Freelance Traveller

Shanghaied

by Richard Morey

This article was originally a featured article in the January 2013 issue.

Given SuSAG’s appetite for indentured workers on Lush, it’s not surprising that there is a black market for bodies to feed it. A common practice is to lure unsuspecting people into situations where they can be drugged or otherwise rendered unconscious and then turned over to local SuSAG reps for a ‘finder’s fee.’ The victim doesn’t regain consciousness until they are being revived from their low passage to Lush, at which time they are in debt to SuSAG, and will have to work it off (though they don’t have the contract fee to worry about). The rare successful protest will ‘allow’ the victim to opt to take their chances in the wilds. Most victims don’t last long enough to get off-world to expose the situation.

The PCs are approached by Milt Girflet. He explains that his son, Helgi, disappeared a year ago. He has since learned that Helgi was shanghaied by black-market ‘recruiters’ and sold into indentured servitude on Lush. Milt has mortgaged everything he owns to come up with the Cr 20,000 to buy Helgi’s contract and fund a team to retrieve his son. He offers the PCs Cr10,000 each to go to Lush, find Helgi, buy his contract and bring him home.

This adventure may be run multiple times, each time in search of a different unfortunate victim of the black market supply system.

Possible directions to take this adventure:

1. The situation is just as Milt has presented it. The PCs will need to obtain permission to land on Lush, pay off Helgi’s contract, and then travel to one of the sprice camps to retrieve him. Travel to the camp will be by ground vehicle supplied by SuSAG. The vehicle has a GPS transmitter in it so that SuSAG security can monitor the PCs location. Tampering with the device will result in fighters being sent to locate the PCs with SuSAG security teams in G/Carriers following up.
2. As in 1, but before the camp manager will release Helgi he will demand that all debts incurred at the camp, Cr 6000, are paid directly to him.
3. As in 1, but at the camp the PCs learn that Helgi died a month ago from swamp fever.
4. As in 3, except Helgi didn’t really die. He was trying to organize the indentured workers and, learning that he was ‘going to be dealt with,’ Helgi fled into the wilds where he is now with one of the renegade bands.
5. As in 1, but Helgi has been sent on to another camp.
6. As in 2, but Helgi has fallen in love with another indentured worker, Asvii Drystaan, and won’t leave without her. In addition to her contract, Asvii owes the camp Cr 8000.