Yep! The page layout is explicitly modelled on The Traveller Book, without being a direct copy. Glad that it resonated.
I also like having little nods to the wider world, especially since this is the fifth adventure: I am trying to build up a fun setting through them all, and having mentions to other places and events is a solid way of managing that without needing to have actual timelines and such.
Huh. I wonder how that got missed. Might have been a slightly earlier version. Will update with the missing stuff though, thanks. Will make it clearer that Turleigh is part of the R&D team, but the only one working on that specific thing (although the issue would still crop up in production which would be more people). Will add something of the security. I think that it got a little glossed over because in the preliminary playtest the PCs got invited in directly! (Also, breaking and entering from the nobility? For shame!)
And yeah, tangents are quite plausible, but with the style of the adventure it is tricky to avoid. I ran it as a duet game in about an hour and a half, so there is enough time to handle a diversion or two, I think. One potential entry to get the PCs more directly involved would be to have one or both of the people involved approach directly, but the difficulty there is in assuming what motivates them in the initial text. Some of the other adventures have had the same sort of issue in development in terms of how and why the PCs are getting involved.
Glad that you seemed to like it though!