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Mr. Tikyov is a petty bureaucrat working for the Bureau of Merchant Services (BooMerS) at the local class B starport. His job is to process trade requests, but today he has an offering somewhat outside the norm.
Through his personal contacts he knows the flight plan of the adventurers' ship and is privy to the fact that there is room for twenty tons of cargo in the hold. He would like them to run a little shell game for him and promises a good profit.
He has twenty tons of communication equipment bound for a stop that is two jumps along for the party. He wants them to purchase the load on speculation (@80%) and files its destination as the world he has named. He then wants the PCs to rendezvous with a ship during gas giant refueling after their first jump, transfer the cargo to that ship, and take on a replacement cargo of ground vehicles. At the transfer, they party will be re-paid what they spent for the comm equipment (in cash or equivalent), but will not be charged for the ground vehicles.
Upon reaching their destination, the characters are to leave their ship for a period of 24 hours. During the time they are away from the ship they should endeavor to sell their cargoes, as per their usual procedures. But they should not physically return to their ship until the time has elapsed, at which time they will discover the cargo containers empty. They will report this as a theft to the starport authority and then, after a short period of investigation, they will be able to recover the full value from the mandatory insurance policy (for which they are charged as part of their docking fees). During the intervening few days, while an investigation is conducted, the PCs will be the guests of the starport, having the fees for their docking, lodging and meals paid.
Tikyov is an unwitting pawn. He believes and will tell the party that the comm equipment is being purchased by a world outside of the Imperium that wants no record of the purchase to exist, for fear of raising the curiosity of Imperial agents. In fact, the entire scenario has been carefully orchestrated by a group of "freedom fighters" in order to both hide a forbidden purchase and to boost the mystique of the group.
Before the goods are reported stolen at the destination, a message from Lightning's Hand will be delivered to both the media and the starport, claiming to have made a successful strike against the facility and daring the authorities to solve the crime. By the time the group of adventurers return to their ship the whole starport will be crawling with media types, armed marines, starport authority agents and curiosity seekers. The characters will have heard about the claimed strike and should have a good idea that they are in the middle of a sticky situation. Their movements will be carefully watched as they return to their vessel. Even if they try to delay returning to their ship, the theft will be discovered during the extensive searches.
When the players' ship is given even a cursory check, it will be obvious that a ham-handed group of thieves have broken into the shipping containers. The containers have built-in recording and measuring devices that will have the time, weight and seal data proving that the comm equipment was transported safely to this starport and then unloaded just prior to the claim of foul play. Entry to the ship and container was gained using the security passcodes of a now missing cargo handling worker.
The plan has been well very successful up to this point. The perpetrators have gotten away. The only things in danger are the players and the truth. If the players follow the script and keep to themselves, then they will indeed be reimbursed for their "stolen" cargo in about ten days. If they have any other hidden skeletons, those are in danger of coming to light during the investigation. If, however, they let on that they know anything more than the cover story, they will be mercilessly investigated, interrogated and incarcerated. The authorities are desperate to solve this crime that has happened under their noses. If the truth comes out, the characters will be tainted by the association with terrorists and their ship will be impounded as evidence indefinitely. It could take months to trace all of the leads.
If the group somehow figures out the whole scheme, if perhaps they pay a visit to Tikyov for their pound of flesh, here is what they can learn:
There were two sets of shipping containers that were loaded and coded by Tikyov. The swap gave the adventurers containers loaded with cargo handling equipment (coded as comm equipment). The two had generally the same weight and elemental make up.
The "theft" was simply one guy opening the containers and driving the vehicles out. He parked them in the repair garage where they had been stolen from six weeks earlier. They were not missed during that time, mostly through the efforts of this worker.
The comm equipment is TL 14 and was bound for Excaliber / Sword Worlds, in direct violation of treaty. Tikyov did not know that Lightning's Hand was behind this and will be very scared once he finds out. He will disappear shortly after he learns the truth.
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