Paz Ortega Andrade

Paz Ortega Andrade, also known as Pacifica Ocean, was a Cipher agent that posed as a student in order to infiltrate the Militaires Sans Frontieres in 1974.

Early life
At some point in her life, Pacifica Ocean became an orphan and apparently owed her life to the secretive Cipher organization, due to their having taken her in. However, her loyalty was partially borne of fear as she felt that she had to obey the will of Cipher, regardless of whether she agreed with the organization's goals or not, otherwise she would suffer "a fate far worse than death".

With Cipher's resources, Pacifica adopted the identity of "Paz Ortega Andrade" (the name Paz meaning "Peace" in Spanish), a young Costa Rican high school student who cherished peace and was studying the nation's Peace Constitution under the guidance of Ramón Gálvez Mena, a professor at the yet-to-be-sanctioned United Nations University for Peace. She was also an orphan whose "mother" died when she was still very young and had lost her "grandparents" during the Costa Rican Civil War, influencing her supposed passionate hatred of war.

In 1974, "Paz Ortega Andrade" was held captive by the an armed force initiating military development in various parts of Costa Rica after she had stumbled upon a supply port facility north of Puerto Limon while she was "searching for a lost friend" (it is implied that she possessed scars inflicted on her during captivity). She later found out that her friend had also been captured, due to accidentally recording a conversation of The Boss's AI on her Walkman while bird watching. She was able to escape unscathed, although her friend did not make it out in the process. After she had shown Galvez the tape, she and Galvez entreated the Militaires Sans Frontieres and asked Naked Snake (Big Boss) and Kazuhira Miller to eliminate the armed force and restore peace to the nation. While MSF were conducting their missions, Paz hid out at Ciudad Colon, a school where where Galvez told her she could stay until the conflict settled down. Kaz also gave her a radio and rigged Snake's radio to allow contact with her.

Paz was later recaptured by Hot Coldman (the CIA Station Chief and leader of the Peace Sentinels) and was taken to the U.S. missile base in Nicaragua, where she was placed in a cell. She was later relocated to the Control Room where Coldman gloated about inputting the false data (data used to trick Peace Walker into launching a nuclear strike as it cannot launch an unprovoked nuclear strike due to it being a weapon for deterrence) for the Mother Base. However, she discovered that not only was Professor Galvez in league with Coldman, but actually planning to have it launch to Cuba to ruin America. Much to Paz's horror, Galvez (who was really KGB intelligence operative Vladimir Zadornov) tries to have her shoot Coldman with a gun after betraying him. However, despite her hatred of Coldman for what he did to her, she simply could not shoot him, proving that she is (in Vladimir's words) a true child of peace, before Vladimir decided to shoot him himself.

Paz broke down onboard Kaz's MSF chopper due to the intense events of the mission, with Kaz lecturing her that she shouldn't pick up a weapon unless she knew how to use it, as aiming a gun itself doesn't make it a deterrant, suggesting that she leave the guns to the MSF, as part of the agreement, telling her that their mission was complete. Paz calmed down enough to thank them. Unfortunately, it proved not to be over, as Coldman had activated Peace Walker and nearly caused an all out nuclear war not only due to it's capability of launching a retalitory nuclear strike (with false data or not), but also leaking said false data to several agencies around the world (including NORAD). After the fiasco, she returned to Costa Rica briefly, but she ended up returning to Mother Base due to the fact that she can't attend school as Galvez, who backed her funds for school, was arrested.

During her time at the MSF after the fiasco, Paz got a cat that she named "Nuke". She also briefly participated in a match in soccer and went fishing with Chico and some of the mercenaries.

