Basket opens the Zoltan Cruiser Type C for the first time. The hangar names it the Cerenkov, on Normal, with an Ion Charger, an Anti-Ship Beam Drone I, the Zoltan Shield augment and four Zoltan crew: Kletzkin, Chriz, Vincent and Nelis. "It has a charge weapon which can charge up to three and then a ship beam weapon thing," Basket says. "So let's try this out." The run is one video, and it never leaves Sector 1: an Elite Fighter tears the Cerenkov apart for a score of 403.
Thirty seconds of power
The Cerenkov starts with almost no reactor power. "Wow, these guys have no power." To run the shields and the weapon at the same time, Basket has to switch the oxygen off and lean on the ship's battery, which gives four extra power for a short time. "We have 30 seconds to beat the bad guys, I guess."
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. At the first beacon a ship begs for help with its shields down, and Basket agrees to cover it with the Zoltan Shield. Next an Auto-Assault guards a Rebel storage cache. The beam drone does the damage while the Ion Charger keeps the enemy shields down. "That's not too bad, I mean we used a drone to do it." A Pirate Scout with a missile launcher follows. Then a Rebel Fighter in a nebula offers to surrender for drone parts and missiles, and Basket turns it down.
A store on the way
Basket agrees to escort a ship for a little fuel. A refueling platform comes next, and Basket docks even though "I don't necessarily trust them." A Pirate Rigger with two beam weapons is waiting. "Man, this is tough."
A store sits on the route. Basket spends 30 scrap on another reactor bar ("I think we have to do that to survive") and 50 more on a Burst Laser Mark I, so the ship can hurt enemies "without having to spend a drone." An engineer then offers to improve the reactor for two missiles and three drone parts, and Basket takes the deal.
The Elite Fighter
A Rebel Rigger offers to give up, but the fight ends with it exploding, leaving scrap and a Battery Charger augment. "Well, that's awesome."
The next fight is an Elite Fighter with two layers of shields. It knocks the engines out early, and the warnings read engines critical and hull critical. "We're in trouble, we need to jump," Basket says, but the engines are still broken. "This might be a pretty short run, I guess."
How it ended
The Cerenkov breaks apart, and the game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 403. "That's the end of this run," Basket says. "This ship is tough." The video goes to the hangar and the ship list before its end cards.
