Missing sentry — stalker

Major, I have a favor to ask. Our sentry isn't responding. You know where the grocery store used to be? That's where the signal is coming from. Investigate it if you can. One other thing: be careful. Over and out.

Kovalsky

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Missing sentry is a main mission in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Description

This mission is obtained after securing the unidentified weapon from the Monolith Preacher and recovering the Documents concerning item 62 from Zaton, though it is obtained in two different ways depending on the player's progress so far:

If Missing recon unit was completed before the player goes to Zaton, the mission is obtained as soon as the player returns to Pripyat.
Alternatively, if the player traveled to Zaton before completing Missing recon unit, the mission is obtained after finding Captain Klimenko's squad.

Kovalsky wants the player to locate one of his men, Lieutenant Stetsenko, who has gone missing. According to Kovalsky, his last known position was the Grocery Store. Once the player approaches the grocery store, they can hear Stetsenko yelling and shooting. However, there is nothing around him, and it turns out he's seemingly crazy. Stetsenko eventually shoots himself once the player approaches.

If the player approaches Stetsenko's body to investigate, a Controller appears in the back room and attacks the player. When the controller is killed, Degtyarev reports to Kovalsky, saying Stetsenko killed himself, and he killed a controller near him. Kovalsky then deduces the Controller most certainly killed Captain Klimenko's squad by manipulating the soldiers into shooting each other. The mission ends there.

Reward

There is no reward nor consequence for completing the mission. Even though Kovalsky tells the player he can take more ammunition from Kirillov, if the player took two types before the mission, they won't be able to get more until they complete more missions.

Trivia

In rare cases, Stetsenko might be killed before the player approaches him by wandering mutants, usually Pseudodogs. This does not impact the mission, however, and the Controller will still appear once the player approaches the body. Likewise, one can kill Stetsenko and still trigger the controller ambush by approaching his body.
An unique dialogue is triggered if the player investigates the body but does not kill the controller, and run far away enough. Degtyarev contacts Kovalsky to tell him Stetsenko killed himself, and he found a controller but had to retreat. Kovalsky then says the controller cannot be left alive after what he've done, and instructs the Major to kill him. The dialogue is unique in that there is no cutscene, and the player still has full control of the character during the dialogue - this is the only time in the game where the protagonist is heard speaking out of a cutscene.