Metroid Fanfiction

[Kesshin]

Then I guess you can count me as one of those three people. ^^
Good section, UC. You did, however, make a slight typo, no biggie, just thought you'd want to know.
>>>Actually, he was healing at pretty fast rate<<<
Personally, I think this is the best section you've done so far.

[true_noir_chloe]

Yes, I thought this was one of your best sections, as well. And, I spotted the typo; but sheesh, with your writing no big, right? *hehe*

Okay, I'm the third person responding so it means you have to place another section. XD

[uc pseudonym]

Indeed I do. I will do so after a (hopefully) short period of time.

Thank you for pointing out the typo. That's the sort of thing I always miss in the editing, because my mind fixes things as it goes.

I am also very, very encouraged that you liked this section. Others were less thrilled. Did you think the dialogue caused any problems? That was other people's main gripe, and it worried me slightly. My goal was to create slightly uncomfortable dialogue, but I've messed up if it interfered with reading.

[uc pseudonym]

You are all lucky I had this chapter on me. On the other hand, posting it now means you get no alien descriptions.

-

Chapter 5: Echos of the Past

Affixing the metal line to the shattered power coupling, Tal soldered it together then glanced over his work. It would do, though he was pretty sure it would burn out after a few light-years. Samus didn’t need more than a few, though. Pulling a gray roll of tape from the bag beside him, he began wrapping wire and coupling together in it.

Long ago, it had been called duct tape, he knew. Wonderfully useful stuff, for just about anything. This version was perfect for working with parts as sensitive as the engine of a spaceship, it was really quite fortunate that the escape pod had some. Then again, any escape pod without it would have been considered under-stocked.

The days had passed quickly, as Tal basically awoke, worked on the ship, then slept again, eating being no more than a sidelight. Their situation was overall good, he decided, but food stores were running a bit low by this point. If not for the escape pod’s computer, he would long ago have lost track of time. In any case, he and Samus had been working together for quite a long time.

Of all the people he could have been stranded on a wasteland planet with, Samus now ranked highest on his list. Not that that meant anything, for the scum that he was familiar with. She was pretty good with tools, and also a wickedly good shot with the photon gun he knew was in her bio suit. It was also helpful she wasn’t the most extroverted person, which could have made the situation unbearable. Tal could see she was an intelligent person, yet she didn’t speak as if she held way too many degrees. Such a far cry from everyone he knew.

“You never really explained about your past,â€

[uc pseudonym]

I do not eve want to go into what I went through to post this.

-

The escape pod malfunctioned today, we’re not sure what all that entails. There’s still food to last for four days, but I hope we don’t need all of it. Adam managed to salvage the radio portion of the ship, and he’s continued to send a distress signal. The computer said there was a station floating around the planet, but its ignored everything we’ve sent, so it must be a mistake or something.

I hope things don’t go too bad. With three mouths to feed our supplies are running out very quickly. Using the remains of the pod and anything we can get our hands on, we’re constructing a makeshift home...



Ignoring the rest of the message, Samus scrolled down to a more recent one. She didn’t have any time to learn useless information, she needed to know more about this planet. Something caught her eye, and she scrolled back to read the entry.



We’ve found a set of caves some few kilometers east from here. Adam thinks there might be a former civilization within them, but I’m hesitant. Then again, I didn’t go with them, so I can’t be certain. They want to go again, but I’m going to put my foot down. Our gas masks are being worn down by this planet’s atmosphere, and I want to save them for a more important time.

I think all of us have given up on any sort of rescue. They keep the radio going anyway. What does that mean for us? Why do we keep going? I think...



Interesting. Samus nodded slowly, tucking that information away. A few kilometers east, about where she’d found caverns; she’d have to remember that. Quickly she flipped to the last entry and began reading.



Call me morbid, but I think this will be my last entry. If I see another day, I’ll be surprised. We’re out of food, and they haven’t been able to scavenge for any more. Like I said in my previous letter, I’m starving. Joey is still dealing with the same feelings I was referring to earlier. This could be the end

They tried to go to the caverns again, against my best wishes. This time, they barely came back alive. I demanded they tell me what happened, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Adam had three bloody gashes across his chest, but wouldn’t tell me how it happened. I’ve been seeing things at night lately, and I’m getting worried.

I’m cold all the time, they tell me it’s hypothermia. We’re all so very cold. And hungry. The gas masks failed, and now it hurts to breath any time. Living hurts. I’m not sure I want to-



The recording device blipped out, running out of power. Cursing, Samus smacked the power cell and gave it another shot, but apparently it was completely out of power. That was alright, though, she had gotten some useful information out of it. Setting it down, Samus glanced back around the house to see if there was anything she could do.

Tal was standing by the door, carrying a number of parts. Guiltily Samus realized that she hadn’t helped him actually find anything. He didn’t seem accusing, though, and she merely followed him as they existed the house.

