Freelance Traveller

En Route

by Timothy Collinson and Jane Polwin

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2026 issue.

These short Library Data entries describe small often overlooked businesses that keep the Third Imperium running.  Suitable for player handouts, starport advertising or Referee inspiration, they focus on everyday logistics and service providers that travellers may encounter directly or rely on but never notice.

Culina

For all your inJump catering needs, Culina supply prepacked, long-life, quality assured food and beverages for starship inflight provisioning.  Whatever your galley set up and chief steward requirements, Culina will have off-the shelf or bespoke options to suit spacecraft and starships large and small.

REFEREE:

• The latest provisions include a contaminated batch of food, or
• Culina is using their packaging as part of a smuggling operation, or
• a mix-up causes the seven varieties of supplied meals to actually only one type of meal.  That ready-to-eat groat stew is going to have long outstayed its welcome after a week in Jump.  If using Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition’s Morale, DM-1 each day after Day 4 of Jump.

Freeburn Shipping

A small subsector sized shipping company run by the Cathargo family for the last 130 years in ___ Sector.  It specialises in the transport of liquids and gases, in particular supplying asteroid and planetoid belts.  The current CEO, Federek Cathargo is looking to expand the fleet of half a dozen vessels and move into surrounding subsectors.  The line is known for the family atmosphere amongst crews – even when employing outsiders.  Freeburn has a safety record that is the envy of many merchants.

REFEREE:

Freeburn’s rivals are resisting expansion of the company and a dirty tricks campaign of sabotage to spoil the safety record is in danger of turning into a hot trade war.  This is complicated by family disagreements over the method and speed of expansion.

FreightRoute

A B2B logistics company getting empty shipping containers – standard, refrigerated, specialised environment – to where they need to be for freight and cargo companies.  They are particularly noted for their technology and abilities in tracking missing containers as well as prediction algorithms for where their services will be needed.  Landwood Goodferry (an old school gentleman, 63, looking to retire and hand the company over to a successor) has built up a reputable business but has no immediate family to name as heirs.  FreightRoute also has a sideline in container conversion used as habitations on low tech or colony worlds as well as for construction worker accommodation in orbit or planetside.

REFEREE:

A recent spike in ‘lost’ containers has drawn attention from insurers as well as less legitimate interests.

Lutek

Lutek is a ’fresher design, build, refurbishment and maintenance corporation.  They invariably have a presence at most starports and on worlds with sealed environment habitats putting in or cleaning: toilets, sonic showers, water plumbing and laundry add-ons.  They’re known as a reasonable quality company who aim to fulfill contracts on time and cater to a wide range of client specifications.

REFEREE:

A little-known fact about Lutek is that they have an agricultural subsidiary supplying fertilizer.  Recently they’ve been linked to some unusually reactive fertiliser compounds.  The first the PCs know about this is a rather unpleasant cleanup job in the cargo hold, or possibly some actual and potentially serious damage.

Peartree Design Solutions

Peartree are a company specialising in starport planning and ship interior layouts.  Travellers may not recognize the name but will almost certainly have experienced their unique approach to pedestrian traffic flows, ergonomics and reimagining Starport Authority briefs and passenger experience.  “Designs you won’t believe!” is the strapline CEO Monaghan Ireland proudly boasts of, which is unfortunately true in many cases as weary and frustrated travellers needlessly retrace their steps, queue in awkward places or are obstructed by seemingly endless maintenance programmes.

REFEREE:

In QREBS terms (Traveller⁵), their ‘Quality’ is -5 (Cepheus Engine’s MODES the ‘Operation’ also equals -5).  PCs traversing a PDS designed facility failing a Difficult (10+) Endurance check face 1D hours of delay and 3D6 rises in blood pressure.

SYSS Security

Force Commander Steff Maguire (Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition details below) is the hands-on leader of a small security company employing only female staff.  Steff hasn’t forgotten a job interview where it became clear that although she was easily the best qualified, the potential employer couldn’t see past her diminutive size (5’2” or 1.57m – but almost all muscle).  There are those who call her the Mini Meteor (but perhaps not to her face). 

SYSS specialise in night operations and are equipped to support this kind of work as Steff sees an operational advantage in being where some might not expect.  They also fit well into high security corporate environments where a certain ‘look’ is helpful. 

REFEREE:

The PCs might encounter SYSS Security protecting a facility or if they need support in any of their activities, legitimate or otherwise.  They’re also recruiting now if the PCs are looking for work.

Steff Maguire, C9BCA8, age: 34

Military Academy (Honours)

3 terms Marine: Ground Assault; Rank 3: Force Cmdr

Characteristics: Strength 12 (+2), Dexterity 9 (+1), Endurance 11 (+1), Intelligence 12 (+2), Education 9 (+1), Social Standing 8 (+0)

Skills: Gun Combat 2, Leadership 2, Tactics 2, Athletics 1, Electronics 1, Heavy Weapons 1, Recon 1, Stealth 1, Vacc Suit 0

Equipment: Cr30,000, TAS Membership, Weapon, Armour

Relationships:

Rival: Batthew Attles, commander of The Grey Battalion

Enemy: Zetty Crowfeld, a former Ally who betrayed Maguire when she fell for Steff’s fiancé and married him.

Author notes:

They say ‘write what you know’ and they also say ‘take inspiration from the world around you’.  All the above come from 13 hours on English motorways travelling to and from the highly recommended North Star, a UK SF RPG convention organized by Dom Mooney and Graham Spearing.
We certainly feel we ‘know’ the tedious route from the south coast to Sheffield and back and were intrigued by just how many passing lorries, places and names triggered the thought that that particular observation could easily be used in a Traveller game, either with some slight alteration to details or even directly.  (Freeburn was the most obvious of these and seemed singularly appropriate.) 

‌