13. Drifting slaver

You receive a brief but urgent distress call, low on details, a fairly anonymous transponder code. A small freighter is drifting with a broken plasma injector coil. Maybe you can help? 


As you approach, you see a brick-shaped hauler, one of thousands used by private trading companies. When you dock however, you hear a rhythmic clanging through the airlock mechanism, as if someone was banging on the hull from within. S…. O… S…


Type: Drifting freighter

Function: Illegal slaver

Power source: Fusion

Gravity: None

Size: 79.3 m

Affiliation: Criminal

Population: Crew of 5, 12 prisoners in the hold 

Sells: Nothing

Buys: One plasma injector coil of almost any model


The crew, a collection of grizzled, gruff spacers, are slave traders and human traffickers. Upon docking, they thank you curtly and try to make it very clear that they only need a replacement coil and are ready to pay a fair sum. They seem very keen to quickly conclude business. 


The common area of the vessel is small and cramped, with a filthy zero-g mess hall so typical for these vessels. The large cargo hold is firmly shut. When asked what they are shipping they reply “grain”. However, they have 14 bound up prisoners taken during a raid on a small mining colony. Two of the prisoners have died, one has managed to free a hand to strike the message with a wrench upon realising that someone is docking.


The crew is nervous and prone to violence if the PCs show more than passing interest in the cargo hold. They are fairly experienced fighters and know their vessel as well as the back of their hands. If hard pressed, they will attempt to trigger a catastrophic reactor malfunction and escape; either by stealing the vessel of the PCs or failing that, taking the lifeboat.


If somehow freed, the prisoners react with a mixture of teary-eyed thankfuulness and hollow-eyes apathy. They have no home, as it was destroyed and nowhere to go to.

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