Red Tape Runaround

Red Tape Runaround is a miscelleanous mission in Starfield.

Objectives[]

Report to work for Peter Brennan
Speak with Governor Hurst
Find the stolen ship
Hail the Ship
- (Optional) Destroy Hurst's ship
Enter the ship
- (Optional) Search for more clues
- (Optional) Destroy Hurst's ship
Deal with the Pirates
Return to Hurst
- (Optional) Show Hurst's note to CDR Woodard
Deliver the package to Peter
Approve the equipment request

Detailed Walkthrough[]

Report to Peter Brennan.

You can tell Peter you are his new assistant, or he will realize it after some initial confusion (he clearly has no idea his last assistant is not working for him anymore).

Peter will then have a unique comment about your potential proficiency in this role based on the responses you provided in the job application questionnaire in Red Tape Blues.

He tells you he's been waiting on a "personal shipment" and that the last assistant went to speak with the Governor Hurst about it beforehand. He asks you to inquire about the shipment with the Governor.

You can ask Peter for further details about himself, the shipment, your role in the company, and what happened to the last assistant.

Go to the UC Office of the Governor-General. Speak to the Governor and let him know you are here on behalf of Peter Brennan. Governor Hurst will note you are making quite the name for yourself. He is clearly keenly aware of your plot to plant yourself as Peter Brennan's assistant, although he doesn't know the reason why. He also seems to know of other activities you are involved in throughout Cydonia, calling you a go-getter, and stating he doesn't believe you are a troublemaker.

After you explain that you are here for Brennan's shipment, the Governor lets you know he is holding Peter's shipment due to an immense backlog of unpaid taxes, then provides his own "personal" request in order to release the shipment.

He wants his ship found and destroyed (by the Spacefarer). He is clearly sensitive to questions about why it is necessary to destroy the ship/why he doesn't employ UC SysDef instead.

He gives some vague responses when pressed, citing "insurance purposes" and "embarrassment for a sitting governor to lose their ship". He also says he doesn't want the retrieval of his ship to be "mired in their (SysDef's) process".

To proceed with the mission, you must agree to do this for him in return for Brennan's shipment. He gives you the ship's last known location and emphasizes the importance of keeping the details of this mission private.

After agreeing to find and destroy the ship, you can talk to Hurst again before you leave and ask how he knows it was stolen by the Crimson Fleet and press further as to why it is necessary to destroy the ship.
- When asking about the Crimson Fleet, he will explain he got a ransom note and after an "analysis" the Crimson Fleet was the best bet.
- When pressing further as to why you need to destroy the ship, he will push back on an explanation and subtly blackmail you to finish the mission quietly, threatening jail time & loss of your job due to your plot to plant yourself as Brennan's assistant.

Once at the ship's location you will be hailed. Here you have two options: You can reply (lie or tell the truth) or destroy the ship. If you agree to help/negotiate, you are given access to board the ship.

Once onboard the Governor's ship, it is clear the Pirates set a trap. The pirate leader will either pull a gun on you or let you know you are outnumbered (depending on if you lied or told the truth during the hail). He then gives you a choice: give them ship parts to repair the ship's busted grav drive and hand over your ship, or die. You have 20 seconds to respond before all 9 pirates onboard turn hostile.

Here you have the next choice: You can try persuading the pirate leader or attack. If you pass the persuasion check, he will offer you a deal: He has an incriminating letter from Governor Hurst (which holds tremendous value). He doesn't care what you do with it (use it as blackmail, rip it up, whatever). In return, the pirates get to keep the ship.

For the third time, you are faced with a choice: you can again decide to attack or agree to the deal. You can also ask the pirate leader for advice on how to use the incriminating letter.

He will explain a few options available to you: Blackmail the governor or report his corruption to the authorities in Cydonia. He explains that either choice makes no difference to him, both will be beneficial to the Crimson Fleet.

If you agree to taking the incriminating letter you will be given the dataslate Message from Hurst, and unlock interesting dialogue with the pirate leader onboard after the initial conversation ends. However, you are required to hand over the Governor's ship to the pirates with this agreement in exchange for the data slates and avoiding a conflict.

If you choose the option to attack, all pirates onboard will become hostile and you'll need to take them out to advance in the mission.

You'll find two data slates aboard the ship: Message from Hurst and This Is It. Collecting "This Is It" is optional, but explains how the woman onboard the ship passed away.

If you chose to destroy the ship before boarding it, you won't get any of the incriminating data slates on Hurst.

Return to Hurst in Cydonia (with or without the data slate(s)).

Speak with him. You have a few options, depending on if you destroyed the ship or not (described below).

Destroyed the ship[]

As your first option, you can tell Hurst you destroyed the ship. He will be happy and you receive Peter's shipment (and Peter's taxes will be deferred).

This option still allows you to turn Hurst in.

