Hello Sci-fi fans and writers, I hope that this here is the correct spot to ask this question regarding a conundrum I have come about during my work on a sci-fi short Story.
Outline
In said Short Story, I have some people (Agents) chasing after some other people (Heroes). The heroes stumbled upon some critical information that could damage the faction (Bad Guy) that employs the chasing party. The information got intercepted in time, but to make sure that the information wouldn’t be leaked again, they would need to silence the heroes.
Technology
In space there are two modes of flight: conventional reaction based propulsion and a higher speed propulsion which uses a so-called jump drive which flings the spaceship along a predetermined trajectory at high sub-light speeds (max speeds would be 0.5c). There is near instantaneous communications, but you would need to be in coverage of the network itself, which is flaky at best.
Conundrum
So how would agents be able to intercept / interdict the heroes in a plausible fashion? Would it be reasonable to have a micro wormhole generator or some other way to deploy gravimetric wells, which would destabilize the entire star system? Would it be anticlimactic to just have the agents wait for the heroes to finish their jump, as they would know where they would drop out?
I would love to hear opinions and suggestions from you.
As someone who has to write RPG settings and scenarios, if I can’t be consistent with the tech or magic, then I think of what would be the easiest way to do something.
In this case? If I had to do this and didn’t want to throw in crazy tech? Easiest way to stop the Heroes? The Villains bribe/blackmail someone to interrupt the jump, or they’ve planted a device to sabotage the engines at a certain time. They’re waiting at that point.
Nothing like a good ambush AND some intrigue (“how did they do that?”)
My players hate when I interrupt their journey. We’re on month 3 of adventures due to an interrupted journey… and now they trust NOBODY!
The Villains, that would be damaged by the Information, already hired goons (the agents) to deal with damaging stuff. Subcontracting wouldn’t be an option for those professionals. But yeah if the Villain wouldn’t have already those agents they sure would hire/blackmail/bribe someone from the empire to make the heroes disappear… permanently.
Don’t over do it though, eventually players are so paranoid that they see an enemy even when its just a helpful NPC.
Oh absolutely. We’ve been in this campaign for 14 years, they know when I’m throwing them a curve ball and when they’re among friends. They’ve just not gotten back to their destination to figure out who is who yet. It’s been great fun!
However you want to deal with it, you do you! I just find that when I want to be consistent in my world, less tech/magic and more “people did it” seems to flow better. That’s me, though.
Take a page from the way the Putin and the FSB dealt with the Wagner group; hold families hostage. They don’t have to interdict the protagonists, they just have to be willing to murder every single person that the protagonist cares about if the protagonist doesn’t turn themselves in. The protagonist might be willing to sacrifice their own life to achieve a goal, but are they willing to sacrifice their entire extended family and all of their college friends?