Previously, on the Aslan Route... Escaping the wreck of the Deepnight Endeavour, the Macavity finds herself in the Zuflucht system, on the extreme edge of the Islands Cluster. While her cargo of emergency low berths is unloaded, the local Imperial officials (such as they are) invite the crew aboard their orbital station to debrief them on recent events...
The next few posts contain spoilers for Great Rift Adventure 1: Islands in the Rift, but as it was published in 2018 I won't hold back.
Zuflucht, 1108 Weeks 43-44
The Macavity's crew are met at the airlock by a woman in Scout Service uniform and a (non-regulation) headscarf, who Mazun knows as Sunita Hamed; he remembers her from his deep cover training in the Covert Survey Bureau, always reliable and polite, and – if he remembers correctly – unusually religious for a citizen of the Imperium, who are by and large a secular lot. They were in the same group of trainees, but ordered off in different directions.
“Mazun,” she smiles, “Good to see you again! What are you doing this far out in the Rift?” And to the others, as an explanation: “We knew each other on Batav! What are the odds? Once we’ve finished the debrief, I hope we can catch up socially.” Mazun notes she carefully doesn’t specify exactly how they knew each other, leaving that open for whatever story they concoct between them.
She addresses the crew more formally, with Mazun translating for Kharrash, who stands blinking dumbly throughout.
“I’m afraid this will take some time, we’re short-handed so I need to do all the interviews myself. Let me reassure you, you’re not under any suspicion of wrongdoing, but… well, when you turn up with this many survivors in low berths and you say some of them have some kind of unknown disease, we need to give you a complete physical and do some detailed interviews. Debriefing you will take a few days. There are reports to make, statements to clarify, and the ship’s logs will need to be looked over. Then, you should expect a second round of interviews to answer any supplemental questions.”
“I’ll start with Captain Ashran, and his interview is likely to be the longest; I tell you that so you won’t think anything is wrong because of that.” She gestures around her.
“As you can see, this is a small station; officially we’re a naval base, but actually we have one docking berth and a dozen or so people, mostly Navy men, but with myself and another Scout as cultural liaison. I must ask you to stay on the station while we work through the formalities, after that you’ll be free to go.”
Once Mazun’s debriefing is over, Hamed opens up a new discussion with him in private; she needs help.
She explains that the Islands Cluster is important because it is one of the main crossing points for the Great Rift; trouble here could cause undesirable delays to Imperial communications. So, the Imperium maintains intelligence assets in the region. One such asset is the Perfect Stranger, a Far Trader like the Macavity, crewed by a mixture of undercover Navy and Scout personnel; like the Macavity, her mission is to embed herself in the local culture and observe, gathering raw data, analysing it, and sending it back to the Imperium. None of this is illegal, as such; but it must have trodden on someone’s toes.
A few months ago, two members of the crew arrived on Zuflucht. They were dead, apparently shot by a laser weapon. The bodies were shipped in low berths aboard a civilian vessel transiting the Rift; there were no personal effects, and the documentation simply gives their names and the point of origin: Amondiage.
Hamed sighs.
“I’m afraid I’m transferring your activation under Scout Service Directive 119 section 12.” She goes on to outline the mission:
- The primary objective is to take possession of the Perfect Stranger and return her to Zuflucht with her data cores intact. If absolutely necessary, the ship is expendable, but the data cores are not.
- The secondary objective is to discover the fate of the crew and render assistance if possible, but this must not be allowed to compromise the primary objective.
- Mazun will be given paperwork proving that he is entitled to take possession of the ship, as well as passcodes and so forth, including those for a line of credit with the government of Amondiage – using this will clearly signal to Amondiage that he is connected with the Imperium, and abusing it will eventually result in it being withdrawn. It is monitored.
- Operating expenses will be paid, and there is a sizeable payment for each crew member on successful completion of the mission.
- There is a spare collapsible fuel tank for the Perfect Stranger at Zuflucht, which as it was designed for a ship of the same class, will fit the Macavity. This will be needed for the jump from Zuflucht to Gloire, and the extra range will be useful in the Cluster.
- At the end of the mission, Hamed can arrange for the Macavity to be transported back to the Imperium, or the crew can stay in the Islands if they prefer – she can find work for them. Meanwhile, she will send messages to anyone they need to explain their absence to.
“Now then,” she says, “What are we going to tell your crew, so that I can back you up?”
GM Notes
No session last Saturday because it was Valentine's Day; some of us are married, and would like to stay that way. So rather then spend half the next session on an info dump, I wrote an introduction (above) and a handout summarising the Islands Cluster (not shown) and circulated that to give the players something to mull over during the break.
The group's last adventure was Great Rift Adventure 2: Deepnight Endeavour. This is Great Rift Adventure 1: Islands in the Rift, which has merit, but won’t occupy them for more than a few sessions. In the adventure as written, the Perfect Stranger is a Type R subbie, but another Far Trader works better for this campaign.
Putting the handout together revealed that the Traveller Wiki is diverging from Charted Space as I know it, and the Islands Cluster canon (Classic Traveller Adventure 5 and Mongoose Great Rift Adventure 1) as previously published. I'm starting to think I'd be better off with another setting, the Official Traveller Universe is starting to make me feel cramped and constrained.
Still, that's a decision I don't need to take for a year or two yet.
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