Stalker 2: Sheriff

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

Using advice from the local one legged technician I activate a number of radio towers to triangulate Squint's position (the idiot left his PDA tracking beacon on) and reclaim the Ward device he stole but not my own as he no longer has it, claiming he sent in on to his boss whom I learn (from Ward, in exchange for returning their doohickey) is some crime lord based in a depot at Garbage.

By the time I get there the depot has been wiped out by Ward soldiers led by a Colonel with a really long name so I'll just call him Colonel K, but the bandit boss man isn't among them. I offer to help track him down as it might be easier as someone without their badge and the Colonel accepts, suggesting I ask around at the neutral tenements of Slag Heap on his whereabouts.

Turns out he was captured by a rival crime lord so I end up fighting this batch of bandits to free the bozo, only to discover he has already expired in his cell. A hidden note on his person leaves a clue that he was dealing with someone from the Monolith faction and upon hearing this Colonel K deputizes me with a borrowed badge and sends me off to Wild Island, to get more information from the Noontiders... who are all ex-Monolith. This is because he is actually working with SIRCAA, and the scanner I was bringing was ultimately meant to get to them.