Jobs and Contracts

Escort and Convoy

Slow freighters and farm haulers need guards on Mid and Rim routes. Crews fly escort, fight off raiders and talk down syndicate toll gangs. Pirates shoot at the fuel tanks first. Insurers may not pay if nobody can show the escort was there.

• A ship in the convoy is carrying contraband, and now everyone is a target.

• Another Free Company says it was hired for the same convoy.

• A pirate offers the escort money to look the other way.

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Recovery and Salvage

Crews pull cargo and parts out of dead ships, wrecked Serean cloud cities and caved-in Caraphex tunnels. They have to claim the salvage fast, or a local court or company takes it. Wrecks leak air, poison and fuel. Rival crews and syndicates want a cut.

• The wreck holds dangerous biotech that the Authority wants destroyed.

• Two planet governments both claim the salvage.

• The wreck is not empty. Survivors are aboard, and they are hostile.

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Ice Hauling

Dry worlds and stations live on Vellari ice. Crews ride along with Vellari tugs as guards, or haul cut ice to depots themselves. Ice jackers and syndicates go after the tows, and thirsty locals sometimes do too.

• The ice on board was stolen by jackers, and the Grand Council wants it back.

• Desperate locals try to take the water during unloading.

• A rival crew sabotages the tanks to frame the players.

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Grid Repair

Many Mid and Rim worlds run on failing grids and reactors. Talarq parts keep them going, but the parts need guards and someone to install them. Crews haul the parts, protect the engineers and stay until the grid is back up. Rim grids can fail mid-job and cause blackouts or radiation leaks.

• The grid belongs to a syndicate town that cares about speed, not safety.

• A rival company sends saboteurs.

• The part is a fake Forge part, and the crew has to decide whether to say so.

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Lane Scouting

Keth navigators hire escorts to fly bad lanes, check beacons and expose fake charts. Crews fly the lane, record anything strange and compare it to the charts. Pirates watch survey ships for easy targets. Exposing a fake chart that makes a syndicate money can get a crew blacklisted.

• A shortcut turns out to lead straight into a pirate ambush.

• Two data brokers fight over who owns the new chart.

• The survey shows an Authority report was faked on purpose.

• A dead beacon is still sending a signal nobody can read.

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Clinic Runs

Worlds hit by disease need medicine fast. The cargo is valuable, and inspections, fees and bribes slow it down. Crews protect it from thieves and deliver it to clinics and aid stations. Late medicine spoils.

• The cargo includes a drug that is legal only where it is going.

• A rival aid group tries to take the shipment.

• The crew must choose between the client and a desperate town that is not on the list.

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Data Runs

Records decide who owns what and who counts as a person, so data is worth a lot. Couriers carry locked data drives through hostile ports. Syndicates try to steal or change the data. Big companies try to bury it. Ports hold couriers on made-up charges until someone pays.

• The drive could wipe or restore a crew member's legal identity.

• A Synthborn client wants Right-to-Patch papers carried to a world where they are illegal.

• Three groups claim the same data drive.

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Bounty Hunting

The Authority's patrols are too thin to catch everyone, so it posts bounties and lets freelancers do the work. Companies, the Grand Council and syndicates post bounties too. Targets are pirates, ice jackers, fugitives, deserters and debt skippers. Hunters check the bounty boards, track the target across ports, make sure it is the right face, and bring them in. Alive pays full. Dead often pays less, or nothing. Most bounties are small. A few are big enough to change a crew's life.

• The target is an old crewmate of one of the players.

• Two groups post different orders for the same fugitive.

• The bounty is fake, posted to lure hunters into a trap.

• The target offers more than the reward to be let go.

• A rival hunter shows up with a fake capture to claim the pay.

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Debt Collection

Crews get hired to collect debts, enforce work terms, or take back ships and goods. Everyone hates debt collectors. Whole towns turn out to protect their own. Courts may take the goods and leave the crew unpaid.

• The debtor offers a bribe to fake the payment records.

• A big company wants a lifetime work contract enforced.

• The debtor is innocent. A syndicate faked the debt.

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Smuggling and Contraband

Syndicates, desperate governments and even aid groups hire crews to move banned goods. That means weapons, illegal tech, unlicensed medicine and blacklisted data. Crews hide the cargo, fake the cargo list and bribe inspectors. Getting caught means a seized ship, prison or forced work.

• The cargo is alive and does not want to go.

• A bribed inspector changes sides and wants double.

• A local town badly needs the cargo, but the contract says to deliver it somewhere else.

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Hostage Retrieval

Syndicates, pirates and rivals take hostages for ransom. Crews get hired to negotiate, make the trade, or break the captive out. Captors may kill hostages if pushed. Ransom money gets faked or stolen on the way.

• A middleman is raising the ransom and keeping the difference.

• The hostage helped plan the kidnapping.

• Several groups want the same hostage as leverage.

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Relic Recovery

Dead stations, lost colonies and empty worlds hold old stockpiles, dangerous tech and ruins older than the Authority. Data brokers, big companies and faith groups hire crews to bring things back. Sites can be toxic, unstable or full of squatters. Rival crews race to get there first.

• The find exposes old crimes, and powerful people want it gone.

• A faith group demands the relic for itself.

• A Synthborn group says the find shows where machine people came from.

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Hazard Containment

Toxic spills, reactor leaks and runaway machines spread fast. Crews get hired to close off the area, destroy the machines, shut down reactors or help people get out. These jobs are underpaid and dangerous, and backup rarely comes.

• The hazard spreads faster than expected, and the crew is trapped.

• A big company caused it and wants the evidence gone.

• The cleanup uncovers valuable but unstable tech.

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Political Jobs

Planet governments and big companies quietly hire crews to deliver bribes, steal records or sabotage rivals before a deal. Crews move quietly and leave no trail. If they get caught, they get called syndicate thugs or spies.

• The bribe money turns out to be fake.

• The target refuses the payoff and threatens to expose everyone.

• The crew must choose between the contract and exposing the corruption.

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Passenger Transport

Rich travelers, political exiles and pilgrims pay for quiet, safe passage. Crews protect them, keep their mouths shut and get them there alive. Passengers can draw syndicate interest, or turn out to be fugitives.

• A passenger has a bounty worth more than the fare.

• Rival groups try to grab a passenger before arrival.

• A passenger is dangerous and turns on the crew halfway through the trip.