunct 
  office	off	the	main	Customs	office	in	the	highport.	The	reward	
  is for success only and amounts to Cr20,000. Successful 
  negotiation can raise this to Cr25,000.
  
  - 32 -
  referee’S information:
  The licenses are maintained in both physical and electronic 
  form. The physical form, based on holographic technology, 
  is	very	difficult	to	forge.	In	the	case	of	the	computer	records	
  the licenses are protected by many levels of encryption 
  and physical security. To modify a record requires senior 
  administrator level access and although penetration of the 
  outer	encryption	shell	can	be	done	remotely,	the	final	layer	
  may	only	be	entered	at	the	Office	itself.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1-2.	All	 is	 as	 specified.	 The	 license	 records	 are	 stored	
  physically	 in	 the	 safe	 within	 the	 office.	 A	 straightforward	
  physical security system involving motion detectors is 
  deployed but little else.
  3.	 All	is	as	specified	except	the	office	is	patrolled	when	not	
  occupied. Both a team of armed guards and two security 
  robots equipped with non-lethal weapons provide round the 
  clock	vigilance	of	the	office	and	its	contents.	If	one	of	the	
  droids is destroyed, security will respond within 5-0 minutes 
  and local police soon after.
  4-5. In fact, the ‘rival’ group is the legitimate license holders, 
  and	filed	their	claim	years	ago.	The	consortium	is	the	usurper.	
  The current records are duplicates of originals now posted 
  at the subsector capital. A few months’ legal to and fro will 
  reveal the legitimacy of their case. Unless the party succeeds 
  with an impressive legal defense, the consequence of all 
  this legal wrangling is that blame will be squarely placed on 
  the members of the party. An arrest warrant will be issued. 
  Returning to the world means the party members will be 
  subject to arrest and detention. Once seven years have 
  passed,	the	charges	will	be	filed	and	more	or	less	forgotten	
  about.
  6.  The ‘rival’ group is the legitimate license holders. They 
  have got wind of the break-in and have informed the police. 
  The building is surrounded by police (in considerable 
  strength), and all records have been removed and have 
  been replaced by decoys. Any attempt to enter the building 
  or access the computer will be detected. While good it may 
  be possible for the attacker can detect that the computer is 
  in	fact	a	trap.	A	firefight	will	ensue	if	any	resistance	is	met.	
  Such activity is viewed as an example of corporate corruption 
  and is little tolerated.
   
  patron encounter: 
  GriZZled Belter
  required SKillS: vacc Suit, 
  ShipBoard SKillS (particularlY 
  SenSor and electronicS)
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  On the ramp at the downport, the party’s attention is drawn to 
  a grey-haired belter cursing as he works on the sensor pod 
  of his 00 ton seeker, the Proverbial Needle.  If the group 
  listens for a few minutes (it is hard not to, given the amount 
  of noise he is making), it will be obvious that the prospector 
  is cursing the sensor’s x-ray waveguide, a vital component 
  for conducting remote mineral surveys. It seems that the 
  waveguide is misaligned, apparently due to the intercession 
  of several deities but possibly because the ship and its 
  builders are no good. After cursing everyone ever involved 
  with his ship and possibly some people who might have 
  walked past it once, the temperamental old cuss will stop 
  working and challenge the characters, asking if they think 
  they can do better.  If the group accepts, a good engineer 
  or electronics technician will be able to correct the fault. It 
  becomes apparent during the repair that the waveguide was 
  tampered with.
  If the group manages to ignore the old belter, they will be 
  passed as they leave by two burly-looking thugs in coveralls, 
  each carrying a large pry bar. The old belter is wary of the 
  approach of the two, and will try unsuccessfully to scramble 
  away.	The	 two	 thugs	 will	 utter	 words	 to	 the	 effect	 of	 “We	
  warned you what would happen…”, and as one thug catches 
  and restrains the old man, the second will attack the sensor 
  pod with the pry bar. If the group does not intervene, the 
  thugs will smash the delicate components within the sensor 
  housing, warn the old belter once more, and leave. If the 
  group intervenes at any point, the thugs will move off after 
  exchanging a few insults, warning the group not to get 
  involved.
  The old belter’s name is Roscoe Morson. He and the 
  Proverbial Needle have been working the system’s planetoids 
  for the last twelve years. If the characters intercede, Roscoe 
  will be grateful for the assistance of the party, and will offer 
  to share his secret. Two months ago, he discovered an ore 
  body high in platinum and other trace metals. He carefully 
  tagged the planetoid and proceeded back with samples for 
  analysis. He’s just received the results of the tests, which 
  were better than he’d hoped, and his samples contained 
  traces of rare metals like Ytterbium and Iridium. His samples 
  were more than enough to pay for the drinks at the Smiling 
  Mermaid, a startown bar frequented by belters, techs and 
  low-lifes of all sorts, and he indulged his acquaintances in 
  a few rounds of drinks before heading back to the starport. 
  
  - 33 -
  Now his sensors are down, and he needs to get back to the 
  planetoid fast, before someone else cuts in on his once-in-
  a-lifetime	find.
  Roscoe will invite the characters to help him secure the 
  planetoid	 until	 he	 can	 register	 it	 with	 the	 Claims	 Office	
  at Emmerson Planetoid, in the Heign planetoid belt.  In 
  exchange, he’ll share 0% of his claim and cover the team’s 
  operating expenses.
  referee’S information:
  The characters can offer the use of their own ship, or they can 
  help repair, refuel and re-provision the Proverbial Needle. 
  On one hand, the sensor suite on the seeker is optimized 
  for prospecting work on the other, the ship is well-worn, and 
  several of its systems have been jury-rigged or replaced with 
  non-standard parts.
  Heign Belt is the third of the system’s four planetoid belts. 
  Most	of	the	asteroids	in	Heign	are	low	grade	iron/manganese-
  based ore bodies, but several spectacular strikes have 
  been made. On his previous visit, Roscoe marked the rich 
  planetoid with a coded passive x-ray tag.  The tag requires 
  an active sensor sweep at a range of 500 kilometers or less, 
  otherwise the low-powered response from the tag will be too 
  weak. Obviously, Roscoe has a very good idea of where the 
  planetoid	is,	but	if	pressed	he’ll	only	say,	“Come	with	me,	
  and I’ll show you.”
  Meanwhile, word of the discovery has reached several 
  unsavory local characters, including:
  Dyvein Jones – An underworld kingpin in the startown, 
  Dyvein deals in loan-sharking, extortion and racketeering.  
  The two toughs at the starport work for him.
  Maraak Anshaliiv – A tough young prospector, captain of the 
  seeker Rock Legend, Maraak is looking to strike it rich fast, 
  and has no interest in working long and hard like Roscoe. 
  He’s impulsive, aggressive and greedy, but he’s not really 
  a killer.
  Jik	“the	Slick”	Limurkash	–	The	captain	of	the	Margin	of	Error,	
  another small seeker, Jik is a slimy, underhanded character, 
  who is known by many and trusted by no one. Jik is capable 
  of anything, if the reward is high enough.
  Dyvein will cause trouble in-system, particularly at the 
  starport and at Emmerson Station, while Maraak and Jik will 
  try to jump the claim, and, if necessary, arrange an accident 
  for Roscoe. The trip out will be a race out to the Belt, and 
  then a game of cat-and-mouse while Roscoe looks for the 
  rock.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All is as it seems. With a few precautions, Roscoe and 
  the	 characters	 will	 find	 the	 planetoid	 without	 difficulty.	 Jik	
  and Maraak will see that Roscoe has help, and will leave 
  him alone until they can catch him away from his new 
  companions. If the party can help secure the location long 
  enough for Roscoe to register the claim with the Belters at 
  Emmerson Station, the group will have earned its cut.
  2. All is as it seems. Jik and Maraak will team up to try and 
  force Roscoe off the claim. Subterfuge is a certainty, and 
  violence is likely.
  3. All is as it seems. Dyvein expects to get a cut from this 
  lucrative	find,	and	will	offer	protection	from	Maraak	and	Jik	
  in exchange for 60% of the take.  If Roscoe refuses, Dyvein 
  will offer Maraak and Jik his services, including a contact 
  at Emmerson Station who can delay (or expedite) the 
  registration of any claim.
  4.	 Once	the	party	reaches	the	rock,	they	find	that	a	claim	
  has already been staked. Someone else must have been 
  following	 Roscoe	 the	 first	 time	 that	 he	 was	 here.	 Roscoe	
  and	his	new	friends	can	try	appealing	to	the	Claims	Office	on	
  Emmerson Station (Dyvein can help, for a price). Otherwise, 
  the party is out of luck.
  5-6. The group discovers that the marker on the planetoid is 
  Maraak’s, not Roscoe’s. Roscoe needed some help to get out 
  to the rock ahead of Maraak and jump his claim. Of course, 
  Roscoe can’t let the characters inform the authorities…
  
  - 34 -
  patron encounter:  
  falo den ertY, Solicitor 
  at laW
  required SKillS: none
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The characters are on a layover when they are approached 
  by a man identifying himself as Falo den Erty, of Coale, den 
  Erty and Vincenzi, Solicitors at Law. Mr. den Erty indicates that 
  he is approaching them on behalf of a local pod of Dolphins 
  from the Anaje Shoals region of the planet. He explains that 
  the	pod	is	involved	in	a	dispute	over	fishing	rights	with	Green	
  Reef Harbor, a human village neighboring their part of the 
  shoals. Den Erty states that tensions are starting to rise. 
  The dolphins hope to break the impasse by hiring a group 
  of offworlders, who understand human culture and laws but 
  are separate from the prejudice that exists between dolphins 
  and humans on this world, to assist in mediating a peaceful 
  resolution to the dispute.
  referee’S information:
  Falo den Erty has acted on behalf of the dolphins previously, 
  and has created a lucrative niche for himself dealing in 
  dolphin-human	 conflict	 arbitration.	 	 His	 mercenary	 pro-
  dolphin position has led several prominent human citizens to 
  accuse den Erty of collaboration with the dolphins. The truth 
  is that Falo is a practical man, and he is utterly pragmatic 
  about the arrangement. The dolphins have access to goods 
  of considerable value to humans, and Falo has no problems 
  gouging the dolphins for material gain. In this particular 
  case, den Erty is playing the role of a middle-man, and has 
  no desire to become personally involved in the arbitration.
  Green Reef Harbor is a small human community of about 
  60 residents, built on an atoll in the Anaje Shoals, about 200 
  kilometers away from the starport. The village was founded 
  almost a hundred years ago, by a group of refugees from 
  another settlement that had been forced to leave their homes 
  following raids by dolphins. Green Reef Harbor has grown 
  steadily over the last several decades, and the humans 
  have started to move outside the immediate area of the atoll 
  to	hunt	and	fish	in	the	more	open	waters	surrounding	the	
  atoll. Generally, the inhabitants of the village will try to avoid 
  open	 conflict,	 but	 there	 are	 several	 agitators	 living	 in	 the	
  village who will work overtly and covertly to undermine any 
  accommodation of the dolphin pod.
  The local dolphin pod is formally known by the human 
  approximation of their Dolphinese name, Kurrukuk Eiy, or 
  less formally as the Green Reef Pod. The pod numbers 
  about 80 members, and hunts over a wide range of the Anaje 
  Shoals. One of the pod’s most popular hunting grounds lies 
  in the waters just off the atoll at Green Reef Harbor.  The pod 
  has had a gentler history of interaction with humans than 
  most of their kind on planet, and they hope to avoid any 
  conflict.		However,	the	pod	can,	if	necessary,	defend	itself,	
  and is equipped to TL8.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All is as stated. The humans are impressed by the 
  dolphin’s conciliatory approach, and will reciprocate to 
  negotiate a reasonable solution.
  2-3. All is as stated. Aggressive elements in the human 
  village will try to discredit the group, accusing them of being 
  ‘dolphin-lovers’ and traitors to the human race. If they fail in 
  their attempts to slander the characters, the subversives will 
  try to escalate the tensions between the two camps.
  4-5. The negotiations will proceed poorly, and the group will 
  become tired of hearing the insults and the rhetoric. Several 
  days into negotiations, a human anarchist will attempt a 
  suicide bomb attack, injuring several delegates including 
  members of the group. Clashes between the factions will 
  grow in frequency and violence, unless the characters 
  can expose the anarchist group and have them brought to 
  justice.
  6. The dolphins are using the group as a smoke screen to 
  give them time to prepare an attack to secure the hunting 
  grounds.	Within	seven	days	of	the	time	that	den	Erty	first	
  contacts the group the pod will be reinforced by the hunters 
  of several nearby pods. The dolphins will then have enough 
  resources to interdict the village, and attack any human 
  surface or subsurface vessels. The dolphins will seek to drive 
  the humans from the village, or at worst, limit the villagers to 
  the waters inside the atoll itself.
   
  
  - 35 -
  patron encounter: 
  Belter
  required SKillS: pilot
  required equipment:  StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  A scruffy individual approaches the party. He indicates he is 
  a belter working in this system. His ship was badly damaged 
  a month ago in the system’s inner asteroid belt.  He was able 
  to nurse his ship back to port, but without enough money to 
  order parts to repair his ship. He would like to be taken to 
  the inner asteroid belt where he says he had just found a 
  rich asteroid when his ship was damaged. He will be able 
  to activate a coded transponder when he is close. He offers 
  shares	in	his	find	as	inducement.	He	initially	offers	a	10%	
  cut, but can be worked as high as 40% by a sharp bargainer 
  (though he will look very unhappy at anything over 25%).
  Accepting	this	proposal	will	require	outfitting	the	party’s	ship	
  for prospecting work – primarily packing in a good supply 
  of food, water, air, fuel, and such hand tools as this world 
  produces (shovels, picks, nets, and dynamite are all possibly 
  useful items made locally).  The belter will be able to supply 
  a few higher tech items from his own ship such as laser-
  cutting torches and a table-sized densitometer designed to 
  test core samples placed inside the machine.
  referee’S information:
  The belter will help plot a course for the approximate area 
  of the belt the asteroid is in, but can’t remember the exact 
  location. The party will spend several days getting close to 
  a number of asteroids while the belter sends a low-power 
  coded	 signal	 to	 each	 asteroid	 in	 turn,	 trying	 to	 find	 the	
  right one. There is plenty of opportunity to have dangerous 
  encounters with asteroids. Once the right asteroid is found, 
  the belter will lead a team onto the asteroid to test various 
  spots	and	find	its	composition.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1.	 The	asteroid	will	prove	to	be	a	respectably	rich	find,	with	
  a largish (several tens of kilograms) chunk of nearly pure 
  Titanium, and a deposit of Lanthanum that is enough to 
  supply several starships with jump grids.
  2. As , but the belter’s dead partner will be found near the 
  transponder, shot with the same kind of snub pistol the belter 
  is now pulling on the party…
  3.	 The	belter	finally	finds	the	transponder,	but	when	he	leads	
  the party down, he discovers it is a worthless rock he had 
  prospected thoroughly many months ago and abandoned. 
  He insists that the party try some more asteroids in an 
  attempt	to	find	the	right	one,	and	will	attempt	violence	if	they	
  refuse.
  4-5. This turns out to be a worthless asteroid, with no reason 
  to think it unusual aside from being a good shape and 
  composition for a ship hull.
  6. There is a corsair waiting behind the asteroid (which has 
  no special value). The ‘belter’’ is a front man for the corsair 
  band as a second income source.
   
