As the story begins to heat up in Starfield, Vladimir will ask you to pick up an Artifact from a reluctant seller in the collector, Captain Petrov who drives the massive ship full of highly valued collectibles, known as The Scow. Although not really a mission the Constellation would take, Vladimir wants the Artifact at any cost, even if that means stepping over the line. Read below to find out the best way to tackle main mission 10, No Sudden Moves.

The Scow Location¶

After speaking to Vladimir in The Eye. This will lock your companion to Andreja for the entire mission, so make sure you’ve taken everything you need from your other companions. Now, it’s time to find The Scow which can be found orbiting Procyon A in the Procyon System (northwest of Alpha Centauri). Before traveling to The Scow, make a quick save because you’ll have a choice to make, persuade them to let you board, or attack them.

The Scow: Persuade or Attack?¶

Approach the ship, and select it with / to hail them, and you’ll get the choice to persuade them to let you board the ship, or alternatively, you can attack them. The better option is to persuade them if you can, otherwise, you’ll have to attack the ship and disable its engines while numerous particle turrets floating around in space will attack you. Also, if you persuade them to let you on, you can still attack them on the ship.

However, if you do want to attack the ship, you’ll want to target its engines, and the most reliable way to do this is by having at least one rank in the Targeting Control Systems skill that allows you to target individual parts such as the engines. If you want to read more about disabling ships, read our How to Disable Engines page. Once the engines are destroyed, and you’ve dealt with the frustrating particle turrets, board the ship.

Where to Find Captain Petrov¶

Depending on what choice you made to get on your ship, they’ll be hostile if you attack the ship, or neutral if you persuade them. We recommend attacking them at some point due to there being some decent loot on the ship from weapons, armor, and exotic components, but it will come at a cost of 500 Credits bounty from the UC. For now, if they’re neutral you can proceed through the ship to find Captain Petrov, but don’t loot anything unless you can do it without being seen as it will set the entire ship against you.

As you progress through the ship, you’ll be stopped by Tao Xun who will ask why you’re on the ship. If you have the Scavenging perk, you can use it within the conversation, but it doesn’t really matter what you choose here. Proceed forward up the stairs and head through the door at the end. In the next room, follow the corridor to your left, go up the stairs, and head right at the intersection (the left will take you to the storage room).

Follow the corridor up the stairs and follow the halls up another set of stairs before heading right and forward into the museum/collections room. Captain Petrov will be on the couch at the end of the room. Note: He may move if you begin fighting, or hack the “zoo” computer to release the Exotic Creatures.

Persuade, Fight, or Pickpocket Captain Petrov¶

Now that you’ve found the Captain, tell him you’re a fan of his collection as everyone loves flattery, and then you’ll get an important choice, persuade or attack. Instead, exit the conversation, and your quest will update with the optional objectives. Note, that you can only pickpocket if you have a point in the Theft skill. Out of the other options, choose to persuade, but due to its randomness among other variables, you may need to save scum (you can always attack them later).

After persuading Petrov, follow him down a couple of sets of stairs into his vault. Now, you can decide to kill him here and now, but you’ll be at a disadvantage from the get-go, so relax your trigger finger, and hold off on that for now. If you tell him that the artifact has a power that he’s not worthy of, he’ll warn you that touching the Artifact will put you on the UC’s hit list (you’ll be fine in New Atlantis for some reason). Basically, every choice you have here will result in you not getting the Artifact, or you will have to fight in some way or another.

The only real way to get the Artifact without having to deal with Petrov is to steal it, but this is difficult to say the least, and it’s recommended you have a few points in the Stealth perk. Note, if you steal the Artifact, and take Petrov down, he’ll beg for his life, and you can get him to call the attack dogs off (guards). This allows you to walk off the ship with your integrity intact, and no one will shoot at you, but do you want to turn down all that loot, including that wonderful apparel that Petrov’s wearing (The Collector’s Suit)?

Thought not. Instead, exit the conversation, and head to the “zoo”. Hack the computer (requires Master Security), and release his zoo onto the ship. You can head through the corridor at the north side of the exhibit room, and unlock the door on your right at the intersection (Requires Advanced Security). In the next room, drop into the gap next to the lockers, and use the Cell Control computer to release the “zoo” too.

This will attack everyone on the ship including you, so get away, and let them do their thing, and they’ll thin out the herd. When things calm down, make your way through the ship taking down the various enemies along the way. There are a few difficult enemies on the ship who are named such as Bull, Tao Xun, Vadik, Raptor, and Erin September, so it won’t be a cakewalk, but if you use the corridors to your advantage, you can mow down/grenade groups of enemies at the same time.

When you’ve dealt with the personnel on the ship including Petrov, you’ll want to head into the storage room (requires Expert Security) as it has tons of ammo, grenades, and if you’re lucky, a legendary armor of the guard inside (not sure if it’s a 100% drop) as well as a gun on the weapon rack. Now, you can search the rest of the ship for rare and exotic components, various armors in the displays, and Credits. Make sure you search every enemy’s corpse here too, especially the named guys as they can drop some good equipment.

Stealth Method¶

There is a stealth route through the ship, but it is difficult. Ideally, you’ll want Stealth, Security, and Theft as high as possible, especially Stealth otherwise you won’t make it through the ship. You’ll want to get into the ship via the persuade option, so the guards aren’t hostile, and make your way to Petrov at the front of the ship. Go through the regular conversation option while trying not to provoke him, and eventually, you’ll be at an impasse where he won’t sell the Artifact, and you won’t leave it here; this is the time to be stealthy.

The short of it is, you’ll want to pickpocket Petrov for the Vault Key, then head through the red Emergency Cuttable Wall (use a laser gun on the pins) near the vault room. This will lead to a small factory-like area with some guards in it. At the end of the room, is another Emergency Cuttable Wall which leads directly to the vault. Although you can stealth through the mission, it’s too difficult for little reward. If you want to take the path of least resistance, shoot Petrov, and then get him to call off the guards, which he will.

More Helpful Starfield Guides¶

Read the guides below whether that be the main missions, or other helpful pages, check out the pages below. You’ll definitely want to check out our High Price to Pay walkthrough if you want to save your favorite companion!

• High Price to Pay
• Best Weapons in Starfield For All Weapon Types
• All Crew Skills in Starfield
• How to Complete Overdesigned in Starfield: Kepler R or Kepler S