Hatchet

Hatchet
Icon
Affiliation	Mercenaries
Equipment	Exoskeleton TRs 301 w/ SUSAT scope and silencer Walker P9m RGD-5 grenade
Related missions	Food Guarding the scientists
Technical
Class	zat_b103_lost_merc_leader

Then again, we'll wait here until the client's courier shows up - the air is a hell of a lot fresher here.
― Hatchet's message to Hook

Hatchet (also named "Slasher" in some translations) is a mercenary who appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Background

Hatchet is part of a Mercenary expedition into the Zone led by Jackal that aims at finding the location of Lab X-8 on the behalf of an unknown client. He was stationed at the Substation Workshop in Zaton with a group comprised of himself, Goblin, Tank, Mug, Kirzach, Oak, Pianist and Mower. He and his team eventually ran out of food supplies, leaving them stranded at the workshop.

Appearances

Call of Pripyat

Hatchet is found at the Substation Workshop in Zaton. Of note, he is the only Mercenary leader who is neutral or friendly towards the player. He gives a quest requesting the player bring him six food items so that he can supply his men to replace lost rations. If the player accepts and finishes the quest, Hatchet allows him access to the camp, as well as to the blowout shelter in the back area (in the event of a blowout, the Mercenaries will sometimes lock the door on the player if he isn't quick enough - likewise, if the player gets in quick enough they can sometimes lock out the Mercs). As requested by Hatchet, the player must keep their weapons holstered in the camp, otherwise the mercenaries will turn hostile without any prior warning.

This is somewhat important as some of the Mercenaries are camping beside a kit of Tools for fine work, which can be turned in to Cardan for Tier 2 upgrades quite early in the game. The peaceful route is far more attractive than slugging it out with Hatchet and his veteran Mercs, especially early in the game. One might also give food first, but then engage the Mercenaries from witin their camp using it's linear structure to line up the enemies for easy kills from behind cover. Backstabbing the camp in this way can supply the player with a decent amount of NATO weaponry and a scope in the early game.

One can also opt to wait until later in the game, where Hatchet and his men may eventually lose a battle of attrition with the bandits that routinely march past his outpost - but again, the price of admission is incredibly low for the reward inside.

Killing other mercenaries, other than the ones in his squad, will not damage one's reputation with Hatchet.

Later in the story, they can be hired as an alternative to Duty, Freedom, or Spartacus when the Ecologists need new guards to replace Black's unit. The Loners in the area admit that Hatchet is quite popular amongst the population due to his relatively kind and forgiving nature, and think he'd make a better fit with his more rational approach to security. They immediately become friendly to the player, and even welcome him onto the top of the Lab - though there's nothing of value up there anyways. The rest of Hatchet's squad can be interacted with but they have nothing important to say. Hatchet can also be asked about traveling to Pripyat, but politely declines, stating his only mission is to keep Topol and the other Ecologists safe.

If the player does not recruit Hatchet for the bunker, then he and his men will disappear from the premises after the mission Pripyat 1 is completed, most likely in search of Lab X-8. They will never be seen again.

Related missions

• Food: Hatchet asks the player to deliver him six items of food so that he can replenish his team's supplies.
• Guarding the scientists: Hatchet is one of the potential candidates for guarding the scientists' bunker after Black's team goes rogue.

Notes

• He also appears to go by the name of "Tesak", as mentioned in Hook's PDA.
  • "Tesak" is Russian for fascine knife.
• There is a slight bug in Hatchet's scripting that has him attack the player if one exits the area of the workshop with a weapon drawn. This can be simply avoided by holstering one's weapon when Hatchet orders the player to do so.
• When asked, Loners, Bandits, and Colonel Kovalsky tell the player that a military unit (most likely the Stingray 3 survivors, given the proximity of the crash site) had a little battle with Hatchet and his men. However, the military backed off probably thinking that the battle was worthless. There were no casualties on either team.
• Hatchet leads a squad of seven men in Zaton, but once he moves to the scientists' bunker, he only has four men under his command; Kirzach, Tank and Mug will have disappeared, never to be seen again.