Retake Boarded Vessel: A Caterpillar Boarding Guide for Star Citizen
Shattered Blade has taken a Caterpillar, and clearing its cargo bays is only half the job. Prepare for the boarding fight, the power-plant repair and the trip back out.
A Caterpillar full of stolen Vanduul cryopods is a nasty place for a firefight. Shattered Blade operatives have boarded the freighter, and the Retake Boarded Vessel contract sends you inside to deal with them. Winning the gunfight is only part of the job: the run examined here also requires a power-plant repair before the player leaves.
Bring a repair tool as well as your combat equipment. That is the easiest preparation to overlook. This walkthrough covers the Caterpillar encounter shown in Cpt_Foxyloxy’s 25 October video from the Alpha 4.10.3 PTU. It gives you a route through that documented run; layouts, objectives and behaviour may differ in other encounters or later builds.
Before leaving for the contract
- Repair capability: the mission’s damaged power plant needs attention after the fighting. The creator demonstrates the repair stage and says both small and larger repair tools can do the job.
- A familiar weapon and spare ammunition: this is close-range infantry combat. A newly introduced rifle is an interesting experiment, but a poor reason to leave your reliable equipment behind.
- Medical supplies and an EVA-capable suit: the approach in this run takes place in space, with hostile infantry waiting near the opening.
- Your own way home: neither the mission Caterpillar nor the nearby Cutlass is shown becoming a usable replacement for the player’s ship.
The contract appears under Mercenary in the recorded run. The official Incursion breakdown places the retake-ship mission in the Rank 2 family. During the announced PTU test, the mission set is made available for testing; that should not be confused with the intended progression requirements. Our Vanduul Incursion missions and ranks guide explains the wider chain.
Watch the boarding run
The mission briefing begins at 5:42, the approach at 7:56, and the repair stage at about 13:47. The opening weapon-shopping section is useful if you also want to try the Skarnov, but it is not a prerequisite for this contract.
1. Approach the freighter and find the open bow
The recorded encounter has a Caterpillar with a Cutlass Black nearby. The Caterpillar’s forward cargo opening is already accessible, but that does not make it a safe entrance: armed operatives are visible inside. Pause outside the opening long enough to understand where the fire is coming from before committing to the interior.
There is a particularly awkward moment at this boundary. Foxyloxy reports that his energy weapon is struggling to fire through the ship’s shield, then moves inside to continue the fight. Treat that as a warning from this PTU run, not a universal rule for every gun or shield. If shots appear ineffective at the entrance, repeatedly emptying magazines from the same position may not solve the problem.
2. Clear the boarding party
Work through the hostile occupants while following the contract’s objective markers. The mission briefing identifies Shattered Blade as the boarding force; the Vanduul cryopods are the cargo that brought them here. This is not simply a ship full of Vanduul infantry.
The Caterpillar’s long cargo spaces can tempt you to concentrate entirely on the next distant target. The footage also contains enemies much closer to the player, where the Skarnov’s electrical effect becomes a liability: the creator reports catching himself in the discharge. With that rifle, closing the distance is not automatically the answer to a stubborn opponent. Keep a dependable alternative available.
A group has more room to divide the work, with one player watching the approach while another moves forward. A solo player has to stop and reassess those angles personally. Neither approach changes the main objective: secure the ship rather than get distracted by every loose item in its cargo spaces.
3. Repair the damaged power plant
After the combat sequence, the active job becomes repairing the power plant. Follow the mission marker to the component and use your repair equipment. In the demonstrated run, this is the step that turns a successful boarding action into a completed job; arriving with weapons alone would leave the player without the equipment needed for it.
The creator says the larger repair tool is quicker, while a smaller one can still complete the task. The video does not establish a universal repair time or resource requirement, so allow the objective and the component’s condition to guide you. Keep enough attention on your surroundings to avoid treating the repair animation as a safe break from the encounter.
4. Check completion and leave in your own ship
Once the repair objective is satisfied, follow any remaining contract instructions and confirm the completion notification. Foxyloxy continues exploring before departing, so his edited run is not a clean timing test for the exact point at which every completion trigger fires.
He also inspects the Caterpillar’s command area and the nearby Cutlass. Neither provides a flyable prize in this footage. Plan to extract using the transport you brought, rather than assuming a cleared cockpit means you can take ownership of the vessel.
The cryopods and the tempting detours
The Vanduul pods are striking enough to pull your attention away from the mission. At roughly 11:57, the creator experiments with moving them and gets unexpected movement in space. That sequence is not evidence of a dependable loot route, and moving the pods is not presented as a required step in his contract.
Similarly, the Cutlass inspection shows weapon racks and medical containers, but a single run cannot guarantee the same contents every time. Finish the assigned work first. Any optional search comes with the usual risk of spending longer aboard a hostile, unfinished PTU encounter.
For the rifle used throughout this run, see our 4.10.3 PTU overview. For the other contracts and their announced rewards, return to the Incursion guide.
Sources and media: CIG’s Vanduul Incursion PTU feedback announcement supplies the mission family and test-access context. Cpt_Foxyloxy’s linked video, published 25 October 2026, supplies the Caterpillar walkthrough and attributed observations. Featured artwork is CIG’s Caterpillar exterior render, not a screenshot from this mission. Checked 26 October 2026; this is an early PTU walkthrough, not an Impound hands-on test or a guarantee of every contract variant.