Freelance Traveller

Assassination

by Ewan Quibell

Editor’s note: This scenario is set in the author’s alternate Traveller setting of Home County, on the world called Home. It appeared in this form in the January/February 2026 issue.

Author’s Notes

The PCs in my Traveller universe are “Good Guys” and I want them that way. I don’t find it fun for them to play criminals because I don’t understand the selfishness or the complete lack of empathy or respect for others and society that is the criminal mindset.

However I’m not naïve enough to think and/or know that the “Good Guys” always follow the rules or that there are huge grey areas where the good guys do what on the face of it are bad things. So I’m not adverse to putting forward some ambiguous situations for my PCs to think about and/or grapple with.

This is one of those cases.

IMTU the PCs are a “Contact Team” that was brought together by the County government, in this case the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to allow for jobs to be carried out where deniability can be achieved. Contact teams are put together from highly skilled and successful individuals who don’t have the patronage necessary to progress in their chosen carers. SOC is a real thing IMTU.

Scenario Synopsis

The PCs are asked to assassinate the head of a crime syndicate in a secure apartment building.

Initial Set-up

While in Landing on Home the PCs are contacted anonymously from an unknown number (registered to Joe Bloggs if they are successful in tracing it) and asked to assassinate Anatoly Sharifah. There is a random Cr150 electronic payment sent to the lead PC’s (the one with the highest SOC) account. The message reads:

“Good Day,

Your team comes recommended.

We wish to offer you a job to assassinate Anatoly Sharifah.

If interested post an announcement in the Times of Joe Blogg’s upcoming birthday on (10 days away from current date).

We will understand if you are not interested.”

The message will remove itself and any trace of itself after it has been read unless the PCs are quick to capture it in some way. The birthday announcement will cost Cr100.

If the PCs do not respond then there is no further contact about this and no one who deals with the PCs from the government will ever mention it, and anyone who is questioned by the PCs about it will deny any and all knowledge of any such request.

The PCs know that Anatoly Sharifah is the head of the largest crime syndicate in Home County, and that he was the prisoner that either they found dead or they worked out that he escaped from Strenton Prison on Pawel.

If the PCs post the birthday message in the Times then the lead PC will receive a call from the Home Office. The team is requested to meet an operative the next day for a potential employment opportunity, as they have done before, and as before the clerk knows nothing more than that. The address is the same address they were given for a safe house on one of their previous jobs.

At apartment 512 on the 5th floor as before when they ring or knock the door is answered by Officer Declan Brzozowski who will invite them to sit in the lounge.

Officer Brzozowski will explain that Anatoly Sharifah is living under the pseudonym of James Johnson in a large secure apartment block on Cheapside. Johnson is registered unemployed. If the PCs care to looking into him they will find no information older than 5 years. Johnson was a factory worker until he gave up his job recently and moved into Honey Apartments. He purchased flat 55d outright with cash even though he has no official source of income. Johnson is indeed the spitting image of Anatoly Sharifah and if they can get a sample will be an exact DNA match to the original Anatoly Sharifah file held by SIS; not the one that is currently on record with the Home Office (which has been changed).

Officer Brzozowski will explain that Anatoly Sharifah in fact escaped from Strenton Prison if the PCs found him dead on Pawel, or that SIS have just managed to trace him if the PCs worked out that he had escaped from Pawel. Officer Brzozowski will confirm that the Home Office records for Anatoly Sharifah have been changed, and that Johnson is a created identity.

Officer Brzozowski would like Anatoly Sharifah assassinated and it to look like he was assassinated. Officer Brzozowski wants the assassination to be known about so that those who know Johnson is in fact Anatoly Sharifah know he has been assassinated, although not by whom. The PCs are getting the job because they know the history of Anatoly Sharifah and they can’t be connected with anyone or any institution. If they get caught no one will come to their rescue.

The job pays Cr5,000 each. The price is not negotiable. Officer Brzozowski requires the assassination to be accomplished in six weeks and will provide reasonable equipment requested and pay reasonable expenses to enable this to happen. He will also provide reasonable assistance if the PCs wish for things to be done as long as nothing is written down or can be directly or indirectly traced back to SIS, the Met (Landing Metropolitan Police Force) or and other Landing Authorities.

Honey Apartments

Honey Apartments is a large apartment block of 87 floors on Cheapside opposite Cheapside Tube station. The individual apartments are around the outside walls each of which open onto a walkway around the floor that then all look onto a central atrium. The 87th floor has a sliding roof that can be closed in the event of extreme weather conditions, as well as landing pads and garages for grav vehicles. There are three lower basement parking levels for cars, and outside on Cheapside is a bus stop. The basement holds the apartments power supply, battery back-up, water and waist processing, heating, recycling and incineration facilities.

