Mass Effect 3 Citadel Hanar Diplomat Guide: When to Complete the Side Quest

The Citadel: Hanar Diplomat is a Mass Effect 3 side quest that sends Commander Shepard through the embassies’ terminals, piecing together what the Hanar have been up to—and why it matters. It also comes with a crucial timing warning: you can’t finish this mission after “Priority: Tuchanka,” so make sure you’ve handed it in before you move on.

If you’re trying to find something specific in the guide, it breaks the mission down into sections like mission stats, meeting Jondum Bau, investigating the Hanar, and finally confronting Zymandas. That structure reflects the way the quest plays: you gather information at several terminals, return to the first location to confront the culprit, and then deal with the fallout.

Before you start (and why to save)

If you’re playing the original Mass Effect 3 release on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, or Wii U, this particular side mission is known for bugs—especially two early moments that can stop you from making progress. The guide’s advice is straightforward: create a save before you begin, so you can roll back if the mission gets stuck.

One of the early problem areas is on the eastern-most wall of the Citadel Embassies, near the Office Suite. There’s a terminal there that’s tied to the quest. You’re able to interact with it even before starting the side mission, but doing so can cause a later interaction to fail. To avoid that risk, don’t touch it until the mission tells you to.

The second issue involves the Spectre Office. Your first task there is to go to the Spectre Terminal and enable “Hanar Embassy Tracking.” The guide notes that this step can also make the eastern-wall terminal described above non-interactable. The key detail is that this Spectre Terminal step is entirely optional. If you want the safer route, load an earlier save, speak with Jondum Bau, then skip the Spectre Terminal and go directly to the eastern-wall terminal to continue. For players on the Legendary Edition, the guide says these bugs appear to be far less of a problem.

Mission stats and rewards

Mission rewards

• Mission Experience: 210 XP
• Reputation: +15
• War Assets: these can vary depending on how things go, and you may not always gain access to every possible War Asset under less-than-ideal circumstances.
  • Spectre Unit (40 TMS)
  • Hanar and Drell Forces (50 TMS)
  • Tap to Reveal (25 TMS)

Meet Jondum Bau

• Prerequisite: complete “Priority: Palaven”
• Location: Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – Citadel Embassies

Once “Priority: Palaven” is done, you can return to the Citadel Embassies and find a Salarian named Jondum Bau standing outside Commander Bailey’s office, right beneath his sign. Speak to him and you’ll learn the backstory: an Alliance black-ops raid on the Batarians years ago went wrong. Even though the Alliance came out with nothing to answer for, the Hanar who assisted may have obtained Reaper technology being held by the Batarians. That’s where the side mission begins to matter—because Reaper tech in the wrong hands is a nightmare scenario.

The conversation also offers Morality Point options. Choosing “I’d like to help” grants +2 Paragon Points, while “How bad could this be?” grants +2 Renegade Points. After that, Shepard heads into the Spectre Office to start the investigation.

If you recruited Kasumi Goto on the Citadel during Mass Effect 2—and she survived her final mission—she’ll be inside the Spectre Office to assist Shepard. The guide connects this to a secret tied to her deceased lover, Keiji Okuda.

Investigate the Hanar

Whether Kasumi is present or not, you’ll want to head to the center terminal in the Spectre Office labeled “Spectre Terminal.” From there, find “Hanar Embassy Tracking” and enable it to kick off the search.

Next, leave the Spectre Office, turn right, and go down the stairs. Make your way to the eastern-most wall of the Embassies, near the Office Suite, and look for a terminal there. When you interact with it, you’ll learn that Ilune has been sending lots of data, so you need to check their personal records.

The next terminal is located in the Docks: Holding Area. To reach it, take the elevator. When you come out, check the left-side column just before the blue security scanners to find the terminal. The evidence suggests Ilune is clean, but the guide adds that an unnamed opponent recently posted at the Holding Area after traveling from Kahje, the Hanar homeworld.

For the following terminal, go all the way to the eastern-most end of the Holding Area and then check the right-hand wall. At this stage, the guide points out a naming mismatch: the list appears to use Face Names, while Jondum Bau’s list uses Soul Names, which are far more private.

The solution is simple but easy to miss. Return to the terminal just past the blue security scanners and check it again to retrieve the connection. The Hanar associated with the Face Name Zymandas has the Soul Name “Regards the Works of the Enkindlers in Despair,” which the guide describes as highly suspicious. It also notes the reference: the poem “Ozymandias,” which deals with how time can challenge even the greatest legacies.

After all that detective work, the next step is to meet Jondum Bau again at the very first terminal you used near the Office Suite in the Citadel Embassies.

Confront Zymandas

Talk with Bau and then head right into the Office Suite to confront Zymandas. As the dialogue progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the Hanar has been indoctrinated. If you choose the right line of questioning—specifically asking “Why do this?”—Shepard will even reference an infamous moment from the first game, assuming you played it.

There are also Morality Point choices during the confrontation. Picking “You’re under arrest” awards +2 Paragon Points, while “Watch me” awards +2 Renegade Points.

During the exchange, Zymandas reveals a plan: he has uploaded a virus intended to disable Kahje’s automated defenses. Jondum Bau recognizes the virus is delayed, because any faster upload would likely have been detected. Before he can stop it, Zymandas’ human bodyguard strangles him. At that point, the quest pivots into a choice tied to a Renegade Interrupt.

• If you ignore the Renegade Interrupt, Shepard stops the virus upload and you gain +5 Paragon Points. This grants you the Hanar and Drell Forces worth 50 TMS, but it comes at the cost of Bau’s life.
• If you trigger the Renegade Interrupt, Shepard saves Jondum Bau and you gain +5 Renegade Points. This grants you the Spectre Unit worth 40 TMS, but it costs the Hanar homeworld.
• If Kasumi is present, the Renegade Interrupt never appears. Instead, Kasumi jumps in to disable the virus, allowing Shepard to save Bau. In that case, the guide says you receive both the Spectre Unit and Hanar and Drell Forces for a combined total of 90 TMS.

Kasumi also adds another variable. If she’s involved, the hacked computer includes a failsafe—and it’s explosive. What happens next depends on whether you completed Kasumi’s Loyalty Mission, “Kasumi: Stolen Memory,” in Mass Effect 2.

• If you did not complete “Kasumi: Stolen Memory,” Kasumi will be caught in the failsafe bomb’s explosion.
• If you did complete it, Kasumi will still be caught in the failsafe explosion, but Shepard correctly deduces that she faked her death. After a short conversation, Shepard can recruit Kasumi Goto as a War Asset worth 25 TMS, bringing the total to 115 TMS.

No matter how the final sequence plays out, the side mission is completed and you’ll receive XP and Reputation.

If you want more Mass Effect 3 guidance, the guide points players toward pages covering Legendary Edition changes, how-to help, key choices and consequences, romance content, walkthrough coverage, and a broader list of side missions.