The dark wheel is a secretish faction in the Founders world that has a big story.
When you bought the org. Elite you would also be granted to a book called "The Dark Wheel"
In the book(and a few pieces n scrapies you get over time in all of the games) The dark wheel discovered a Planet by the name Raxxla(a dark planet that dosent appear in Galaxy Map) that had Intergalactic Wormholes allowing the dark wheel to exploit this and make a huge ton of $$$.
It appears that in the current time of ED the Dark wheel lost the cordinations of Raxxla which is why youre carrying these crystals which they hope to crack to get the location of Raxxla.
David braben himself told that Raxxla exists in-game,and will appear in the FSD computer once the player does enough DS scans at that reigon of space...
Wiki topic over Raxxla:
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Raxxlacheck that out and dig through reddit to find more info.
Now some people believes that Raxxla is in The Formidine Rift which is the edge of the Galaxy(theres a big frontier forum topic on this
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthrea ... ift-Part-2 )
she says that:
"Don't tell no one, but I got as far as the Formidine Rift, not many folks can say that! No one has gone past it and lived to tell the tale."
"Edge of the Galactic Arm. Take a line from Reorte to Riedquat to the edge of the arm and ... keep going. 'Stars thin out, you can see the whole galaxy just hanging there."
"Let's just say there was some serious **** out there, stuff you wouldn't believe. No really - no one believed me, said it was all a fabrication. I had no proof you see and they edited my memory afterwards. Ah, it'll all come back to bite them one day, it's all there in the imperial databanks somewhere - and they thought the Thargoids were trouble ..."
The video played.
"If you're listening to this it means your smart enough to have bypassed Galcop, Federation, and Imperial security." The woman on the video smiled. "Not bad, but it's nothing compared to what's coming. I'm guessing you'll be pressed for time so I'll be quick. You'll find the co-ordinates at the end of this message. You'll need a tough ship and a good pilot. It's a long way, so make sure you're prepped, no one will be around to help you out. Once you reach the rift you're going to have to plot a way across. There are no stars for dozens of light years and the dark systems haven't been mapped, so take your time, watch your six." The woman leaned in closer to the recording device. "What's there? Wish I could tell you, but they edited my memory pretty good, took me long enough to stitch this lot back together. Whatever it is, it's something that Galcop, the Imps and the Feds don't want us to see. Good luck, and ... right on, Commander." The holofac faded, leaving them with just the text.
First of all the woman explains that they found something "big" that Feds,empire and Galcop(dosent exist in ED its a old coperation) theres 2 possible things on what this old lady might try to explain:
Thargoids
or
Raxxla
Raxxla seems more fitting,as she says that none "believed her",but as she said that "they tought the Thargoids were trouble..." + Imperial databanks = INARA
INARA created a super virus on Thargoids Organic based technology that destroyed a type of a plastic that were killing them,so as Elite : First encounters,Thargoids ask you that you give them the cure.
Which explains the words "They tought the thargoids were trouble...",on the imperial databanks theres no valid words...
Altough,again at the exact same Forum post at Frontier Forums
Comments from Drew on Twitter;
3/3/16:#FormidineRift. 1: Yes, it's in #Elitedangerous to be found. 2. You do not need Horizons. 3. Whether it's found depends on who goes looking. (We know that it is not rank locked as well, so his meaning of "Depends on who goes looking" could mean many things.)
3/7/16: @SystemSoundTM Well, the secret of the Formidine Rift is out there to be found, more about it may be revealed this year, if all goes well...
which confirms that there is something over at the Rift thats waiting to be found...
Now on the rift,you need a 5A Engineer boosted FSD to jump around there (40LY minimum) from what i heard from reddit.
Thats all i got,if i find any more dirt ill post.