Starfield Friends Like These Walkthrough – Archival Codes and Ambassador Pistol

Friends Like These Mission Overview

Mission type: Faction mission, the fifth in the UC Vanguard questline
Quest giver: President Abello, in the MAST Cabinet Chambers
Locations: MAST, the Freestar Collective Embassy, the House Va’ruun Embassy and the Armistice Archives in New Atlantis on Jemison, Alpha Centauri
Objectives: Get the archival codes from the Freestar Collective and House Va’ruun, collect the UC code from Deputy MacIntyre, retrieve the Terrormorph data from the Armistice Archives and hand it to Hadrian
Prerequisites: Complete Eyewitness
Quest chain: Follows Eyewitness and unlocks The Devils You Know

If you want the Ambassador pistol, do not use the persuasion option the first time you talk to Radcliff. The pistol is only available on the blackmail route.

How to Start Friends Like These in Starfield

Friends Like These starts right after Eyewitness. Once you report to President Abello in the Cabinet Chambers, she directs you to Deputy MacIntyre in Interstellar Affairs, who helps you get access to the Armistice Archives.

1 – Speak to Deputy MacIntyre in Interstellar Affairs

Mission Text:
“President Abello has directed me to speak to Deputy MacIntyre over in Interstellar Affairs. It sounds like she’s going to help me get access to the Archives.”

Deputy MacIntyre is on the same floor as the Cabinet Chambers, so you do not need the elevator. Walk to her office on the other side of Interstellar Affairs and talk to her. Ask her about both ambassadors and she hands you a couple of key cards and your diplomatic ID.

2 – Acquire the Freestar Collective Archival Code from Radcliff

Mission Text:
“I’ve gotten the run down from Deputy MacIntyre on both ambassadors. She’s suggested I start by trying to negotiate with Ambassador Radcliff of the Freestar Collective – and dig up some dirt on her if she doesn’t agree.”

Take the elevator down to the lobby and follow the mission marker to the Freestar Collective Embassy. You have an appointment, so take the embassy elevator to meet Ambassador Radcliff. She does not hand over the code easily.

You have two ways to get it. If you pass the persuasion check, she agrees right away and you can follow her to the archival code machine. If you want the Ambassador pistol, skip the persuasion option and use the blackmail route below instead.

How to Blackmail Radcliff and Get the Ambassador Pistol

Instead of persuading Radcliff, talk to the embassy staffer Cameron Long. Lie to him about a job offer with the UC and he takes you somewhere private, where you can ask him how to get into the ambassador’s quarters. He gives you the Freestar Utility Access Key.

Follow the objective marker to the utility door and open it while no guard is watching. Climb the boxes into the utility corridor and drop down into Radcliff’s quarters. Activate the UC listening device hidden in a potted plant and listen to the recording.

Go back to Radcliff and confront her with what you heard. To get the unique Ambassador pistol, pick the dialogue “You call that a negotiation? Without even offering me a gift?”

Whichever route you take, follow Radcliff to the archival code machine to receive the Freestar Collective archival code.

3 – Acquire House Va’ruun’s Archival Code and Find the Embassy Entrance

Mission Text:
“I got the Freestar Archival Code! Now I just need the Va’ruun code. Time to speak to Ambassador Bal’mor.”

The House Va’ruun Embassy has no official entrance, because the building is in total lockdown. Use the entrance between House Va’ruun and GalBank instead. Go in and turn right to find the locked door to the Va’ruun Embassy Lobby. The key Deputy MacIntyre gave you earlier opens it.

The lobby is completely neglected, with dirt, plants everywhere and broken monitors. Take the elevator up to the House Va’ruun Embassy, where the blue mission marker points you. Plants have taken over this floor too, and you hear strange crunching and growling as you move through it.

4 – Approach the Intercom and Throw the Power Switch

Mission Text:
“A crackling voice just beckoned me towards the nearby intercom. I should go check it out.”

As soon as you enter the first room of the embassy, the intercom crackles. Answer it in the storage room at the back of the area. The voice asks you to throw the power switch right next to the intercom, so interact with it.

5 – Continue Deeper into the Va’ruun Embassy

Mission Text:
“Ah ha. There we go. The door into the embassy unlocked. The voice then suggested I continue to follow it deeper into the embassy… I think?”

The power switch restores power on this level. Before you move on, hack the lobby computer. It only has a Novice lock and lets you control the turrets in the next area. Then go through the only door leading deeper into the embassy.

