			    TRAVELLER Digest 422

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) RICE Paper #SM-1537:  Mertactor, Version 1.2 (Final)
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  2) Re: TRAVELLER digest 421
	by toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
  3) 
	by toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
  4) question.
	by toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
  5) question.
	by toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
  6) Dark Century Campaign - Section I - Part 2 of 2
	by "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
  7) Re: TRAVELLER digest 421
	by Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
  8) Apology
	by Ted7@world.std.com (Mitchell K Schwartz)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 17:08:03 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RICE Paper #SM-1537:  Mertactor, Version 1.2 (Final)
Message-ID: <05f5b920@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     At long last, my final version of the Mertactor System RICE paper!
     
     
     
     Mertactor (Plankwell:  Spinward Marches/1537) B262732-B  S   Cp      
     610 RE G1 V
     G=0.26, Day=25:39:30.5, Year = 724d 20:36:54.14 Atmo=1.3, No Weather 
     Control
     Temp= +20.7 (4/lat +12 to -28) (season +12.42 to -43.0, 5.5 deg lat) 
     Daily temp range 18.2
     Agricultural; Agroproducts; Weapons; Artforms 
     Progressive/Enterprising, Competitive/Neutral, Discordant/Friendly 
     Legal:  2-20544     Tech  BA-BBBBB-BBBB-BB-D
     
     On the fringes of Regency space in the Spinward Marches lies 
     Mertactor, a nexus for mercantile activity.
     
     As a planet on the frontier, Mertactor is known for its free 
     spiritedness and lawlessness.  Felons fleeing the authority of the 
     Regency Navy, RQS and/or bounty hunters frequently stop off at 
     Mertactor on their way to the independent worlds and client states 
     spinward and rimward of the Regency.  Merchants carrying illegal goods 
     find Mertactor to be the ideal port to sell their wares.  For the 
     disenfranchised, disillusioned and disingenuous, Mertactor is the last 
     port on a journey to the outlands of unincorporated space.
     
     The first colonists set foot on the system mainworld's terra firma in 
     the early 300s.  The majority of lots had been purchased by Moran 
     interests, which, under pressure from the Moran government, designated 
     Mertactor (then known as 567-910) as a population overflow world.  
     Consequently, Mora issued the Relocation Initiative of 324.  The 
     initiative was not looked well upon by the displaced colonists or the 
     small band of colonists already on 567-910.  Although Mora publicly 
     used "population relief" as their motive for the deportation, the 
     deportees included an inordinate number of religious dissidents, 
     ex-cons and other malcontents.  Draw your own conclusions.
     
     To villify the Moran Matriarchs, the colonists deported from Mora 
     named their world after the notorious freebooter, Wilhelm Mertactor, 
     who had raided, raped and pillaged the coreward subsectors of 
     Gushemege in the twilight years of the Ramshackle Empire.  An 
     ambitious public relations campaign by the Moran Matriarchs was 
     demoralized and many a political career fell by the wayside in the 
     ensuing scandal.
     
     Surprisingly, the Mertactans refused the clemency of the Moran 
     government in 328, when they were offered repatriation as compensation 
     for their "unjust deportation."  The Mertactan colonists had become 
     accustomed to their small but verdant new home and the majority 
     decided to stay.  By appealing to the IISS Exploration department's 
     colonial bureau, Mertactor was granted independence.  Imperial 
     officials saw this as an opportunity to prevent the relocation scandal 
     from travelling all the way back to the Iridium Throne.  As part of 
     the deal, the IISS was allowed to establish a base on Mertactor.  It 
     wasn't until after the Fourth Frontier War that Mertactor finally 
     accepted overtures made by the Imperial Government to apply for 
     membership.
     
     Descending from working-class deportees, Mertactans are proud of their 
     uncompromising heritage.  Mertactans tamed the wilds of their planet, 
     forging an advanced and forward-thinking society.  The Mertactan 
     Chamberlords reserved approximately 25 percent of the planet's 
     wilderness as preserves to avoid the ecological calamities that had 
     occurred elsewhere in the region due to reckless colonial bootstrap 
     programs.  The remaining portion of land was tendered to offworld 
     corporate interests with a mind to develop the planet's resources and 
     promote trade and industry.  In order to preserve their independence, 
     however, the Chamberlords carefully screened out any megacorporations, 
     megacorporate shadow companies and sectorwide corporations in order to 
     prevent a takeover attempt by any one corporate entity.
     
     Their conservative approach backfired and industry never really took 
     off on Mertactor.  Seeking to teach the upstart colonists a lesson, 
     the megacorporations had colluded with mid-sized corporations to 
     boycott the Mertactans.  Employing every type of coercion imaginable, 
     the megacorporations managed to squelch independent-minded investors 
     from circumventing the boycott.
     