  
  - 36 -
  patron encounter: 
  muSician
  required SKillS: Wheeled vehicle
  required equipment: WeaponS
  plaYerS’ information:
  An elderly woman approaches the party and asks if they 
  would act as her driver and bodyguards as she attends a 
  musical function in a distant location.  She has a large TL5 
  ground car but dislikes driving long distances.  She recently 
  received a note threatening her life if she attends a particular 
  musical function she has attended before.  She says her 
  nephew,	an	official	in	the	local	government,	can	get	the	party	
  permits to bring weapons along if they act as bodyguards. 
  She	would	prefer	the	party	bring	the	flashiest,	highest-tech	
  weapons they have, to make it clear to those around her that 
  she is well protected.
  The musical function is at a canyon about 50 kilometers 
  away using twisty mountain roads.  The woman will provide 
  a topographical map of the area between her town and the 
  musical event. The map has a number of curious markings 
  on it, centered on the site of the event. The site of the event 
  as	shown	on	the	map	is	called	the	“wailing	wall”.
  referee’S information:
  The road to the function is even twister than shown on the 
  map, and there are a few spots that have obviously had 
  small rock falls recently removed.  The site turns out to be a 
  canyon	above	a	volcanic	vent,	and	the	configuration	of	the	
  walls and the content of the atmosphere just below the ledge 
  where the event is held have an unusual mix of acoustic 
  properties. The event has been held annually for the last 
  thirty years, with some of the better musicians on the planet 
  coming during an especially calm season to sing or play their 
  instruments while the unusual sounds are recorded.
  The	party	will	arrive	to	find	a	couple	hundred	people	there.	
  Some of the people will be very happy to see their charge, 
  while others will be obviously annoyed. Talking to various 
  people will show that their charge is viewed as something 
  of a prima donna, with very picky tastes in music. There will 
  be a fair amount of very good (for TL5) recording equipment 
  setup around the performing platform.
  Note:  This patron encounter could be as suitable for a single 
  player as for a larger group.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . The woman is able to perform without incident, and the 
  return trip is uneventful.
  2-3. There are a small number of people who protest her 
  performance, and the party may be asked to help remove 
  the disruptive elements.
  4. Soon after the party arrives, the weather takes a turn 
  for the worse. The volcanic gases and billows of the valley’s 
  sulfur-laden air will begin to surge toward the performing 
  platform. The party will need to evacuate their charge to 
  higher ground, and will be asked to help with other people 
  and equipment as well.
  5. There are a number of people who are clearly hostile 
  and will throw rocks and other objects at the woman. Some 
  of them may have illegal weapons.
  6. There is a group of terrorists waiting for the party, and 
  they will attack as soon as the party has left their vehicle. 
  Their aim is to snatch the high-tech weapons from the party. 
  The woman is their shill, and will duck back in the vehicle and 
  lock	the	doors	while	the	party	fights	it	out	with	the	terrorists.
   
  
  - 37 -
  patron encounter: 
  merchant
  required SKillS: Ship SKillS
  required 
  equipment: 
  merchant 
  StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  A merchant approaches the group with a charter proposal. 
  He would like to make a run to a nearby system. His cargo 
  will	almost	fill	their	cargo	bay,	but	the	only	passengers	will	be	
  himself	and	one	assistant.	He	is	fine	with	the	party	waiting	
  another	day	or	two	to	fill	up	the	rest	of	the	cargo	bay	and	
  passenger staterooms, but doesn’t want to wait longer than 
  that. If the party chooses this option he will insist that he not 
  have to pay for any of the cargo space or staterooms he is 
  not actively using.
  If the party does wait for more passengers and cargo, they 
  will	 find	 an	 unusual	 number	 of	 large,	 burly	 men	 wanting	
  passage	 to	 their	 destination,	 each	 wanting	 to	 fill	 their	 full	
  cargo allotment as passengers. Once the starship arrives 
  in the destination system, the merchant will indicate that he 
  wants them to set down in a remote region at an improvised 
  landing ground rather than the normal starport.  If the party 
  protests the landing spot, the merchant will point out in their 
  contract	the	part	that	says	“…unloading	to	occur	at	the	place	
  designated by the lesser…”
  According to the merchant, his clients are an independent 
  group of landowners whose ancestors settled here long ago. 
  They are more or less ignored by the world government and 
  want nothing of it, keeping very much to themselves other 
  than when they need something from off-planet.
  referee’S information:
  Shipping contracts vary in precision. Some are very detailed, 
  while others merely specify the destination world, with the 
  assumption that the cargo is going to the main starport or 
  the	nearest	spaceport	to	its	final	destination.	This	contract	
  is perfectly legal, and there is absolutely no reason not to 
  trade with the landowners as there is nothing in the world’s 
  legal charter to prohibit it. Legally, the characters have to 
  comply with the merchant’s wishes unless they can show 
  “unreasonable	risk”	inherent	in	doing	so.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . The party lands and the cargo is unloaded. The merchant 
  appreciates their service and promises more cargos in the 
  future. The locals are uncommunicative but not actively 
  unfriendly. They seem to own a great deal of semi-worthless 
  land and remain here more from pride than anything else. 
  2.	 At	the	first	sign	that	the	party	has	doubts	about	landing	
  here, and the merchant and his assistant try to hijack the 
  ship. The burly men are not in on the hijack and will assist 
  the party if allowed to.
  3. As 2, but the burly men are part of the plot and will help 
  the merchant and his assistant. They will produce body 
  pistols from their cargo allotments.
  4. The burly men are with a local security force. Contact 
  with the ’landowners’ (who are actually rebels) is prohibited 
  and the law enforcers will try to arrest the merchant and his 
  assistant as part of a sting operation. They are not concerned 
  with the players, who are technically guilty but will not be 
  charged.
  5. The ‘landowners’ are rebels hiding out in the outback 
  and will try to storm the ship once it lands. The merchant 
  and his assistant are in on the plot, as are any passengers 
  aboard.
  6. As 5, but the merchant is not in on it, and has been 
  duped just like the characters.
   
  
  - 38 -
  patron encounter: 
  reSearch Support
  required SKillS: Ship, vehicle or 
  WilderneSS Survival
  required equipment: Ship With 
  room for an atv, or Survival 
  equipment
  plaYerS’ information:
  The characters are hired to aid a corporate research team 
  investigate the ancient ruins in a remote area for potential 
  high-tech artifacts brought by early colonists. The characters 
  should either be able to provide transport for the research 
  team and their equipment, or be able to provide wilderness 
  survival skills useful in the semi-desert. If the characters 
  provide a ship then they will be paid standard charter rates 
  for the duration of the research project, which is estimated 
  to take between a week and 2 months. Otherwise they will 
  be	hired	on	a	retainer	of	Cr150/day	each,	with	board	and	
  provision covered by the corporation.
  referee’S information:
  The corporation is very interested in maintaining secrecy, 
  supposedly to prevent competitors from discovering their 
  chosen path of research. This explains why people outside 
  the corporation have been recruited for this project. The 
  characters will be closely watched, and the researchers 
  will at all times strive to prevent them discovering what 
  the research is really looking for, or has in fact found. The 
  researchers are very much loyal corporate employees, and 
  have little desire to fraternize with the ‘hired help’.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . The corporation is really just after high-tech artifacts.
  2. The corporation is researching a plague that is supposed 
  to have wiped out the early settlers, for potential bio-weapon 
  uses.	The	characters	will	be	killed	if	they	find	this	out.
  3. The corporation has hired local youths as protection 
  from local nomads, and the youths have kidnapped a couple 
  of backpackers.
  4. A local tribe of low-tech humans descended from the 
  original settlers has taken an interest in what is happening 
  and demands to be shown what the researchers are doing.
  5. Shortly after setting up, the researchers report success. 
  However, another corporation’s black-ops team has been 
  sent to steal the research data.
  6. A big storm is brewing but the research team refuses to 
  pack up and move somewhere safer until it is too late.
   
  patron encounter: 
  racinG team
  required SKillS: Ship, SecuritY and 
  SuBterfuGe
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  Whilst at the highport, the characters are approached by a 
  lawyer representing clients who wish to remain anonymous, 
  but who need discreet security people. If they agree to sign 
  a binding contract of secrecy, they will be told more.
  The lawyer’s client is the Starmine SystemOne team. Once 
  the contract is signed the characters will be introduced to the 
  team manager, Gad Farsko. He will explain that the team 
  has	recently	lost	their	best	pilot,	Dux	“The	Duke”	Farran,	in	a	
  suspicious accident, that local authorities are investigating. 
  Unfortunately	the	current	series	of	races	will	probably	finish	
  before the investigation is completed. Gad is interested in 
  hiring extra security for his team, particularly the backup 
  pilot, Rodger Yung, who he thinks is almost as good as Dux. 
  He doesn’t want the extra security to appear obvious, as 
  that	would	only	inflame	rumors	about	Dux’s	accident,	so	he	
  proposes the characters adopt a cover.
  Whichever one of the characters seems like the best choice 
  will be announced as the new backup pilot for Rodger. 
  The rest of the characters will be hired to pose as extra 
  engineering crew, the new pilot’s hangers-on, etc. This will 
  give the characters access to the SystemOne ship docks, 
  and the many social events that surround the race series. 
  The characters will be offered Cr,000 a week each, and 
  the season ends in 3 weeks, the full amount will be paid to 
  the	characters	if	a	culprit	is	identified	before	the	end	of	the	
  season, and they will be released from their contract at that 
  time.
  referee’S information:
  SystemOne is the equivalent of Formula One racing. It is 
  in the format of a series of spaceship races within a given 
  system, and attracts the best teams from across the sector. 
  Hefty corporate sponsorship funds the races, which offer 
  a	 significant	 means	 of	 advertising	 to	 markets	 across	 the	
  sector.
  The SystemOne season lasts for four years, with 5-6 race 
  series each year. The current season is winding down with 
  a series of races in the present system. Going into this last 
  series the Starmine team had a sizeable lead.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. Dux’s accident really was just an accident the hardest 
  challenge for the characters will be dealing with the press.
  
  - 39 -
  3.	 A	nearby	system	used	to	hold	the	final	series	of	the	tour,	
  but 0 years ago they lost their series to the current location. 
  Agents of the original location are trying to give the series a 
  bad name in the hope of getting the venue switched back, 
  and will target other team’s pilots too.
  4. Rodger Yung organized the accident so he could take 
  Dux’s place, he is suspicious of the characters and might try 
  to ‘take care of’ them too.
  5. A rival team’s sponsor has deployed a black ops team to 
  ensure the Starmine team does not win the championship.
  6. An alternate backup pilot engineered the accident in 
  order to take Rodger’s place in the team once Rodger was 
  the main pilot. The alternate is dismayed when one of the 
  characters is announced as the new backup pilot, and is 
  determined to take care of them too.
   
  patron encounter: taKe 
  him aWaY!
  required SKillS: Ship SKillS
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  Whilst picking up passengers and cargo, the characters are 
  contacted by a representative of the world government and 
  an unusual request is made.
  The world’s highest court has found a young man guilty of 
  a crime normally punished by a long terms of imprisonment. 
  However, there are mitigating circumstances and a number 
  of other complexities. The courts have recognized the 
  peculiarities of this case and so have sentenced the youth to 
  exile	from	the	system	for	the	next	five	years.	The	government	
  has decided to arrange for the youth to be given passage to 
  any world within 3 parsecs.
  The government will purchase the youth a middle passage 
  ticket, and will offer the characters an additional Cr2,000 
  to ensure that the youth arrives without incident at his 
  destination. In addition the characters will have done the 
  government a favor, something that might prove useful 
  later.
  referee’S information:
  The youth’s name is Arlay. He has no other name. He was a 
  member of a low-tech tribe living on the fringes of civilization 
  but has been stripped of his identity by the tribal elders. Arlay 
  is an intelligent, if hot-headed, young man who was granted 
  permission by his tribe to work with the ‘city folk’ as many of 
  his people do. He was placed with a local university’s team 
  of researchers, and managed to perform adequately in his 
  role as research assistant. Indeed, he was so good that his 
  city-folk colleagues often forgot his background.
  Arlay’s team was involved in historical research into the early 
  days of colonization, and some of the researchers were 
  involved in translating ancient texts. In them, they found 
  several extremely racist diatribes which Arlay was offended 
  by.  Upon hearing some of his new friends discussing 
  the merits of these views in what sounded like a positive 
  manner, Arlay lost his temper and burned the originals 
  before smashing up all the electronic devices containing 
  recordings of them. He even went so far as to assault some 
  of his colleagues who tried to stop him.
  Arlay’s tribe was furious, as he had damaged the good 
  relations they worked hard to maintain with their high-tech 
  neighbors, and after stripping him of name and tribal identity 
  they told the world government to do as they wished with 
  their disowned son. He had, they said, brought disgrace 
  upon them and abused a privilege that had been granted 
  
  - 40 -
  to him over others. Working for a year or two on a salary 
  considered fairly basic by the high-tech folk for a few years 
  would set a tribesman up for life.
  The world government was actually more sympathetic. Arlay’s 
  disgust at the racist material and those who approved of it 
  was shared by most of the people who tried him, but there 
  was the fact of a serious assault on his colleagues and the 
  destruction of irreplaceable historical data. He should go to 
  jail according to the law, but the government has managed 
  to	find	what	it	thinks	is	a	more	merciful	option.	It	is	hoped	
  that by the time Arlay’s banishment is over the tribe might be 
  persuaded to take him back – or he may be able to join the 
  city folk with new skills learned offworld.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1-2.	Arlay	will	cooperate	with	the	characters,	but	is	terrified	of	
  going offworld. He lacks much oft he background that even 
  mid-tech people take for granted, and fears that he may not 
  be able to survive away from home. He will be desperately 
  grateful to anyone who tries to help him out.
  3-4.	This	event	has	confirmed	every	bad	thing	Arlay	has	ever	
  heard of the city folk. He is contemptuous of the characters 
  and seeks to deliberately disrupt the ship’s day-to-day 
  activities.
  5-6. Arlay is actually excited to be going offworld, and although 
  he is a bit ashamed of hurting people he is quite pleased at 
  how things have turned out. He may ask to join the crew or 
  at least get some basic orientation from the characters for 
  surviving in a higher-tech environment.
   
  patron encounter: the 
  familY
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  While the players are searching for passengers and cargo, 
  they encounter a man and a woman looking to transport four 
  people and ten tons of cargo to a nearby mid-to-low tech 
  world. They turn out to be a married couple, William and 
  Janet Grey, and are hoping to transport their machine shop 
  and associated parts. Their plan is effectively to corner the 
  market	in	“high	tech”	tools	at	their	destination	and	use	the	
  funds generated to pay off their current creditors. The Greys 
  have just enough to cover their middle passages and freight 
  charges for their cargo. They will offer to help out during the 
  voyage if the players will take them. They need to leave in 
  three days or less; otherwise they say they will not be able 
  to.
  refereeS information:
  The two other passengers are the couple’s kids, Ben and 
  Carolyn, who are aged 7 and 5 respectively. If the players 
  agree to take the Greys the children will turn up the day of 
  departure without any warning, unless the players ask the 
  right questions. The Greys’ creditors are liable to seize their 
  machine shop if they don’t get it off planet within the time 
  scale,	or	they	find	out	that	the	Greys	are	trying	to	leave	the	
  planet. The family is using the last of its available cash and 
  assets to move machine shop in the hope of putting their 
  fortunes back together on a new world.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All is as stated. William and Janet will help the crew 
  in anyway they can during the voyage, however Ben and 
  Carolyn will cause as much mayhem as kids normally do. If 
  there are other passengers on board they will be harassed 
  after	the	first	couple	of	days.	The	children	will	constantly	ask	
  the	crew	questions	that	they	may	find	annoying.	They	will	
  play hide and seek in areas of the ship that they are not 
  supposed to be in, activating anti-hijacking programs, and 
  generally get in the way a lot whilst doing basically harmless 
  things. William and Janet will be apologetic for their children 
  at all times.
  2. As , however the Greys’ creditors are already at the 
  destination.	The	Greys	find	out	before	the	cargo	is	offloaded	
  and try to persuade the players not to let it fall into the 
  creditors hands.
  4. As , however the Greys are transporting TL7 mineral 
  extracting machinery and tools. The locals at their destination 
  will welcome the Greys into a mining camp, with prosperity 
  virtually guaranteed.
  
