Mission 10 · Aleph, Mauritania

007 First Light The Past Never DiesMission Guide

A dim, cavernous venue with walkways above a pit where large crocodiles lurk, in 007 First Light. — Official · IO Interactive

007 First Light The Past Never Dies is the tenth main mission in the game and its Mauritania set-piece: Bond and Greenway head into Aleph, the black-market town run by the Pirate King Bawma, on the trail of agent 009. It runs through a crowded market, a fight pit, the Scorpius hideout, a crane, a crocodile pit and 009's booby-trapped boat — so most players reach the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission with one specific job in mind, usually a collectible they cannot reach or a challenge they cannot crack.

This 007 First Light The Past Never Dies guide puts the whole mission on one page. It flags the three collectibles you cannot get without the Laser Strap — the single most missed thing here — maps all twelve locations, lists every challenge split into multi-source and single-source, and gives the money thresholds the mission asks for. Where guide counts for the mission disagree, we show the conflict rather than pick a number and hide the rest.

Two scripted set-pieces send most people searching mid-mission, so we answer both before the lists. The auction is the climax: you need a $100,000 stake to buy a seat at Bawma's auction, and the trick to winning it is hacking the third bidder's polygraph rather than out-bidding the room. The Jewel of Jahari is how a lot of players raise that stake — a rigged market cup game (the 'Cupped' challenge) you beat with the Q-Lens for a $30,000 payout. Both have their own step-by-step below.

Mission number: 10 of 17 (main mission)
Location: Aleph, Mauritania
Antagonist: Pirate King Bawma
Auction stake: $100,000 (the auction set-piece)
Unlocks: Laser Strap + Flash Mine
Collectibles: 12 named — 3 need the Laser Strap
Challenges: 23 — sources differ (23–24)
All-challenge reward: Mauritania outfit

Eyes Only

007 First Light The Past Never Dies Key Numbers & Laser Strap Gates

The 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission has no safe to crack — the numbers that matter here are a gadget gate and the money the Aleph market runs on. The $100,000 is the auction stake that drives the whole chapter; the Jewel of Jahari cup game and the challenge thresholds feed into it. Tap to declassify each.

Collectibles needing the Laser StrapDeclassify ▸

Three collectibles in The Past Never Dies are unreachable without the Laser Strap: 9 of Acorns (shoot the fish-tank glass), the Mauritania Postcard (a laser-locked door by the red anchor) and Ober of Acorns (a wall cabinet). The Laser Strap unlocks in this mission's Q-Lab, so equip it before you embark or you finish three collectibles short. (Push Square, PowerPyx.)

Auction stake (buy a seat at Bawma's auction)Declassify ▸

The auction set-piece needs a $100,000 stake to enter — the reason you grind money across Aleph. The same $100,000 also lets you barter the Pirate Grillz memento from the NPC under the red parasol. Full auction how-to is in the Key Encounters section below. (GamesRadar, Push Square.)

Jewel of Jahari payout (the cup game)Declassify ▸

The 'Cupped' challenge: pay the buy-in to Aadan's rigged cup game, win it with the Q-Lens, then sell the ruby to Nirmala for $30,000 — nearly a third of the auction stake. The $3,500 buy-in figure comes from one guide; the $30,000 payout is multi-source. Full method below. (GAMES.GG; payout also blast.tv, space4games.)

Show Me the Money challengeDeclassify ▸

The Show Me the Money challenge asks you to accumulate $140,000 across the market — above the auction stake, so it is the completionist money target. (Game Rant, NeonLightsMedia.)

Laser Show (009's boat)Declassify ▸

The Laser Show challenge on 009's boat wants the laser grid revealed every possible way — trigger the sprinklers, use the Smoke Pod, and hit the hanging pots with the Phone Dart or Laser Strap. (Game Rant.)

Field Operation

007 First Light The Auction & the Jewel of Jahari

Two scripted encounters drive most mid-mission searches in The Past Never Dies — the auction you have to win and the cup game most players use to fund it. They are linked: the Jewel of Jahari pays out toward the $100,000 you need to sit down at Bawma's auction. Here is each, step by step.

How to win the auction

Bawma's auction · the chapter's climax

Buying a seat at Bawma's auction costs a $100,000 stake, which is why the mission has you raising money across Aleph. You do not win by out-bidding the room — cash is not what the seller wants — so the bidding itself is a trap you beat by sabotage, not by spending.

Raise the $100,000 stake first (the Jewel of Jahari below is one of the quickest sources) and take your seat.
Your opening bid does not change anything — pick whichever option you like when the auctioneer opens the floor.
An identity check runs as a polygraph on every bidder. Wait for the third bidder, Mr Leung, to place his bid.
As Leung bids, raise your Q-Watch and hack his polygraph — the readout flips from green to red and he is thrown out, clearing your main rival.
On your final turn, choose the 'Improvise' prompt to bid influence and resources instead of money. Bond wins the lot regardless of the earlier choices.

