Priority 1 Away Team Assignments (P1ATAs) are an upgraded tier of Away Team Assignment -- higher-value resources and Officer shards, plus a dedicated currency, Pioneer's Crest, that only comes from completing them. They unlock at Ops 26, gated behind researching "Priority 1: Assignments Unlock" as the first node in the Away Teams Research Tree. The chain to actually launch one runs through Augment Faction content: defeat Augment Exile hostiles for Common Hijacked Splicers, exchange those for Common Wrath Credits in the Augment Faction Store, spend Wrath Credits on the Away Teams Exchange Bundle to get Planetary Charts (capped at 5,000), then spend Charts from the Away Teams screen to actually launch an assignment. Bringing Officers whose core stats and traits match the assignment's requirements raises both your success odds and your chance at the critical-success tier of rewards.
A successful P1ATA pays refined materials, ship parts, and Officer shards, always alongside Pioneer's Crest -- and a critical success adds bonus Rare or Epic Officer shards plus extra high-value materials on top. Pioneer's Crest is the currency that keeps this loop worth returning to: spend it to unlock further nodes in the Away Teams Research Tree, buy from the refreshed Away Teams Store, or promote Officers in the Wrath of Khan group. The research tree itself pays back into the same loop -- Officer Cost Efficiency, more P1ATA slots, better odds at triggering a Khan Quest Assignment (a rare, Epic-tier P1ATA variant), and direct unlocks for named Officers including Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway, and ENT-E Data -- so P1ATAs aren't a side activity so much as their own closed progression system with Away Missions, officers, and materials all feeding back into each other.