Head to the Engineering Bay on the Groundbreaker, which is at the northern end of the Promenade. Inside, take the first right (east) to find Junlei in her office. Talk to her about the heat and offer to help to start this quest.

Seems the Groundbreaker’s radiators are on the fritz, and while the ship is merely uncomfortable now, it’s not like the radiators are going to magically start functioning better over time. Having the inhabitants of the ship cooked alive isn’t outside the realm of possibility, and since negotiating with the Board for new parts in such a situation would almost certainly meaning sacrificing Groundbreaker’s autonomy, it’s not a very appealing option for Junlei. Even less than being baked, apparently. The good new is, the parts she needs can already be found on the Groundbreaker. The bad news is, despite all of her posturing, the residents of the Groundbreaker are apparently to weak to seize them from the vagrants on the abandoned deck where they can now be found.

Fortunately a disposable freelancer came along offering to help, and to find these you’ll need to search the Back Bays. It should be noted this quest overlaps with Who Goes There?, and progressing one almost certainly means advancing the other. You’ll find the elevator leading to Back Bays just south of the Engineering Bay, so ride it down to transition areas.

The Back Bays¶

When you arrive at the Back Bays, head north to run into Captain MacRedd - the vagrant who need to dispatch for the aforementioned Who Goes There? bounty. Talk to the pyromaniacal nutter and if you have Felix, they’ll acknowledge each other on friendly terms and you’ll be free to talk to MacRedd about business, otherwise you’ll need to succeed at a [Persuade 40] or [Intimidate 40] check to avoid a fight.

Fighting MacRedd might seem like an obvious solution to two problems - you need to kill him to claim a bounty, after all, and if MacRedd’s goons are dead you can loot the rest of this deck without bother - but it’s also quite dangerous. MacRedd can be a formidable foe who wields the unique Montag weapon, a Shock Cannon enhanced with a Mag-2-Power mod. Why not just use a Flamethrower? Because plasma lightning is cooler! While he’s not a very sturdy opponent, he’ll be backed up by around half a dozen goons. If you pick a fight, pop off shots with TTD, then retreat behind some boxes near the elevator to heal, recover TTD and await your enemies, picking them off as they come to you. In such close quarters, a plasma-infused shotgun will work wonders. Once head dead, loot MacRedd for his aforementioned unique weapon, Montag and for MacRedd’s Lighter.

On the other hand, if you can talk your way out of a fight (or you have Felix along with you) tell MacRedd “I’m here for some parts. Junlei sent me.” and he’ll mention one of Junlei’s “last sacrifices” whom they’re still “playing with”. Continue on with “So can I grab that part, then?” and MacRedd will demand tribute. Either pay him 580 Bits to gain unrestricted access to the Back Bays, succeed at a [Lie 40] check, defer so you can go collect the tribute, or pick a fight.

If that’s not enough options for you, you can also try to sneak in and grab the parts. Just west of MacRedd is a hole in the wall you can sneak through. Follow the tunnel north and ahead of you you’ll spot a door leading to some stairs and a ladder - as you make your way to either this ladder or stairs, be wary of some outlaws to your east. The stairs and ladder both lead to the same place, ultimately: a room full of consoles and a few outlaws, with the stairs leading to a door [Lockpick 25] in the middle of the room, and the ladder leading to another hole in the wall just west of the door. With any luck the outlaws will be looking away from the door, allowing you to sneak to the room’s northwestern corner, where you’ll find the Radiator Parts you’re after on the wall. If you want to sneak back out again, do not sneak through another hole in the wall along the northern end of the room - this will lead to a drop-off that strands you at the far end of the Back Bays, forcing you to sneak past all MacRedd’s outlaws in a rather open area.

Whether by tribute, talk or attack, get past MacRedd and you’ll be able to search the Back Bays in peace. If you picked a fight with MacRedd, there are likely two groups of enemies lurking about in side rooms to the east and west, but they’re much easier fights to win than the battle with MacRedd was. If you didn’t start a fight, you’ll need to restrain your looting somewhat, as MacRedd’s goons will take exception to your stealing… although you can talk your way out of the odd fight if caught, and they’ve got no faction to lose reputation with.

That said, the only thing of particular interest down here - Petey. Go through a door and down some stairs on the western side of the Back Bays to find the Petey statue on a table. If you can avoid getting caught stealing it, great, (it can be done, although it requires patience!) if not, succeed at a [Lie 25], [Intimidate 25] or [Persuade 25] check to talk your way out of trouble.

You can also find Junlei’s engineer down here - the woman in the green suit in the southeastern corner of the room. Talk to her and you’ll find out that, aside from filling her head with fume and shroom induced philosophy, she’s fine and willing to get back to worth with a little prompting.

In any event, to get the prize you came down here for head past MacRedd, proceed about halfway down the Back Bays and turn west to find a doorway leading to some stairs and a ladder. Either one will get you to a console-filled room, where you can find some Radiator Parts on the northwestern wall. Grab them and return up the elevator to the Groundbreaker’s Promenade deck.

Installing the Radiator Parts¶

Return to Junlei when you have the Radiator Parts and you’ll find out that your job isn’t quite done yet. She needs you to perform a relatively trivial errand… trivial save for the fact that the area you’ll need to go is now infested with Mantipillars. Amazing this ship runs at all with unchecked infestations in critical areas, but they also have a deck occupied by drugged-up outlaws, so… kind of a miracle this ship isn’t worse off, all things considered.

Head to the northern end of the Engineering Bay and go through a door to the right (east) and ride an elevator down. When you disembark you’ll enter a large chamber with glowing heatsink along the walls. Should go without saying, but you don’t want to touch them. Other things you don’t want to touch are the mantids in this room, which consist of a Mantiswarm and two Mantipillars. Kill them, then head north through the room and up a ladder.

To the north you’ll find a door, and as you go through it Junlei will contact you and inform you that the automechanicals in the area have done a fine job of dealing with the mantid infestation… but the heat has made them somewhat unreliable, and because of that they may just be a little murderous. Go through the doorway and sure enough, you’ll find an automechanical on some high ground to the north that isn’t particular about what it shoots at next. Take it down, then go up a staircase to the right (east) then through a doorway to the west.

In this room you’ll find four more automechanicals - two upstairs, and two downstairs. Neither group has the means to move between levels, so you shouldn’t have much trouble dispatching these bots. Scrap them, then head down to the lower level via some crates along the northern end of the room, or a ladder to the south, and once down Junlei will again contact you with some instructions. Interact with a terminal to the west and pick the option [Cycle Droplet Pumps] to start cooling down the Groundbreaker. Exit via a barred door to the east and return to Junlei for your reward.

You’ll get a hefty bit of reputation around the Groundbreaker for your good deed (one of the rare cases where you don’t really have a chance to extort a quest-giver, but you don’t really have any leverage anymore, either…). Still, no good deed goes unpunished, as Junlei will now refer you to Edna, who has a problem of her own in need of fixing. On the plus side, you can now buy goods from Mfuru.