Chapter 4.2 – The Plan Comes Together

GM Comment - Is the intent to have the Azure Voyager's computer take the data to learn the Alejian language and build an app on the character's TL15 Hand Terminals (or a player's Tbalet?) to act as a 'Google-like Translation device'?
OR
To build out a program so the character's can rapidly learn the Alejian language?
OR to build out an Expert program?

GM Comment - great explanation and roll, however this is like looking for a needle in a bowl of needles. One of the things we experience in Iraq in 2004 when we had a Prophet EW system to scan cellular communications to build a picture of the Insurgent cells, we learned a lesson the hard was that the Iraqis had millions of cellular devices.

In essence this is what you are facing to gain the precise origin points.

That said I did post above:
What Analysis of the signal traffic collected by both ships reveals a complex communications network centered on roughly nine to ten major transmission hubs within Balac Pontli. These hubs appear to represent distinct political factions rather than a single centralized authority. Transmission patterns suggest alliances, rivalries, and periodic spikes in communication likely corresponding to negotiation or council activity.

GM Question to Stalker05 - Is Victor looking for specific point of transmissions for the political factional locations?

GM - Yes you have video content from their Social feeds and broadcasts, which appear to be influence ops in some cases.

I am in the process of re-reading the computer rules in the Central Supply Catalogue Update 2023 and High Guard to reach how long the it would take the ship's computers to build out translation capabilities.

After reading the rules on the computers in the update 2022 and High Guard ship computers, this is what I am determining for the translations. Please use this instead of what i have written previously.

The signals intelligence collected by the ISS Harrier and the Azure Voyager is sufficient for the ships’ computers to begin constructing a machine translation model of the Alejia language.

The computers first sort transmissions by origin, signal strength, timing, and recurring voices, building a structured dataset of Alejia communications. The crew actively guides this process: Bohdie organizes and tags recurring patterns through investigative analysis, Virel recognizes political and diplomatic communication structures, Chaala directs the operational questions that guide the analysis, and Dr. Shone filters and cleans the technical signal data. Using the ships’ large linguistic libraries and Intellect software, the computers then iteratively train a translation model by correlating phonetic patterns with contextual behavior. With only audio traffic available, the system will require five to eight days to reach a stable translation threshold. Since the team recovered video communications, visual context could reduces that timeline to two to four days by allowing the system to associate speech with individuals, gestures, and observable actions.

(need a roll each from Chaala, Victor, Virel and Bohdie to determine the length of time, Target 8+, DM for INT)

Once the translation model stabilizes, the crew can export it to a hand terminal (the character's), creating a practical field translator. At this stage the device can translate simple Alejia speech in near real time with approximately 60–70% accuracy. The translator works well with greetings, repeated operational phrases, commands, and references to locations or titles, but it still struggles with idioms, cultural nuance, and ceremonial language.

Even before achieving full translation capability, the team has already extracted valuable intelligence from the communications patterns. Their analysis reveals nine to ten major transmission hubs within Balac Pontli, likely representing political factions or clan authorities. Traffic spikes indicate periodic negotiations or council gatherings, and the encryption methods show sophistication beyond the Alejia’s apparent technological level. While much of their visible technology appears around TL-8, their communication security practices resemble TL-10 techniques, suggesting a cultural emphasis on protecting internal negotiations and faction politics.

The team also understands the limits of their current analysis. With only one encryption key, missing the other encryption keys and without fluent Alejia speakers, they cannot reliably interpret subtle meanings, internal debates, or political nuance within those transmissions. Continued collection and analysis over several additional weeks will gradually refine the translation model toward 75–85% accuracy and eventually allow the computers to construct a dedicated Alejia language package.

However, true fluency requires Sophont learning. According to Traveller training rules, the Traveller—must complete one full eight-week Study Period of focused language study to acquire Language (Alejia)-0. Each week must include roughly eight hours of daily study, and the character must then succeed at an Average (8+) EDU check to gain the skill. The machine translator can assist comprehension during this time, but it cannot replace the required eight weeks of training needed to genuinely learn the language.

Day 152 (3 days since arrival and after refueling) Alejia Communications Analysis

As the hours pass aboard the ISS Harrier and the Fleet Courier, the ships’ computers begin digesting the enormous volume of intercepted Alejia transmissions. What initially appears to be an indecipherable wall of encrypted signals gradually resolves into structure as the crew directs the analysis.

