Trading a hostage for ransom... in space!

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red_panda said:

Why couldn't they pull up next to the other ship, open the bay doors, and give the hostage a good kick in the back? As he's hurtling through space toward the open door of the other ship, your characters get away.

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Or just dump him, in a suit, somewhere in space, and exchange his location for the money. If you have spaceships, you probably have direct debit, right...?

I'm with Jimmy's idea. Stick the hostage somewhere, in a suit with enough air, have a camera on him so they can transmit a feed showing he is where he's supposed to be, and exchange the location for the money.

Or an escape capsule.

I think that the Panda's idea would be best. Docking would entail being too close to the enemy, and dropping the hostage somewhere would be iffy. Matching orbits and throwing the hostage to the enemy immediately after grabbing the ransom that was thrown would satisfy everyone. Both sides could see the others; they would be close enough to take action if necessary and far enough apart to avoid action if tha arose.

My problem with it is the docking procedure. Isn't it normally done in that the docking ship has less control over that process than the dockee? I've always seen/read that the dockee has to coordinate with the docking ship to make the process work. If these so-called 'good' guys are demanding ransom in exchange for a hostage, why would the dockee coordinate with them to let them get away with the money.

It seems to me that you'll need to have your characters use direct transfer of funds into a ghost account and then have them use some sort of encryption to cover their electronic trail. That way they could just shoot off an escape pod(unmarked) in some sector of space and give the coordinates to the other ship.

So the criteria are:
a) Hostages will be sent back safely if all goes smoothly, and treated humanely.
b) Good kidnappers will flee, safely.

Are these space ships big enough that they will accommodate inter-vessel transporters? As kidnapper, I'd be very hesitated to dock against a potentially hostile ship. I'd ask them to send a transporter over. I take the cash, send the hostages into the transporter together with a bulk of explosives. I show them the remote dead-man's switch which has a range of, say, 100 miles. Once I let the transporter disengage, I put my ship into hyperdrive.

RainyDayNinja said:

Well, remember that my characters are supposed to be the GOOD guys. One of them is even a missionary. Kicking him out into space is kind of a mean thing to do. And once he's out, the other guys can proceed to blow my characters' ship to smithereens.

Also, an electronic transfer would be too easy to trace, or have frozen later. My characters need to use cash to be able to fly under the radar.

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A bit mean perhaps, but probably not going to cause him any long term damage. Being the good guys doesn't necessarily mean being puritanically good.
And dumping him in space is actually meant to avoid the whole 'blown to smithereens bit'. If they meet for a transfer, they'll be right there within smithereen blowing distance. They can dump him anywhere in space - or on a remote planet, if space is still too mean for you - and only give over the location when a)They have the money and b)They have gotten the hell out of there.
Not sure about the electronic transfer vs cash, but there must be a way you can secure the transfer. Would such a high-tech civilisation even use cash anymore?

Why are they using cash? Is there a galactic currency? Wouldn't it be better to trade for a valuable commodity, that holds its value anywhere?

The best way for any kind of transfer where both sides might betray each other is somwhere where a neutral party ensures civil behaviour.
The second best choice would be to have both sides send small boats with a only a few people aboard to make the exchange well out of range. That way, no side has the upper hand, and a confrontation is not useful. If you have two spaceships docking, one side could start shooting as soon as they have what they want. A deadman switch can't help here, because if it's a real deadman switch (i.e. the bomb goes of as soon as it doesn't get the "all ok" radio signal anymore, there's nothing to insure the hostage doesn't get blown up as soon as the ransom is handed over. If its just a remote detonator, the bomb could be placed in a shielded room, or jammed.
So, best choice is probably (if you don't have a neutral place to do the exchange) that both sides send a small unarmed shuttle with just a few people aboard to make the exchange. Somewhere well out of the range of the (armed) spaceships.
Oh, and if they're really paranoid, both sides could bring a nuke aboard their shuttles so they could kill everyone if the other side tries something with handheld weapons.

I assume it is clear the guy kidnapped is of sufficient importance to justify payment of a ransom.

If the kidnappers can bluff the other guys into believing the kidnappers' ship is loaded with explosive sufficient to destroy everything within X thousand kilometres if detonated - that in theory should enable the kidnappers to get X thousand kilometres away from the exchange zone following the exchange before any hostile fire is sent their way.

But if it is discovered they are bluffing....that will give you your threat or route into gunplay or whatever you call it.

Bufty said:

I assume it is clear the guy kidnapped is of sufficient importance to justify payment of a ransom.

If the kidnappers can bluff the other guys into believing the kidnappers' ship is loaded with explosive sufficient to destroy everything within X thousand kilometres if detonated - that in theory should enable the kidnappers to get X thousand kilometres away from the exchange zone following the exchange before any hostile fire is sent their way.

But if it is discovered they are bluffing....that will give you your threat or route into gunplay or whatever you call it.

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Yep, sound theory. You just have to do that somewhere with very small ships, at best on a planet, because in open space weapon ranges are much much higher than the blast zone of any conceivable explosive. Inverse square law and so on.