Encrypted Drive

Encrypted Drive is an Enhanced-tier salvage material recovered from secure data storage devices embedded in NuCaloric's agricultural management systems and research stations across Tau Ceti IV. These drives contain data so sensitive it was encoded behind layers of corporate encryption, making them valuable beyond just their physical hardware. The NuCaloric faction, which has a particular interest in recovering historical data about the Tau Ceti colony's failure, requires Encrypted Drives for mid-tier upgrade nodes as part of their information-recovery operations. They drop from Enhanced-tier containers across Marathon's zones and appear at a lower rate than Standard salvage. Runners on NuCaloric contracts should treat every Encrypted Drive as a meaningful progression item, especially once the faction tree demands mid-grade materials consistently.