Starfield: How to complete the In Memoriam mission

Let’s face it, you have likely been trying to romance Sarah Morgan from the second you saw her in the lobby of The Lodge at the beginning of Starfield.

Sarah is your first romance option in the game and while it takes a while, you are able to fully romance her. This only comes after completing the In Memoriam quest, though.

In Memoriam is added to your mission log after you have spent hours of time with Sarah and listened to her complicated past. A part of Sarah’s past is a failed mission on a ship called the Dauntless that led to her being stranded on a planet called Cassiopeia I while the rest of her crew was scattered elsewhere. In Memoriam begins with Sarsh wanting to visit her old campsite on Cassiopeia and try to find any remnants of her lost crew.

Starting the In Memoriam mission in Starfield

To start the mission, you will need to head to the MAST building in New Atlantis to speak with Admiral Logan. Logan is Sarah’s former commanding officer in the UC Military, and the two didn’t leave things on the best of terms after Sarah abruptly left the force. Regardless, Logan will feel sympathetic towards Sarah’s cause and fully support her mission to try and go recover any remains of the Dauntless crew.

With Logan’s support, you will gain the coordinates to Sarah’s old campsite on Cassiopeia and you can head to that system right away.

Landing at Sarah’s campsite on Cassiopeia

The trip to Cassiopeia could take you some time if you haven’t ventured too far east in the Settled Systems. You might have to make a pit stop in a few other systems before being able to Grav Jump to Cassiopeia, but once you arrive, you can land at Sarah’s old campsite on Cassiopeia I.

After landing, exit the ship and then speak with Sarah. This conversation reveals some additional context behind Sarah’s story here. She actually spent over a year on this planet all alone before she was rescued. While she doesn’t know if her Dauntless crew survived, she has assumed they perished in the crash all this time.

With the conversation over, you can make your way to the campsite and the escape shuttle Sarah used to escape the Dauntless. Enter the shuttle to see if you can power it on, but as luck would have it, you need a power cell to get it up and running.

This triggers a new quest marker to appear on a cliff right above your current location. Head up to the cliff using the path and you will find the power cell sitting on a table. However, along the way, you will have to fight and defeat several Stonewalker enemies, which can be quite tanky. I found getting up high on a rock and shooting them with a height advantage was the best to deal with the encounters, as they can’t jump to your location.

In any case, retrieve the power cell and then head back down to the campsite, where you will have to fight even more Stonewalkers.

After the encounter, head into the shuttle, insert the power cell, and then use the computer to find out what happened to the Dauntless after Sarah escaped. You will learn the Dauntless crash landed on Cassiopeia I as well, and the crash site is on the other side of the planet.

Go back to your ship, open the galaxy map, and then fast-travel to the crash site, which is simply labeled Ship on Cassiopeia I.

Investigating the Dauntless crash site and its surroundings

Once you land at the crash site, you can head toward the quest marker, which is actually quite a ways away. Along the journey, you will run into a few different creatures and have to go through a dense forest that isn’t the easiest terrain to navigate.

After arriving at the quest marker, you will begin to see the wreckage of the Dauntless, but you will also see humans definitely survived the journey. There are ramps and even an entire home made out of the wreckage. You can enter a door that is made out of ship wreckage to find a mysterious girl inside.

At first, the girl will point a gun at you and tell you to go away. However, after you calm both her and Sarah down, you can explain who you are and what you’re doing here.

The girl will immediately recognize Sarah Morgan’s name, as she says her parents always used to talk about her. As you might have guessed, this girl is the child of two survivors on board the Dauntless.

You find out the girl’s name is Sona, and her parents passed away years ago. This means she has been living by herself in a hostile environment for years and years. Eventually, after some dialogue, Sona mentions a graveyard where her parents are buried and Sarah asks you to go collect the UC Genetags of every perished crew member buried out there. Head out of Sona’s home and make your way to the new quest marker.

Collect the UC Genetags

At the graveyard, which is located up on a ridge, you will find nine upright graves. The Genetags are found on the “tombstone” that is sticking out of the ground. Just go up to each one, hover over the Genetag necklace on the grave, and then pick it up.

You need 10 to complete this part of the mission, but there are only nine graves with Genetags. Soon after realizing this, a hungry Silverfish will storm up behind you. Kill the Silverfish and loot its body to find the tenth and final Genetag.

Once you have all 10 tags, head back to Sona and Sarah.

Getting Sona off Cassiopeia

Returning to Sona and Sarah will see the two women shouting at each other. Apparently, Sarah is trying to convince Sona to leave her home but Sona doesn’t want to leave her parents and the only place she has ever known.

At this point, you can step in and speak to Sona. In order to convince her to leave, you can say her parents would have wanted to her lead a full life. However, you can also agree with Sona’s decision and let her stay on Cassiopeia.

Persuading Sona to leave is the best outcome, though, as she will come back to The Lodge with you and Sarah and be much happier.

Regardless of what you choose, once you’re done, you can return to Sarah and she will say she needs to talk to you outside. Here, Sarah will express her admiration for you keeping her strong throughout this process. If you want to romance Sarah, you can choose a [Flirt] option at the end of this conversation.

After the talk is over, return to your ship and head home to New Atlantis.

Return to New Atlantis and speak to Admiral Logan

Upon returning to New Atlantis, you need to go back to Admiral Logan and give him the 10 Genetags of the fallen Daultness crew. He will ensure the family members of the deceased are given notice and the memory of the crew members will be honored.

From here, you will either need to go back to The Lodge to speak with Sona if you convinced her to leave Cassiopeia. Sona will express a strong desire to become a member of Constellation and travel the galaxy, which is a touching thing to hear at the moment considering all she’s been through.

After speaking to Sona (or not, if she remained on Cassiopeia), you can speak with Sarah and she will direct you to the UC War Memorial in the MAST district of New Atlantis.

Here, you can once again choose a [Flirt] dialogue option at the end of a conversation, if you want to romance Sarah. Those who selected the Flirt options up to this point will then get another objective to meet Sarah at the top of the Waterfall in New Atlantis.

If you didn’t choose to flirt with Sarah, then the In Memoriam quest will end right there at the memorial.

Speaking with Sarah at the Waterfall

By choosing the Flirt options, you can meet Sarah at the Waterfall Promenade. Here, she will express her love for you and you can do the same by selecting a [Flirt] and [Commitment] option throughout the dialogue. This will effectively start your romance with Sarah. However, there is also a dialogue option to simply remain friends with Sarah, which I don’t recommend if you’ve made it this far by flirting with her.

Either way, the end of the conversation near the Waterfall will end the In Memoriam quest in Starfield. If you choose to romance Sarah, future plans for a wedding ceremony will be made shortly after the quest is complete.