The game starts with the player arriving at the on-site M.A.G.M.A facility. After meeting with the local commander, General Baker, the player goes on his first mission: searching for survivors within the facility while fending off waves of aliens. Non-player characters in this mission include Nicholas the engineer, a M.A.G.M.A. employee who provides rewards if the player fulfills his requests, and Kate Lia, a mercenary hired by M.A.G.M.A. who is abducted by the aliens when the player becomes trapped in the facility's computer room. While at the facility the player is also asked to disable a self-destruct program that threatens the facility. Once the program has been shut down, General Baker concludes that the aliens must have a leader, and it is the leader who activated the self-destruct program. The player also discoveres that the M.A.G.M.A. Energy Corporation has made a deal with General Baker, asking him and the rest of the mercenaries to shut the entire base down in return for a large amount of money. The player is the sent to the next facility, the ME2 Base.