In Fiends in High Places, you will face the past as Augustine de Vries has returned to the Greater Tranquility Station. This final mission will challenge everything you have done — from your allies and skills to your ethical choices. Prepare to formulate a plan, traverse dangerous areas, and determine the fate of the Order’s fragile relationship in this climactic finale of The Outer Worlds 2.
Preparing for the Mission
Once you have initiated the Fiends in High Places quest, you’ll be trapped until you finish it. The moment you step into the station, a lockdown occurs and you won’t be able to return until you complete this quest. Before you begin your mission, here are a few aspects to write down and keep in mind:
- Wrap up every unfinished side mission.
- Choose your team wisely because whoever’s with you now is who you’ll be stuck with throughout the quest.
- Be sure to have plenty of ammo, healing supplies, and the gear you rely on the most.
If Niles is with you, you can also expect some extra tension, given all the backstory between Niles and Augustine. If you plan to do anything mercy related, this will again take an emotional turn due to Niles being there.
Arrival at Greater Tranquility Station
The hangar of the station welcomes you with near silence aside from the ship from de Vries buzzing nearby. Anyone in your position with the Scrapper perk can feel free to pry a derelict Earth Directorate satellite off of the ship’s hull. Other than that, it is time to push further ahead.
You don’t have P.A.L.E. boots for double jumps, so you will have to use terminals or panels to drop barriers. Both Engineering and Hacking skills can accomplish this.
The first guard you run into can be worked around or fought, whichever route your dialogue provides. Either way, after you have dealt with the guard, feel free to grab the terminal nearby for the protocols of the Greater Tranquility Station Targeting Protocols — you could consider them as a useful tool later on, and grab a fuse from the station for power for the next lift ahead.
Breaching the Station
The hallway leads to a large room of downstream hostiles and patrol mechs. Using the Targeting Protocol in this instance allows you to turn the automechs to help you to create chaos as you maneuver around. Alternatively, if you want to just stay out of the crossfire, deeply talented hackers can also take them down.
Due to a minor bug, neutralized mechs will reactivate after reloading, so the safest method of taking them down is to destroy them.
In the hall, you can loot one of your defectors for a Maintenance Access Keycard, which allows you to unlock shortcuts throughout the facility. If you have Tristan in your group or have high Observation you can find a panel in the east section that will lead to a buried treasure: the Staff Log, an Erica Wang Pitchball Card, and a Verachnid Mine Charge.
When ready, insert another fuse into the console to power the next lift. A spare one lies hidden behind a fan that you can pass only with Tactical Time Dilation to slow its blades.
A Quiet Interlude
The next area is a stark contrast — quiet corridors, faint monitor chatter, and scattered loot. If you’re thorough, you’ll find the Ryan Powell Pitchball Card tucked inside a locker.
There is also a Vendor Mech close by — an irritable but operational merchant. It carries the Advanced Decryption Key and Black Hat, both of which can be used for hacking remotely. You can purchase them legally, or if your Lockpick skill is high enough, steal them out of the mech’s storage compartment instead. It’ll swear at you afterward, but nothing worse.
Another fuse? Borrow one from a powered side room that’s full of Verachnid Mines. Empty them out quickly as their self-destructs are unpleasant and wear your Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus to protect against zyranium exposure.
The Red Sector
Next comes a deep crimson-lit chamber filled with hums, pipes, and danger. There’s a Siri Xie Pitchball Card here and a terminal log worth reading if you have the skill.
As you climb higher, the fight changes — snipers take positions, and waves of automechs pour in. Long-range weapons like the Sniper Rifle or Marksman Rifle help immensely. The terminals near the back control the assembly lines. With three Hack points, you can reduce enemy spawns; with eight, you can shut them off completely.
Once it’s secure, reclaim two fuses from the upper platforms and carry them through spinning fans using Tactical Time Dilation again. Power the consoles to extend a bridge across the gap — but be warned, that same bridge lets enemies cross to you. Clear them out before you take the elevator upward.
Confronting Augustine de Vries
In the end, the faint voices of Auntie’s Choice and Order representatives can be heard coming from the end of the hallway. Grab supplies, save your game manually, and head toward the central chamber — this is where the course of action comes together.
As rampant action plays out, Augustine turns to you to greet you. She is calm, however, even in the midst of insanity. You can shoot her first immediately, but most players are so annoyed by her after ten years they want to at least hear a retort.
She states that rifts consume the Arcadia system and the rift modulator is said to be the only thing that will stop it. Her motive, she says, is not to seek power, but rather for preservation, but only if The Order are the leaders. She denounces the peace talks as a “stall tactic,” that will ultimately lead to all of our doom.
If Niles is there, he quickly gets angry and demands that you kill her. Depending on the choices you made during earlier dialogues, you may be able to tame him, or you may not.
Here’s where the story splits:
- If you side with Augustine: She executes both delegates, hands you her encrypted data, and disappears into the void. Unless you persuade Niles otherwise, he’ll turn on you immediately. The alliance collapses before it ever begins.
- If you oppose her: You end her life, saving the delegates. Later, their factions form a shaky but hopeful ceasefire. It’s not harmony — but it’s something.
Escape and Aftermath
Once it’s over, the rift expands violently, tearing the station apart. Grab Augustine’s gear — her rifle, The Simplifier, is worth the trouble. It’s absurdly powerful, boasting pinpoint precision and zero range drop-off even across 25,000 meters.
Alarms scream as the walls disintegrate. Follow the new escape paths back to your ship, sprinting through collapsing corridors. Launch into orbit and watch the Greater Tranquility Station get swallowed whole.
From then on, a burning rift scar marks every sky across the system — a reminder of what happened here.
If Niles made it out alive, talk to him once things settle. His reaction depends on how you handled Augustine — whether you ended her, spared her, or followed her path. Either way, this moment changes your crew forever.