As your second option, you ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet. This will net you 5,000 credits. You can then tell Hurst you destroyed the ship. He will be happy and you receive Peter's shipment (and Peter's taxes will be deferred).

This option still allows you to turn Hurst in.

As a third option, you can ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet. This will net you 5,000 credits. You can then blackmail Hurst for an additional 12,000 credits.

You lose the ability to turn Hurst in with this choice.

Did not destroy the ship[]

As your first option, you can lie to Hurst, telling him you destroyed the ship. He will be happy and you receive Peter's shipment (and Peter's taxes will be deferred).

This option still allows you to turn Hurst in.As your second option, you ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet. This will net you 5,000 credits. You can then lie to Hurst, telling him you destroyed the ship.. He will be happy and you receive Peter's shipment (and Peter's taxes will be deferred).

This option still allows you to turn Hurst in. As a third option, you can ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet. This will net you 5,000 credits. You can then blackmail Hurst for an additional 12,000 credits.

You lose the ability to turn Hurst in with this choice.

As a fourth option, you can tell Hurst you found his ship but the pirates got away. Hurst will demand 10,000 credits from you for the inconvenience and then provide you with Peter's shipment.

You can still turn Hurst in if you choose this option.

At any point you can also turn Hurst's incriminating letter in to Commander Woodard. This takes away the ability to blackmail Hurst but allows you to proceed with the mission.

Now that you have the shipment, return to Brennan with it. In one dialogue option you can subtly let him know that you had to do shady stuff with Hurst to get it, and that he owes taxes, but Peter won't seem to care. He will take the package and give you the password to his personal computer.

You have to reply to his messages. Go to Peter's computer and unlock it with the password. In the "Requests" folder you'll find Trevor's request. Approve it and then the mission will complete, granting you a credit and XP reward.

Rewards[]

Levelled credits
100 XP
Varied Credit reward (depending on mission choices)
- If you destroyed the ship:
  - No credit reward (If you tell Hurst you destroyed the ship and don't blackmail him)
  - 5,000 credits if you ask Hurst for more money, then tell him you destroyed the ship
    - With this option, you retain the ability to turn Hurst in and still get a small credit reward
  - 12,000 credits if you blackmail Hurst with the incriminating message
  - 17,000 credits if you ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet, then blackmail Hurst
    - If, at any point, you give the incriminating data slate to Commander Vincent Woodard, you lose the ability to blackmail Hurst for 12,000 credits.
    - If, at any point, you choose to accept the blackmail from Hurst, you lose the ability to turn in the incriminating evidence to Commander Woodard.
- If you didn't destroy the ship:
  - 17,000 credits if you ask Hurst for more money to keep quiet, then blackmail Hurst
  - 12,000 credits if you blackmail Hurst with the incriminating message
  - 5,000 credits if you ask Hurst for more money, then lie to him, telling him you destroyed the ship
    - With this option, you retain the ability to turn Hurst in and still get a small credit reward
  - No credit reward (If you lie to Hurst telling him you destroyed the ship, and don't blackmail him)
  - (-)10,000 credits if you tell Hurst the pirates got away and don't blackmail him

Notes[]

Your answer to the 2 dialogue choices below prompt slightly different dialogue from Peter:
- "Sure, just point me at your computer and I'll get to your messages." OR
- "Fine, whatever. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."
  - If you choose the first option, he will request you to visit Governor Hurst in a more polite manner and tell you to "run off and get his shipment for him".
  - If you choose the second option, he will subtly threaten to fire you after you help him complete his urgent task and respond "off with you" when sending you to speak with Governor Hurst.
If you have a follower, they will have some unique dialogue when speaking with Governor Hurst.
Onboard Hurst's ship, you can get an insight into the morality of the Crimson Fleet pirates if you pass the speech check with the pirate leader and agree to his deal. Start another conversation with him for additional information into the Fleet, the corpse, and what happened to the ship.
[Bug] If you board the ship, collect both data slates THEN decide to destroy the ship, the slates (evidence) will drop again in the wreckage of Hurst's ship. You can collect it, but it does not give you duplicate data slates (this could potentially have been used to turn Hurst in and also get the blackmail reward, if you received duplicates).
- Update: Duplicate data slates are stored in your ship. It needs to be tested if you can have duplicate data slates and use those both to collect the blackmail reward and ALSO turn Hurst in.
[Bug] If you tell Hurst the pirates got away, a quest marker stays open to destroy Hurst's ship. However, when you try to travel and destroy the ship after paying Hurst, the ship is gone (even though the quest marker remains near Umbriel). It is not known if you can find and destroy the ship after paying Hurst for the inconvenience, or what path that will take you in the quest. We assume this is just a bug and that this portion of the quest should fail after paying Hurst the 10,000 credits.
It appears Governor Hurst's Ship is not claimable.