Light/Shadow sits inside MIDA's run of sabotage contracts in Marathon, the same paired-name family as Order/Chaos, Protect/Destroy, Truth/Lies, and Run/Hide. MIDA is the chaos faction, handed out by the agent GANTRY, and its jobs lean on hacking terminals, breaking equipment, baiting UESC Commanders, and hauling stolen data back to a deposit point. If you have reached Light/Shadow, you already have MIDA unlocked, so the work now is executing the objective chain cleanly and making sure each step registers.
What the Light/Shadow contract is
MIDA contracts are the planet's property-damage program. The faction's focus is sabotage, explosives, and general chaos, and its objectives reflect that. Across the MIDA series you trigger alarms, plant beacons, upload malware, smash containers, and pull credentials off the UESC Commanders that come to stop you. Light/Shadow follows that same template rather than introducing a separate system, so treat it as another link in MIDA's sabotage chain.
Because MIDA is the destruction-themed corporation, its rewards skew toward equipment, leg implants, grenades, and MIDA Salvage. Faction progress does not reset between seasons, so anything you bank here stays with your account.
Unlock MIDA before Light/Shadow appears
Light/Shadow only shows up once MIDA is open to you. That gate is the Liaison contract "Introducing: MIDA," which acts as the faction's job interview. Its objectives are defeating UESC across Tau Ceti IV and smashing glass on any map, and it pays 180 reputation along with a batch of grenades and crafting materials.
MIDA's Liaison contract itself unlocks after you finish CyberAcme's two-part Welcome to Tau Ceti chain in Perimeter, which opens all the faction Liaison contracts at once. If MIDA's contract list is empty, complete that onboarding first.
How to complete the Light/Shadow contract
MIDA contracts almost always run on Dire Marsh and Outpost, the action-heavy swamp and the vertical UESC base. Both are dense with enemies and other players, so plan the route before you load in. The steps below follow MIDA's standard objective flow, which Light/Shadow uses.
Step 1: Read the contract's listed objectives in your tracker before deploying. Note the named points of interest and the correct map, then pick a landing spot that puts you near the first objective rather than across the zone from it.
Step 2: Clear the immediate area before you interact with anything. MIDA sabotage actions like hacking a terminal or triggering an alarm often summon a UESC Commander, so handling nearby patrols first keeps you from being pinned during the interaction.
Step 3: Perform the sabotage action and deal with the response. If a Commander spawns, defeat it and take its credentials, since MIDA contracts frequently require that drop to advance.
Step 4: Handle the delivery requirement. Some MIDA objectives want an item dropped into a DCON, an unmarked Deconstruction Node that transmats materials without a full exfil, while others require you to carry the item to extraction. Drag the item into the DCON inventory and the delivery registers on its own.
| Detail | MIDA |
|---|---|
| Agent | GANTRY |
| Focus | Sabotage, explosives, chaos |
| Typical maps | Dire Marsh, Outpost |
| Key rewards | Equipment, leg implants, grenades, MIDA Salvage |
| Unlock requirement | Introducing: MIDA Liaison contract |
Confirm Light/Shadow registered, and common failure reasons
You know the contract is progressing when each objective ticks off in your contract tracker as you complete it. The interaction prompts for hacks and scans are quick, but the credit only lands once the tracker updates, so watch it before moving on.
Most failures come down to a few avoidable mistakes:
- Extracting before a download, scan, or delivery has registered in the tracker.
- Getting downed mid-interaction, which interrupts the action before it counts.
- Working the wrong map or point of interest because the objective list was not read first.
- Dying with a required item before reaching a DCON or extraction.
With MIDA already unlocked, Light/Shadow is mostly about route discipline and patience. Pick the right map, clear threats before you sabotage, secure any Commander drop, and route to a DCON or extract as the objective requires. Once the tracker shows every step complete, the reputation, grenades, and MIDA gear are yours, and that progress carries forward into future seasons.