The second Side Job in Panam’s Side Job questline, this will begin a good while after Riders on the Storm ends. Before you start it, keep a lookout for the Side Job [I’ll Fly Away] that’ll appear near the Mobile Camp fast travel terminal in the Badlands. It’ll appear a generic “undiscovered” quest on your map, but when you see it, you should head over and take care of it, as you’ve a short window of opportunity to complete it.

After some time passes you’ll get a call from Panam, asking you to return to the Aldecaldo camp for another Saul-related emergency. Find Panam and you’ll find her doing what she does best - arguing with Saul. After he storms off, get details about Panam’s next scheme, then go meet up with the clan’s vets, who seem united behind Panam on this particular issue. Agree to help, then, if you want to finish Panam’s Side Job questline and remain on good terms with her, respond with [Stand] “I’m riding with.” to eliminate any temptation to be a narc. All you have to do now is ride with Panam to an abandoned train station. You can engage in small talk on the ride over or not, as you prefer, either way, the job will continue under the header Commandeering a Train.

Sabotaging Panam’s Plan¶

If you want to keep your options open, you can also opt to tell Panam [Stand] “We’ll meet there.”, which will allow you to meet up with Panam at the train station at your leisure. Other than this petty freedom, however, it’ll also allow you to sabotage the entire job by finding Saul and telling him of Panam’s plan:

• “Panam’s got no idea I’m here.”
  • “Panam swayed Cassidy and the others.”
    • “Plan makes no sense.”
    • “Worried about Panam.”
    • [Nomad] “No “sides” here. The good of the clan - that’s what count.”
  • “Rather not interfere.”
• “Idea with the Basilisk - it’s shit.”
  • “Panam swayed Cassidy and the others.”
    • “Plan makes no sense.”
    • “Worried about Panam.”
    • [Nomad] “No “sides” here. The good of the clan - that’s what count.”
  • “Rather not interfere.”

If you talk to Saul and start to tattle, you can only abort by saying “Rather not interfere.”. Any other option will lead to you ratting out Panam and preventing you from completing the quest normally. After this the objective will change, and some time later you’ll get an angry call from Panam. Following this you’ll get a message from Saul, who, at length, tells you to pick up a vehicle from the Sunset Motel as thanks. This will score you the Shion “Coyote”, but you will not be able to complete Panam’s Side Job questline or romance her.

Commandeering a Train¶

Once there, you’ll get another timed dialogue option that doesn’t matter, after which you can choose to chat with the nomad vets… Which also doesn’t matter. Follow Panam into the control tower [Technical Ability 3], then upstairs to a control room near the top of the tower. When Panam reaches the top, she’ll confer with Carol, who tells you that you need to find some punch cards.

From the stairs, turn left and enter a room and note some “Locomotive Controls’’ over to the right. Ignore them for now and turn left, go through a doorway, and search a cabinet drawer on the floor to find the punch cards you’re after. Talk to Panam and she’ll ask Carol for directions, after which return to the previous room and use the Locomotive Controls terminal you were forced to ignore earlier.

Romancing Panam¶

Return to Panam and finally you’ll have a meaningful series of dialogue choices. If you start out with [Stand by window] “Missed you.” you should set yourself up for a future romance whatever you say next. Pick anything else and Panam will ask why you’ve been helping her out:

• “Know it’s important to you.”
• “Wanna see how it plays out.”
• “Not doing it for free.”
• “What, trust issues, again?”

If you want to romance Panam, you must avoid saying you’re helping her for a reward. There’s really not a lot of ways to mess this up - as long as you avoid picking “Not doing it for free.” you should be fine.

After your chat, head downstairs. You’ll get a text from Saul regarding Panam, but you don’t really get any impactful options, nor does ignoring it affect anything, so respond (or not) as you wish. When Panam arrives, sit down by the fire and after some time passes you’ll chat with Panam and the vets. The only thing that really matters here is a dialogue choice that’ll come after you declare that you’re going to try to sleep:

• [Scooch closer] “Gotten kinda cold.”
• “Can tell you won’t be getting any sleep.”
• “ Wake me if anything happens.“
• “Mad at me?”

You will only get the option “Mad at me?” if romance with Panam is off the table, which only seems to be possible at this point if you picked the dialogue option “Not doing it for free.” up in the control tower earlier. Otherwise you should see [Scooch closer] “Gotten kinda cold.”, which should mean romance with Panam is still possible. Note that you don’t actually have to pick the dialogue option [Scooch closer] “Gotten kinda cold.” to romance Panam - as long as you see it, you should be good.

Finish your small talk, do some star-gazing, toast Scorpion… whatever you wish. Eventually you’ll get a nap in and time will skip forward.

The Basilisk Heist¶

However your chat with the nomads went, you’ll be roused at dawn. Get in Panam’s truck and ride with her until a complication demands your attention. The train is going too slow, and you need to shoot the coupler between the two white train cars to detach one. Or not, because it’s an optional objective and doesn’t have any bearing on the outcome of this job.

Shoot the coupler or not, and keep an eye out for two drones which will fly by. You can shoot them down, or just wait until you reach the convoy and take shots at the Militech troopers who emerge to defend your prize. Whether you shoot down the drones, fill some Militech troopers with holes, or you mix and match, once the turret has gunned down two foes it’ll malfunction, forcing you to get out of the truck and fight the rest of the convoy on foot. There are around a dozen Militech troopers and two drones, minus whatever you killed with the turret, and the nomad vets do a fine job of keeping these numbers manageable.

Defeat the Militech forces, then get back in the truck with Panam, who will drive you back to the Aldecaldo camp. She’ll have a shouting match with Saul, after which you can chat with her to finish the job.

The next and final Side Job in this questline, [Queen of the Highway] will begin after some time passes - just skip forward about a day and wait for a call from Panam.