The last chapter of Apex Legends’ season six quest is live. “The First Ship” shows how Rampart is getting back on her feet and reintroduces players to Ash and Blisk, characters from the Titanfall franchise that are making their way to Apex.
Unlike its predecessor, The First Ship isn’t just a text-based story. It’s a short comic with the help of Dark Horse artists Alessandro Miracolo and D.J. Chavis.
The story kicked off with Wraith brokering a living arrangement between Rampart and Mirage. The modder would move her shop to the Paradise Lounge in exchange for some rent. But the holographic trickster isn’t happy with the idea and the page ends with Pathfinder bragging about his new girlfriend.
The two legends come to an agreement in the form of a friendly bet. If Pathfinder’s girlfriend is “tiptop,” Rampart will move into the Paradise Lounge. If she’s “a five-alarm psycho train wreck,” however, Mirage gets a free mod.
The pair go meet with Pathfinder’s live-in girlfriend and discover her identity: Ash from the Titanfall franchise, the simulacrum that the legends assembled in the season five quest. Hammond Robotics threw Ash in a dumpster behind their building after downloading some codes from her memories and Pathfinder decided to bring her home.
Ash gets a surprise visitor while Pathfinder is away: Kuben Blisk, the Apex Games commissioner and an antagonist from the Titanfall franchise. Ash is angry at Blisk for “trying to kill” her, but Blisk reveals that the two had a deal: “I wasn’t killing you, I was… stashing you away,” he says. Ash draws a sword on Blisk, but the commissioner reveals an important detail: “I just got word an old friend of yours is back.”
Meanwhile, Wraith, in her capacity as bet commissioner, gives her verdict: “You both win. Or lose, depending on your perspective.” This means that Mirage and Rampart are now roommates and that Rampart owes him a mod.
The final chapter gives the story some closure and a teaser at the end. After meeting with Blisk, Ash moves away from Pathfinder’s warehouse and leaves him with a heartfelt letter about how much he helped her. In the Paradise Lounge, Mirage misunderstands Rampart’s instructions and sends each and every one of her belongings into the dropship. She’s so angry she pulls a gun on the trickster and the quest ends with a teaser: “To be continued… in the season 7 Launch Trailer.”
Apex Legends’ first season quest, The Broken Ghost, came during season five, Fortune’s Favor. The story shows Loba recruiting the legends to retrieve and assemble a mysterious artifact—but the narrative evolved into much more. Loba was working with Hammond Robotics to obtain the coordinates to Revenant’s source code and the legends begrudgingly agreed to chase the artifact.
Despite being a text-based adventure, The Broken Ghost mixed gameplay and lore by sending players into hunts—short incursions against AI-controlled Prowlers—to retrieve a piece of the artifact each week. The First Ship lacks that overlap but evolves the formula of a season quest by making it a full-fledged comic book.
Ash and Blisk’s reunion is likely an important hook for Apex‘s seventh season, expected to kick off in mid-November. The new season could also revisit the storyline between Loba and Revenant, which was largely sidelined after The Broken Ghost ended.
Published: Sep 29, 2020 10:34 am