The Stealth Cruiser gets its first run, on Normal. The ship is The Nesasio, with no shields, a Cloaking system, a Mini Beam and Dual Lasers, and the Long-Ranged Scanners and Titanium System Casing augmentations. The crew that flies the run is Martin, Aki and Emma. It reaches Sector 4, the Rock Controlled Sector, where a Rock Fighter destroys the ship.
Part 1: Starting over for an achievement
Basket opens the pause menu to read the ship's achievements. One of them, Tactical Approach, asks the Stealth Cruiser to reach Sector 8 "without jumping to a beacon with environmental danger." The first game opens at a beacon flagged DANGER, so Basket goes back to the hangar and starts again. "I'm gonna restart it."
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector, and the Long-Ranged Scanners show which beacons hold ships. Against a Rebel Disruptor, Basket plans to cloak when the missile comes, but the cloak is already knocked out. "I can't, because it's broken." The Nesasio wins anyway. "If they wouldn't have taken out our cloaking, we would have been able to avoid the missiles."
A slave trader offers "laborers" for cheap. Basket attacks the Pirate Interceptor instead, and when the fight ends Maria joins the crew. A second Pirate Interceptor with pirate markings tries to surrender, and Basket keeps shooting: "I could just kill you and take your stuff."
In Sector 2, the Engi Controlled Sector, a young Mantis fugitive teleports aboard asking for sanctuary from the Engi, and the beacon turns into a fight with an Engi Bomber. "It's really hard to stay alive," Basket says. Battle debris then gives up 11 scrap and a Small Bomb, "for free." An Engi vessel running from the Rebels gets 40 scrap, 2 missiles and 2 fuel ("Let's just be generous"), and afterward Basket drops a Battery Charger picked up earlier and keeps an Engi Med-bot Dispersal, so the crew "will passively heal up." A store patches the hull. At a fuel-mining colony, Basket picks "Offer him a position on your ship," and the event text reads "He graciously accepts, having always wanted to serve in the Federation." Smith joins. The part ends at the sector's exit beacon with the crew healed up.
Part 2: The Rock Controlled Sector
Sector 3 is another Engi Controlled Sector. A Rebel Fighter sends boarders, Basket vents the air, and the cloak stays down. "I still can't cloak." The fighter offers to surrender, and Basket takes the deal. "That's a decent amount of bombs actually, we'll take that." A store has Drone Control, but buying it would mean selling the Small Bomb. "I like the bomb thing. I guess we won't buy it." Fuel and repairs instead. A Rebel automated scout gives up its data, and the map updates.
Sector 4 is the Rock Controlled Sector. "These guys are heavy on the missiles." An abandoned pirate ship gives scrap, missiles and a drone part. Then a Rock Fighter with missiles and two blasters takes the cloak out again ("We can't cloak at all") before it surrenders, and Basket accepts. "That was rough." At the next store Basket buys a Burst Laser II, which replaces the Mini Beam.
An event offers survivors to rescue. "It's probably a trap, but let's do it." It was not, but the ship takes damage anyway: "It wasn't a trap but I just got hurt." A second Rock Fighter, with a flak gun and a laser, wears the hull down. "I didn't realize I was that low," Basket says. "I could have jumped, I guess, maybe."
How it ended
The Nesasio breaks apart in Sector 4 with all five crew aboard: Martin, Aki, Emma, Maria and Smith. The game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 1005 and "New High Score!" No achievements came from the run. "We learned a little bit more about how the stealth ship is tough," Basket says. The video returns to the hangar before its end cards.
