Repo man/bounty hunter

[Shadowdancer]

I thought X-boats were capable of up to Jump 6.

Unless they've changed the law in Texas recently, an individual can shoot a repo man who is taking his vehicle at night and not be convicted of a crime, but if he shot the repo man during the day, he could be convicted. It's an interesting little loophole in the law dating back to the old West.

In the old West, taking an individual's mode of transporation, i.e. his horse, at night could possibly leave him stranded in a situation that could result in his death (miles from the nearest settlement, without the necessary supplies, etc.)

That law is still on the books, or it was a few years ago, and has successfully been applied in recent cases to modern modes of transportation.

If you shoot a repo man who's taking your vehicle during the night, you can be arrested and prosecuted, but those with lawyers who know of the law and the precedent which has been set can get their clients off without being convicted.

I know there has been some talk about the legislature changing the law, but I don't know if it has been done.

It might be interesting if there was a similar provision in the Imperial law in the Traveller universe. If a repo man tracked down a skipped or stolen starship on a remote planet or belt, he wouldn't be able to just take the starship if it left the people using the ship stranded with little hope of being rescued. He would either have to take the crew back to a starport, or follow the ship until it returned to a more populated region of space.

 

[DaveChase]

Better yet, lets start a thread that talks about potentially old laws that could be applied in Traveller.

In my home town there is a bridge that the city law states that no motor vehicle (any vehicle that is not drawn by an animal) can travel faster than a horse trot across said bridge.

No one enforces it except to pull over possible suspects. The town is the county seat and has pop of 5 to 6,000 people.

Dave

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Paraquat Johnson:
I thought X-boats were capable of up to Jump 6.

X-boats are jump-4. But the Navy has jump-6 couriers. My personal take on the distribution of information in the Imperium is that the Imperial Bureaucracy has been using the Navy to send reports and orders back and forth since the Navy got its first jump-5 couriers. That is why the X-boat network has not been upgraded: there's no pressure to do so.

BTW, there is a TNS newsbrief from 1105 or thereabouts where they mention plans to introduce jump-6 X-boats.


Hans

 

[kafka47]

Hans & co:

Don't forget about the Imperialines Megacorp which is front agency for many of the secret services working within Imperial borders.

These ships probably would convey vital information including ships under repo to each Starport A-C with D-F unable to store that data or care in a meaningful way. Afterall, which Imperial citizen would choose to be a SPA officer on a world with a Starport D or worse rating.

This whole idea also gives me the idea for a chase campaign beginning in the core worlds before heading out to the frontier where the law can't catch the antagonist. The players are hired in the Core to first follow the paper trail aboard luxury yaghts then moving on to tramp traders before even going on Couriers to the outer edges of the Empire and beyond (here I would be thinking that it is time to revisit the Extents...)

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Don't forget about the Imperialines Megacorp which is front agency for many of the secret services working within Imperial borders.

Imperiallines is not a megacorp. Originally it was described as a sector-wide company owned (through dummies) by the Imperial family and operating in the Spinward Marches. Similar companies (none of the named) covered other sectors. Somehow later authors twisted that to make 'Imperaillines' the name of the whole network.

In any case, with the Navy running jump-6 couriers, the big point of the Imperial family having a secret courier network is not the greater speed (as the original article claimed) because the speed isn't greater; it is the secret, alternative information distribution network, one that bypasses the 'NavyNet'. No doubt the Emperor has his reasons for wanting the option to bypass his navy...


Hans