---

Bohdie organizes the raw communications traffic into manageable clusters, tagging recurring transmitters, signal strength variations, and communication windows. His investigative approach quickly reveals patterns of repeated senders and signal hubs scattered throughout Balac Pontli.

---

Virel studies these patterns from a diplomatic perspective, recognizing the familiar rhythm of faction politics—bursts of activity followed by quiet intervals that likely correspond to negotiations, internal consultation, and the cautious maneuvering of competing groups.

---

Chaala frames the operational questions that guide the computer’s processing routines, focusing the analysis on where authority appears to concentrate and where communications seem to converge.

---

Dr. Victor Shone ultimately provides the decisive breakthrough. Working with the sensor logs and signal filtering tools, he isolates cleaner voice channels buried within the encrypted traffic and correlates them with the ships’ existing signal archives. With an exceptional degree of success, Shone manages to separate overlapping speech patterns and isolate several consistent Alejia voices.

---

The ships’ Intellect software immediately exploits this breakthrough, constructing a phonetic model of the Alejia language far faster than expected. What might normally require several days of iterative refinement collapses into a dramatically shorter window as the computers rapidly associate repeated sounds with context and speaker identity.

---

Within two days, the translation routines stabilize.

---

RESULT

• The Harrier’s computer compiles the linguistic model.
• The system exports the model to a hand terminal.
• The device functions as a field translator capable of basic Alejia speech interpretation.

---

Translation Capability

• Approximately 60–70% accuracy for basic communication
• Reliable for greetings, commands, repeated phrases, and references to locations or titles
• Still struggles with idioms, cultural nuance, and ceremonial language

---

Additional Intelligence Derived

Even before fully understanding the language, the team extracts significant insight from the communications patterns.

• The communications network in Balac Pontli appears centered on nine to ten major transmission hubs.
• These hubs likely represent factions, clans, or political authorities.
• Transmission spikes suggest periodic negotiations or council meetings.
• The Alejia appear to operate through a distributed council structure rather than a single centralized authority.
• Although visible technology appears around TL-8, their encryption methods resemble techniques closer to TL-10.

---

Current Limitations

• Without encryption keys, some communications remain unreadable.
• Subtle meaning, internal debates, and political nuance cannot yet be reliably interpreted.
• The translator remains a working tool rather than true fluency.

---

Continued signal collection over the coming weeks will steadily improve the translation model and increase accuracy.

---

Learning Alejia

Any character wishing to actually learn the language must still follow the Traveller training rules.

• Learning Language (Alejia)-0 requires a full 8-week Study Period.
• Each week must include at least 8 hours of study per day.
• At the end of the Study Period the Traveller must succeed at an Average (8+) EDU check.
• Success grants Language (Alejia)-0.

---

The translator can assist with comprehension during that time, but it does not replace the required training.

---

For now, however, the team has achieved something immediately valuable:

• A working Alejia field translator
• The first clear signals-intelligence map of Balac Pontli’s faction network

Additionally;

---

Field Translation Capability

Ironhand’s issued TL12 mobile communicators possess sufficient computational capability to function as small Computer/2 systems. Once the ships’ computers completed the initial Alejia linguistic model, the crew compiled the results into a portable software package and uploaded it to their devices. Each communicator now runs an Intelligent Interface paired with an Expert (Language – Alejia) Level 1 translation package. The phones can therefore perform real-time speech translation between Alejia and Galanglic, displaying interpreted text or audio for the user at an approximately 60–70% accuracy for basic communication. The translation remains imperfect—generally accurate for greetings, commands, and repeated phrases but still unreliable for idioms, political nuance, or ceremonial speech. Importantly, this software does not grant the user true fluency in Alejia; it simply provides machine-assisted interpretation. Anyone wishing to genuinely learn the language must still complete the required eight-week Study Period under the Traveller training rules.

GM Comment - If this is the direction the crew is going (spending one to two more days cracking code) who is assigned to the 'code breakers' team?

Everyone assigned to the 'Code Breakers' you can roll for results, of course a little flair that the players have shone in writing the actions for their character to conduct the 'code breaking' will help. Except the snake eyes of course. Box Cars means you have broken more than one code.

GM - Comment - good thought by @Bullseyepsa that 'Breaking Encryption' to gain more encryption keys
but I did not want to cut off any discussions by the PCs to see if they think they should stay and 'develop the situation'
OR
Move with the data they have.
That choice is up to you the players.