Alcor-4 is in the Frontier Zone, close to what many consider the Galactic Center. It might *be* the galactic center. Its an ice ball, outside of the "suitability zone" of any life form found in the The Xenosapient Necrology. It's rare, finding habitations outside of the suitability zone -- colonies, or research stations from established civilizations. But if the outpost was a colony, why make a colony on such an inhospitable world, and what happened to it?