  - 4 -
  5. As 4, however the locals will not want the Greys to import 
  the TL7 equipment. This is why William and Janet said it was 
  a machine shop.
  6. As 5 but the locals have found out they are coming 
  and try to enter the PCs’ ship in the hope of damaging the 
  equipment before it can be unloaded.
   
  patron encounter: loSt 
  relativeS
  required SKillS: reSearch, 
  interperSonal
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  While the players are doing the rounds of the starfarers bars 
  and hangouts looking for their next employment, a 40-year-
  old man dressed in a leather jacket and bush hat approaches 
  them. As he comes towards them it is obvious to the players 
  that	he	has	very	little	self-confidence.	He	constantly	looks	
  around him in a nervous way, and would probably die of 
  fright	 if	 someone	 shouted	 “boo”	 at	 him.	 The	 gentleman	
  introduces himself as Eneri McAdam, and explains that he 
  is looking for his grandfather who came through here 20 
  years ago. McAdam says his grandfather was also looking 
  for his ancestors, who had boarded a colonial transport 
  before the Long Night. The ship’s course was in this general 
  direction. McAdam will offer the PCs Cr5,000 each, and any 
  reasonable expenses if they can help trace his grandfather’s 
  movements, and take him under their wing while they do 
  so.
  Eneri’s Grandfather was Jack McAdam, and the ship he was 
  tracing	was	named	the	Maysflower.
  referee’S information:
  If Eneri can prove that his ancestors settled on one of the 
  colony worlds, or that there are no surviving relatives, he 
  will inherit a huge legacy that is sitting on Terra waiting 
  for someone to prove who is the next legitimate heir to 
  the fortune. His grandfather was doing the same when he 
  went missing in this region of space. Eneri has traced his 
  grandfather to this starport, however he has drawn a blank 
  on his grandfather’s destination off planet and is seeking 
  help in his quest.
  Eneri is in fact independently wealthy. He made his money 
  on the stock markets in the Solomani Rim and managed 
  to convert it all into Imperial funds. He knows that his 
  grandfather came through this region on his quest. Eneri has 
  found himself in rough town, out of his depth and frightened. 
  While he is looking for help in searching for his grandfather, 
  he is also looking for people to protect him.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All as is above. Eneri is constantly frightened and a little 
  paranoid by the denizens of the starport and will dog the 
  PCs in their task and offer them double the amount if he 
  can tag along while they search. Eneri’s grandfather came 
  through	the	world	following	the	trail	of	the	Maysflower	to	a	
  nearby planet of the referee’s choosing.
  
  - 42 -
  2. As , but having found the information Eneri asks 
  the players to accompany him to the next planet on his 
  grandfather’s journey. Eneri will pay for the player’s 
  passage.
  3. As , but the trail goes cold because Jack McAdam was 
  killed in an accident the starport while trying to trace the 
  route	of	the	Maysflower.	Records	of	which	can	be	found	in	
  the security logs. Eneri will be devastated, then pay the PCs 
  and disappear.
  4. Eneri is really an imposter who is trying to con the trustees 
  out of the fortune by attempting to ‘become’ the grandson of 
  Jack McAdam. This job is part of his plan, because by trying 
  to	find	Jack	he	believes	he	can	invent	his	new	identity	from	
  were	Jack	finished.	The	con-man	has	no	money	and	is	likely	
  to con the PCs as well if he can.
  5. Eneri is really independently wealthy because he has the 
  backing of the Solomani Confederation. Searching for Jack 
  McAdam	and	the	Maysflower	is	both	his	cover	and	a	covert	
  signal to the local SolSec sponsored terrorist group. They will 
  be in touch with him in due course. Meanwhile he is using the 
  PCs to set up a false trail and cover his disappearance after 
  the group strikes. If all goes well and the terrorists contact 
  him he will pay the PCs off and disappear. Soon afterward 
  there will be a spectacular terrorist atrocity and a trail that 
  leads back to the travellers.
  6. As 5 however the terrorists will then target the PCs so 
  that there is no trace to their contact.
   
  patron encounter: 
  practice Good dental 
  hYGiene
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  An attractive young woman approaches the crew, looking 
  for passage. She has carryon luggage and an armored and 
  refrigerated 
  shipping case weighing 00kg. The exterior of the case says 
  biohazard and medical samples, keep cool, do not expose 
  to oxygen, and a number of other fairly ominous things. The 
  woman claims she is a dentist, and she is carrying a set of 
  new tooth buds cloned in a high tech facility. She is taking 
  passage to the next stop on the ship’s itinerary.
  referee’S information:
  The woman does have a good knowledge of dental 
  terminology if questioned by a character with medical skills. 
  All during the booking of passage and loading of cargo she 
  will hover nervously ask to see the cargo loading and during 
  the trip will ask to check her cargo frequently.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. All is as it appears. She is a dental researcher and the 
  case does contain medical samples. They are delicate and 
  any rough handling will damage some of them. This will 
  cause her to become vary upset and threaten to sue the 
  crew for negligent practices. The case will also cause delays 
  at customs or if the ship is inspected by a routine patrol.
  3. She is mostly who she claims, but the cloned material is 
  actually stolen. She is an industrial dental spy and the high 
  tech facility has just discovered the theft. They are trying 
  to get the authorities to lock down the port to search out 
  going ships. If the characters take off in time they will not 
  be stopped at the port. A leisurely departure will have them 
  boarded and the dentist detained. This will delay the ship at 
  least 2 days while an investigation is begun. The crew will 
  be cleared, but any further trips into this system will always 
  result in the ship being stopped and searched.
  4. She is mostly who she claims, but the material is a bio-
  war agent stolen from a government lab. The woman is an 
  industrial spy, who poses as a dentist to allay suspicion. The 
  authorities are able to lock down the port, and as the customs 
  service approaches the ship she will attempt to access the 
  bio-war agents and take the ship hostage. If the players do 
  not stop her, she will threaten to not only deploy the agent, 
  but to publicly expose the research to the public.
  5-6. She is nothing like she claims, and any background check 
  will reveal this. She is a dental cleaning technician who got 
  fired	recently.	The	samples	do	have	biohazard	material	in	
  them, but nothing really dangerous, just some stolen items 
  
  - 43 -
  from her former employer. In the midst of that material is a 
  60 kg package of illegal narcotics. She is trying to make a 
  small fortune and get away from her home planet. She has 
  stolen these drugs from her boyfriend. He will be looking for 
  her and is very violent, attacking anyone who gets between 
  him and her or his drugs. He will follow her to the next port of 
  call, remembering the ship’s name for the rest of his days.
   
  patron encounter: 
  proSpectorS
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  The PCs are seeking passengers for their next destination. 
  Amongst those looking for transport are two retired corporate 
  lawyers, who have decided to try their hand as freelance 
  prospectors. Margaret Cook and Donald Vallish are both in 
  their late forties and have mustered out from their corporate 
  career, with an interest in making their fortunes in the rocks 
  of some out-system moons. They have about four tons of 
  equipment with them for transport, and hope to pick up 
  some sort of vehicle at their destination. They will pay for a 
  shared middle passage, as a couple. They will ask for their 
  equipment to be transported at standard rate, but this may 
  be open to negotiation with the ship’s crew.
  referee’S information:
  If the crew ask to inspect the equipment, they will indeed 
  find	that	there	is	about	Cr50,000	worth	of	basic	mining	and	
  prospecting equipment, along with vacc suits and other 
  survival equipment. The two prospective prospectors seem 
  nice enough, and their paperwork checks out.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . It’s all above board. The couple are indeed looking 
  to	make	some	money	finding	good	strikes	and	selling	the	
  locations to corporations for further development. They 
  encountered some good leads during their professional 
  career, and share this info with the PCs during Jump. In fact, 
  they might offer interested characters a chance to buy into 
  the enterprise. They say that for each Cr00,000 invested, 
  it’s likely that a return of at least 0-20% is possible within six 
  months.	Crews	or	characters	with	spare	cash	might	well	find	
  this a good safe investment.
  2. It’s all above board, but the couple are way out of their 
  league. The next system has a strong Belter community 
  which does not react well to outsiders trying to set up. The 
  couple will be run off long before they can make any money. 
  Characters with local knowledge might be able to offer some 
  warning on this.
  3. All is not as it seems. The couple are indeed who they 
  say they are, but they are not innocently retiring to a life of 
  prospecting. They are carrying this equipment to the next 
  system to sell it. This is not illegal, but the mining equipment 
  contains small amounts of valuable industrial materials, such 
  as gravity-hardened diamond cutting heads etc., which will 
  sell	for	a	considerable	profit	on	the	next	world.
  4. The couple are traveling on forged papers, and are in 
  fact local law-enforcement agents. They are transporting the 
  valuable equipment very openly, and are trying to draw out 
  a mining corporation troubleshooter called Mishkail Horowitz 
  
  - 44 -
  who has been traveling on tramp freighters trying to buy 
  out or intimidate prospectors or miners, or sabotage their 
  equipment to protect his company’s interests. Mishkail may 
  or may not be another passenger on the same ship. If so, the 
  agents will attempt to wait until after arrival before arresting 
  him, but trouble may brew on board.
  5. The couple are not miners, but have been paid to 
  accompany the equipment to the next destination. Once 
  there, they will leave the ship and disappear, leaving the crew 
  with valuable equipment on board their ship which turns out 
  to be stolen. Someone will tip off local starport authorities 
  about the cargo, and this will certainly get the crew into 
  trouble. The reason behind this may remain a mystery, or 
  may be an act of revenge against any or all of the crew for 
  previous dealings they may have had.
  6. All is as it seems but the couple are hopelessly naïve 
  about the ease of what they’re about to try. They don’t really 
  know anything about mining, let alone how to operate the 
  equipment on board. They would struggle with donning a 
  vacc suit, let alone working in deep space. Crewmembers 
  might take pity on the couple, and offer to buy their equipment 
  instead, or give them pointers on what to do. If a Belter is 
  among the crew, they may even get a week’s crash course 
  in mining. Left to their own devices, they will at the very least 
  get stranded on a distant moon for several days before being 
  rescued. The most likely scenario is much less positive for 
  the two over-optimistic retirees.
   
  patron encounter: Space 
  touriStS
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: Spacecraft or 
  StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  The travellers are in Startown on a low or mid tech level 
  planet. They are doing whatever they usually do during 
  R&R when one of them is approached by a Vargr male 
  who is, apparently, choosing people at random. The PC in 
  question may witness the Vargr unsuccessfully try to gain 
  the attention of other people nearby. He introduces himself 
  as Graz (not his full name, he explains), a representative for 
  a new company in the system.
  The company is called Vacationaut and practices ‘Space 
  Tourism’, a rare enough thing on this particular world, where 
  99% of the population will never even see a starship, let 
  alone ride into space. Graz, and Vacationaut, are looking 
  for ships willing to take people up into space for short trips, 
  probably around the planet or even longer trips out to the 
  moons or nearby planets.
  The	Vacationaut	offices	are	in	Startown,	and	are	completely	
  legit as far as the PCs can make out. Computers are still 
  being	 unpacked,	 and	 the	 wiring	 around	 the	 offices	 is	 still	
  being completed. Graz introduces the PCs to Victor Haaz, 
  the director of Vacationaut on this world. He is willing to 
  discuss fees with the characters.
  The price for a simple two hour ride into space and back for 
  a ‘Vacationaut’ is set at Cr,000, which might seem like a lot 
  considering that a low-berth costs as much. For a longer trip, 
  around nearby planets or moons, the price rises to Cr0,000 
  or even higher. They have a waiting list of nearly 200 people 
  who have already paid for the trips in advance.
  The PCs will be offered 50% of the price of the trip, not 
  including life support (it won’t matter much for trips under a 
  day or two). The company will even provide excellent food 
  and entertainment for the ‘boring parts’ of the trip. The PCs 
  can transport as many people per trip as they feel they can 
  fit	 on	 board	 comfortably,	 and	 Vacationaut	 will	 handle	 any	
  custom work needed, like wall removal or extra seats being 
  installed.
  referee’S information:
  The	Vacationaut	firm	is	entirely	legitimate	and	the	offer	is	
  genuine.	Other	offices	have	done	well	on	various	worlds	and	
  there is no reason to expect anything to go wrong.
  
