Uncovering the NMLA - 8.2.3308
08 Feb 2022Marsxenon
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> Open Log Recorder
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Logs\Log Recorder\Log_Recorder.exe\> Open - Log Recorder Initiated
> Create New Log Entry
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Logs\Log Recorder\Log_Recorder.exe\> Initiate - [Recording ◉]
\\\EVENT LOG - 8.2.3308
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Yesterday, the 3rd of February, the Affiliated Counter-Terrorism unit relayed messages saying that they knew of a location containing a beacon that is connected to the NMLA's dark-comms network. Now, since my career began, I did not pay attention to the events happening in this galaxy, and still pay little attention to the political dilemmas. I'm mostly worried about any major threats to humanity at the moment, such as the Thargoids, and not so much about what ruling systems people think should be abolished, limited, or put in place. I don't care too much about which factions don't like each other, unless it puts me and my fellow commanders at risk. However, the more recent events of the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army have put them in quite the spotlight. I remember going to investigate the attack on Dyson City in Paresa on October 14, 3307. That event made me understand this situation was more serious than I first understood. Granted the NMLA did start off small so I wouldn't have known much then, but they were escalating their tactics now, to the point where they literally attacked an orbital starport. The station looked like it had been attacked by Thargoids, which made sense, since the bombs used by the NMLA were made of the Thargoid's caustic enzyme.
> Import Image: Attack on Dyson City
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Images\20211015135537_1.jpg\> Import
After October 14, I was paying a bit more attention to the NMLA and their actions. As was mentioned, the ACT found a lead that could help pull the NMLA into the light. The catch was, they needed independent pilots to help since they've retracted most of their forces from the region of HIP 290, the system they believed was the location of a beacon the NMLA is using.
I headed to HIP 290, and looked for some sort of beacon contact. I didn't see anything, so I decided to scan the NAV Beacon in the system. After scanning it, a new "Imperial Beacon" contact appeared on my NAV Panel. I engaged supercruise and headed for it. Upon arrival, I found a Listening Post. This was a bit difficult to see because it was secluded in the darkness of the planet it was orbiting, but I scanned it and received the following message:
| YMPZ PZ YVWXBHYBZ HGHSIVS DVWR VS LZYHGQPZMPSN H SLD STQH KPNBWLMLHI SV LCPZYPSN JHSIPIHYLZ MHAL ZBKKPJPLSY ZBUUVWY YV WLUQHJL YMLYH ZLALS MPZ THWYFWIVT DHZ LCULJYLI GBY MHZ BSKVWYBSHYLQF MHUULSLI HMLHI VK ZJMLIBQL KVW SVD JVSJLSYWHYL VS HAVPIPSN ILYLJYPVS YMLWL DPQQ GL VYMLW JMHSJLZ YV WLTVAL YML WLTHPSPSN IBAHQS |
> Import Image: Imperial Beacon
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Images\20220204132847_1.jpg\> Import
You can see the Listening Post I found in HIP 290 in the image above. I used the ACT's partial cipher to begin decoding the cipher. Something that threw me off was the key itself. Compared to the method I would have used, the key was backwards. For instance, the letter A did not represent H in the decrypted message, the letter H in the code represented A in the decrypted message. Also, since it was partial, I had quite a few blanks, and had to figure out the rest of the key. I later understood that 1) Even if a letter equaled another specific letter, it did not mean the inverse, and 2) Each letter was only used once which did help a bit through the process of elimination. I used this understanding to figure out the remaining parts of the cipher key, as shown below.
