On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 7:55 PM, Freelance Traveller
<xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:
> I'm sure many people have read stories where a character is newly in a
> military or paramilitary service, and as part of the service "culture",
> is sent on bogus errands, such as a search for "fifty meters of flight
> line" or "last month's cannon report" or "a bucket of prop wash". (Such
> bogus errands are sometimes generically called "snipe hunts".)
>
> What sort of snipe hunts would exist in the various interstellar
> services in the Third Imperium?
>

When starting with the X-Boats, normally the FNG is sent to ride-along
with an experience X-boat operator.
The experienced guy will show the FNG that in the safe in the
commander's stateroom is the "Master Encryption Key" - a big, ornate,
shiny metal key. They'll explain that when they get picked up by the
tender, they'll need to get with the tender captain and let him use
the encryption key to download all the mail in the X-boat's computers.

Then, on the guy's first solo mission, he'll be told the key is in the
safe,and there will be a succession of "coincidences" that prevent him
from checking the safe until he's safely in Jump.

When the guy is rated for "Instructor Pilot", the Tender crew
fabricates the key in their machine shop.