     Undaunted, the Mertactan merchant fleet took the initiative and began 
     establishing trade agreements with the worlds of the Daryen 
     Confederation and the Sword Worlds.  Famous Mertactan free trader and 
     gambler Michaela Wallace took her business all the way to the fringes 
     of the Zhodani Consulate, and established trade ties with the Zhodani 
     that have survived numerous frontier wars and exist to this day.  
     While most of the early Spinward Marches colonies also traded with the 
     established interstellar governments of the region, few dispute that 
     Mertactan mercantile savvy can open twice as many doors in half the 
     time.
     
     Modern Mertactan industry is essentially just subsistence for the 
     planet's lucrative mercantile sector.  Rather than a producer of 
     industrial or agricultural goods, Mertactans like to think of their 
     system as "the best damned conduit for trade in the Regency."
     
     Landing at Mertactor downport can be a harrowing experience.  The 
     unregulated close orbit and airspace of the planet are subject to more 
     accidents per capita than on any planet in the sector.  While there 
     are ample spaceports on the planet, only the B-quality facility in the 
     capital city of Seacheard and the C-quality installation in Kaydah 
     provide services for interstellar craft.
     
     While dodging free traders and air/rafts, visiting travellers will be 
     impressed by the lush earth and blue skies of Mertactor.  Thanks to an 
     absence of big industry and an abundance of scattered wilderness 
     preserves, the planet has been able to maintain its clean air and 
     natural landscape.  Due to the planet's rather small size and close 
     horizon, the clear azure skies seem to almost surround the reclining 
     viewer.
     
     Offworlders are frequently uncomfortable with prolonged exposure to 
     Mertactor's low gravity.  Generally, hostels that cater to offworlders 
     provide 1G suites to appease those who can't abide Mertactan 
     lightfootedness for extended periods of time.
     
     Mertactor's thriving tourist industry offers a plethora of activities 
     to visiting travellers.  In the city of Seacheard, visitors will be 
     astonished by the beauty of the Daryen flame sculpture exhibit at the 
     Seacheard Museum of Art.  Donated by First Frontier war hero, Admiral 
     Koenig, the exhibit features some of the finest Daryen artwork to be 
     produced in the last millenium.  At the Colonial History Museum, 
     visitors may view artifacts, holovids and antique equipment from the 
     Spinward Marches' colonial past.  Of particular note is an exhibition 
     featuring what the museum's curator claims are the original blueprints 
     for the Type-S scoutship prototype.  Children will enjoy visiting The 
     Wild Frontier, Seacheard's largest amusement park replete with an 
     imported Moran virtual reality entertainment center.
     
     Inghvernar, Mertactor's largest ocean, lies 280 km to the west of 
     Seacheard.  Mertactans on holiday flock to Inghvernar's golden 
     beaches.  Well-travelled offworlders will be less impressed by the 
     beachfront of this body of water which would only constitute a large 
     lake on most larger planets.  On Inghvernar's east coast is the 
     Lubvenar Fossil Museum, where travellers can discover the rich natural 
     history of Mertactor through an exhilariting series of exhibits and 
     holodynamic displays.
     
     Kaydah, the seat of government, features the impressive Mertactan 
     Legislature Building (MLB).  Constructed of reinforced synthetic 
     sandstone, this ivy-draped obelisk seems to thrust right out 
     Mertactor's terrestrial crust and through the planet's thick 
     equatorial jungle as if it had been there since time immemorial.  
     Standing atop Mount Aseldon, the MLB looks over the busy streets of 
     northern Kaydah like an alert sentry.
     
     On the southern end of the city, is the Plankwell Subsector Capital 
     Building.  Though the Capital's architecture is aesthetically pleasing 
     with its sharp edges and metallic industrial styling, political 
     representatives from throughout the subsector complain about the 
     dearth of office space in the building.  The building was intended to 
     be much larger when the subsector capital was set to be on neighboring 
     system, Collace.  However, when the Mertactan Chamberlords 
     successfully lobbied the Archduke to establish the capital on 
     Mertactor, they immediately contracted a local architecture firm to 
     design the building.  Due to the time constraints of the agreement, 
     the job was rushed, with the result being an attractive but largely 
     inadequate building.
     
     Despite the Mertactan historical animosity toward Mora, the native 
     government is rather obviously influenced by that of the domain 
     capital.  While not a matriarchy, women traditionally get preference 
     for most cabinet posts and tend to be elected to Chamberlord positions 
     at a rate of just over 60 percent on Mertactor.  The Chamberlords are 
     a select group of nine individuals, elected for lifelong terms by a 
     subordinate network of sheriffs, who are popularly elected by the 
     rather disproportionately sized counties of Mertactor.
     
