Freelance
TravellerHuman female apparently in her late 20s/early 30s.
"Janusa" is one of several names that she answers to, given to her as a code name; few people know her real name.
A crook, she became a spy in the Fifth Frontier War pretending to work for the Sword Worlds but really employed by the Imperium. The Sword Worlds awarded her high honors, the Imperium a pardon for all past crimes. Both "awards" were granted in secret.
Described not as beautiful but striking, she grew up on Mora in an industrial area and for a time worked in the starship yards. When work became scarce before the war she joined the infantry arms of Mora's System Defense Forces. She did not make a good soldier and, after a stint or two in the stockade/brig, was pitched out. She then took up crime, starting out in petty swindles and moving up to commercial burglary.
Early in the war the SwordWorlds occupied several worlds and found her languishing in a local prison. Thinking they had a ready lady with a grudge against the Imperium they put the question to her. Would she like to work for them? "Indeed I would," she replied, given that the pay was good and the living accommodations an improvement over her present circumstances. They took her home with them and trained her to be a spy. Considering that the alternative was death or a Sword Worlds prison colony she was a very apt and ready pupil.
Inserted back behind the front she rapidly realized which way the wind was likely to finally blow. She therefore quickly rolled over on her erstwhile employers. When asked about her in a debriefing years later, one of her Imperial handlers was said to have laughed and replied "It's like the old story, don't ya know, a pretty little snake is still a snake. They really shouldn't be surprised at being bit after they picked her up. Then again neither should we."
The task she had been set to was the sabotage of the starship yards at Mora. With a little creative disinformation the Sword Worlds were convinced and subsequent communications only enhanced her esteem in their eyes. She returned to the Sword Worlds, was debriefed and prepared again for another mission. She was then reinserted into Imperial territory. "Unfortunately" the system and several adjacent ones were quickly over run by the Zhodani. Reportedly she spent the rest of the war dodging them.
She might be encountered in a bar, a café, a resort, restaurant, hotel, casino etc.. If the PCs control, own or serve as crew on a star ship she may seek passage on their vessel. She appears to be quite wealthy, very high class, with an accent to match. If encountered travelling she does so with a substantial amount of luggage.
Who might be after her? The Sword Worlds, if they ever tumble. Perhaps a former acquaintance whom she may have stiffed out of the loot from one of the robberies she committed in the past. Maybe the Imperial Ministry of Justice with questions about what she did, on a freelance basis when behind the Zhodani lines. There were some suspicious robberies during the occupation that bear her mark and the loot was never accounted for by the partisans or recovered. Questions also remain in Imperial intelligence circles as to her last mission; had the Sword Worlds actually sent her in to spy on the Zhodani?