Starfield Top Secrets Walkthrough – Datura Ship and Ember

How to Start the Mission

Top Secrets unlocks the moment you hand the stolen prototype schematics to Imogene at Ryujin Tower in Neon at the end of Maintaining the Edge. She tells you that her boss, Ularu Chen, wants to see you, and your building privileges update so the lift will now take you to the Executive Level.

Before you head up, stop by Alexis Pryce’s office and grab the Neon Nights 01 skill magazine from the table to the right of the expert-locked safe. It is easy to miss once the mission pushes you upstairs.

1 – Meet Ularu Chen

Mission Text:
“Imogene said her boss, Ularu Chen, would like to see me about my next assignment. I need to report to her office on the Executive Floor of Ryujin Tower and find out the details.”

Take the lift in the Ryujin Tower lobby and select the Executive Level, which only appears now that your clearance has been raised. Ularu Chen’s office is at the top of the short staircase past the reception desk.each the Executive Offices with the elevator. Head up there to meet Ularu Chen.

2 – Talk to Maeve

Mission Text:
“On my way to Ularu Chen’s office, a woman asked me if she can help me. I should talk to her and let her know I’m here to see Ularu.”

Maeve is the receptionist guarding the executive floor. Talk to her and tell her you have an appointment. She will let you through once Ularu is free.

3 – Wait for Ularu Chen

Mission Text:
“Ularu Chen is wrapping up a meeting. I should wait until she’s finished before approaching her.”

Ularu is still in a meeting with Genevieve, so you need to wait a moment. Stand next to Imogene by the office door and you can eavesdrop on the conversation while the timer runs down. Nobody objects to you standing there.

4 – Meet Ularu Chen

Mission Text:
“Ularu Chen wrapped up her meeting so I am finally free to talk to her and find out what she has planned for me.”

Head into the office and speak to Ularu. She briefs you on an informant named Simon Ryczek who has information about a deal between Infinity LTD and Deimos Staryards Inc. She hands you 1,000 credits for expenses and an untraceable storage slate, and Imogene gives you the passphrase you need to make contact.

Note that she makes it clear she does not want to lose Simon as an informant. That matters later.

5 – Travel to Cydonia on Mars

Mission Text:
“I need to travel to Cydonia on Mars in the Sol system. From there, I need to find one of Ularu’s contacts, Simon Ryczek, and negotiate a deal for the information he has.”

Return to your ship and set course for Cydonia on Mars in the Sol system. Grav jump there and dock at the landing pad.

6 – Rendezvous with Simon Ryczek

Mission Text:
“I need to travel to Cydonia on Mars in the Sol system. From there, I need to find one of Ularu’s contacts, Simon Ryczek, and negotiate a deal for the information he has.”

Enter Cydonia and follow the mission marker. From the entrance, keep left and go up the stairs. Simon is leaning against the railing on the upper level.

Open the conversation with the passphrase “Razor derby is the only real sport” so he knows Ularu sent you. He then names his price, and you get three ways to pay it:

Persuade him. Costs nothing, but ends this branch of the mission early.
Pay him off. Runs to roughly 10,000 credits, and Ryujin only fronted you 1,000, so the rest comes out of your own pocket.
Select “Tell me about this side job”. Sends you after a mercenary named Malai Liskova

The side job is the only option that leads to the Ember pistol and the Datura. Take it. If you persuade or pay, skip straight to Step 9.

Know the trade-off before you decide. If you kill Simon, pay him off, or later spare Malai, you lose his support during the Sabotage mission further along the Ryujin questline, where he would otherwise offer you a way to shut down the building heating system.

7 – Find the Datura in Saturn’s Orbit

Mission Text:
“Simon offered a side job in exchange for the information he has: to kill a woman named Malai Liskova and bring her gun back as proof. Her ship, the Datura, is in orbit around Saturn.”

Fly back up and set course for Saturn. The Datura hails you as soon as you arrive and Malai opens a conversation.

You have two paths here, and this is the decision that determines whether you keep the ship.

Talk her down and dock peacefully. You get the Ember pistol, Malai lives, and Simon keeps his usefulness for the Sabotage mission.
Attack the Datura outright. If you want the ship, disable the engines with an advanced targeting system rather than destroying the vessel, then board it.

