Security Checks in Imperium

[Easterner9504]

I ranted at my players today over their urge to do luggage search.

If you can bend gravity to your will and create an alternate universe that moves you 6 parsecs in a week....I think breaking down any objects elemental chemical compounds at sub-molecular level is childs play. At that level only something so dense (unobtanium or some such technobabble) would stop a scanner from puncturing the molecular wall of anything and seeing inside anything.

TL 12-15 starships are going to be loaded to the gills with magic devices we can't comprehend. So the reason everything appears so placid pre-60's laid back is because the security is so non-pervasive everyone forgets it exists. That's why lower tech worlds are so dangerous, the invisible security of high tech Imperium isn't there but it's so invisible you forget that and run into thugs instead of their meeting battle dress types quietly and behind the scenes as possible.

I should have figured this out long ago too.

Which then reminded me.......

It's also probably why I hated the Strephon assassination so much. Dulinor could easily carry gun in but be dead from gauss needles and plasma/fusion guns of Imperial Guards less than a second later and ultra-tech medicine would stabilize Strephon in seconds, even a double. I never did figure out how he got to take a seat on the Iridium Throne as he should have been charcoal.

 

[Easterner9504]

Starport Security Class A & B

Everyone walking in by any entrance...scanned....electronic emitting ID says who you are and a dossier comes up.

6 enter port. Hmmm 3 auto rifles, 3 MG's, 50 grenades, oh Travellers. Huh they pulled a job for Count Dubu, enter that on the net in case someone needs that info.

A short time later they are contacted hearing they are persons of talent and discretion. Ever wonder why patrons pop out of woodwork before?

Party of 1, 50 kilos TDX, name Jow Smith a Gasbager employee, TDX salesman, licenses and permits in order. Flag his starliner and advise.

Party of one, WMD detected, criminal record, odd religious group, Flag S-3, stat.


Ahhh morning rant out of system.

 

[MCEvans]

Which then reminded me.......

It's also probably why I hated the Strephon assassination so much. Dulinor could easily carry gun in but be dead from gauss needles and plasma/fusion guns of Imperial Guards less than a second later and ultra-tech medicine would stabilize Strephon in seconds, even a double. I never did figure out how he got to take a seat on the Iridium Throne as he should have been charcoal.

I agree but, the Illelish guard unit was on duty and was in on the plan. That still leaves the Scout Service Imperial Protection Detail that could have taken Dulinor out even if the Illelish guard took them out after the fact.

Rant over.

 

[rancke]

I agree but, the Illelish guard unit was on duty and was in on the plan. That still leaves the Scout Service Imperial Protection Detail that could have taken Dulinor out even if the Illelish guard took them out after the fact.

I agree with the last couple of speakers. Unless Dulinor's action was literally unthinkable, even for professional bodyguard types, the Scout contingent should have been able to put a few rounds into him before the Ilelish Guard guards got them all.

I conclude from that that the Right of Assasination was a bit of 500 year old historical trivia. Dulinor wasn't just trusted by Strephon; he was trusted by Strephon's bodyguards. Obviously nobles just didn't DO that sort of thing, and everybody knew it.

(Even so, Dulinor was running a fearful risk).


Hans

 

[Carlobrand]

I ranted at my players today over their urge to do luggage search.

If you can bend gravity to your will and create an alternate universe that moves you 6 parsecs in a week....I think breaking down any objects elemental chemical compounds at sub-molecular level is childs play. At that level only something so dense (unobtanium or some such technobabble) would stop a scanner from puncturing the molecular wall of anything and seeing inside anything.

TL 12-15 starships are going to be loaded to the gills with magic devices we can't comprehend. So the reason everything appears so placid pre-60's laid back is because the security is so non-pervasive everyone forgets it exists. That's why lower tech worlds are so dangerous, the invisible security of high tech Imperium isn't there but it's so invisible you forget that and run into thugs instead of their meeting battle dress types quietly and behind the scenes as possible.

I should have figured this out long ago too. ...

"breaking down any objects elemental chemical compounds at sub-molecular level..."? I presume you mean "breaking down" as in "analyzing nondestructively". Otherwise, I'm gonna expect someone to pay for the Samsonite and clothing that they just turned into a sooty carbon ash and assorted vapors.

You're saying they should be able to scan an item and tell all the chemical compounds that are there? Interesting idea. I wonder if you could by some means induce a vibration in the atom that would uniquely identify it?

If by "puncturing molecular walls", you mean using the electromagnetic wavelengths to which most matter is transparent to get a look inside, then you're right again. As the tech goes up and your detection tools become more sensitive to those wavelengths, it takes less energy to do that, they can do it with greater precision and detail - and of course denser materials can be tackled. There are some neat medical implications: the same technology can potentially be used to diagnose medical conditions based on imaging at the cellular membrane level and trace the layout of the synapses of your brain - possibly leading to a medical method to diagnose and treat mental illness with precision.

Megatraveller introduces the idea of passive densitometers sensitive enough to scan the interior of an object based on mapping the tiny bit of gravity that all matter exerts.

What I think you need to be careful about is the ingenuity factor. Telling what something is made of does not mean you know what it's going to be used for. Many dangerous materials have multiple uses - high grade fuels, nitrogen fertilizers, etc. Some dangerous materials can be whipped up on the spot from otherwise inoccuous ingredients. So, one lady boards with a few ounces of chlorine bleach and detergents to wash her clothes during the trip, a guy comes on board a couple hours later with a small jug of everyday household ammonia along with an assortment of other cleansers and a note from his doctor identifying him as a germophobe, your screeners don't give it a second thought, three days later your anti-hijack program alerts you about these two people entering the ship's passenger lounge while wearing gas masks - and then your passengers are suddenly coughing and gasping for breath while these two yell Ine Givar slogans. You ought to be able to handle the situation itself, but the lawsuits are going to cripple you.

I recall one of the adventures had this dandy plastic knife - you stick it in a microwave and it becomes a plastic lump. Hit it repeatedly with a hammer and it gradually returns to its original shape. So your scanners pick up an odd lump and your molecular detectors detect memory plastic, which the passenger has duly noted on his property report as a memory plastic toy dinosaur currently popular among children, it's even in a toy dinosaur box, and the screener passes it through. And now you have a passenger with a concealed knife.

(I had this nifty toy when I was a kid. Too dangerous nowadays, I guess - this thing was back in the '60's. Little plastic dinosaurs that you would put into a press and crush into a little block, and then you could put the block into a sort of heater thing in the middle and turn it on, and it would heat the block up and the block would unfold back into its original dinosaur shape. In retrospect, I can imagine a lot of kids getting serious burns and a few housefires as kids tried to put other things in the heater, 'cause that thing got seriously hot, but I thought it was the coolest thing.)

 

[Easterner9504]

Love memory plastic. Always keep a 'marble' in my PC's pocket.


Densitometers- in MgT too.