Chapter Eighteen: The Colonel

Artyom had organized the remainder of his effects, putting back every thing in their places on the shelves and desk. Letting out a long drawn breath, he had a feeling that he'd be gathering up these very same things again soon. There had been very little downtime now that he had become a part of the Order and external and surface missions were becoming more frequent as they fought to secure their new base. He'd set about trying to write down some of his report in his journal but found himself too distracted by the dire thoughts that had worried him earlier. He had set the grey uniform that Aleks had given him aside to bring down to the laundry room, and Ulman found him just as he was leaving his room to do so.

"Has the Colonel called for me?" Artyom stopped in the doorway and asked hopefully.

"Not yet. I was just coming to check on how you were doing. Got everything squared away?" Ulman asked without a hint of humor, making Artyom worry.

"I just need to get this uniform washed so I can give it back to Aleks. They had me wear it on the way to Polis." Artyom rubbed his fingers over the faded material of the uniform appreciatively.

"They?" Ulman fell into step beside Artyom and cued him to continue as they walked.

"Aleks is part of a clan, well, she's actually the leader. Or… is she officially the station master there, too? But then Nikolai—"

"Artyomka, you're doing that thing again." Ulman chuckled and bumped Artyom's shoulder with his own. "Thinking and talking."

"Sorry." Artyom took a breath and began again, more calm now that Ulman was being cordial again. "At Avtozavodskaya, Aleks runs a group of people; they call themselves Roten Spaten, it's German for Red Arrow. Named after the—"

"The train to St. Petersburg, yeah… Interesting." Ulman nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Yeah…?" Artyom wondered if Ulman had ever been on said train; judging by the man's pensive look, it was quite likely that he had. "Well, anyway, one of her people, Nikolai – she named him as her replacement, so I guess he runs the group now, or at least until she gets back."

"Oh? I thought she was staying for good." Ulman frowned.

"Why? Did Melnik say something about it?" Artyom asked with the same expectant tone in his voice, hoping Ulman had some knowledge about what he'd missed since he left her with Melnik.

"No, but why else would the Colonel have let her down here? Why would Hunter have given her the cartridge?" Ulman brainstormed aloud.

"What is it about these cartridges, anyway?" Artyom tensed angrily, completely forgetting about the issue at hand. "Is that what you're supposed to give to someone if you think you're going to die? Do you have one, too?"

"No. And no." Ulman wasn't being very helpful. Artyom couldn't read anything from his tone of voice, either.

"What then? Hunter gave one to me back when, well, you know. But he gave one to Aleks too, and it seemed like she knew exactly what it was about." Artyom still wondered what had been inside the capsule he was given. Aleks had told him that her cartridge had a paper with her and Hunter's signatures, but Artyom had never signed anything. Nothing was ever said about him becoming some sort of replacement for Hunter if he didn't return, yet here he was doing exactly that.

He still had no idea exactly why Hunter had chosen him to go to Polis with his message. It could have been just simple convenience; that Hunter was friends with his step-father, or that Artyom happened to be on patrol that night when he arrived, or because he had confessed his childhood secret when nobody else at VDNKh would speak with the ominous visitor. Maybe Hunter had seen something in him that he was still not aware of himself. Or, as he'd said, Artyom was the only one left at VDNKh with any sense, worm-eaten brains, or something to that effect. He couldn't remember it now.

"You should ask the Colonel about it, he can explain to you better than I can." Ulman patted him on the shoulder with a kind but apologetic expression.

They had reached the bottom floor where the laundry was done. Artyom went inside quickly and handed in his Roten Spaten uniform, wondering how much longer it would be until he was summoned to the office. There were just too many questions that needed answering, and it seemed that every time he began to wonder about one, other possibilities would obstruct his thoughts until they had all piled up hopelessly onto one another and it was impossible to keep on track. Was it time, yet?

As he exited the room, he realized that Ulman was speaking to a friend and decided to wait. Hopefully there would be further company and distraction.

"So, what, were they… together?" The unknown Ranger with his back to Artyom said under his breath.

"I don't know. I think— I have to go." Ulman replied in the same timbre, looking slightly alarmed by Artyom reappearing so suddenly. He quickly rejoined his company but Artyom wasn't ready to walk back just yet.

"Is everyone talking about it?" Artyom said with annoyance.

