"Aha! Legs that reach to the ground! Do you know what that's a sign of?"
"Da... legs?"

Herr Sweep proposed a follow-on idea to Vector Thrust (tentatively
called "Night Shift"), to quote (with some minor cleanup):

"With the outbreak of Interstellar War 2, the Terran Confederation
 require a group of...let's call them 'specialists'..to go where no sane
man has gone before
 ie behind enemy lines on the outskirts of their territories waayy out
the back end
 and do what they do well-ish. Cause Merry-Bloody-Havoc.

 Thus the Butcher's Paradise crew are blackmai-ahem! I mean recruited
for this mission,
 knowing that when(if?) they return, they will be wealthy beyond (most)
of their dreams...
..pending clearance of their paperwork of course."

Once I saw the above in the chat (and stopped cracking up laughing), I
jumped on voice and chatted him about it.

Part of the conversation meandered over to casing AZS operations from
long range (such as in the far system) - such as via applying the power
of rhythmic statistics.

One option is, of course, not being detected.

Another is not being _suspected_.

Thus Herr Sweep suggested a 22nd century analogue to the Cold War
fishing trawler - an outsystem "belt miner" that just so happens to have
rather sensitive passive kit laid out and not-in-any-way-shape-or-form
paying attention to comings and goings at the naval base.  And, just to
completely mess with the locals' heads, actually mine rocks and flog the
results.

PCs being PCs, they'll be wildcat mining.

Of course, why risk actual TC kit to prove out the idea when you can
send a Boatload Of Lunatics that have already proven themselves both
lucky and good?

This of course is predicated on belt mining being fairly common in the
ZIru Sirka - at least in the Rim Province thereof.

A quick search turned up null program, so I have to ask the Learned &
Honourable members of the TML for advice - does belt mining fit into the
ZS' command economy?

If so, does it serve a social-safety-valve purpose (give those
40-year-old whippersnappers a chance to get themselves killed and not
Upset The Sleep of Important People - that's the PCs' job) at least as
much as an economic one?

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