I talked to Preston Garvey for 'Taking Independence'

In the time it took me to? quick travel down to Gwinnet Brewery (the closest explored site to the Castle) I received the quest 'Kidnapping at Oberland Station' on my Pipboy.
Rapidly followed by the alert 'Quest failed'
The Pipboy displays the quest as needing me to talk to Preston Garvey and tell him I was unable to help the settlers.
I cannot ???deselect the quest (there is always a little square to the left of it).
There is no active compa?ss marker to the quest objective (Preston)
I cannot talk to Preston Garvey (beyond the canned one line response he gives, no dialogue options open up).

I have tried waiting for 5 days, no effect (well other than getting trapped in my bedroom because of Trashcan Carla's Brahmin )
I have tried the console command 'removefac 00075D56' on Preston Garvey that allows basic dialogue and companion options but nothing relating to the quest (which remains stuck in Pipboy).???