“Did you find everything?â€

[uc pseudonym]

“Just in case,â€

[Kesshin]

Another update. ^^ In the words of my father, "Yayz" (And in case that didn't make sense, don't worry about it. My dady's kind of odd *heh* ).

>>> “There’s no such thing as normal,â€

[uc pseudonym]

Another update. ^^ In the words of my father, "Yayz" (And in case that didn't make sense, don't worry about it. My dady's kind of odd *heh* ).

Makes perfect sense to me.

[quote="Kesshin"]>>> “There’s no such thing as normal,â€

[Kesshin]

>>>Quite. At least I've never gotten a "You're speling and grammar is gud.<<<
*laughs*

Ah, don't worry about my silly little predictions, UC. You're taking things at the right pace, and I am quite partial to the well-written romance fan fiction. Goodness knows they're hard to come by nowadays.

>>>On the other, most professional authors I've been reading say that to succeed as a writer you should write similar books.<<<

Yeah, most of my favorite authors write similar books. I guess if you find a formula that works for you, you should stick with it if you want to make money. But it would get kind of boring after a while, writing like that. Everyone should try something different once occasionally, so they can expand their writing skills. And you DO try different things. I mean, "The Fall" is completely different from this story in many ways. That's one of the things that makes you a skilled writer.

Still, in the long-run writing with a vague formula of some kind isn't so bad. It gives you kind of an outline of where you want your story to go, and you can flesh it out so it doesn't end up like everything else you've written. Plus it keeps your fans entertained. And isn't that the purpose of writing, creating something that other people will enjoy and learn from?

*looks at her post*
Ack! I'm rambling. ^^;; Gomen, I'll try to keep my mouth shut.

[skynes]

[quote]There’s no such thing as normal,â€

[uc pseudonym]

I can follow your dialogue fine. but most ppl won't as jumping back and forth between the two without saying who said what can be confusing and the
He said, She said, He said thing gets old very quickly.

In Legacy of Numach I use a method like

Samus -

Tal -

Samus -

To easily identify who is saying what. Mightn't fit your style but it works for me.

Actually, if I remember correctly I thought this story was fairly balanced in that regard. And I dislike script style, but thank you for the suggestion.

This is getting very interesting. Got a good plot going and leaving a cliffhanger practically with every update!
Out of interest, how much do you have written? I REALLY don't want you to just stop half way as nothing more has been written! That'd drive me bonkers!!!

There shall be more cliffhangers...

The entire story is written and was given a read-through editing. Trust me, I don't post things unless I have written them in their entirity. Before I wrote a word everything had been planned, and before a word had been posted everything had been written. It won't stop unless I die.

[true_noir_chloe]

I'm glad you will be continuing this in prose, UC. This would not be the same in script format.

It's very interesting and that's all I'm saying. ^__^

[uc pseudonym]

I have a feeling these chapters are going to follow a very similar pattern in regard to reviews... I will be editing this post at a later date to contain the first post of the next chapter.

Well, in the original writing I was thinking of stalling on the events the chapter for a while longer, but then I decided that stalling simply for that sake would be a bad idea. Anyway...

-

Chapter 6: Complications

Straightening his suit, Mr. Divel took a deep breath, then picked up the phone. Tapping one of the preprogrammed numbers, he waited while a secure connection was formed. All his channels were heavily encrypted; while it was an obnoxious use of time, it was absolutely essential.

“Yes, sir?â€

[uc pseudonym]

Roaring, the creature turned to her. Waving goodbye cynically, Samus triggered the bomb, destroying the alien completely. After weathering the blast, Samus quickly assessed her condition. She had taken some heavy damage, especially the specific areas where the claw had struck. Some of it would heal, the rest might require repair. Most likely her left arm’s weapon functions would be offline until she could get them fixed.

Remembering her purpose, Samus quickly moved into the next room. Here she found the cache of technology Tal had referred to. Finding what they needed as quickly as possible, Samus stored the things and then practically sprinted back to the room where Tal had been.

He hadn’t moved, as was common for people with life-threatening injuries. Actually, he looked better than he had when she left. There was no blood on the ground, either, which was surprising for the injuries he had sustained. Apparently he had managed to keep it inside relatively well.

“Do you have it?â€

[skynes]

Muhahahahaha, I was right! I knew he was one of the creatures! Didn't expect him to be the one from the station Samus was on though. I'ver been waiting for him to reveal his identity since they met! Good stuff

[uc pseudonym]

Nothing else? But ah well, it has been a week, the second term of update.

This chapter is interesting, in that it gives us another view of Samus.

-

Chapter 7: A Series of Unrelated Events

The ship lifted off, a bit shakily, true, but it was a miracle that it even got off the ground at all. Escape pods were designed to get a person to a planet, not to get them off. Somehow, this ship was actually flying, and flying better than a few of the crates Samus had seen in her lifetime. While she broke orbit, she had been very busy making sure everything was running properly, but now as she went about her long journey to Bounty Hunter HQ all Samus could do was think.

