Neon City is Starfield’s seediest, most corrupt, and coolest city. The whole thing is just riddled with nefarious characters and activities that you are welcome to get yourself in the middle of.
The mission Fishy Business will allow you to get involved in some illegal smuggling, identity theft, and moon-shining. It’s a dream come true for those leaning on the other side of the law, but at the same time, you can’t just rush into a quest like this without a little heads-up.
How to start the mission Fishy Business in Starfield
Starting this mission is fairly simple, although there is one prerequisite mission called Loose Ends. This mission is started automatically upon entering Neon City for the first time as players witness the arrest of a man named Neshar. Loose Ends will prompt you to visit Neshar in jail, and doing so will get you right in the middle of some grade-A petty crime.
Neshar explains that he is working for a man named Yannick who is not to be trifled with, and that he owes Yannick a shipment of unknown contents. Being in jail obviously throws a wrench in Neshar’s ability to deliver that shipment, so he asks you to go to his Sleep Crate to retrieve and deliver it.
After acquiring the shipment from Neshar’s Sleep Crate, a mission marker will lead the player to Legrande’s Liquors, where Yannick can be found. Follow the dialogue prompts to deliver Neshar’s shipment, and afterward, Yannick will tell you that he has a “job opening” if you’re interested.
Yannick is worried that after Neshar’s arrest, his other employee Felix Sadler will be locked up next. Yannick believes Felix will not be so tight-lipped, so he wants you to “deal with him” before law enforcement can get to him. Once Felix is dealt with (killed or convinced to leave the planet), Loose Ends will be completed and Fishy Business will automatically start.
How to complete the Fishy Business mission in Starfield
Yannick will explain to the player that he needs somebody with a little bit of chemistry knowledge to infiltrate Xenofresh—the corporation that manufactures Aurora. Aurora is a highly addictive drug that is only legal in Neon City, and Yannick’s secret ingredient for his own “Blend,” a popular street drug in Neon City. See where this is going?
Yannick will give you a fake ID with the name Reilly Chernyshevsky, and tell you to apply for a job in Xenofresh Fisheries under the alias so you can establish a relationship with Neshar’s contact in the corporation and smuggle Aurora out of the factory. Before you can apply for the job, however, you’ll need to demonstrate basic chemistry knowledge.
If your character hasn’t researched any pharmaceutical recipes, don’t worry. Yannick will give you all of the materials necessary to complete the research for Performance Enhancement One (the drug Amp) and will instruct you to use the Research Station conveniently located right in the middle of his liquor store.
Infiltrate Xenofresh Fisheries
After researching Performance Enhancement One, or if you already had before starting the mission, you are ready to apply for a job at Xenofresh Fisheries. Follow the mission marker to the elevator outside, and take the elevator to the floor labeled Xenofresh HQ. Inside, speak with Amanda at the desk, who will direct you to the terminal on the wall to fill out a job application.
On the application, you will be asked what your greatest strength is, as well as your highest level of education. Just like in real life, your answer doesn’t matter! Return to Amanda when prompted, and she will tell you that Valentina Gurov would like to interview you in the Underbelly—the factory where Aurora is made. We’re in, baby.
Follow the marker to The Underbelly, where you will find Valentina in the middle of a phone call. Wait for her to finish the conversation, and afterward, she will inform you that you’re hired based on your knowledge of remedial chemistry and the fact that you seem to be living and breathing. Just like real life!
Manufacture Aurora
Now that you’ve got yourself a fancy new job, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Valentina will give you a Clean Suit (basically a hazmat suit), and the mission will not progress until you equip it.
Once you do, you will be prompted to follow Valentina down into the Aurora factory, where she will explain the totally reasonable job expectations and set you up on a test run of manufacturing Aurora.
First, approach the Ingredient Hopper, as instructed by the mission marker. The conveyor belt will distribute an ingredient container, from which you are supposed to only take the exact amount of ingredients you need to create the drug. Taking more won’t get you in trouble, but it will dock your Credits earned. The ingredients for Aurora are:
- One Chasmbass Oil
- One Stimulant
- One Benzene
- Two Hallucinogen
There’s a whole mess of other stuff in the ingredient container for some reason—taking any extra ingredients will reduce your wages on the job. Take the ingredients, and then approach the Pharmaceutical Station on your left. The only option for crafting will be Unprocessed Aurora. Make the drug, and then walk across the room to the Assembly Hopper, where you must deposit the Unprocessed Aurora by switching over to your own inventory and transferring the item.
I hope you enjoyed the process because it’s time to do that three more times. This time, you’ll be given a time limit—one minute per batch. There isn’t any reason it should take over 15 seconds to finish a batch.
If you meet the time quota and don’t take extra ingredients, you will make 900 Credits per batch. If you take extra ingredients or miss the time limit, you will only earn 400. After a mere three minutes on the clock, Valentina tells you it’s time for your break. If only THAT were just like real life.
Find Neshar’s Contact
Did you forget why you’re here? I almost did my first time around. Head to the break room and speak to Robie, Neshar’s contact. No matter what you say to her, she will be very quick to trust you and offer up all of her illicit secrets. No wonder Yannick is running out of employees.
Robie will give you coordinates to pick up a package of Aurora that’s been smuggled out of the Xenofresh factory, at which point it is time to return to Yannick in Legrande’s Liquors.
Return to Yannick
When you get back to Legrande’s Liquors, you will find Benjamin Bayu (the owner of Xenofresh and basically the owner of Neon City) and some Neon City Security Officers confronting Yannick—the two of you have been discovered. The dialogue options make it appear that you can sell Yannick out, but no matter what you say, the quest will finish in the same way.
Benjamin Bayu will decide that you and Yannick can continue manufacturing Blend, but that he is taking 20 percent of all sales. At this point, Fishy Business will be completed, and the mission Supply Line will automatically start.
