What worked for me: 1. Teleport to Fleet 2. Reset the quest 3. Reset the phase 4. Do the quest again (this time he was the in cave)

I think it is offline https://www.swtor.com/server-status

The quicktravel cost is not a credit sink it is just an annoyance. What would be really great is to add unlocking collections (or any other cartel coin exclusive unlock) for a large amount of credits.