An Unregistered Comms Beacon can be found in the Eafots GL-Y e2 system, orbiting body 1.
The transmission times of this beacon are on the hour, every hour.
The transmitted message is the following:
DYJEPQY UWLUDCQCKJ XUEOKJ
DJPQY P6 UNL003
NEHHY LKCJQ 6
SKNICDCJUNCSQ
UESKQP AHY U2
IKDUPQEJDXY
(repeated two times)
Applying a Keyed Caesar cipher with the key of EXODUS yields the message:
DYNASTY EXPEDITION BEACON
DNSTY S6 ERP003
RALLY POINT 6
FORMIDINERIFT
EAFOTS GLY E2
MODESTANDBY
An abandoned settlement can be found within the same system on body 6, at 39.4445, 111.5341 (in Live/4.0) or at 21.2753, 19.0667 (in Legacy/3.8).
Around the settlement there are six Settlement Comms Log Uplink points, scanning them gives background to the reason for its abandonment:
Logs
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 1/6
Expedition Log: 30/08/3270“I should have paid a bit more attention to the mission description. I just saw the credit count and signed up there and then. More money than I’ve ever earned and all in one go, just for taking a year out. What’s a poor girl got to do? A bit of a jaunt into the void, how bad could it be? Didn’t read the bit about several thousand light years. I’ve never even been past Leesti before! Get rich quick scheme – let’s go!”
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 2/6
Expedition Log: 12/09/3270“It’s pretty out here. We’ve seen a gorgeous double nebula called the Heart and Soul. You should see it, lots of bright blue stars nearby, wish we could divert to have a closer look, but our mission is beyond apparently. Really brings back how big the galaxy is. Makes you feel real small and insignificant.”
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 3/6
Expedition Log: 18/09/3270“My job is the EVA. Taking out one of our two Sidewinders and dropping beacons out in the void and then making sure they’re activated. Not sure what these things are for. Who needs a beacon this far out anyway? Weird, they all have this code in their BIOS – ‘Exodus’. Still, at least I now have something to do. The journey was so dull! Months of travel to get out here.”
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 4/6
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270“Something weird happened to day. Unloaded another beacon and set it up, then everything went off line – and l mean everything! Life support too! No comms, nothing. Stayed that way for about two minutes. Then everything was back to normal. Affected our support ship too. No idea what caused it. Going to need new underwear when I get back. Rumours are there is something odd about this area of space.”
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 5/6
Expedition Log: 11/11/3270“Oh my god… someone help me. Where are they… please… this can’t be happening…”
FORMIDINE RIFT DELTA MISSION 6/6
Expedition Log: 29/11/3270“I’ve had time to accept it now. I went out as normal with one of the beacons, set it up. Had that weird power loss again. I waited and it all came back online like before. Signalled my support ship – no response. Flew back and it was gone, just debris. No survivors. Don’t know what happened. It’s just me and this crappy old Sidewinder a zillion miles from home. Should have known it wasn’t going to work out. If it’s too good to be true… There’s an Earth-like world here, going to try and reach it… you never know.”
