‘Captain Barrow, we have two vessels closing fast on the convoy from astern.’
‘Thank you, Mr. Savage, hail the leading ship and have her identify herself.’

‘Unknown vessel., this is the NAC Frigate Avenger. Identify yourself and state your business’

‘Avenger, this is the fast protected merchantman "Beowulf", carrying food supplies and medical stores to Camrex V. We are being pursued by an unknown privateer. We request permission to join your convoy for protection.’

‘This is Avenger. Roger "Beowulf", permission granted. Take up station astern of the ‘reefer. We will cover you.’

"Avenger, this is the mercenary cruiser "Lightning". Don’t listen to them. They are the privateers! We are trying to intercept."

‘Captain. Both vessels are registered on Intel’s list of friendly vessels in this sector. What are your orders?’

For the naval types of the NAC Fleet, convoy duty is reckoned to be one of the most boring jobs around. Just sometimes things liven up. Or get too lively. The Super Destroyer "Avenger" and her consort, the corvette "Bridport", are escorting a small convoy of 2 Heavy Freighters, one unarmed Bulk tanker and an unarmed Refrigerated Cargo Ship (reefer - use stats for the Heavy Freighter) to the frontier world of Camrex V when they are approached by two unidentified ships closing from astern. Both claim to be friendly. Both claim the other is a privateer out to raid the convoy. Both are listed on the local Intelligence register as friendly. What would you do?

This is a small game for three players and a referee. One player takes the Avenger and the Bridport, and the convoy. The other players take control of one of the unidentified ships. Sensors indicate that the ships are Fast Merchants (treat as Armed merchantmen with a Thrust of 4). Both the Avenger and Bridport have degraded sensors as a result of much too much time away from their base port on convoy duty, and sensor sweeps will not reveal the true state of the approaching vessels until they close to within 12". Before the game starts the players of the unidentified ships decide whether they are really friendly, or whether they are privateers. The following options arise as a result.

1. Neither are privateers. Both are mistaken about the identity of the other and both want to gain the sanctuary of the convoy. The NAC player loses if they fire on either vessel.

2. One is friendly, one is a privateer. The NAC player loses if they shoot at the wrong one, or if any of the other transports is destroyed.

3. Both are privateers. The NAC player loses if two transports, one transport and the Bridport, or the Avenger is destroyed. In this case the privateers are confused as to the identity of the other, and the winner is decided by the ship causing the most damage to the convoy (unless only one privateer survives, of course).

Notes:

1. The ship descriptions are given on pages 14-15 of Full Thrust and page 23 of More Thrust. If you do not have the latter, treat the Avenger as a Light Cruiser with no shield generator and only one FireCon, and the Privateers as Destroyers with a single ‘A’ battery and a needle beam instead of the ‘B’ batteries, and a Thrust of 8. These are not exact comparisons but are close enough.

2. For added fun and excitement, have the privateers carrying a Group of fighters in concealed bays, and/or the have the NAC carrying fighters on board one of the transports.