Stefan Schneider

Stefan Schneider
Physical information
Gender	Male
Equipment	Divet pistol EVA suitLaser cutter
Chronological and political information
Notable facts	Sole Survivor Of The Magpie Ship Hunter's Moon. Sole remaining Magpie to find the USG Ishimura.
Affiliation	Magpies

"There's some kind of life form on board, they're lethal... ...And they're all over the ship."

—Stefan Schneider

Stefan Schneider was a Magpie. He is the main protagonist of Dead Space: Salvage.

Biography

Prior to becoming a Magpie, Schneider owned a legitimate mining firm, but was driven out of business by the Concordance Extraction Corporation. It was possible that government corruption also played a role in the end of Schneider's mining venture.

Magpie career

Schneider eventually found work on the Hunter's Moon where he was employed as the second-in-command to Captain Jessica Li. In late 2508 or early 2509, the Hunter's Moon traveled into the restricted Aegis System with and conducted mining operations alongside three other Magpie spaceships.

Aegis VII

As soon as the Magpies shocked into the Aegis System, they immediately began to collect their illegal mining spoils. Schneider butted heads with the captain of the Black Beak, Benedykt Malyech who was an active Unitologist. This indicated that not only was Schneider distrustful about the CEC, but also the fact that both the government and the CEC had a number of Unitologists among their ranks.

As the Magpies continued to collect their illicit cargo, Schneider noticed some interference coming from the ShockRing that they used to enter the Aegis System. Then all of a sudden, a mysterious ship immediately shocked in on the Magpies location destroying the Liberte in the process. Schneider identified the mystery ship as the USG Ishimura.

Boarding A Ghost Ship

The Magpies including Schneider boarded the Ishimura with the intent of claiming it as salvage. As they boarded, they noticed that the ship was filled with a sludge that was a match for human DNA. Schneider proposed that when they activated the ShockRing to enter the Aegis System, they might have accidentally killed the Ishimura's crew due to a bad ShockRing malfunction. The Magpies split up with Schneider and Li exploring the Ishimura's Medical Deck and seeing the remnants of the slaughter that took place there.

The Magpies regrouped on the Ishimura's Bridge and discussed what they are going to do next with the hulking wreck of the abandoned planet cracking vessel. Schneider correctly surmised that the reason for the EarthGov blockade was due to them searching for the Ishimura although they could not confirm that at the time. Schneider observed that all of the records on the Ishimura are locked and they could not ascertain any more information on what happened on board the vessel. As Malyech shared the shards of the Red Marker that they found on the hull of the Ishimura, Malyech assaulted Li after she proposed to ransom the shards of the Marker to the Church of Unitology. As Malyech was left in the brig, Schneider was able to recover partial bits of the logs on board the Ishimura stating that they pulled up an intact Marker from the planet's surface.

As Schneider pondered why there would be shards of the Marker embedded into the Ishimura's hull, a fellow Magpie named Venschiff attacked him. Schneider proceeded to kill Venschiff with a shard of the Marker. After the attack was over, another Magpie was finally able to extract more information about what happened on the Ishimura. Schneider was informed about the Marker induced madness that consumed the colony and the ship. Schneider informed Li about the Marker induced madness that consumed the Ishimura and how it was also responsible for the way that Malyech and Venschiff are acting. It was after this point that Schneider lost contact with Captain Li.

All Hell Breaks Loose

Unknown to Schneider, the Marker fragments began to reanimate the dead crew of the Ishimura. As Schneider and the other Magpies are on the Bridge, it was swarmed by the reanimated Necromorphs. Two of the Magpies are killed outright by the creatures as Schneider and the surviving Magpies desperately fought back against the surging Necromorphs. The remaining Magpies with the exception of Schneider are overwhelmed by the hordes of the reanimated Necromorphs.

Schneider was contacted by the EarthGov soldiers who are hailing the Magpies. Schneider faked his location when he responded to EarthGov's hails. He lied telling them that he was in the Ishimura's Cargo Bay with the intact Marker. Schneider attempted to negotiate a deal with the EarthGov officials saying that he and the remaining Magpies are only interested in the salvage rights to the Ishimura and EarthGov could have the Marker. Schneider's ruse worked and fooled the EarthGov officials into meeting him in the Cargo Bay instead of his actual location on the Ishimura's Bridge.

Schneider was pleased when he heard gunshots echoing through the Ishimura as the EarthGov Marines are attacked by the Necromorphs. As Schneider fought his way through the Necromorphs, he spotted that the Ishimura's quarantine protocols kicked in again. He also saw the two Oracles who boarded the Ishimura in a stealth ship and figured that they are looking for him. Schneider put on an EVA suit and exited the Ishimura walking along its hull back to the docking bay. On the way, he was confronted by both Necromorphs and the two Oracles who finally caught up with him. As the Oracles attempted to confront Schneider, they are attacked by a Hive Mind. As they fought it off, Schneider made his escape back inside the Ishimura heading toward the docked ship.

Cornered

As he made his way to the ship, he was once again cornered by the two Oracles. He threatened to remote pilot the Magpies' ShockRing into the Ishimura's engine bay if the two Oracles did not back off. They thought that he was bluffing until he stated that he lost everything in the adventure to salvage the Ishimura and had nothing left to lose. As Schneider deduced that not only was the Marker was responsible for driving people insane, but also that it reanimated the dead. The counter that he was actually holding went off blowing his bluff to remote pilot the ShockRing. Out of time and options, Schneider leaped through an airlock door as the Necromorphs swarmed the Oracles, killing them. As Schneider made his way to the docking bay, he saw that the Necromorphs are swarming over his ship and decided to take the now deceased Oracles' stealth ship instead.

Escape

Schneider contacted the EarthGov blockade, giving them the location of the Ishimura. As the blockade attempted to stop Schneider from leaving the Aegis System, he activated the stealth ship's ShockPoint Drive, escaping from the clutches of EarthGov and certain death that awaited them on the Ishimura.