Metal Gear Solid V: Chronicles of Outer Heaven (MGS/Valkyria Chronicles)

[x] Activate the dimensional fulton and escape. One of you must live on and Ishmael has passed the torch to you.

----
Ishmael
----

I didn't need to turn around to know what Ahab was feeling. Logical hesitation warring with heated reluctance, ripping him apart internally at my words.

For a long moment, I'd wondered if he would move towards me with the intent of sending me back in his place.

But I didn't need to worry about imparting one last lesson in CQC. After a long, drawn out exhalation, I heard the rustling of clothes and the familiar jangles of equipment being jostled. The sound of his footsteps as Ahab turned around and walked away.

Our backs facing one another, there was nothing that needed to be said between us.

One day.

We'll meet again.

---

Thus Ishmael entered Sahelanthropus to manually enrich the depleted uranium armor that covered its frame.

Ahab would choose the honor the wishes of his mentor, friend, and brother. The by now familiar droning of a dimensional rift lowered over the inheritor of the title of Big Boss, and slipped him in the space between worlds.

But little did he know, as the blinding light of nuclear fire washed over the ground he'd been standing, Ahab would not be returning to home as he knew it.

For the other soldiers of Diamond Dogs still desperately fighting to survive just one minute longer, they too were swept away mere moments before a rain of nuclear missiles fell from the skies of Afghanistan.

Minutes ago, Mother Base had gone silent. None of those outside of Mother Base had realized that regardless of their war against the children of a corrupted nano swarm, the end was nigh.

On and on they fought. With bullet, blade, and sheer grit, they pushed back the tide of rampaging machines and dead that had suddenly began lashing out at random, no longer acting with any semblance of coordination.

Only once they heard the screams of warheads falling did a quick witted few realize what had likely happened, while others stared dumbly at the sky.

There was no contact with Mother Base because it'd been blown off the face of the Earth.

And they were next.

Except, in the next moment, the Sons and Daughters of Big Boss were no longer there.

---

*Connection Established*

*Forced Dimensional Recall Activated*

*Returning to Mother Base*

---

REWARDS

Personnel Section

Diamond Dogs

• 16 MSF Dite Survivors (FOX)

Refugees

Ahab
Fame Title Change: The Legendary Big Boss (Earth)
Fame Title Added: Unknown Mercenary Leader (Midgard)

• Big Boss (Righteous Hero) changed to Big Boss (True Successor)

COMBAT LOSSES

Personnel Section

DDOGs

Troops:

1CO

• 2 FOX Cells (Moderately Wounded) (3 Turns)
  • Lazing Gecko (1DB Used, Flesh Wound)
  • Apocalypse Crab (Moderately Wounded)
• 1 Hound Team (Heavily Wounded) (4 Turns)
• MIA: Insatiable Whale, Soldier Ant

2CO

• 1 PSYOPS Cell (Critically Wounded) (5 Turns)
  • Weaver Arachne (Critically Wounded)
• 1 Combat Adviser Cell (Heavily Wounded) (4 Turns)
  • Ragged Winter (Heavily Wounded)

3CO

• 1 Lightning Raider Squad (KIA)
• 1 Lightning Raider Squad (Heavily Wounded) (4 Turns)
• 1 Hell Jumpers Squad (Critically Wounded) (5 Turns)
  • Idiot Sloth DB
• 1 Counter Terror Squad (Critically Wounded) (5 Turns)
• 1 Walker Gear Teams (KIA)

1st Supply CO

• 1 Support Team (Heavily Wounded) (4 Turns)
  • Gentle Boa

1st Recon Tanks

• 2 Recon Tank Crews (KIA)
  • Sleeping Bear DB

Vehicles:

Damaged: Damaged vehicles will automatically be repaired

• Sheridan (4): Damaged in the defense of Kandahar
• Walker Gears (12): Damaged in the defense of Kandahar
• HMMWV (7): Damaged in the defense of Kandahar

Destroyed:

• ST-84 Metal Gear "Sahelanthropus": Self detonation of nuclear armament.
• Sheridan (2): Destroyed in the defense of Kandahar
• Walker Gears (3): Destroyed in the defense of Kandahar
• HMMWV (2): Destroyed in the defense of Kandahar

Characters
Diamond Dogs
WIA: None


KIA:

• Big Boss (Ishmael): Sacrificed self to manually detonate Sahelanthropus to neutralize the Lord of Dust.

• D-Walker: Could not be retrieved, assumed destroyed via nuclear detonation.

MIA:

• D-Dog: Failed to RTB, assumed prototype dimensional fulton failure.