Unfortunately, it turned out Paz wasn't who she had lead MSF to believe. She was actually Pacifica Ocean, an agent of Cipher (which was the Patriots sans Big Boss) and most of the life she was stated to be was actually falsified: A fake identity similar to Vladimir Zadornov's alias of Professor Galvez. She was also the one who helped Zadornov escape MSF's prison six times. However, she did seem to realize that being at the MSF seemed more peaceful in her life, implying that she might have started respecting it, although she did realize that it won't last much longer. She considered lying to Cipher about the progress of the edits to Metal Gear ZEKE in order to enjoy "Peace Day" but an unknown Cipher agent revealed that she had completed the edits before she could get the chance. Chico also found out about edits, so she was forced to enact her plan.

After Big Boss killed Zadornov in self defense after the latter's seventh and final escape, Pacifica hijacked Metal Gear ZEKE, much to the horrors of Big Boss and Kaz. After explaining the history of Big Boss and Zero after The Boss's death and continuously referring to Cipher's plans to ultimately control weapons and humanity, Pacifica decided to set the coordinates of ZEKE's launch strike towards the East Coast of the United States in an attempt to frame Big Boss and the Militaires Sans Frontieres in being an extremist cult, forcing Big Boss to fight and defeat Pacifica and ZEKE. After declaring to Big Boss that his path is to experience fleeting peace, where people will use him, abuse him, then throw him away as if a cancer to society, Pacifica's body was thrown into the ocean from the force of ZEKE's explosion. Kaz later revealed that Paz (Pacifica) was also an agent for both the KGB and the CIA.

Trivia

 * Paz's real name, Pacifica Ocean, is a pun of the name "Pacific Ocean", as well as another peace reference ("Pacifica" or "Pacific" derives from Pax, which is Latin for "Peace").
 * In one conversation between Snake and Chico, they both say that they are not sure if Paz is dead due to the fact she was ejected from the Pod controlling ZEKE, as well as the fact that she still had her scuba gear on when she landed on the ocean. Paz also mentions having deep sea diving training in one of her diary tapes.
 * Although Paz is not actually Costa Rican, she is apparently at least of Latino descent, as she mentioned in her 3rd diary tape that her mother used to make gallo pinto a long time ago.

Behind the scenes
Paz's English voice actress (Tara Strong) also voiced Elisa and Ursula in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Coincidentally, Zadornov (Paz's partner) is voiced by Steven Blum, who also voiced Elisa and Ursula's accomplice in Portable Ops.

Paz's character song, "Koi no Yokushiryoku", is included on the "Heavens Divide" single. Kojima Productions broadcasted it on air in Hideochannel Radio on February 18, 2010.

After the main events of the game, there is an Extra Op mission that involves Big Boss going on a date with Paz. However, due to the non-serious nature of the mission, along with Paz declaring in her diary that "she has no interest in that man," it is unlikely to be canon.

Mother Base Staff
Paz is a unique staff member at Mother Base, available after completing Chapter 4. She asks Snake to let help at Mother Base as she has nowhere else to go. Her skill ("Home Cooking") increases morale of all MSF staff when she is assigned to the Mess Hall Team.


 * Life: 3000
 * Psyche: 7000
 * GMP: 4500


 * Combat Unit: -
 * R&D Team: D
 * Mess Hall Team: A
 * Medical Team: B
 * Intel Team: A

Even after Big Boss defeats her in the fight against ZEKE, for gameplay purposes, Paz remains as a soldier in MSF and her credentials/bio can still be viewed under the personnel section of the Mother Base menu. The "Date with Paz" mission also remains playable.

Paz's Diary
The AI Weapons in Extra Ops have Paz's Diary tapes in their pods, much like how they had Strangelove's Memories tapes in Main Ops. The only difference in finding them is that they're in a different spot than in Main Ops. Pupa type II: between B & C, Pupa Custom: between C & D, Chrysalis type II: between C & D, Chrysalis Custom: between D & A, Cocoon type II: between D & A, Cocoon Custom: between A & B, Peace Walker type II: between A & B, Peace Walker Custom: between B & C. These tapes can't be viewed until you complete the ZEKE battle in Main Ops.