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D = I G = N H = M I = P J = E/O K = R N = S R = W X = C Y = F Z = E/O |
The letters Z and J were never used in the message, therefore the letters E and O never appeared in the encrypted message, so I do not know which ones are assigned to which, but I don't need them anyway. Using the completed cipher key, I decoded the following message:
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THIS IS TORQUATUS. ABANDON WORK ON ESTABLISHING A NEW NMLA FIGUREHEAD. NO EXISTING CANDIDATES HAVE SUFFICIENT SUPPORT TO REPLACE THETA SEVEN. HIS MARTYRDOM WAS EXPECTED, BUT HAS UNFORTUNATELY HAPPENED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. FOR NOW, CONCENTRATE ON AVOIDNG DETECTION. THERE WILL BE OTHER CHANCES TO REMOVE THE REMAINING DUVALN. (Punctuation Added) |
The NMLA's goals have always been about removing the monarchy from the Empire, except this time it sounds like they are carrying out a plan to do so. Statements have been coming out in more recent times about the absence of Arissa Lavigny-Duval, the Emperor. Princess Aisling Duval has been concerned about her well-being, despite the Empire telling her Arissa was fine. A message supposedly from her was relayed through some of the senators, but this encrypted message implies that she has probably been eliminated, that the message from her was fake, and that the Empire or at least specific senators are covering this all up. This message of course also makes mention of Theta Seven, the former de-facto leader of the NMLA. The search for him also involved commissioning the community of commanders, where CMDR Therion Cygni, through a lengthy and convoluted process, cracked a code the ACT received. The code revealed a message from Theta Seven, pinpointing his location. Soon after, he was eliminated and his real name was revealed to be John Tyburn. Despite all of this, this decoded message indicates that the NMLA was aware his death was likely since the ACT and the community were on his tail, and that his death would further their cause.
After scanning the initial listening post, a message from the ACT appeared in my inbox, reporting that a second beacon was though to be located in the Saffron system, so I targeted the system and headed out. Upon arriving, there was already a "Unidentified Beacon" contact on my NAV panel. This was different than the previous beacon, as I needed to first scan the NAV Beacon in HIP 290 before an "Imperial Beacon" contact appeared. When I arrived at the beacon, it made sense why it was already in my contacts. The listening post was approximately 20 km away from Cresswell, a starport orbiting a planet named "Ectoplasm". You can see that in the image below.
> Import Image: 20km From Cresswell
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Images\20220206135056_1.jpg\> Import
The contact was most likely already on my NAV panel because the listening post has been visible from this station. I scanned it, and received yet another encrypted message. I used the new decryption key that the ACT provided, and decoded it. The encoded message read as follows:
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5GF5M1 2DF 1MW2GD4 1R13K Y45 Q1C2 D4 Q2MJ L2 3C2 M2SD V1J3D4M B3DQ LY S1L3MY D4 1C43T 33FF H52FD34K3KR BQ1D 3S DQ1D M1KT15 B4L1K G21MMY V1K VG1VN 45G 4L2R1 RG3T N1GM JG4L3F2T L2 DQ1D B1F 3LJ4FF3WM2 Y45 NK4B 3C2 1MB1YF W22K M4Y1M D4 Y45 1KT DQ2 4DQ2G M4GTF W5D 3 K2C2G TG21LD 45G B4GN V45MT 2ZJ4F2 L2 J2GF4K1MMY T4 F4L2DQ3KR |
As you can see, this code was much different from the pervious code, in that it contained a mix of numbers and letters. The ACT compensated though, providing another partial cipher key. Using the partial key and context, I deciphered the remaining part of the key, as shown below.
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A = 1 E = 2 K = N M = L T = D |
This encrypted message ended up being easier to decode, because it worked a bit different than the first. In the first cipher, the key was backwards, and one letter equaling another did not mean the inverse. In this cipher, when a letter equaled another letter or number, it also meant the inverse. This meant that I didn't really have to decode much of the rest of the cipher key, except for the few shown above. I used the key to decrypt the following message:
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URSULA, ETS ALBERTO AGAIN. YOU HAVE TO HELP ME. I'VE LEFT CAPITOL WITH MY FAMILY TO AVOID IISS QUESTIONING. WHAT IF THAT LANDAU WOMAN REALLY CAN CRACK OUR OMEGA GRID? KARL PROMISED ME THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE. YOU KNOW I'VE ALWAYS BEEN LOYAL TO YOU AND THE OTHER LORDS, BUT I NEVER DREAMT OUR WORK COULD EXPOSE ME PERSONALLY. DO SOMETHING. (Punctuation Added) |
As you probably noticed, there were some grammar mistakes in these messages, which, while not uncommon to happen, is unusual to see in precisely encrypted messages. Perhaps these mistakes were because of the frantic nature of the situation this Alberto is in? Or perhaps these incorrect letters may spell out a code or name in the following messages? I did a bit of research to figure out who these individuals are. Ursula Torquatus is an Imperial Senator, as are Alberto Gereon and Karl Nerva. Its sounds to me that Alberto was likely either the lead, or one of the developers of the Omega Grid, but was also involved with whatever operations these three individuals and the NMLA have been up to. Karl Nerva spoke publicly about the Omega Grid, describing how it had little use or worth. He also demanded that the ACT be disbanded. The ACT, and Landau specifically, believed that the Omega Grid was likely given to the NMLA. I think they are probably right on this. The Omega Grid was most likely originally developed as a semi-secret communications network for the Imperial Internal Security Service (IISS), but the ones creating it quickly saw a way to use it for their own intentions, and gave the technology to the NMLA to plan their operations. Nerva would publicly denounce it so that people would not pay as much attention to it, and would also try to get people to want to disband the ACT, a neutral intelligence agency that was after the NMLA and was getting in the way of their plans.
