⧫ Battleship Atum
⧫ Galileo System
⧫ From: Commander Valentin Róka
⧫ To: The Order Overwatch
⧫ CC: WEDJAT
Kepler Nomad Activity and Persons of Interest
Apologies for the lateness of this report, getting a transmission out from near the Kepler System proved problematic.
Earlier this week onboard the Overwatch gunboat OCV-Khem I diverted from out previously scheduled patrol to the Kepler System after receiving the recent distress signal of the Sekhet Aaru. Upon our arrival in the system we came into contact with the Section 8 vessel Unto.Nightfall. After a discussion about the distress signal in question and the vessel it originated from. we agreed to coordinate our search. While I can now see from recent reports that Section 8 was more successful in the search, we had no such luck out our end.
However, during our sweep of the system we did notice some extremely odd Nomad activity. Attached below are visual and sensor scans of the nomad vessel in question designated Yellow Lambda by our ship's computer. This ship appeared to be a nomad Siris cruiser. Nomad cruisers in the interior border worlds are extremely uncommon, so we started to pursue the target and see what it was up to. Our pursuit of the target started in Kepler Grid 6F near the wreck of the transport McKinley, following it from there to Grid 5B past Nome Base, and ending in Grid 3C at the anomaly cluster known as "The Prophet". It should be noted that at full cruise speed we were unable to keep up with the target, it would routinely pull away from us at an extremely startling speed, and we were only able to reestablish sensor lock on it by extrapolating its previous headings and using some guesswork in predicting its patrol route. Upon reaching the "Prophet" anomaly cluster it seemed to enter one of the anomalies and disappeared, similar in effect to a ship entering a jumphole. No further nomad contacts were recorded in our sweep of the system.
Interestingly, a pair of the locals we encountered near the anomaly cluster at the end of our chase seemed extremely familiar with these kind of nomad incursions into Kepler and shared some concerning bits of information. The pair in question are the freelancers callsigned Jack.Edison and Yankee.Doodle. These two told quite a tale involving Nomad-spawning spatial distortions in Kepler and Tau-23, a possible connection to the Starlight Research Consortium, and three other persons of interest callsigned "Points", "Attlerock", and "Mia". They also mentioned a connection to the Nomad being known as "Entity". I've attached the full text of our discussion below for review by WEDJAT in the event that they wish to follow up with any of the mentioned individuals, or place them under observation. Needless to say that civilian freelancers and researchers having extended and repeated nomad encouters is concerning. Regretfully we were not able to continue a longer discussion with the two freelancers. We were chasing down a lead on the Sekhet Aaru that turned out to be nothing, and by the time we returned no one remained near the anomaly cluster.
The OCV-Khem has sustained some electrical system and hull damage from an extended stay in the Kepler System, so we'll be returning to Fort Carthage for repairs.
Commander Valentin Róka [OCV-Khem]
The Order Overwatch, 20:55 SMT 04 MAR 830
⧫ Attachments: (2) Visual scans of Nomad vessel and Communication Logs
[27.02.2023 18:21:11] 2023-02-27 18:21:10 SMT
[27.02.2023 18:24:01] Yankee.Doodle: Not this signature again
[27.02.2023 18:24:04] Jack.Edison: God dang it not again.
[27.02.2023 18:24:17] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Again?
[27.02.2023 18:24:24] Yankee.Doodle: Wait. It doesn't give a damn.
[27.02.2023 18:24:33] Yankee.Doodle: Phew, not a rabid one.
[27.02.2023 18:24:43] Jack.Edison: You would probably want to hear my story about Tau-23, jesus that was a ride yesterday.
[27.02.2023 18:24:55] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Im listening.
[27.02.2023 18:24:58] Yankee.Doodle: Why?
[27.02.2023 18:25:04] Jack.Edison: That Nomad ship went through the Prophet.
[27.02.2023 18:25:16] Jack.Edison: Great, jump holes.
[27.02.2023 18:25:50] Yankee.Doodle: Don't follow its example unless you have a JD of your own.
[27.02.2023 18:25:56] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: It went through, the Prophet? Do you mean this anomaly cluster?
[27.02.2023 18:26:00] Yankee.Doodle: Just a precaution.
[27.02.2023 18:26:53] Jack.Edison: Seems like - that's what got me to Kepler yesterday.
[27.02.2023 18:27:32] Jack.Edison: Look, we had situation in Kepler with Starlight Research Consortium, scary stuff. Nomads coming out of anomalies like they were
[27.02.2023 18:27:36] Jack.Edison: jump holes.
[27.02.2023 18:27:55] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: ... Thats very concerning.
[27.02.2023 18:28:41] Jack.Edison: I followed two people here, one person had a callsign "Points", other "Attlerock", rings a bell?
[27.02.2023 18:29:07] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Not personally no. But Ill have the names relayed for later review.
[27.02.2023 18:29:46] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Starlight Research hmm? Seems like I might need to put a holocall to them later.
[27.02.2023 18:30:35] Jack.Edison: In either case, those anomalies seem to "spawn" Nomads in groups of three, some small orbs stuff.
[Log Section Removed- Reason: Irrelevent encounter with malfunctioning AI Drone]
[27.02.2023 18:34:11] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Anyways, you were telling me about Starlight research, hordes of nomads, and something about one being 'rabid'?
[27.02.2023 18:34:51] Jack.Edison: Anyway, before all of that rockus happened in Tau-23 with anomalies and nomads coming out of orbs. There was this pilot,
[27.02.2023 18:35:00] Jack.Edison: callsigned "Mia", I had reviewed the logs and I was correct.
[27.02.2023 18:35:02] Yankee.Doodle: Some completely ignore human ships and go whenever, some murder everything they encounter.
[27.02.2023 18:35:07] Jack.Edison: They mentioned something about "Entity".
[27.02.2023 18:35:37] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Ah, this "Entity" is known to the Order. I've seen it once before myself.
[27.02.2023 18:35:47] Jack.Edison: What is it then?
[27.02.2023 18:35:52] Yankee.Doodle: Oh, no, not the cuttlefish *chuckles*
[27.02.2023 18:35:58] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Enigmatic.
[27.02.2023 18:36:04] Jack.Edison: Doesn't tell me much.
[27.02.2023 18:36:26] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Cuttlefish? ... It's a nomad bioform, or at least something reminicent of one...
[27.02.2023 18:37:21] Yankee.Doodle: I say cuttlefish. You're not really obliged to do the same.
[27.02.2023 18:37:21] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Sometimes hostile, sometimes surprisingly passive.
[27.02.2023 18:37:42] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: How much regular contact with this Nomad have you two had?!
[27.02.2023 18:38:22] Yankee.Doodle: Not much. I've seen it once in this here storm and decided to call it cuttlefish.
[27.02.2023 18:38:37] Jack.Edison: Almost to none, I heard that name yesterday if anything, before those nomad attacks.
[27.02.2023 18:39:11] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Hmm.
[27.02.2023 18:39:42] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: Id very much like to continue this conversation later. But Im being called away for the moment.
[27.02.2023 18:39:52] Order|CV-Khem: Roka: We'll be in touch if you dont mind.
[27.02.2023 18:39:56] Jack.Edison: Understandable.