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Shadowbox

by Mike Marchi

In The New Era, finding relic technology is the key to the future. This hot recovery operation will give you the key. Do you dare open the door?

Adventure

The ship is the RCS Geneva Convention, a multi-mission sloop. The players are Jump-Troops aboard the ship. Captain Nathaniel "Skater" Hardesty calls the players in for the mission briefing:

RCN Mission Briefing

Background Information:

World Name: Camilla
Location of World: Harlequin / Solomani Rim
UPP: E-565775-8

The world of Camilla is located on the outer edge of the Coalition�s Area Of Operations. When first investigated two years ago, Camilla had a Tech Level of only 6. That level of technology was confirmed in each of the two nations on the planet, Shendar and Waybec. Recent scouting missions have revealed a disturbing trend on the planet. Not only had the smaller of the two nations grown strong, but it had done so at a phenomenal rate. Much to quickly to have been the result of natural development. Our only conclusion was that some cache of high technology artifacts had been recovered.

As usual, a covert scouting mission was sent in to determine the source of the technological jump. The king of the nation of Shendar had recently dismissed all of his normal advisors, and had appointed a single advisor, who was referred to by the title of "Grand Wizard". At first, this title seemed a joke, but it soon became obvious that the wizard was indeed the source of the Shendarran leap. Every battle undertaken by the Shendarran army has been a victory since Garrion became advisor to King Hamman.

Our initial belief was that the Grand Wizard is some sort of tactical genius. He always seems to have an overwhelming force exactly where and when he needs it. Our operatives began studying this phenomenon in detail. Troop deployments were tracked, and soon it became obvious that we were overestimating the Wizard�s tactical expertise. We watched as a decidedly small force of troops (no more than 100) were brought to a small island off the coast of Waybec. The force was met by the garrisoned troops there which numbered over 500 men. The satellite photos were quite explicit.

A very grainy video image of the Shendarran base camp is shown. The Grand Wizard can be clearly seen waving at troops as they file out of a base-tent. The line of troops continues to file out, well over 1000 troops exited that tent!

The lights come back on. "Not only that, but the Grand Wizard was seen at the capital city of Shendar only an hour previous to this. Any air transport (remember, the Shendarrans have not yet attained space flight), would have taken at least four hours. Somehow, the Grand Wizard managed to appear on an island over twelve-hundred miles from the Shendar border, with an additional 900 troops.
 

Mission Background:

Based on the available evidence, we concluded that Garrion has secured some sort of teleportation device. An RCS covert ops team was sent in two months ago to learn more about this alleged device.

Based on sightings of Garrion�s movements across Camilla, we have determined that there are a minimum of four fixed teleportation points. Additionally, there appear to be at least two mobile points. As the army of Shendar advances, the teleportation points move with it. The decision was made to "obtain" one of the mobile units.

The following information is classified. Three weeks ago. A smash & grab mission was run on the forward position of the Shendarran army. The ship that performed the run was RCS Eagle Claw. RCS Geneva Convention was the shadow on this run. We watched and waited for Eagle Claw to complete the mission. They failed. The team went in, secured a DZ for a cutter, and dusted off. The team had transmitted "Pay Dirt", the code phrase which indicated that they had recovered some sort of device. The cutter docked with Eagle Claw. They then proceded to send a coded burst transmission to us with the results of the raid. Shortly thereafter, we lost contact with them. At this point, we must assume that the Shendarrans have gained control of the RCS Eagle Claw. Most likely, they used the teleportation device to board the ship before necessary security measures were put in place.
 

Mission Objectives:

It is necessary to have a follow-up mission. The objective of this mission is to learn the secret of the teleporter, and if possible, secure the actual control mechanism. If that control mechanism cannot be found, the network must be destroyed. We have decided on a two-pronged attack. The first prong will be run by the Aurora Clipper RCS Thunderchild, under the command of Pat "Who Me" Ritter. This will be a full-blown attack on the most remote Shendarran position. The idea is to trick Garrion into committing as many forces as possible to repel Thunderchild�s attack. Phase two will consist of your team. Once we confirm that Garrion has begun pulling troops to Thunderchild�s strike zone, the team from RCS Geneva Convention will move in. We assume that there is a center to the network. Your mission is to find it. We assume that center will be well guarded, so you will go in wearing battle dress. Speed is of the essence. Once the center is located, the area must be secured. If the mechanism can be acquired, then your orders are to do so. If it cannot, your orders are to destroy the network. Your code name for this mission is GenCon. Remember. We have no way of knowing where you will be when you call in your recovery team, so there is likely to be a delay before we can get to you.
Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises.
Portions of this material are © 1977-1996 Far Future Enterprises
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Copyright © 1997 by Michael J. Marchi