     As befits any cosmopolitan world, the fashion and culture of Mertactor 
     are heavily influenced by visiting merchants and adventurers.  
     "Anything goes," is the motto on Mertactor.  One will find visiting 
     travellers sporting anything from traditional Vilani lagaash robes to 
     the virtual nudity of Glistenite tailored vaccsuits.  The jaded 
     Mertactans are nonchalant and accepting of such diversity.
     
     Perhaps the most outstanding educational establishment on the planet 
     is the Mertactor Mercantile Academy.  While the academy is on par with 
     most other Regency educational facilities for the most part, its 
     language department is outstanding.  Just about every language spoken 
     within 80 parsecs is taught at the academy, including each and every 
     vargr language in the Extents.  The academy emphasizes cultural 
     behaviors and idiosynchrasies as well in order to train the ambitious 
     merchant cadet for any eventuality.
     
     Mertactan trading companies benefit from the presence of the academy.  
     Some of the most finely trained merchant personnel in the Regency can 
     be found in Mertactan trading companies.  Mertactan traders are known, 
     however, to be quite bloodthirsty in their competition for business 
     insystem and will stop at nothing to obtain their goals.  The rather 
     ineffectual law enforcement administrations of Mertactor are unable to 
     prevent trading blocs and factions from colluding, bribing, embezzling 
     and on occasion shooting each other to death.  
     
     Within the last 80 years, the rimward encroachment of aslan ihatei has 
     had an interesting effect on the mercantile subculture.  Disputes 
     between trading companies are now frequently resolved by dueling.  
     Unfortunately, the aslan code of honor is absent in Mertactan dueling. 
     Shooting or stabbing one's opponent in the back or poisoning his food 
     the evening before the duel is not uncommon.
     
     Visiting free traders should not fear, however.  Oddly enough, the 
     virulence shown by one fellow Mertactan trader to another is not 
     extended to offworlders.  It is thought that a general sense of pity 
     for the poorly trained foreign trader makes him unworthy of such 
     treatment.  The prevailing attitude is "if he's not Mertactan, he's no 
     good at trading anyway!"  Though you'll never hear a Mertactan say 
     this in public!
     
     The Mertactan Free Trade Administration operates the planet's sole 
     orbital starport and city.  Built in 1004, FTA Orbital was originally 
     intended as a place where offworlders could comfortably trade without 
     having to make planetfall.  The idea never took hold with visiting 
     merchants, however.  Declining public funds resulted in the 
     government's inability to properly maintain the facility.  FTA Orbital 
     quickly deteriorated into a D-level facility.  Ironically, trade 
     traffic has actually increased over 300 percent at FTA Orbital since 
     the decline.  FTA Orbital now features the most active black-market 
     trade in the subsector.
     
     To coin an ancient Terran metaphor, Mertactor has a Jekyll-and-Hyde 
     culture.  To offworlders and potential trading partners, Mertactans 
     are amiable and welcoming, while to one another they are the most 
     vicious of opponents, professionally speaking.  While the divisiveness 
     of Mertactan society may appear anarchic or perhaps downright hostile, 
     it is embraced by Mertactans as an integral part of their culture.  To 
     survive in a universe fraught with danger and deception, Mertactans 
     believe that "It is better to do unto others before they do unto you."
     
     Mertactor System Details
     
     Orbit      Name    UPP     Remarks
     Primary    Magnus  G1 V
     0  Bailiff Y200000-0       Va
     1       Ring System     YR00000-0       Va
          25      Vaunt   YS00000-0       Va
     1  Wrankon YS00100-A       Va
     2  Gustavson       G770360-A       Sc
          40      Danner  Y300000-0       Va
     3  Tyros Belt      H000462-B       Re Sc
     4          Mertactor       B262732-B  S    Cp
          10      Hord    GS00235-A               Va
          30      Skellor YS00000-0               Va
     5  Pelloponeese    Y600233-B       Re Sc
     6  Mauritius       Y330000-0       Va
          1       Ring System     YR00000-0
     6.9                Gwaynfjord      G957562-B       Re Sc
     7          Calori Belt     F000563-B       Re Co Sc
     7.3                Eldron  G967363-A       Sc
     8          Wyndermere      H667263-A       Sc
          8       Hoggoth H430160-A
     9          Portcullis      F303321-A       Sc

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 17:27:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 421
Message-ID: <199509200027.RAA10630@liquefy.ugcs.caltech.edu>