Honey Apartments’ ground floor has a coffee shop, and a hairdresser’s on the south side both of which have access from the atrium and from Cheapside and opposite which is a medical station and a concierge. The concierge has access to the lifts and stairs. On the east side of the ground floor are pleasant seating areas with planting and trees in the middle of the atrium. On the west side is an apartment residents-only gym that includes a 3 lane 25m swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room in addition to a weights room and a general workout area.

The security operations centre is on the south side of the 4th floor overlooking both Cheapside and the atrium. Honey Apartments has the latest audio, visual and environmental sensors across the whole building and in the apartments themselves along with the latest in access and drone security. Each occupant can set-up their individual apartment sensors and access requirements to their own particular needs. Both physical and wireless access to the data net is available throughout the building and in the apartments.

There are a different number of apartments on each floor from 16 one-bedroom flats on the 1st floor, to 2 five-bedroom luxury ones on the 86th floor. The 55th floor has 4 four-bedroom flats lettered a, b, c and d clockwise starting from the north.

People in the apartment block

The residents of Honey Apartments are a cross section of the better off elements of Landing society. Retired couples who have downsized, up and coming young urban professionals, either single or as couples just starting out, or well-off families who are bringing up their kids in reasonable sized flats.

Some notable residence that the PCs may find out about through various means are:

• Sasha Cerys Smith - wanted by the Met in relation to a fatal grav traffic collision with a pedestrian; currently staying/hiding in her uncle’s vacant apartment.
• Clairann Williams - the mother of the well-known singer/songwriter Pablo North. Pablo’s diary has him visiting his mother in the next week.
• Neema Reeves - the liberal councillor for the borough of Cheepside
• Karel Sukanya - a well-known businessman who runs a local pharmaceutical research firm
• Merjen Stroud - an award-winning investigative journalist
• Bedisa Hasanova - who works as a receptionist at a chauffeuring service, but who makes her real money as a “respectable” middle class drug dealer, dealing class A, B, and C drugs to the residents of Honey Apartments

James Johnson’s routine

So what does Anatoly Sharifah do?

Not much. He mostly spends his time in the apartment. He has a bodyguard, Jan Johanson, who lives with him (who is also his cook). Jan gets the occasional random night off.

Rahima Quliyev is his cleaner who visits every day. It’s always Rahima and she has the occasional random day off.

He gets visited by a number of different people (high level crime bosses and his subordinates) who are driven or flown to the apartments. The bosses each have a number of bodyguards, normally one or two. His subordinates may come with a bodyguard, some may not.

A well-dressed attractive woman, Alexandra Steele, who is an escort visits every now and again on random nights. It’s always Alexandra there are no others.

He visits the coffee shop on the ground floor every now and again.

He gets a delivery of groceries every week; generally on a Friday between 16:00 and 17:00 that is always received by the bodyguard.

Once a fortnight or so he gets flown or driven by Jan to the cinema, theatre, a concert, the opera, or the ballet occasionally accompanied by Alex.

Occasionally he will be driven or flown to a crime boss meeting somewhere.

His apartment’s security camaras are set to record locally, but are not visible from the security centre.

His other sensors, environmental and physical security, are set to record and are visible from the security centre.

He has an Electron sports car in the basement garage, and a Corinthian Executive grav car in the roof garage.

Scenario Characters

Officer Declan Brzozowski
UPP: A97986     Age: 30     Birthdate: 894-26
Homeworld: Home
Law Enforcer: 2 Terms     Rank: Detective
Cash: Cr 14,000 personal (Organisation Unlimited)
Skills: Tactics-2, Brawling-1, Disguise-1, Forensics-1, Forgery-1, Grav Vehicle-1, Interrogation-1, Interview-1, JoT-1, Large Blade-1, Leader-1, Small Blade-1, Streetwise-1, Computer-0, Handgun-0,     Wheeled Vehicle-0
Equipment: 9mm Auto Pistol,     4x Magazines of 15 rounds, Sword, Dagger

Officer Brzozowski is 6’ 2” tall with short black hair, brown eyes and has an olive skin tone. He wears a smart well made shirt with a pair of jeans and black brogues. Brzozowski is a member of the Special Intelligence Service (SIS) Division 5 who deals with internal threats to Home County.

Officer Brzozowski was recruited into SIS Division 5 form the Nayos police force and posted to Landing soon after when it became apparent that his operational planning skills were good. Declan is not a field agent as such he normally co-ordinates and plans operations from SIS 5 HQ Landing, however in this instance he needs to distance himself from normal SIS 5 operations.

Declan is loyal to Home and Home County, and do whatever is necessary in order to protect them. He want’s to send a message to the crime syndicates that they just can’t get away with breaking people out of Strenton.

