“I'm wondering if our radio security codes have been compromised. I need someone to deliver security code upgrades to each of the Ranger stations.”— Sergeant Reyes
Speak with Sergeant Reyes at the Camp Forlorn Hope command center to begin this quest. You are asked to deliver several radio security upgrade codes by speaking to the Communications Officer at each of the Ranger stations. (If the Officer in charge was killed in any way, interact with the Ham Radio to deliver the code.)
Upgrade Ranger Station Charlie (if Ranger Station Charlie has already been wiped out, even though it is still stated as a quest objective, one does not need to visit it).
Upon returning to Reyes, she will inform you of some confusing intel reports, and you're sent back out to three stations to double-check the validity of the reports. Speak to Ranger Pason at station Delta, Ranger Lineholm at station Alpha, and Ranger Kudlow at station Foxtrot. If you've spoken to them, walk out of the tent and then back in, and speak to Reyes. After her suspicions have been justified, she asks you to go to Camp Golf and confront Chief Hanlon about it. He can be found on the balcony above the entrance to the House Resort during the day. Upon asking him about the intel reports, he tells you he wants to discuss it in a more private setting and will head to his office. The office is located on the first floor of the resort, past the front desk, and to the left of the vending machines. Once there, Hanlon will discuss his motives with you, and eventually leads to you having to make a choice. Note your choice will impact the ending you receive.
If you decide to turn him in, he will tell you to go get a ranger to make it official. Once you step out of the office, the door closes and locks, and Hanlon delivers a speech to the stationed rangers via the intercom. Once his speech is over, he commits suicide with his revolver. A nearby ranger will rush into the room to see what happened. Hanlon drops his Ranger Sequoia revolver (which is marked as owned and therefore can only be stolen with the loss of Karma), and you'll gain 500 XP.
If you let Hanlon continue his plan without informing the NCR, he tells you that you no longer have anything to discuss and walks off. You get 500XP.
You can choose to kill Hanlon yourself, which he warns you is a bad idea due to being in the middle of a ranger base. If you insist on doing so after his warning, Hanlon will turn hostile.
If you have killed Caesar, you can convince Hanlon to come back to his senses and cease falsifying the reports, and you get 500XP.
Regardless of the choice you make, the quest ends there.
Tell Sergeant Reyes that her suspicions about misinformation being fed to the NCR was correct.
60
Inform Chief Hanlon what you and Sergeant Reyes discovered.
70
Speak to Chief Hanlon in his office.
80
Find a ranger to take Chief Hanlon into custody.
90
Kill Chief Hanlon
Notes[]
It is possible for a ranger to be present in the room across the hall from Hanlon's office, meaning you can talk to a ranger without getting far enough from Hanlon for the door to shut. Despite this, you will not get any dialogue options for getting the ranger into Hanlon's office.
According to in-game files, there is an existing dialogue option whereby Hanlon could be convinced to stop falsifying the reports if the Courier had learned about Caesar's illness. However, since the only way to learn of Caesar's illness is to advance far enough into the Render Unto Caesar quest that the NCR would already be hostile and it would impossible to advance their quests, making the option extremely difficult to get should the player wish to side with the NCR.
For a while, this was believed to be a bug in the game, as Silus can give a hint towards Caesar's illness if he is beaten into talking in Silus Treatment. However, this was later proven false, as the dialogue option with Hanlon is impossible to activate, as evident by its peripherals in the game's code.
This option is possible to obtain if Caesar is killed in The Fort before talking to Hanlon. However, it also unlocks the option to convince him with Caesar's death, making it obsolete.
There is also an ending the player can obtain which requires Hanlon to be convinced to stop falsifying the records, completing Veni, Vidi, Vici, while Caesar is still alive while Et Tumor, Brute? is active. It can be presumed that the requirements to meet this ending are to learn of Caesar's illness and inform Hanlon that way, having disguised oneself in NCR armor in order to prevent hostility. But due to the dialogue option being cut, the ending is impossible to obtain.
