Freelance Traveller

by Jonathan McDermott

This adventure was originally posted to the pre-magazine Freelance Traveller website in 2005, and reprinted in the May/June 2018 issue.

The PCs are transporting passengers into the Solomani Sphere, and one of their passengers—a man by the name of Mohammed Chang—is arrested on suspicion on being a part of a well-known pro-Imperial terrorist group. Ah, but “Mohammed Chang” being the most common Terran name out there (at least according to ‘what everyone knows’), Things Are Not As They Seem….

Possible Directions to take this Adventure

1. Mr. Chang is on the SolSec watch list for activism he participated in as a youth, but is not a member of the terrorist group.
2. The name ‘Mohammed Chang’ being on the SolSec watch list was a prank by a group of computer hackers. I mean, come on, who’s really named ‘John Smith,’ for example? No chance of anyone coming in to the SoloConfed with that name. Oops.
3. The name ‘Mohammed Chang’ being on the SolSec watch list is because of bureaucratic stupidity in measuring productivity—some bureaucrat decided that the number of names, or the number of people investigated at the border, is an appropriate way to measure the effectiveness of the SolSec Border Security and Customs unit. An officer padded the list using a Model/1sub computer and a poorly-written algorithm to generate random names. 500 instances of ‘Mohammed Chang’ found their way into the million-name-long watch list. Oops.
4. Mr. Chang is indeed an operative of the terrorist group.
5. Mr. Chang is indeed an operative for the terrorist group, but he is not the Mr. Chang that SolSec is looking for. He’s a completely different Mr. Chang who happens to also be an operative for the terrorist group. His paperwork is in order, and a routine check will clear him through customs, and the SolSec BSC officer smiles politely as she hands him back his passport. That is, if the PCs remain calm and cool and Mr. Chang does not panic.
6. As in 5, but Mr. Chang panics.