To get access to the pirate station (which opens weaponry and bounty path) you need to make an illegal bot in your laboratory and the quest kicks off (illegal = IQ 140 or higher).The walkthrough in OP describes it in more detail.
ye, i made a bot but when i try to exit game tells me to destroy it(move to storage)
move it to storage (little dots on the left), exit, and quest kicks off
