UNC: Missing Marines Walkthrough Route, Items, Fights, and Dialogue Choices
If you’re working through Mass Effect and come across the UNC: Missing Marines Assignment, this section of the wiki guide focuses on the full route: where to grab every item, how to push through each fight, and which dialogue steps matter for your run.
Looking for something specific? Here’s what you can jump to: Assignment Stats, Doctor Michel, meeting Admiral Kahoku, traveling to Sparta, finding the recon team, speaking with Kahoku, and what to do once you’re back on the Normandy.
Quick scan facts
- Prerequisite (Meet Admiral Kahoku): Complete “Citadel: Expose Saren”
- Where to meet Kahoku: Serpent Nebula → Widow → The Citadel → Presidium → Citadel Tower
- Essential stats: Persuasion Points: N/A; Minimum Decryption: N/A; Minimum Electronics: N/A
- Travel destination (Travel to Sparta): Artemis Tau → Sparta → Edolus
- Hostile landing planet: Edolus (must land to investigate what happened to Kahoku’s missing marine detachment)
Checklists
This guide page is specifically tied to the UNC: Missing Marines Assignment. It’s set up to help you move from step to step without getting stuck—starting with the lead-up conversation, then the planet-side combat, and finally the follow-up back in Citadel space.
Assignment Stats
Video Guide
No additional details are provided here beyond the section label for a video guide.
Essential Stats
- Persuasion Points: N/A
- Minimum Decryption: N/A
- Minimum Electronics: N/A
Doctor Michel
Before you start the Assignment proper, the guide points you to a related Citadel task: “Citadel: Doctor Michel.” During that earlier Assignment, you can ask three people about a man named Armistan Banes: Morlan, Michel herself, and Captain Anderson.
Meet Admiral Kahoku
- Prerequisite: Complete “Citadel: Expose Saren”
- Location: Serpent Nebula – Widow – The Citadel – Presidium – Citadel Tower
Once you’re ready, travel to the Citadel Tower area and find Alliance Admiral Kahoku. Talk to him to learn that a unit of marines has gone missing on a distant planet. The council won’t step in to locate them, which is why Kahoku turns to you.
Before you leave, make sure you bring up “Banes.” Doing so gives you extra context about the missing marines and also unlocks a new Assignment after this one finishes.
If you don’t see “Banes” as a dialogue option, the guide’s workaround is to complete “Citadel: Dr. Michel”, then ask Michel and Captain Anderson about Banes. After that, return to Kahoku and ask him about Banes as well.
Even if you choose not to formally accept Kahoku’s request, the topic will still be added to your journal. So once you’ve done the conversation, you can proceed with the rest of the Assignment.
Travel to Sparta
- Location: Artemis Tau – Sparta – Edolus
Go back to the Normandy and open your galactic map. Find Artemis Tau—after you zoom out all the way to the galactic map level—then travel into the Sparta System. While you’re there, you should scout the system for useful items.
Recommended Loadout
- Squad Tactics:
- If you’re playing the Legendary Edition (or you just prefer fighting in the Mako), your squad setup doesn’t matter much because combat here revolves around the Mako.
- If you’re playing the original release and want to avoid the 50% XP penalty for Mako kills, bring Garrus and Ashley so you can lean on long-range damage.
- Shepard’s Loadout:
- If you’re on the original release and trying to avoid the 50% XP penalty for Mako kills, expect a single tough organic enemy. For that reason, the guide recommends Anti-Personnel / Shredder Rounds for this segment.
Find Recon Team
At the system’s core is a planet orbiting the star named Edolus. Land there. The guide stresses that it’s extremely hostile, but you still need to touch down so you can figure out what happened to Admiral Kahoku’s missing marine detachment.
After you land, head due north to locate the missing detachment. As you close in on the source of a stray signal—and once you spot signs of the marines—the enemy reveals itself. A Thresher Maw (a worm-like space creature) emerges and shows what happened to the missing troops.
This battle can feel overwhelming at first, but the guide gives a control-focused tip. You can use the correct trigger to fire the Mako’s machine gun, and the right bumper lets you fire the Mako’s heavy artillery. The heavy artillery can be used about once every five seconds, but it’s the main way to keep damage flowing against a Thresher Maw with that much health.
Don’t abandon your vehicle. Keep moving and avoid stopping—especially so you’re not caught under the Thresher Maw when it burrows up from the ground. The strategy is to unload your big shots whenever the heavy artillery is ready, then keep up constant machine-gun pressure to finish the creature. If you keep getting wiped, don’t quit; this fight is as much about practice as it is about loadout, and the Mako can be tricky when you’re trying to aim and shoot at the same time.
Once the Thresher Maw goes down, drive toward the marines’ vehicle—called a Grizzly. You’ll find bodies there. Get out of the Mako and investigate one of the Alliance Marines to advance the Assignment.
Before you head back to the Citadel, collect the items at the site:
- Medical Kit – located next to the nose of the Alliance Marines’ vehicle.
- Upgrade Kit – located near the rear wheels of the Alliance Marines’ vehicle.
Speak to Kahoku
Return to the Normandy and fly back to the Citadel. Kahoku will still be in the same place you met him earlier: the Citadel Tower.
If you haven’t already done it, this is your ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE to ask Kahoku about Banes and unlock two additional Assignments back on the Normandy. You must do this before telling him what happened to his men, because once you report it, Kahoku will leave—FOREVER!
If you’re unsure who Banes is, the guide’s step order is: complete Doctor Michel’s Assignment, ask Michel about Banes, then ask Captain Anderson, and finally ask Kahoku.
When you’re ready to wrap up UNC: Missing Marines, you can tell Kahoku how his soldiers died in whatever way you choose, since there are no Morality Points tied to this decision.
Back on the Normandy
Head back to the Normandy and travel to any system you like. The guide suggests the Voyager Cluster because it’s where your next Assignment will be (with an implied wink).
If you asked Kahoku about Banes, he’ll send you a frantic message about the people responsible and upload new coordinates for you.
Want more help for Mass Effect? The guide lists these additional pages to check out:
- Legendary Edition Changes
- How-To Guides
- Key Choices and Consequences
- Romance Options
- Walkthrough
- Side Quests
Up Next: Missing Survey Team
Top Guide Sections
- Legendary Edition Changes
- Basics
- Tips and Tricks
- How-To Guides
