Captain Zedo recently discovered something unexpected: there is not one, but two alien moth crashes on Titan. The second happens in the Port district shortly after you trigger the first near Ore Processing. It makes sense, if you think about it - that alien debris near the Mines tunnel has to come from somewhere.

Zedo is entirely responsible for discovering this, plus the behaviour of Laz Repair 004, the ship used to drop the Mass Driver Part that Klamp want destroyed. But after he posted his findings, I began wondering: can you bring the plot to a grinding halt if you destroy Laz Repair 004 before it launches?

Sorry fliers. The answer is no. But what you can do is cut a small part out of the plot. Here's how.

Get the plot kicked off early. Head down to Ore Processing as soon as you receive the "coverup in progress" message from Hardwarp FM. I kitted out my moth in the God Hangar before I began. There's no need to - you should be able to do this in the Silver Y.

As soon as the alien crashes in Downtown, leg it down to Port. You should have absolutely no trouble getting there in time.

The second alien crash happens in Port, near the Mines tunnel, at exactly 0600 hours on Day 2, if you got the plot kicked off early enough. You may want to save the game around a Hardwar hour before this time, just to experience the crash yourself.

Now here's how to implement the plot shortcut. Be waiting outside the Mass Driver in Port at 0600 hours. As the top of the hour passes, approach the doors - you'll receive an "Airlock Busy" message, because Laz Repair 004 is launching. Sit right in front of the doors and block the ship's exit. Don't shoot it - just block it. Don't let its nose outside the airlock. If it starts escaping, nudge it back in! After a few seconds, the hangar will destroy it for hanging around too long. Once those hangar doors close, the Mass Driver Part no longer exists.

And that's it. The Port weirdness begins immediately. The Lazarus guard ships never get a chance to turn up for duty. Klamp's transport will arrive eventually to pick up the alien debris, and the plot will continue. The main advantage here is that Laz now have nothing against you. You didn't destroy their ship, the hangar did! Cunning.

The disadvantage, of course, is that Klamp don't pay you. They never got a chance to issue their mission.

Incidentally, it's normally Klamp Trans X1 that arrives to pick up the alien debris. But when I tried this the first time, I saw a new ship flying down from Mines: Klamp-TX 00. What's this? Anyone know?

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