The Search for Gan Romero

[Q Hung]

Good morning all,

I'm off to find Gan Romero. I know it's a fool's errand, but I have a hunch. It's clear that Gan is not simply deluded. Who is calling him and what he is delivering are the real question.

New Krait MkII, 37.15Ly range with no guardian FSB. Enough materials for 19 75% FS injections which will yield somewhere around 64Ly each. SRV hangar, fighter hangar, fully armed with pulse lasers, multicannon, dual long-range rail guns. Took a lot of engineering to get the jump range to where it is, but I'm super happy with it as the "heavy" armed explorer it was meant to be.

Ship is called The Navy Dark II
ID# NVY02X

Heading off to the black, a fool for a fool's errand. See you out there.

Cmdr. Q Hung

 

[Crimson Echo]

Good luck on your trip. I am so excited to actually have something of a story line in Elite for the first time in so long. Hopefully it is not just fluff.
My exploration builds tend to be 'heavy' also. 34 ly anaconda dispite a guardian FSD booster, and maxed out FSD engineering/special effects. (Long range sensors on a conda are insanely heavy....)

My gut instinct is he might be headed to the California Nebula. It would explain why even though the barnacles are present there the goids avoid it (this third party sentience keep the 'goids at bay).

My main account is headed to the rift via the Heart and Soul as soon as it is finished, and enough jumponium mats have been farmed. (probably the middle of next week)

My first Alt will be headed to California in the later half of next week via Maia. (currently taking part in the Zende CZ CG.)

My other Alt is stuck on the Gnosis slowly going space mad from cabin fever so it will not be able to join in the fun.

 

[Q Hung]

Thanks Crimson. California Nebula's a good thought but it's not where I'm headed.

Day one update - I got to waypoint 1. It was a slightly different slog to what I expected. Immediately dropped to 500 light years below the galactic plane straight out of the bubble, and the stars get a lot thinner down there a lot quicker than I was prepared for. Still wanting to take the road less traveled, we (to include my only crew, fighter pilot Holloway) pressed on. Fired at least 6 reserves of jumponium already, if not 7. The first use we found my first critical error of the expedition: there is no 75% jumponium. My reserves are worth only a 50% boost, so more like 55Ly instead of 64. So be it. At the end of day 1 we still made the first waypoint.

We're in a smear of young, hot, blue and white stars 500 light years below the galactic plane, 1300 light years south, and 180 light years east of Sol. We've just arrived and will spend a bit of time poking about before setting off further tomorrow.

There's Galnet news about Gan today for the first time in days, but it's nothing concrete. Just speculation about the source of his visions. I must admit that my hands shake a bit opening the story in the ship's comms. Part of me, in that moment, hopes he has not yet been found. Am I crazy?

Be safe.

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[Trotsky2112]

I really like this storyline. Suddenly we find out that the old president wasn't crazy. This is confirmation that there's something else out there besides the 'goids, maybe even besides the Guardians. It may not be in the game yet, but (I really hope) this heralds the implementation of a new cosmic entity or civilization.

 

[The_Dude_abides]

I too like a good mystery. Galnet had a series of news articles regarding the disappearance of Jasmina Halsey., http://ed.frank-heinrich.net has the archive for the old Galnet articles, just some notes I'm taking:

13 MAY 3301 – President Halsey Sets Out from Sol: Original flight plan was: Hip 53688, Tinia, Aleumoxii, 78 Ursae Majoris, Dietri, Su, Furuhjelm I-645, Saga, Delphin, Nanomam, Coriccha and Ross 860.

17 MAY 3301 – Federation Accused of Cover-up - Despite pleas for information from the Scientific cross-faction coalition, the Federal Authorities remain tight lipped. According to sources close to Dr. Arcanonn and his team, Halsey's government have refused to even acknowledge that Federation ships have been transporting the artefacts (Thargoid Sensor) through populated space, despite mounting evidence.

26 MAY 3301 – Federal State of Emergency: Winters Declared Acting President - She was supposed to be heading to Zudov Terminal from 78 Ursae Majoris I think (38 hours overdue). “Two days ago, Navy Command received word that the President would be taking an unscheduled detour to Azaleach. Her reasons as to why remain classified.”, “12 hours ago, following entry into hyperspace, Spaceflight One went dark. All attempts by the President’s security team to trace the vessel have met with failure.”

27 MAY 3301 – Shades of the Antares Incident - “While we don’t know what caused this incident – yet – we do know that Starship One’s engines experienced an unexpected surge of power just seconds before making its last jump.”

