"Solid Snake. Sit down, we have a lot to discuss."
Big Boss's face was expressionless beyond the glow of the lamp on his desk. The intimidating menace in his eyes chilled Snake to no end. He was an old man, yes, but he was still well maintained. His body was still exercised for battle, his frumpy white beard combined with the black patch over his right eye gave the appearance of some kind of hellish pirate out of someones nightmares. Perched on his head was a green beret tarnished with several medals of service. It took all of Snake's energy not to show a sign of impression in his face. He knew that Big Boss would not be delighted by it.
Again, silence overwhelmed Big Boss's strange, dark office. Snake knew it was his turn to talk, otherwise he would go insane. Big Boss knew how to intimidate anyone. Snake crossed the floor and sat down in a rickety wooden chair across from the FOXHOUND commander. It expectedly creaked aloud. Snake's eyes traveled up and stared into Big Boss's one left eye. There was just something too intimidating about this man, but he could think of what it could be. He almost caught himself gulping, held it back and then spoke.
"I heard it was about Outer Heaven sir." Snake's gruff voice said aloud. He waited for some kind of reaction. Big Boss's left eye stared expressionless at him for a few more seconds before suddenly, he spoke, with an old weathered voice. "What I am about to tell you is top secret, Snake. No matter what happens after this moment, you will be officially on record with the government of the United States of America as having submitted to secret information and are subjected to any punishment under United States treason law if said information is figured out." He paused after this and Snake quickly nodded.
"As you know, Outer Heaven 200km north of Galzburg, South Africa is a fortified military fortress-state ran by mercenaries working on their own protocol. Of course, the United Nations has been tried since its inception in the 1980s to discover who exactly the unidentified leader of the state is, but to no avail. The only information we've ever received on his identity is that he was a legendary mercenary, probably the Russian GRU type." He paused in speech and glanced at Solid Snake's face to make sure he was paying attention, then continued. "Whomever it may be, the United States government has had a lot of issues with Outer Heaven and mainly it's ad hoc stance against foreign policy. These soldiers are strictly mercenaries, without a loyalty. Under Outer Heaven, they have created their own militarized region, capable of many acts of destruction. Yet, there seems to have been an incredible lack of hostility since Outer Heaven's inception." "They don't want to dirty their fingers while still in a baby state form, that's a recipe for disaster." Snake found himself proclaiming boldly, "most of these established balkanized regions wouldn't last seconds without building their own personal armies."
The second the words came out of his mouth, Snake regretted them. He waited for Big Boss to rip apart his statements. Big Boss, however, continued. "Correct." he stated, "and Outer Heaven is no exception. Which is why the United Nations has kept such a close guard on it, keeping several spies in Galzburg, talking with mercenaries intent on joining Outer Heaven." Big Boss suddenly opened up his desk drawer and pulled out a manilla folder, throwing it onto the desk in front of Snake. "It was this year when this picture was sent anonymously to the United Nations." Snake slid open the folder and gazed at a blurry black and white photograph of several supply boxes in a warehouse. "What is this?" Snake grunted.
"Look very closely at the inscriptions on the boxes Snake." Big Boss instructed calmly. Snake glanced further into the picture and suddenly gasped aloud. "You can't be serious! This says 'DEFENSE ARN-V1' That's a code for nuclear weapons!" he yelled. Big Boss nodded with the air of a person who had heard this all before. "You now know how serious of a threat we are facing from this, 'baby state' as you called it." he said toughly. Snake's eyes casted down at the photo, defeated. Big Boss continued steadily.
"FOXHOUND received this information no more than 72 hours ago. Upon receiving it, we immediately took action by sending our top agent, codename "Gray Fox" to infiltrate Outer Heaven and analyze exactly what kind of threat it possessed, and possibly neutralize it." Snake recognized the name well. There were many tales of the exploits of "Gray Fox", who had an extensive military history almost rivaling Big Boss's. He was the only member of FOXHOUND that had received the coveted "Fox" codename. The highest anyone in FOXHOUND could receive.
