Basket tries the Rock Cruiser Type C for the first time, on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled. The hangar names it the Tektite, with a Swarm missile launcher, a crystal weapon the weapons bar calls the Crystal H. I, no drone system and the Rock Plating augmentation. The crew list shows T'ten, Joel and Schultze, a Crystal. "It's a crystal-ish ship, but not actually a crystal ship. But we do have a crystal crew." Three parts later the whole crew dies fighting a Rebel Disruptor in Sector 5, for a score of 2186.
Part 1: Swarm missiles
Basket reads the weapons first. The Swarm charges up to three missiles "for the cost of one," and the crystal gun pierces shields for two damage with a single shot. Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. The first fights go after enemy weapons with the crystal shot while the Swarm builds a full volley. "I'm using a lot of missiles." A Rebel Rigger offers its cargo to surrender. A reactor upgrade traded for fuel, missiles and drone parts gets a yes ("I don't know if that's a good deal or not, but we'll take it").
Sector 2 is an Engi Controlled Sector. A young Mantis fugitive teleports aboard and begs for protection from the Engi, and Basket sides with the fugitive. Against the Engi ship's defense drone, the three-missile volley pays off: "he can shoot down one of them but not all of them." At one store Basket buys a Scrap Recovery Arm instead of drones, and at the next an Automated Re-loader, "which will charge up our weapons faster." The part ends at the sector map, with Basket heading for a nebula sector.
Part 2: The Uncharted Nebula
"We don't have any more weapons yet, because the sector didn't really give us anything." Sector 3 is an Uncharted Nebula. When intruders board, Basket moves the crew out, locks the room down and lets the intruders suffocate. "It seems to work out pretty well, maybe."
At a store Basket hires two crew, Aisha, an Engi, and Feras, and now has a crew member for the shields. A pirate that surrenders for fuel and missiles is let go. Basket loops around the map to reach a store later, and by the time the Tektite gets back, "the store is gone." The last fight is against pirates with their own crew teleporter, and it beats up the Tektite's weapons. "That's a shame." The pirate surrenders "for not very much," then its last crew member dies in a fire. The next sector is Rock Controlled. "It's like home."
Part 3: The pod, a laser, and Sector 5
Sector 4 is a Rock Controlled Sector. A live mine on a burnt-out Rock hull damages the Tektite. The first store has no weapons, so Basket buys Hacking and hires Caris, a Zoltan, who gives power to the system they man. After that Basket opens most fights by hacking the enemy shields. "I like hacking. It's cool."
A distress call turns up a derelict ship in the path of an asteroid, and the crew grabs the stasis chamber: a Damaged Stasis Pod, the first step of the Rock quest. With three augmentations already, Basket leaves the Scrap Recovery Arm behind to make room. Later a convoy offers a reactor upgrade for missiles. "No, thank you. I need my missiles."
Sector 5 is a Zoltan Controlled Sector, "what we need for the quest." At a store Basket finally buys a weapon, a Chain Burst Laser for 65 scrap. The Tektite secures a pirate's ammunition, picks up an Anti-Combat Drone "for free," and fights off boarders by turning off the oxygen. One long fight against a ship that keeps dodging costs a lot of hull. "Wow, this guy's really hard to hit."
How it ended
The last store is only for repairs. The next beacon holds a Rebel Disruptor with a Defense Drone II. Fires break out, enemy crew come aboard, and Basket sends crew over with the teleporter to go after its drones. Then: "Oh no! We just lost everybody. I shouldn't have sent that guy in there." The Game Over box reads "All crewmembers have died. Your ship will continue to drift for eternity. Or until looters destroy it," score 2186. Back at the main menu Basket says the next run will likely be the plain Kestrel Cruiser A.