27 MAY 3301 – Federal Search Efforts Continue - Eyewitness account “I’ve never seen anything like it. One minute everything was fine. Pre-jump checks? Normal. Engine power? Normal. Our drives were slaved to Starship One, as is normal. The entry to hyperspace seemed normal at first, but then there was a terrible shock wave and our ship started tumbling. We exited hyperspace uncontrolled and in deep space – something I’ve never seen before.

14 JUN 3301 – For Some, President Halsey's Disappearance Is Not "Case Closed" - Zachary Hudson seemed awfully convinced of sabotage until he became the President

26 FEB 3302 – Galactic News: Former Federal President Found

04 APR 3302 – Galactic News: Halsey Talks to the Media - A reporter from the Alliance Tribune asked President Halsey what it was like to drift through space for so long: "It was wonderful. Amazing. I saw the universe, and our galaxy within it, as I'd never seen it before, and I felt the presence of the real caretakers of our galaxy. The paradox of their existence – tiny yet gargantuan, fleeting yet eternal. They spoke to me as I drifted in the void. It was amazing. I must share their message."

28 APR 3302 – Community Goal: Jasmina Halsey Appeals for Exploration Data - "They are out there. I have seen them. We must put aside our petty differences and work together to establish contact. There is so much we could learn from them." - Halsey

20 MAY 3302 – Removed, not official Galnet News

21 MAY 3302 – Removed, not official Galnet News

20 SEP 3302 – Galactic News: Halsey Shares Her Vision - In a public address at Gotham Park in the Alioth system, Halsey described the nature of her vision:
"I saw a place of extraordinary beauty. A paradise. It was truly wonderful.", "This was no dream – it was a glimpse of something very real.", "We must find this place. It could be our future."

25 MAY 3305 – Ship Thief Linked to Halsey’s Visions - “Romero’s dream journal entries were very similar to Jasmina Halsey’s visions after the Starship One incident three years ago. Was this lowly grease monkey in touch with the same ‘caretakers of our galaxy’ that Halsey claims spoke to her?” “Sure, it could be coincidence. Maybe even a shared psychological disorder. But it seems possible that Halsey and Romero were telepathically contacted by the same incorporeal intelligence.”
“You can see why they might want to talk to a Federal president. But a starport technician? What’s so special about Romero? If he’s telling the truth then who knows how many more ordinary people have heard these summons from ‘bodiless voices’ over the years?”

31 May 3305 - Ship Thief Mystery remains unsolved - Commander Bjorn Lennox, the owner of the stolen ship, commented: “Obviously I’m not happy about losing my Diamondback Explorer, and I’ve had to fight for the station’s insurance to cover my losses. Still, part of me wonders if my ship was stolen for a reason… It was fitted for exploration with a high jump range, and it sounds like this guy was heading somewhere really far away.”

“They said Romero was delusional, right? Well, maybe he was just invited to a place that most people can’t understand. I guess we’ll never know.”

Halsey had a thargoid sensor on her ship. She decided to detour to Azaleach. Why Azaleach?
A group tried to sabotage Jacques station's FSD to recreate the mis-jump. Why not use a smaller ship? Is there a correlation between ship/FSD size and the ability to cause the "mis-jump"? Jacques station and its owner have some interesting history.
Romero was a starport tech, probably knew a thing or two about FSD's. Maybe he is heading to Jacques to fix the FSD?

I don't typically follow the general narrative, but the whole Raxxla thing has drawn me in. There is a lot to speculate about, the story is going somewhere,

*edit - removed Freelance reports as they are not official and should not be considered.

 

[Hanerib]

Gan Romero... Argo.. Norma... There are rumours of more Guardian sites being found in Eta Carinae.

Guardian FSD technology is compatible to ours, it would seem, and Thargoid technology can interfere with ours. It's all very puzzling.

 

[PhilBFC]

Spooky how his visions occurred 3 years to the very day that "Spaceflight One "went dark"?
The report was written on May 26th but it refers to the disappearance taking place 12 hours earlier.

 

[Q Hung]

Good morning from The Navy Dark II - an update on day two:

It's pretty dark out here. We spent a few hours running up and down that collection of white and blue stars, it turned out to be a pretty rich little excursion. Several multiple-water-world systems, lots of terraformables.

