Metal Gear Liquid

I here by state that I do not own Metal Gear or any of its characters.

Metal Gear Liquid

Chapter 1: Desert Heat

The man walked through the searing heat. He had been walking for what felt like an eternity, although it had only been a few hours since he abandoned his unmarked parachute. His dark robe flapped violently in the wind and the rags that were wrapped around his face were drenched with his sweat. The damp clothe had to be better than being pelted in the face with gusts of sand, he thought. If the forceful winds weren't bad enough the midday dessert sun beat down on him mercilessly further increasing the strain of the walk. He had been tired before he began this trek, but now he was just exhausted.

The blonde haired man constantly examined his surroundings as came natural to him through the experience of battle. Even through the unbearable heat he was aware of all things, from the occasional scorpion that scurried from his path, to the heat waves pulsing on the horizon, to the sand devils off in the distance. He was a soldier, so he knew that an enemy could rest just out of sight, ready for ambush. With the British Special Air Services (SAS) training the man had endured, he was taught never to lose focus.

This was his first solo mission. As the sun pulsed down on him the subconscious part of his mind wandered over the briefing.

SAS command had requested his presence at the British base camp. It came as no surprise to him; he was the best in the war effort. So far he had accomplished three missions over the course of the past month. The missions were special recognizance to find and destroy mobile scud missiles and he accomplished them without flaw. He was the youngest ever to serve in the British SAS. This came mostly to his skill on the battlefield. As he stepped into the command tent at base camp he saw a man sitting at the head of a table filled with maps and mission documents. The man wore the standard military, olive, dress uniform with the red collar markings of a colonel. Snake gave him a quick salute followed by a flawless military attention stance. The colonel returned salute and ordered him at ease.

"Snake, my name is Colonel Packstan," he began, "I will be your commanding officer for this mission." He rustled the papers he had been looking through and sat them on the table in front of him. The documents had the clear red stamp of classified marked on them. "You were called into this mission due to your intense training in urban combat and your flawless military record, not to mention you are fluent in several languages and a professional at dessert survival." As Snake heard all of his accomplishments played back to him through his commanding officer he felt the pride rise in his veins. His temporary thoughts of pride vanished when the colonel began speaking again. "My opinion is you're too green for this mission, but you were requested straight from the OPCON. The director seems to think you're the man for the job. I hope for your sake that he isn't wrong in his decision." Snake suppressed a grimace.

"Anyway, let's get down to business shall we?" The colonel rustled through his papers once more. "Months ago one of our operatives infiltrated a terrorist fortress on the border of Turkey. The terrorists are calling themselves the liberators of Raja. It seems as though for months there has been a lot of activity surrounding this base. We needed to know what was coming in and going out of the base. Just before our Intel went missing he had reported that the terrorists had gained a new form of nuclear device."

"A new form of nuclear device?" Snake stated, his heavy English accent reining surprise.

"Yes, it appears to be a threat to international security, and to the current status of the war." The colonel looked down at the classified documents that rested at his fingertips. "The terrorists have made no demands as of now, but it is enough that the threat exists."

"I see." Snake stated simply brushing a blond lock of hair from his eyes.

"Your mission is to infiltrate their fortress and locate the operative that sent the Intel. Once you have located the operative you are to evaluate the terrorists nuclear strike capability, and stop it from happening."

"Will I have support, and what will be the weapons assigned?" Snake asked.

"This is a top secret sneaking mission. The agency can't risk sending you in with any form of identification, so you are to supply your equipment on site. A large number of operatives would be a dead give away to our knowledge of their existence so you'll go it alone."

"No weapons!?" Snake interjected in shock.

"All equipment procured on site, I'm afraid. I'm sorry but we can't risk being identified." The colonel shifted uneasily. "If you are captured our organization will deny even knowing your existence…"

A few hours later Snake found himself trudging through the middle of the desert. He had been dropped from an unmarked plane with an unmarked parachute. He was completely unarmed save for his radio headset, water canteen, and a pair of binoculars. Running blind, this wasn't unusual in his line of work.

As he continued his hike to the enemy encampment the sun began to set. This was the purpose for dropping him so far from his objective. His mission couldn't risk the enemy catching a glimpse of his plane, and this gave him time to infiltrate in the dark. Snake could see the logic in infiltration in the dark. It would give him time to get in and get out in the cover of darkness, but however there were drawbacks for him, if it is harder for the enemy to see him then it would be hard for him to see the enemy.

As he rounded a small hill he noticed lights on the horizon. His first objective was complete, locate the enemy fortress. He crouched and adjusted the signal on his radio.

"This is Snake; I've reached the encampment come in command." He spoke this into the headset.

"This is the colonel I hear you loud and clear. What is your status?"

"I'm about 3 kilometers south of the encampment, but it's clearly visible in the dim sunlight." Snake replied.

"Since there is are possibilities of eavesdropping on these radio frequencies refer to me by codename. My code name from this point on will be commander south. Contact me again when you've reached the base, and I will go over the mission objectives in more detail. We are tracking you on satellite, so we can keep a trace on your mission. If you need any details on the base or surrounding land you should contact resistance leader Alam Akbar on frequency 140.36. I need not remind you that this is a stealth sneaking mission. Your goal is to get in and get out without the enemy being aware of your presence. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you when you reach the base, snake. Over.

As snake crouched he threw off the robe he had been wearing to stay out of the sun. Silently he unwound the damp rag from his face allowing his golden blond hair to fall over his broad shoulders. He stood up from the crouch position and revealed his state of the art sneaking suit. The suit was composed of a dark material derived from rubber which conformed perfectly to his muscular body. It came complete with knee and elbow pads to protect his joints if he had to crawl. He wore black gloves with the first two fingers of his right hand missing so he could effectively feel the trigger of a gun. At times he found himself a bit constricted in the suit, but it helped keep his temperature regulated to the best of desert standards.

Aside from the pouch that held his binoculars he had no place to carry any procured weapons or supplies. He would have to pick up everything on site. Maybe he wouldn't need to pick up anything, he thought. They are terrorists after all so they couldn't be that organized. At least he hoped.

After a long drought of water from his canteen snake discarded it along with the rags and robe. He wouldn't have time to drink while he was sneaking around the base, so it would just add extra weight. With all of this he took off in a half-crouched run headed straight to the desert fortress.