  - 45 -
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1.	 The	 first	 trip	 goes	 well,	 as	 do	 any	 others	 the	 crew	
  undertakes. They might even make a decent amount of 
  money, but the interest in Space Tourism dies down after a 
  few weeks. No harm done, everyone parts ways happily.
  2. On one of the trips, some passengers hesitantly ask the 
  crew if they can provide ‘private quarters’ so they can join 
  the rare ‘Sky High Club’. The crew can make what they want 
  of this, but if they let these passengers do so, then the ship 
  may acquire a reputation as something of a ‘space brothel’ 
  which the media gets hold of. This could end up being 
  embarrassing for both the Crew and Vacationaut, even if 
  their ticket sales triple in a few short days…
  3. On one trip, a group of extreme sport enthusiasts request 
  that	they	experience	zero-g	for	some	time	during	the	flight.	
  If the ship is a trader, then it might be easy enough to switch 
  off	 the	 grav	 plates	 in	 the	 hold	 for	 some	 part	 of	 the	 flight.	
  Further options here include the enthusiasts getting badly 
  hurt in zero-g, or inventing a new kind of sport which catches 
  on and develops more business for Vacationaut.
  4. One trip includes twenty children from a privileged school 
  on the planet. They are aged between eight and sixteen, 
  and range from whiny to know-it-all. They will be tough to 
  control, and will get under everyone’s feet and into places 
  they really shouldn’t go. Dealing with a crying ten year old 
  who is scared of the view outside whilst a budding engineer 
  demands to see how everything works might cause the crew 
  some problems.
  5. A group of ‘businessmen’ hire the ship out exclusively 
  for a two day trip. They ask to be left alone the entire time, 
  except for food and steward activities. They are a crime 
  syndicate who are having their yearly big meeting in a secure 
  and interesting place. This option is wide open for all sorts 
  of complications, from planetary police on another hired ship 
  coming after the vessel, to assassination attempts on board 
  their own ship.
  6. During one of the trips, the ship develops technical 
  problems and ends up drifting without power to the main 
  drive. The crew has a potential disaster here, with some 
  of their people back on the planet, not enough life support, 
  and a potential passenger list including children, criminals, 
  extreme sportsmen or almost anyone the Referee can think 
  of. When the ship manages to limp home, Vacationaut 
  announces it is considering a tamed version of these events 
  as	‘Terror	in	Space’	themed	flights…
   
  patron encounter: 
  inSurance evaluation
  required SKillS: ShipBoard SKillS
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  Whilst searching the job boards for information that could 
  lead the players to any lucrative opportunity, one of the 
  PC’s communicators bleeps and shows an incoming call of 
  unknown origin. For some reason the reception of the PC’s 
  comm is not good, but the player can just make out a female 
  in business attire. She introduces herself as Janet Gimmini 
  who explains that this number was given to her by one of the 
  players’	last	patrons.	She	invites	the	PCs	to	her	office	to	talk	
  about a proposition she has for them.
  The	players	are	given	directions	to	the	local	offices	of	ASIB	
  (Associated Starship Insurance Brokerage), where Gimmini 
  works. Once there the receptionist shows the players in to a 
  large	and	well-furnished	office	where	Gimmini	greets	them.	
  Gimmini is of average height, in her early thirties, has long 
  auburn hair, but what is very distinctive about her is that she 
  has a laser burn across her left cheek and is missing the 
  lower half of her left ear. After showing the players to a seat 
  she will explain that she has asked the players here to see if 
  they are interested in a three-week job that will entail a micro 
  jump to the other half of this binary system. There they will 
  survey a vessel that has been stranded there for the past 
  month.
  If the players are interested Gimmini will explain that she is 
  an insurance investigator and her usual team and ship have 
  been assigned to another job. She needs this work carried 
  out as soon as possible which is why she has contacted 
  the PCs. She will charter the players’ ship for three weeks, 
  and will require the players’ services at the site of the 
  investigation.
  If the players accept Gimmini will want to leave as soon as 
  the players can arrange the installation of a collapsible fuel 
  tank, which Gimmini will provide, and purchase fuel and life 
  support. She has all the equipment that she needs for the 
  trip already packed and ready to go.
  referee’S information:
  In Jump Gimmini will explain that the ship they are searching 
  for is the Dancing Kallinger, a 400 ton Fat Trader. The Dancing 
  Kallinger	was	reported	missing,	presumed	lost,	five	months	
  ago after it failed to arrive at it’s listed destination. The ship 
  had a crew of 7 and its inventory lists a cargo of electronic 
  consumer goods. It was listed as carrying no passengers.
  Upon arriving at the binary system the Dancing Kallinger 
  can be found adrift close to the second rockball planet. The 
  
  - 46 -
  players will have to pinpoint the ship and match velocities 
  before	 finding	 a	 way	 onto	 the	 ship.	There	 is	 a	 man-sized	
  hole in the hull that leads into the engineering section. Once 
  aboard	the	players	will	find	that	the	power	is	off,	there	is	no	
  fuel in the tanks, and the Jump drive looks like a complete 
  slagheap. All is in place in the cargo hold, except one air 
  lock is open to space. An exploration of the staterooms will 
  show all items of the crew are in the places they left them. 
  The galley is clean with signs that show the crew had just 
  cleared their last meal.
  After the players manage to transfer some fuel and start 
  the power plant they will be able to get life support and the 
  computer on line. Accessing the ships log shows that nothing 
  happened going into jump and all was normal for three days, 
  and then nothing. No computer access, no doors opened, 
  nothing was turned on, no crew on the monitors, nothing.
  The ship stayed in Jump space for three weeks. When it 
  looks as though the ship should have exited Jump the 
  sequence used to start the jump drive was activated. 
  Internal sensors show that the Jump drive began to operate, 
  which drained the remaining fuel in the tanks then went off 
  line, and the computer’s emergency power system cut in. 
  Emergency power functioned for only 5 minutes. During this 
  time the jump drive melted into slag and blew a hole in the 
  engineering section out into jump space. The computer logs 
  stop 5 minutes after the power plant failed.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . No further information can be gathered from the Dancing 
  Kallinger.	Gimmini	is	satisfied	that	it	suffered	some	kind	of	
  unexplained Jumpspace accident, and will pay out on the 
  insurance policy while making arrangements for salvaging 
  the ship. This will involve transporting what cargo can be 
  retrieved and any valuables to the mainworld. The players 
  may	have	to	find	an	ice	asteroid	or	comet	to	refuel.	Gimmini	
  will arrange for a salvage vessel to recover the ship and 
  turn it over to the authorities for further investigation of the 
  incident. Six months later the players will encounter the 
  Dancing Kallinger plying the space lanes with a new crew 
  and under a different name.
  2. As one, however it is not possible for Gimmini to arrange 
  a	recovery	vessel.	Gimmini	will	ask	the	players	if	they	will	fix	
  the ship on station and then recover it to the mainworld. As 
  this will involve approximately a month and a half’s work to, 
  transport	and	fit	a	new	Jump	drive,	patch	the	damaged	Jump	
  grid, and prepare the ship for the transit home. The travellers 
  will then have to Jump a possibly dodgy starship. Gimmini 
  is willing to offer the players 5% of the value of the ship. 
  Subsequent events are at the discretion of the Referee.
  3. On investigation of the ship’s logs it looks like there are 
  discrepancies. Gimmini thinks that the logs might have been 
  faked, and so will not pay out on the claim. Gimmini will 
  arrange for the ship to be picked up by a recovery vessel. 
  However she would like some of the crew to babysit the ship 
  while	she	can	arrange	this.	The	players	will	have	to	find	an	
  ice asteroid or comet to refuel, and arrange the life support 
  supplies for both ships. All the players will receive a Cr0,000 
  bonus for this. The passage of events during the two weeks 
  of ship sitting is up to the Referee.
  4. As 3. However the Dancing Kallinger was attack by a 
  pirate band that faked the computer logs and then left the 
  ship as bait. When most of the crew are on the stricken ship 
  and they discover the discrepancies in the logs the pirates 
  will launch a two-pronged boarding action of the players’ 
  ship trying to capture it undamaged. The size and number of 
  the pirates should match the PCs abilities.
  5. As 4. but Gimmini is in league with the pirates.
  6.	 When	the	players	arrive	they	cannot	find	the	Dancing	
  Kallinger at all, and no sign of any ship, debris, or any 
  indication that there was any one in the binary system 
  recently. Subsequent events are at the discretion of the 
  Referee.
   
  
  - 47 -
  patron encounter: 
  honeSt BroKer
  required SKillS: interperSonal
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  A broker with whom they have done business contacts 
  players during a starport layover. He has need of some 
  people to perform a somewhat critical business errand for 
  him. The party that normally handles this sort of errand for 
  him is busy with other tasks. The errand is not illegal nor 
  will the players need to break or bend any laws. The errand 
  is	extremely	confidential	however	and	the	broker	does	not	
  want the job freely discussed in any saloons or barbershops 
  the players may frequent. The broker is more than willing to 
  reward discretion on the players’ part and the fee he offers 
  will illustrate that.
  The broker’s errand consists of the players taking a written 
  note to an individual, waiting for a reply to the note from that 
  individual, and returning the reply to the broker. If the players 
  are	efficient	and	behave	in	a	circumspect	manner,	the	broker	
  may have similar errands for them in the near future.
  referee’S information:
  Kidnappings in and around the starport region have been 
  on the rise. Very few of these crimes are reported to the 
  authorities. Some see law enforcement as either corrupt 
  or incompetent. Others view kidnapping as a private affair, 
  something to be handled without drawing any additional 
  attention to the crime. In a large majority of cases the ransom 
  is paid and the victim is released, usually unharmed.
  The people being kidnapped are drawn from all walks 
  of life; they can be visiting businessmen, gang members, 
  local citizens, and even starship crewmembers. Ransoms 
  can range from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands 
  of credits. Victims can be held for only a few hours or for 
  several weeks; however long the situation demands.
  Many groups, with a variety of agendas, are active in the 
  trade. A few groups are using kidnappings to raise money 
  for political or social causes, while others are involved in 
  the trade simply for the money. Some of the kidnapping 
  gangs specialize in snatching dozens of low ransom targets, 
  depending	on	quantity	to	fill	their	pockets.	Other	gangs	target	
  individuals who can command large ransoms and spend 
  weeks and months planning their operations. Whatever the 
  reasons, the boom in kidnappings has led to an opportunity 
  for people willing to act as middlemen.
  Both the kidnappers and the ransom payers want a sense 
  of security when dealing with each other. The kidnappers 
  want to be assured that law enforcement or private security 
  officers	won’t	be	breathing	down	their	necks.	The	ransom	
  payers want to be certain that they aren’t paying for a corpse. 
  Both sides want the full amount of money to reach the proper 
  individuals without any problems and both sides do not want 
  to be cheated by the other in any way. A middleman, known 
  and trusted by both sides, can help assuage those fears.
  The middleman can handle ransom negotiations, reporting 
  honestly	 to	 either	 side	 about	 the	 financial	 situations	
  involved. A middleman can also verify that an individual is 
  actually being held captive and that they are in good health. 
  Finally,	a	middleman	can	help	ensure	that	the	final	swap	of	
  ransom and kidnapped victim goes smoothly and without 
  any chance of a double-cross. Some middlemen have even 
  branched out into offering a type of kidnapping insurance. 
  Individuals at risk of being kidnapped post a bond with a 
  trusted middleman. This bonded money will then be paid out 
  if the crime occurs and after the kidnappers demonstrate 
  that the victim is still alive. 
  The broker in question has developed a lucrative side 
  business of late, acting as a middleman, an ‘honest broker’, 
  during this recent spate of kidnappings. Because this aspect 
  of his business is booming, he is in need of additional help. 
  He is hiring the players to perform one of the most delicate 
  and time consuming portions of the middleman business; 
  ascertaining that the kidnapping victim is alive and that they 
  are who the kidnappers claim.
  His desire that the players remain discreet about their job 
  is not due any personal embarrassment. Rather, he does 
  not want to run the risk of the local authorities being tipped 
  to the affair in any manner. Neither side is this situation 
  wishes that to happen and the broker will reward the players 
  if they behave in a circumspect manner. Any attempts by the 
  players to pressure the broker for more money or even to 
  blackmail him, in the mistaken belief they have something 
  ‘on him’, must keep these distinctions in mind.
  The local population has come to accept the situation and 
  generally approves of the actions of the middlemen. The 
  parties involved here are relying on the broker’s discretion. 
  If the players get too ‘cute’, the broker will remove them 
  from the job, pay them the original fee agreed upon, and let 
  news of their actions pass through the local community. The 
  players	will	find	any	business	or	private	dealings	they	may	
  undertake in the area adversely affected by these reports for 
  some time to come.
  If they accept the job, the players will be handed an envelope 
  and a small holographic portrait of an adult human male. The 
  broker will instruct them to deliver the envelope to the man 
  in the picture, wait for his response, and bring that response 
  back to the broker. The broker will tell them to arrive at a 
  certain eating establishment by a certain time. There they will 
  be approached by an individual and given further instructions 
  that will eventually bring them face to face with the human 
  in the picture.
  
  - 48 -
  The broker will be forthright about the kidnapping, explaining 
  the situation to the players and warning them not to be 
  heroes. He will caution them about carrying weapons beyond 
  those they would normally carry around town. The players 
  are to act as the broker’s ears and eyes; they are there only 
  to determine that the kidnapped person is safe and whole. 
  They are not there to puzzle out where the victim is being 
  held, who is holding them, or any other similar information. 
  The broker will stress again and again that the players not act 
  as	heroes.	He	wants	confirmation,	not	additional	problems.
  When the players arrive at the rendezvous, a nondescript 
  street person will immediately approach them. They will be 
  asked if they are from the broker. If they reply positively, the 
  street person will hand them a small disposable comm link, 
  tell them that the call is ‘for them’, and depart. If the street 
  person	is	followed,	they	will	lead	anyone	trailing	them	first	
  to a local liquor store and then, clutching a full bottle, to a 
  flophouse.	 The	 street	 person	 will	 pay	 in	 both	 cases	 with	
  cash. If questioned, the street person will only know that 
  they were given the link, the cash, and instructions about 
  whom to hand the comm over to. Any descriptions the street 
  person supplies will be too vague to be of any practical use.
  The comm link itself is of a local variety. Cheap and 
  disposable, they are easily purchased and last for a set 
  number of minutes. Attempting to track down who bought 
  the link or where it was purchased will prove impossible as 
  they are sold in vending machines throughout the port and 
  surrounding region. Attempts to monitor or trace any calls 
  made over the link will be fruitless too; the link has a limited 
  wireless range and connects into a bewildering landline and 
  microwave transmission network. A voice on the comm link 
  will provide the players with directions to another location. 
  The directions will be provided twice in succession and the 
  voice will answer no questions. If the players interrupt too 
  often or ask too many questions the call will terminate and 
  no additional calls will be received.
  As the players reach the new location, another call will be 
  received	much	like	the	first.	The	players	should	be	routed	
  around the starport and surrounding city to as many locations 
  as the GM wishes, but three or four such trips should be the 
  absolute minimum.  After reaching each location, the players 
  will receive a new call with new directions to yet another 
  location.
  Do not provide the players with much time to travel to 
  each new location. In this manner the GM will be able to 
  prevent the players from making any detailed plans or doing 
  anything else other than moving from place to place. The 
  players should have little time in each location to scan or 
  survey the each area.  They should remain uncertain as to 
  whether or not they are being followed or watched. Finally, 
  the players should arrive at low-income housing project, 
  residential	hotel,	or	other	such	low	profile,	high	traffic	type	
  building. The players will be directed, again by comm link, to 
  a	certain	unit	or	room	and	there	finally	meet	the	man	they’ve	
  done so much to see.
  The make-up of the group holding the captive and the set-
  up of the rooms in which he is currently being held should 
  be carefully arranged by the GM.  The number of captors, 
  the weapons they are carrying, the location of the captive, 
  all should be chosen to prevent any notion of heroics on 
  the part of the players. After being frisked and allowed to 
  keep any personal weapons or equipment the kidnappers 
  find	reasonable,	the	players	will	be	informed	that	they	have	
  0 minutes to speak with the captive. They should hand 
  over the envelope and await the response they came for. 
  While with the captive, the players may try to question him 
  further. However, the captors will interrupt and prevent any 
  questions beyond those concerning the captive’s health and 
  wellbeing.
  As	soon	as	the	captive	finishes	his	response	to	the	queries	
  contained in the envelope, the captive will be hustled out of 
  the room. Some of the kidnappers will stay with the players 
  and prevent them from leaving for another 30 minutes. After 
  that time, the players will be free to go and report back to 
  the broker.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6) 
  1.	 Traffic	 or	 some	 other	 transportation	 problems	 prevent	
  the players from arriving at a designated location within the 
  time	specified	and	the	captors	break	off	contact.	This	may	not	
  mean the end of the job however.  If the players immediately 
  and honestly report their failing to the broker, he will still pay 
  them and may even hire them for a second attempt.
  2. One of the kidnappers takes umbrage at the players. 
  Something they said, or did, or something they were carrying 
  causes him to question their motives. He may denounce them 
  as informants or worse. An argument among the captors 
  may break out over his suspicions. The players will have to 
  defuse or resolve the situation before they are allowed to 
  see the captive.
  3. The captive is injured or ill in some manner and requires 
  basic medical attention. The players may have to convince 
  the captors of this, or the captors may already be aware and 
  nervous about the captive’s condition.  The players can then 
  either provide the medical care themselves, keeping in mind 
  the kidnappers’ desire to move the captive soon, or argue 
  that the captive must be hospitalized. The captors may even 
  offer to allow a player with medical skills to remain with the 
  captive.
  4. Knowledge of this kidnapping has leaked out and the 
  players are being followed. The followers could be law 
  enforcement agents, private security hired by someone 
  close to the captive, or another kidnapping gang interested in 
  taking the captive and ransom for themselves. If the players 
  discover they’re being followed, there are a few options 
  open to them. They can try and give their followers the slip, 
  they can try and convince the followers to stop, they can 
  join in with the followers, or they can inform the kidnappers 
  