"Midway through the mission, Gray Fox suddenly stopped communicating with FOXHOUND by Codec. We have reason to believe that he was discovered and taken prisoner, however, we did receive this final transmission from him." Suddenly, a tape recorder was on Big Boss's desk without Snake even noticing. Big Boss motioned to Snake to hit the "play" button on it. Snake obliged and was greeted by the sudden screech of white noise and static. Loud noises of machinery and vehicles overwhelmed the audio feed before a raspy voice came onto the feed.
"This is Grey Fox, Operation Intrude N312. Transmission to Big Boss. Been in the base for awhile now without any sign of nuclear * static * rounds around night time with * static * found some plans for something being experimented by a...OH! OH!" static suddenly overwhelmed the transmission for a good minute. Big Boss motioned for Snake to continue listening to it. After a good time, the static suddenly turned to haunting silence. Snake glanced at the recorder in horror, waiting for something to be said. Suddenly, Gray Fox's raspy voice came back on.
"Metal Gear..." he whispered quietly.
The tape abruptly stopped and Big Boss looked away. Snake glanced down at the recorder and then back up at Big Boss. "Metal Gear...? What does that mean? What is he talking about?" Snake growled loudly. Big Boss stared him directly in the eyes, causing him to freeze instantly. "We don't know Snake. Gray Fox's transmissions stopped from there. He is currently M.I.A, possibly a prisoner of war by whoever is running Outer Heaven. Snake, listen to me. The western world is now in danger of the threat of nuclear war. Whatever technology Outer Heaven is developing, may spell doom for Americans, and other citizens."
Snakes eyes shifted down to the floor for a few seconds before he stared directly into Bis Boss's one left eye with the greatest look of bravery he could attempt. Big Boss continued without skipping a beat. "When we recruited you for FOXHOUND, we knew that something like this would come up. There is no agent more qualified to infiltrate Outer Heaven than you. I hand selected you instead of any other agent here. This is everything you've trained for."
Big Boss looked defiantly at Snake, the rookie FOXHOUND operative. The man who had never gone on any sort of special ops mission before in his entire career. In a split second, Solid Snake reflected on his entire life up to this specific point. He had spent his entire life as a tool of the United States government. His entire life was spent training for the military. As far as he knew, his parents died before he could even meet them. He only knew the several people that had raised him. He enlisted in the Green Berets in 1991 and fit right in, leading several squads into battle during the Gulf War, invading Western Iraq. For his entire life, Solid Snake had been preparing to save the world.
And now the opportunity was presenting itself, and he had no idea how to react. He just knew that he was ready for it.
"Ok." he said. "I'm ready for this." Snake stood up out of his chair and slammed his hands onto Big Boss's desk. The fear in his body turned into adrenaline, he was ready to storm into Outer Heaven for the sake of FOXHOUND. He was ready to stop a nuclear threat from dominating the war. Big Boss suddenly changed expression and glared at him, stopping his thoughts in their tracks.
"Sit down, damn it! Don't think for even a moment that you're going to be a hero without doing anything. You don't even want to be clouded with thoughts like that. Listen to me, Solid Snake, this is a very dangerous operation, one that you have a very little chance of getting out of. Don't make a rookie mistake and get yourself killed. There is more than you think at stake with this." Big Boss yelled, not even shifting position from behind his desk.
Snake immediately stopped and sat back down in his chair, hearing that creak again that now sounded like a taunting insult. He put his face down in shame before immediately realizing and staring back up at the FOXHOUND commander. Big Boss glared at him again before shifting expression back into listlessness and speaking. "You will be deployed by a Peace Corps plane delivering supplies into Galzburg in 24 hours." he started, "There you will wear SCUBA gear and travel up the Niabunaga River unnoticed until you reach a military checkpoint about 5 km away from Outer Heaven. There you will find the entrance to a complex sewer system that filters into Galzburg."
"A sewer system?" Snake growled in reply, wondering what that had to do with Outer Heaven. Big Boss ignored it and continued. "You will enter into the system through one of the open ducts along the way and navigate up several channels. Around one of these channels should be an emergency maintenance door that should lead you into an alternate sewer system." Snake suddenly realized it. "Outer Heaven..." he said quietly. "Yes," Big Boss said, "It should lead you directly into Outer Heaven upon a couple kilometers of navigation. You should come in somewhere around the inside of the perimeter, right where Gray Fox entered. The area should be heavily guarded now that they discovered it."