If a non-player character capable of receiving the upgraded codes is dead, the player can manually upgrade the stations by interacting with the ham radio. This contingency is there in case the station is wiped out by wandering creatures (such as Foxtrot and its Cazador problem) or the player. This does not include Charlie, however, because the radio will have been destroyed by the Legion. If any non-player character who must be questioned to double-check intel reports is dead, the report can be looted from their body.
If Hanlon is already dead, the quest will end upon returning to Reyes, who will say "Since Hanlon is dead, we will never really know". 300 caps and 720 XP as a reward for this method.
Hanlon will not discuss quest matters unless he is outside on the balcony.
The unmarked quest Andy and Charlie, which is obtained from Ranger Andy in Novac, also requires investigating Ranger Station Charlie, and can be accomplished at the same time as this one. Alternatively, completing Andy and Charlie beforehand will eliminate the requirement to visit Charlie for this quest, even though it will still be listed in the objectives.
If playing in favor of Caesar's Legion, this quest can still be completed alongside We Are Legion (which requires killing all senior officers in Forlorn Hope, one of them being Sergeant Reyes). To be able to do this, upgrade the ranger stations and double-check the intel reports, then kill all the officers and, at the same time, talk with chief Hanlon, which will successfully complete this quest.
"Return to Sender" is a 1962 rock and roll hit single by American singer Elvis Presley. The song was written by Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell.
Bugs[]
PCXbox 360 If asked, Sergeant Reyes will say that Ranger Station Charlie has recently been reporting an over-shipment of medical supplies even if the Courier has reported that the station's inhabitants are dead. [verified]
PC If you upgrade all stations but one, which must not be station Charlie, before receiving the unmarked quest Andy and Charlie, then starting this quest and visiting said station again to find it's been wiped out, you will be informed that you upgraded the remaining station. [verified]
PC The quest may register Ranger Station Bravo as having been updated while it has factually not. [verified]
Playstation 3Xbox 360 It is possible for Hanlon to become glitched so that he remains stationary and never goes out to the balcony. He will not enter dialogue with the character and the quest cannot be completed. Sleeping, waiting and fast traveling are all unable to fix this. [verified]
This may be fixed pushing him around, loading a save prior to entering the building, exiting the building and waiting until he comes out on the porch or pick-pocketing him while detected so to make him resume his normal routine.
Playstation 3 Sometimes he will get stuck in a mass crowd of other NCR members. [verified]
A way to fix this is to use a silenced or melee weapon to sneak kill all of the NCR soldiers that are in Hanlon's general vicinity. Almost immediately after this he will begin to move once more.
Playstation 3 Companions may disappear when you leave the balcony. [verified]
They can be left waiting outside the resort before going in to prevent this.
When they disappear, leaving the building can make them return after 30 seconds or so. Sometimes they must be dismissed as they become stuck in front of the balcony.
PC When Chief Hanlon makes a speech over the microphone before his suicide, each line is said twice. This does not change the ending of the quest. [verified]
Xbox 360 If the player character crosses the threshold that closes and locks Hanlon's door before the objective of finding a Ranger to arrest him finishes displaying, Hanlon's radio announcement fails to play and the holotape you receive may works only once or not at all. The gunshot still occurs and the quest is completed, though. [verified]
PCXbox 360 After you confront him, the game may glitch as the door will never automatically lock and he will not speak on the intercom, no matter how far away you move from the office. [verified]
This can be fixed by reloading a save before confronting him.
PC Use the console commands setstage 0014f3b1 100 to complete the quest, prid 00106d79 and disable to make Hanlon disappear, and player.additem 00129a44 1 to obtain the Ranger Sequoia.
Xbox 360 When locked inside his office, Hanlon will sometimes stop performing his speech leaving the quest incomplete and his Ranger Sequoia impossible to obtain. [verified]
This can sometimes be fixed by reloading a save or turning off your radio while Chief Hanlon is speaking.
Playstation 3 If you level up after you complete the quest the game will freeze. [verified]
It should go back to normal after 20-30 seconds.
PCXbox 360 Due to a scripting error, if you convince the chief to stop falsifying records, you will get the ending where you agreed to keep his secret safe. [verified]