The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 5: Swamp Pirate Rebellion

The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 5: Swamp Pirate Rebellion

"A splinter faction... How treacherous!"

The Swamp Pirate Rebellion is the fifth and last quest in Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars and was added in version 1.1.0. It is especially noteworthy because this quest is the only appearance of a ship from another game - specifically, the Kestrel, the default ship in FTL: Faster Than Light. Even the objective pays tribute to the premise of Faster Than Light: collect the Kestrel, destroy the pirates attacking Glory before they obliterate the whole system, and eliminate the remaining pirate presence in the sector. Here's how you can purge Sector Prime of these reckless renegades.

"We may never have seen it before, but doesn't it remind us of our ship?"

The quest begins when you discover the Kestrel abandoned in orbit around a faraway star system. This ship will never fire on you as you approach it (unlike the Derelict Vessel, which may do so if the ship attempting to board it is uncloaked), and so you can board it immediately. You will then have the Kestrel in your flotilla, and it's quite a formidable ship, with four turrets and six equipment slots, although initially, you will seldom have the equipment (or the money to buy it, in coins or credits) to make it really effective.

"It's nice to have the heavy artillery on our side for a change!"

Acquiring the Kestrel will begin the second part of the quest. In it, Arch Fenster's Swamp Pirates will occupy Glory and destroy the whole system in two years unless you destroy them. Before this, he will send his other two pirate fleets towards Glory, making it tougher to liberate the system the longer it takes for you to get there. You must destroy every pirate fleet in the sector, but don't actually need the Kestrel to do so. Here's how. 

"Those vile scum deserve to be obliterated after what they've just done!"

Combat against the pirates is similar to a battle with the Urluquai, since the pirates employ similar ambush tactics. However, pirate ships can't cloak or spawn a half-dozen fighters at a time, and the Pirates have more advanced weaponry than the Terrans usually do. Specifically, all of their ships carry a Micro-Meteorite Gun, while Pirate Corvettes also come with a Fusion Rocket Launcher. Pirate Frigates add a Plasma Cannon to the mix, and Pirate Destroyers are equipped with all of the above plus a Proton Blaster, the best projectile weapon in the game.

"We have no choice but to get rid of Arch Fenster and his henchmen!"

You are guaranteed to engage at least one pirate fleet at Glory, and like the Ravian swarm and Urluquai crusaders, the pirate fleet varies in strength depending on the difficulty. At the very least, the smallest fleet consists of a corvette and two scouts; another fleet is comprised of a frigate and two scouts, and the third - Arch Fenster's fleet - has a destroyer in it along with two more scouts. Of course, this last fleet is the toughest one to take down since the destroyer has room for all four pirate weapons. 

However, at Glory, you will receive assistance from fighters launched from Haven Station, and sometimes at least one Terran capital ship as well; the fighters will harass the pirate capital ships (they don't use fighters, strangely enough) until they or their targets are eliminated. Haven Station will also spawn four fighters once all existing ones are destroyed, but if the pirates manage to blow up the whole station, it's basically curtains for the Terrans. Thus, always take out the reinforcements as soon as they spawn, since they will target the station first; you can prevent this by stationing your flotilla near the station. The reinforcements won't show up unless the battle is going badly for the pirates, though, so you can hang back and snipe the pirates using assorted long-range weapons until that happens (or, if you have a cloaked ship, position it in the pirates' blind spot and ambush them from there).

"Now that the blockade's gone, we'll smash the rest of the pirates!"

Once you take out all pirate fleets in Glory, you must destroy every other such flotilla in Sector Prime to complete the quest. Of course, if all three fleets reach Glory and you manage to wipe them out all at once, this becomes moot since the quest will end as a result. Defeating a pirate fleet at an unoccupied system is tougher since you are usually on your own, particularly on higher difficulties. It's even more satisfying, though, and well worth the effort.

"Well, that's it for the pirates. They won't threaten us ever again!"

Although this quest does not award you with 5000 credits after completing it, you will still gain plenty of points for destroying all of the pirate fleets, and receive the achievement "Flight of the Kestrel" the first time you do so. It should be noted that erasing the Kestrel from existence using a Limited Vacuum Collapser produces mixed results. Doing so after finding the ship will cause the quest to end in failure (since you must recover the ship after discovering it), but detonating the device before sighting the Kestrel will prevent the quest from even starting, which the game treats as if you actually triggered the quest in the first place and subsequently completed it. Now stand up for justice and send those vile pirates to their maker!