Starfield:One Small Step

The introductory mission starts on May 7, 2330, with the player at the Argos Extractors Mining Outpost on Vectera. The player is accompanied by Supervisor Lin and Heller, a fellow miner. You being riding an elevator down into a mine:


 * Supervisor Lin: "Seals are good. Oxygen's good. Just do what you did last time, and you're fine. Follow my one simple rule. Heller, what's my one simple rule?"
 * Heller: "Listen to Lin. Boss lady knows best."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Exactly. Listen to me. Mining's just like any other job. Go steady, go safe, go home with a pocketful of credits at the end of the day."
 * Heller: "Yeah totally, it's just like, um... working the stardock. Except with more cave-ins, lasers, and accidental dismemberment."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Very helpful. Thank you."
 * Heller: "Ah, you're gonna be fine. Your first outing was solid. And let's be honest - it ain't exactly astrophysics."
 * Supervisor Lin: "That's why I keep him around. Good pep talks."
 * Heller: "Yeah...and the fact that I can pinpoint a Helium deposit from three hundred meters..."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Not untrue. A shame we won't find any down here, but the metal deposits alone should pay for our OWN helium. Hell, after this, we'll have enough jump fuel to bounce from one end of the Settled Systems to the next."
 * Heller: "More minerals, more money. And so the cycle repeats itself. Just no more unauthorized jumps into House Va'ruun space, okay?"
 * Supervisor Lin: "He's just a big baby. There are worse lives. You know, most dusties don't even make it this far. I have a good feeling about you."
 * Heller: "Group hug now or at the end of the shift?"
 * Supervisor Lin: "One of these days, Heller, I AM going to leave you behind."
 * Heller: "Promises, promises."

Once you reach the bottom, Heller and Lin will proceed out of the elevator. You will be in a large active mining site, with numerous miners working with cutters.

You should follow Heller and Lin:


 * Supervisor Lin: "Okay, let's see what we've got. How are we on time?"
 * Heller: "Little longer. Grab some samples?"
 * Supervisor Lin: "Always. But not you. Check on Isabelle. Make sure she eases up on the breach. I don't feel like getting buried alive today."
 * Heller: "Roger that."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Remember, dusty, keep your breathing steady. And never take that helmet off down here. Oxygen processors don't extend this far."
 * Heller: "Yeah. Because God forbid we drill on a rock with a breathable atmosphere..."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Know what I love about working in Freestar Collective space: fewer regs. A job like this in the United Colonies? Heh. Reams of red tape. Ugh. Look at this one over here... Calvert! No! No no no! It's a laser not a sledgehammer. Ease up. Bening, if you got paid per break you'd be a millionaire! Let's go."
 * Bening: "Yeah, yeah. Okay."
 * Supervisor Lin: "What do we say, dusties? You make your cut, you get your cut. No exceptions. Come on. Pick it up! Troy. What's the yield?"
 * Troy: "Minimal at this point. Occasional glimmer, but it's weak."
 * Supervisor Lin: "What do you think? Stay the course?"
 * Troy: "No ma'am. Juice ain't worth the squeeze."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Well okay then. Let's call this one tapped. Why don't you move over to that big vein we looked at?"
 * Troy: "Yes Ma'am."
 * Supervisor Lin: "Well okay then. Let's call this one tapped. Why don't you move over to that big vein we looked at?"

Lin will now stop to give you directions to mine. Her specific comment will change if you have already grabbed a cutter, and if you had already mined what she was going to ask you to.


 * "Dusty, you're up. Grab a cutter and mine what you can."
 * "Dusty, you're up. Take that cutter you grabbed, and mine what you can."
 * "Well, look at you. Showing some initiative. Come on. Let's check in on Heller."

After equipping a cutter, you will start mining beryllium. There are five mineral samples in the section of the mine she points out. By holding down both triggers/both the left and right mouse button, you can mine faster. Once you are done, Lin will call you back as Heller is helping oversee a giant excavating machine punch through to a new cavern:


 * Lin: "They're ready for us. Get back up here."
 * Heller: "And here we go. In 3... 2... 1... Scanners reading a clean break. Shutting down."
 * Lin: "Heller, get the readings. "
 * Heller: "Yeah, about that..."
 * Lin: "Problem?"
 * Heller: "Not if you consider a spike in gravity readings a problem."
 * Lin: "I don't."
 * Heller: "You don't?"
 * Lin: "What we're after... it'll read as an anomaly. That's what I was told, anyway."
 * Heller: "Okay, now you're starting to freak me out."
 * Lin: "Relax. It's just another job. Come on."
 * Heller: "We're getting close... I think... Everything is just... Lin, seriously. There's something really effed up about this..."
 * Lin: "Where is it, Heller?"
 * Heller: "Through there. I think."
 * Lin: "Okay. You. You're up. Something goes wrong in there, we'll come get you."
 * Heller: "Why would anything go wrong? Shouldn't we..."
 * Lin: "Would you shut up? Both of you do your jobs. Client is on his way."

You will be sent ahead on your own. The cavern has little lighting ahead, and you can turn on your flashlight by holding to the left bumper or with the "F" key. More beryllium lines the walls as you forward, which you are free to mine if you wish. You will shortly arrive in a larger chamber with a central mineral deposit giving off light, with some minerals caught in a gravitational anomaly causing them to float. As you progress alone Heller and Lin will provide some commentary through a communication system.


 * Heller: "Still getting weird gravity readings. I guess that's a good thing? Just keep going!"
 * Lin: "Do you see anything?"

You will get an objective to break up the deposits covering what appears to be the source of the anomaly. Use the cutter to breaking through the caelumite, and you will shortly be able to free the mysterious object.

As you go to grab it, the game will switch to a cutscene of your hand reaching out. Once you make contact with it, you will see a white light, followed by a strange vision showing space, seemingly pulling further and further back until you are gazing at the entirety of the universe. A strange sound can be heard. You will then quickly move even further beyond, with a tunnel made up of the colors of the visible light spectrum, before ending on the white light from the beginning of the vision, before it fades to black.

You will hear Lin call out to you, and you will wake up sometime later in the infirmary.


 * Lin: "Dusty! Snap out of it!"

Upon waking up, you will turn to find Heller and Lin watching over you, and you will begin character creation.


 * Heller: "Come on. Come on. Okay. Take it easy. You were out cold. No physical damage. Mentally, the jury's still out. You know who you are? New recruit for Argos Extractors? Ring any bells? Any of this look familiar?"

The player is then informed of the imminent arrival of a Constellation ship. After a shoot-out with pirates, Barrett invites the player to meet at the Constellation headquarters in New Atlantis. After takeoff the player has to fight a Crimson Fleet ship in space (and possibly two more after that) before heading to New Atlantis.