One shot, one kill
One shot is a mission given by Colonel Kovalsky in Call of Pripyat.
Summary
After being informed of the mercenary presence in Pripyat by Garry, Kovalsky requests that Major Degtyarev , along with Lieutenant Kirillov, ambush the mercenaries and kill one of the commanders. The meet takes place in the vicinity of the Apartment Complex court yard.
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 GP 37; distinguishing him by his equipment is your 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.
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 the SVD, take out Jackal, Serbin, or better yet, both.
Rewards
Apart from the sniper rifle which you get for free, Kovalsky will give you 10 7.62x54mm 7N1 rounds if you kill none or only one of the two targets, and 30 if you kill both. If you killed Serbin, search his corpse for a Red Keycard to unlock the armory near X8's entrance.
This also makes you friendly with the rest of the military survivors, which makes them slightly more tolerant with friendly fire.
Notes
- Rarely, a wandering mutant may disrupt the meet and cause it to fail. It is advised that you clear out the area of the apartment complex before undertaking this mission. A Bloodsucker is known to roam near the apartments.
- You can switch to any weapon you have in your inventory for the job, preferably a Gauss gun or a heavily modified Lynx, and even an RPG-7. Tide is also a good choice, as it will allow you to quickly kill both targets without alerting the guards to your 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 you 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 you 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 you 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 Lieutenant Kirillov confirms that both targets are in place, the game will count that the player only killed one of the targets.