"But Big Boss, if they discovered that Gray Fox entered through there, how do we know there won't be traps set up? Or they won't have blocked the way off?" Snake inquired to him. "It won't be blocked because of the design of the sewer system. Without some kind of radical redesign, there would be no water in Outer Heaven if they chose to block the channels that you would be taking." Snake nodded. "This in itself is nothing in comparison to what the real mission will demand out of you Snake. When you reach Outer Heaven, you will contact me by codec. I will be your commanding officer for this mission. You've used a codec before, haven't you?"
Snake recalled using a codec to command his squad mates and be commanded himself during several missions in Iraq. It was natural to him to contact his commanding officers for information regarding the area. It would be nothing to him.
"Yeah. I've used it." Snake growled. Big Boss pulled out the device, a small radio tranceiver with an earbud and a microphone. He slid it over to Snake who glanced at it for a moment before grabbing it. "My frequency will be 120.85. Remember it." Big Boss continued. "And remember Snake, this is a sneaking mission. I know you're unfamiliar with the concept, but you will not be allowed to bring ANY weapons with you whatsoever. The only thing you are entering Outer Heaven with is your codec. The purpose of this mission is to not engage the enemy, but to sneak past him. Remember this well Snake."
Snake felt the adrenaline pumping through is system again. Big Boss pulled a cigar from somewhere out from behind his desk and put it in his mouth. Snake immediately grabbed his lighter and flicked it, offering the flame towards Big Boss. Big Boss lit his cigar and took a big puff, exhaling smoke like a pro. He completely ignored the good natured gesture and glanced back at Snake.
"Solid Snake, you are officially now a part of Operation Intrude: N313. You're objective is to both rescue Gray Fox, and discover what kind of nuclear weapons are being developed in Outer Heaven. FOXHOUND, and your government is counting on you Snake. Do not let us down."
Snake nodded and stood up out of his chair, offering his hand to Big Boss. Big Boss ignored it and stood up himself, taking a long drag on his cigar. He exhaled and spoke one last time. "Remember Snake, do not compromise my orders at any cost, or you will be sorry. Now, grab some rest and be ready to grab that plane in 24 hours. Good luck."
With that Big Boss seemed to dismiss Snake as he turned around and smoked his cigar in silent thought. Snake walked out of the room and into the FOXHOUND HQ hallways. His first mission and it was extremely important to the fate of the nation. He did not know what to think. He walked the hallways aimlessly for several minutes, not paying any attention to where he was going. Eventually his travels led him back out doors, to the beautiful spring day and the haunting silence.
McDonnell Miller was outside again, sitting calmly on the bed of a truck, staring into the sky. When he saw Solid Snake approaching he laughed aloud. "Ha! Operation Intrude N313. Here's our man, Solid Snake!" Snake shrugged him off and reached for the pack of Lucky Strikes in his pocket. He fumbled it and managed to shake one out, still clouded my thoughts of the mission. Miller hopped off the truck and held his hand out. Snake stared at him, dumbfounded before realizing again and shaking a cigarette out for him.
Miller pulled out a gold lighter seemingly out of thin air and lit both cigarettes. Snake took a long drag and exhaled the smoke hard, coughing as he did it. "Easy boy. So you got the information huh? You finally met Big Boss?" Snake shook his head and suddenly realized where he was. "Yeah." he mumbled quietly. Both men just stood after that, smoking and thinking as the day passed. Miller eventually broke the silence. "I wish I could assist you on this one Snake, but Big Boss gave specific instructions not to let anybody give you orders over codec except for him, I believe this is some kind of test." he spoke reassuringly. "Yeah." Snake mumbled again. "Snake, do not forget everything I taught you in training. This mission is extremely important, do not let your judgement get the better of you.
Snake finished his cigarette and dropped it on the ground, stomping it out. He put his hands in his pocket and stared again. Miller looked at him for awhile before speaking again. "Snake, tell me something. Anything. What are you thinking right now?"
Snake dug into his pockets and pulled out the Lucky Strikes box and then turned it upside down, nothing falling out. "I'm thinking..." he started, throwing the box down on the ground. "...I'm going to need more of these!"