Crime Boss Anatoly Sharifah (aka James Johnson)
UPP: 9CBA9A     Age: 41     Birthdate: 884-271
Homeworld: Home
Rogue: 6 terms
Cash: Cr 300,000 personal     (Organisation Unlimited)
Skills: Leader-3,     Bribary-2, Computer-2, Forgary-2, Intrusion-2, Streetwise-2, Tactics-2,     Carousing-1, Electronics-1, Jack-of-all-Trades-1, Liason-1, Handgun-0, Mechanical-0, Tracked Vehicle-0,, Wheeled Vehicle-0
Equipment: None

Anatoly Sharifah is 6’ 3” tall and has dark hair that is shaved and blue eyes. He wears expensive handmade business suits.

He started life on the streets but took really well to school, however his heart was always with his gang brothers and leaving school he honed his skills in burglary and forgery. He was quickly noticed by more organised criminals where he moved up the ranks with ruthless efficiency. He now runs the largest criminal organisation in Home County. The police found enough evidence for the CPS to gain a verdict of guilty on conspiracy and aiding and abetting in 5 different murder cases and he was sentenced to Strenton.

It took 3 years to organise and co-ordinate the escape from Strenton, and he’s knows that the Metropolitan Police can’t touch him, so he’s just waiting a while before he moves back into his country pile and continues where he left off.

Bodyguard Jan Johanson
UPP: CCA574     Age: 31     Birthdate: 894-162
Homeworld: Home
Rogue: 3 terms
Cash: Cr 200,000 personal     (Organisation Unlimited)
Skills: Brawling-3, Grav Vehicle-3,     Streetwise-2, Wheeled Vehicle-2, Steward-1, Small Blade-1, Computer-0, Handgun-0
Equipment: Dagger

Jan Johanson is 6’ 1” and built like a brick shit house. He has brown hair worn in a crew cut and green eyes. He wears expensive business suits when out of the apartment, and gym wear when not. He is normally immaculately presented, and apart from a broken nose and cauliflower ears is very good looking.

As you might expect he started life on the docks in the gangs as muscle. While not that intelligent he did his best to educate himself as best he could and didn’t do too bad a job of it considering. He got into cooking and valeting when waiting for the jobs that he was expecting to be muscle on, and not being an instinctively violent person but incredibly dexterous started picking up wheelman jobs. Jan is able to accomplish manoeuvres with a grav vehicle that most people think are impossible.

Jan generally does what he’s told by the people that he knows are in charge. In his present assignment he will do whatever Anatoly Sharifah tells him to do without question because that’s his job. It’s always been that way and Jan doesn’t know any different.
It would likely take a significant event in his life to make him question where he wishes to go with the rest of it. Jan is secretly in love with Alexandra but will do nothing about it.

Escort Alexandra Steele
UPP: 576AB6     Age: 29     Birthdate: 892-111
Homeworld: Home
Rogue: 3 terms
Cash: Cr 100,000
Skills: Carousing-3, Bribery-2, Forensic-2, Streetwise-2, Disguise-1, Gambling-1, Computer-0, Handgun-0, Wheeled Vehicle-0
Equipment: None

Alexandra is 5’ 8” tall and wears impeccably tailored high-quality clothes for an understated elegant look. She has long blond hair normally worn lose and wavey and has blue eyes. She is very good looking.

Alex did very well in school and used her looks and natural ability to persuade people to do what she wants to get into Landing University to study Forensic Science. To fund her way through University she became an escort where she was able to command the high end of the market. While not neglecting her studies her escort work distracted her enough that she didn’t do as well as she might have expected.

Alex likes the lifestyle that the work as a high-class escort brings her as well as the experiences that come with it; however she no longer likes the work. While she’s not treated badly, if she was then the client would be “reminded” of how to treat people, she’s not respected as a person with an intellect. She currently has a limited but regular cliental of which Anatoly Sharifah is one that she was not able to refuse. Working as an escort has brought her into contact with the criminal world that she had originally wished to be the other side of. She is aware of the dichotomy of her life choices.

Alex is attracted to Jan but is unaware that this is reciprocated more than what she experiences as normal attention for a highly attractive woman.

Cleaner Rahima Quliyev
UPP: 8647A7     Age: 22     Birthdate: 899-17
Homeworld: Home
Bureaucrat: 1 term
Rank: Clerk
Cash: Cr 10,000
Skills: Interview-2, Admin-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1, Computer-0, Handgun-0
Equipment: None

Rahima is 5’ 5” tall with long black hair that she wears in a ponytail and brown eyes and an olive complexion.

Rahima joined the accounting firm of Hansen, Everly, and Fernsby to start a career as an accountant, and was initially put into the auditing office where she excelled honing her interviewing techniques to really probe standards and financial irregularities. And this is what got her fired. During a normal audit she looked into books of a subsidiary company that was one of the money laundering arms of the syndicate. Before she could put anything concrete together, she was shown the door and blackballed throughout the Landing accountancy firms.

She took the cleaning job as the first thing that came along to pay the bills. She is currently looking to see if she can start her own accountancy and auditing business. She knows from listening to Anatoly, Jan and Alexandra that Anatoly is a crime figure, but not to what extent. She will be extremely closed lipped about anything to do with her job.

 

‌