A trader can make his biggest profits and reach his grade the quickest. Worlds like Onisou and Xeesenri have vast wreck-yards in far orbit , the dead places of ships that game to trade honestly, and fell pray to trickery. These are lawless places, and have usually have come so because the original settlers competed too hard when there was too little resource material. Those worlds that survived Holocaust did so because of uneasy and bloody alliances between clan families. Pirates and mercenaries were hied for protection and assassination purposes. Anarchic worlds will trade readily in narcotics, sleighs, firearms and exotica, and the price will be good...if you get a price at all. These worlds are almost always supplying invisible masters, usually elite trader/combateer who have turned to crime has the most profitable way off life. Such form loose federations, and trade on black market extensively throughout the galaxies. These worlds pay highly for goods they cannot produce themselves because they know that traders avoid them. Their own products need specialise, illegal outlets: weaponry, narcotics, eavesdropping devices... if it's covert, then anarchic worlds are producing it. Trade in these items and you will get rich quick, or dead quick, or at least become a fugitive. Of the 2040 officially registered planets in the GalCop, all but 45 support human colonies only, that is to say , human presence elsewhere is restricted to settlements in under populated parts of the land surface. Trading at such worlds depends, for its success, very much upon the extant state of co-operation between human and alien. Humans control the Coriolis stations in orbit, but the availability of items to trade, and their relative expense, can be affected by the controlling life forms. Most alien life forms are either too primitive, or too glad of off-World trade, to interfere. Some, such are the Reptilian life form of Esanbe or the Amphibioids of Anbeen, can make a traders life very difficult by haggling at the point of a laser. The available planetary information on all worlds will indicate the nature of the inhabiting lifeform. In dealing with any Alien life-form, for the purposes of trade, there are three cardinal rules: Learn body language of the alien race. Cover up your body scent Beware of Carapace concealed weapons. Dealing in alien artifacts on such worlds often involves a close liaison with Flight Elders, or Nest Elders, and this is very much a job for a specialist. Bird forms are, on the whole a delight to trade with, and the highest form of honour (fairly universally) that an off worlder can receive is an invitation to 'keep the eggs warm for a moment'. Amphiboids are usually a lot sharper than their wet, sluggish appearance would suggest. They are usually keen to trade in narcotics, or exotic foodstuffs. Skin creams are always well received. Technologically they tend to be backwards, but will pay high prices for such middle-range items as automated ponds, croak metres, sprawn freezers and swamp purifiers. Felines are dangerous in the extreme. No matter what sort of political structures the world may have, feline aliens are packed orientated, and feudal, and very unpredictable. All traders are advised to wear body suits, to prevent secretions of sweat from triggering a feeding response among these hostile and enigmatic life forms. To win the confidence of a feline alien is almost invariably to be invited to mate, so a certain aloofness is recommended. The most dangerous insectoidal life form is the Thargoid, which is mentioned in the Combat section. Insectoidals are usually highly intelligent, often existing as a group mind. There is rarely any individuality among insectoids, and the trader must beware making deals in such a way. One life form builds earth cities up to four miles high, and over four million drones live in the middle levels. According to legend, any trader who voluntarily ascends the earth passageway from ground to upper surface of these immense mounds is honoured with the rare title Ascender of the Scent City. And then consumed alive. But trading with insectoids can be immensely profitable, as there are so many of them (to trade in wrist watches, for example, means two to four watches per individual in a clone-group of perhaps ten thousand). In most trading and combat operations, certain ships are repeatedly encountered. All ships, whether unarmed cargo shuttles or Navy transporters, are potentially dangerous as pirate and bounty hunting activity spreads. Some ships are potentially more dangerous than others. For a fuller account see Jane's Galactic Ships and Remote Colonial Construction, 5th Edition, 3205 pub. Trantor House. Manufactured by Outworld Workshops, a rogue breakaway company from Spalder and Prime Inc. which operates without a licence from and unknown location, the Adder-class craft has dual atmospheric-spatial capability and is often used by smugglers. Preggs 'wingfolding' system permits landing on planetary surfaces. Carries one missile. DIMENSIONS 45/8/30ft CARGO CAPACITY 2 TC (Tonne Canisters) ARMAMENTS Ingram 1928 AZ Beam laser Geret Starseeker missile MAXIMUM VELOCITY 0.24 LM (Light Mach) INSERVICE DATA 2914 AD (Outworld Workshop) MANOEUVRABILITY CF4 (Curve Factor) CREW NUMBER 2 DRIVE MOTORS AM 18 bi Thrust HULL STRESS FACTOR T ko 28 HYPERSPACE CAPABILITY Yes ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