Non DD Personnel
WIA: 7

• Eli: Wounded while defending refugees from Wanderers
• Huey: Wounded during portal transition

KIA: 1

• Volgin: Assumed KIA in battle against Lord of Dust

MIA: 1

• Floating Child: Has not been seen in several months, presumed to be back on Earth

---

---

The date is October 1st of 1934, EC on the world of Midgard.

A conflict on a scale that the world has only seen twice before, festers. The call of human violence weighs heavily in the air and the veterans of numerous conflicts prepare for the coming storm.

The Great War as known by the civilizations of Midgard was only a precursor for what is to come.

A war that would engulf the world and leave no land untouched by its degradations was on the cusp of drowning the world in blood and gunpowder.

The East Europan Imperial Alliance gathers its strength in preparation for a war for territory and resources in order to fuel their forges of industry.

The Atlantic Federation remains blind to the coming chaos, more concerned with squabbling amongst themselves and other, internal matters of the state.

But these are only two players of the conflict.

To the far east, the heirs of the once mighty dynasty of the First Empress of Sinae continue to squabble amongst themselves. From the golden palace of the Han, the mountain fortress of Joseon, and modernized office of the Meiji, the three prominent descendents of the First Empress ready their nations for war.

In the center of the world, the warriors of the Khemian Empire continue to skirmish against the borders of the Judean Theocracy, both coveting the resources and relics of the civilization that brought them to the heights of world power centuries ago.

All this and more.

But at the moment, none of this is your concern Ahab.

Rather, there's a much more pressing question that needs to be answered.

As your dusty boots touch down on the familiar metal grating of Mother Base, your senses scream out to you that something is wrong.

Bringing up your rifle to scan your surroundings, your keen eye shows you the familiar sights of a combat zone. One eerily familiar due to the number of operations against rival PC's you've been on as well as the attack on Mother Base nine years ago.

Your ears tell you a different story, allowing you to slightly relax when the sounds of ongoing warfare fails to present itself. You can hear familiar footsteps running all over your home, the voices of your Diamond Dogs calling out to one another as more and more of you arrive from one portal after another.

It doesn't take long for your soldiers to recognize that you've arrived. It's Miller who raises a hand, ordering those covering the dozens of breaches opening all over Mother Base to stand down.

Many are wounded and all have that distinctive scent of post combat sweat, gunpowder, dirt, and blood clinging to their tired, but alert forms.

But that wasn't what jarred you. You expected everything to be as it was but for one thing.

The sea smelled different.

The calls of the seabirds residing around Mother Base were different.

The position of the sun was wrong for the amount of time that had passed.

"Miller." You called out-

---

Ahab

---

"Where the…? What the hell is going on?" I called out, nodding as Miller's bloodied and worn form clacked and stomped his way to me with his bionic leg.

"I don't know Boss." My second in command begins, trying to find an explanation for something he doesn't understand. "I'll debrief you more later, but long story short, Mother Base was about to get nuked. Same with Afghanistan."

I recoiled, mouth opening momentarily before I shut my lips with a clack of my teeth. "But we won. The portals should've closed the moment that thing on the other side got put down the first time."

"First time?" Kaz shakes his head, clouded eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses. "Boss, how long has it been since the portals closed for you?"

My own eyes narrow at the question. "Can't have been more than twenty minutes…"

No…

"Boss… I don't know how to tell you this but, Mother Base was ten minutes away from becoming a molten crater… six hours ago."

"Time flows differently…" I whisper, head bowing at the implication.

We were too late.

It wouldn't have mattered what we'd done, but then, why?

How?

"You can thank Emmerich and research team for how Mother Base dodged a nuclear bullet. They did something that pulled our home through a rift and landed us wherever the hell we are now."

"The other teams?" I asked, watching as more of our troops returned with fresh wounds, eyes wide with the rush of fear and adrenaline.

"We'd thought you all died." Kaz replied softly enough so that only I could hear him. "There wasn't a stretch of Afghanistan that wasn't being targeted by nuclear missiles. Mother Base managed to bug out a minute before the nukes hit us and five before they hit the middle east."

He pauses, looking around with relief allowing his shoulders to sag.

"The rift generator's fragged. We rebooted the homing beacon and sent out a forced recall command as soon as we could." Kaz pauses, slumping to the ground to lie on his back under the now rising sun.

"I thought you were all dead Snake. Blown away in nuclear fire or worse."

…

"But we're not." I said, standing tall and watching as more portals opened around Mother Base.

Walking forward I share a look with a just arrived Ocelot whose coat tails are smoking before turning slightly to face the ocean.

"We're still here. Wherever we are."

---

Where has V come to?

