"We suffered a serious setback! Sometime this morning someone managed to get into the processing plant and steal an essential piece of equipment. Without the micro-purifier, we're shut down! We have to get it back as soon as possible! Until then, there's no point in tapping any trees." — Jack
Find the Micro-Purifier. This Jagged Alliance mission is given by Jack at the beginning of the first day, and is the first mission given to the player.
This mission is very straightforward, as the purifier is in the possession of one of the enemies occupying the sectors near Sector 60. Which sector depends on your difficulty level: on Easy and Normal difficulty, it will be in the first sector you traverse to, either Sector 50 or 59, on Hard difficulty it'll be in one sector chosen at random between Sector 59, 50 and 49.
Contrary to most items in Jagged Alliance, the Micro-Purifier does not sink in water, should the bad guy carrying the Micro-Purifier die while wading or swimming, the Micro-Purifier will simply float to a nearby shore.
Completion[]
"You got the micro-purifier, and instilled some fear in the process! Its early, but with the plant back processing twenty trees tomorrow, we're off to a great start!"
"The urgency with which you retrieved the micro-purifier warrants a bonus. I hope you'll accept a thousand dollars as a token of my appreciation." - Jack Richards
Completion of this mission is critical for continuation of the game, as it allows the player to assign tappers in sectors they own and thus earn income.
As the quotes imply, if this mission is accomplished swiftly enough (generally within the first day), Jack will reward the player with $1000 at the end of the day.