Otherwise pretty sleepy, some geysers and gas vents, not too much else. We were by no meams exhaustive, and it's clear that several other commanders before us have done similar runs. Not far south of here, this star formation has a "twin", a little larger in fact, whuch the Pilots' Federation has permit locked. It looms in the sky, forbidden, ubiquitous. It's quite beautiful, really - that there's not much else out here, leaving the sky coal black, makes it stand out all that much more. It's so rich in this place, I can't help but wonder what's protected within the other.

From there, we used another frame shift injection out into the general population of stars and crossed south into the Sanguineous Rim. Concerned about the rate of jumponium use, I began an ascent towards the galactic plane to increase star density. I was prepared to go as far as -250Ly (from -500) but found that -350 has been sufficient to make consistent forward progress without burning jumponium reserves.

Since then we have been hammering through the Rim, making progress as quickly as possible. By the time we buttoned up for the "night" (what is that out here, anyways?) we had traversed halfway through. A while earlier I noticed Pilot Holloway looking for a long time at the Orion complex from behind, growing smaller with each jump. She confided in me that she's never been this far from home before. I didn't have the heart to admit to her that I haven't, either.

There's no specific waypoint for tonight or tomorrow, just a distant but looming crossing into the Elysian Shore. That view of Orion, distant, tiny, and flipped around really is something, though.

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[Q Hung]

Day Three update from The Navy Dark II:

We've arrived at the search sector, after pushing very, very hard yesterday. We finished crossing the Sanguineous Rim, traveled a few thousand years through the Elysian Shores, and then cut back into the far side of the Rim to finally dock at our temporary home - the appropriately named Station X, in the Crab Nebula.

For some reason Gan's story has weighed heavily on my mind, and now here I find myself, all the way out in Crab Sector, amidst the most futile of efforts. Something about his words, a region on space not black, but radiant, brought me out here. Oops, brought -us- out here. Pilot Holloway thinks I'm nuts.

The trip really underlines how far away this place is from the bubble. We spent at least 4000Ly (probably more) in totally black space, never before visited by anyone, at least no one who lived to tell about it. The data was valuable, but the loneliness is profound out there.

So I think it's to the pulsar first, then just poking around, scanning, looking for diamondback explorers, shipwrecks, and undeclared surface installations. Any other commanders out here in Crab Sector with me?

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[Ian Doncaster]

20 MAY 3302 – Freelance Report: Attempt to Sabotage Jaques Station Thwarted
21 MAY 3302 – Freelance Report: Growing Demand for Halsey's Exploration Data

Quick note on these two: Freelance Reports are from the days when Galnet allowed (heavily moderated) player-submitted content. They're compatible with the official lore, but any useful information in them will be coincidental.

(And of course, Galnet didn't report on the successful sabotage attempt until it was too late)

It was only ever in local Galnet, but Jaques did make some interesting comments following the misjump, about the Unknown Artifacts (Thargoid Sensors) singing, and "... then they find you". There was some speculation at the time about that having some relation to Halsey's visions, but the region around Colonia has been fairly thoroughly explored with no sign of the presence of Guardians, Thargoids, or other non-human technology.

 

[The_Dude_abides]

Quick note on these two: Freelance Reports are from the days when Galnet allowed (heavily moderated) player-submitted content. They're compatible with the official lore, but any useful information in them will be coincidental.

(And of course, Galnet didn't report on the successful sabotage attempt until it was too late)

It was only ever in local Galnet, but Jaques did make some interesting comments following the misjump, about the Unknown Artifacts (Thargoid Sensors) singing, and "... then they find you". There was some speculation at the time about that having some relation to Halsey's visions, but the region around Colonia has been fairly thoroughly explored with no sign of the presence of Guardians, Thargoids, or other non-human technology.

Noted, appreciate the read through, I'll try to consider those more carefully as I dig through info. Most of the information I was looking for was to correlate the connection between Halsey and the detour system Azaleach. Tinfoil hat disclaimer: some have alluded in other post that barnards loop looks like an eye with an eyebrow from a certain point of view. The dark wheel toast has a quote "To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies". From Azaleach, if you look to barnards loop, there is a bright orange star on what could be an eyebrow. I got bored and chased it down and the star is Betelgeuse. Interesting for sure but I'm not convinced of any solid link between Halsey and Romero other than the voices.

That said, I don't think that Gan Romero is off running around in the black aimlessly. I think they chose him because he is useful and is likely headed somewhere where his skills as a Starport tech would be needed to possibly assist with another mis-jump.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

some have alluded in other post that barnards loop looks like an eye with an eyebrow from a certain point of view.

