Dead End

Story

Characters

World

Reference

Interstellar Travel Draft

Passenger travel between systems is priced by what you can pay — from working passage on a hauler to a luxury yacht. PCs each start with a free 3rd-class ticket to Thides they may take, upgrade, or trade down for cash. Ships carry transponders; fleet vessels ping unidentified hulls and can order inspections, and only the Federal Marshal Service codes a transponder legally.

Overview

Passenger travel between systems takes many forms, mostly decided by the credits you’re willing to offer. At the low end you hitch a ride as a working hand — say, maintenance crew on a cargo hauler; at the high end, a luxury yacht. In between sit the common options: 3rd-class passage on a transport, or an arranged job as merchant marine aboard a cargo cruiser.

Details

  • Working passage — trade labor for a berth (maintenance hand, deckhand). Cheapest; least comfort.
  • 3rd-class passage — the standard cheap ticket on a transport. The default PC fare.
  • Merchant-marine berth — an arranged job aboard a cargo cruiser; passage in exchange for service.
  • Luxury — chartered or yacht travel for those with the credits to spend.

Transponders and Fleet Enforcement

Every hull in a traffic lane is expected to be broadcasting. A Federal Republican Interseller Fleet vessel — The Montgomery in the Eris System — pings an unidentified ship, accepts a transponder that comes on late, and politely orders an inspection on arrival. Blank transponders are a junkyard commodity (the House of Parts stocks them) and will run on a ship’s system, but only the Federal Marshal Service codes one legally. A properly coded transponder therefore trades on the black market at a price Roselyn Monroe set at one kidnapping. Confirmed Session 7.

Arrival Decision (Player-Facing)

Player Choice — Getting to Thides

As part of your hire, every character is given a free 3rd-class ticket to the Thides System. It’s up to you whether your character:

  • Takes it straight — ride 3rd class, no fuss.
  • Leverages it — put it toward better accommodations on the way in.
  • Trades it down — swap for a worse form of transport and pocket the difference as extra cash.

Cross-Domain Links

  • Federal Credits — passage is priced in credits; what form of money you carry shapes what you can buy en route.
  • FTL and Hyperspace — the gates and lanes these passengers actually ride.
  • Politics and Citizenship — the Marshal Service that codes transponders, and the forged IDs that get a crew past the checkpoints the transponder gets a ship past.
  • Thides System — the destination, and (per MacMillian’s grip) a system whose traffic in and out is tightly controlled.