On the Trail of the Stargazer

Adventure summary:

On June 26, 3303, a station issued a call for help in finding Luca Rekivek, an explorer who made an important discovery but never made it to port. Find out why...

The Recap

Exploration ship

SRV (Scarab or Scorpion)

Surface scanner

DifficultyBeginner

Duration

1h30

Max distance

500 LY

On the Trail of the Stargazer

ByCMDR OptimusKoala
26 December 3308
450 points

« Why did I get into this? » That’s the question on your mind as your ship heads for a distant system in search of information about a years-old mystery.
It all began in the lounge of the « Dedman Gateway » station in the « Bhadaba » system. As you were passing by, you heard a rumor that a mysterious message was hidden in this system. That’s all it takes for you to jump in with both feet. You grab another cup of coffee and start looking for the system’s signal sources.

The adventure begins

Once you’ve finished your coffee, you leave the « Dedman Gateway » station break room determined to get to the bottom of things.

The « Deadman Gateway » bar

You start your ship and begin to think.
There must be something in this system to point you in the right direction.

The « Dedman Gateway » station is a tribute to Stephen Dedman (b. 1959), an Australian writer of dark fantasy and science fiction. He is also known for writing the Shadowrun role-playing game. Read more…

A listening post is hidden in the system, use your FSS scanner or signal source filter to find it.

Once you’ve found the clue, go on to step 2

A strange message

You scan the system for encoded signals but find nothing… Nothing at all.
Then you have a stroke of genius: what if this message had simply gone unnoticed because it was too banal?

You run a scan again, but this time only on unencoded messages… BINGO !
You find a listening post right next to the station. Without missing a beat, you start your engines and head for it.

Bhadaba’s listening post

You scan the listening station and a rather banal message comes through. You listen to it:

…Joci, I found something out here.
It’s huge. I’ve no idea what it is, but I’ve taken survey samples and I’m heading to Maia to register our claim.

Honestly honey I think we’ve hit the big one on this. I’ll call you again when I’m station side.

‘Something out here’… This could be the lead you’ve been looking for. Onward and upward!

Luca’s message indicates that he was on his way to the Maia system. Go to it!

Once you’ve reached your destination, proceed to step 3

A disturbing discovery

It’s been a long journey to the ‘Maia’ system, but you’ve finally arrived.
You head for the « Obsidian Orbital » station to take a break and look for a trace of this « Joci »..

Obsidian Orbital bar

No one here has ever heard of her, not even the bartender. He explains that he’s been working here for 4 years and has never heard of this woman.
But an idea crosses your mind – perhaps you'll find information in the system's archives.

Use a station terminal and select ‘Public notice board’ at the bottom. The news of June 26 3303 finally appears.

Once you’ve found the archive, go on to step 4

The lost archive

Rummaging through a station terminal, you come across an archive dating back to 3303.

Missing Person Report:

Security forces in Maia and the surrounding systems are seeking the location of a Luca Rekivek after his wife Joci Rekivek reported him missing.
Rekivek is an explorer and prospector who has been working in the Pleiades region for several months.

According to his wife, he had made a significant discovery at an unknown location and was on his way to Obsidian Orbital to register his claim. She was to meet him here and alerted security forces when he did not arrive.

The last reported response from the transponder aboard Rekivek’s ship the Stargazer was in the HIP 16378 system, but so far no sign of the ship has been found.

So this Joci is the wife of Luca Rekivek, the man who recorded the message in the « Bhadaba » system.
You also discover that this story is over 5 years old, no wonder no one here has ever heard of it.

But the information that interests you most here is that it was last seen in the HIP 16378 system. You set off in the direction of this system in search of a new clue.

This system hides a listening post, which you can find using your FSS scanner.

Once you’ve found the clue, go on to step 5

The trail becomes clearer

It only takes a few minutes to find the recording he left.

HIP 16378’s listening post

Once you’ve scanned the contents of this listening station, you’ll discover its contents.

Joci, I’m going to be delayed, I’m currently in the HIP 16378 system and I’ve received a distress call in orbit around 3b, out of fuel by the sounds of it.

I’ve got some refueling limpets on board so I’m going to check it out. After all I’ve had my share of near misses and we always say that if it was one of us out there, we’d hope someone would come to help us.

Comms are a bit sketchy at the moment, getting weird glitches, so I’m not sure if you’ll get this before reaching Maia.
I won’t be long hun.

Luca out.

A strange story about interference… Good news, thanks to this recording you know where Luca went.

According to the message, Luca went to HIP 16378 3 B.

Go to Luca’s last known position and proceed to step 6

The cat is out of the bag

You fly through the system, engines at full throttle, until you can clearly see your target.
Finally facing the imposing moon, you cast a glance into its orbit, but nothing… No trace of a message or even debris.

That’s when your eyes land on the huge mass in front of you. Perhaps what you’re looking for is there?

Use your detailed surface scanner to locate a trace of the Stargazer.

Stargazer’s crash site

Once you’ve found your target, move on to step 7

Stupefaction

You launch probes that speed to the moon to transmit precious information…
The suspense is unbearable…
Just a few seconds more…

Eureka! You can see a crash site.

You swoop straight down on your target.
Once the descent is complete, you can see the carcass of the Stargazer with your own eyes. There’s no way Luca could have made it out alive.

The wreckage of the Stargazer

He’d been there all this time. Perhaps he left a last message?

Close to the ship are two data links. Use your SRV scanners to obtain the messages.

Once you’ve solved the mystery, move on to step 8

Mystery solved

You take out your SRV (Surface Recon Vehicle) and approach the destroyed ship.
That’s when you discover two data links that are still active…

Without thinking, you use your scanner to decrypt the messages contained in the two data links.
After a short treatment, the last moments of the Stargazer and Luca are revealed.

MESSAGE FRAGMENT 1/2:

…Joci…under attack…not responding to hails…distress call was a trap…damn it…I can’ t…fell for it…guys are some military out…someone doesn’t want the…found…message…it’s in HIP 17694…

MESSAGE FRAGMENT 2/2:

…know if I’m getting through…comms are being jammed…claim is on Planet B 7 f…trying to lose them…get closer to the planet surface, I might be able…

Your stomach’s in knots… Luca had indeed discovered something and could have taken it with him to the grave.

Except that you’ve discovered it… You glance left, then right. Paranoia grips you… What if the same people have been following you?

You climb aboard your ship without taking the time to say goodbye to Luca. Head for HIP 17694 B7 f!
There must be something hidden in there - find out what!

On moon F of HIP 17694 B 7, use your surface scanner. You’ll find an ‘Unknown Structure Scan’. This is your target.

The Unknown structure

Once you’ve found the secret, go on to step 9

A mysterious discovery

Your mind races and your arms move spontaneously. The 7th planet of the second star of the HIP 17694 system is in sight.

You use your detailed surface scanner on the f moon and spot an unknown structure. Could this be Luca’s discovery?

You begin a descent to the planet to finally see with your own eyes: An Alien base!

Inactive Thargoid base

Luca had discovered an Alien base near Maia, but someone had silenced him. It’s impossible to know who or why with the information you have in your possession.
The only thing you can do now is go back to Obsidian Orbital and buy Joci Rekivek a drink to tell her how her husband, Luca Rekivek, died!

You can complete this puzzle automatically by connecting to the site with your Frontier account.

You can also share your pictures on discord in the channel #trophées !

Proofreading: CMDR Ben Carter Jr

Thanks: CMDR Buur (Luka Rekivek’s voice).