HI all,
	In response to the previous posting concerning Zho policy
vis-a-vis the Regency; 
I think it is unlikely they would invade the Regency for several
reasons:
a) The Regency is still powerful - it encompasses the better part of three sectors, all of which are quite heavily militarized. The Imperium had just fought a war there, and had always expected troubles with the Zhos. Thus a large 
proportion of the Imperial Navy would be deployed in the Regency area before 
the Rebellion - and no units beyond Corridor were used up in the Final war.

b) The Regency is no direct threat. While powerful enough to be difficult
to conquer, it hasn't the ability to wage offensive warfare. In fact, the 
Imperium hasn't done so against the Zhodani since the First Frontier war.

c) All the arguments concerning buffer zones, etc apply and have already 
been repeated many times - if you aren't convinced by these arguments I 
suggest you are so convinced of the rightness of your point of view that
one more post will hardly change your mind.

finally, the Zho's DIDN'T invade. That's a 'fact'. why is for Regecy era 
academics to discuss... although I think they were well advised to not
invade.

/ben

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 17:41:47 -0700
From: toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <199509200041.RAA10844@liquefy.ugcs.caltech.edu>

Hi all,

	Let's see; first Virus.

Yes, I think that the primary methods of preventing
infection with Virii would be to rely on "hardwiring"
a lot of your circuitry, as well as to a certain extent
reducing the amount of inter-connectedness in the system.
Perhaps a change of mentalities from "Connect everything
possible, unless it for some reson NEEDS to be separate.
This allows flexibility and redundancy" to "Connect only
what you must. For safety's sake. And limit most connections to data-exchange, not control." Also, while some Deyo 
chips and a lot of synaptic processors (this is the 
party line, not my opinion) were capable of circuit 
modification, in 1201 as well as 1995 that is almost unheard 
of. It should be possible to a) monitor the circuitry for 
changes, and b) find out what mechanisms the Cymbeline life-
forms used to modify themselves, and interdict them. Much 
like preventing bacteria from reproducing - perhaps the 
Cymbeline chips  need certain types of dopant, or power, or 
something which can be controlled. I remeber it being 
mentioned that even in 1130 on Dulinors' flagship a few 
smart computer operators managed to trace and destroy the 
Virus that had infected it - after all, they took "manual"
control of the ship in time for an emergency landing.
c) limit outside access - obvious. don't hook up your 
transponder to your main system RAM. For crying out loud,
why would one do that anyway, at least on a warship? It's 
asking for intrusion/warfare. The whole Deyo hokum is very hard to beleive. Minuteman silos aren't on the Internet, and they don't have dial-in modem lines.
d) diversity - encourage several different approaches to 
computing problems. standardization taken to the extreme
is an invitation for disaster. Agree on a few conventions,
but leave it at that. And don't build all your military
and scout ships with identical systems. Sure, you'll have
maintenance complexities, but that's better than Virus 
controlling all your BB's.
e) Be frugal with computing power. Don't equip your toaster
with a 2 Teraflops processor just because they're cheap. 
besides, I think Virus would need A VERY POWERFUL processor
to become self-aware. With anything less it will just 
lay eggs and perhaps destructive Trojan Horses. It won't
proliferate in such an environment, and if it doesn't have 
a powerful system as a base it will less able to develop
successful intrusion methods for new computers.

In short; expose it, poison it, quarantine it, confuse it 
and starve it.

Now, fusion power;
	this is a fun one - lots of semi-hard science here.
The following is what I've always imagined, although 
I   
 TL-9; The first Tokakmaks using magnetic confinement.
		Power conversion is through heat engines (water,
		liquid sodium, CO2 or helium)
		Fuel is Deuterium-Tritium, or He-3. Tritium 				produced by neutron bombardment or lithium.
		Laser-Inertial fusion is still not useful except
		in Daedalus drives and fusion rockets.
		Jump drive powerplants use short-duration
		intense magnetic fields (HPG-driven) to 
		boost fusion throughput to build up charge.
		These high fields allow MHD tube type power 
		conversion as well as D-D fusion. 
		see previous post for details.
TL-10; Improved magnetic confinement - supplemented by
	gravitic confinement allow higher pressures and temps.
	D-D fusion standard. 
	Heat engines still common; some thermoelectric 
	conversion used. Advantages are no moving parts, 
	higher efficiency.
	HEPlaR drives appear. These are NOT merely reheating
	of hydrogen. Instead, waste heat and radiation from the 	reactor is used to induce fusion in fuel. Gravitics 
	allow non-toroidal confinement shape, which simplifies
	thrust production. 
	Muon fusion possible for certain applications.
TL-11; Essentially as above - evolutionary improvement,
	above all more thermoelectric conversion which allows 
	smaller power plants.
	Jump drives take advantage of temporary high 	confinement pressures/temps to induce limited proton-	proton chain fusion.
TL-12; Contiued slow development. Advances in high field-	strength superconductors allow MHD tube energy 	conversion in long-duration applications.
	A reactor now resembles a HEPlaR drive with an MHD
	tube attached at the exhaust - the high-velocity
	"exhaust" is charged and passed through a magnet,
	creating current.
TL-13; Leap in capabilities due to new understanding and
	control of nuclear forces. Confinement shape can vary,
	spherical (radiation source) and cylindrical (MHD tube) 	common. Proton-proton chain standard. MHD type power 	conversion standard for most applications, including 	jump drive.
TL-14; Perfection of Proton Chain fusion.
	Jump drives now use resonant oscillation induced 	charge-separation of plasma (sending positive charges 	down one tube, negative 	down another) to build up 	potential. 
TL-15; Triple-alpha fusion used. First standard P-P chain,
	then fusing three He-4 nuclei. Charge separation 
	power conversion in all applications. 
Tl-16; Carbon catalysed fusion. CNO chain (carbon + p
	forms nitrogen. N + p forms oxygen. O + p
	reforms Carbon. ) 
Comments?

