Freelance Traveller

The Wardn Gambit

by Bleddyn Wilson

This adventure originally appeared on the Amber Zone website in May 2015. This version, which appeared in the January/February 2025 issue, has been edited for clarity and to correct errors in the posted version.

This adventure assumes that the player-characters are retired scouts and have the use of a Suleiman-class (Type-S) Scout ship on detached duty.

Wardn was initially settled by a small group of colonists from the Sword Worlds. After the Third Frontier War, the System was fully absorbed into the Imperium. Only twenty percent of the population can claim in some part to be descendants of the original colonists. The rest are, for the most part, members of the scout service who have retired and taken up residence. The economy of the system has yet to develop due to a lack of industry and labor. Wardn’s economy is based on subsistence farming, providing foodstuffs or services, and contracting technical labor to the scout base, bringing additional income to supplement the local economy. The planet is governed by an appointed governor-general who also holds a knighthood in the sector peerage. The starport/Scout base is garrisoned by a permanent-duty Colonial Lift Infantry Battalion from Lunion equipped to tech level 12. Personnel rotate through two-year duty assignments.

Wardn is a warm, moist planet with a thin atmosphere and 64% Hydrographic. Its largest continent hosts large rolling planes and low mountains. Transplanted and modified flora and fauna are being studied for long-term impact and suitability for future seeding and development into an agricultural world. The downport/Scout base lies adjacent to the startown of Argent with small outlying farms that are currently successful in growing Terran-modified cereals and citrus foodstuffs; some small successful ranching of protein sources has made headway. 80% of the system’s population is located within the startown and surrounding farmsteads.

Players’ Information

Coming out of jumpsapce in the Wardn system, the Suliman-class Scout’s systems begin to register issues requiring maintenance and minor repairs with the Jump Drive. However, the group is in luck; Wardn has an IISS Scout base on the surface. The group reasons that repairs and maintenance should be easily accomplished there. As they land on a Scout base landing pad, they are met by a Scout base ground crew and a representative of the Base Commander asking that the players accompany him to the base administrative headquarters. Within minutes, the group is whisked by air rafts to the Administrative complex, built on a small hill. The group noticed many Imperial Colonial Army personnel and vehicles guarding the base’s perimeter.

Inside the Base Commander’s office, an Imperial Navy Lt. Commander and an IISS Commander with overall command of the base are waiting. They begin with pleasant introductions, refreshments are offered, and the base commander inquires about the group’s needs regarding stores and maintenance facilities for the ship’s repairs. The base commander then introduces Lt. Commander (LCDR) Gihelegashi, who appears disheveled and distraught but quickly masters himself to brief the group on the services he needs.

Gihelegashi begins by appealing to the patriotism of the group and the absolute need for confidentiality. He has a big problem. A recent report by the local Fleet Counterintelligence unit indicated that the Sword Worlds’ Directorate of Military Intelligence has ‘sleeper’ agents on the planet, under deep cover. The report also suggests a leak within a classified Joint Navy/Scout Special Intelligence Task Force stationed at the scout base. He sees an opportunity without tipping off the possible agent or compromised personnel by bringing in a Counterintelligence field unit. Gihelegashi is appealing to the group to act under his authority to investigate the primary suspect by maintaining surveillance until enough evidence can be gathered to arrest the suspect and possible accomplices. He is willing to reimburse all expenses for the operation, such as equipment needs, bribes, etc. He further offers as an incentive to each group member Cr20,000. Further, for former Imperial personnel, a letter of commendation and appreciation was signed by Vice Admiral Lord Danezi Vasilevye, to be entered into their service records.

The Scout base commander chimes in at this point, noting that there’s not much of a nightlife on Wardn, and it could be a way to keep from being bored for the time that will be needed to repair the PCs’ ship. If the group appears inclined to reject the offer, he will, apparently as an aside, note that there are several regulations he could invoke to re-activate the PCs and place them on assignment with LCDR Gihelegashi, in which case the Service would pay the costs, but there would be no Cr20,000 bonus or letter of commendation.

If (when?) the group accepts the offer, they will be briefed. The primary suspect is William Decher, a local 15-year resident who is married to a Communications Branch officer stationed at the Scout base. William Decher works as an outback safari guide and conservationist. His background is hazy, with a dubious record of a discharge from the Colonial Forces Imperial Army with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the infantry with assignments to Commando School as a student and later as an instructor. The brief record also notes the awards for three combat service ribbons: MCUF and Purple Heart. The Lunion Colonial Army is having difficulty finding a complete service record. The bureaucracy is slow, but it cooperates by trying to track down other members of his unit. His wife is Sarl Najal Guishivallii-Decher, a Scout Communications Branch Administrator in charge of the Communications Section for the base. The sensitive nature of her position gives her access to Imperial codes and all incoming and outgoing classified information within the sub-sector. A possible leak with the threat of a deep sleeper agent is of genuine concern to the Base Commander and LCDR Gihelegashi.

Referee’s Information

The group has arrived in the buildup to the Fifth Frontier War. A joint Imperial Navy/Scout Service Surveillance Intelligence Task Force is located on the base. It is the cover for a joint operation for placing operatives and collection efforts in the Sword Worlds. Specially modified Suleiman-class scout/couriers with Jump 3 capability are hidden within the squadron assigned to the base. Sword Worlds Directorate of Military Intelligence and its outworld coalition partners have long suspected the base’s covert activities. They have a team of operatives on the planet keeping the base under surveillance and have ongoing active collection efforts within the base. The fears of Naval Intelligence are well founded, and to their credit, they have identified one, unknowingly, of the deep cover agents.

