Starfield First to Fight, First to Die quest guide

Hope you're ready to pay a visit to the First mercenaries.

Image credit: Bethesda/VG247

Guide by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer

Published on Sept. 21, 2023

As a Deputy for the Freestar Rangers in Starfield, your current assignment will have you investigating a group called the First mercenaries, who are stealing land from farmers. By now, you’ll have a dozen encrypted slates of information on the mercs, and in the ‘First to Fight, First to Die’ quest, you’ll be comin g face to face with them at last.

This is a combat-heavy quest, so you’ll want to be prepared with some of the best weapons and best armor before heading out of Akila City. When you’re ready, here’s how to complete the Freestar Rangers ‘First to Fight, First to Die’ quest in Starfield.

Starfield First to Fight, First to Die quest guide

If you haven’t yet unlocked the ‘First to Fight, First to Die’ quest in Starfield, you’ll need to complete the Freestar Rangers’ ‘On the Run’ quest first.

With that completed, return to The Rock in Akila City and attend the meeting with Emma and Daniel Blake. They’ll ask about your progress so far, and your answers won’t matter too much.

Alex Shadid will turn up during the meeting, having finally cracked the encrypted slates we gave him, which point to the First mercenaries’ HQ being in a mech factory. So, make your way to the planet of Arcturus II.

The player fights with Mercenary Patrol ships in space in Starfield — Once you end up in Arcturus II space, take on the Mercenary Patrol ships. | Image credit: Bethesda/VG247

In Arcturus II space, you’ll have to fight off multiple waves of Mercenary Patrol ships. Once that’s done, land at the factory and approach it. Surprisingly, the mercs will let you waltz in.

Now, we want to essentially run through this factory towards our quest marker as best we can. I don’t recommend taking on every mercenary that you see along the way, as we ought to save our ammo and health resources for when we reach Paxton Hull in the factory.

Brute force your way through the building to ultimately reach the Command Center. Here, you’ll need to kill every mercenary in the area, including Paxton Hull. Your quest markers will point out any NPCs you may have missed.

The player speaks with Paxton Hull in an abandoned mech factory in Starfield — Paxton Hull will reveal why the First mercenaries have been targeting farmers. | Image credit: Bethesda/VG247

Once they’re all taken care of, you can approach and speak to Paxton Hull and enquire exactly why the First mercenaries were stealing land from farmers. He will reveal the unexpected, and that’s that Ron Hope actually forged a plan with the First to seize the land. Uh, oh.

He’ll also reveal that he refuses to come with you alive. So, you’ve no choice but to kill him.

This will conclude the ‘First to Fight, First to Die’ quest. So, it’s now time to start ‘The Hammer Falls’ and rendezvous with Ron Hope.