In Starfield’s “Red Tape Reclamation” quest, you’re met with one of many moral choices. Essentially, you’re tasked with helping Trevor and the Deimos mining operation again. This time, a wildcard named Hank has stolen precious mining gear. You can reclaim it by killing or persuading him, leading to a couple of different outcomes. So, should you kill Hank, turn him in, or lie for him in Starfield? What’s the best option?
Starfield: Should You Kill Hank, Turn Him in, or Lie for Him?
“Red Tape Reclamation” always ends by facing Hank as he tries to escape with the stolen equipment. He ends up pointing a gun at you as a last resort. Here, the outcome of the quest branches in two. You can either choose to face him and kill him or attempt to utilize Persuasion, leading to two additional outcomes.
Red Tape Reclamation Choice 1: Kill Hank
Combat is the simplest option and one that leads to the worst payout. You can kill him, and Trevor will reward you with a suboptimal amount of credits and XP. However, . Therefore, while this is the easiest way to finish the quest, it is considered by most to be the bad ending.
Red Tape Reclamation Choice 2: Turn Hank in (Persuasion)
If you opt for the Persuasion route, you have two additional options. The first is to convince Hank to turn himself in with the promise that you’ll arrange for Booth and Cydonia’s security to go easy on him. To attempt this, you must choose the social option that convinces Hank to put his gun down. It’s recommended to use one of the following to boost your Persuasion capabilities:
- Consumables that increase Persuasion, like Paramour or Hippolyta.
- Outfits like the Neocity Corpwear.
- The Wanted trait allows the player to have extra Persuasion options.
Succeeding will allow you to choose an additional option of convincing Hank to surrender the equipment and himself to Cydonia’s security. With this route, the quest ends by leading Hank to Booth and then continuing to Trevor for the reward. The prize here is drastically higher and includes some excellent gear. Furthermore, Hank ends up feeling optimistic about his future, at least if the player lets Booth know to go easy on him. All in all, this is a much better ending for the quest than simply killing Hank.
Red Tape Reclamation Choice 3: Lie for Hank
The second Persuasion ending (third choice) revolves around lying for Hank, weaving a tall tale about pirates. This is one of those silly endings to a quest where you’re left wondering why NPCs would believe you. Trevor does indeed end up trusting you and praising Hank, ignorant of his theft.
He’ll give you a similar reward as Choice 2 (Hank turning himself in) and be reasonably happier than if he were to end up in jail. That said, Hank will have a lot of storytelling to do by himself at a later date, leaving his fate ultimately unknown. This is a decent ending reward-wise and arguably the best outcome for Hank as he ends up avoiding prison time.
And that answers whether you should kill Hank, turn him in, or lie for him in Starfield. For more tips, tricks, and choice articles, check out our Starfield guides hub. There are plenty of mission walkthroughs, too, like those for the “Entangled” or “The Old Neighborhood” questlines.
