| Storyline: | Null Deal |
| Amnesiac Cyber Knight has a forgotten deal with the man who supplied a Quantum Rider. | |
| Type of Storyline: | Origin |
| Repeatable: | Unique |
| Era of Storyline: | Any |
| Minimum PL: | 0 |
The following jobs may be part of this Storyline:
- Black Site Splicing (escort a medical capsule to the exit)
- Mothball Op (simple raid to get cash)
- Fixer Backtrace (LEGWORK: get information about your new patron)
- Straylight Flip (boost a VIP with key information)
- Dust Off Dash (loot three parts of a file set)
- Gunsmoke Cover (rescue a prisoner)
- Thunderbolt Seesaw (search boxes for a prototype)
- Keeper's Rochade (search boxes for a prototype)
Walkthrough part 1[edit | edit source]
After the opening mission "Black Site Splicing", you have the option to send one of your mercs on a legwork job "Fixer Backtrace" to get more details on your new ally Toska. Your Face will offer you a simple looting mission, either Forward Op or Mothball Op, depending on which thief character you started with.
The storyline continues with a video call with Toska. You can admit to your loss of memory or not; either way he tells you about the first mission you will have to do, "Straylight Flip". It is a mission to bring back Vix, a Knight Horizon quant who was kidnapped by D-Cartel. Vix has information about a Delta Wire prototype implant which was developed by Knight Horizon before it was closed down.
You can decline the mission; Toska will immediately send two head hunters after you, which can be very difficult this early in the game. The mission involves intercepting Vix and his bodyguards, giving a code word to turn him friendly, and then escaping from the bodyguards. To add one more twist, on the start of the turn after you give the code word, one of your team must inject him to un-stun him. Important! The turn sequence for this is very strict. Once you inject him, he will be stunned for the entire turn. Make sure he is not near any of his bodyguards, because they will shoot him before he can start running.
With Vix returned, Toska gets some information about the Delta Wire prototype, and sends you on "Dust Off Dash" to get more information. This is a standard "loot three items" mission to recover "KH REQ" documents.
(New content as of September, 2026 starts here)
After some time, a dialog with Toska pops up from the timeline, "You might not know I have more splicers". This gives a little more background and he is granted a Street Wetware service level 2 along with a 33% cost reduction for implants. He comments that you will need to be cybered up in order to proceed on the mission. (Some players do not feel that the mid level cyber gear is worth the cost and downtime; the missions do not require any specific gear.)
After some more time, a dialog with Vix pops up from the timeline, "I was hoping I could reach you". Vix is still imprisoned by Toska, but he has been able to reach you by vid. This dialog gives a lot more back story on the KH prototype, introducing Project Valkyrie, sub-projects VX007 and VX013 and a senior VP named Daniel Sceil. Vix reveals that Toska is blackmailing him by holding his nephew Jamie. He suggests that you could work with him to double-cross Toska; to convince him, you need to rescue Jamie.
At this point there is a decision to make: tell Toska that Vix tried to double-cross him, or rescue Jamie and commit to double-crossing Toska. A deadline event is added to the timeline; your Face reminds you that you have to pick one. Once you start this deadline dialog, you have to choose; there is no way to exit the dialog without choosing. The dialog does tell you that Toska will probably offer a cash reward, and that Jamie is a recruitable Gunslinger. There is a third option, if you have the Thunderbolt Seesaw mission on the timeline; you can accept it without choosing. That takes Toska's side without selling out Vix.
Walkthrough part 2[edit | edit source]
There are three ways to progress from the decision point:
- Turn in Vix and take Toska's mission.
- Take the mission Toska offers without saying anything about Vix to Toska.
- Take the mission Vix offers.
All three lead to the same mission, although it can have two names and three different starting dialogs. Toska's mission is "Thunderbolt Seesaw" and Vix's mission is "Keeper's Rochade". This is similar to the dual-identity mission Loophole Heist / Endpoint Cutthroat in the other origin story.
If you decide to turn in Vix, Toska will immediately give you a cash reward. (The amount may depend on team PL and difficulty; for one player on normal difficulty at team PL 3.5, the reward was $500K). Then his mission will appear on the timeline.
If you decide to take Toska's mission without turning in Vix, you don't get the $500k, and you get different dialog when you start Toska's mission, but the outcome is otherwise identical to turning him in. Toska "sends him to Arizona", wink wink nudge nudge.
If you decide to side with Vix, he will give you the mission Gunsmoke Cover to rescue his nephew Jamie. This is a standard prison break mission with one variation. The starting dialog says that "something has tipped this security team off". As soon as the sec level reaches 3, all the guards will go to alert status. As usual, when you rescue the prisoner, he is fully armed and armored, in this case as a gunslinger. When you complete the mission, there is some dialog between Vix and Jamie, and then you are offered the chance to recruit Jamie. The narrator then informs you that Toska has sent two headhunters after you.
Regardless of which contact offers it, the main mission is a two stage bodyguard mission. When it starts, there is a long dialog with Vix. Due to his perfect quant memory, he is the only one who can search the long lost storage room and find the crate containing the Delta Wire prototype. The details of the dialog are different depending on your choice above, but the effect is the same.
The first stage is a standard bodyguard mission; Vix must survive. The second stage will be a large map with six blue highlighted squares representing potential crates that Vix must evaluate, and a number of high level Matsumoto guards. Reminder: The Field Sergeant has an invisibility field ability which can only be brought down by AOE effects such as Marker Sights, shock mines or dazzlers; be sure to stock up.
It is highly desirable to exit the first stage at sec level zero. This avoids spawning a VIP hunter group near the beginning of stage 2. Otherwise, the VIP hunter group will start a sec level spiral which is difficult (but possible) to escape.
In the second stage, you will need to move Vix through each of the six blue highlights. Randomly, one of them will contain the prototype; after you have found the prototype, the exit will unlock. Vix only needs to stop briefly in each highlight area. Move him into one, and a dialog will immediately pop up indicating whether the prototype is there. If it is not, you may continue moving him.
The mission layout is fixed. There is one blue highlight behind a truck in the very corner, near the gold key room. If you start at this one, there is a single winding path that heads towards the exit. Follow this path checking all the highlighted areas, and once you hit pay dirt, run for the exit. On normal difficulty, it is possible to exit with sec level zero.
The dev team has updated (Discord chat, Sept 27, 2026) that the first three crates will never contain the prototype; it can only be in one of the last three available to check.
If you take Toska's mission, Toska gets the reward and Vix vanishes. If you take Vix' mission, Vix gets the reward and you get two headhunters. The reward is that the contact gets a "Generation NEXT tech" tag, which promises a future power play that will unlock the prototype. Other than that, there is no reward. Maybe another future expansion will complete this.