6 – Follow the Intercom Voice Through the Embassy

Mission Text:
“It sounds like the voice has moved somewhere deeper inside the embassy. I think I’m supposed to follow.”

Once you are through the door, you hear the intercom again somewhere ahead. This part is even more overgrown, with strange plants and blue fog. As you follow the path, a broken robot drops down in front of you as a jump scare. Walk past it slowly, because an active robot is waiting just around the corner.

Keep following the blue mission marker past the bathroom and another robot. Enter the sleeping quarters with the weight lifting equipment and pick up Va’ruun Scripture 06 from the table.

The same room has the Living Quarters Local Systems Computer with an Advanced lock. Hacking it gives you Remote Robot Control, which turns the three robots ahead friendly. Leave through the other passage and follow the markers past the turrets. The next intercom is in the Conference Room, guarded by two turrets. Talk to the voice on the intercom, then throw the power switch next to it.

The Conference Room also has the Conference Room Security Computer with an Advanced lock, which controls the turrets outside. With the power back on, the door to a staircase in front of the conference room is open. Take it one floor up and go through the only door, where more hostiles are waiting.

You are now in an open office space with turrets and robots. Of the two doors, take the one with no lock to reach the next intercom and power switch. Like before, talk on the intercom first, then throw the power switch.

From the intercom room you can now reach the room with the Advanced lock. It holds the Common Room Security Computer, which controls the turrets outside, so you can skip it if you already destroyed them. Head back to the staircase and go down to the bottom floor to find the next intercom.

7 – Explore the Basement and Speak to Ambassador Bal’mor

Mission Text:
“I approached another intercom in the basement, but this one had a warning about \”guardians\”. I guess I should be cautious as I proceed inside.”

Go through the only door and defeat the two robots guarding the basement. The person behind the voice is standing on the other side of the room. It is Ambassador Qasrik Bal’mor. Speak to him in his room and he gives you House Va’ruun’s archival code.

8 – Return to Deputy MacIntyre for the UC Archival Code

Mission Text:
“I’ve got both codes in hand. Time to return to Deputy MacIntyre to collect the UC’s Archival Code.”

Before you leave, grab the storeroom keycard from the shelf above Bal’mor’s bed. The storeroom holds a Va’ruun spacesuit.

Then head back to MAST and talk to Deputy MacIntyre. She gives you the third code, the UC archival code.

9 – Report to the Armistice Archives

Mission Text:
“Deputy MacIntyre has given me the last code and directed me to the Archives – across the plaza from MAST.”

Leave MAST and cross the plaza to the Armistice Archives building, then take the elevator.

10 – Approach the Monitor Station and Deposit the Codes

Mission Text:
“The United Colonies Archival Monitor has asked me to approach her station.”

A woman is sitting behind thick glass at the monitor station. Get closer and she explains the procedure. Enter all three codes at the code input devices by following the blue mission markers to each one. The archive door then opens, and you can collect the data from storage unit 18.

11 – Return the Terrormorph Data to Hadrian

Mission Text:
“I’ve now got the data in hand. Time to return to Deputy MacIntyre.”

Return to Deputy MacIntyre at MAST, where Hadrian is waiting as well. Give Hadrian the Terrormorph data, then follow MacIntyre to the top balcony of the building.

12 – Speak to MacIntyre and Become a UC Citizen

Mission Text:
“Time to speak to Deputy MacIntyre about becoming a UC citizen! Though it sounds like there might be something else we need to discuss as well.”

Speak to Deputy MacIntyre on the MAST balcony. She makes you a full citizen of the United Colonies, which completes Friends Like These. The next UC Vanguard mission, The Devils You Know, starts right away.

Missables and Loot in Friends Like These

Ambassador pistol: Only available on the blackmail route. Skip the persuasion option, get the dirt on Radcliff through Cameron Long, then ask her for a gift (step 2)
Va’ruun Scripture 06: Skill magazine on the table in the sleeping quarters of the Va’ruun embassy (step 6)
Va’ruun spacesuit: In the embassy storeroom, with the keycard on the shelf above Ambassador Bal’mor’s bed (step 8)

Friends Like These Rewards and UC Citizenship

XP: 350
Credits: 5,000
UC Citizen ID: You become a citizen of the United Colonies
Property: As a citizen, you can buy the apartment in The Well from Zora at Aphelion Realty in New Atlantis
Ambassador pistol: Only if you blackmail Radcliff and ask her for a gift
Next mission: The Devils You Know

The Mercury Tower penthouse is not part of this reward. It comes later, once you finish the full UC Vanguard questline with A Legacy Forged.