Being a space cowboy is neat and all, but sometimes you’ve got to make some tough decisions. Case in point: early in your Freestar Collective career, you’ll need to track down Maya Cruz, talk to her, and make a difficult choice. As a result, you may be curious as to whether you should kill or spare Maya Cruz during the Surgical Strike quest in Starfield. If so, you’re in the perfect place, as we’ll discuss how this encounter can shakes out down below. Let’s do it!
**Story Spoilers Ahead!**
Maya Cruz in Surgical Strike – Freestar Collective Mission in Starfield
After investigating the Abandoned Asteroid Mine in the Eklund Excavation Site CL25, which is situated on a small moon orbiting the planet Bonner in the Sakharov system, players will make their way through a network of subterranean tunnels teeming with deadly robots. Finally though, you’ll confront Maya Cruz.
Interestingly, Maya will play the sympathy card. She will share with you the sad news that she’s been abused and abandoned by everyone she’s met. As a result, she’s put all her energy and love into the advanced machines that were guarding the entrance to her lair. Even sadder: she only has a few weeks to live due to a fatal illness.
Thing is, no matter what dialogue options you choose, Maya will refuse to give you any additional information. Really, as you continue speaking to her, your options will boil down to sparing her by saying [I’m not leaving until I get some information about the First.] or killing her by opting to [Attack].
Killing Maya Cruz
If you choose to kill her, you’ll have to take her on in combat. Thankfully, she’s not too difficult to put six feet under, though you’ll get 25 XP for your troubles. Once she’s been dispatched, Maya Cruz will drop the following:
- 3KV LZR Cartridge ammo x 46
- Arc Welder, Heavy Weapon
- Trauma Pack
- Encrypted Slate
The most important item here is the Encrypted Slate, which is a quest item that you’ll need for the next step of your mission. Additionally, it’s worth noting that the bulk of loot in Starfield is randomly-generated so what you get may vary slightly from what we found. That said, the Encrypted Slate will be a 100% drop as it’s a critical quest item.
Sparing Maya Cruz
If you choose to spare Maya, she’ll give you the Encrypted Slate, and the next step of the quest will remain the same as if you killed her: you’re going to need to travel back to Akila City and give the slate to Alex Shadid so that you can decrypt it and reveal its information.
Should You Kill or Spare Her?
Ultimately, there’s not much that will meaningfully change if you kill or spare her. Nevertheless, we think that killing Maya rewarded us with a little more loot and XP, so we opted to do that. That being said, if you’re roleplaying as a super noble character, maybe sparing her is the way to go. It all depends on how virtuous you want your character to be.
So, there you have it. We hope this helped to clue you in on whether you should kill or spare Maya Cruz during the Surgical Strike quest in Starfield. For more, here’s how to target engines and how to escape ship combat easily. And for more tips, tricks, and guides, keep it locked at Twinfinite.
Related: Spreading the News Starfield Quest Walkthrough on Prima Games