  - 49 -
  and abort the meeting. If the players do not discover they’re 
  being	followed	and	the	meeting	goes	ahead,	they	could	find	
  themselves	in	the	middle	of	a	police	raid,	gang	firefight,	or	
  hostage situation.
  5. The captive is not who the kidnappers think he is. 
  Despite his protests, the captors believe he is someone 
  else and will react violently to any suggestions otherwise. 
  The holographic picture the players are carrying may help 
  convince the kidnappers of their mistake, but that also 
  means the captive is no longer of any use to them.  How the 
  captive is dealt with after that will depend on the actions of 
  the players.
  6.  The captive is dead, either as a result of the kidnapping 
  or from other causes, and the captors are still attempting 
  to collect the ransom. One of their number is posing as the 
  captive, wearing the captive’s clothes and sporting heavy 
  bandages to disguise his looks. The imposter will be unable 
  to answer the broker’s written questions. He’ll scribble a 
  few lines and claim an inability to answer fully due to the 
  effects of his injuries. In any event, the imposter will not do a 
  very good job of pretending to be the captive. If the players 
  denounce him as a fraud or let their suspicions be known in 
  any other manner, the kidnappers will be forced to act. They 
  may attack the players or even offer them a piece of ransom 
  if they help deceive the broker.
  However the meeting with captive and kidnappers occur or 
  whatever the results are, the players will have spent a nerve 
  wracking afternoon and evening being shuttled all over the 
  starport, meeting with a criminal gang, and collecting the 
  required information. Success may bring offers of similar 
  jobs	 from	 the	 broker.	 The	 players	 could	 find	 themselves	
  delivering a portion of the ransom or acting as couriers 
  during protracted negotiations.
  Success could also help the players in other, more ‘legal’ 
  ways. The broker is a broker after all. The successful and 
  trusted working relationship that developed during this matter 
  could lead the broker to hire or use the players in other areas, 
  such as shipping or speculative trading. Success could also 
  bring notoriety. While the general population doesn’t mind 
  the existence of the middlemen, the local authorities do not 
  care for them at all, viewing the activities of the middlemen 
  as a professional insult. The players may begin to experience 
  low level police harassment, paperwork troubles, or other 
  bureaucratic tangles once the authorities know of their 
  affiliation	with	the	middleman.	
   
  patron encounter: 
  StriKe!
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  Stembon is an outsystem rockball inhabited only by a few 
  miners. The miners’ co-operative often exchanges raw 
  ore for shipments of luxury goods such as fresh fruits and 
  vegetables, meats and medicines that trader ships bring in, 
  usually on a speculative basis. Bringing in just such a cargo 
  of luxury goods, the characters are offered a good price on 
  a small ore shipment that contains a high percentage of 
  rare earths. Selling the cargo on, the characters attract the 
  notice	of	one	of	the	metallurgical	firms	of	the	cluster,	who	are	
  interested	in	finding	out	all	about	where	the	shipment	came	
  from,	and	whether	it	is	a	fake,	a	fluke	or	something	worth	
  investing in.
  The characters are offered a standard charter rate to 
  transport a survey team to Stembon to investigate, and a 
  bonus	if	the	team	finds	something	the	firm	wants	to	exploit.	
  They are required to wait a week while the team does its 
  work, and then bring them back to base.
  referee’S information:
  The miner’s co-op is resentful of the survey team, and 
  attempts to drive them away. Measures range from passive 
  resistance to sabotage and intimidation, and will eventually 
  spill over into violence (though lethal measures will not be 
  employed unless the characters begin to use them). The 
  characters aren’t directly involved (though the miners will 
  sometimes target them out of resentment) but if the survey 
  team can’t do its job, the characters won’t get their bonus. 
  The survey team consists of engineers and scientists; they’re 
  not up to facing down a mob of angry locals. But maybe the 
  characters are….
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . The survey team discovers that the shipment was a 
  fluke,	and	there	is	nothing	here	worth	exploiting.
  2. There is a reasonable vein, and the company wants to 
  bring in a small mining team. The locals are extremely angry, 
  but are unwilling to escalate the situation and most eventually 
  allow themselves to be bought out or offered jobs.
  3. There is no vein, and the locals are attempting to 
  deceive the company into bribing them to allow a corporate 
  team in. They’ll go away again once they discover the vein is 
  virtually worthless, but in the meantime the locals will enjoy 
  the proceeds of their scam.
  4. As , but the locals are extremely resentful and become 
  quite	 violent.	 If	 the	 team	 is	 driven	 off,	 the	 firm	 becomes	
  convinced that there is something worth having and launches 
  a merc operation to seize the mines.
  
  - 50 -
  5. As 2, but the locals are very stubborn, and the situation 
  escalates into a shooting match.
  6. As  OR 2, but the survey team sneaks into some old 
  mine passages and gets stuck. The locals are very unwilling 
  to mount a rescue, so either the characters will have to be 
  persuasive, or go themselves.
   
  patron encounter: have 
  fire trucK, Will travel
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  The players will be approached by a young, tough looking 
  woman who wants to book passage to a nearby world. 
  She says she has a grav vehicle that needs transporting. 
  The vehicle will take up 0 tons of cargo space, and she 
  will book middle passage for herself. If the characters have 
  no ship, they might be approached to help obtain suitable 
  transportation, as the young woman has no experience of 
  interstellar shipping.
  referee’S information:
  The	Kelventon	Volunteer	Firefighting	Company	has	become	
  a combination of a local drinking club, fraternity, paramedical 
  service, and town watch. With over 50 members it has 
  the very high esprit de corps, training and teamwork. The 
  company has managed to raise enough funds to purchase 
  a	surplus	Grav	fire/rescue	vehicle	from	a	nearby	higher	tech	
  planet. The young woman appointed herself to the task of 
  selecting a suitable vehicle and getting it home.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. All is as it appears, though the young woman will start 
  hitting on any available males in the crew once into Jump 
  space.	 She	 is	 bored	 with	 the	 “dull	 boys	 back	 home,	 who	
  never go anywhere”.
  3-4. Same as -2, except that her behavior will become more 
  and more erratic as the trip progresses, eventually leading 
  to her assaulting another passenger or a crew member, and 
  having	to	be	restrained.	Given	that	she	is	a	trained	firefighter	
  and	town	watch	member,	she	is	very	fit,	strong	and	quite	
  well trained. The characters should not get away without a 
  few bruises and black eyes. The young woman is having a 
  nervous breakdown due to stress, having realized how badly 
  out of her depth she is. She is particularly concerned that 
  the truck is not suitable and that she’s disgraced herself by 
  spending all that money on a white elephant.
  5-6. As in 3-4, except that her erratic behavior is actually one 
  of the early signs that the ship has misjumped. All of the 
  passengers and crew, in order of least traveled to most, will 
  exhibit some signs of aggression and paranoia. The most 
  experienced (3+ terms in a space based service) crew will 
  be the only sane ones until the ship exits Jump space. The 
  misjump direction and distance should be determined using 
  the	misjump	tables.	But	at	least	the	characters	have	a	fire	
  truck if they need one…
   
  
  - 5 -
  patron encounter: 
  patient tranSfer
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  Families on Khysale often run to 20+ members, all living in 
  one dwelling. Some of these families practice hydroponic 
  and carniculture farming, using local lichens, imported tissue 
  cloning tanks and greenhouses to supply most of the food 
  staples for outsiders miners whenever they feel threatened. 
  The characters are approached by the charismatic head of 
  one of the largest families, who asks them to take his gravely 
  ill daughter to the high tech hospitals on a higher-tech world 
  nearby. He will offer as payment a collection of rare medicinal 
  and hallucinogenic lichens native to Khysale. His eldest son, 
  a nervous yet earnest young man, will accompany the girl 
  on her journey.
  The girl is about 5, and is wonderfully charming. She is 
  clearly dying of a hereditary lung disease, yet she is patient 
  and kind, and has time for everyone. She seems to have 
  accepted her fate with remarkable stoicism, but occasionally 
  she collapses into tears for no real reason or goes into wild 
  rages at the unfairness of it all. Her brother is a little older 
  and	frankly	terrified	at	leaving	his	home,	but	determined	to	
  do what needs to be done.
  referee’S information:
  The people of Khysale are poor by anyone’s standards, 
  but they are proud, and approaching outsiders like this 
  is not easy for them. They genuinely think the herbs and 
  lichens they offer will be worth enough to pharmaceutical 
  companies	with	the	resources	to	refine	them	to	cover	the	trip	
  and treatment, and they will never forget the outsiders who 
  helped them out.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. All goes well, and the lichens are well received by the 
  local	scientific	drug	companies.	The	fees	they	offer	will	more	
  than pay for the passage and the girl’s treatment.
  3-4. The trip is uneventful, but the hallucinogenic lichens will 
  be	confiscated	by	customs	and	the	girl	will	have	to	go	into	
  a charity hospital unless the characters become involved in 
  getting her better treatment.
  5. The trip goes poorly and unless the girl is put into a low 
  berth, she will die before the ship exits Jump space. The 
  young man will become inconsolable and try to hurt the crew 
  and himself if not restrained. He will eventually have to be 
  returned to his family who will be sorrowful, yet thankful that 
  the characters tried to help.
  6. Same as 3, except that the family blames the characters 
  for their daughters death, which earns the characters 
  enemies for life.
   
  patron encounter: art 
  dealerS
  required SKillS: interperSonal
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  A seedy looking bar called the Jump Mobieus is the place 
  to	 find	 out	 what	 SDB	 crews	 can	 be	 bribed	 and	 where	 to	
  land illicit shipments so as to avoid detection. Information 
  is rumored to be available on at least 20 different systems. 
  The bar is owned by Santosh Pandipati, a small, dark, 
  constantly-smiling man, he is a Solomani political refugee 
  who has drifted very far with his small family, settling in this 
  out of the way place to avoid political problems at home.
  Inside, the decor seems to be made up of surplus ship 
  interior components. No name is visible on the outside of 
  the establishment but all the locals know where it is located. 
  Characters with naval architect or engineering experience 
  will be able to recognize at least 0 different types of starship 
  and	small	craft	interior	fittings	which	make	up	the	alcoves	and	
  booths that line the walls of the Jump Mobieus. Observant 
  characters will notice that conversations do not carry far out 
  of	the	alcoves.	The	middle	of	the	room	is	filled	with	tables	
  representing all the shapes in geometry. The far wall has a 
  metal bar with a holographic backdrop, which shimmers and 
  changes constantly, like a poorly tuned television. Any PC 
  with more than a couple of Jumps under his belt will realize 
  that	the	holo-screen	is	showing	a	film	loop	of	Jumpspace!	
  Staring at it too long while in the bar, especially after a 
  few drinks, will cause hallucinations and a sense of deep 
  unease.
  The owner approaches the characters will a deal. He has 
  acquired a number of art pieces of all sorts and sizes as 
  payment for bar tabs. He cannot leave the world but is willing 
  to sell them to the characters for a deep discount so he can 
  get some hard currency.
  referee’S information:
  Santosh has a lot of highly dubious starfarers passing 
  through his establishment, but he is not a crook himself. He 
  is also (unfortunately for him) not an art critic.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  -2. If the players buy the goods and then try to resell them 
  elsewhere	they	will	get	top	credit,	often	at	a	5	to	1	profit.
  3-4. As in -2, except that about 4 days after they begin 
  selling	the	art,	local	customs	will	descend	and	confiscate	the	
  art works remaining. It seems that all of these were reported 
  stolen from various shipments, including some from ships 
  that are missing, presumed lost. The characters will have to 
  do some fast talking or employ their administrative or legal 
  skill rolls to avoid being tried as thieves or perhaps even 
  pirates.
  
  - 52 -
  5-6. The art is mostly worthless, pawned off on the ignorant 
  innkeeper. He will not be receptive to characters who go back 
  to see him about the matter the purchase was speculative 
  after all…
   
  patron encounter: 
  Starport authoritY
  required SKillS: ShipBoard
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  The party is contacted by the highport authority as they 
  approach turnover for their arrival into orbit. Apparently the 
  starport has lost contact with a cutter carrying a high ranking 
  corporate individual who was making a tour of the mining 
  facilities on a moon of one of the outsystem planets. The 
  party is ‘requested’ to conduct a SAR (Search and Rescue) 
  operation for the cutter and render any needed assistance. 
  The highport does not currently have any vessels in orbit 
  able to conduct the SAR operations.
  The	official	is	the	Vice-CEO	of	Valance	Industries,	a	big	time	
  (in this system anyway) mining corporation. They mine both 
  the limited resources of the moons, and also the ocean depths 
  of	the	mainworld.	The	official	is	well	respected	and	liked	by	
  the populace, and he is said by many to be in the running for 
  the Governorship of the system in the next election. There 
  is a crew of 2 aboard the cutter, with 6 passengers including 
  the	official.
  As payment, the party is offered Cr,000 each for the safe 
  recovery and return of the crew and passengers, as well as 
  no tax or tariff on any goods the ship is bringing into or taking 
  from the system. All port fees and cargo handling fees will be 
  waived as well. If the cutter can be recovered, there will also 
  be a Cr3,000 bonus per rescuer.
  referee’S information:
  Time is of the essence in this situation. The cutter was on 
  the far side of the planet and in its sensor shadow, which 
  is the reason the highport cannot locate them. The mining 
  station hasn’t got sensors to brag about, either. The vessel 
  was damaged by an explosion in the aft section, leaving 
  engineering with a gaping hole to vacuum and a crew and 
  passengers barely protected by a door not meant to serve 
  as an airlock. To top it all off, the emergency battery has 
  only about a day of power left. The ship’s engineer, who was 
  luckily in the forward compartment during the explosion, has 
  shored up the door as well as possible. Air still leaks through 
  the seals though.
  If the PCs demand more than what is offered above, the 
  highport	officer	becomes	very	formal	and	reminds	the	PCs	
  of the interstellar articles requiring their vessel to assist the 
  authorities in any way possible and of the consequences of 
  legal action should they refuse.
  