Re; missles. How about building a 7 metric tonne, 7 kl
	booster stage? attach it to a standard missle -
	presto, extended range, and when you jettison the
	booster you retain original performance ratings.
        you could even set it up so it would fit in a standard
	7ton, 7 kl shipboard launcher - just separate the 
	booster from the missile, and change the launcher software 
	so that it loads the missle, almost ejects is (but not quite),
	proceeds to load the booster stage, attaches the two, and 
	launches the sucker. Perhaps a 10,000 Cr modification to 
	a standard launcher gives you much enhanced range without
	loss of performance. yeah, you can only carry half as many missle, but 
	the salesman won't labour that point.

		

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 17:42:57 -0700
From: toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: question.
Message-ID: <199509200042.RAA10864@liquefy.ugcs.caltech.edu>


Hi all,
	Someone mentioned that a lot of TL-8 worlds would have several 
imported SDB's carrying nuclear ord

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 18:00:22 -0700
From: toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: question.
Message-ID: <199509200100.SAA16654@pride.ugcs.caltech.edu>


HI all,
	Someone mentioned that many TL-8 worlds woudl have imported SDB's
carrying nuclear ordnance and thus be subject to more Virus devastation.
I think that's a good point, and to a certain extent true - although I 
again doubt that the kind of SDB's thaht could even be maintained at
all at TL-8 would be very susceptible to Virus. The Deyo chip is TL-15 
device after all. But I do admit that you have a point.

Something related to this worries me - tha fact that detonation lasers 
are available on the civilian market for use in self-defence of starships.
Thta is putting nukes on the civilan market, guys. _Somebody_ is going 
to give in to the temptation of nuclear blackmail. I am open to any
suggestions on how to get around this problem. What I've so far 
thought of is pretty limited;
a) licencing and extremely strict government control
b) limited yield of available devices. Perhaps below 30-odd kiloton, which 
makes it difficult to use as a thermonuclear trigger.
c) limited shelf-life. either use an isotope that decays, or an explosive 
that does so. 
d) Put nuclear dampers around all cities, starports, etc.

If not, you could always limit civilians to KKM's. They do work after all, 
and they are cheaper. They're just useless against military ships, unless 
fired in swarms. Mil. ships have sensors and point defence screens, antimissle
missles, gunboats, etc.Not to mention dampers.

Unfortunately that also limits the kind of self-defence a civilan ship can
put up - which means that if you're totally legal, you don't go into the wilds.

final food for thought - the Imperium self-destrcted rapidly due primarily
to the large numbers of military forces in the core regions  ( CORE, Illelish)
what were all these ships and divisions doing there? They are pretty useless
as border defence - it takes to long to get from Core to Solomani Rim or
the Marches. And you don't use Tigresses as pirate suppressors. whay have large 
sector fleets in the interior?

cheers,
/ben

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 18:15:32 GMT
From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Dark Century Campaign - Section I - Part 2 of 2
Message-ID: <89@odonovan.demon.co.uk>

continues.... (knew I should get a decent email program)

A number of security guards, outnumbering the players by 6 people will enter the 
observation gallery. They will call for the players to drop any weapons and will 
take any who surrender to the security centre for questioning. Any resistance 
will cause security to open fire, and will look bad when protesting their 
innocence. If the party is subdued they will be taken to the security centre. If 
the party escapes, then go straight to the section on escaping. Of course, if 
the players resort to lethal force, but fudge it so security guards don't die 
unless the players specifically want to kill them. Charges of assault can be 
dropped once the conspiracy is uncovered, although some of the guards might hold 
a grudge.

