In Great Rift Adventure 1: Islands in the Rift, the Travellers are sent to Amondiage in the Old Islands subsector to pick up a starship. Their mission is to take it to Zuflucht for transfer into Imperial space ‘behind the claw’ in Deneb or the Trojan Reach. However, the task is not simple; the ship is not sitting on a berthing pad at Amondiage - it is in fact on an entirely different world and not in a flyable condition.

Once the Travellers manage to reach the ship they can finally begin their voyage across the Islands subsectors. This, too, is not a simple matter. The Islands are prone to tension at the best of times and, at present, worlds in the region are on the brink of war. The Travellers risk being mistaken for spies – and not without cause, for their ship is an Imperial intelligence-gathering vessel. The Travellers will need to make a detour to collect a hidden stash of data before transit to Zuflucht, and there are those who want to get their hands on it first.