The next day, I received yet another message from the ACT. This time, they believed another NMLA dark-comms beacon was located in the Maidjin system. Upon arrival, I did not see a beacon in my contacts. I decided to supercruise to the NAV Beacon in the system and scan it, similar to the first beacon. Still though, no beacon appeared in my contacts. I jumped back into supercruise, fired the Discovery Scanner, and started up the FSS (Full Spectrum System Scanner). Looking around, I scanned all of the signal sources I could and catalogued all of the planets I could find. Finally, I found moon 5 D in the system, where a "Network Beacon" signal was located. I shut down the FSS, and looked back into my contacts to see the "Network Beacon" point of interest. When I came out of supercruise, the beacon was also shrouded in a bit of darkness like the first, many hundreds of kilometers above the moon. I scanned it, and received the following encrypted message:
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F2N2Q2N DT2FM T2R2TW2QJ W2 V2Q2W2T Q2TX2 Y2X2 K2G W2 G2VD2QG WK2 T2P22Q2QJ WT22Q2QJ F2PRV PB V2NG22TV F22JKW 2QG 2Z2F2W2G V2X2T2N 2FW 2J2OWV 2P2QJ WK2 N2W2VW 2QW2M2 2H B22 Y2QW 2V W2 F2QW2Q22 Y2TM2QJ H2T WK2 N2TGQ 2H T2VW2T2W22Q Y2 P2VW T2Q2J2W22T2 22T 2JT22P2QW WK2 F2TT2QW V2W22W22Q 2V Q2W V2VW22Q2DN2 |
The first thing that stands out about this message is the shear number of 2s in it. This ended up being difficult to decode because of this, since the ACT's partial cipher revealed that 2 had the possibility of representing 3 different letters. In fact, it was later revealed that 2 could represent any of the 5 vowels. The ACT's cipher key ended up being hard to understand, and incorrect in some parts, so I decided to form my own key after I figured out the first few words of the cipher, as shown below.
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F = C 2 = O/E/A/I/U N = L Q = N D = B T = R M = K R = P W = T V = S J = G X = V Y = W K = H G = D P = M B = Y Z = X H = F |
I reorganized the cipher key and used it to decode the following encrypted message:
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COLONEL BROCK REPORTING TO SENATOR NERVA. WE'VE HAD TO DISBAND THE REMAINING TRAINING CAMPS. MY SOLDIERS CAUGHT AND EXECUCTED SEVERAL ACT AGENTS AMONG THE LATEST INTAKE. IF YOU WANT US TO CONTINUE WORKING FOR THE LORDN OF RESTORATION, WE MUST RENEGOTIARE OUR AGREEMENT. THE CURRENT SITUATION IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. (Punctuation Added) |
So far, there is no information I could find about the individual named Colonel Brock. Through this message, we finally learned the name of the group of individuals we have been intercepting messages from: The Lords of Restoration. Colonel Brock is most likely the commander of a rogue brigade or battalion that also feels the same about removing the Imperial Family from the Empire. I believe that the Lords of Restoration are a group of individuals that have access to the Omega Grid technology and Imperial Intelligence, which was given to the NMLA to assist in their plans. To limit the ACT from finding out too much information, Colonel Brock and his soldiers were likely hired to execute any undercover ACT agents, as he mentioned.