"You thought you could keep her all to yourself or something?" Ulman began with scowl, but then softened up and changed his tone. "Look, this is a big deal. It's not like Hunter opened up to many people in the first place… anyway, people want to know why."

"Why what?" Artyom threw his hands up, trying not to yell. "It's none of their business."

"It will be if she stays." Ulman replied almost in a whisper, taking Artyom firmly by the bicep and urging him to move on, possibly so that they could continue the conversation in private.

Artyom found himself again thinking that if Aleks were a man, nobody would think twice about the situation or what might happen because of it. There definitely didn't seem to be such a big deal when he'd become a Ranger and, if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't very good at it. Aleks, however, had been personally trained by Hunter; her skills in stealth and weaponry honed by his experience, her mind tempered by his eternally ominous outlook. If it turned out to be true that Aleks was to become a Spartan, she deserved the job well more than he did.

As they were reaching the top level there seemed to be more activity going on near the main command hall than there had been earlier. Most of the men running back and forth weren't in full battle dress, so either they were late to an evacuation drill, or the soldiers were in the midst of rearranging supplies. It wasn't uncommon for an area to be established for one thing and then be switched to a different area as more of the massive bunker was being explored and cleared. They had found an entire level of a warehouse filled with several recent models of artillery equipment, but it was too big to use in the tunnels for defense. Another sector had turned up several crates with weapons dating back to 1942 - sturdy bolt-action rifles, sub machine guns, marksman carbines, and three different types of Tokarev arms. Nobody had yet gone through to see if any of those were in working order, but whether D6 proved to be an armory or a museum, it was still an incredible find.

Artyom hadn't even noticed that there hadn't been any chatter on their way back upstairs until Ulman began saying he would go and see if the Colonel was ready for him yet. Once again he felt his stomach turn, wondering if he would see Aleks coming out from the hallway or if she was even still in there. He began also to hope that she was staying permanently, for more than a few reasons. Maybe she would teach him some of the things that Hunter had taught her, and then he might feel more useful or even worthy of his endorsement.

Ulman returned quickly and Artyom jumped to an uncomfortable position of attention, half expecting to see Melnik or Aleks walking behind him. He slackened after Ulman reached him and no one else followed.

"You can go in now." Ulman said flatly, giving him one last pat on the back and sending him off.

Again, the lack of humor in Ulman's voice made him nervous.

"Reporting as ordered, sir." Artyom said quietly, stepping tentatively into the small well-lit room and waiting for the Colonel to look up at him. Was he expecting him to be angry?

"Come in, Artyom. Have a seat and then you can tell me your side of the story." Melnik gestured to a padded chair across from himself, then moved his paperwork to the side and folded his arms together on the desk.

Artyom did as he was told, although somewhat hesitantly. He wanted to ask how long it had been since Aleks had left before he had come, but the Colonel's intent stare forced him to file through his memories and start his report at the beginning. Back three days ago, maybe four now, to the outpost at the Church.

"I-I'm not sure exactly when the commotion started outside the Church…" Artyom stammered, recalling his daydreams about the Dark Ones, but not wanting to include such talk in discussions with the Colonel as of yet. "I was standing guard at the spotlight, but I hadn't seen anything until someone called the alarm. I turned on the light and the others were already going out the door. Watchmen."

Melnik nodded his head slightly, but gave no hint of any expression that told what he was thinking.

"Soon, they were overrun and Grigori Igorevich told me to come down with my weapon and I did. We formed a circle right outside the door and closed it up. One of the watchmen tackled me, I guess I was dazed for a bit, every one spread out and they were still shooting. I was lying on the ground at the side of the road with my weapon but it was all going so fast. Next thing, a demon was screeching and Semyon Antonovich was telling me to run. We didn't look back, just ran. He said the others had made it down the road to Oktyabrskaya, but neither of us was certain."

"So, Semyon went with you?" Melnik said with surprise, sitting back and gesturing for Artyom to finish.

"Yes, but, after half a kilometer or so, he stopped. He gave me his pistol and told me how to get to Novokuznetskaya." Artyom paused, seeing in his mind the face of the rugged soldier coughing fitfully with sweat dripping into his eyes. "His mask was cracked open, and I didn't have another…"

"It's alright, Artyom. We all know the risks." Melnik was quick to comfort him for some reason. "What happened when you got to Novokuznetskaya?"

