| This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series. |
The Galuade Incident was an international crisis event that occurred in 2002, centered around a small Central African country of Gindra. After a separatist rebel faction, the Gindra Liberation Front, acquired a functional Metal Gear prototype, former FOXHOUND operative Solid Snake was called back from retirement to infiltrate the fortress of Galuade and neutralize the nuclear threat.
Background[]
In 2002, a C-5 Galaxy transport plane carrying a U.S.-funded Metal Gear prototype codenamed "GANDER" was hijacked (along with the research staff onboard) en route to South America by a separatist rebel group from a small Central African country of Gindra, known as the Gindra Liberation Front, led by "General" Augustine Eguabon. Allegedly, the group planned to use Metal Gear GANDER to win an on-going civil war they were engaged in. In response, Col. Roy Campbell was called in to convince former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake to come out of retirement for one last mission: to infiltrate the GLF-controlled fortress of Galuade, rescue the kidnapped researchers and neutralize Metal Gear before its assembly is complete. Initially hesitant to accept, Snake consented to go through with the mission after Campbell revealed to him that Galuade was formerly Outer Heaven, where Snake had destroyed the original TX-55 Metal Gear seven years ago.
The mission was officially commanded by US National Security Advisor Steve Gardner. Snake's support team consisted of Col. Campbell himself, prodigal MIT PhD candidate Mei Ling, veteran mercenary Ronard Lensenbrink (alias "Weasel"), and Brian McBride, a CIA agent with expertise on Gindran national affairs. Snake was also informed that the U.S. Army's Delta Force unit, at the behest of Gen. John Parker, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, was already inside the fortress, and that Snake had to carry out the mission in concert with them. According to Campbell, Metal Gear GANDER was developed in secret under U.S. Army's supervision, explaining why Parker wanted to have his own people containing the situation.
Solid Snake approaching Galuade.
Mission progress[]
Solid Snake infiltrated enemy territory via a HALO jump at dawn, landing 3km south of the fortress of Galuade. Once inside the enemy base, Snake was contacted by Delta Force operative Sgt. Christine "Chris" Jenner, who told Snake that Delta Force had been ambushed and massacred by a veteran mercenary unit called Black Chamber, leaving Chris as the sole survivor. Chris then advised him to enter the watchtower and meet up with her. She also told him to enter the watchtower via the sewer system. Snake entered through the sewer system upon locating it, but then discovered, to his confusion, rats scurrying away. He later overheard two soldiers revealing that they had been reassigned from the sewers and had to evacuate as soon as possible, due to a squall coming in that was potent enough to send floodwaters that would sweep away anything caught in its path. Snake then used the ladders to avoid the floodwaters until he arrived at the ladder to the watchtower.
He then proceeded to search for Chris while avoiding the soldiers until discovering her. Snake and Chris agreed to work together, and Chris left to investigate Galuade's power plant. Snake set off in search of Metal Gear's chief engineer, Dr. James "Jimmy" Harks. Along the way, however, met his first member of Black Chamber, Slasher Hawk, who appeared to hold a personal grudge against Snake and FOXHOUND. After killing him, Snake reached the prison barracks where Jimmy was being kept. Snake rescued Jimmy and learned that Metal Gear fires its nukes via a rail gun that consumed large amounts of power. At that moment, the power in the barracks went out, signalling that Metal Gear was preparing to fire. Leaving Jimmy's safety to Chris's hands, Snake rushed to disable the tank before its rail gun was fully charged, but was confronted by another member of Black Chamber, Marionette Owl. Before he died, Owl revealed that Black Chamber was betrayed by FOXHOUND two years ago, in an attack that nearly wiped out the entire unit. The attack was planned out by a man known only as "Anonymous", who the survivors of the attack had vowed vengeance upon.
Metal Gear GANDER prepares to launch its warhead.
Escaping the barracks, Snake discovered that Metal Gear was already above ground. Rushing to its location, Snake was waylaid by an armed helicopter being piloted by Black Chamber's leader, Black Arts Viper. Metal Gear GANDER fired its warhead, and Snake was forced to make a tactical retreat due to the heavy bombardment from an artillery battery near the maintenance base. Soon after, he was contacted by Campbell, who explained that the nuclear warhead GANDER had fired landed in an unpopulated region of Nevada, but did not explode. It was a fake nuke, meant to prove the GLF had the capability to make a nuclear strike on the United States. In a subsequent video feed, Augustine Eguabon gave the U.S. three hours to pull out all of its peacekeeping troops and recognize Gindran sovereignty, or else it would fire a functional nuke at a major population center.
Snake finds Jimmy standing over Lt. Smith's corpse.
