12. Tightbeam relay

You were not supposed to find this. Something like a complex radio mast is affixed to the small asteroid, full of auxiliary antennas and dishes. It’s a tightbeam relay station, designed to intercept, refocus and forward encrypted, laser-borne messages. The secrecy relied on the improbability of anyone finding it; yet here you are. Whoever the owners are, they have seen you…


Type: Tightbeam relay

Function: Secret communication 

Power source: Thermonuclear batteries

Gravity: None

Size: Mast, 100 m

Affiliation: Military

Population: None 

Sells: Nothing

Buys: Nothing


The station is undefended, but a message has been sent out to the owning government. There is no reliable way of discerning who owns the mast, but the PC ship is already identified and a target for covert attack vessels throughout the system. One way of avoiding it would be to spread the information about the station very fast, at which points an attack would become pointless. Try to make it clear to the PCs that the knowledge about the station is very sensitive information.


The station will receive a message to self-destruct within the hour. Disconnecting the receiver to avoid it requires a technology test. Then, the device might be put to some other use that the PCs might devise. 

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