Race to the Bottom

From The Cycle: Frontier Wiki

Race to the Bottom is a Mission for the ICA faction. It is unlocked after completing Your Civic Duty Part 5. Race to the Bottom has 18 mission parts.

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Description

The ICA has been monitoring a decrease in radiation levels over a small island for some time now, and now they want you to go down there and figure what happened to a group of missing colonists. Not much is known about the island or why the corps set up shop there, but Marie hopes you'll find clues as to what happened to the colonists at the Korolev and Osiris installations. And while you're there, maybe you could look into why the corps were so interested in the island's caverns in the first place...

Parts

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You're not ready yet to help us with this next task. Come back once you've shown us what you're made of.

Objectives

  • Reach level 10 in ICA logo colored.pngICA.

Rewards

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Hmm. I think you've got what it takes for Tharis. Get us some valuables we can use to bribe your way past Korolev Security, we will take care of the rest.

Objectives

Rewards

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'There is a special task I would like you to carry out for us, Prospector. Some time ago we detected a new window in the TEF, the radiation field around the planet, over a small island; we kept that information to ourselves for as long as we could to run our own recon, but the information is public now. The window barely covers a Korolev mining site, but it was the last stop of a civilian evac ship; logs show it never made it off the island, with over a dozen of our people on board. Will you help us find out what happened to them?'

Objectives

  • Visit Worker Group 1
  • Visit Worker Group 2
  • Visit Worker Group 3

Rewards

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'Killed... with guns and blades. By other people. I don't know how to convey this to the families, the ones that were still... just waiting. Old records don't say much about the island just mentions of a large cavern near the surface, an Atrium. Check there for, well, anything. There must be an explanation for what happened. A reason. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'The diary you brought back to us only leaves me with more questions. Whoever attacked the site went after Osiris' first, all their researchers and the lab itself. Then Korolev, but they were prepared... When the evac ship arrived, it was overrun and the survivors scattered, with some making it to the Korolev encampent. I don't have any more data on the cavern systems the corps were so interested in... hell, there's barely any records on the island at all! Osiris' people have always been fastidious about logging everything; search through their lab for a logbook or a map, anything that can help us understand the area. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'I've done some digging around old files, and some prodding of old corp drones with a dim view of their former employers. The attacks weren't a surprise, they'd been happening for weeks before the final evac. And neither corporation ever made them public, never mind thought to pull out. Whatever they were looking for, it was worth sacrificing their own people for. Please, bring back whatever samples from those caverns you can find. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'What you delivered was definitely unique, but it doesn't seem more special than Veltecite, or any number of the other rare materials found on the surface. Though I should leave our scientists to decide that, I suppose. Maybe you'll find something at the Korolev camp? The workers wouldn't have been allowed to record anything, but maybe one of the colonists that took shelter with them did?'

Objectives

Rewards

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'We only managed to recover a few fragments of the videolog you recovered, but what I've seen was enough. The corps held back on evacs until it was too late, despite the encroaching storms and increasing attacks from some savage 'cultists'. They were still down there working as the rest of the planet was being abandoned, still hoping to find something in those caverns. And now they're back at it, sending prospectors down to continue their work. Send a message for us, the corps need to know when to quit. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'I've been reviewing more of the recordings you brought back to us, and something stood out, from one of the Osiris facilities. Recent images I've seen of the area from other Prospectors show a new door where there wasn't one in the footage; somehow, Osiris managed to not only get a team down there while the TEF radiation was at its highest, but even do some renovation work! I had someone go take a closer look at it, but they were chased away and dropped the sample they managed to pry off; can you retrieve it for us?'

Objectives

Rewards

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'That door? It's not made of any alloy we've seen used before. There are mentions of some sort of new metal Osiris was studying, 'Tharis Iron'; could that be what they used here? What the corps were so desperate for? But why use it just to build a vault door and nothing else? We need a better sample of this material, maybe then we'll get some answers. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'Whatever this stuff you got us is, we don't have the tools to study it properly. The corps have a stranglehold on all the good scientific equipment on the station... but not on the surface. Head to Osiris' Pinnacle Labs on Crescent Falls, I know that place still has top tier gear, even if Sullivan's abandoned it all as 'obsolete junk'. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'We've determined only that we don't know what this stuff is. High concentration of iron, some chromium and nickel, and some elements the machine refuses to identify; otherwise this just seems like a substandard steel alloy with weird patterns. So, is it just because it's rare? Because it's 'alien'? People died, for this? And now Korolev and Osiris are investing in the area, again! You need to go down there, make a mess, make them rethink how 'safe' those damned caverns are!'

Objectives

Rewards

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'I think it's time we send a clearer message; the corps might not care if the cannon fodder they send down come back encased in foam each time, but I know they'll listen if their precious machines and sacred caves get turned to rubble. Find Derelict Explosives and some NiC Oil Canisters and stash them near each corp's compound, our people will handle the rest. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'The Council expressed 'strong concerns' over my proposed plan, so for now the corps get to keep their toys and playground. But we won't just sit around and do nothing. I've checked location data on all the old Osiris researchers when they first went dark; hopefully their remains are still around, along with data on whatever they were doing down there. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'We're looking into all this... both Korolev and Osiris found these rare materials in the caverns, but only the eggheads in white really cared about what it was. Korolev's apparent interest seemed to be just raw exploitation, as usual, but there are mentions of missing Korolev mining parties and a constant flow of new workers. The only thing I'm sure of so far is neither corp has gotten what they want out of the place, not yet. Let's see if we can keep it that way; go down there and cause some chaos. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'If you find some more NiC Oil Canisters or Old Currency, bring it to me, and I'll grease some palms to get some Korolev machinery sabotaged. It might not put a permanent stop to their operations on the planet, but it'll be more acceptable to the Council... supposing they actually find out about it. '

Objectives

Rewards

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'Things are getting out of control, now there are parties interested in all this alien metal we didn't know even had a presence on the station. If what the Osiris' people believed is true, that this is some sort of programmable smart metal centuries ahead of our own tech, then we can't let the wrong people get their hands on it! I have the location of another scientist; retrieve whatever data they had, and leave purging any existing research data on the matter to us. Thank you, Prospector. '

Objectives

Rewards

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