"Senya said it was a free station, and that they had a radio I could make contact with Polis via Hanza. Did the message ever come through?" Artyom found himself questioning the purity of that man Valya that he'd met there at Novokuznetskaya. He was a solid member of Roten Spaten, and seemed to be their main intelligence officer but Artyom hadn't had much time to judge his character.

"Of course. But we were worried when you didn't come back for three days after that. So, what next?" Melnik said gruffly, but then relaxed and leaned onto his desk. He seemed genuinely interested in how Artyom had wound up at Avtozavodskaya. Perhaps Aleks wasn't so willing to give up her secrets of how she managed to capture a Ranger.

"They gave me a tent for the night, and in the morning the guy who'd let me in had two friends with him. I guess they were traders, refugees from the Red Line, and they told me they were going to Avtozavodskaya and needed help carrying some stuff through Hanza. It wasn't that far past the Ring, so I helped them go by. You have to go through Paveletskaya too, and it's all patched up there now."

"I see. I'd never known what was beyond the marked stations on that line." Melnik made a small note on a paper to his left. Had Aleks really told him nothing of her station?

"Well, when we got there they led me into a room right before the station. Aleks, or, Aleksandrya Dmitriyev was standing there. She said she had a few questions, but then I could go. She had a cartridge, the same as the one Hunter gave to me to give to you." Artyom leaned forward in his seat, engrossed in his own story as the memory of each moment played like a cinema film in his mind while he talked. "What are these cartridges for? Are you supposed to give one to someone you trust if you think you're going to die? For them to be your replacement?"

"No." Melnik replied shortly, and Artyom felt his heart sink the same as it did when Ulman didn't answer him on the subject. "Really, it's just an old communications system. Radio messages can be intercepted, letters too. But I suppose with Hunter it was a little bit different—" The Colonel cut himself short.

Artyom fell silent, his head swirling with this new information. After all this time with Aleks and her cartridge he was beginning to think it was some significant token when it was really nothing more than another avenue of communication. But the Colonel had said it was a different case with Hunter, so was he perhaps some kind of a recruiter for the Spartans?

"You said she had questions for you? How did she even know who you were?" Melnik led Artyom to continue his story with his own questions.

"I don't think she was looking for me specifically." Artyom entertained the notion for a few seconds but remembered her genuine shock to learn of his story with the Dark Ones. "No, I think she just had her people looking out for anyone with the same uniform. Any of us might have known about Hunter."

Melnik nodded his head, trying to hide a wry smirk, apparently impressed with Aleks' tactics, and then gave a grunt to spur Artyom to continue.

"Well, she asked me if I had seen him and I only told her because of the cartridge. I knew it was something important because… and the mission is over now so…" Artyom paused, searching the Colonel's face for a reaction, still waiting for the moment he would say something that would earn him a reprimand. "I told her he'd gone to the Gardens and disappeared. They had heard about the Dark Ones… Do you think Hunter told her where he was going, too?"

"It's quite possible. It seems he may have visited her before his patrol and subsequent visit to your station." Melnik put a hand to his stubbly chin thoughtfully. "Go on."

"Well, the next day they had said they would escort me back to Polis, but it seems everything went wrong as soon as we left. We were going to go through Hanza of course, but then one of her men said he spotted a spy there named Sturmann – a Nazi. He was, or is, looking for Aleks."

"Yes, unfortunate, but that is how they run things in their stations. Did she ever say why he was after her?" Melnik continued to reveal that there were still many things he didn't know about her background although he had assumedly talked to her for a few hours.

"No, just that she had escaped from Tverskaya. It seems they have a 'no tolerance' policy, sort of like the Reds." Artyom also considered the possibilities to that question, what exactly was she running from?

"What next?" Melnik asked harshly, pulling out a sheet of paper from the short stack of them on the desk and searching for a pen.

"We, uh, we went north to Venice, and there some bandits started a fight with her man Andrei Ivanovich. Aleks and I had gone the other way, but then there were gunshots. There was a panic, and a fire, and everyone was running. Another of her guys Semyon put us on a boat, I think he lives there, she didn't want to leave her men, but we had to. We were heading to Revolution Square initially, but the boat wouldn't go that way so they dropped us at Kitai Gorod. Then there were mutants in the tunnel and we went over the surface to Kuznetsky Most."

