Matters of the Hart is one of the four companion quests that you need to complete in Starfield to romance them. In this case, the ex-Freestar Ranger and a devoted father, Sam Coe. Companion quests only appear once you recruit a companion and progress their relationship up to a certain point. Completing these quests unlocks the romance option.
Matters of the Hart in Starfield will make you travel across the galaxy to save Sam Coe’s ex-wife Lillian Hart and fight space pirates known as Syndicate, all in the name of love. In this guide, we will be tackling all the quest markers in order and will also help you decide the outcome near the very end.
How to complete Starfield Matters of the Hart quest
Once you reach a specific level of relationship with Sam Coe, he will invite you over for a chat. At this point, his daughter Cora will ask your help to locate her mother. She is in contact with her mother, Lillian Hart, but Lillian stopped responding to her letters. Once you accept Cora’s request, Matters of the Hart quest will automatically begin in Starfield and Sam will be locked in as non-replaceable companion.
Find Lillian Hart
The first step in the Matters of the Hart quest involves finding Lillian Hart. She is a Freestar Ranger, so you need to travel to Neon City on Volii Alpha planet inside the Volii star system. Once you reach the planet, go to Freestar Ranger’s office in the Neon core and talk to Jaylen Pryce on the very first counter. He will refuse to help you because of Sam Coe’s presence. You have two options here.
- If you have already joined Freestar Ranger faction, simply use your ranger card to get free access to Lillian’s office.
- Use persuasion on Pryce to make him allow you to investigate Lillian’s office.
Follow the marker to enter Lillian’s office and read the “Confidential” file present on her desk. This file will give you another location, Room # 305 at Ryujin Apartments. You can also join Ryujin Industries faction to make the next section a bit easier.
Once again follow the marker to take the elevator. It will automatically take you to the Ryujin Complex. To progress Matters of the Hart quest in Starfield, you need to search room # 305. However, the room is closed. At this point, Cora will show her lockpick skills and open the door for you.
Follow the blood trail and search the informant’s body. Follow the marker to find another file. It will give you another location “Victor Compound” on McClure II planet.
Rescue Lillian Hart
Talk to Sam and Cora once more and decide to travel to Victor Compound together. McClure star system is far away, and you need to make several grav jumps to reach there. You can also upgrade your gravity drive to cover this distance in one go. Talk to Sam once more and once he has established a connection with his ex-wife, proceed forward towards the marker.
Victor compound is overrun with syndicate goons and automated turrets on its way. Once you defeat all of them, follow the marker to enter the compound. The enemies here are a bit more difficult but still manageable. You can always invest in Combat and Survival skills from skill tree to get an upper hand against the enemies.
Once you defeat all the Syndicate enemies, travel to the marker and find Lillian Hart to progress the Matters of the Hart quest in Starfield. Take Lillian back to your ship and talk to her to start the next phase of the quest.
Defeat Syndicate and its leaders
Apparently, Lillian is not contended with her rescue alone. She wants to destroy the Syndicate and its leaders for killing her informant. Accept her request and she will tell you of a space freighter known as Dumas with coordinates to a Syndicate’s cache.
Travel to Rasalhague II planet to locate Dumas. The next battle sequence is extremely difficult, and I suggest that you have the proper equipment and medical kits to survive the onslaught.
Lock on to Dumas and take it out. Once you collect the Duma’s parts, you will automatically obtain the coordinates to the cache. Talk to Lillian once more and travel to Andromas III planet on Andromas star system. Open the planet’s map and travel to “Valerie’s Cache” location.
Once you reach the marked location, you will be ambushed by waves of syndicate enemies. They are around level 25 and can pose a serious threat. Make sure to use everything in your arsenal to take the enemies and their leader Valerie. Talk to Lillian once more and this will lead you to the final sequence of the Matters of the Hart quest in Starfield.
Become a peace broker between Sam and Lillian and help them overcome their issues. Make sure to not side with anyone (always select the obvious first dialogue choices) and let things settle on a harmonious note. Once you are done, Sam will travel back to Akila city. You can now talk to Sam to complete the romance quest and eventually lead to marriage.
