Basket flies the Rock Cruiser again with two achievements in mind, one of them the quest that unlocks the next ship. The hangar names it the Bulwark, Layout A, with an Artemis, a Hull Missile and the Rock Plating augmentation, and the Advanced Edition Content switch set to Enabled. The crew list shows Kletzkin, Eoin and Lisandra. Five parts later the Bulwark destroys the Rebel Flagship in The Last Stand for a score of 3572.
Part 1: Missiles and no lasers
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. Early fights hand the Bulwark more missile launchers, a Hermes and a Pegasus, until the weapons bar holds four of them. "So we have a bunch of weird missiles." Basket checks the next sectors against the quest steps ("we need Engi, Pirate or Rock for the first thing") and decides the run is worth continuing.
Sector 2 is a Zoltan Controlled Sector. An ion storm knocks the shields out during one fight, and a Rebel Invader charges an ion pulse. At a store Basket sells the Hull Missile and the Hermes, buys an Ion Charger and a Scrap Recovery Arm, and leaves the rest. The missile count keeps dropping. "Sure could use a laser." The part ends at the sector map, with Basket picking the Pirate sector for the quest.
Part 2: Rock Cruiser B
Sector 3 is a Pirate Controlled Sector. The Rock crew calms a riot at a mining colony, and a distress call in an asteroid field gets the Rock Plating option: a thorough search turns up the Damaged Stasis Pod, the first step of the quest. "So now that we have the stasis pod."
At a store Basket buys a Fire Beam ("fire, fire, so that's tempting") and Drone Control with a Defense Drone, then sells the Pegasus and more to afford a Crew Teleporter. A pirate attacking a damaged ship offers to split the bounty, and Basket attacks the pirate instead. Fire Beam shots set its rooms burning, and crew teleport over to finish the burning enemy crew. "I've got to plan this out so that I actually kill the guy when they're on fire." The "Is it warm in here?" achievement pops up, and with it the Rock Cruiser B. "I got the other achievement and I got the Rock Cruiser B."
The ship leaves a Battery Charger behind. A Pirate Fighter turns out to be a prisoner transport, and its lone survivor, Magne, joins the crew. The part ends with the next sector, a Zoltan one, picked for the quest.
Part 3: The crystal in the pod
Sector 4 is a Zoltan Controlled Sector. The first ship has a Vulcan, and Basket jumps away rather than trade hits ("all these ouchies"). Then the beacon Basket wanted: a Zoltan research facility. The blue stasis pod option has them repair the pod, and a crystal being named Ruwen steps out and asks to be taken to a hidden wormhole near the Rock home-worlds. "We just need the Rock homeworld and that'll be the end of that quest."
A store sells a Heavy Laser I. Sector 5 is a Rebel Stronghold. At the next store Basket sells the Fire Beam ("that was a fun thing to do for the achievement"), buys a Clone Bay and a second Heavy Laser, and uses the crew teleporter and clone bay together in a long fight against a ship whose defense drone shoots down missiles. "This will just be a really long fight, but we're getting there." The part ends at a Rebel shipyard, which Basket leaves alone. "I'm on a different mission."
Part 4: No Rock homeworld
Sector 6 is the Mantis Homeworlds, not the sector the quest needs. Basket had already said the quest needed a Rock homeworld here. The Bulwark jumps away from a Rebel ship with four shields and heavy lasers it cannot hurt, the missiles run out, and so does the fuel. A nearby station gives the Bulwark an Ion Blast, and at a beacon with no fuel left an automated ship sells some.
The map to Sector 7 shows no Rock homeworld either. "So we didn't get the quest." Basket picks the Zoltan Controlled Sector. When a Zoltan security ship chases a Mantis pirate, the Bulwark interferes, and the grateful Mantis leave a Defense Drone Mark I. At a store Basket sells the Artemis and buys Cloaking. A Rebel Fighter that gives up hands over a Hull Smasher Laser, and the part ends near the sector exit. "We'll see how we do against the bad guy."
Part 5: The Last Stand
Sector 8 is The Last Stand. A Pirate Bomber's offer adds Firedihm to the crew for 33 scrap. At a store Basket buys a Hull Repair drone, sells a Heavy Laser and upgrades the weapons system to fit the Hull Laser.
The first Flagship fight turns into a boarding fight. Crew teleport in, lock rooms down and pick off the Flagship's crew one at a time, with the clone bay bringing the dead back. Basket keeps one enemy alive on purpose: "if you kill all the guys, then the ship goes into automated mode, it repairs itself easier." The second stage brings drones and is fought under cloak. The third adds mind control. Then the Flagship splits apart in the target panel. "There we go. Ta-da!"
How it ended
The end crawl thanks the Bulwark and its crew: Kletzkin, Eoin, Lisandra, Magne, Ruwen and Firedihm. The VICTORY! box shows a score of 3572. The weapons bar at the end holds an Ion Charger, the Ion Blast, the Hull Laser and a Heavy Laser. In the hangar Basket looks over the newly unlocked Rock Cruiser B, with its Fire Bomb and Heavy Pierce Laser, and plans to fly it next.