★ Winning the auction unlocks the 'Win, Lose or Die' achievement and pushes the mission to its next beat.

Honest note — Achievement name comes from a single round-up and the exact auction lot is a story spoiler, so we keep the item itself off the page. The polygraph-hack-then-Improvise method is consistent across Game Rant, Power Up Gaming and other walkthroughs.

Jewel of Jahari (the cup game)

The 'Cupped' challenge · fastest auction money

The Jewel of Jahari is a rigged three-cup game run by a market vendor named Aadan, hiding a red ruby. Watching the cups never works — the shuffle is cheating — so this is a Q-Lens puzzle, not a reflex one. Winning it is the 'Cupped' challenge and one of the quickest ways to fund the auction.

Pay Aadan's buy-in to start the game (one guide lists this as $3,500 — raise it from the Fight Pit or by pickpocketing soldiers if you are short).
The instant Aadan finishes shuffling, trigger the Q-Lens X-ray view (L1 / LB / Alt) and keep it up.
With the cups now see-through, pick the one the ruby is actually under — ignore where the sleight of hand made it look.
Take the Jewel of Jahari to Nirmala, the pawn-shop merchant in the black market, and hand it over.
Nirmala pays $30,000 on the spot — close to a third of the $100,000 auction stake.

★ Clears the 'Cupped' challenge and banks $30,000 toward the auction.

Honest note — The $3,500 buy-in is single-source (GAMES.GG); the Q-Lens method and the $30,000 payout are confirmed across GAMES.GG, blast.tv and space4games.

The Tool

007 First Light The Past Never Dies Collectible Locations

There are twelve collectibles in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission, scattered from the market and the fight pit out to the crane and 009's boat. We list every one by name and type with where it sits — and we mark the three you cannot reach without the Laser Strap.

Sources differ — PowerPyx heads its section '11' but then lists twelve; Push Square lists twelve. The itemised twelve is the firmer figure, so we treat 12 as the working count and 11–12 as the honest spread.

Named list and locations follow Push Square and PowerPyx, which itemise the same twelve item-for-item — we publish that as the working set.

Gadget check — This is the mission where the Laser Strap matters most: three of the twelve collectibles need it — 9 of Acorns (fish-tank glass), the Mauritania Postcard (a laser-locked door) and Ober of Acorns (a wall cabinet). The Laser Strap unlocks here in the Q-Lab, so equip it before you start the mission, not halfway through, or those three are gone until a replay.

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Field Tasks

The Past Never Dies Mission Challenges & Rewards

Clearing every challenge in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission unlocks the Mauritania outfit. We keep the whole list on one page — competitors split it from the collectibles — and only name challenges that more than one guide confirms rather than padding the count.

23 challengessources differ 23–24★ Reward — Complete all of the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies challenges to unlock the Mauritania outfit, wearable in TacSim.

Confirmed across multiple guides

Pacifist: The Past Never Dies
Meta challenge — clear Sightseeing, Easy Does It and Silent Line.
Ghost: The Past Never Dies
Meta challenge — clear Laser Show, Silence is Violence and The Big Bang.
Assault: The Past Never Dies
Meta challenge — clear Fall Guy, Bottled It! and Make Them Count.
Fall Guy
Defeat Omar by throwing him over the railing.
Bottled It!
Hit every enemy with a throwable object in the Fight Pit.
Hammer Time
Defeat 'The Hammer', the final Fight Pit opponent.
Silent Line
Get the burner phone without knocking out or eliminating anyone.
Soldier Boy
Use a disguise inside the Scorpius hideout.
Art Lover
Complete the Scorpius deal in the market.
Sightseeing
Reach the antenna without knocking out or eliminating enemies.
Secure Transaction
Hack the crypto hardware wallet.
Shoot 'Em Up
Take on the shooting-range challenge.
Gunslinger
Hit all targets at the shooting range.
Cupped
Win the Jewel of Jahari cup game in the market (see Key Encounters above for the Q-Lens method).
Show Me the Money
Collect $140,000 in the market.
Tech Support
Help Rogue Decoder repair his equipment.
Easy Does It
Reach the crane without knocking out or eliminating enemies.
No Trouble At All
Do not trigger any confrontations.
Silence is Violence
Perform 10 silent takedowns.
The Big Bang
Eliminate three enemies with a single explosion.
Laser Show
Reveal the lasers on 009's boat every possible way.
Wheels Up
Get the Land Rover to lift its wheels off the ground.
Make Them Count
Eliminate six enemies with one pistol magazine in the last stand.

