TFL/Smuggling

Smuggling is the act of transporting goods or passengers through national borders without declaring the goods or passengers. This is most often done to transport illegal items, but can also be used to avoid tariffs and tolls. Smuggling is always a crime, though the degree of punishment varies. Smuggling is distinct from Blockade running: a smuggler expects to be inspected by authorities but intends to conceal his undeclared cargo, while a blockade running intends to avoid the authorities altogether.

## Cargo Inspections

The physics of Realspace and Hyperspace travel both make it infeasible for authorities to inspect the goods on a Spacecraft while it is in transit. It is too hard to rendezvous with moving spacecraft in Realspace, and too difficult to find Starships in Hyperspace. Cargo inspections are performed when a spacecraft has landed on a planet or docked at an orbital.

A typical cargo inspection occurs immediately after a spacecraft has docked or landed, before the crew or passengers are allowed to disembark. Cargo inspectors require that a craft declare all cargo that is carrying. They will then physically inspect the ship, generally using hyperspectral goggles and other sensors, to verify that the declared cargo matches what the craft is carrying. Should the cargo match the declaration, any tolls or tariffs are assigned and paid and the craft is free to unload cargo. Ideally, the process takes less than an hour.

If the craft has cargo that is not declared and is detected by inspectors, the cargo is seized. Generally, the craft is assigned fines equal to twice the typical tariff or the half the value of the goods for legal but undeclared goods; illegal goods are more harshly punished. Legal good are released after paying the fines; illegal goods are not returned.

### Fooling Inspectors

Spacecraft often carry enormous amounts of cargo relative to their size, and there are many ways to avoid the inspectors. Goods can be hidden in other, legal goods, or in concealed and sensor resistance smuggler's holds. Also, in some Star Nations, the inspectors may be corrupt and willing to take bribes.

### Game Mechanics

Successful smuggling is a quick contest of the smuggler's best Smuggling skill versus the inspector's Search skill (usually 12 but with a +3 bonus for sensors). Apply the following modifiers to the Smuggler's skill:

+4 if less than 1/10th of the total cargo isn't declared, +2 if less than than 1/5th of the total cargo isn't declared, +1 if less than 1/3rd of the total cargo isn't delcared
-1 if more than half the total cargo isn't declared, -2 if more than 3/ths the total cargo isn't declared, and -4 if all the cargo isn't declared
+5 if the ship has smuggling holds and all the undeclared cargo is in the holds or +3 if it has smuggling holds but some undeclared cargo is outside the holds
if the smuggling ship uses sensor disruption technology, +2 for winning a contest of Electronics Ops (EW) versus the inspector's skill of 11, but winning by 3 or less means the inspectors notice the disruption and need to Influenced or they rerun the inspection after the disruption is turned off and get a +1 bonus to their skill for diligence.
-2 if the smuggler was observed at an FTA office at the point of departure and a radio message with that information made it to inspectors ahead of the smuggler
Smuggling holds are normally undetectable if the craft is carrying cargo that fills at least 25% of the non-smuggling cargo space (or 5% of the craft's total mass). Any less is suspicious, and requires a separate contest of Smuggling versus Search. If the holds are found in a search or undeclared goods are found in a smuggling hold, there is a separate punishment for having the holds in addition to the punishment for the undeclared goods.

## Acquiring Illicit Goods

Venture merchants and freighters looking to smuggle freight have a few ways to find illicit goods:

* Any freighter thans owns goods that are legal in one place and subject to excessive tariffs or otherwise illegal in another place can choose to transport them
* Members in good standing with the FTA can go to the local office, get their membership verified, and look up the listings. If the FTA is not illegal in the local jurisdiction, the FTA will not post requests to freight goods that are illegal at both the point of departure and the point of delivery, but will post requests to freight goods where there are excessive tariffs. If the FTA is illegal in the local jurisdiction, then any request to freight goods will be posted.
* Freighters with existing underworld contacts can ask their contacts.
* Freighters with no other options can attempt to make connections with the local underwold and see what they have for offer.

### Game Mechanics

Checking with the FTA takes an hour, can be done once per day, and always succeeds in finding 1d-2 (minimum 1) lots of cargo for smuggling. If the FTA is illegal in the system, finding the FTA requires a day and a Streetwise -3 test.

Checking with underworld Contacts uses the usual rules for Contacts and effectively results in the Contact doing the Streetwise check to find goods described below and suffering the penalties for failure.

Making connections requires a day's effort and a Streetwise -3 test. Success results in 1 load of cargo for smuggling; add another load for success by 3+ or 2 loads on a critical success. Critical failure involves getting caught by the authorities and usually fined and barred from soliciting freight in that Star System until the fines and any other punishments are resolved.

An all cases, adjust the result by the traffic of the system:

Triple the results for very high traffic systems
Double the results for high traffic systems
Subtract 1 for low traffic systems (can result in nothing found!)
Subtract 2 for no traffic systems (can result in nothing found!)