Security guard. Veteran NPC. Combat Assets: Slug Rifle, Unarmed martial arts. 
Other Assets: Swimming 12, Small Craft 10, Electronics 7, Computer 7. Armed with 
4mm gauss rifle, no armour.


Framed!
If the players were captured above they are taken to the security centre 
(underwater facility)
'You have been sitting in this featureless room for half an hour now, the guard 
didn't seem interested in anything you said, so as the door opens and you are 
escorted out , you are glad that you can at last speak to someone who will 
listen. You are shown into an office, behind a desk sits a grey haired man, with 
a smile that irritates you greatly.
The man straightens up a stack of paper, then looks up. The security guard 
remains in the room.
"I must regretfully inform you that you are all under arrest for aiding in the 
theft of the RCS Dark Century. The security video tapes show you moving through 
the base, apparently in a state or some agitation (and carrying weapons, if 
appropriate). An access card issued to (one of the characters) was used to open 
an airlock from the submarine bay. Anyway, let me play the tape, so you can see 
the evidence against you" He taps his finger on some controls set into the 
desktop. On a monitor on the wall a picture of a corridor is displayed. The 
characters are seen to run down it, followed seconds later by a group of about 
thirty armed men and women. More film follows, including pictures of the 
characters actually opening doors for the thieves. (Average:Sensors, Computer or 
EDU. The tape could have been altered by the operator, and the characters could 
have been added through computer effects. However the image processing power to 
generate the images would be considerable, and  require significant attention 
from the facility mainframe. If the players later investigate this, they will 
find conclusive evidence that the mainframes were not used. How he managed to 
get the footage I'll leave a mystery for now......)
As the tape finishes, another security guard enters and places a large parcel on 
the desk "Found it in the suspect's quarters, sir." he says stiffly. Inside are 
several bars of gold, wilds currency. "Planning a little trip away from the 
coalition then, are you?" Trefin inquires sarcastically.'
The characters can argue their innocence, but talking to Trefin is like talking 
to a smirking brick wall.
The characters are lead back to the cells. By this point they should suspect 
that Trefin is framing them, but they will be helpless to prove their innocence 
while incarcerated. Average:Legal - The characters are in a very bad situation. 
The evidence already presented against them will possibly be sufficient, and as 
Head of Security, Trefin can continue adding evidence as necessary. It would be 
sensible to try to escape to find evidence to prove their innocence. A lawyer 
contacted for Cr100 will give the same opinion. Trefin now has the players in 
his hands, but he has begun to fear that their service records might lead to an 
investigation which could uncover him, or that the trial could take too little 
time, in which case it wouldn't disrupt the pursuit of the Century at all. He 
decides to let the players escape, in the hope that their flight will occupy the 
authorities.

Meanwhile, the Dark Century has escaped. It briefly engaged a gazelle CE, which 
was destroyed within minutes from a particle accelerator hit which triggered a 
chain of massive internal explosions, ripping the ship apart. As the Navy 
believes it can track it through the players, they are not pursuing it, as they 
cannot risk losing any more precious ships or crews. 

Trefin Galth. Veteran NPC. Combat Assets:Energy Pistol, Unarmed Martial Arts, 
Slug Pistol. Other Assets: Leadership 12, Computer 14, Electronics 12.  Carries 
a TL13 2cmCC Laser
Trefin arrived on Aubaine from 'somewhere in the wilds' about ten years ago. 
Despite his shaded background, his technical skill made him a successful 
security guard.
Motivations
Spade Queen: Trefin is ruthless and will go to any length to achieve his ends. 
He takes sadistic pleasure not in others physical suffering, but in their 
frustration and helplessness when he manipulates others against them. He 
engineered a scandal which removed his predecessor in the job.
3 Diamond: Trefin has a degree of greed, but his reasons for framing the players 
lie deeper than financial reward. Players may (Formidable:Admin) manage to track 
his arrival to the same battered far trader which brought some of the thieves 
which can be identified to the planet. Interestingly, the far trader has never 
been registered as trading around Aubaine since then... 

A Chance of Freedom
The players should be trying to escape. If not, the second part of the encounter 
could be used (or use it anyway if you like it)

The cell you are held in looks as if it was intended more as a cupboard. There 
is a panel to control the door on the inside, but it has been deactivated from 
outside. An access panel below it covers the door circuitry, but it is welded 
loosely in place.
Opening the panel requires 4 points of damage to be done to it in a single 
attack. (Increase this if you find it amusing to get the players trying to 
shoulder barge it, flying kick it, etc.)
Average: Electronics- The door could be hot-wired if the panel was removed
Difficult: Electronics- To hot-wire the door (two attempts possible before the 
circuits burn out completely)

The Guard outside is 'Chip' Dawkins, a junior and completely inexperienced guard 
(novice NPC, combat assets: Knowing which end of the gun the bullet comes out 
of.) Chip is very gullible, and Difficult:Act Bluff could get him to open the 
cell up ("please, my friend feels ill"). He can be easily subdued when the 
players are free, and they can escape.