To prevent Metal Gear GANDER from firing another warhead, Snake decided to try sabotaging Galuade's power plant, when he suddenly lost contact with Jimmy and Chris. However, Chris was able to contact Snake later on. She told him how they were ambushed, and Jimmy was recaptured but she escaped. After consoling her, Snake was attacked by another member of Black Chamber, Pyro Bison. Snake succeeded in defeating him. Before he died, Bison made several revelations to Snake: first, that Black Chamber was a special forces group that performed missions FOXHOUND would've taken on normally, had the group not become too famous after Operation Intrude N313, and that there was a spy in their ranks. Five members of Black Chamber survived "Anonymous'" ambush. Snake destroyed the power plant, but as he escaped, he saw a surprising sight: Jimmy in handcuffs with a dead soldier next to him. Jimmy revealed that he escaped from captivity when the plant was blown up, alongside another prisoner, who was another operative from Delta Force. Suddenly, Jimmy's handcuffs exploded, killing him.
Snake spares N'dram's life.
These revelations prompted McBride to accuse Chris of being the fifth member of Black Chamber, a fact that Snake argued passionately against. However, when he attempted to contact her, he received no reply. With a heavy heart, Snake continued on his mission, when he was attacked by the same armed helicopter, this time being piloted by the General's second in command, Sophie N'dram. Snake destroyed the helicopter and wounded her, but refused to kill her. She revealed that Chris was still alive, but had been captured by Viper. Snake proceeded to the underground maintenance base, where Metal Gear was being kept. Before he could reach the dread weapon, he was confronted by Viper. Viper revealed to Snake that Black Chamber was assigned to a mission two years ago by the government to recover Metal Gear, which at that point had been seized by a South American terrorist group.
Snake battles Metal Gear GANDER, piloted by Eguabon.
Fearing that Black Chamber's existence and Metal Gear's construction would spell doom for the U.S., certain government officials ordered in FOXHOUND to ambush and wipe out Black Chamber when they returned home. Five members escaped (but now only two remain, thanks to Snake). Viper and Snake proceed to fight, but Snake proved the victor. As the room exploded behind them, Snake and Chris escaped. Chris revealed that she escaped Delta Force's massacre because she wasn't with the group at that time. She'd been given special orders by John Parker to destroy all data on "Project Babel" and Outer Heaven and to assassinate "the General." Charged with finding an escape route, Chris left and Snake proceeded to finally fight Metal Gear GANDER.
He entered the hangar where Metal Gear was being kept, and found the General already there. He activated Metal Gear and history repeated itself, as Snake battled Metal Gear in the hundredth floor basement of Outer Heaven. After destroying Metal Gear, the General revealed to Snake the truth about the U.S., GLF, and Outer Heaven: Outer Heaven was a U.S. funded project, established to investigate anti-U.S. forces at the time. The field commander of the Outer Heaven project, Big Boss, was a loose cannon, however, and rebelled causing Operation Intrude N313. After Outer Heaven was destroyed by Snake, the relationship between Gindra and the U.S. continued, up until Project Babel. Project Babel's objective was to establish the U.S. as the sole super power in Africa. The project was created by the Army Chief of Staff, John Parker.
Viper lies dead.
After that revelation, the General gave Snake the disk containing the project data before dying. It seemed that it was all over, but Snake was again confronted by Viper, who revealed that he now knew the identity of "Anonymous", thanks to the General's speech, and that Campbell was in command of FOXHOUND the night Black Chamber was terminated. Finally the fifth member of Black Chamber revealed himself: Brian McBride. But there was still one final revelation: There was more to Metal Gear than just the rail gun; Metal Gear GANDER was programmed to control seven nuclear equipped satellites, able to launch nukes from orbit. As the elevator began to ascend to the surface, where the satellites would become activated, Snake and Viper had a final duel to the death. Snake proved to be the victor, as Viper finally fell dead to the ground and the nuke system was deactivated.
Snake received a call from Campbell, who told Snake that he was sorry, he didn't know that Black Chamber was an American unit until after the whole thing was over. Weasel told Snake that he killed McBride. Upon hearing Campbell's past with Black Chamber as well as that he had been blackmailed into participating in the operation by Gardner due to being a former Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA, Snake, remembering what both Viper and Eguabon stated about the history of Project Babel and its ties to both his missions, deduced, with Weasel confirming, that Gardner was "Anonymous." Project Babel was actually created by Gardner, but he lost control of it after Metal Gear was seized by the South American terrorists. Control was transferred to Parker. Gardner planned the whole operation to disgrace Parker and get control of Project Babel returned to him.
Snake and Chris say goodbye to Sophie N'dram.
Weasel was actually under direct orders from Gardner the entire time. However, he decided to let everyone go free, instead of killing them. Chris reappeared with a jeep that she found and she and Snake drive off together. Along the way, Chris explained that she joined the Army because she felt it was the place where an absolute right and wrong could be found, but she realized that she needed to look for it and not borrow it. Snake then explained that he endured something similar: he thought he would settle the score of his past by returning to Outer Heaven, but it turned out he only wanted death by returning, because he was afraid of seeing what he truly was. He did admit that, thanks to Chris, he found his salvation and intended to forgive himself for his mistakes. He also stated that he intended to return to the United States, even though FOXHOUND was most likely waiting to ambush him, to confront the faceless men who played chess with peoples lives (referring to Parker and Gardner) and find out what he was like, and after making them pay, he would return to Chris.
Notes and references[]
- ^ Implied by both a Codec conversation with Brian McBride and the references to a squall throughout the game.