The Rough Landings miscellaneous mission is about a man named Marco who is a survivor of Shaw Gang’s attack on Akila City in Starfield.
Being his savior once in GalBank, he asks for help again to save his family from starvation. With the plea of a desperate man wanting to provide for his family, you will be taking to galaxies to deliver his request.
It is a mission with little combat but many different routes that you can take to close the chapter. Let’s look into how you can unlock and complete the Rough Landings in Starfield.
How to unlock the Rough Landings mission
To unlock the Rough Landings side mission, you need to complete the Job Gone Wrong and resolve the GalBank conflict to free the hostages in Starfield.
Unlocking Rough Landings will also, additionally, unlock The Empty Nest mission for companion Sam and grant you the opportunity to become a Freestar Collective Ranger.
How to complete Rough Landings in Starfield
Make your way to Akila City in the Cheyenne System and take the stairs on the left path after entering the city gates. You need to go straight towards Sinclair’s and then take a right from its base to find Marko Jensen near on the shelters.
Marko is one of the surviving hostages from the Shaw Gang’s attack on the GalBank. He shares that his family migrated from Cydonia for a better life and despite being in a loving community, he is unable to support himself financially.
Offer to help him and he shares that his wife’s cousin Milena Axelrod has freights that will pass by soon. She can help him get a legal job so he requests you to speak on his behalf since he does not have a spaceship of his own.
In Rough Landings, Milena’s ship will be orbiting a random planet within the Cheyenne Star system in Starfield. For us, she was orbiting Navaha.
Speak with Milena
Go back to your ship, set a course towards the marker, and get your weapons ready as you are about to engage with Crimson Fleet ships. Once you take out the enemies, you will be allowed to board onto Dalliance to speak with Milena.
She will agree to Marko’s request but there is a small hitch. Her recent problems with Akila City have limited her business there. If you can smooth out the misunderstanding, her business resumes and Marko and Simone get their jobs there.
There are two ways to clear her name by either speaking to a fixer, Tom Starret of Trade Authority, or with the Mayor of Akila City, Cartwright.
Should you speak with Tom or Cartwright?
There are many available options that you can take to deal with Milena’s situation during the Rough Landings mission in Starfield.
If you have farmed enough Credits to spare then you can go with Tom’s route for 1000 Credits or pay the bounty to Cartwright for 5000 Credits to complete the mission.
If you don’t want to spend cash then there is an option to persuade the Mayor and get the job done without having to pay any money.
We, however, recommend going with the last route to complete Rough Lands in Starfield. The best way to clear Milena’s name is to vouch for her with Cartwright. This option will only be available if you are doing the Freestar Collective questline as one of their recruited rangers.
We suggest vouching for her if you are a Freestar Ranger and if not go with persuading the Mayor since all options lead to the same outcome, there is no need to spend some cash.
Choice 1: Speak with Tom Starret
If you choose to speak with Tom Starret during the Rough Landings mission then head back to Akila City in Starfield.
From the city gate, take a right from the Rock and head up the stairs on the right, take the first right, use the stairs to head all the way down and you will find Tom Starret leaning on the side of a building.
Tell him about Milena and he tells you that she is blacklisted with a bounty on her head. Other captains associated with the Trade Authority have entry permissions in the form of credentials.
If you are able to forge one under a false name for Milena then she will be able to enter and exit the city without getting detected. However, you will have to pay a 1000 Credits non-negotiable fee to obtain them from Tom.
Choice 2: Speak with Mayor Cartwright
If you choose to speak with Mayor Cartwright during the Rough Landings mission then get back in your ship and take a trip to Akila City in Starfield.
From the city gate, head straight to The Rock and take a right to head up the stairs. Go all the way up and you will find Elias Cartwright in the building on the right whistling a tune.
He is welcoming and willing to share information regarding the city if you like some lore. Tell him that you are here to get Milena off the blacklist and he will have his reservations, rightfully so considering she punched him in the face and was caught smuggling.
You can either pay her bounty of 5,000 Credits or persuade him to let her back without any money involved.
If you choose to persuade Cartwright in Rough Landings then you will have to pass an 8-bar persuasion check. Start off by selecting the dialogue with [persuade] prompt, select the +4 orange option, then ask him what the problem is for another +3 points, and end it with +3 Orange or +5 Red if you have invested in Persuasion Skill.
If you are a Freestar Ranger in Starfield, you can actually speed up the process with Mayor Cartwright during the Rough Landings. Tell him that you will vouch for Milena as a Freestar Ranger and he will be surprised that you are willing to go that far for her.
You can choose either way and the Mayor will wish you to not regret your trust and allow Milena back into the city.
Report back to Marko
After you are done with clearing Milena’s name, go back to speak with Marko. He will inform you that he was offered to be the Official Importer and can’t wait to share the good news with his wife Simone.
By bringing back hope to this small family, the Rough Landings side mission will be completed in Starfield.
Starfield – Rough Landings mission rewards
For successful completion of the Rough Landings miscellaneous mission, you will be rewarded with 75 XP and Credits from 7500 to 9000 depending on your Starfield character level.
