Vladimir located the next Artifact for Constellation and this time Captain Petrov is holding onto it in his massive collection of rare Starfield items. Most of the time Petrov would be willing to sell, but he won’t sell the Artifact you need, and now you need to decide whether you kill or spare the captain.
Should You Spare or Kill Petrov in Starfield?
You should attack Petrov on his ship, but you should not kill him. When he denies selling you the Artifact, you can either pass a persuasion check or attack the captain on the spot. I wasn’t persuasive enough to pass my own dialogue check, so I had to use force and take a few shots at Petrov. But that isn’t the same as killing in this case.
If you attack Petrov after he denies access, you can still shoot him and deplete his health. He will fall to the ground after his health is gone and beg for mercy. At this point, you can choose to spare the captain for real or take his life. I do not recommend killing him here because you’ll be labeled a full-blown pirate and your party will dislike your decision.
Now you will need to fight through an entire heavily-armed ship after committing murder, and the rewards aren’t too lucrative. Some of the enemies have decent weapons, and Captain Petrov has a unique collection outfit, but none of it is worthwhile. I ran through the violent option once to see what happens, and it’s essentially a waste of time.
Just accept Petrov’s surrender and do not kill him. He easily hands over his museum vault key, and you can collect the Artifact to finish the quest in Starfield. Just try to pick up the item while sneaking because you can still get a bounty for your misdeed.
If you happen to get caught, check out our guide on how to clear a UC bounty in Starfield.
