Starfield Back to Vectera – Power Cells and Rescue Barrett

Back to Vectera Mission Overview

Mission type: Main Story mission
Quest giver: Sarah Morgan at the Lodge, New Atlantis
Location: Vectera in the Narion system, a randomly named crash site planet, Bessel III in the Bessel system, then the Lodge on Jemison
Starts from: Automatically, the moment you finish The Old Neighborhood
Objectives: Return to Vectera, fix the comms computer, find Heller at the crash site, then rescue Barrett from the Crimson Fleet on Bessel III
Rewards: 350 XP and credits, identical for every rescue route
Prerequisites: The Old Neighborhood must be completed first
Quest chain: Unlocks alongside Into the Unknown and The Empty Nest, and leads into All That Money Can Buy

The crash site planet is randomly named. This guide lands on Navacci in the Valo system, but other playthroughs get Prax, Virum, Danra, Polvo, Gryphus or Hillex. The name changes, the objectives do not, so set a course for whatever planet your mission log shows.

You need three Emergency Power Cells to restore the comms computer and only two of them are in the comms building. The third is across the landing pad in the other building, which is where most players get stuck.

You can skip the whole comms sequence. Fast travel to the Bessel system, land on Bessel III and go straight to the Crimson Fleet outpost to rescue Barrett. You lose the Lin and Heller recruit options if you do.

Bessel III is written as Bessel III-b on some star maps. Same planet, same outpost.

1 – Return to Vectera

Mission Text:
“Argos Extractors is packing up operations on Vectera, but there’s no word about Barrett. I need to go there and find out what happened.”

Vectera is a moon orbiting the gas giant Anselon in the Narion system. On the star map, Narion sits north of Alpha Centauri and is the first system you ever visited, so it is already charted. Fly there and land at the Argos Extractors Mining Outpost.

If you cannot find Narion, open the star map, zoom out and look north east of Sol. The whole system is low level, so you can travel there safely at any point in the main story.

2 – Talk to Lin

Mission Text:
“Argos Extractors is packing up operations on Vectera, but there’s no word about Barrett. I need to go there and find out what happened.”

Supervisor Lin is waiting at the landing site. She tells you the Crimson Fleet hit the outpost again and took both Barrett and Heller, and that the pirates wrecked the comms computer on the way out.

Grab the Emergency Power Cell lying beside the destroyed mech next to her before you move on. It counts towards the three you need inside.

3 – Fix the Comms Computer

Mission Text:
“Barrett is gone, captured by pirates. My only hope is that there might be some clue on where they went on the broken computer in the comms building.”

Enter the nearby building. You can open the door with the switch in front of it, and there is another switch on the inside.

Inside, look for Emergency Power Cells and pick up every one you see. There is one in a rack in the first room after the entrance hall.

There is a second Emergency Power Cell in the office just left of that rack, before the security door to the next area. Pick up the Vectera Control Room Key on the desk inside the keycard display while you are in there.

Now go through the big orange door to the next area of the building.

On the other side is the locked computer room. The Vectera Control Room Key opens it, or you can pick the lock instead since it is only a Novice lock. To the right of the door are three slots for the Emergency Power Cells. Put in the two you already have.

Where is the third power cell? It is not in this building. Leave the comms building, cross to the building on the other side of the outpost and take the cell from in there. There is a fourth spare in one of the lockers if you miss one. You can also skip the third cell entirely by using the Security skill on the computer.

With all three cells slotted, the console powers up. Open the Sensory Array and play the Emergency Transmission. It is Barrett, recording on the way out, and it carries the location data Lin needs.

4 – Return to Lin

Mission Text:
“I found a transmission from Barrett! Lin needs to hear about this.”

Go back outside and talk to Lin. She pulls the coordinates out of the audio and points you at a planet in the next system over.

She also asks for a ride off Vectera, which lets you recruit her. Lin is a crew member rather than a full companion, so she cannot follow you around, but she brings Demolitions and Outpost Management if you plan to build outposts later. Turning her down here does not lock you out permanently.

5 – Travel to the Crash Site Planet

Mission Text:
“I have the coordinates that should take me to the pirate ship that captured Barrett and Heller.”

This guide lands on Navacci in the Valo system, next door to Narion. Your log may name a different planet, so follow the mission marker rather than the name in this heading.

6 – Find Barrett and Heller

Mission Text:
“I have the coordinates that should take me to the pirate ship that captured Barrett and Heller.”

Land at the Crashed Ship site and follow the wreckage and the mission marker across the surface. Barrett is not here. The ship went down during the escape and only one of them is still at the site.

7 – Talk to Heller

Mission Text:
“I have the coordinates that should take me to the pirate ship that captured Barrett and Heller.”

Heller is on the ground near the wreck, banged up but alive. He explains how the crash happened and that the Crimson Fleet came back for Barrett afterwards, then hands over the second transmission.

You can recruit Heller once the conversation ends. He is another crew member, not a companion, and he specialises in Geology and Outpost Engineering. There is no downside to taking him, and it reunites him with Lin if you picked her up.

8 – Listen to Emergency Transmission 02

Mission Text:
“Heller survived, but Berrett has been captured by the Crimson Fleet again. I need to find him.”

This one confuses a lot of people because nothing happens automatically. Open your inventory, switch to the Notes tab and select Emergency Transmission 02, then play it.

The recording is Barrett again, and playing it is what converts the coordinates into a mission marker. The objective will not clear until you actually listen to it, so if the quest looks stuck here, the transmission is still sitting unplayed in Notes.

Once it finishes, the marker updates to the Bessel system.

9 – Travel to Bessel III

Mission Text:
“Heller survived, but Berrett has been captured by the Crimson Fleet again. I need to find him.”

The Bessel system is north west of your current position, north of Alpha Centauri and Sol. Set a course and land on Bessel III, listed as Bessel III-b on some maps, at the site called Ransacked Research Outpost.

10 – Rescue Barrett

Mission Text:
“Heller survived, but Berrett has been captured by the Crimson Fleet again. I need to find him.”

Land at the Ransacked Research Outpost. Before you go after Barrett, pick up the Outpost Key on the very top terrace of the centre building.

The Outpost Key opens the building with the white door.

Enter the underground compound through the green door at ground level and clear the pirates inside. Follow the corridor until you reach Barrett sitting with Crimson Fleet captain Matsura the Grim.

Matsura is neutral when you walk in, so you get a choice rather than a firefight. You can persuade him to release Barrett, pay the ransom yourself, let Sarah Morgan pay it out of Constellation kidnapping insurance if she is your active companion, or attack. The reward is identical either way, so bringing Sarah is the cheapest route: she covers the ransom, you skip the speech check, and Matsura calls the rest of the Fleet off Barrett. If a persuasion attempt fails, the room turns hostile and you fight anyway.

11 – Return to the Lodge

Mission Text:
“Barrett is free. I should take him back to the Lodge.”

Travel back to the Lodge at New Atlantis and go into the Library. Barrett talks you through what happened, and the mission ends there.

Barrett joins as a full companion once the conversation closes, not just a crew member, so he can travel with you and has his own affinity and dialogue. Completing this also opens up All That Money Can Buy, and Into the Unknown and The Empty Nest are still waiting if you have not done them yet.