Dark Waters is the Critical mission that finally puts Zero Company in the same room as Kundri Fathom. It sits on the Holotable in the Den rather than triggering automatically after a cutscene, so the campaign will sit still until you walk over and start it yourself.
Quick answer: Interact with the Holotable on the command deck, switch from the Operations tab to the Missions tab, select Dark Waters at Courtsilius, and confirm the launch with a four-operator squad.
What has to happen before Dark Waters appears
Dark Waters belongs to the Courtsilius stretch of the campaign, in the chapter titled Smugglers and Slugrats. It becomes available after the Republic Intelligence contract redirects the company away from Gorga’s debt and onto the Infinite Coil, and after the earlier Courtsilius work — including the Eavesdropping mission at the docks — has been cleared.
Once Bennic’s leads point at Takali Canal, the briefing shows up as Critical work on the Holotable. Critical is the label the game uses for Tactical Missions that push the story forward, which separates Dark Waters from the optional jobs competing for the same Cycle.
Note: Tactical Missions and Operations are time-limited and disappear permanently if they sit unclaimed for too long. Check the expiry timer on the briefing before you spend a Cycle somewhere else.
Dark Waters briefing details
The briefing screen carries everything you need to judge whether the squad is ready. Fathom is heading for the caverns beneath the Courtsilius undercity, and the objective is to intercept her there.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Critical (story) Tactical Mission |
| Chapter | Smugglers and Slugrats |
| Location | Courtsilius |
| Squad size | 4 Operators |
| Difficulty | Dangerous |
| Rewards | Random Superior Weapon Mod, +150 Den Level |
Dangerous is the middle rung of the three difficulty ratings, sitting between Risky and Extreme. It is a prompt to check the MedBay rather than a hard gate — nothing stops you launching with injured operators, but injuries stack toward permanent death.
How to launch Dark Waters from the Holotable
E to interact. The Holotable opens on the Operations tab by default, which lists the non-combat jobs that cost Intel — Ship Adrift and similar entries live here, and they are not what you want right now.
Squad requirements and the Cycle cost
Dark Waters takes four operators, and as a story mission it locks Hawks into the squad automatically. The remaining three slots are yours to fill from the roster, including custom recruits.
The bigger cost is time. Only one Tactical Mission can be played per Cycle, and completing it advances the clock. Anything else on the Holotable with a short expiry window should be resolved first, since Operations do not advance the Cycle and can be run alongside the same deployment.
Because the enemies here are Slugrats and Coil members rather than droids, ion weaponry and the Astromech’s droid-focused kit contribute very little. A Medic and a Heavy are the more useful picks for a long mission with multiple encounters.
How to confirm the mission has launched
Before you commit, the hub objective tracker in the Den names the current Critical step. During the Smugglers and Slugrats chapter it reads “Launch Mission: Dark Waters”, which is the clearest confirmation that the mission is live on the Holotable and that no earlier step is still outstanding.
Confirming the launch loads the squad into the alleyway approach above Takali Canal. From there the mission runs as two separate combat encounters connected by an exploration segment underground, ending with a cutscene once the Coil forces are dealt with.
Why Dark Waters may not show up
- You are on the wrong tab. The Operations list and the Missions list are separate; Dark Waters only appears under Missions.
- The Courtsilius chain is unfinished. The earlier Republic Intelligence leads, Eavesdropping included, have to be cleared before the canal briefing is offered.
- Intel is low. Intel is spent on Operations, not Tactical Missions, so a drained pool can block the Operations feeding the story chain without ever greying out the mission itself.
- The squad cannot field four operators. Injuries and MedBay recovery can leave you short of a deployable team even when the briefing is available.
One thing worth setting expectations on before you deploy: meeting Tel-Rea during Dark Waters does not add her to the roster. Her recruitment comes later, after the Smuggler’s Den raid in the Three Tower District, so there is no prompt to miss and nothing to replay if she walks away at the end of the mission.
