david.wendelken
SOC-12
Your surmise about the scout/courier is completely correct. It was not an oversight on my part not to mention it, the reporter for TAS either did not find those details interesting, or the editor cut them for space reasons.
The "Laser of Love" was officially (and conveniently
) considered surplus and was therefore available for private purchase by parties friendly to Chehesti. The Tukera family (and the Imperial one) was pleased at how well she had discredited their political opponents in the Moot. In addition, I live in a military town and am well aware of the respect an American soldier with the Congressional Medal of Honor (the US real-world equivalent to the Starburst for Extreme Heroism) would receive from other soldiers. I can well imagine the way many procedural obstacles would simply disappear for someone with more than one of those medals. (Speaking as a US citizen, I would simply state that they earned that extra consideration, and then some.)
Megatraveller had such a rule, in that medals allowed some die roll modifiers. I added that rule, plus a revved-up one from Classic Traveller that allowed the survival role to be modified by MOS skills.
It still took a lot of luck to get a surviving character with that many Starbursts!
Since the character started with a low social standing and still had one upon retirement mustering out, I needed a reason. Clearly, given the war record, some reason other than poltroonery was needed. That's why I added her extremely salty and colorful speech and low-brow, enlisted Marine tastes. She simply never fit in with the higher social classes that predominate in the Naval and Marine Officer Corps - at least the ones with pretensions of superiority based upon birth instead of ability. She always got on famously with those in authority who valued results over "breeding".
