How to Complete Surgical Strike in Starfield

Starfield’s faction missions aren’t just a great source of experience, they’re also well-designed and often feel like DLCs of their own. The Crimson Fleet mission line, for example, is incredibly strong and is some of the best content this game has to offer. While you progress through the Freestar Collective mission line, you’ll be tasked with tracking down Maya Cruz, a member of the First Cavalry who might be able to give you the information you need. Here’s how to complete the Surgical Strike mission in Starfield.

Starfield Surgical Strike Walkthrough

The Surgical Strike mission opens up after completing the mission Shadows in Neon for the Freestart Collective. This branches out into two missions which you can complete in whichever order you want. While On the Run tasks you with tracking down Marco Graziani, Surgical Strike has you finding Maya.

Go to the Clinic and Talk to Ben Armistead

Seeing as Maya apparently had emergency surgery, your first lead is the Clinic. It can be found orbiting around the gas giant Deepala in the Narion system. Once you’re on board, find Ranger Ben Armistead in the Ranger Office. He’ll have already been briefed about what’s happened so far in the investigation and promises to help you.

Follow Ben and Speak to Ari Miller

Follow Ben out of the Ranger Office and down the hall, to where you’ll meet Ari Miller. Apparently the Clinic is running into some technical issues with the computers, and Maya happens to be an expert tech. Apparently, he hasn’t heard of anyone going by the name that’s come into the Clinic, but can narrow it down through some details. We know she was a patient in need of long-term care, so he can check his terminal for patients who fit that description.

Follow Ari and Speak With Him Further

He’ll take you to the terminal, where he’ll unfortunately discover there’s no Maya Cruz. However, there are two female patients staying at the clinic; two women named Candace and Jane.

[Optional] Search for the Source of the System Disruption

If you have a point in Security, Ari can give you access to the Freestar Rangers terminal in the Clinic. Once you’re on it, click on Admin Access followed by Active Processes. This will give you information about an unknown process named Disruptor Mk4 that was installed by a woman named Catalina Rivera in the VIP Section.

If you’ve gone with this route, feel free to skip the next section.

Talk to Jane Nakamori and Candace Doolin

If you didn’t complete the Optional objective, then you’ll need to speak to both patients and see if either is Maya Cruz. Speaking to Jane will reveal she’s here because her life support systems were in danger. If you persuade her, she’ll tell you that she’s also an information broker. Either take the credits she gives you, or use a point in the Theft skill to take double the base 2,000 Credits.

Speaking with Candace, you’ll quickly learn that speaking with her was a mistake and that you should get the conversation over with as quickly as possible. Once that three-hour-long conversation is done, head back to Ari Miller. He’ll have information on a woman named Catalina Rivera who was rushed into surgery for an emergency procedure.

Get Into the VIP Wing

To get access to the VIP Wing, you have two options. You can either persuade a doctor named Titus to let you into the wing, or you can hack a nearby safe to get a keycard. Feel free to do whichever you want, especially since the Safe only requires Novice-level hacking to crack.

Once you’re in, you’ll find a doctor’s dead body along with a turret that’s turned on you. Take it down, then enter Catalina’s room. Not only are there mines that you should walk out for, but the slate on the bedside table reveals she was in the clinic. The slate suggested that she go to her secret base on Sakharov, so that’s your next target.

Head to Sakharov and Investigate Maya’s Secret Asteroid Base

Head to the marked station in the Sakharov system and dock with Eklund Site CL25, Maya’s secret base, and an abandoned asteroid mine. As you progress through the base, you’ll come across an Emergency Cuttable Wall that you’ll need to break down to proceed. You can use either your Cutter, a gun, or a melee weapon to break the four yellow pins and break the wall down.

Continue making your way through the mine, heading deeper and deeper while dealing with any Shardhoppers or robots that want you dead. At the bottom of the first elevator you’ll come across a secure door that seemingly can’t be opened. Head up the nearby ramp to a small outpost, then hack the computer to open the door yourself.

Up ahead will be some tight corridors, turrets, and plenty of Shardhoppers, so position yourself carefully so as to not die and be sent back to your last save. You’ll be sent down yet another elevator, where there’ll be a massive firefight with turrets and plenty of robots. Carefully position yourself here and do what you can to make your way up the giant central formation.

Talk to Maya Cruz

At the top will be one last cuttable wall, before having to fight with Maya. Once you take her down, you can speak with her. She apparently only has a few weeks left to live and wants to be allowed to die on her own terms. Here you can either ask her for information or kill her. Either way, you’ll get another Encrypted Slate. Take the elevator on the other side of her room back to the bottom floor to open an easy way out of the asteroid mine. Leave the mine, then take that Slate to Alex Shadid in Akila City to finish the mission.

If you’re looking for help with some other missions, check out our guide on how to complete Sabotage in Starfield.