Plague Ships

[kilemall]

I really like that Marc Miller's vision is an Imperium that will burn the surface of your planet to cinders if they feel it's in the long-term interest of their survival - shades of Foundation and Dune.

The thing about "Imperial entanglements" in Traveller is that they take time - weeks to months to years to decades to generations - due to communications lag. Waiting for the subsector duke to act could allow contagion to spread with every jump to and from the ducal seat. The first line of defense against plague ships is the SPA Health Officer and staff, but it's a thin line at best, since some proportion of traffic between and within star systems will not originate or terminate at an Imperial starport.

As a consequence, I think system governments take a pretty active role and response to the threat of contagion, and not just for people but for plants and animals as well, because if they don't, Imperial ortillery may ultimately do it for them. Local cooperation, at the level of one or two jumps at most, could be critical to containment.

This makes the threat and actual spread of disease a gold mine of opportunities for adventurers: delivering doctors and medical supplies for SPA or NGOs amidst a growing planet-wide panic, rescuing uninfected - hopefully - sophonts from an isolated community before contagion reaches them, transporting samples - samples others want for less sanguinary purposes - to important research labs for analysis.

Avoid sterilization if you are the plague ship while surviving the contagion.

 

[Timerover51]

One of the early issues of JTAS I think had an Amber Zone about a plague. But it might have been planet bound.

I found it in Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society number 13, Disease in Traveller. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[Jame]

I dunno, operating a ship that spreads plagues seems like a war crime to me.

 

[bookwyrm]

Mary Mallon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Something to think about.

I dunno, operating a ship that spreads plagues seems like a war crime to me.

Wouldn't that depend on the intentions of the infected? On the other hand, the uninfected need to protect themselves, so no matter what, someone's going to get hurt.

 

[Condottiere]

In theory, isolation, with one way supply containers.

 

[mike wightman]

The whole quarantine article in Wikipedia has lots of interesting ideas. It shouldn't be too difficult to research quarantine procedures past and present and then draft a Traveller version.

Quarantine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Diveguy]

FWIW, and *not* venturing into politics, I will add to what Mike said above and encourage people to read what quarantines historically entailed and meant. The COVID-19 Pandemic put a spin on the term which could mislead many.

 

[jec10]

How NZ took influenza to Samoa, killing a fifth of its population

100 years ago today, the SS Talune steamed into Apia from Auckland with a disease that unleashed devastation on Samoa: the Spanish flu. It went on to kill a fifth of Samoa's population in two months.

www.rnz.co.nz

 

[mike wightman]

So just for the sake of laziness I asked CoPilot, and her is the stuff:

"Maritime Quarantine Protocols (Current Practice)
Pre‑arrival
• Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH) submitted before entering port.
• Yellow flag (“Q”) flown when requesting pratique (permission to enter).
• Crew health logs maintained for the voyage.
Arrival inspection
• Port health officers board the ship first.
• Temperature checks, symptom screening, documentation review.
• Isolation cabins used if illness is suspected.
Shipboard containment
• Ventilation control
• Restricted movement of crew
• Dedicated sanitation protocols
• Medical waste handling
• Testing and monitoring for incubation period.
Cargo handling
• Cargo is rarely quarantined today unless contaminated, but historically it was fumigated or held.
Granting pratique
• Issued once the ship is deemed safe.
• Without pratique, no one may disembark and no cargo may be unloaded."

and then a hard sci-fi re-imagining

"Hard‑SF Extrapolation: Quarantine in Space
Space adds new vectors and constraints:
Unique risks
• Xenobiology: Unknown pathogens with unknown incubation periods.
• Closed‑loop life support: Pathogens can spread through air, water, filters.
• Long‑duration voyages: Symptoms may appear mid‑transit.
• Planetary protection: Preventing contamination both ways.
Likely hard‑SF procedures
• Pre‑departure bioscans and immunization packages.
• Continuous environmental monitoring (air, water, surfaces).
• Isolation modules with independent life support.
• Docking quarantine: Ships remain sealed until cleared.
• Remote inspection drones to avoid exposing port personnel.
• Automated decontamination cycles: UV‑C, plasma sterilization, nanofilters.
• Planetary protection tiers (similar to NASA’s categories)."

