Standard practice for Frontier operations was that, along various points of the region the Frontier took up, various outposts meant to serve as home bases for the personnel monitoring them would be set up. Their style and purpose often varied based on what particular region of a Frontier they were set to observe, or the kind of operations they were meant to cater. Much like the Freelancer guilds, but perhaps even more specialized in nature as a result.
The largest of these home bases were effectively settlements in and of themselves. Not quite such as the grander cities further away from the Frontier zones, but serviceable enough for the purposes they were meant to serve.