The Communications Group Hermes mission in the From The Ashes DLC is part of the Sabotage RDA Operations questline. The RDA is building a high-altitude antenna network to boost long-range communications, and your job is to dismantle the entire system by destroying three Hawk posts, sabotaging Camp Messenger, and finally eliminating a Dragon Gunship at Fort Hermes.
How to start Communications Group Hermes at Rising Spires
Step 1: Travel to the Rising Spires region, found southeast of the Hometree in Silk Woods. Approaching this area automatically triggers the mission.
Step 2: After you arrive, Teylan contacts you and explains that the RDA has set up a relay communications network using a chain of high-altitude antennas. He lays out three objectives: destroy the nearby Hawk posts, take out Camp Messenger, and then assault Fort Hermes.
From this point, the quest splits into three major tasks. You can tackle the Hawk posts in any order, but Camp Messenger and Fort Hermes act as the mid- and late-mission anchors.
Destroy the three Hawk posts (Hawk Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie)
The first phase focuses on three outlying relay sites: Hawk Alpha, Hawk Bravo, and Hawk Charlie. All three share the same basic structure and objectives, but are heavily defended.
Step 1: Fly or travel to any of the Hawk posts. Expect large numbers of RDA soldiers and mechs at each site, so arrive prepared for sustained combat.
Step 2: At each Hawk post, use your Na'vi sense to highlight critical machinery if you have trouble spotting it. Your targets are the generator fuse boxes, the maintenance system, and the batteries that keep the antenna infrastructure running.
Step 3: Destroy the generator fuse boxes to cut primary power. These are typically mounted on or near key structures within the outpost.
Step 4: Overload the maintenance system once it becomes interactable. This usually involves activating or sabotaging a panel that forces the system to fail.
Step 5: Destroy the batteries associated with the relay systems. Again, Na'vi sense is useful for picking them out among the clutter of RDA equipment.
When all three conditions are met at a Hawk post, that node of the network goes offline. Repeat the process for Hawk Alpha, Hawk Bravo, and Hawk Charlie. Once all three are disabled, the mission shifts focus to Camp Messenger.
Sabotage Camp Messenger
Camp Messenger is a larger communications hub that coordinates the antenna network. The goal here is to expose and destroy three key antennas and then reboot the system to finish the job.
Step 1: Travel to Camp Messenger and clear the RDA troops guarding the area. Treat this as a full combat encounter; reinforcements may show up during your sabotage work, so thinning the camp early makes everything easier.
Step 2: Find the facility’s maintenance system. A switch marked by the quest objective unlocks it. Interact with the switch to expose additional weak points and reveal the antenna-related targets.
Step 3: Locate the first antenna inside the camp. Use the quest marker to navigate, then use your knife on the control section to overload it. When an antenna goes into overload, the two batteries linked to it become destructible. Destroy both batteries to fully neutralize that antenna.
Step 4: Repeat the process for the second antenna: follow the marker, overload it with your knife, then destroy its two batteries. Expect fresh waves of RDA soldiers while you work; stay mobile and prioritize enemies who can interrupt you at close range.
After two antennas are down, the mission shifts slightly and asks you to reboot the system before you can finish off the last antenna.
Reboot the system at Camp Messenger
Step 1: Follow the new quest marker to a small control room where the reboot can be performed. The door to this room is damaged and cannot be opened from the front.
Step 2: Mount your Ikran and circle the structure from the outside. Use your Na'vi sense to find a fuse box located inside the room but visible through an opening. Shoot this fuse box from outside to unlock the jammed door.
Step 3: Enter the control room through the now-unlocked door and pull the backup switch to reboot the system. This resets the base’s internal logic and allows you to continue sabotaging the remaining hardware.
Step 4: Head to the third and final antenna. Overload it with your knife and destroy its two batteries as before. Once this last antenna is destroyed, Camp Messenger is effectively taken offline, and your focus moves to Fort Hermes.
Attack Fort Hermes and bring down the Dragon Gunship
Fort Hermes is the main relay stronghold and the most complex part of the mission. A Dragon Gunship circles the area and uses navigation beacons to maintain its position in the rough weather, making those beacons your first priority.
Disable the navigation beacons
Step 1: Approach Fort Hermes and identify the main control room. A quest marker leads you to a computer terminal outside this room that can expose the navigation beacons used by the Dragon.
Step 2: Interact with the control system to activate or reveal the beacons. These appear around the fort as designated objectives.
Step 3: Move between the beacon locations and disable the active ones. Only some of the panels will be available at a given time; look for the terminals that are in an active state and use them to disrupt the Dragon’s navigation.
With the beacons disabled, the Dragon’s engines become vulnerable, and you can begin physically dismantling the gunship.
Expose and destroy all four Dragon engines
The Dragon has four engines mounted on its frame. Each one must be exposed manually and then destroyed, and each time you succeed the navigation system recovers, forcing you to repeat the beacon process.
Step 1: Call your Ikran and fly up to the Dragon Gunship. When you’re close enough, jump from your mount onto the gunship itself.
Step 2: Move along the hull until you reach one of the engines. Each engine has a nearby button or panel. Interact with the button to open the engine’s protective housing and expose the weak point.
Step 3: Once the engine is exposed, attack it with ranged weapons until it explodes. This disables one quarter of the gunship’s propulsion.
After the first engine is destroyed, the Dragon’s navigation signal comes back online, and the game re-enables the beacon loop.
Step 4: Return to the fort, disrupt the reactivated navigation beacons again through the marked terminals, then mount your Ikran, jump back on the Dragon, expose the next engine, and destroy it.
Step 5: Repeat this full cycle—disable beacons, board the Dragon, expose an engine, and destroy it—until all four engines are destroyed. Expect heavy anti-air fire and ground resistance while you move between the fort and the gunship.
When the fourth engine is destroyed, a cutscene triggers. The Dragon spirals out of control and crashes into Fort Hermes, wiping out the facility and completing the final objective of Communications Group Hermes.
Rewards and progression after Communications Group Hermes
Finishing Communications Group Hermes removes the last major piece of the RDA relay network in this questline and significantly cuts their communication capabilities in the region. It also contributes to overall mission completion in From The Ashes and pushes forward the broader Sabotage RDA Operations chain.
After the mission ends, check your inventory and quest log for new equipment and story updates linked to the sabotage effort. With Fort Hermes destroyed, you can move on to the remaining side operations and main story quests that build on the fallout from the relay network’s collapse.
