P-4836 is a small planetoid in the belt of the Rabwhar system (planetary characteristics: C000219C). The planetoid is owned by Sternmetal Horizons, LIC, which uses it for top secret experimental purposes.
The players are approached by a representative of an unnamed firm which wishes to retain a small group of people for a discrete mission. Sternmetal and several other megacorporations have bid on an Imperial contract which will be worth billions of credits to the winner. Sternmetal is rumoured to have developed a new and innovative manufacturing process which will enable them to reduce costs by 5% to 7% per unit. This may seem small, but it will mean a savings of several million credits in the long run, and will enable Sternmetal to submit the lowest bid. The precess was developed on P-4836 and the patron has determined that, for security reasons, its details are being kept there, stored in the experimental stations computer. The patron offers Cr 1000000 if the players can penetrate the defenses of P-4836, copy the details of the manufacturing process, and turn the information over to him, without being discovered.
The patron provides the following additional information upon acceptance of the mission.
The starport at P-4836 is of a size equivalent to a C class starport, but with the difference that refined fuel is available. It is a private installation, and unauthorized ships are not permitted to land. Outside vessels (those not owned by Sternmetal) sometimes dock at P-4836, carrying supplies and new personnel for the station, but crews are not permitted to enter the station proper, and rigorous security checks are carried out upon any employee entering or leaving the station (obviously, the unnamed firm has been unable to suborn a Sternmetal employee, or they wouldn't need to hire the players).
Imperial regulations require all but purely military spaceports to permit ships in distress to dock.
The experimental station has a staff of 189, of which 126 are Sternmetal researchers, 34 operate the starport and its facilities, and 29 are security personnel. These last are organized as follows:
Security Platoon:
Chief of Security - Acts as platoon leader, armed with automatic pistol, and ballistic cloth armor.
Assistant Chief of Security - Acts as assistant platoon leader, armed with automatic pistol and cloth.
First squad: This consists of a squad leader (sergeant) and two fire teams, (1 corporal and 3 privates). Each of these are equipped with gaus rifle and cloth armor.
Second Squad: Same as first squad.
Third Squad: Same as first squad.
Each squad is on duty for 8 hours and off duty for 16. One fire team of the two on duty at any given moment are in battle dress. During security alerts and inspections, the whole security platoon is called to duty.
In addition to the regular staff, the station maintains several spaceships for the defense of the station and for escort of visiting bigwigs. The precise nature of these is left up to the referee to determine, depending upon the size of the adventurers party and the type of ship they enter system with. The players should have a clue to the number and type of ships present, but they should not have complete knowledge of them.
Once having penetrated the defenses of the station, the players locate the stations main computer and extract the desired information from it. The patron can provide enough information for a character with computer expertise to know what to look for, and to have a chance to circumvent the computers security programming. The base chance of the computer alerting the security force should be determined by the referee, with appropriate DM's added or subtracted for computer skill or lack of it.
If the players seem to be having too easy a time of it, the referee should implement one or two unexpected variables, such as a surprise inspection by high officials of sternmetal, a security alert or another team, hired by a second unnamed firm. The referee should also decide at the outset whether or not the information is in the computer to begin with. The patron, of course, will not pay if he does not recieve the data.