Phendrana Drifts
Now it's time to start exploring a Space Pirate base in Phendrana. Here you will meet lots of Space Pirates, and though you haven't seen much of them since leaving the frigate, they are the main type of enemy for the rest of the game.
Ruined Courtyard
Go through the purple door to one side of the central platform.
Specimen Storage
This is a small passage but there is a lot going on so don't rush in. First, there in an Auto Turret visible in the distance, you can shoot missiles at it but it's probably better to switch it off using a security panel on the right. If you're careful you can do this without alerting the other enemy in this room and you can deal with them one at a time.
Step forward to be attacked, if you're not already, by a Shadow Pirate. You'll see more of these on your way back in this excursion, but this one seems to be on its own. Get a scan to learn it has stealth capabilities, so it can go invisible when it wants to. Stealth uses power though so it fights strictly melee. It still uses powerful weapons though so don't pull any punches. A good combo to use is a Charged Wave Beam (Charge Beam with Wave Beam selected) to paralyze it, followed by a Missile to finish it off. Fortunately it's not using stealth this time.
Research Entrance
This is a large entrance hall and as you step forward there is a short cutscene where a Sentry Drone sounds the alarm, locking the door behind you. Space Pirates appear and set up defensive barriers and a battle starts. This almost qualifies as a boss battle, but there aren't any actual bosses in it. Use the same stun + missile combo you used on the Shadow Pirate, but keep weaving to avoid their blasters. They make effective use of the barriers, so only fire when you have a clean shot. You may notice an Auto Turret hanging from the ceiling, but it won't notice you as long as you stay at ground level. The Defense Drone seen at the beginning disappears but you'll see more of them later. Get a scan before you're done; even though you saw many of them on the frigate and have seen modded Pirates already, this is your first chance to get a scan of a plain vanilla Space Pirate.
Take out the Auto Turret so it doesn't surprise you later; you can use the Charged Wave Beam to save on Missiles. Then go through the door on the right corner on the far side.
Map Station
Step into the hologram to download the map for this area. Note, the map only covers the part which the Space Pirates have explored, so there are still unmapped parts which will be filled in as you explore. Scan the wall panels to get information on an upcoming boss.
Research Entrance (cont.)
Go up the ramp to the upper level, then through the purple door.
Hydra Lab Entryway
There are two Bombus in this passage.
Research Lab Hydra
A force field prevents you from entering the the main part of the room, so switch it off by scanning the panel to the right. You enter a multi-level room guarded by Space Pirates and another quasi-boss battle starts. Eliminate the Pirates at ground level, then scan the panel near the lift to activate it and get to the higher levels.
Once the Pirates are gone, go back to the ground level and start scanning the workstations and panels for Pirate Data entries. There are three Pirate Data entries on the ground floor in a nook to the right as you enter the room, and there are two more on the top level. There are dozens of panels with additional information and flavor text as well.
Sometime around this point, depending on how diligent you've been in collecting scans, you should be hitting the 50% scans milestone. This unlocks Gallery 1 in the game menu.
The exit is a purple door on the ceiling on the top level. You need to shoot to open it as usual, the jump through before it closes.
Observatory Access
This passage is guarded by Auto Turrets; stay behind the pile of boxes here to get out of range for a bit, then fire missiles at the first one when it's not shooting back. You can use the curves in the passage for cover on the remaining Turrets.
Observatory
There are more Space Pirates here and a third quasi-boss battle starts. When the Pirates are defeated a panel at ground level, in the middle of a set of workstations, becomes active.
Get the Pirate Data scans on either side of the panel. You can get clues on what to do next by scanning the walls. Scan the panel to turn on a Morph Ball slot above one of the ledges lining the walls. Activate this to turn some machinery and a second Morph Ball slot. Activate the second one to start more of the machinery and turn on a set of Spinners at ground level. Now activate these to finish turning on the machinery and a hologram projector comes down from the ceiling, producing a hologram of a solar system. Each planet has info to scan, but the two which are entered into you log are Zebes and Tallon IV.
As the projector was being lowered, the ledges around the walls repositioned themselves so you can now get to the top level. Sitting of top of the projector is the Super Missile, so grab it. This is the first combination beam and missile weapon. To use it, charge the Charge Beam, then fire a Missile while holding the charge. It makes a very powerful attack, but it uses 5 missiles at a time so use it sparingly. The Super Missile is based on the Power Beam and other combo are based on the other beams, but the Super Missile is the only one you actually need to finish the game.
Turn around, fire a missile to open the door and go in.
Save Station D
Where is Save Station C? In any case, you know what to do.
The Super Missile does allow you to collect additional expansions, but going back to get them will mean fighting your way through more Pirates and will definitely be more trouble than it's worth. So we'll make an exception to the practice of getting expansions as soon as they're available and cover that on the next page. Besides, the Super Missile wasn't even the item that the hint system has been pointing to, so finish that project before starting any side business.