Search and Seizure is a side quest you can complete for the United Colonies on New Atlantis in Starfield. In this quest, you need to complete an investigate and nail down the ship that has been smuggling contraband through the New Atlantis spaceport.
Though Search and Seizure is a fairly straightforward mission, there is a way to fail it if you aren’t paying close enough attention. You also have the option to fabricate your report and sweep away the potential contraband. If you want to know all your options before completing this quest in Starfield, here’s what you should know.
How to start Search and Seizure in Starfield
Start Search and Seizure by speaking to Sergeant Yumi in the UC Security Office. There is one restriction you need to pass in order to start this quest: Sergeant Yumi will only give out the Search and Seizure quest after you have completed the Eyewitness quest as part of the UC Vanguard faction quest chain.
This is a expansive quest chain that allows you to join the UC Vanguard. After you defend the New Atlantis spaceport from a Terrormorph attack, which occurs near the midway point of the faction quest chain, then you can collect this side quest. There are plenty of other advantages that come with joining the Vanguard aside from the Search and Seizure quest, so I highly recommend you join the faction anyway.
Investigate the Space Port Workers
Once you speak with Sergeant Yumi, you are sent to speak with two space port workers about potentially suspicious activity. The first will claim not to have seen anything, and though you can press this worker the conversation will eventually end with no leads.
The second space port worker gives you vital information you need to remember for the future. The workers states he doesn’t remember the suspicious ship, but that its ID number was UC-576B.
After you speak with the space port workers, you need to make your way to the Aegis office of the MAST building. You can do this by taking the NAT to the MAST District and using the elevator in the NAT Station after you arrive.
Speak with Plato to obtain a slate with the name “Potential Smuggler Ships,” which you can find under the new inventory or notes part of your inventory. Here, you will see four different ships with various names, captains, and ID numbers.
Which ship is carrying the contraband in Search and Seizure?
The ship carrying the alleged contraband in the Search and Seizure mission in Starfield is the Anansi, captained by Malawi Ndiaye. There’s a couple different you could come to this conclusion. First, the ship ID matches with the ID given by the space port worker. Second, the space port worker also mentioned he thought something might be hidden in a potato shipment, which is listed as the Anasi’s primary cargo.
Return to Sergeant Yumi at the UC Security Office and ensure you give him the correct ship name. If you give him any of the other three ship names aside from the Anansi, then the quest will end early and your reward is forfeit.
Upon relying the Anansi’s suspicious activity, Yumi orders you to search the ship at Landing Pad B. From here, you can choose to either obtain the contraband or take a bribe from Malawi Nidaye.
Should you take Malawi’s bribe or obtain the contraband?
I highly recommend you take the contraband instead of trying to bargain with the smugglers. The captain will offer you 2,500 Credits to report no smuggling activity to Yumi, but this pales in comparison to your potential reward for turning in the contraband.
If you elect to take the contraband you will need to kill Malawi and her crew, however this shouldn’t be too hard as there are only three people aboard the entire vessel. Once the three smugglers have been dealt with, you can loot the entire ship without consequence. Whenever you return to Yumi with the contraband, you will get even more Credits on top of your loot from the ship.
You can still try to lie and keep the contraband to yourself, but there’s no real value. The contraband is not especially useful and you will run the risk of getting caught and imprisoned.