"This is quite the trip. No wonder it took you so long." Melnik furrowed his brow, making a scribble on the paper beside him, then sighed and seemed to relax. "Well, at least it's a good story. Go on."

"We passed a squad of Red soldiers led by a Comrade Major. I don't know where they were going, but they said that they had to go around because of Venice." Artyom struggled to recall any further important details from that encounter, he wished he had more information for the Colonel but they hadn't been cavalier enough to speak openly about their plans.

Melnik made another note along with a grunt.

"At Kuznetsky Most there was a cordon, so we had to wait overnight, and then passed to Lubyanka in the morning. After there, two of Aleks' men found us and that's when she named Nikolai as her successor until she got back. I don't remember his other names but he has a twin brother named Dmitri, those two traders who I walked with the first time. They went back to Avtozavodskaya and we crossed through this eerie tunnel from Prospekt Marx. There was a big fight there, strange nosalises with black fur, and blood everywhere." Artyom was gesticulating the size and shape of the monsters.

"This is where the anomaly attacked you?" Melnik had his pen poised, not looking up from the paper at all as Artyom had been talking.

"I didn't see it…" Artyom admitted with some form of regret. "But it did something to Aleks. She said she heard music, and she collapsed. When she recovered, we went the rest of the way to Polis."

Melnik nodded slowly as he finished writing down what Artyom had reported.

For a minute, Artyom debated whether or not he should tell the Colonel about Aleks' mention of her plans to go to Emerald City, about her father and her supposed vision of Hunter. He had felt so special to be trusted with her 'true mission' but he wasn't sure if she had mentioned it to Melnik or not and didn't want to betray that trust by selling her out. He decided, for now, to keep it a secret just between the two of them.

"Where is Aleks now?" Artyom spoke tentatively, as Melnik had finished writing but hadn't looked up.

"I sent her with Anna for a tour and to the women's barracks for some rest. I was going to have her in sniper training with Anna and Katya after an evaluation." Melnik paused and put a hand to his scruffy chin thoughtfully. "It seems that Hunter taught her more than I might have guessed, unless the Reich gives military training to all their citizens. I'm not sure precisely what his interest in her was but, at least, it seems that it remained mostly innocent."

Innocent? Artyom didn't want to explore the question. He recalled the night at Kuznetsky Most when both he and Aleks had told some of their deeper secrets and stories; she had said she was in love with Hunter, but didn't make it sound as if anything was official. Still, it didn't answer Hunter's side of the equation and Melnik had a point. Could it have been that Hunter was also in love with her and just never said so? Maybe he'd been afraid to be open with her for fear that someone would hurt her while he was away. Artyom could identify with such reasoning.

"Can I speak to her again?" Artyom dared, hoping the Colonel wouldn't read anything into his request. Even he wasn't sure at that moment precisely what he wanted to speak with her about – just that he wanted to see her again before anything happened.

"You'll see her around." Melnik gave the same knowing grin that Ulman had given him earlier. "As it is, I haven't anything for you to do yet. Have yourself something to eat and then come by the armory. We're going to start testing some of the equipment we found."

"Yes, sir." Artyom stood and turned to leave, but something forced him to turn back. "About the cartridges again… do you still have the one I brought?"

Melnik said nothing in reply, but began to rummage in the top drawer of his desk. After a moment, he pulled the dulled brass casing from the compartment, still attached to the black string that had hung around Artyom's neck for so long. He held it out to him, and Artyom accepted it with reverence, clutching it tightly in his fist and then examining it closely.

"Am I to find my own replacement, too?" Artyom didn't immediately realize that he'd spoken his thoughts aloud.

"There is no replacement for you, so don't go giving it to anyone else." Melnik stood up and came around in front of Artyom. Putting both of his large calloused hands on his shoulders, the old Stalker gave a warm but sympathetic smile. "No Ranger is more dear to our cause than our Savior."

Artyom nodded his head, but only because it was expected of him at times when his detested title was mentioned. In any case, Melnik was proud of him for carrying out the despicable attack against the Dark Ones and he could at the very least enjoy the benefits that afforded him before the commander recognized his utter worthlessness. Though he didn't think Melnik actually thought of him as this prophetic savior, just that it was useful propaganda and bolstered morale for everyone. Turning around stiffly, trapped in his thoughts, he managed to leave the room.