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The characters are contracted by the Free Stockholm Mercantile Corps to accomplish two tasks. The first task is to acquire the formula for a vaccine against space flu and the second, two-three months later, when a suitably large batch has been made, to transport 4l of vaccine to the Lagrange Space Station, where it will be distributed and hopefully save the station from an epidemic in the making.
The vaccine is currently the property of Chaos Cola Company, presumably in their Berlin HQ. It is believed that a quick raid and a cat-burglar entry will be all that is needed. Transportation and, should it be needed, additional equipment can be provided by FSMC, though any losses will be docked from their final payment.
An ideal party would have at least one courier, at least one space merchant and hopefully one or more ex-military heavies.
The characters have all seen and responded to an ad in ``Freebooter International''12.1, the trade magazine for legally grey employment. They've all arrived at a small office in Stockholm and it is heavily hinted that the job they're about to be briefed on is underwritten by FSMC.
As the characters enter the small office, they're met by Lt. Col. Pallin, FSMC Intelligence.
Welcome, my name is Lieutenant Colonel Jeanne Pallin. I am with a military organisation, as you might have understood from my title. We have a job that is medium-risk, medium-term, well-paying. All reasonable expenses will be paid. You will execute one action of industrial espionage and one long-distance courier mission, using proceeds from said industrial espionage.
Any of you who feel reservations about taking this commission, please leave the room now. If you stay for further briefing, you will have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, limited in time for up to three years and we will contract the Free Stockholm Mercantile Corps to enforce said NDA.
Lt. Col. Pallin waits until it is clear those in the room wish to stay, contracts are brought out and signed.
Thank you. I am here on behalf of FSMC Intelligence. We are in dire need of vaccine against Space Flu, strain C20, partly for future internal use and partly to fulfil a contract with Lagrange Station. Unfortunately, the process for making said vaccine, a suitable RNA sequence and some test samples are currently in the possession of the Chaos Cola Company. Our intelligence indicates that it is being kept in the CCC HQ in Berlin. We will need you to enter the building, locate the lab, steal a few samples and copy the process and sequencing data. We can provide covert transportation, chameleon suits and, if needed, loan you other specialist equipment. Unfortunately, our budget will not stretch to cover this equipment, should it be lost or damaged, so it will have to be covered out of your fee. However, we have a fairly comprehensive insurance cover and we do pay ``danger money'', so should it be that you will have to abandon some or all of the equipment due to, say, a fire-fight, most of the cost will probably be covered by the insurance.
After you have, ahem, acquired these assets, you will have to return to Stockholm, where we will produce as much vaccine as we can in two months. You will then have to act as couriers to Lagrange Station, where you will deliver the shipment to our local representatives, for further distribution. The pay schedule is one quarter now, one quarter after the assets are delivered to Stockholm, one quarter before the courier phase of the mission starts and the remainder upon successful delivery. We pay in Credits. Should you wish to have payment done in an as untraceable as possible fashion, we can assist with that, at only a 0.1% charge. After successful completion of this mission, you can, if you wish, be put on our subcontractor list and as such you will have access to equipment at a discounted price and, should you wish, training at one of our many facilities.
The equipment that will be provided no matter what is chameleon suits with power packs, a stealth flighter with pilot and maps of the target building and surrounding city blocks. If asked-for, an electronic lock-pick can be provided. Combat suits are available, but anything heavier than a light powered armour will only be provided to someone with 40% or more in Combat Suit skill.
The interesting part of the CCC HQ is the top floor, where the board
offices and the high-security lab is located. There is a map at
p.![[*]](/icons/crossref.png){kind=icon}
.
There are four security guards (p. ) on duty in
the building during off hours. One is stationed at the street-level
entrance, one is stationed at the security post on the top floor and
two are acting as roving security patrols, sweeping the whole building
(in singles) on a random schedule.
The guards wear their body armour at all times, just in case. On average, there is a break-in attempt once every two months, so the guards stay relatively sharp.
The guards will open fire or attack with the sabre (depending a bit on exactly where they are) shortly after having challenged anyone they don't recognise in the building out-of-hours. In general, anyone challenged has about five seconds to behave extremely non-threatening and being able to produce a valid employee or subcontractor pass-card at very short notice. Any CCC employee wanting to work overtime needs to make Security aware before evening comes. The floor where they're the most relaxed is on the top floor, since they have a much better idea of who is on that floor.
Basically, all the players need is in the laboratory (room 3 on the map), though further investigation can reveal other items of worth.
The checkpoint is surrounded by 20 cm of concrete and armour-plate sandwich (this includes ceiling and floor),
Depending on how noticeable the characters were during their break-and-enter at the CCC HQ, they will either have two months of top quality relaxation and training at an FSMC training camp or being hounded. If the heat is on to them too bad, FSMC will not protect them, that'd be ``bad economy''. This would be if they trashed the place and killed more than one guard.
If the characters have access to a lander of their own, they'll be
heavily pushed towards using it. Lacking that, one will be provided by
FSMC and piloted by a combat veteran. Mere minutes before boarding,
carrying a cool-box containing 4l of vaccine and a data disk, the party
are ambushed by CCC security guards (see p. ).
If the characters are using FSMC transport, their pilot will simply put down smoke grenades and shuffle them in the general direction of the lander and execute an emergency take-off as soon as everyone is in. If the characters are on their own, let them decide what's happening.
), 1 km in largest diameter, with the
toroidal tube having a diameter of 100 m. Lagrange Station is the home
of ca 3 million people. Docking facilities is in the counter-rotating
hub section. This section also contains all microgravity production
facilities. Landers will be shifted into the spokes for storage while
the owner(s) are on the station.
On the station, the characters will need to deliver the vaccine to the FSMC representative. After delivery, production of more vaccine will start immediately and the 4000 doses the characters have delivered will be administered to dock workers, customs inspectors and health care personnel.
There are, basically, two ways to play this encounter, depending on the GM. Either it's a straightforward ``dock, look up the FSMC office in the directory, execute delivery, get paid, finito'' or (if wanted) one can place all sorts of CCC-contracted assassins on the route, with the entanglement with the legal office this would cause.
Jeanne is a short, blond, good-looking woman with an attitude. She keeps her hair cropped close to her head.
Stats and skills should be unnecessary for her, since she won't, as such, be in direct confrontation with the characters. If needs be, her stats can be summarised as ``über-competent''. Feel free to equip her with an array of nasty knives and a silenced pistol or two.
Jeanne is 32 years old and has been serving in the FSMC since the age of 14. She gravitated towards Intelligence section since she had a natural aptitude for covert work and data analysis. She has also pulled a stint as instructor at the FSMC paratrooper training facility.
Major Peter Englund is a tall, thin and wiry man, wearing thin glasses. His head is shaven and he sports a penil-thin moustache. He is surpisingly relaxed and laid-back for an FSMC official, but doesn't quite engage in ``chuminess''.
| STR | 12 | INT | 11 |
| CON | 13 | POW | 9 |
| AGL | 13 | PER | 15 |
| CON | 16 | hp | 25 |
| fatigue | 25 |
| Skill | % |
| Assault Rifle | 26 |
| Dodge | 43 |
| Edged sword | 31 |
| Glock 17 | 32 |
| Pistols | 31 |
| Rifles | 30 |
| Sabre | 40 |