LCDR Gihelegashi has more than just the security of the operation to be concerned about; he is in love with Decher’s wife and has had an ongoing intimate liaison with her for the past two years. Her background check has been stringent and verified. The thought of her being coerced and compromised by William is maddening to the lovestruck naval officer. He is unaware that he is the target of a honey pot operation. The object of his romantic intentions is a Zhodani intelligence officer who uses her psionic abilities to gather information from her day-to-day contacts. She is aware her cohabiting partner’s cover is blown, and to further insulate her, the misdirection of exposing Decher’s cover will maintain the flow of intelligence to the Outworld Coalition. Sarl and William, by engaging in some high-stakes theatrics, including kidnapping Sarl and attempting to take her off world with the assistance of a Vargr Corsair band (who are proxies of the Sword World Confederation Directorate of Intelligence Special Activities Branch), will throw Imperial Counterintelligence off the scent.

Sarl and William have planned in two days to have an incident of an incriminating low-frequency encrypted off-world signal communication burst to emanate from William’s Safari Company’s Office that will be easy for a decryption expert to begin to extract a location deep in the Wardn High Veld and the phrase “movement of goods.” William will deliberately make it somewhat easy for the group to follow his sub-par tradecraft, sloppy dead drops to maintain the party’s focus on him. In the meantime, Sarl is moving copies of cryptological ciphers, dossiers, and critical intelligence that would expose imperial agents and the carefully constructed networks with the Sword Worlds Confederation. The fundamental objective is to ensure that Outworld Coalition’s attack on the Spinward Marches achieves strategic surprise.

William will lead the group on a merry chase through the startown and veld to draw the party to perceive and rendezvous with a corsair ship in the veld to take him and “captive” Sarl off the world. The party will observe the logistics planning, such as purchasing restraints and food and stocking an air raft with weapons, communication gear, and survival equipment. William will also use dead drops to create red herrings dead-end inquiries by falsely implicating local officials and Scout Base personnel as co-conspirators. It is essential to know that William has limited access to the Scout Base as a dependent and socializes with the personnel in off-duty settings.

Ninety-six hours after the group sets down on the planet, William and Sarl will begin the theatrics, setting the final plan in motion. Gihelegashi will receive a frantic and broken video message from Sarl saying there was a struggle at her domicile and pleading for help. Will and Sarl will stage the house as a violent struggle, with them taking off for the rendezvous point mentioned in the previous off-world communication signal, followed by a second signal right after the flash message from Sarl to Gihelegashi. With the group and Gihelegashi in hot pursuit, they will arrive at the rendezvous point to see a hovering Vargr Corsair ship with armored corsairs moving baggage and personnel aboard. Presumably, a firefight will erupt between the group and Vargr Corsairs, and casualties will be taken. Still, William will escape, leaving Sarl drugged and restrained in a grav utility truck, creating the image of an “unsuccessful” attempt to exfiltrate her off-world.

The postscript will be the reuniting of the lovers. In the debrief, Sarl will continue to exploit her relationship with Gihelegashi and her position as a middle-level scout administrator to collect intelligence. At the end of the investigation, she will be cleared of any charges and suspicions. She will be transferred to the major Scout/Naval facility on Lunion, right under Naval Counterintelligence’s noses.

Main NPCs

LCDR Elian Gihelegashi
8789CA Age 38
(Imperial Navy Line/Intelligence [4 terms])
MCG, MCUF, Combat Command×2, Combat Service ribbon×4, Flight School, Staff College, Intelligence School×2
Admin-2, Computer-2, Interrogation-2, Pilot-2, Streetwise-2, Communications-1, Engineering-1, Fleet Tactics-1, Forward Observer -1, Gunnery (Lasers)-1, Handgun-1, Navigation-1, Ship’s Boat-1, Ship Tactics-1, SMG-1, Vaccsuit-1.

Gihelegashi is the Imperial Navy Senior Intelligence Officer Assigned to the Joint Navy-Scout Intelligence Detachment Wardn.

Sarl Najal Guishivallii-Decher
687AAA Psi:9 Age: 44
Scout Communications Administrator
(Actually, Zhodani [deep-cover] Intelligence operative)
Telepathy-9, Clairvoyance-5, Awareness-4; Streetwise-2, Forgery-2, Communications-2, Admin-2, Computer-2, Electronics-2, Bribery-1, Interrogation-1, Handgun-1, Vaccsuit-1

Sarl is a specially trained deep penetration Zhodani operative descended from Solomani-Vilani Stock Humanity.

Paul-William Decher
978988 Age: 42
Private Safari Company operator
Uncertain record with Imperial Army, Lunion Colonial Forces (falsified)
(Actually, Sword World Confederation Army, 3 terms)
CMV×2, Wound Badge-Bronze, Commando School×2,
Combat Rifleman-2, Streetwise-2, Bribery-1, Tactics-1, Forgery-1, Brawling-1, Recon-1, Grav Vehicle-1, Blade-1, Demolitions-1, Survival-1, Communications-1, Grenadier-1, Vaccsuit-1, Handgun-1

Decher is a member of the Directorate of Military Intelligence’s Special Service Force Brigade 502.

Scout Base

Commanded: IISS-Group Capt. (O6)
6×Suliman-class scout/couriers
    4×standard
    2×modified for J3 infiltration capability
300 IISS Scout Personnel
50 Imperial Navy Personnel

Security:
IISS Security Forces Detachment
Imperial Army Lunion Colonial Lift Infantry Battalion (Major (O4) in command)

Headquarters and Support Company
3×Rifle Security Companies
1×Reconnaisance Patrol Squadron

Services Company:
Xiphos Solutions Company Cadre for Assisting and advising the Local Defense Force (Major (O4) in command)