Killed "The Ticking Crocodile", not knowing what it was (located in a pond, just N.West of the quest-giver & the Outpost camp). The Ratwork Model VIII spawned immediately upon killing gator.
Croc dropped alligator egg and a peridot. Grabbed quest while ratwork was still up, but it would not accept the powercore, as I had not yet completed Step 1:
Kill the Ticking Crocodile to free Ratwork Model VIII. There's Step 2 & 3 also, but even tho gator was dead, there was doing the quest out of order. No idea what those steps are. Ratwork despawned, maybe 3-5 minutes after popping from corpse. It is an unengageable NPC (tried to kill it in frustration for not accepting my powercore :P).