Choose the peaceful option for now, because you can still change your mind once you are aboard.

8 – Dock with the Datura, Get the Gun

Mission Text:
“Malai agreed to hand over her gun, Ember. I need to board her ship, the Datura, in order to get it.”

Close to within 500 metres and dock. Follow the marker inside to Malai, who then tells you she has no intention of handing anything over.

To get the gun without a fight, persuade her. Ember is a unique variant of the Solstice laser pistol, it ships with six mods already installed and has room for a seventh, and its stats scale to your level at the moment you finish the mission.

To keep the Datura as well, you have to kill her. Once she is down, sit in the pilot seat and grav jump to any planet, then register the ship with a Ship Services Technician, since it counts as stolen until you do. The Datura is a Class A Raptor with a crew capacity of four and a 17 light year grav jump range, valued at around 66,654 credits.

Both the Ember and the Datura are missable. If you leave this system without them, they are gone for the rest of the playthrough.

9 – Return to Simon on Cydonia

Mission Text:
“Now that I have Malai Liskova’s gun, Ember, I can give it to Simon in Cydonia in exchange for the information he has on Project Dominion.

Return to Simon in Cydonia and hand over the gun. He gives you two items in exchange:
Audio: Standley McMillan
File: Stanley McMillan

Open your inventory, go to Notes, and interact with both. You have to listen to the audio and read the file before the mission will let you continue.

Some players report that Ember reverts to a standard Solstice model after Simon hands it back. If that happens, reload an earlier save from before the handover.

10 – Retrieve the Project Dominion Files

Mission Text:
“I need to get my hands on Project Dominion. I have to find a way to access Stanley McMillan’s computer in the Deimos Staryards Corporate office and download the files to the untraceable storage slate.”

Make sure you have opened both files first, then follow the marker to the Deimos Staryards corporate office on the top floor of Cydonia.

Stanley McMillan is sitting at his computer. Talk to him, pick the “Security” line, and tell him the check will only take fifteen minutes or so. He walks away and leaves the terminal free.

Open his computer and find the locked “Project Dominion” entry in one of the folders. It is a Novice lock, so one digipick and a straightforward hack gets you in. Download the files to your storage slate.

If the quest marker vanishes during this step, keep going anyway. It usually returns as soon as the next objective triggers.

11 – Return to Ularu at Ryujin Tower

Mission Text:
“I’ve obtained the data on Project Dominion. I need to return to Ularu Chen at Ryujin Tower in Neon to give her the information.”

Grav jump back to Neon and take the lift to the Executive Level. Hand Ularu the data slate. She decrypts it and realises Project Dominion is a Ryujin project that Infinity LTD stole.

12 – Follow Ularu

Mission Text:
“Ularu was shocked to learn that Infinity LTD has information on Project Dominion. I need to follow her to Masako’s office where she’ll deliver the information.

Follow Ularu across the reception area to Masako Imada’s office. The conversation with Masako starts automatically and reveals that someone inside Ryujin with high-level clearance is leaking to Infinity LTD. That mole is the thread the questline picks up next.

Completing the conversation ends the mission and unlocks Background Checks.

Top Secrets Rewards

Finishing Top Secrets gives you XP, 10,000 credits, ammunition and a Reconstim consumable, plus the next mission in the questline.

If you took the side job, you also walk away with the Ember laser pistol. If you killed Malai aboard her ship, you keep the Datura as a free ship on top of that.

Top Secrets Bugs and Fixes

Ularu will not talk to you at the start of the mission. The most common Top Secrets bug, with no confirmed fix. Wait 24 in-game hours, leave the building and return, or reload a save from before you spoke to Imogene.

The quest marker disappears while retrieving the Project Dominion files. Harmless. Hack the file anyway and the marker returns at the next objective.

Ember turns into a Solstice after Simon hands it back. Reload before the handover, or keep a duplicate if you have one.

Background Checks does not start after Top Secrets ends. Usually caused by killing Ryujin guards earlier in the questline. Reload an older save if you want the faction line to continue.