Hostile Intelligence is the second to last mission in the UC Vanguard questline in Starfield but is the conclusion to the action for all intents and purposes. This is one of the longest missions in all of Starfield, and it gives you tons of opportunities to make different decisions that affect the endgame of the whole Vanguard questline.
Among the excitement of space battles and military espionage, you’ll be required to make critical decisions that change the outcome of the mission as a whole, plus a variety of other options resulting from the conclusion of the Hostile Intelligence mission.
Spoilers ahead!
Hostile Intelligence mission summary in Starfield
In the Hostile Intelligence mission in Starfield, players travel to the planet Londinion alongside Hadrian, Percival, and Kaiser to collect Terrormorph samples and end the alien threat once and for all. On the planet, you’ll have to fight your way through several different challenging Terrormorph boss fights, learn where Terrormorphs come from, decide on a method to end the threat and decide whether you want to tell Hadrian that her father, Vae Victis, is alive.
The mission begins at the Red Devil HQ on Mars, but primarily takes place in Londinion—the city that had its spaceport blown up by Vae Victis after it was completely overrun by Terrormorphs.
Follow Hadrian
This is your first objective in Hostile Intelligence. In Red Devil HQ, players must speak with Hadrian, who will explain that there are two potential paths to end the Terrormorph threat. Either Aceles, a natural predator for Terrormorphs, can be spread across the galaxy, or a microbe virus designed to target and kill Terrormorphs can be released.
You’ll have some dialogue options to express a preference for one method or the other, but you won’t actually have to decide which method to use at this stage of the mission.
(Optional) Visit LT. Azecedo to purchase new gear
This is an optional objective and one that can be completed before leaving Red Devil HQ and heading to Londinion. Lieutenant Azecedo has a special gear shop that is only available during this mission; however, we personally found no use for any of his items. Still, it’s worth checking out and it only takes a second.
Azecedo will also say that his family is all “worthless humans” because they have careers in the arts rather than in the armed forces…so…yeah.
Proceed to Londinion
Both methods have one requirement in common: a Terrormorph cell sample from Londinion. Grav jump to the planet Toliman II in the Toliman star system and select Forward Base 441 as your landing point. A UC ship will stop you and explain that Londinion is off-limits, but you’ll have the dialogue option to explain that you’ve been cleared for landing.
Proceed to the Command Post
After landing at Forward Base 441, you’ll notice two things. First, the layout of the city is absolutely epic. Second, your character now has Frostbite.
Londinion is extremely cold—to the extent that we weren’t even able to do anything about it. Even with a total of 60 thermal resistance across all gear, we got Frostbite and later Hypothermia during the course of Hostile Intelligence. However, this doesn’t actually interfere with the mission in any way.
We recommend simply dealing with the Frostbite and treating it after Hostile Intelligence is complete—there’s no point in periodically treating it throughout the mission, as it will just come right back.
The command post itself is indoors, so you’ll at least get a temporary reprieve from the bitter cold.
Discuss the exploration plan
Your mission tracker will take you to the commander of Forward Base 441, who will promise a swift death if you don’t explain your presence. We told her we were just here to order coffee and we survived, so don’t worry about your response.
Hadrian, Percival, and Kaiser will catch up with you at this point of Hostile Intelligence, and the group will discuss the plan for acquiring the Terrormorph data within Londinion, which is pretty much just “don’t die.”
(Optional) Collect your gear
This is nothing like Lieutenant Azecedo. The base commander will tell you that there’s gear waiting for you at the armory nearby, and this time it’s some pretty sweet stuff—most notably a Microgun. You may potentially have a better weapon for killing Terrormorphs…but do you have a more cinematic weapon? Probably not.
If you have Expert lockpicking, you can actually get an even better Microgun by lockpicking the weapon case right next to the commander. You’re allowed to do so, and you’re also allowed to take the Epic Microgun found within. No crime is required!
Interestingly, none of the gear stashed for you has good enough Thermal resistance to keep you from getting Frostbite.
Inform Hadrian you’re ready to move out
After collecting and equipping whatever gear your heart desires, simply tell Hadrian that you’re ready to go. You might as well save at this point, as the next hour or so of playtime is going to be in a frozen-over Terrormorph hellscape.
