Basket takes The Adjudicator out a fourth time, on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled, with the same goal as Run 3: "not upgrading our reactor and get to sector 5." The ship has its Halberd Beam, a Leto missile launcher, the Zoltan Shield and three Zoltan crew, Kletzkin, Maxim and Banks. This time it works. The run goes four parts, reaches the Rebel Flagship in Sector 8, The Last Stand, and ends with Basket quitting a fight neither side can finish.
Part 1: A free crew member
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. Boarders show up early, and Basket vents the oxygen from their room and reinforces the doors. An event hands the crew a new member, Ariel, and Basket shuffles the stations so a Zoltan can power a system instead of flying the ship: "So now it's like we got one more power."
An Auto-Hacker gets its hack in only after the shield drops ("I forgot that the shield prevents the hack from happening"). A missing cargo ship turns up docked to a Rebel station, forced to "donate" supplies, and Basket attacks the Rebels to free it. At the store, Basket spends 125 of 128 scrap on Drone Control, which comes with a System Repair Drone, and a Clone Bay.
Part 2: Broke in the nebula
Sector 2 is the Uncharted Nebula. Four boarders come aboard, and Basket evacuates the air from room after room while the crew waits them out. Against a Pirate Assault with a crew teleporter, Basket aims missiles at its teleporter and shields, wins, and picks up a second System Repair Drone.
Fuel runs low. Two stores have no Zoltan crew for hire ("darn, I was hoping for some crew"), so Basket hires Aisha, an Engi, "'cause he repairs fast," and buys a Backup Battery for extra power in fights. That leaves four scrap. Sector 3 is a Civilian Sector, and at a Rebel checkpoint Basket pays a small bribe to let the civilian ships go. Next is a Rock Controlled Sector, and Basket counts the jumps to the goal.
Part 3: Manpower
The first fight in Sector 4 is a Rock ship with two shields and a lot of missiles, and Basket complains, "I hate these weapons." A store sells GM Faux, a Zoltan, which Basket buys because "this means power," and a space station adds Gracie, another Zoltan. A small convoy offers to improve the reactor in exchange for supplies, and Basket declines: "that's up against our objective."
The jump out of Sector 4 brings two popups: "Achievement Unlocked! Manpower" and "Layout Unlocked! Zoltan Cruiser Type B." "I thought you had to beat sector 5," Basket says. The new target is the other achievement, 29 power at one time.
A big pirate ship repairs its shields faster than the missiles can break them, so Basket jumps away. Lana, a Zoltan, joins at a store, and an Ion Blast turns up for free. In Sector 6, the Rebel Controlled Sector, Basket sells gear to afford a Crew Teleporter. Later an event asks for missiles. Basket hands over five, and "they upgraded our reactor." A refugee ship trades fuel. The part ends at a Zoltan Controlled Sector.
Part 4: The Rebel Flagship
Sector 7 is the Zoltan Controlled Sector. The crew teleporter gets its first use, with crew sent over to the enemy's weapons, and Basket accepts an offer of supplies: "sounds fair enough." A pirate teleports boarders in just as Basket jumps, so the fight carries on inside the ship. After that, Gracie is gone from the crew list. "So we lost somebody. I'm not sure who it is."
Sector 8 is The Last Stand. Basket repairs, upgrades the ship so both weapons can run at once, and goes to fight the Rebel Flagship: "stealth and hacking, that's right." Basket wears its shields down with missiles and the Ion Blast and sends crew over to knock out a weapon, but the Flagship's crew keep pulling back to heal. "He runs away before I have a chance to hurt him."
How it ended
Basket cannot get through, and calls it: "we'll just have to quit I guess, can't do it." There is no victory or game-over screen. The video goes to the pause menu, then the hangar, where Basket shows the newly unlocked Zoltan Cruiser Type B, the Noether, for the next episode. Before the end cards, Basket sums up: "it was kind of a weird episode trying to fight the bad guy, and we're in a stalemate."