Field Photos

Inside the The Past Never Dies Mission

Official looks at the kind of corporate interiors, stealth and combat you move through in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission. Captions describe only what is on screen.

Bond piloting a small boat through a tropical bay dotted with red-sailed junk boats. — a scene from the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission — Bond piloting a small boat through a tropical bay dotted with red-sailed junk boats.Official · IO Interactive

Official character render of Bawma — a man in a gold suit and sunglasses, resting on a cane. — a scene from the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission — Official character render of Bawma — a man in a gold suit and sunglasses, resting on a cane.Official · IO Interactive

A fiery, ember-strewn rocky shore glowing orange beneath a dark, moonlit sky. — a scene from the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission — A fiery, ember-strewn rocky shore glowing orange beneath a dark, moonlit sky.Official · IO Interactive

Debrief

The Past Never Dies Mission FAQ

How do you win the auction in 007 First Light The Past Never Dies?

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You need a $100,000 stake to sit down at Bawma's auction, but you win it by sabotage rather than money. Your opening bid does not matter; wait for the third bidder, Mr Leung, and hack his polygraph with the Q-Watch as he bids so it flips red and he is removed. On your final turn pick the 'Improvise' option to bid influence and resources instead of cash, and Bond wins the lot — unlocking the 'Win, Lose or Die' achievement.

What is the Jewel of Jahari and how do you win the cup game?

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The Jewel of Jahari is a rigged three-cup game run by a market vendor called Aadan in Aleph's black market, and beating it is the 007 First Light 'Cupped' challenge. Pay the buy-in (one guide lists $3,500), then the moment Aadan stops shuffling, switch on the Q-Lens X-ray view and pick the cup the red ruby is genuinely under — watching the shuffle never works because it is cheated. Hand the jewel to Nirmala, the pawn-shop merchant, and she pays $30,000, close to a third of the $100,000 auction stake.

Which collectibles need the Laser Strap in The Past Never Dies?

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Three of the twelve collectibles in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission need the Laser Strap: the 9 of Acorns card (shoot the fish-tank glass), the Mauritania Postcard (behind a laser-locked door by the red anchor) and the Ober of Acorns card (in a wall cabinet). The Laser Strap unlocks in this mission's Q-Lab, so equip it before you start or those three stay out of reach until a replay.

What is The Past Never Dies mission in 007 First Light?

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007 First Light The Past Never Dies is the tenth main mission of seventeen, set in Aleph — a Mauritania black-market town run by the Pirate King Bawma — as Bond and Greenway hunt for agent 009. It moves through a market, a fight pit, the Scorpius hideout, a crane, a crocodile pit and 009's boat, and it is the mission where the Laser Strap and Flash Mine gadgets unlock.

How many collectibles are in The Past Never Dies?

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There are twelve collectibles in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission: several playing cards (6 of Bells, 9 of Acorns, Ober of Acorns, Ace of Roses, Banner of Shields, 6 of Shields), two intel (Delivery Box, Photo of Greenway), the ATAC Device legacy item, two mementos (Pirate Grillz, Crocodile Tooth) and the Mauritania Postcard. Push Square and PowerPyx both itemise the same twelve, though PowerPyx's header says eleven, so 12 is the working count and 11–12 the honest spread.

How many challenges does The Past Never Dies have and what is the reward?

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Game Rant, NeonLightsMedia and GAMES.GG all list 23 challenges for the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission, while the site's own mission audit logged 24, so we publish 23 with a sources-differ flag. Completing every challenge unlocks the Mauritania outfit for use in TacSim missions.

How do you get the Pirate Grillz and what are the money targets in The Past Never Dies?

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Two money thresholds matter in the 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission. You barter the Pirate Grillz memento from an NPC under the red parasol once you have collected $100,000, and the Show Me the Money challenge wants you to accumulate $140,000 across the market. Both come from selling and looting as you work through Aleph.

Where does The Past Never Dies fall in the 007 First Light mission order?

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The Past Never Dies is Mission 10 of 17 in 007 First Light. It comes before Uninvited (Mission 11) and Knightfall (Mission 12) in the late-game run of main missions toward the finale, For England. You can see the full mission list and order on the missions guide.

Cross-Reference

More 007 First Light Guides

All 17 missions▸

The full 007 First Light mission list and order, with a completion tracker.

Uninvited (Mission 11)▸

The next mission — the Webb gala, both entry routes and all 12 collectibles.

Gadgets guide▸

The Laser Strap and Flash Mine both unlock in this mission — here is every 007 First Light gadget.

Collectibles guide▸

Every card, intel, postcard, memento and legacy item across all missions.

Full walkthrough▸

The spoiler-controlled route through every 007 First Light mission in order.