Short Plot/Quest Idea [Rogue Trader]

[Dvil]

Right, well. I posted this a while ago as little more than a thought exercise, but I've been asked to GM our group's RT game this friday and so I figured I'd throw this out there again and see if people like the sound of it. So, without any further stalling for time, here it is:

It starts off as the party arrive back at civilization after their last endeavour. Upon arriving in the atmosphere, and preparing to dock, they get a message from an anonymous source. I haven't got its exact wording sorted out yet, but the gist of it is that someone wants to hire them and their ship for a job. The transmission will ask them to head to certain spacial co-ordinates within 30 days, if they wish to take the job. It will also specify that they don't need to worry the arbites with this, that it's far too mundane to be worth their attention. It will be signed "Orion", though they do not know what this means.
If they manage to get there within the time (and they should, it ought to take 18 days on average) then they are met by another raider-type vessel 27 days from the time of transmission, and told what's going on. Basically, Orion are a criminal group who offer cheap repairs for transports. And, while doing so, they sabotage the ship's warp drive. They're so experienced at this that they can predict when it will fail, and thus where it will fail (after eavesdropping some information about what direction they're travelling). Then they get a couple of fast ships to swoop in and gut the ship, stealing any riches on board and either destroying it or leaving it for dead.
However, one of the crewmen on this Orion ship claims to be a traitor, and that he has contacts within the Arbites. If the players prefer, they can turn on the Orion ship and take what they know to the local Arbites.

Basically, at the end they get a profit factor bonus, and Orion as a recurring character. Depending on what they do, the PF is either trade routes with the merchants in charge of the transport or influence within Orion, while Orion will either be a recurring ally or enemy,

[Anxe]

So they just get some random message from essentially an unknown person? Why would they go to those coordinates? I would say, "This person isn't serious about hiring us. Let's look for work where we are."

Also, you never explained in your post why the Orion people want to hire the PCs. Are they planning on gutting the PCs ship when they arrive at the coordinates? If so, why would they send a message to the PCs of all people? Why not just do it to random ships that need repairs as you said. If that's the case then they should do it to the PCs ship when the ship needs repairs which you didn't establish that it needed.

[Dvil]

Ah sorry, I wasn't clear on that. The reason that'll be stated in the message is that there aren't many ships in the area that they can trust to arrive in time, and the PCs' ship is a fast raider-type vessel, so that's plausible. I'm sort of leaving it open-ended for now, but there a few possibilities as to what their real motives are. Perhaps they're working with the Rogue Trader's rival family, who wanted them busy and out of the way for some reason? Maybe they're more sinister than the PCs realise, and they've been consorting with the daemon that's plaguing our navigator. Or perhaps they just heard of the arch-militant's dislike of the arbites, and thought that this crew would therefore be unlikely to run and tell anyone.

Simply put, I don't know yet. But there are a few possible reasons, and I'll make sure the other GM is aware of this once the little quest is over. After that, well it just depends on what the party do, and where Orion would fit best.


And as for why would the party accept, well there's a bit of meta-gaming going on here. The Rogue Trader player sort of railroads himself a bit. I've told him that my GM style is more sandbox-y, but he know's I'm no expert at improvising, so he tends to just follow the plot laid out because it's easier than not doing so.