One Shot

One Shot
Details
Given by	Colonel Kovalsky
Target	Jackal Serbin
Reward	SVDm-2 10-30 7.62x54mm 7N1 rounds

Wait... I had a rather unpleasant experience I wanna share... Some mercs asked me to lead them to Pripyat. Initially they won me over with a juicy fee, but I soon realized I was in the brown stuff... They didn't let me out of their sight for a second and threatened me at gunpoint. I managed to escape as we approached Pripyat but they're bound to be in the city by now, so be careful.
― Garry

One Shot is a side mission mission given by Colonel Kovalsky in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Summary

This mission can be triggered at any time after acquiring the Documents concerning item 62 from the Testing Workshop. Approaching Garry in the Laundromat will trigger a dialog in which Garry informs the player that he was forced to escort a group of Mercenaries in Pripyat, but managed to escape. He then tells that he heard the encounter was taking place in the nearby Apartment Complex.

Afterwards, the player can go speak to Kovalsky regarding the incident. Depending on the player's progress in the Mercenary Camp and Kopachy side missions, the player can tell the Colonel that the Mercenaries meeting is confirmed to be true by both Yar and the Mercenary notebook. Kovalsky then asks Lieutenant Kirillov to escort the Major near the meeting place.

The player is then teleported to an apartment near the complex, where they are given a SVDm-2 for the mission.

The ambush

At first Jackal, a mercenary commander, will appear out along with a large retinue of mercenaries. Contrary to Kirillov's statement: Jackal is NOT the person guarding the door - he is actually the one patrolling the area. Note that Jackal is using a Mercenary Exoskeleton and is equipped with a GP37; distinguishing him by his equipment is the best option to single out Jackal in the event two or more mercenaries clad in Exoskeletons appear.

The second group to appear is Serbin's group, all of whom are clad in SSP-99M suits. He is by far the easiest to distinguish amongst the bunch as he is the only one in his group not brandishing a weapon when he appears. He's also usually the first person in the group to appear.

Once Serbin has arrived, the two commanders will meet at the center of the apartment courtyard. Jackal will stand on the left side and Serbin will stand on the right. Using a sniper rifle, take out Jackal, Serbin, or better yet, both.

Rewards

Apart from the sniper rifle which the player gets for free, Kovalsky will give 10 7.62x54mm 7N1 rounds if the players kill none or only one of the two targets, and 30 if they kill both. If the player killed Serbin, search his corpse for a Red Keycard to unlock the armory near the Lab X-8 entrance.

This also makes the player friendly with the rest of the military survivors, which makes them slightly more tolerant with friendly fire during the final mission.

The choice of the player affects the Mercs spawn post-Evacuation.

• If Jackal and Serbin were killed, Mercenaries only spawn with Experienced loadouts. They can be found quite commonly wandering around the city, in landmarks such as the School.
• If Jackal was killed, Mercenaries will regularly spawn around the Service Center and the School. They mostly spawn with Experienced/Veteran loadouts, but may also spawn with Expert loadout.
• If Serbin was killed, Mercenaries will spawn all over the city, travelling in groups of two to four. They use all their possible loadout, ranging from TRs 301 to GP37s and FT-200Ms.

Notes

• Rarely, a wandering mutant may disrupt the meet and cause it to fail. It is advised to clear out the area of the apartment complex before undertaking this mission. A Bloodsucker is known to roam near the apartments.
• It is possible to switch to any weapon for the job, preferably a Gauss rifle or a heavily modified Lynx, and even an RPG-7. The Tide is also a good choice, as it will allow the player to quickly kill both targets without alerting the guards to their position (and thus provoking return fire). In this case, the guards simply walk away.
• The mission can be skipped if the player answers "I don't have time for this" to Kovalsky. There is no direct impact on the main questline and Barchuck's body with his PDA will still be found near the elevator at Yubileiny Service Center, however the player will never get the Red Keycard for access to the armory inside Lab X-8.
• The phrase "one shot" is a reference to a phrase commonly used by snipers: "One shot, One kill."
• There's a bug that sometimes will not register either kill so the player will only get 10 7.62x54mm 7N1 rounds.
• Two of the mercenaries are carrying RPG-7s.
• If a mercenary survives, he runs to a window in the apartment complex and stands there where one can easily kill him with a headshot as he does not turn around immediately.
• If the player decides to kill one of the targets before Kirillov confirms that both targets are in place, the game will count that the player only killed one of the targets.