Survey mission / rescue mission
A local wealthy individual seeks to launch a survey mission to a distant (1
week travel time) planet.
6 years ago, his wife and 2 year old daughter were passengers on a ship
that was part of a convoy. The convoy was attacked in hyperspace, and many
ships lost. Through research, and by talking to survivors of the attack,
many of whom had to be tracked across the galaxy, he has reason to belive
that the ship his family was on was not destroyed, as the official record
states.
By tracking the flightplan described by survivors, matching hyperspace
drift, and the amount of damage the ship was believed to have sustained, he
has tracked what he believes may be it's final resting place, a distant,
unexplored solar system.
Your mission will be to travel to the system, and search for wreckage,
and/or survivors, rescueing any you may find, especially his wife and
daughter.
Game Master's Notes:
1) He is correct, and his wife and daughter ARE still alive, living on a
remote planet.
2) Finding of the colony, will not nessecarily find his family however.
The colonists, whom number in the thousands, are scattered across the face
of the planet. There are no radios, and each colony must be contacted
individually. If that's not hard enough, the colonies are mobile! During
the summer, each colony of 2 to 5 families (5 to 30 persons) will be
sailing in the great Northern Sea, as the southern and equitorial regions
are to hot to inhabit. During the winter, each colony will be sailing
their "ship" across the snow in the equitorial regions.
3) If you return with proof of the ship's survival, but without word of his
family, there is a 75% your patron will pay you the full amount, otherwise
only 50% pay. This is adjusted by how much effort went in to finding his
family, the mroe you worked, the mroe chance of full pay. If you return
with proof that his family is alive, you will receive 150-200% pay. Return
with his family, and he will pay you 10 times the original contract!
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A - 50%) His calculations are off, and this is the wrong solar system.
Extensive searching will show nothing.
B - 25%) This is the correct system. The ship, whose automated distress
beacon is still functioning, is drifting lifelessly through an asteroid
belt. The bare hulk is battered by asteroid hits, and barely holding
together in a recognizable shape. The main computer, along with most other
components, has been destroyed. Many dead bodies litter the ship. Finding
the Captain's log will reveal that the main complement of passengers and
crew escaped in several lifepods and descended to a planet in this system
(where they are currently living).
C - 15%) The damaged ship is in orbit around a planet. The crew and
passengers has used lifepods to land on the planet.
D - 10%) The ship is not in this system. After abandoning it using the
lifepods, it was sent directly into the sun, as it was felt that their
attackers would be following them. The passengers and crew are on the
planet however.