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An adventure for Classic Traveller Little Black Books set on and around the Pandora Research Station in the Elysium system. (Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.)
Summary
One does not simply walk onto Pandora Research Station.
Background
Characters who have gathered the information in the Dossier on the Pandora Research Station know that Pandora created the planet-killer on the data crystal, and that MediShield's Black Market operation works almost openly on board. The characters should be motivated to get on board somehow to figure out how to dismantle the Black Market. If the characters have captured a Quartz Leopard during Drafting Research Subjects, then they've got an easy way to get on Pandora.
Adventure
Approaching Pandora is fairly easy, but convincing Pandora to let them dock is the difficult part. If characters can provide video evidence of having a Quartz Leopard on board, Pandora Control will clear them to dock immediately. Otherwise it'll take some fast talking with the fairly straight-laced security forces to get on board. Using Bribery could work, as could Admin, Bureaucracy, Merchant, or Liason.
Inviting Dmitri Valentin along will get an instant invitation, but the security forces will also alert Admiral Greenberg to the fact that Dmitri went off the script as quickly as they can. Refer to MediShield's Black Market for the ramifications of that notification. Also know that the half of the security personnel in the know are under orders to scuttle the entire facility with all hands if anything threatens the Black Market.
Pandora has access to a Pinnace and a Fast System Boat, both armed well enough to give anything less than 200 tons pause before openly attacking. Characters with Pilot or Gunnery skills will get a decent enough look at the ships to know they won't be pushovers if the missiles start flying. The Patrol Cruiser in orbit around Stygia will track down any ship escaping from battle, and there may be other ships closer to Pandora that may get involved if a fight breaks out.
Assuming the characters eventually dock at Pandora, they deal with security and a low-level functionary. If they have a Quartz Leopard in good health, they'll get their 10kCr immediately and be sent on their way. If they have any other request, they're delayed as long as possible. If the characters can make a convincing enough argument or out-Bureaucracy the functionary who has Bureaucracy-1, they can get a meeting with Facility Administrator Dr. Laura Falken. Details of that meeting will come in the next article...
Further Hooks
It's possible the characters could find out that one of the security forces has a particular addiction (or a deep-seated penchant for collecting obscure art if you want to keep drugs out of your game) from information gathering efforts on Elysium. This could turn into an instant Bribery success to get the characters on board Pandora, and a possible means of leverage if push comes to shove later on.
Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.
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