Clear the processing plant and locate the Aceles gene samples
This step is technically four separate objectives: Allow Kaiser to unlock the airlock, proceed into the city, clear the processing plant, and locate the Aceles gene samples. As you can see, only one of them is an actual objective.
Wait for Kaiser to unlock the airlock door, and then proceed into Londinion. Inside, you’ll have to fight a couple of mini-bosses, and you’ll also learn that apparently, Terrormorphs come in all different shapes and sizes. One of them looks like a mini brontosaurus.
After you’ve cleared out the processing plant, Kaiser will automatically locate the Aceles gene samples ahead (told you that there was only actually one thing you had to do).
(Optional) Explore the base cache
On the way to the Aceles samples, you’ll have an optional marker for a supply cache room. You should absolutely search it, as it takes no effort to access it and there are tons of weapons and ammo inside. We found that all of our current weapons were better than the ones inside the supply room, but the ammo alone made it well worth the pit stop.
You’ll also find dozens of grenades inside, and those will come in great handy later if you choose to use them.
Collect the Aceles samples and give them to Kaiser
Continue forward, and you’ll come to a large open area with three objective markers. The markers indicate the locations of three separate Aceles samples you’ll need to collect, which for some reason are located inside of Equipment Storage containers. Apparently, Terrormorphs are tidy?
You’ll need to defeat two more Terrormorph mini-bosses, one of which is invisible. This fight is definitely harder than the previous one in the processing plant, but it still shouldn’t be terribly difficult. After defeating the Terrormorphs, loot Aceles samples alpha, beta, and gamma from the three containers throughout the zone.
After you’ve picked up all three, a new objective to give the samples to Kaiser will appear. For us, he jumped up on top of a precariously suspended storage container, meaning we had to risk falling to our deaths to reach him. This is almost certainly not intended, and probably won’t happen to you.
Proceed to the steam tunnels
After Kaiser has the samples, he will tell Hadrian and Percival that there are steam tunnels underneath the city that the group can use to continue forward, and then he will say that he isn’t sure how he knew that.
Once inside the tunnels, a new objective, “Locate the Next Sample,” will appear. Follow your marker, and Hadrian will continuously talk about the beautiful and rare Lazarus Plant that can only be cultivated on this specific planet. She’ll also comment on how many Heat Leeches are around and how odd that is. Probably just a coincidence, right?
Observe the Lazarus Plant with Hadrian
It wasn’t a coincidence. You’ll come to a room where a Lazarus Plant can be seen blooming through a window. Hadrian will comment on how beautiful it is, and then a Heat Leech will transform into a Terrormorph before your eyes.
Congratulations, you’ve just learned that Heat Leeches are baby Terrormorphs and that Lazarus Plants cause them to instantly mature. You’ve also learned that the rare and specific features of Toliman II and Londinion have something to do with why the city was mysteriously overrun by Terrormorphs. Who would have thought to gather evidence from the scene of the crime?
After the transformation, speak to Hadrian, who will reveal in a shocked manner that your discovery has changed nothing. It’s time to kill the Terrormorph and continue with the mission. Apparently, both potential Terrormorph solutions will work on Heat Leeches as well, so…business as usual, then. Great.
Kill the Terrormorph
Continue forward from the Lazarus Plant room and you’ll be attacked by the newly formed Terrormorph. This is the hardest fight of the mission so far, but still not the real “boss fight.”
After defeating the Terrormorph, you’ll need to collect a tissue sample from it and give that sample to Kaiser for inspection.
Discuss the findings with the team
Next, speak with Hadrian, who will already be theorizing on the implications of Lazarus Plants and Heat Leeches. It’s a little out there, but she thinks that the fact that Lazarus Plants turn Heat Leeches into Terrormorphs means that somebody used a Lazarus Plant to turn Heat Leeches into Terrormorphs.
In all seriousness, this provides definitive proof that the New Atlantis Terrormorph attack that happened earlier in the Vanguard questline was planned by somebody. But who?
