I'm not a big fan of trying to organize a fleet of commanders jumping around in a vast area of space trying to find a trace of whatever it is we may be looking for. While it might be in line with some of ED's grindy gameplay, the odds are stacked heavily against that approach, I think. It would also not be a game I'd be interested in playing, and I'm trusting in Drew to have put in enough clues for us to guide us to what we want to find, even it requires a bit of 'wanderlust' to get there. (Who says the '
secret/mystery of the rift' is actually to be found in the rift itself by the way?)
I got intrigued by the chronological correspondence of the GalNet articles and the epilogue of Reclamation, and tried to puzzle together what might have happened, all the while trying to 'read between the lines'. I came up with a few things that I think might be worth considering.
THE IMPERIAL DATA BANKS
Salome/Kahina did not go to Achenar to access the Imperial data banks. In fact she did not go to Achenar voluntarily, but was summoned by Chancelor Baine (stated twice on GalNet). It seems unlikely that Achenar was where she accessed the Imperial data banks based on other hints as well: the epilogue of Reclamation describes the room they are in when accessing the data bank as a room that
Reclamation - Epilogue said:
... was featureless; gunmetal grey walls surrounded them on all sides, the only illumination provided by the glowing holofac projector.
They used that holofac to access the data banks and the GalNet article on her disappearance explicitly mentions that the holofac in her quarters on Achenar was not used, suggesting the actions from the epilogue occurred elsewhere. As a side note, maybe we shouldn't at all assume she accessed these data banks where they are physically stored (as if actually breaking into a library), but rather by hacking into them remotely (maybe not even from an Imperial world?). She herself says in the epilogue of Reclamation that she:
Reclamation - Epilogue said:
"...had to pay a lot of money to get an access code."
So
where were they when they accessed these data banks? And
when did they access the data banks (before or after her disappearance)?
THE RR LINE AND THE OLD WOMAN'S CO-ORDINATES
The epilogue mentions that when they find the video message, it was accompanied by some text:
Reclamation - Epilogue said:
The holofac faded leaving them with just the text. Salome looked at Hasan with a mischievous grin. "Shall we?"
To quote myself from an earlier post:
This is how I always read that part of the epilogue: they watch the holofac of the old woman talking to them, and when it's done they are left with 'just the text', which I assumed contained the co-ordinates the woman refers to in her spoken message.
More detail is provided earlier in the epilogue. The query for 'Formidine Rift' takes a while to retrieve results from the Imperial data banks, and Salome/Kahina is paying attention to anything related to what the old woman said in the hospital:
Reclamation - Epilogue said:
[Salome:] "She said something about plotting a course from Reorte to ... ah, there it is!"
"Somebody has a sense of humour," Hasan said, scanning the text. "The friendliest place this side of Riedquat? Nice choice ..."
Does this imply the old woman was not entirely accurate in the hospital (memory tampered with, been through a lot, under influence of heavy medication) and the line is not from Reorte to Riedquat, but from Reorte to X (= the friendliest place this side of Riedquat)? Further hints with regards to the type of system X is (friendliest this side of Riedquat = only slightly friendlier then Riedquat), come from Hasan's description of Riedquat that follows:
Reclamation - Epilogue said:
"...a hell-hole. An anarchy system for centuries. Totally lawless. No sane trader would go near it."
Any candidates for X? Do we need to completely rethink the RR line; should we look for an RX line? Remember Drew saying the location of the Rift on Erimus his map is only 'broadly correct'. Also a side note here: when the old woman mentions the edge of the Galactic arm (and the
Frontier) does she maybe mean the edge of
our Galactic arm?
THE SEVEN VEILS
Strange things happen with this ship, as per the GalNet articles. It's reported as being heavily upgraded on the Avalon shipyard of Persephone, but later these upgrades turn out to be fake and all valuable equipment is stripped from the ship. So where does that put the sighting of the 'Seven Veils' by Sushil on Hasan's home world, events that seemingly occur after the hacking of the Imperial data banks according to the epilogue of Reclamation? Before the events on Achenar? Did Sushil see a different ship, but also named the Seven Veils?