  - 53 -
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1.	 The	 craft	 is	 easy	 to	 find,	 the	 emergency	 beacon	 is	
  functional	and	the	crew	are	fine.
  2.	 The	craft	is	easy	to	find	as	above,	however	the	craft	has	
  2D (2d6) hours until it crashes into the moon’s surface.
  3. As , however, there is a serious leak requiring the 
  survivors to use vacc suits. They have less than a day of air 
  remaining.
  4. The cutter was attacked and destroyed by pirates, 
  assassins or some other group, who are now sneaking away 
  with hostages.
  5. The cutter was attacked and the offending vessel is still 
  attempting to recover the survivors to use as hostages.
  6. The cutter was destroyed with no survivors.
   
  patron encounter: 
  valance induStrieS
  required SKillS: inveStiGative, 
  intruSion
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  While awaiting their own cargo to be on loaded, the PCs 
  are approached by a representative of Valance Industries 
  who says he has a job for them.  The man is well dressed 
  and appears to be what he says, up to and including a high 
  security	identification	badge,	which	will	be	produced	upon	
  demand. Over the last 8 months, he says, there has been a 
  profit	skimming	operation	going	on	at	the	shipyard,	resulting	
  in loss of nearly MCr3. Attempts to track the loss have been 
  yielding less than stellar results, mostly due to the fact that 
  the shipyard is run by what is essentially a clan of closely 
  related individuals. If asked how this one family came into 
  control of such a major operation, the travellers are told 
  “that’s	how	it’s	done	here”.	All	the	major	operations	on	the	
  planet are run by one clan or another and the families stick 
  together, which tends to hinder law enforcement at times.
  The PCs are offered a sum of Cr0,000 (total) to identify 
  the responsible parties and provide proof of the thefts, most 
  likely in the form of documents, and to keep their operation 
  “on	the	quiet”.	They	are	warned	to	not	take	any	action	against	
  the offenders, as law enforcement will quickly deal with them 
  as soon as proof is obtained.
  referee’S information:
  The family in question is a clan known by the surname Terell. 
  They have run a fairly honest operation in the past few 
  decades, and the problem has only started recently upon 
  the retirement of the old station manager. He was replaced 
  by an extremely ambitious young man, Connor Terell, who 
  happens to be a very greedy and power hungry man. He has 
  in the last year caused most of the supervisors of the station 
  to	“retire”	or	just	plain	quit	and	replaced	them	with	his	gang	
  of cronies, who are mostly his close relatives.
   
  The scheme is simple. When an ore shipment comes in 
  it goes into storage, and while it is there about .05 ton is 
  removed out of each ton and added into a new container, 
  combining the ore to make another slightly light container. 
  This container is sold at the same price and the Terell clan 
  keeps	the	profit,	while	smearing	Valance	Industries’	name	
  in the process. They do keep a log of the proceeds in the 
  station	manager’s	office	in	a	secure	safe,	and	also	a	copy	
  in	the	account	executive’s	office.	The	files	will	be	guarded	
  by high-tech security systems, including video recording 
  systems, motion sensors, and alarms integrated into the 
  doors and safe.
  
  - 54 -
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1.	 The	office	has	a	roving	patrol	checking	every	half	hour	
  and an alarm system set to go off if the safe is opened without 
  the correct key code.
  2. There is a guard on duty at the end of the hall as well as 
  an	alarm.		The	PCs	will	need	to	find	a	way	past	the	guard	
  without detection.
  3.	 The	 files	 are	 guarded	 by	 only	 the	 automated	 security	
  systems.
  4. The party learns that an additional copy of the logs exists. 
  It is in the possession of a mid-level manager who would be 
  willing	to	part	with	it	for	a	significant	bribe	and	the	offer	of	a	
  secure position with Valance Industries. However, the Terrell 
  clan also suspects its existence and will do whatever it takes 
  to prevent it being brought to light.
  5-6. As -2, the PCs are betrayed and security (consisting 
  of	2	officers	responding	within	5	minutes,	and	with	a	backup	
  team an additional 5 minutes away) is alerted within 5 
  minutes of the PCs attempt to retrieve the logs.
   
  patron encounter: 
  imperial aGent
  required SKillS: eSpionaGe
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The characters have several days’ stop over and last 
  night spent some time in the company of Kelis Puleton, a 
  vivacious and witty woman who works for the Port Authority. 
  There	may	have	been	some	playful	flirting	with	handsome,	
  unattached male characters, but nothing improper. This 
  morning the character (male or female) that Kelis got on best 
  with receives a package from a Kelis containing a storage 
  device and Cr00, with a note asking the character to deliver 
  the device to Petrov Annikii at the characters’ next port of 
  call.
  Shortly after the package arrives, the local police arrive to 
  question the characters in relation to the murder of Kelis 
  Puleton, as they were the last people seen with her alive…
  referee’S information:
  The computer storage is an innocuous private letter to an 
  old friend. It is also the code key to de-crypt a report to 
  Imperial Naval Intelligence (already sent by a different route) 
  from Kelis, who was an imperial agent. She had intercepted 
  communications between Solomani agents, representatives 
  of a dissident group and the local government about a deal 
  for a covert base in this system, funded by the Solomani and 
  giving this system exemption from raiding.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . Everything is as described, but Kelis’ shadowy double 
  life never comes to light. The characters are removed from 
  suspicion	and,	once	the	authorities	are	satisfied	that	there	
  is nothing of importance on the storage device, allowed to 
  complete the delivery. The characters may be curious as to 
  why Petrov Anniiki is so relieved to see them and why he 
  pays an additional Cr400 for Kelis’ letter.
  2-3. Kelis’ death was only tangentially related to her work as 
  a	spy.	She	was	murdered	in	a	fit	of	rage	by	a	rejected	lover;	
  an obsessive man who had taken to stalking Kelis and, after 
  discovering	some	of	her	secrets,	tried	to	convince	her	to	flee	
  with him. She refused and died in the subsequent struggle. 
  Although the local police will rapidly clear the characters (but 
  ask that they remain available), the murderer will become 
  convinced that the characters are working for Kelis’ off-world 
  masters and are responsible for driving the wedge between 
  them. He will stalk the characters, eventually attempting to 
  kill them.
  4. Actually, the local government supplied the information 
  to Kelis (unbeknownst to both the dissidents and Solomani). 
  Kelis was acting as bait to draw them out. Now the government 
  wants the characters to do the same but neglects to inform the 
  
  - 55 -
  characters they are contributing in the capacity of bait! They 
  simply draw the Solomani and dissident agents’ attentions to 
  the characters and then monitor the situation, hoping to be 
  able to intervene before there are too many casualties.
  5-6. The local government are hip deep in this. Once they 
  have established that the characters were not Kelis’ contact 
  in Naval Intelligence they will be sent on their way with a fake 
  duplicate of the message for Petrov Anniiki and shadowed 
  by agents working for the three conspiring powers.
   
  patron encounter: 
  reSpectaBle ScientiSt
  required SKillS: ShipBoard, 
  electronicS, mechanical
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The characters are approached by a senior research 
  administrator from a respected academic institution; either 
  local to the system or with a local presence. The institution 
  is engaged in a long term observation project and has a 
  facility directly over one of the poles of the stellar primary. 
  Communication is unreliable, but except in periods of high 
  stellar activity, is usually fairly frequent. Now there appears 
  to	be	a	problem:	there	has	been	no	communication	for	five	
  days and this morning the courier pilot was hospitalized 
  unexpectedly. This was unrelated to any problem that may 
  or may not exist at the station – it was a simple accident. 
  The researcher wants the characters to pilot the institution’s 
  specially	modified	supply	craft	out	to	the	facility	and	check	
  that all is well.
  referee’S information:
  The	 supply	 craft	 is	 a	 Ship’s	 Boat	 modified	 to	 allow	 safe	
  operations on repeated exposure to conditions close to the 
  star. It is armed as appropriate to local law level.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  1.	 The	research	team	is	fine,	although	recent	severe	stellar	
  activity has destroyed their communication equipment. 
  Character assistance with repairs will be much appreciated.
  2. The entire research team is dead as a result of violent 
  psychoses induced by hallucinogenic compounds in a 
  contaminated food shipment; similar to but more sever than 
  the condition Ergotism. The contractor responsible for the 
  food shipment will try to evade their responsibilities in the 
  matter.
  3-4. The facility has been severely damaged by an unusually 
  violent ejection of stellar coronal matter that overwhelmed 
  the station’s countermeasures. There are survivors trapped 
  in various parts of the facility and the whole station is adrift 
  and heading towards the star: the characters will have to 
  make	some	difficult	judgment	calls	to	rescue	the	survivors.
  5-6.	A	 crippled	 corsair	 ship	 misjumped	 from	 a	 losing	 fight	
  several systems away and emerged near the facility, where 
  upon the jump drive failed. The raiders have commandeered 
  the	facility	and	are	in	the	process	of	cannibalizing	it	to	fix	
  their ship. The supply craft would be a much better source of 
  parts…
   
  
  - 56 -
  patron encounter: 
  adventure School
  required SKillS: variouS
  required equipment: none
  plaYerS’ information:
  The characters are approached by a man who says he is 
  the representative of a trio of wealthy individuals who have 
  heard of the travellers’ exploits and want to recruit them 
  for their special skills. The job pays Cr,000 each up front 
  plus Cr00 per day for a couple of weeks, with reasonable 
  expenses for travel and accommodation thrown in.
  The three patrons are all parents, with a child rapidly 
  approaching an age where he or she will be off to start a 
  career. One plans to join the Imperial Navy, one to become 
  a	merchant	ship	officer	and	the	other	a	field	scientist.	These	
  occupations can all be dangerous, and the trio want to ensure 
  that their offspring are properly prepared for the hazards they 
  may encounter.
  The job is quite simple really: the adventurers will take the 
  kids (who have all just become adults) around the dives and 
  bars of the seedier parts of town to see how things work away 
  from the shiny-clean environment they are used to. They will 
  then take them hiking in the outback and show some basic 
  survival skills plus maybe how to shoot and brawl.
  The overall idea is to give the kids an idea how to survive 
  outside	their	normal	environment,	to	build	confidence	and	to	
  prepare them for their new careers in a way that college and 
  academy will not.
  referee’S information:
  Katriona	Duvalle	wants	to	be	a	merchant	officer	and	is	okay	
  with the whole scheme. She likes the seedy bars angle a 
  bit too much and starts talking about maybe working in free 
  traders rather than the big lines, but overall she is not too 
  much trouble.
  Mitchell Invarssiii wants to join the Imperial Navy and thinks 
  the whole business is stupid. He bitches, complains and 
  causes	 trouble	 as	 often	 as	 possible.	 Once	 he	 figures	 out	
  that the characters have to keep him safe (not long) he will 
  start	trying	to	pick	fights	with	people	they	meet.
  Garmrn	Ol’vourn	is	a	Vargr	who	wants	to	be	a	field	scientist.	
  He	 is	 chronically	 lacking	 in	 self-confidence	 as	 a	 result	 of	
  childhood bullying and feels that his place is at the bottom 
  of the pack. He is a likeable sort at heart but gives up easily, 
  then obviously expects bitter criticism or even blows. If he 
  can	be	just	urged	to	succeed	at	something	he	will	benefit	
  greatly.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . All is as it seems, and the characters only need to deal 
  with the problems caused by their young charges.
  2. Katriona decides to run off to join a Free Trader crew.
  3. All is as presented, but Mitchell decides to skip school 
  and disappears, necessitating a search for him.
  4. As 3 but Mitchell is kidnapped by someone he upset 
  earlier.
  5. Garmrn is in fact a manipulative sociopath who tries to 
  get others into trouble, and will endanger the group just for 
  fun, though in a subtle way.
  6. Mitchell disappears, Garmrn is a sociopath AND Katriona 
  decides to run off to join a Free Trader crew.
   
  
  - 57 -
  patron encounter: 
  retired Spacer
  required SKillS: ShipBoard SKillS, 
  electronicS, mechanical, vacc Suit
  required equipment: StarShip
  plaYerS’ information:
  Aabriini Miltorin is a retired spacer. He spent his entire adult 
  life plying the trade routes. He has a thousand tales from 
  a hundred seedy star-town bars and through them all run 
  threads of desperation and bitterness that he never got the 
  lucky break he deserved. But now it is his turn. Aabriini has 
  the co-ordinates of an unclaimed wreck of a type Y yacht, 
  ripe for salvage. It has not been claimed by anyone in the six 
  years	since	he	first	spotted	it.	Aabriini	wants	the	characters	
  to assist him in salvaging the wreck and will negotiate a fair 
  division	of	any	profits.
  referee’S information:
  The wreck is in a weird eccentric orbit, well clear of normal 
  shipping lanes: it is remarkable that Aabriini ever spotted 
  it and unsurprising that it has not been picked up since, 
  although Aabriini is glossing over the fact that its orbit will 
  take the wreck into the stellar primary soon.
  Reaching the wreck is challenging enough but once onboard 
  a grisly truth becomes apparent: there was a struggle on 
  board in which the ships systems were badly damaged. 
  The ship’s boat is not in its berth and a thorough search of 
  the	vessel	and	its	computer	files	will	show	that	there	were	
  six	 people	 on	 board	 when	 it	 left	 port;	 there	 are	 only	 five	
  corpses.
  reSolution: 1d (1d6)
  . The Yacht’s owner was the head of a major corporation, 
  now being run by the man who succeeded him after his 
  predecessor’s	“disappearance”	twelve	years	earlier.
  2. The Yacht’s owner was assassinated by a disgruntled 
  ex-employee masquerading as the steward on the ship. 
  Now he is impersonating his former boss as the executive of 
  the Corporation.
  3. As  but the assassin botched the job – although he and 
  the crew are all dead and the ship badly shot up, the owner 
  escaped in the ship’s boat (which the assassin crippled with 
  weapons	fire).	The	owner	is	adrift	somewhere	in	the	system,	
  in the boat’s emergency low berth module.
  4. The assassination was botched – although the target and 
  all witnesses were eliminated, the ship was shot to hell and 
  the assassin had no way off. He is still on board disguised 
  as the steward, in the emergency low berth the owner had 
  fitted.
  5-6.	As	2	but	the	ship’s	boat	was	destroyed	by	weapons	fire	
  from the yacht. The corporation was taken over and asset 
  stripped so no one will claim ownership from there. Aabriini 
  has	 finally	 got	 his	 break	 but	 this	 is	 such	 a	 shock	 that	 his	
  native paranoia overwhelms his good sense. He believes 
  the	characters	are	plotting	to	exclude	him	from	the	profits	
  and	 will	 attempt	 to	 both	 fix	 “his”	 prize	 and	 sabotage	 the	
  characters ship, whilst the both hurtle towards the star.
   