If the players feel unwilling to take action into their own hands:
'It's night time, the guard brought you a meal about an our ago. The food was 
good, probably straight from the staff mess, they can't have prisoners very 
often, otherwise they'd be better at cooking badly. Suddenly there is a dull 
thud from outside. A moment of heavy silence follows and you begin to wonder if 
it was just your imagination, but the door to your cell opens with a swish. 
Outside is a schalli in a power suit, it greets the characters
"I'm a friend, know you not steal ship. Was making night maintenance rounds, 
when I saw Trefin at computer, working on camera feeds. He ran when I saw, and 
now he's framed you. The only way to prove innocence is outside." Beside her is 
the unconscious guard. "Hurry, he wake soon." she urges.
The Schalli will return to her quarters after this, knowing she is more of a 
liability to the characters trying to escape stealthily.

If the players still don't try to escape (check their pulse and respiration):
Trefin appears while the Schalli stands outside. He shoots her through the back, 
and as she dies she tells the players to escape. Trefin will shoot himself 
through the forearm, drop his gun and call for backup.

Escape!
Moving through the shipyard:

Corridors - Carries the highest risk of encountering guards. Players will 
encounter D6 patrols of D3 guards each (use stats above). Difficult:Stealth to 
avoid a patrol (all characters roll, some may be caught, others can surprise the 
guards). The video cameras appear to be deactivated (Trefin is manning them, to 
help the players escape). Formidable:Act/Bluff to talk your way out of guard 
encounters.

Ventilation Shafts - These allow characters to avoid patrols. Most of them are 
50cm x 50 cm square, but this increases to 1.5m x 1.5m in places. Despite their 
advantages they have their own hazards:
D6
1-2	Faulty electrical wire hangs down into the duct.
	Average:Observation to spot (-1 difficulty level in the dark)
	Difficult:Ship's engineering to remove (2D6 damage to dominant arm on 
catastrophic failure, 5min)
	Average:Acrobatics to avoid (Unskilled OK, 2D6 damage on failure, but 
wire still passed)
3-4	Maintenance robot. Probably background colour unless it decides the 
characters are an obstruction to be cleared.
5	Shaft
	Easy:Observation to spot (+2 difficulty in the dark)
	Easy:Acrobatics to cross over (4m fall on fail. Could cause problems 
trying to get back up)
6	Shaft
	As above but with air conditioning fans which add D6 damage to falling 
damage on a fail.

Outside - Airlocks to the outside will allow the players to swim around to exits 
from the facility. This could also help them get on board a ship as they 
wouldn't need to pass through facility exits.
On entering an airlock:
D6
1	2 Guards waiting in ambush, Vac suits present
2	Vacc Suits are present for extended aquatic work
3-6	Scuba equipment is available.
Aquatic ACRs are present in all airlocks. 
There is a 50% chance of encountering a local predator outside, increasing to 
100% if a character with an injury is wearing scuba gear. Combat tasks are +2 
diff levels, Swimming enables to give only +1 diff mod. Characters without any 
swimming skill can be aided by others, but take no part in combat.
Underwater Encounters
D6;Type;Weight;Hits;Weaponry;To hit;Damage;Pen;Range;Initiative;Armour;To 
attack;To flee;Speed
1;1D6 killers;50;3;Poison stinger;13;1p2;Nil;Short;8;Nil;12;1;30 
- Like very small sharks w. poison barb on forehead like a rhino's horn
2;Chaser;3200;49;Projectile;12;9;Nil;18;2;nil;5;Am;5;50
-Very big serpent/snake like creature
3;3D6 chasers;25;4;Poison teeth;14;3p1;Nil;Short;3;0.5;Am;9;65
- eel-like
4;Siren;100;9;Acid;14;1;Nil;Short;7;Nil;As;7;5
- like a Giant Scorpion Fish, but with more spines in bright multi-colours and 
patterns. It floats freely until a curious swimmer or fish gets close...
5;Siren;6000;100;Teeth;10;20;1;Short;3;Nil;As;10;2
- Pretends to be a crater on the floor of the sea until a reason able mouthful 
is contained, then large teeth are extended from the rim of the 'crater' causing 
severe injury to unwary swimmers.
6;Chaser;12;3;Claws;15;2;Nil;Short;4;Nil;Am;7;27
- 'Reefcat', aquatic mammal