Follow Kaiser
Kaiser will inexplicably know the way forward once again, and he will lead you to the spaceport door, which needs a couple of switches flipped before it can be opened. Head up the stairs to the right of the door to the control panel room, and you’ll find not one, not two, but three different buttons you must press before you can continue.
The third button is actually relevant to the mission, as it automatically begins playing an audio recording that reveals that Hadrian’s father, Vae Victis, knew about the Lazarus Plant all along. In fact, it turns out that he didn’t just blow up the Londinion spaceport to prevent Terrormorphs from spreading—he did it to prevent this knowledge from escaping (still a war crime).
You’ll get the opportunity after listening to the recording to tell Hadrian that her father is alive and that the UC knows about it. We don’t recommend doing this for two reasons. First off, Vae Victis offers a recurring bounty-hunting quest if you keep his secret, and second, you can always expose him later if you want. For now, it’s best to keep your options open.
Secure the final sample
Enter the spaceport that totally doesn’t look like the arena for a huge and epic boss fight. Continue forward towards the objective for the final sample (which could be anything, but likely isn’t a huge and epic boss). To you’re amazement, you’ll learn that the final sample in Hostile Intelligence comes from a huge and epic boss.
In the spaceport, a giant Terrormorph will attack you. This is a great time to offload those dozen grenades we talked about earlier in the base cache section. This fight is pretty challenging—in addition to a giant Terrormorph Anomaly, you’ll also have to deal with tons of mini Terrormorphs at the same time.
Percival will give you an optional objective of turning the spaceport’s defensive turrets back online by flipping three switches throughout the spaceport, all of which will have objective markers. Whether you enlist the help of the turrets or simply burn down the Terrormorph Anomaly is your call.
Interestingly, after the Anomaly is defeated, all of the other Terrormorphs become non-hostile and stop attacking you. Even more interestingly, this is never addressed again outside of Percival kind of going, “Huh, weird.” Apparently, the possibility that Terrormorphs might not be inherently hostile isn’t at all relevant to the threat Terrormorphs pose to mankind.
After the fight is over and you’ve collected the Anomalous Sample, speak to Hadrian. She will naturally be theorizing who could have planned the attack on New Atlantis, and you’ll have the opportunity to weigh in with ideas of your own.
Unless you tell her that Vae Victis is alive, your dialogue here won’t matter. Again, we don’t recommend telling her Vae Victis is alive—there is no benefit to doing so other than avoiding a guilty conscious, and you can always do so later.
Return to Forward Base 441 to discuss your findings
Now that you have the final sample, the Londinion mission is concluded, and it’s time to return to Forward Base 441. Make sure you fast-travel for this, or else you’ll just be walking for the next five minutes.
Forward Base 441 has its own map marker and can be traveled to simply by using your scanner and highlighting the icon.
Once you’re back to at Forward Base 441, meet with Percival, who will be standing outside in the cold right next to the door to enter the nice and cozy command post. He will comment on how freezing Londinion is, despite being right next to the door. At least somebody finally addressed the fact that everyone here has Hypothermia.
Tell Percival that Kaiser has all the samples and Hostile Intelligence will be concluded. When you complete Hostile Intelligence by returning to Percival at Forward Base 441, you will receive 350 XP and 12,000 Credits, but the real reward is the Frostbite we gained along the way.
When you complete Hostile Intelligence, A Legacy Forged, the final UC Vanguard mission, is automatically started. The final mission simply revolves around returning to New Atlantis to share your findings with the council and decide on a method for dealing with the Terrormorphs.
You’ll also be given your final chance to expose Vae Victis during A Legacy Forged.
Can you return to Londinion after Hostile Intelligence in Starfield?
After completing Hostile Intelligence, you can return to Londinion at any time, but there is little reason to do so. We returned to Toliman II after concluding the Vanguard questline to have a look around and found very little other than Frostbite waiting for us.
The Cloaked Terrormorph from the Aceles Sample area had respawned, but that was the only change in the city of Londinion. Outside of that, you are able to wander around the surface of Toliman II outside of Forward Base 441 just like you can on any other planet, but if there is any secret hidden reason that somebody might want to, we weren’t able to find it.