  
  - 58 -
  part 4: linked adventures
  amBer Zone: BinarY 
  SurveY
  Situation:
  The	players	find	themselves	on	a	mid	tech	planet	in	a	binary	
  system on the boarder of the Imperium without work and with 
  little apparent prospects. While the standard of living isn’t too 
  bad and Imperial Credits do go a long way they haven’t seen 
  a ship in port for weeks. They are approached by the local 
  head of Ling Standard Products (LSP) Enli Shiishuginsa 
  who would like to employ them to do a courtesy survey of the 
  binary star system. While it is known that the Scouts have 
  done a survey of the binary previously the information is not 
  available for reasons of Imperial security and thus LSP can’t 
  get their hands on it.
  It is known that there are a few planets in the binary system 
  and at least one of them is habitable with a substantial 
  population. To perform the survey Shiishuginsa is willing 
  to offer each of them Cr,000, bed and board for as long 
  as necessary, and middle passage outsystem on the next 
  LSP transport to come through. He can provide a ship’s 
  boat, some survey sensors, and as much life support as the 
  players could possibly want.
  If	the	players	accept	they	will	find	their	spacecraft	is	one	of	
  three aging ship’s boats to be found in a spaceport at the 
  back	of	the	LSP	ore	refinery.	The	spaceport	consists	of	a	
  landing	pad,	three	hangers	and	a	scrap	yard.	The	first	hanger	
  holds spare parts for ship’s boats and crates and crates full 
  of life support equipment. The second hanger holds the three 
  ship’s boats and maintenance equipment while the third 
  hanger	has	a	fuel	truck,	a	fire	truck,	administrative	offices	
  and what passes as a control tower. The scrap yard seems to 
  be a dumping ground for all manner of things. Shiishuginsa 
  explains that they started to collect old scrap from all over 
  the	planet	for	reprocessing	in	an	effort	to	make	the	refinery	
  profitable.	The	LSP	subsector	boss	refused	to	invest	in	the	
  necessary reprocessing equipment so the scheme never got 
  off the ground, and as such there is all manner of scrap in 
  the yard although it is mostly broken down ground cars.
  Shiishuginsa will show them the survey sensors and the 
  ship’s	boat	they	will	have	to	fit	them	to.	As	no	one	works	at	
  the spaceport any more he will give them the keys to the 
  whole place and tell them to make themselves at home. The 
  canteen	at	the	refinery	serves	the	local	fair	at	lunch	time	and	
  the PCs are allowed to eat there for nothing.
  While the PCs ship’s boat doesn’t look much it is in fact in 
  quite good shape for its age. Any half competent engineer 
  will see that the boat is in need of some maintenance. The 
  fuel system needs cleaning and the maneuver drive needs 
  calibrating in addition to the work necessary to mount the 
  survey sensors. The fuel system can be cleaned at the same 
  time	as	the	survey	sensors	are	fitted	and	the	maneuver	drive	
  can	be	calibrated	to	finish.
  
  - 59 -
  While there is indeed a large amount of life support equipment 
  it is all out of date by at least four months and the PCs will 
  need to sort through it to identify those supplies that are still 
  good for use.
  When the players are ready to start Shiishuginsa will ask 
  them to keep him updated on a regular basis with status and 
  survey results.
  reSolution:
  The reason for the survey is to make sure that there are 
  no economically accessible resources that can be extracted 
  that would justify LSP staying and continuing to operate their 
  refinery	in	the	system.
  The	refinery	was	set-up	over	a	century	ago	to	exploit	the	
  available mineral resources of the main world, but as the 
  government imposed more and more regulations on out-
  system	companies	LSP’s	profits	from	the	operation	slowly	
  moved	 into	 losses.	 Over	 the	 past	 10	 years	 the	 refinery	
  has been making a loss and there have been no other 
  opportunities available for the company to exploit. As such 
  they are cutting their losses and closing the plant and 
  effectively writing off their assets in this system.
  The survey is the last task that Shiishuginsa has to do before 
  he can head back to civilization to be reassigned. He is 
  hoping that the PCs will turn up nothing worth while so he can 
  close up quickly and catch the next LSP scheduled transport 
  back	to	the	Imperium.	The	players	can	find	out	much	of	this	
  information by chatting to the locals who are working as 
  caretakers	of	the	refinery	in	anticipation	of	it	shutting	down	
  completely. All the other off worlders have left.
  Travel to the binary system is uneventful, and the players 
  have 5 days of constant operations until their fuel runs out. 
  The Binary star is no longer than 4 days out at full maneuver. 
  The players can start a basic survey of the binary system 
  on the way there and still have at least 7 days on station to 
  conduct more detailed ones.
  The binary system has a large planet with a moon, a 
  balkanized habitable planet at TL3, and a rockball. The 
  players can allocate their time between the planets as they 
  wish,	but	won’t	be	able	to	find	anything	that	can	be	exploited	
  by LSP in a short timescale.
  If the players keep Shiishuginsa updated as asked then when 
  they	have	finished	their	survey	and	start	heading	back	they	
  will receive a message informing them that their payment 
  has been put in the safe of the administrative buildings of 
  the spaceport, the combination to which is in the data packet 
  of	the	message,	the	refinery	has	been	closed,	and	that	he	
  is heading out system tomorrow on the LSP courier that 
  is currently in port. This will leave the players effectively 
  stranded in the system at least until the next LSP ship comes 
  through,	and	with	the	refinery	closed	that	could	well	be	a	
  long time. If the players take issue with this Shiishuginsa, in 
  consideration of leaving them stranded, will pass the title of 
  the spaceport and its contents over to the players thus giving 
  them a place to stay and a means to earn a living.
   
  
  - 60 -
  amBer Zone: BinarY 
  reScue
  Situation:
  The	players	find	them	selves	out	of	work	on	a	mid	tech	planet	
  on	 the	 border	 of	 the	 Imperium:	 see	Amber	 Zone:	 “Binary	
  Survey”, and they seem to be quite an attraction as they 
  were passengers on the second ship through this month! 
  They are approached by the local head of Ling Standard 
  Products (LSP) Enli Shiishuginsa who would like to employ 
  them to rescue a lost survey team.
  Shiishuginsa wants the PCs to go looking for the survey 
  team because they haven’t reported in for the last two 
  weeks. He is worried about their safety, and would like the 
  information they gained while undertaking the survey. He’s 
  only interested in the people and the survey, anything else 
  the	 PCs	 find	 is	 theirs,	 although	 he	 suspects	 there	 will	 be	
  nothing else of interest.
  The team that Shiishuginsa hired was a bunch of freelancers, 
  much like the PCs, and they were sent out in a ship’s boat 
  with additional survey sensors installed. Shiishuginsa will 
  offer each party member Cr,000, bed, board, and middle 
  passage outsystem on the next LSP transport to come 
  through	if	they	find	and	return	the	survey	crew	and	/or	the	
  survey data.
  To get them to the binary system the PCs can use one of the 
  two old and dilapidated ship’s boats that are around the back 
  of	the	LSP	refinery	in	an	old	and	seemingly	disused	spaceport.	
  The three hangers of the spaceport hold the ship’s boats 
  and maintenance equipment, life support supplies and spare 
  parts	while	the	third	houses	the	fuel	and	fire	truck	and	has	
  administrative	offices	and	a	control	tower.	The	administrative	
  offices	show	signs	of	recent	although	messy	occupation,	in	
  fact the quarter’s area has some of the belongings of the 
  freelance survey team in lockers. The players have the run of 
  the spaceport as no one now works there and Shiishuginsa 
  gives them a book of 56 meal vouchers that are valid in the 
  Starport	café	as	he	says	that	apart	from	his	admin	offices	all	
  the LSP operations have been shut down and the workers 
  given their severance pay.
  Although the boats look bad they are actually in not too bad 
  nick, considering their age and TL. A systems check will 
  indicate which one is in the best shape. Further test of the 
  best boat will show that the computers are good as well as the 
  avionics and sensors. The radio has a habit of just stopping 
  for a second or two during transmission, and the inertial 
  compensator’s primary control connection is shot and needs 
  replacing although the back-up connection looks good. The 
  drives and powerplant look ok although they could use a few 
  man days to be cleaned up and serviced. The fuel tankage 
  and supply systems seem to function well but it doesn’t look 
  like they have been cleaned in quite a while. Cleaning the 
  fuel systems is a particularly messy job but can be done 
  in parallel with the other maintenance work. All the parts 
  needed are in the warehouse with the life support supplies 
  although the players will be taking the last of them. In all if 
  the party have a competent engineer they should be able to 
  have the ship’s boat up and running in a good spaceworthy 
  shape,	if	a	little	shabby	looking,	in	five	days.
  Along with the parts the warehouse does indeed have 
  life support supplies and lots of them, years worth in fact, 
  however they are all out of date by at least 4 months and 
  some of them by much longer. The PCs will have to go 
  through	them	individually	to	find	out	if	they	are	any	good	to	
  use.
  Interacting with the Starport personal will allow the players 
  to	learn	the	recent	history	and	the	fact	that	the	LSP	refinery	
  has just been closed down and Enli Shiishuginsa is itching 
  to get out system.
  Once the ship’s boat is ready for launch Shiishuginsa will 
  give the PCs the last known positions of the survey team 
  from there communications and ask that they keep him 
  informed on a regular basis.
  reSolution:
  In practice the Shiishuginsa isn’t at all worried about the 
  freelancers, but he wants to get his hands on the survey 
  data because if it shows nothing he can get out of this god 
  forsaken system and back to civilization. He knows that the 
  freelancers	 finished	 their	 survey	 even	 though	 they	 didn’t	
  transmit it, but he doesn’t know where they are.
  The communications from the survey team will show that 
  they visited all the planets in the binary, but left the habitable 
  one until last and following two days on station vanished.
  Traveling to the binary system should take no longer than 
  4 days at maximum G, and should be very boring and 
  uneventful. With 5 days of fuel for constant operations the 
  players will have at least seven days on station in order to 
  find	the	survey	team.
  When they arrive at the habitable planet there should be little 
  trouble	in	finding	the	survey	teams	ship’s	boat	if	they	do	a	
  scan. The boat has crashed in a rather inaccessible position, 
  and	there	seems	to	be	a	large	forest	fire	following	its	likely	
  final	flight	path.
  The	forest	fire	straddles	the	boarder	of	two	rival	TL3	states	on	
  the planet, and as the crash went undetected by them each 
  is	blaming	the	other	for	starting	it.	The	fire	is	slowly	burning	
  itself out due to the geography of the region and both sides 
  have	sent	patrols	to	see	if	they	can	find	the	cause.
  There have been a number of boarder incidents recently as 
  tensions	have	heightened	due	to	the	fire	damaging	farms	
  and villages on both sides of the boarder.
  
  - 6 -
  When	the	PCs	land	to	look	over	the	crashed	boat	they	will	find	
  it remarkably intact. Once inside however they will discover 
  that none of the crew survived. There will be little portable 
  salvage although it could well be possible to salvage the 
  ship’s boat itself. Restoring power to the ship’s computer will 
  show	that	while	finishing	the	survey	of	this	planet	the	ship’s	
  boat lost maneuver drive and was forced to land by entering 
  the planetary atmosphere where the pilot did a very good 
  job of reducing the speed of the boat enough in order for the 
  crew to have a good chance of surviving the crash, although 
  had little choice but to land in the forest. The crew all died 
  when	the	inertial	compensators	failed	on	the	first	bounce.	
  They then subsequently engaged on the second bounce, 
  however by that time all the crew and much of the portable 
  equipment was trashed.
  While the players are extracting the survey data from the 
  boat’s computer two nine men squads of soldiers one 
  from each state arrive at the crash site and spot the two 
  ship’s boats and the PCs, and while they are interested in 
  the crash site they are more interested in shooting at each 
  other.	Unless	the	players	have	posted	a	guard	the	first	they	
  are likely to know about the soldiers is from an exchange of 
  a	volley	or	two	of	musket	fire.	If	the	PCs	engage	either	or	
  both of the squads their advanced TL weapons are likely to 
  be	more	than	a	match	for	the	flint	lock	musket	and	bayonet	
  armed	squads	who	will	retreat	if	they	start	to	take	significant	
  casualties.
  If the players keep their patron updated as asked then when 
  they	have	finished	retrieving	the	survey	data	Shiishuginsa	
  will ask the PCs to transmit the data as soon as they start 
  to make their way back to the main world. If they do they 
  will receive a message from Shiishuginsa letting them know 
  that their payment has been locked in the safe of the admin 
  section of the spaceport, the combination is attached to the 
  message, and that he will be leaving by LSP courier tomorrow 
  morning and he thanks them for a job well done. If the players 
  realize that LSP may not be sending another ship through 
  the system for a considerable time, due to the closure of 
  the	refinery,	and	they	take	issue	with	being	stranded,	then	
  Shiishuginsa will pass the title of the spaceport and its 
  contents over to the players. This will give them at least a 
  place to stay and a means to earn a living.
   
  amBer Zone: BinarY 
  runninG
  Situation:
  The players have found themselves on a mid tech planet 
  in a binary system on the boarders of the Imperium without 
  work and with little apparent prospects. Their saving grace is 
  that they have been passed title to an ex LSP spaceport by 
  the side of the main Starport and the contents therein; see 
  Amber	Zones	“Binary	Survey”	and	“Binary	Rescue”.
  Their only apparent prospect of income was following 
  enquiries at the Starport where the administration is happy 
  to	 purchase	 refined	 or	 unrefined	 fuel	 from	 the	 players	 at	
  either Cr00 or Cr20 (Imperial) per ton respectively.
  The spaceport has a landing pad, a scrap yard and three 
  hangers.	The	first	hanger	contains	life	support	supplies	and	
  a couple of spare parts, the second has two ageing ship’s 
  boats and maintenance equipment, and the third holds a fuel 
  truck,	a	fire	truck,	administrative	offices	and	what	passes	for	
  a control tower.
  One of the ship’s boats is in quite a spaceworthy condition 
  despite its age and TL. The second boat has had fuel scoops 
  and	a	purification	plant	installed	and	could	use	some	work	
  to make it operational. Systems checks will show that the 
  drives,	powerplant,	scoops	and	purifiers	on	the	second	ship’s	
  boat look ok, although they could use a few man days to be 
  cleaned up and serviced, the fuel system leaks and needs 
  cleaning, one of the backup computers needs replacing, 
  and the engineering bridge station needs its control boards 
  replaced and reconnected. Cleaning the fuel system is 
  messy and does not need any spare parts to perform, but is 
  necessary to pin down where the system is leaking. The only 
  spare parts in the hanger are those needed to connect the 
  engineering bridge station properly. 
  There	 are	 years	 worth	 of	 life	 support	 supplies	 in	 the	 first	
  hanger however all of them are at least four months out of 
  date while some are much older. The players will have to 
  inspect them individually to be able to be certain that they will 
  all perform as necessary to pilot the ship’s boats in space. 
  There	is	enough	fuel	in	the	truck	to	fill	the	tanks	of	a	ship’s	
  boat once.
  The scrap yard seems to be a dumping ground for all manner 
  of things, mostly broken down wheeled vehicles, however 
  there does seem to be other more interesting objects that 
  the PCs may be able to use. If the PCs are diligent in their 
  searches	they	will	find,	under	a	heap	of	old	cars,	an	aged	
  ship’s boat that is mostly just a shell. The bridge of the 
  derelict is mostly intact and it will be possible to salvage 
  a few working parts along with a functioning engineering 
  bridge control board.
  
