No Outer Worlds game is complete without a couple of memorable companions, and The Outer Worlds 2 gives you plenty of them. Niles Abara — your initial companion and the one who rescues you after your ten-year absence — has more emotional baggage than he’s willing to admit. His initial companion quest, Pressing Cares, delves deep into that backstory and allows you to assist him in confronting it head-on.
How to Unlock the Pressing Cares Quest
Unlike most side quests, Pressing Cares doesn’t originate from a map marker or NPC hub — Niles needs to bring it up himself. To unlock it, have him actively be in your party while you explore.
The quest will generally begin after you’ve hung out for a bit around Fairfields. Being that close to Augustine de Vries brings up some memories in Niles, and he’ll eventually summon you. When you notice a dialogue icon above his head, approach him and converse with him to initiate the quest.
Niles describes that some years back, he collaborated with a fellow by the name of Zebulon, an ally and friend. Their collaboration ended when Zeb wanted to take their struggle against the Protectorate to another level, but Niles needed to keep his cover intact just in case de Vries would find out that he was alive. He went into hiding without explanation, and now he wishes to make amends.
Finding Zebulon
Zeb is hiding well north of Fairfields, in a flooded area known as Westport. Notwithstanding its name, Westport lies on the eastern shore of the southern island and was once the chief Protectorate city. When Auntie’s Choice took over, the place was evacuated and partly flooded — ironically making one of the most secure hideaways on Paradise Island.
Your destination is the flooded area just prior to the water purification plant, not the city itself. Proceed with caution as you get there — Crabbles infest the water-logged ruins. Kill them off or sneak past to access Zeb’s hideout.
When you encounter Zeb, let Niles have his say. The conversation is more of his than yours. Zeb will eventually ask you to save a group known as the Subversives — former Protectorate citizens who’ve been taken while attempting to deliver a cipher to Zeb.
Rescuing the Subversives
As you’re about to go, Zeb instructs you to use his call sign so that the Subversives will know you’re with them. The twist? He never actually tells you what it is — but Niles already knows. So you have to bring Niles with you on this mission.
The Subversives are detained just outside the Protectorate landing site, along the Vox Relay. If you haven’t opened up the route beyond the Bridge of the Reverent yet, you’ll need to sneak in through the northeast corner of the map. There should be a sunken ship in the water — you’ll need the P.A.L.E. Boots (from the “A Final Death for Gravity” quest) to double jump onto it and make it to the northern island.
Once you get there, the landing pad is a no-go area. Soldiers will shoot on sight, so choose to sneak or go loud — it won’t change the outcome of the quest.
Make your way to the rear of the pad to locate the Subversives’ holding cell. The place is uncannily quiet, but when you approach the cell, you’ll see that only one member — Audra — made it through.
Audra informs us that the Protectorate took them captive before they could bring back the cipher to Zeb. She’s already gotten it back, but won’t escape. Rather, she intends to blow up the ship she’s on, taking herself out along with Protectorate high commanders and passing off the explosion as a maintenance accident.
You can attempt to reason her out of it with an Engineering, Explosives, or Speech check, but if you fail those, she is steadfast. Niles agrees with her decision and, in the end, helps her rig up the detonation himself.
You can also get a guard who has the key to the cell, but even when you open it, Audra will not leave. After saying her final thank you, the ship explodes — destroying her, and the Protectorate officers, along with it.
Back in Zeb
When you go back to Zeb’s safehouse, he immediately inquires as to what became of the Subversives. The dialogue cuts to a shot of the burning ship in the air — and if you possess the Explosives skill, you can remark on why it happened. Either way, everyone knows what occurred.
Be sympathetic when you reply. Cold or callous replies make both you and Niles seem uncaring.
Zeb is distraught but accepts that Audra and the others did not die in vain — they succeeded in bringing back the cipher. With that, he makes up with Niles and gives him an old Mod Kit he had kept for him years ago.