[ ] Gallic Sea: You know you've never seen this shore before in your life. Yet something about it seems hauntingly familiar, like recalling fraying snips of a dream that you only half remembered.

Important Polities:

• Neutral Countries
  • Gallia (Netherlands)

Europan Theater of War: Gallia
Difficulty: Easy

---

[ ] North Sea: You can see land to the northwest, the landmarks are incredibly reminiscent of the White Cliffs of Dover. But you also see land further southeast, some distance away, but close enough that you'd be able to reach either landmass by chopper or boat easily.

Important Polities:

• Atlantic Federation
  • Edinburgh (England)
  • Frankia (France)

Europan Theater of War: Center
Difficulty: Normal

---

[ ] Adriatic Sea: From the returning reports of your helicopters, you know that to the west you there is land. It's a place of rugged, mountainous terrain dotting the skyline of a long coastline. To the east an equal distance away your scouts report several islands dotting the area with a larger landmass further afield.

Important Polities:

• Neutral Countries
  • Macedonia (Greece)
  • Italia (Italy)

Europan Theater of War: South
Difficulty: Hard

---

[ ] The Crystal Sea: The first thing you notice upon reaching the outside is that it's cold.

The second?

The entire sea is less that of an ocean and more a field of solid ice.

Important Polities:

• East Europan Imperial Alliance
  • Finnia (Finland)

• Neutral Countries
  • Norvegia (Norway)
  • Suecia (Sweden)

Europan Theater of War: North
Difficulty: Very Easy or Extreme

---

Europa, Hlidskjalf
1934

Selvaria Bles

I was six years old the first time Father took me on a hunt.

I remember it well, while at first I had been adamant in trudging behind the knee deep path of displaced snow, it didn't take long for the graying figure of my grandfather to easily pick me up and place my bundled self upon his back.

He was old then, easily older than any other man who lived in our small village.

But even in my years of adulthood, I could not fathom there being any warrior in the whole world that could ever best him in battle.

No. Even now I cannot think of any human being that could survive the wrath of the softly smiling man who had taught me how to cook my first meals.

I was six years old when they came.

It was the first and only time I had ever seen the monster that Father kept leashed beneath the wrinkled skin of his powerful frame.

"Father?" I wondered, question beckoning in the back of my throat.

"Hrm?" He grunted in return, easily carrying my childish weight as if it were nothing.

The heavy snowfall did little to stop him, did not irritate him in the slightest. With one hand he secured me to his back while the other carried a pistol that I had seen him kill man after burgundy armored man.

I do not know why I asked what I did.

"Could you tell me that story again?"

"Which one?" He grumbled, the rasping huskiness of his voice having long become familiar to my ears.

"You know which, Father." I mumbled sleepily, remembering the tales passed on by my mother, the myths taught to her by the long dead woman in the machine.
"Hrm." Father replied, keeping my attention and forcing my mind to stay awake.

I remember it so very well. He could hold the attention of an entire room with but a meaningful grunt.

"Father?" I mumbled, eyes heavy and fingers numb.

"Selvaria." He replied.

"Mmh?" He had rarely acknowledged the title, not from myself or even from Mother.

"You know I'm not your father."

'I know.' I thought, but snuggled deeper into the broad back of the man who had raised me just as much as Mother had.

"Don't wanna." I replied, biting down softly on the woolen parka he wore.

Nonsensical of me, yes.

But I did not wish to call him by name. It felt… wrong.

But if wished to hear the story once more, I knew that I must acquiesce to his demand.

"Ishmael. That's what you told him." I recalled, closing my tired eyes and nuzzling against the sole source of warmth in the blizzard that raged around us.

I remember him replying, his smokey voice keeping my mind on the edge of awareness.

It was the last memory I have of him, the final recollection I had before I awoke in the care of the orphanage where I lived the rest of my early childhood.

And so I return year by year. This will perhaps be the final opportunity to return to the ashes of m former home.

I am not sure why I do so. I realize that there is nothing here for me to rediscover barring long dead memories.

The warm lapping of a one-eyed wolf upon my palm, moves my form from my current reverie.

"Come, DD." I command, brushing my hand against soft fur, fingers sticking momentarily on the very same scarf he'd worn upon my discovery of him not a year past.

A cracked skull in the shape of a single landmass. Through its empty eye, a single serpent slithered through it.

It was my adopted father's symbol, this I knew.

I did not know what it meant, but I knew he was a warrior without peer.

I would do him proud, serving as an enlisted soldier in the war to come.

I did not know what Outer Heaven was.

But I would after this war was over. I knew this in my powerfully beating heart.

---

AN: Short, I know. Let's get on with it :3