The Crimson Fleet questline in Starfield is a long one, and it results in significant changes. By the end of its final mission, you have two choices: Join the pirates to go on merry adventures, or remove them from the galaxy as part of UC SysDef. The rewards you earn depend on the option you choose. But you can get away with a little more. There are special weapons to claim on both sides. And if you go with the good guys, you can get away with the Tempest unique rifle to take on your Starfield adventures.
To get the Tempest rifle, you need to side with UC SysDef. It’s pretty much the inverse path you’d choose if you wanted to get the Unfair Advantage pistol. That’s right. The Tempest is owned by the leader of the Crimson Fleet pirates, Delgado. And if you want the gun, you’ll need to pull it from his cold, dead hands.
Take out Delgado for the Tempest unique rifle
Getting to Delgado, though, is no easy task. You first assault the Defensive Batteries keeping the Key moderately safe from attack. When they’re down, you take the fight directly to the filthy space pirates. Clearing out the pirate ships protecting the Key allows you to board the space station and fight your way to its big boss. There are a lot of pirates and robots standing in your way, but in my experience they are all highly allergic to bullets. You’ll do fine.
Once you reach Delgado, you can talk to him through bulletproof glass. He’s pissed, obviously. You stole the Legacy from him and handed it to the good guys. Why would he be happy? Also, it appears he took Commander Ikande’s homework and copied it. He set the Key to self-destruct. Your conversation moves to two choices: Convince Delgado to cancel the self-destruct and turn himself in, or die in battle. Choose the option to Attack. Persuading him to cancel the self-destruct results in his arrest, and you miss you chance to get his gun.
The fight for the galaxy
After starting the fight, the door to the reactor room opens up. You need to follow the quest markers to shut down three reactors while fighting off pirates and bots. Once you have all three, Delgado makes a move on you. Kill him and loot the Tempest unique rifle off his body. Be sure to grab his outfit and the Advanced Pirate Corsair Spacesuit. With that done, take Delgado’s Password back to his office and shut down the self-destruct. You can also use the computer terminal to turn off the bomb in Shinya Voss’ chest. It’s up to you.
The Tempest unique rifle is arguably not the best weapon in Starfield, but it certainly isn’t terrible. A rare Freestar Collective weapon, it hits for 27 points of physical damage and boasts the Handloading perk. Regardless of whether it speaks your language, it’s a superb memento of a mission well done.
