Chapter XXI: Operation Minotaur, Battle Preparations

Pripyat Outskirts was a daunting experience for Boris Unforgiven. In his former life, he had been to only as far as Red Forest, and only briefly then too. Limansk had been the largest place he had visited in the Zone, but it had been abandoned by all except mercs and Monoliths. The Outskirts had towering Soviet concrete housing blocks as far as the eye could see, yet nature and the Zone had bent the city to its will. Right after their arrival Rogue had guided them to the laundromat local stalkers called home, and they had met the legendary stalker Strelok.

Strelok had not looked like much to Boris, if he was being honest, seemingly a man of few words and unassuming at first glance. Yet Boris knew he was standing in front of a Zone legend, a man who had also gone through the same gauntlets at Miracle Machine and Brain Scorcher years before and faced even more horrors. He also felt once more a tinge of pride within himself, something he had not felt in quite some time after becoming renegade. He had been the lowliest creature in the Zone, a rookie renegade once, hunted by even his own allies, yet now he stood here with the Zone legends.

Strelok explained the situation. His group had encountered some issues with a Monolith warrior called Eidolon, and thanks to Boris, they now had something to hopefully fight him. Boris could see he was not sharing everything he knew, but it was all fine to him. Boris had his own plans too, and Strelok would not learn of them as long as Boris lived. Neither would Rogue, Dushman or anyone else. Dima... well, he was to be seen. He had proven himself capable, and he was just the type Boris was looking for, but Boris needed to be able to trust him fully to share with him his plan. Only Dimuha and Vityukha knew of it so far, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Strelok, like Dushman before him, needed something from Boris, clearly as a sign of loyalty. He had some bad blood with mercs apparently, perhaps a merc somewhere had left quite the scar on him. Strelok needed Boris to get him some documents from a lab here in the Outskirts, those being the main reason for them being here in the first place. Great, Boris thought, yet another tunnel crawl, but taciturnly agreed. It wasn't like he had much of a choice. He'd done great deal of work for Dushman so far and was a fully-fledged mercenary, but mercenaries didn't take particularly well to failing missions.

Boris however managed to negotiate a few days for himself to discuss the mission with high-ranking mercenaries, to gather intel and prepare for the mission. Strelok was intrigued by the proposal, but agreed once Boris said that Strelok and he both knew going unprepared into labs was a death sentence. Boris could see that despite Strelok being distrustful of mercs, he seemed to somewhat trust Boris. Perhaps it was the similar experiences they had shared that led to this. Whatever it was, Boris was glad to have it. Strelok seemed to be a formidable ally, and Boris could also gather intel for his plan much better if allied to such a legendary stalker.

Boris and Dima were about to head out to visit a merc outpost that Aslan had mentioned earlier to Boris for intel when Rogue mentioned to Boris that he should meet their groups third member, Stitch. Boris did so, and met the group medic downstairs. Much more friendly than his two companions, Stitch and Boris discussed things for a while and Boris agreed to bring him all the extra medical supplies he found along the way for some additional knowledge on field medication and healing. Boris also visited the local traders and replenished his ammunition situation, while Dima repaired some issues with his KS-23, the bloodsucker they met earlier had scratched it throughly.

Finally heading out after all the preparations, Boris and Dima found the merc outpost after some quick skirmishes with dogs and zombies, nothing the two veterans couldn't handle. They were greeted by a squad of mercenaries seemingly exhausted and undersupplied. Seeing their badges, the mercenaries inside seemed to become a lot more tense. Boris could see one of them draw a weapon while other one nodded at him angrily to put it away. Boris glanced quickly at Dima, the merc nodding slightly to show he had seen it too. One of the mercenaries led them to a backroom, where a group of well-equipped mercenaries were resting.

Boris greeted them and approached their commander. He seemed to be quite anxious as well, and asked quickly what the pair was doing here. He relaxed instantly as Boris told them that they were working, for the time being, as subcontractors for Strelok. They continued the conversation quite formally, the man introducing himself as Griffin, until Boris told him that they were heading to Lab X-8. Griffin quickly became interested in the mission, and while Boris refused to give solid information on it, he seemed to become a lot less relaxed as Boris went on.

Griffin asked Boris and Dima what they thought of Dushman. Boris answered that he was just another boss for him, while Dima spat at the mention of that name and told Griffin that Dushman was one of the main reasons his squad was now dead. Boris looked at Dima, interested, but Dima gave him the "not now"-look. Griffin lowered his voice and told them that he had been sent here to raid X-8 but the mission had went bad quite quickly. He could not return to Dushman empty-handed, and did not have the resources to send his men to raid the lab again and care for the wounded simultaneously. But if the pair was heading down there anyway, maybe they could retrieve the documents he was looking for for him. He'd reward them handsomely of course.

Boris discussed this with Dima, and they agreed on the proposal. Boris told Griffin that he might have an idea about the payment later on. Griffin seemed confused but nodded. Dima raised his eyebrows at Boris, and it was his time to give Dima the "not now"-look. Griffin gave them the details on the documents he was looking for. Dima wanted to check what kind of guns the trader here was selling, so Boris headed towards the Yubileiny service center alone ahead of him to prepare for the raid. The preparations were finally over, the time for action and bloodshed had arrived. Once more into those accursed labs, Boris thought to himself and sighed.