The players can ultimately exit from the facility through one of three major 
means, ask them where they are headed.
- Utility launches. 
'Making your way cautiously down a corridor you stop in surprise as you see a 
launch outside the window. Around the corner, an armoured guard sits next to the 
airlock, a rifle propped between his knees, and a can of drink in one hand.'
The Shipyards have several launches used for utility purposes, ferrying simple 
replacement components to orbit etc. A security guard is present on the airlock 
for each launch, armed with dart ammunition in their rifle, and wearing TL12 
combat armour. Although a single guard could be overcome easily, the launch is 
not fully prepped for takeoff, so the players might have trouble getting away 
that easily, though.
Difficult:Ships Engineer - Bring power plant up to full (not a cold start), 
takes 1D6+1 minutes. Critical success reduces time to 1 min, critical failure 
doubles time needed. Every minute roll D6-4 for the number of armoured guards 
appearing. 
Difficult:Electronics - Burn out door servo control, barricading the entrance 
from the guards.  Three guards together can open it manually - Wait until three 
guards have accumulated outside from the roll above.
Formidable:Act/Bluff - Convince guard that characters are maintenance crew for 
the launch.
Impossible:Forgery - Produce requisition order and passes to deceive the guard. 
This task is one level easier if the characters have access to a portable 
computer/printer or similar.
A pre-emptive attack would surprise the guard, but an implant monitors his 
health and will alert security even if the players knock him unconscious 
immediately.
Average:Interface/Grav to fly out safely through the plastic covering the 
hangar. If nobody has Interface/grav, then they will need to find another exit.


- The underwater docks
'The docks are dark, lit by the lights below the water in a shifting pattern of 
blue and shadows across the walls and ceilings. The walls reach a hundred meters 
away into the darkness, and the room is about forty meters wide, and almost as 
high. About a dozen submarines are tied up in the channels which run along the 
sides of the room. There is a pair of unarmoured security guards with tranq 
rifles sitting in a control room set into the centre of the ceiling, with glass 
windows all around.'
Sneaking past the guards is Easy:Stealth due to the lighting in the submarine 
docks.
Average:Electronics or Intrusion - open a submarine door.
Average:Act/Bluff - to persuade security to let the submarine exit through the 
'airlock' (waterlock?) which prevents the room from filling up with water, while 
keeping air pressure normal.

If they get suspicious of the bluffing above, characters will have to fight past 
1D6+2 guards (the original two, and reinforcements) to get to the control room 
above, and then Average:Computer is necessary to open the gates. If the 
characters try this straight away, then only the original two will need to be 
overcome.
Average:Small Watercraft to actually escape in the submarine, otherwise they'll 
need to find another exit.

- Passenger ships
'The loading platforms for the surface ships are unbelievably crowded. People 
and aliens in clothes fashionable on any of the worlds of the Coalition mill 
around, waiting for, and getting off the ships which arrive every few minutes. 
Some security personnel stand by, but they aren't checking for you very 
carefully, as they are far too few in number for the task of overseeing so many 
people. It would be very easy to just slip into the crowd and get on board a 
ship.'
Average:Computer - Forge bookings on a passenger ship leaving the shipyard 
(needs access to a terminal in an office, which risks an administrator coming in 
and finding the characters)
Average:Act/Bluff or Disguise or Stealth - Slip past security and board a 
passenger vessel. 

The players can leave their escape vessel in one of the downtown docks on 
Aubaine, where few questions are asked, and most people would consider it a 
breach of honour to talk to the police. The smell of the docks is overpowering, 
and the concrete piers are crumbling with disrepair. Small fish jump from the 
water to catch insects, and larger, long insects buzz around the water, catching 
the tiny fish. 
The people here dress functionally.  While some ships are hives of activity, 
with dockworkers scrambling over them to unload the cargo, others seem eerily 
deserted.

I'll leave the players here, tired, confused, hunted by the police. Well that's 
all folks, until next week's (fortnight's more likely, considering how long this 
one took.) instalment of the Dark Century Campaign.

(If anyone wants to publish this then email me, but I think its probably too 
long for a magazine)
-- 
Brendan 


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 11:34:36 +0200 (EET)
From: Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 421
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9509201101.A14500-0100000@vserver.evitech.fi>

Yes! Finally someone made a generation tables for BW agents (and normal 
diseases).

After VERY brief reading I'd say that those tables look good.

Joni Virolainen
jonimv@evitech.fi


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 09:47:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ted7@world.std.com (Mitchell K Schwartz)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (Traveller:TNE mailing list)
Subject: Apology
Message-ID: <199509201347.AA28691@world.std.com>

(Asbestos suit on; Bomb shelter locked)

I apologize for sending a post here (about the "benefits" of Imperial
citizenship) that should have been bound for xboat.

Ted7



------------------------------

End of TRAVELLER Digest 422
***************************
