It seems that the birthrate of Godwin is dropping, alarmingly so. In the past 3 years there has been only 4 children born out of a population that has a large enough gene pool... but is not getting any younger. The locals are beginning to notice that this is a real problem and rumor is spreading that the colony is being punished by God for it's heretical lifestyle. One of the characters is a "heretic" themselves and soon the characters decide to take a moment to see if there is anything they can do. Things begin to get a bit scary when Katerine (the "heretic" character, an independent lady) is stricken with a strange ailment...

Godwin's troubles come from above, but are far from divine. The rogue Dragoon group is a special forces division loyal to the current regime. Godwin has mineral and cropland assets too good to ignore and a rather unusual plan has been concocted to take them. Radical elements in the government have obtained long-term contraceptive drugs from merchants with 'Cluster connections. The Dragoons (who are stationed around vital assets like the water supply, granaries, and hospital) have been introducing the chemicals into the food and water supply. The original plan was to continue the process for 5 years and see if natural death and accidents can whittle down the population to a level that a quick raid can take out... the "Divine Intervention" theory evolved on it's own and hopefully would make the efforts of the saboteurs all the easier. The sickness the character is experiencing, pure coincidence, a reaction to the contraceptive chemicals that have entered her s! ystem and would soon pass (but makes for a great diversion).

If it wasn't for the chance discovery of a high-tech storage container in a garbage pile the character's would have missed out entirely on what was really going on. Once they saw this however, they realized another Offworlder technology was being used and gradually took notes... as well as kept an eye on the hidden-in-plain-sight Dragoons. When a Dragoon medic was caught red-handed dumping a fine powder into a water cistern the gang got him to talk, rallied the citizens of Godwin, and took control.

Eventually the leader of the group bargained with the characters, allow them passage off Godwin in their blimp for information on the contraceptive drug (which they thought required a counteragent, but in reality only needed to be maintained). Regrettably the characters let the bad guys go free (but got to keep the remaining chemical contraceptives which made for a useful exotic trade good).

Godwin of course went public with what happened. As the idea of a Catholic organization using contraceptives as a weapon against others was not politically correct the government let many of their extremists and the Dragoons take the rap for everything. Which was a cool ending... of course the character's Wallacia privileges are now revoked...