With information on two of The First’s members that set up the Hopetown ship heist, you can start hunting them down. In this faction mission walkthrough, we’ll help you catch up with Marco. While the prior missions were dialogue heavy, these upcoming missions are more combat oriented. As a result, you will want to plan accordingly by stocking up on medical supplies and ammunition. Notably, this is the only time during faction missions that you will choose between two missions on which to do first. The order that you do them doesn’t change things, so you can always do Surgical Strike first instead.
Quest Type: Faction
Prerequisite: Shadows in Neon
Unlocks: First to Fight, First to Die (requires completing Surgical Strike)
Location
System: Porrima
Planet: Porrima III
Location: The Red Mile
Rewards (At level 49)
12300 Credits
350 XP
Solomon Coe’s Copy of Don Quixote
Go to The Red Mile and Talk to Autumn Macmillan
You will need to travel to the Porrima System and go to the Red Mile to pursue Marco. The easiest way to fast travel to new mission locations is to go to the missions tab and press the “Set Course” button at the bottom of the screen (Image 1). This will take you to Porrima III’s orbit, from which you can land at the Red Mile.
Image 1
When you touch down, you must seek out the ranger at the Red Mile, Autumn Macmillan. She isn’t exactly the nicest Freestar Ranger you’ll meet, but at least she’s easy to find – she’s posted up to the bar. Autumn will inform you that she’s dealing with another mercenary company that could help you find Marco. She has a meeting with them at the Red Mile, and you’re invited.
Follow Autumn Macmillan and Meet with Jade
Autumn will tell you not to mess up the meeting, and to follow her across the bar to her contact. Sit down and Jade will make it clear that she wants Marco out of the picture, but the only person that has his location is Mei Divine, the proprietor of the Red Mile. What’s worse, she only wants one thing, runners to take on the dangerous Red Mile running course.
Talk to Mei Divine
Mei will also be around the Red Mile; she wears a red dress. Talk to her and tell you want to find Marco, then she will offer to set a meeting if you run the Red Mile (Image 2). It’s a death sprint to activate a beacon and return while hostile aliens are attacking you. Accept, then head down to the starting point.
Image 2
Listen to Mei Divine’s Introduction
It wouldn’t be some cheesy death trial without a money-grubbing antagonist giving corny introductions. Listen to her spiel about the rules and stuff, then go through the entrance.
Activate the Red Mile Beacon
Follow the path, and it’ll take you to an elevator down to the run zone. There are really two methods to completing this activity: run like hell, or kill the aliens. We went with running because we thought it would be more fun, but if you want the XP, then you’ll get plenty by killing all the Maulers (aliens).
If you do decide to go with the fighting route, you want to be careful. These Maulers can attack at a range by shooting poisonous bombs at you (Image 3). While shooting the aliens, it’s imperative to keep moving and boosting into the air to avoid these attacks; don’t just stand behind cover.
Image 3
On the other hand, running has its own risks. Basically, you have to keep an eye on your CO2 meter. If you run out of oxygen and take on too much CO2, then your health will go down. That in combination with a poison bomb hitting you can spell disaster. This isn’t too hard to do at the start of the run, but when the gradient starts to become more steep – and you’re jumping more – you’ll run out of oxygen in no time. To avoid this, make sure you have a good “Balanced Boostpack” equipped.
Run towards the , and it’ll lead you to the top of a hill where a big button is (Image 3). If you’re doing well and are in good shape in terms of health and healing items, then save the game at the beacon. There isn’t a lot of good loot around on the dead bodies, so we don’t recommend wasting your time. Hit the button, then return the way you came down the hill. Running down will be much easier because you’ll have either killed the aliens, or be able to easily fly over most of them with the elevation advantage and your boosterpack.
Image 4
Return and Talk to Mei Divine and Autumn
Going back up the elevator that took you down, you’ll be back in the Red Mile bar. Talk to Mei and she will tell you she needs a minute to set up the courier to contact Marco. You’ll then chat with Autumn, who is going to brief the Marshal on the mission so far. Finally, go back to Mei in her office; she will have contacted Marco and has his location for you.
Go to Codos and Board Marco’s Ship
Marco is on his ship, the Fortuna, which is parked on the surface of Codos, a moon of Akila. Fast travel to orbit, then land the ship next to his (Image 5). You can enter the massive ship through the landing bay.
Image 5
Confront Marco and Search for Information about the First
Marco will be in the very back of the luxurious ship. His guards won’t attack you unless you try anything funny. The steps up to his room will be along the right side, but you can just follow your scanner to find him. The goal is to get the encrypted slate from him – and no, it won’t show up if you pick his pocket. Talk to him and he’ll offer you a deal when you can reveal your true intentions as a ranger (Image 6). This scenario can play out three ways:
You attack him – You could call it “preemptive self-defense”.
You accept his offer – Not very Ranger of you, but he’ll give you what you want if you allow him to work in Freestar space.
You deny his offer – Would Chuck Norris let some mercenary group wander around Texas? Be like Chuck Norris. This results in you fighting Marco and the guards.
Image 6
If it comes to violence, use a strong up close weapon to swiftly dispatch Marco, then pick up his encrypted slate and keycard. The keycard will let you open the locked door in his room to some loot, as well as let you open other rooms aboard the ship.
One particular piece of loot you don’t want to miss is Solomon Coe’s copy of Don Quixote, which is on the right side of his shelf behind his desk (Image 7). You can give this to the museum in Akila City. Even if you struck a deal with him, Marco won’t mind if you take it.
Image 7
If you’re fighting your way out, make sure you save the game in Marco’s room, so you don’t have to redo the whole conversation again. Then slowly work your way back towards the exit of the ship. There are a lot of guards and turrets, so an effective strategy is to use ranged weapon and hug corners; only peek out to give one guard or turret an angle to shoot at you. This allows you to take them out one at a time.
It would have been really cool if we could’ve stolen this big ship, but there’s no way to reach the cockpit inside. This also means that there’s little reason to clear it of all enemies — aside from XP and unexciting loot. After you have cleared a path to the exit, leave and set course for Akila.
Give the Encrypted Slate to Alex Shadid
Once you’re back at Akila City, you’ll find Alex at his usual spot in the Rock. Just like you did for Shadows in Neon, you’ll hand him the encrypted slate, and that will finish the mission.
Kelson is a spud head from out west. He is most happy when holding a milky tea with too much honey and playing a sprawling role playing game or reading a fantasy novel. His video game tastes vary but his main genres are looter shooters, RPGs, and real time strategy games.
, and it’ll lead you to the top of a hill where a big button is (Image 3). If you’re doing well and are in good shape in terms of health and healing items, then save the game at the beacon. There isn’t a lot of good loot around on the dead bodies, so we don’t recommend wasting your time. Hit the button, then return the way you came down the hill. Running down will be much easier because you’ll have either killed the aliens, or be able to easily fly over most of them with the elevation advantage and your boosterpack.