I'm glad it's not just me. I don't know how all you bubble types manage with it staring at you all day.

 

[Q Hung]

From The Navy Dark II - days four and five:

It's been two days of scanning, pinging, checking contacts, and doing visual reconnaissance around the nebula. There is, as perhaps expected, no sign of Gan Romero. We've carefully explored all stars in and around the nebula proper. Holloway got a bit frustrated with the lack of results yesterday, but some generous application of conspicuous patience was able to smooth out that bump.

I have to admit that I was hoping, in the likely case that Gan wasn't here, that we could find some brain trees or other non-human breadcrumbs way out here, but the most we found were some bark mounds ("planet pimples" as Holloway calls them).

We're going to finish the survey job as diligently as we can, fully scanning and exploring around the nebular "approach" stars, and then figure out what comes next. To be clear, I never thought Gan was running around aimlessly in the black. My theories have always been that whoever or whatever has gotten into Gan's head either wants him as an easily influenced sacrificial lamb, or perhaps there was something special about or in the Diamondback Explorer that he stole, delivering it to whoever wants or needs it. Especially if he's delivering the ship to someone, I guess it's likely near the bubble, but it could really be ANYWHERE. And being a D-back, it really could be just about anywhere with a decent jump range.

It lifts my hopes to see real and productive conversation here about Gan and his involvement in... whatever the hell is going on. Holloway and I are monitoring the thread carefully to see where we might head next.

Incidentally, 170 million credits worth of exploration data has made this slightly tedious trip worth it, regardless of what we do or don't find out here.

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[Cmdr Spencer]

It seems a hard ask for FD to just expect someone to kit up and head off into the black without any leads. There must be some kind of clue in the system surely, so we can try and retrace his steps or follow the crumbs. I'm in Vega at the moment looking for any hints of where he could have been heading.

 

[Q Hung]

Good morning again from The Navy Dark II:

So, um, Holloway and I've been a bit distracted and non-productive for the last day or so, but the latest Galnet update (May 31, 3305) turned up the fire again on the search. We are continuing and hopefully completing the basic Crab Nebula survey this weekend, with a continued invitation to others to join in the search in this region or elsewhere.

Lennox's comments in the news update, plus the fact that the authorities are suspending the investigation, I feel necessitate a group effort on the part of us private commanders to comb likely targets galaxy-wide for Gan, wreckage, or clues.

Is there any sanctioned method in-galaxy to transfer credits or materials to other commanders? I wish I could put a personal 100M CR bounty on any substantive information pertaining to the whereabouts or motives of Mr. Romero. I'll pay it myself.

Keep in touch.

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[PhilBFC]

Void Opal dumps make for nice rewards. (Not that I have any leads to offer though).

The latest Galnet article was quite interesting, especially how it included the quote :-

“Obviously I’m not happy about losing my Diamondback Explorer, and I’ve had to fight for the station’s insurance to cover my losses. Still, part of me wonders if my ship was stolen for a reason… It was fitted for exploration with a high jump range, and it sounds like this guy was heading somewhere really far away.”

We all know DBX have good jump ranges so why specifically point it out?

 

[Q Hung]

If anybody's got any other ideas about where he could be, I'm very interested to hear them, if for nothing other than figuring out where I'm gonna go next. I've got a couple thoughts thus far:

Eta Carinae
Perhaps J Cen?
Galactic Center somewhere, as the sky indeed shines all over the place there. Seems WAY to broad though. Due to the density there that's like half the stars in the damn galaxy.

Intrigued to hear more -

Cmdr Q Hung

 

[Jmanis]

Quick note on these two: Freelance Reports are from the days when Galnet allowed (heavily moderated) player-submitted content. They're compatible with the official lore, but any useful information in them will be coincidental.

It's worth noting; the author of those two articles actually contacted me at one point. They pretty much wrote those articles just as "interesting narrative" and were unaware of myself or any other CMDRs UA bombing Jacques at that time.

Shame those Jacques local news articles are now in the ether, save for the screenshots myself and others took.

Galactic Center somewhere, as the sky indeed shines all over the place there. Seems WAY to broad though. Due to the density there that's like half the stars in the damn galaxy.

Honestly, I rekon it's there... wouldn't surprise me if it was such a broad search area.

 

[Q Hung]

More ideas:
Bubble Nebula
Herschel 36 in the Lagoon Nebula

Q

 

[Hanerib]