  - 62 -
  The players also know of a ship’s boat that crashed landed 
  on the habitable planet of the binary system. This boat is 
  remarkably intact with a known functioning fuel and computer 
  system.
  reSolution:
  Traveling to the binary system should take no longer than 4 
  days at maximum G, and should be uneventful. The players 
  have 5 days of fuel for constant operations of the ship’s 
  boat in space in which to get to and from the binary system 
  and salvage any parts they need from the crash site.
  The habitable planet in the binary system has a number 
  of TL3 states and the ship’s boat crashed on the boarder 
  between two of them. Tensions between the states have 
  been	growing	for	a	while	and	a	recent	forest	fire	has	caused	
  them to rise to boiling point. Each of the states has accused 
  the	other	of	starting	the	fire	that	has	caused	damage	to	farms	
  and villages on both sides of the boarder. There have been a 
  number of skirmishes due to the tensions but now both sides 
  are mobilizing and recruiting for what looks likely to end in 
  full scale war.
  When	the	players	arrive	at	the	crash	site	they	will	find	that	
  a platoon of troops from one of the states has secured the 
  ships boat and is defending the position against a platoon 
  of their enemy. In order for the PCs to gain access to the 
  ship’s boat and salvage any equipment they will have to 
  approach one side and negotiate terms. The PCs advanced 
  weapons	will	be	very	useful	in	a	conflict	that	is	conducted	
  using	flintlock	muskets,	bayonets	and	swords,	and	will	easily	
  be the force multiplier that is needed to win the skirmish for 
  which ever side the PCs choose.
  The	 platoon	 officer	 of	 the	 winning	 side	 will	 be	 greatly	
  interested in the player’s weaponry and in the possibility of 
  gaining more of it. As parts from the ship’s boat are salvaged 
  she	will	dispatch	a	runner	to	her	commanding	officer	with	
  a message informing him of what has happened. Within a 
  couple	of	days	and	before	the	PCs	can	finish	extracting	the	
  parts they need a Colonel will approach the PCs and ask 
  about their weaponry. Following discussions with the players 
  the Colonel will ask them if they can buy some and then 
  ship them back here. If the players are happy to discuss this 
  further the Colonel will escort the PCs, using their boat, to 
  the capital of the state.
  At the capital the players will meet the Minister for War who, 
  after discussions and demonstrations, will ask the players 
  to provide them with higher tech weapons. Although the 
  state does not have any Imperial Credits with which to buy 
  the weapons they do have goods which could be traded, 
  and will allow the PCs to take 5% of the sale price of the 
  goods for themselves. The goods they have in quantity are 
  Textiles, Wood, Grain, Meet and Fruit. The players will be 
  able to radio the main world to see the best price that they 
  can get for the goods.
  Once back at the main world selling the goods shouldn’t prove 
  to	be	too	difficult,	however	purchasing	fire	arms	in	quantity	
  may prove harder. There are two weapons shops that the 
  PCs can go to that sport a variety of weaponry that would 
  be useful, however there are none in the quantity that would 
  make	a	significant	difference	to	the	impending	war,	although	
  picking	up	a	couple	of	sniper	rifles	may	be	beneficial.	The	
  shop keepers say that any type of volume sale would have 
  to be arranged from offworld, and the only people with any 
  type of volume on planet would be the Army. Initial enquiries 
  to	the	Army	will	be	rebuffed.	The	local	firearm	manufacture	
  will	not	be	able	to	fill	an	order	for	three	months	because	they	
  are	currently	flat	out	upgrading	the	Army	with	their	new	rifles.	
  Utilizing any underworld connections will indeed turn up a 
  number of available weapons although there will be none of 
  sufficient	quantity	the	same	to	be	of	any	use,	those	available	
  should be at the discretion of the Referee.
  The	Army	is	updating	their	main	rifle,	and	the	existing	rifle	is	
  being passed down to the cadet forces. The existing cadet 
  forces	rifles	are	being	assigned	for	destruction	along	with	
  there stockpiles of ammunition. If the PCs can work this out 
  or hear of this possibility then they may be able to purchase 
  these from the cadet force quartermasters at very reasonable 
  rates. The guns in question are leaver action breach loading 
  .45	 caliber	 single	 shot	 rifles,	 and	 the	 ammo	 is	 full	 bronze	
  cased black powder cartridges (TL4). At present the cadet 
  quartermaster	 has	 500	 rifles	 (2	 tons)	 and	 will	 sell	 then	 at	
  Cr50	each	either	for	250	rifles	(1	ton)	@	Cr12,500	or	500	
  rifles	(2	tons)	@	Cr24,000.	He	also	has	200,000	rounds	of	
  ammunition (4 tons) that he will throw in for Cr,000 per 
  ton.	If	the	PCs	don’t	purchase	these	rifles	the	quartermaster	
  will have to pay for them to be destroyed so there is some 
  significant	 leeway	 to	 negotiate	 the	 cost	 if	 the	 referee	 so	
  wishes.
  If	the	PCs	deliver	the	rifles	in	a	timely	manner	they	will	be	
  rewarded by the Minister of War with 2 tons of wood.
   
   
  
  - 63 -
  amBer Zone: BinarY 
  ticKet
  Situation:
  The players have found themselves on a mid tech planet in 
  a binary system on the boarders of the Imperium. They have 
  managed to acquire an ex LSP spaceport by the side of the 
  main	Starport,	see	Amber	Zones:	“Binary	Survey”,	“Binary	
  Rescue”	and	“Binary	Running”,	along	with	contacts	in	the	
  government of a TL3 state on the habitable planet in the 
  binary system.
  The spaceport has a landing pad, a scrap yard and three 
  hangers.	The	first	hanger	contains	life	support	supplies	and	
  quite an extensive range of spare parts for ship’s boats, the 
  second has two ageing ship’s boats, one of which has fuel 
  scoops	and	purifiers	installed,	and	maintenance	equipment,	
  and	the	third	holds	a	fuel	truck,	a	fire	truck,	administrative	
  offices	and	what	passes	for	a	control	tower.
  Although they are not much to look at both the ship’s boats 
  are in good spaceworthy condition and seem to be quite 
  robust given their age and TL. There are years worth of life 
  support	 supplies	 in	 the	 first	 hanger.	 All	 of	 them	 however	
  are at least four months out of date while the majority of 
  them are much older. The players will have to inspect them 
  individually for suitability for use while the ship’s boats are 
  in space. In date life support supplies are available from the 
  Starport if the players wish to purchase them. Both the fuel 
  truck	and	fire	trucks	are	in	ok	condition	although	they	could	
  both use a good service.
  The options for employment have quickly become exhausted 
  and while they players are quite comfortable at the moment 
  having nothing to do can quickly get boring.
  The PCs are contacted by the State government of the 
  habitable planet in the binary system. The State has just 
  gained	500	TL4	leaver	action	breach	loading	rifles	and	they	
  would like the players to form a small carder unit to teach 
  tactics in the use of the new weaponry to the newly equipped 
  half infantry battalion. While the State government has no 
  Imperial Credits for payment they do have 0 tons of wood 
  to offer, and will provide bed and board for the period of the 
  training, which they expect to last about a month.
  reSolution:
  The 400 man unit that the PCs will be training are experienced 
  soldiers that the State has pulled together from all of their 
  units, and as such the PCs will not need to teach them how 
  to be soldiers they will just need to teach them the tactics 
  involved in using the TL4 weapons over those of the TL3 
  muskets	they	are	used	to	using.	The	TL4	rifles	are	far	more	
  accurate,	with	a	far	greater	range,	and	they	can	fire	two	or	
  three more aimed rounds a minute.
  The reason for the training of the new unit is because the 
  tensions between the state and its neighbor have been 
  steadily	 rising	 due	 to	 a	 forest	 fire	 that	 burned	 along	 the	
  boarder and destroyed many farms and villages on both 
  sides.	Each	state	blamed	the	other	for	starting	the	fire	and	
  there have been a number of skirmishes and cross boarder 
  incidents that seem to be quickly building into a full blown 
  war. The state government is hoping that their new unit will 
  be enough to be a decisive element in a short and successful 
  war.
  While the PCs are starting to train the new unit the war begins 
  in earnest as the opposition pushes across the boarder in a 
  number of places. Due to their most experienced soldiers 
  having been removed from the front line units to form the 
  one the PCs are training initial losses seem to be quite 
  severe with ground being lost against the attack. The state 
  government contacts the PCs to inform them that they will 
  need to deploy their unit into the front line.
  Each side in the war has roughly the same size of army, 
  including:
   
   guard infantry division (Veteran TL3)
   
  2 infantry select divisions (Experienced TL3)
   
   cavalry select divisions (Experienced TL3)
   
  3 infantry conscript divisions (Novice TL3)
  When the unit is deployed the state government is willing to 
  allow the PCs to advise in tactical and strategic decisions in 
  the war due to their knowledge if the PCs are willing to move 
  soldiers and supplies around the war zone in their Ship’s 
  Boat.
  If the PCs unit has a number of successes they will be called 
  on to participate even more. The PCs will have to manage 
  the logistics of the unit well as there is only a limited supply 
  of	rifles,	ammunition	and	those	that	are	trained	in	there	use.	
  At the discretion of the Referee it may be possible to obtain 
  more	rifles	and	ammunition	from	the	main	world	of	the	system	
  (in	the	same	quantities	as	those	in	“Binary	Running”).
  The use of the small TL4 unit and the Ship’s Boats for 
  logistics should be enough to tip the balance of the war 
  in favor of the players side, it will also be possible for the 
  PCs to get involved themselves as their individual high tech 
  weapons will have a distinct advantage in skirmishes or as 
  supporting weapons in the battles for their TL4 unit. If the 
  PCs	managed	to	make	a	significant	contribution	to	the	war	
  effort then the State Government will pay a bonus of an extra 
  0 tons of wood.
   
  
  - 64 -
  amBer Zone: BinarY 
  proGreSS
  Situation:
  The	 PCs	 find	 them	 selves	 on	 a	 habitable	 planet	 orbiting	
  the binary star of a mid tech system on the boarders of the 
  Imperium. They have managed to obtain title to an ex LSP 
  spaceport on the mainworld along with two Ship’s Boats (see 
  Amber	 Zones:	 “Binary	 Survey”,	 “Binary	 Rescue”,	 “Binary	
  Running”,	and	“Binary	Ticket”).	The	planet	has	recently	been	
  involved in a short but decisive war where the government 
  that the PCs have connections with managed to conquer 
  their rival.
  The victorious government is currently disarming and 
  disbanding the opposition’s army and navy and have 
  come across an opportunity that they would like the PCs to 
  investigate for possibilities for progression.
  While taking over the infrastructure of the losing side the 
  government came across a munitions factory that seemed to 
  be on the verge of being able to produce TL4 leaver action 
  breach	loading	rifles,	similar	to	those	that	have	just	enabled	
  them to win the recent war. They would like the PCs to see 
  if	it	is	possible	to	start	production	of	the	new	rifles	in	order	to	
  upgrade the arms of their soldiers.
  The	 State	 government	 has	 also	 seen	 the	 benefit	 of	 trade	
  with the mainworld of the system and would like to see if 
  they	can	profit	from	it	further.	They	would	like	the	PCs	to	
  survey their territory to see if there is a suitable site that they 
  can use for a spaceport.
  While they don’t have any Imperial Credits to pay the players 
  with they do have an abundance of raw materials with which 
  to provide payment. The PCs are offered a cargo of, wood, 
  textiles, grain, fruit, or meat that they can in turn sell at the 
  mainworld.
  reSolution:
  While the PCs can set up the production line in the munitions 
  factory, and instigate more advanced business practices the 
  main problem with getting the factory up and running will be 
  finding	and	stopping	a	saboteur	who	does	not	like	the	idea	
  of	arming	“the	enemy”.	The	players	will	have	to	deal	with	
  a work force who are generally obstructive and will not be 
  forthcoming with information about who might be undertaking 
  the vandalism. While the workforce might be obstructive they 
  are unlikely to want to lose their jobs as there is likely to be 
  some economic upheaval as a result of the war.
  To conduct the survey for the spaceport the PCs will need to 
  fly	over	the	available	land	in	their	Ships	Boat	at	a	relatively	
  low altitude in order for their sensors to obtain the resolution 
  that is necessary. This will need good piloting skills to do 
  quickly.	As	there	are	no	other	known	space	craft	or	flying	
  vehicles on the planet the pilot need not worry about them, 
  although mountains, hills, or trees may get in their way, bird 
  strikes and pot shots at the ships boat will probably not be 
  too much of an issue.
  The best place for the new spaceport will be in an area 
  that is a considerable way from the capital and there will 
  need to be a substantial amount of work in order to make a 
  good road to get to it before they can even start to build the 
  spaceport. The new road passes through an area that is now 
  considered to be bandit country as there are a number of 
  groups of soldiers on the defeated side who are using gorilla 
  tactics in an effort to continue the war.
  There is an alternative site that is less than ideal that can be 
  proposed to the government, but this will take at least three 
  times as long to build than the preferred site.
  It will be necessary for the PCs to clear one or two of these 
  groups in order for the road crew to continue to do their 
  work.	The	soldiers	will	be	armed	with	TL3	flint	lock	muskets,	
  rifles	 and	 pistols,	 but	 without	 any	 main	 support	 weapons.	
  They	 fight	 in	 skirmish	 order	 and	 will	 not	 conduct	 direct	
  frontal assaults. These groups see themselves as soldiers, 
  not	bandits,	fighting	a	war	for	a	right	and	just	cause.	They	
  will practice proper military discipline, the rules of war and 
  POW	procedures.	If	the	groups	find	they	can’t	stand	up	to	
  the players they will hide out in the forest and will need to be 
  found, tracked and eliminated. Instead of elimination it may 
  be possible for these groups to be enrolled into the army 
  as units if the PCs can persuade the government and the 
  groups can be found assignments that will not encourage 
  them	to	question	why	they	joined	“the	enemy”.	This	example	
  could then be used as a model for integration as opposed to 
  oppression.
  Having dealt with any opposition the PCs will need to 
  overcome any number of natural obstacles to enable the 
  spaceport to be built. Tree clearing and rock moving might 
  be necessary and also dealing with any number of predators 
  that may be in the region.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Traveller/Traveller d20/CSRT0033 Special Supplement 5 - Short Adventures.pdf