The day after, I received another message from the ACT, informing me that they believed another beacon was located somewhere in the Zhao Jin system. I jumped there, and scanned the NAV Beacon in the system. A "Communication Beacon" point of interest contact appeared on my NAV Panel, located at the moon Zhao Jin 5 A. I came out of supercruise as normal, and scanned the Listening Post. The following encrypted message was sent to my inbox:
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R4S 4S R4TV4R4S J4Z4X4Z 44T 4F4XRS Y4R4X 4YW4T44Z 4XR4ZZ4F4XJ4 D4Q4 P4TX4H 4S R4R 4JR 4S Y4B4XF WT4FT4SS 4X 4JJ4SS4XF 44T X4RP4TB M44 4T4 4TH4T4H R4 RT4XSG4T JTM4F4X4J W4H e-16 GT4Y R4 S4YY4TZ4XH J4YWZ4N R4 4X 4ZR4TX4R4 SMSR4Y 4S S44X 4S W4SS4KZ4 R4S Y4SR B4 44T R4W WT44T4RM 4G P4 Z4S4 4T4SS4 R4 WT4C4JR 4S G4X4S4H |
Similar to the previous message we intercepted, the number 4 represented all vowels. Now that I understood how the previous message was decoded, I came up with the following key to decrypt this message, based off of the key the ACT provided. The ACT's key was not as difficult to understand this time, at least for me, but I made a few changes, as you can see below:
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4 = A/E/I/O/U D = H F = G G = F H = D K = B L = Z N = X V = Q W = P Y=M/W T = R R = T/TH S = S/SH J = C QU = R |
Once again, using the key, I decrypted the intercepted message:
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THIS IS TORQUATUS. COLONEL BROCK, OUR AGENTS WITHIN IMPERIAL INTELLIGENCE HAVE WARNED US THAT ACT IS MAKING PROGRESS ON ACCESSING OUR NETWORK. YOU ARE ORDERED TO TRANSFER CRYOGENIC POD e-16 FROM THE SUMMERLAND COMPLEX TO AN ALTERNATE SYSTEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THIS MUST KE OUR TOP PRIORITY. IF WE LOSE ARISSA THE PROJECT IS FINISHED. (Punctuation Added) |
We finally had our questions answered. It turns out Aisling Duval was not overreacting, and the suspicious behavior of Arissa Lavigny-Duval has been explained. While we thought that she may have been dead, it turns out that she has been cryogenically frozen the entire time. Torquatus and the Lords of Restoration are aware that the ACT and the community of commanders are after them, so it sounds like they are hiding as much as possible. The ACT also sent a message thanking the community of commanders for our assistance, and that they were sending teams to Summerland to try and recover the Emperor. I also hypothesize that if the culprits are apprehended, their actions won't be treated lightly, since they murdered agents of the ACT. However, this may still provide exposure for the NMLA's cause. Either way, the Emperor's condition and location has been pinpointed, and I was happy to participate in these interesting times. I still wonder about some of the specifics of this operation. For instance, how many Senators or high-ranking officials are in on this plot to remove the Duvals? I imagine quite a few. What about the beacons we were locating? Where they installed as part of the Omega Grid / NMLA Dark-Comms Network, and then disguised as Imperial, Unidentified, Network, and Communication Beacons, or where they originally normal civilian beacons that were hijacked for use in secret communications networks? Also, I noticed some spelling errors in the messages, even after they were decoded. I found the letters N, E, N, R, and K mixed within the messages, so perhaps these letters can make a name? Or perhaps the letters they were supposed to be, S, I, S, T, and B, could create a name? Even though I wasn't ever invested much in the political troubles in the galaxy, I look forward to seeing how future events in this conspiracy play out. Until then, fly safe CMDRs, o7.
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> Update Log Entry
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Logs\Log Recorder\Log_Recorder.exe\Update\> Update Recording - [Resuming Recording ▶]
\\\UPDATE 1 - 9.2.3308
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There has been an update today. Darkwater Inc., a military firm, turned out to be the military group holding Arissa in captivity. The Empire launched a quick assault on the Darkwater ship holding the Emperor in Summerland, recovering her safely. She is now in the care of the Empire. The Lords of Restoration, Torquatus, Gereon, and Nerva, are in custody. Colonel Brock is likely in custody as well if he wasn't killed during the Empire's strike. I can only imagine the damage the Imperial operatives inflicted when they learned of Arissa's location. If they didn't simply force the ship to surrender, I would imagine they shredded it with Imperial Hammers. I think any government would react the same if they had to rescue their kidnapped leader.
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> End Log Entry
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Logs\Log Recorder\Log_Recorder.exe\> End Recording- Recording Ended
> Close Log Recorder
<c:\Ship\Wraith\Logs\Log Recorder\Log_Recorder.exe\> Close - Closing
> Log Saved, Goodbye Commander
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