Freelance Traveller

Silent Partners

by Timothy Collinson

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue.

A duet adventure for Traveller, ideal for an Advocate character although this isn’t strictly necessary.  Any investigative PC, or even a small group of PCs, could do similar.  Tallis Quinarra July/August p. 21 would be a suitable character or the career template May/June 2025 p.20 can be used to generate an advocate. The outline is given in the EPIC style from Traveller⁵ (and the Theme could well be ‘Justice’, but others are possible such as ‘Truthfulness’ or ‘Betrayal’) but the adventure is built, very lightly, with Mongoose rules in mind.  Although the scenes are numbered, the idea is for them to be encountered in any sensible order.  My thanks to TravellerMap for the Jump 2 map and stat block.  Note that ‘Crimes and Punishments’ from Traveller⁵: Core Book 3 - Worlds and Adventures (pp.280-283) may be useful background reading but isn’t required.  A detailed explanation of EPIC adventures can also be found on pages 274-279 of that volume.  Mille Falcs is offered as a setting but the adventure could easily be transplanted to other locations.

Referee’s Overview

A lucrative contract for mining rights on a frontier world is in dispute after a company executive dies in a suspicious shuttle crash.  The PC is hired to determine who legally controls the contract but quickly finds the corporate paper trail tangled, witnesses reluctant, and powerful interests working behind the scenes.  Navigating law, diplomacy, and danger, the PC needs to ask the right questions to uncover the truth as a quiet war is being fought over resources.

Act 1: Establishing Shots

Scene 1:

A mid-tier corporate concern, Dinorthi Extraction Limited, contacts the PC(s) to represent their interests in a dispute.

Scene 2:

The case involves the planet Mille Falcs in District 268 (Spinward Marches 1637 B9A2469-C).  There is booming potential for mining but chaotic legal standards.  The main population centre and associated starport is Dastari, a sealed earthscraper protected from the exotic atmosphere.

Scene 3:

Sarre Hennick, the deceased executive, was the primary signature of a contract giving Dinorthi exclusive rights to a mineral rich canyon.  His death has triggered a clause reverting control to the local governor.

Scene 4:

The advocate (or other PCs) is dispatched to Mille Falcs with a legal brief but will almost immediately find that the situation is not as clear cut.  (Alternatively, the PC works on Mille Falcs and the adventure can take place entirely on world.)

Scene 5:

Local media suggests foul play.  The planetary court is being unusually slow in scheduling hearings.  Someone doesn’t want the ‘reversion of control’ challenged.

Act 2: Encounters

Scene 1:

Governor Renn Varost, who is smooth, charismatic and utterly pragmatic, welcomes the PC but not into the real decision-making spaces.  The clause is “perfectly clear”, the law is “perfectly straightforward” (it is anything but) and the character is “perfectly welcome” to get in touch any time (but subsequent meetings will be Difficult (10+) to obtain).

Scene 2:

Werta Sinjin – the late Sarre Hennick’s personal assistant.  Nervous, cagey, but hints that Sarre kept copies of sealed side agreements.  Sinjin wants to help but is under scrutiny.  Not all of the scrutiny may be legitimate.

Scene 3:

Judge Arivalda Gruth – local official overseeing proceedings.  She is known to be incorruptible but is overworked and legally bound by planetary precedents.  The Judge might need to be assisted in seeing the ‘bigger picture’.

Scene 4:

Rudo Makkel, a “private security consultant”.  Rudo has started shadowing the PC.  His badge is fake; his gun is not.  (898777, Gun Combat (energy) 2, Deception 1, Laser Pistol, TL11, 3D+3).

Scene 5:

Yennick Jissander can offer help by pulling strings with the local noble or uncovering financial backers who stand to gain if Dinorthi’s rights are suppressed.

Act 3: Evidence Gathering

Scene 1:

Investigate Sarre Hennick’s office, currently sealed by planetary law enforcement.

Scene 2:

Convince Werta Sinjin to give up the encrypted contract backups stored in the shuttle wreck.

Scene 3:

Trace the contract to offworld signatories to find that someone has forged a key addendum.

Scene 4:

Find proof that Governor Varost stands to gain personally through a shell company owned by Marc Swaden.

Scene 5:

Survive an attempt to discourage the PC via legal threats or physical assault.  (The Referee should adjust to suit the player character or the aims of the adventure.)

Act 4: Endings

Scene 1:

Porla Wery is an academic or a scout who has ‘concerns’.  She has been analysing old IISS data and can prove the canyon was misclassified to reduce its value.

Scene 2:

The Judge can be convinced to fast-track an injunction against the rights reversion, but only if the PC presents incontrovertible evidence, and survives to do so.

Scene 3:

It might be possible to uncover a physical copy of the original (unaltered) contract.  This is currently held in the personal vault of Rudo Makkel’s employer

Scene 4:

The local noble (TravellerMap says a Knight, but this could be adjusted to suit), perhaps in the person of their estate manager, Yennick Jissander, might be persuaded to apply political pressure.

Scene 5:

A date in court (if the PC is not an advocate, one may be assigned) or a tribunal offers the opportunity for a dramatic showdown; alternatively, there could be a negotiation with any number of armed NPCs raising the stakes.  (See Court ProceedingsJuly/August 2025, p.17)

Resolution

If the PC wins in court, or is able to supply the necessary evidence, Dinorthi retains their rights, a corrupt planetary official is exposed and the character’s reputation can go up several notches.  However, enemies may also have increased.

If the PC fails, the corporation pulls out, but new opportunities may arise from those grateful for the character’s efforts.  Perhaps the local noble becomes a patron wanting changes to a system that seems to see the law not as a shield to protect citizens but just a weapon for the wealthy.

Sarre Hennick’s death may or may not be ‘solved’.  Murder or corporate self-sacrifice or just an unfortunate accident?

Potential seeds to take this further:

• The shell company traced to Marc Swaden leads to a broader corporate conspiracy,
• Judge Gruth calls on the PC again in a future case,
• Werta Sinjin offers to become the PC’s assistant (she may have become a de facto NPC assistant or Referee voice in the course of the events above).