Then finally I asked for Traveller specific

"Traveller Quarantine Protocols (Step‑by‑Step)
1. Pre‑Arrival Declaration
• Ship transmits Health Status Packet (HSP) 6 hours before arrival.
• Includes: crew biometrics, environmental logs, medbay reports, AI diagnostic summaries.
2. Approach Corridor Assignment
• Clean ships → standard corridor.
• Suspect ships → quarantine corridor with automated sensor arrays.
3. Docking & Inspection
• QL 0–1: Port medics board.
• QL 2–3: Remote drones board first; crew remains sealed.
• QL 4–5: No boarding; ship remains isolated.
4. Containment Measures
• Isolation pods activated.
• Airlock seals verified.
• Life‑support filters locked for sampling.
5. Clearance or Escalation
• Clearance → pratique granted.
• Escalation → ship moved to quarantine orbit or isolation bay."

I am now looking at doing my own Traveller based procedure based on the real world ships and a bit of input from the other two, this will take a bit longer...

 

[bookwyrm]

How NZ took influenza to Samoa, killing a fifth of its population

100 years ago today, the SS Talune steamed into Apia from Auckland with a disease that unleashed devastation on Samoa: the Spanish flu. It went on to kill a fifth of Samoa's population in two months.

www.rnz.co.nz

Those who ignore the teachings of History are Doomed to repeat it.

This would be a good framework for a scenario that has a quarantine go wrong.

So just for the sake of laziness I asked CoPilot, and her is the stuff:

"Maritime Quarantine Protocols (Current Practice)
Pre‑arrival
• Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH) submitted before entering port.
• Yellow flag (“Q”) flown when requesting pratique (permission to enter).
• Crew health logs maintained for the voyage.
Arrival inspection
• Port health officers board the ship first.
• Temperature checks, symptom screening, documentation review.
• Isolation cabins used if illness is suspected.
Shipboard containment
• Ventilation control
• Restricted movement of crew
• Dedicated sanitation protocols
• Medical waste handling
• Testing and monitoring for incubation period.
Cargo handling
• Cargo is rarely quarantined today unless contaminated, but historically it was fumigated or held.
Granting pratique
• Issued once the ship is deemed safe.
• Without pratique, no one may disembark and no cargo may be unloaded."

and then a hard sci-fi re-imagining

"Hard‑SF Extrapolation: Quarantine in Space
Space adds new vectors and constraints:
Unique risks
• Xenobiology: Unknown pathogens with unknown incubation periods.
• Closed‑loop life support: Pathogens can spread through air, water, filters.
• Long‑duration voyages: Symptoms may appear mid‑transit.
• Planetary protection: Preventing contamination both ways.
Likely hard‑SF procedures
• Pre‑departure bioscans and immunization packages.
• Continuous environmental monitoring (air, water, surfaces).
• Isolation modules with independent life support.
• Docking quarantine: Ships remain sealed until cleared.
• Remote inspection drones to avoid exposing port personnel.
• Automated decontamination cycles: UV‑C, plasma sterilization, nanofilters.
• Planetary protection tiers (similar to NASA’s categories)."

Then finally I asked for Traveller specific

"Traveller Quarantine Protocols (Step‑by‑Step)
1. Pre‑Arrival Declaration
• Ship transmits Health Status Packet (HSP) 6 hours before arrival.
• Includes: crew biometrics, environmental logs, medbay reports, AI diagnostic summaries.
2. Approach Corridor Assignment
• Clean ships → standard corridor.
• Suspect ships → quarantine corridor with automated sensor arrays.
3. Docking & Inspection
• QL 0–1: Port medics board.
• QL 2–3: Remote drones board first; crew remains sealed.
• QL 4–5: No boarding; ship remains isolated.
4. Containment Measures
• Isolation pods activated.
• Airlock seals verified.
• Life‑support filters locked for sampling.
5. Clearance or Escalation
• Clearance → pratique granted.
• Escalation → ship moved to quarantine orbit or isolation bay."

I am now looking at doing my own Traveller based procedure based on the real world ships and a bit of input from the other two, this will take a bit longer...

Nice!

 

[Condottiere]

Ideally, you want to contain the plague.

Which, being shipboard, simplifies the matter.

In extremis, you can always launch the spacecraft towards the sun, which sterilizes it.

 

[coliver988]

Ideally, you want to contain the plague.

Which, being shipboard, simplifies the matter.

In extremis, you can always launch the spacecraft towards the sun, which sterilizes it.

which also kills large single cell creatures

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_–_Annihilate!

 

[Condottiere]

Close enough, multicell ones, too.

 

[Grav_Moped]

In extremis, you can always launch the spacecraft towards the sun, which sterilizes it.

Electric Banjo Prog-Rock... (Foggy Mountain Spaceship)