Mass Effect UNC: Family Matter Guide—Start, Citadel Stops, and Key Choices
IGN’s Mass Effect guide page for the UNC: Family Matter side assignment walks you through how to start the quest, where to go on the Citadel, and which dialogue decisions matter for your Charm and Intimidate checks. The mission’s core challenge is less about combat and more about managing a fragile argument—because the game treats this conversation like a one-way door once you commit.
Checklists
The guide breaks the assignment into a few clear stages so you know what to focus on as you progress through the conversation.
- Essential Stats
- Travel to Widow
- Talk to the Arguing Pair
Essential Stats
Before you begin, the game expects you to have the right social stats ready. For this assignment, the minimum requirements are:
- Persuasion Points: 4 Charm / 5 Intimidate
- Minimum Decryption: N/A
- Minimum Electronics: N/A
Travel to Widow
NOTICE
This assignment has a special rule that players should take seriously: once you start it, you must see it through to completion. That can be rough, because the best possible end result depends on having enough Morality Points available during the dialogue.
Because of that, the guide strongly recommends holding off until you have at least 4 Charm points or 5 Intimidate points. When you meet that threshold, you can proceed without feeling like you’re gambling your outcome.
- Prerequisite: Finish either Therum, Feros, or Noveria.
- Location: Serpent Nebula – Widow – The Citadel – Presidium
Family Matter becomes available after you complete your first main mission on the list—Therum, Feros, or Noveria. True to its name, it also takes place on the Citadel. The Citadel sits in the Serpent Nebula and serves as the galactic hub for that region, described as the only cluster in the western side of the Milky Way. It’s also the place tied to the mission “Citadel: Expose Saren.”
In addition, the hub system is characterized as having only one system entry called Widow, with zero Discoveries. Once you’re ready, that’s where you’ll need to be to trigger the argument that leads into Family Matter.
Talk to the Arguing Pair
After completing the prerequisite mission and meeting the stat guidance, you can locate a couple arguing on the Presidium. They’re positioned at the southern end of the bridge that runs near Delan’s Emporium and Barla Von’s Bank, and also close to the Emporium Rapid Transit access point.
When you approach, you’ll learn what’s driving the conflict. Rebekah—the woman—turns out to be the widow of Michael’s brother. She’s pregnant with her deceased husband’s child. Michael wants the baby to receive a procedure intended to improve survival odds during childbirth, but Rebekah objects because the gene therapy carries a risk that could kill the baby.
Mechanically, the dialogue tree works much like the “Citadel: Presidium Prophet” assignment: you first decide who you want to argue against, and then you select how you want to persuade them. The big difference is that you can’t retreat from your choice here. Unlike Presidium Prophet, you can’t back out of the argument target—or even stop the conversation itself—once you commit. It’s all-or-nothing.
With that warning out of the way, here are the ways the assignment can end based on your selections.
- If you choose any of the exit options—“Never mind,” “I wish I could do more,” or “Goodbye”—Shepard will end the conversation and the pair will walk away, leaving you with zero rewards.
- If you pick “Let her choose,” you’ll attempt to convince Michael that Rebekah shouldn’t undergo the gene therapy. This path unlocks the following Persuasion options:
- If you have 2 Charm, you can select “It’s still her choice” to push him toward supporting Rebekah, granting +8 Paragon Points.
- If you have 3 Intimidate, you can select “You’re not helping” to call him out for not supporting her, granting +9 Renegade Points.
- If you pick “Get the treatment,” you’ll attempt to convince Rebekah that she should undergo the gene therapy. This alternative path unlocks these Persuasion options:
- If you have 3 Charm, you can select “It’s worth it” to argue that the procedure is about keeping the baby safe, granting +8 Paragon Points.
- If you have 2 Intimidate, you can select “Think of the child” to warn her that her grief is putting the baby at risk, granting +9 Renegade Points.
Want more Mass Effect help? The guide points players toward additional pages, including Legendary Edition Changes, How-To Guides, Key Choices and Consequences, Romance Options, Walkthrough, and Side Quests.
Up Next: Homecoming
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