Leaning back in her chair, Samus sighed heavily. She began running through all the facts in her mind, to avoid the true confusion she was struggling with. There had been so many hints, but she hadn’t ever caught on. Then again, she could be forgiven for that, as it would be unnatural to assume anything that bizarre.

Her first clues should have been Tal’s unnatural recovery rate and resistence to low temperatures. This planet was hardly habitable, yet he’d lived in it easily. If that hadn’t been enough, there was always his heightened sight and hearing.

His story also made a few other things come together, she realized. He had been unwilling to talk about details of why he was on the station... small wonder. That also explained why he had been so afraid of her at the beginning. She had, after all, thrown him off a catwalk. It was amazing he survived that fall, though he was evidently much tougher than a normal human.

What did all this mean about his story? Was it the truth or just a clever deceit he’d invented? Then again, it had seemed fragmented, and he seemed to be searching for the truth as well, so Samus decided to give him that one. He’d seemed honest enough.

The instant the thought entered her mind, Samus realized the danger and tried to force it away. Too late. Tal had seemed so honest and open, yet he had been far from it, apparently. Again, she couldn’t really blame him. Still, she was completely in the dark about his motives. Why had he been on the station? Why had he helped her? It was obvious, considering that he had wings, that he didn’t need the ship to leave. Any time during the days they had been building the ship, he could have killed her, Samus realized grimly. So his motives were probably mostly pure, if a bit confusing; that fit with her image of him.

Of course, that image had just been forced to undergo serious revisions. Whatever he was, it certainly wasn’t human. Almost like a bizarre cross between alien life forms and human, Samus decided. Maybe that was part of his connection to the stations. It was possible that he had once been human. Then again, what made someone count as human?

In any case, he was far more than a simple scientist. However bad his aim may have been, his personal weapons seemed to be quite effective. Those momentarily took up her thoughts. When she’d first met him, he seemed basically like an armored human. This time, he’d been able to do far more. If he could do that much, why hadn’t he when they fought on the station the first time? Then again, it was also possible he couldn’t then.

Slowly Samus began to piece together some of the scientific reasoning behind things. Tal had appeared to be saturated in nega-photons, probably because he was. They were an intrinsic part of his being. That also explained why he was able to fire energy cannon like shots from his fingers; he must have obtained the alien ability to manipulate nega-photons. When he’d used them, it had obviously been pretty devastating.

And the wings... Samus shook her head, not wanting to think about the physics involved with that. How his exoskeleton could be beneath his skin and then slide out was beyond her. In retrospect, she realized his shoulders had been extremely well muscled, quite abnormal for a scientist. If he had wings, that made perfect sense.

That raised another entire question. Most of the time she had known him, Tal had appeared completely human, and acted normally. Either he’d originally been human, or gotten good acting lessons from somewhere. But which form was normal for him: the human or the alien? Did both then count as human or alien? At this point, did the distinction even matter?

With a deep sigh, Samus shook her head and pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Most likely, she’d never get any answers. Not unless she went after them herself, anyway. In this case, it just might be worth it...

[uc pseudonym]

Nearly dropping his coffee, David Anez rubbed his eyes and glanced at the screen again. It couldn’t be. Completely bloody impossible. Setting down his mug, he checked to make sure the screen was working properly, then sat back in his chair in amazement.

The ship closing in on Bounty Hunter HQ was a small one; a heap of junk, from what he could tell. With the number of bounty hunters who came here, that wasn’t at all unusual. What made this ship unique was the fact that it was broadcasting Samus Aran’s docking codes! A more than healthy obsession had caused David to memorize them, and now he saw them once more.

After mysteriously disappearing on a job she refused to tell anyone about, everyone had assumed that Samus was missing in action. Certainly, the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy would have finished the job by now. Rumors had began to circulate, as they always did, and for some time David ignored them. Eventually even he believed she had died.

Apparently he had been wrong. They had all been wrong. Wherever she had been, she was back, evidently now in a lemon ship. Getting up from his seat, David bolted for the door, heading for the loading docks. With any luck, he could be the first person to greet her when she stepped off the ship. Couldn’t hurt.

“Holy c***, guys!â€

[uc pseudonym]

The soft hum of the ship’s engines quickly calmed Samus’ nerves. Everything seemed to be coming together to put her at ease. This was her ship, and it was familiar: same engine tone, same soft chair, same console and instruments. It had been far too long since she’d been aboard her own ship, and now she felt at home again.

Just getting away from the Bounty Hunter HQ contributed to Samus’ sense of well being. She always forgot how much she hated most people until she went back to HQ. Unfortunately, she had to work with people; the very nature of her job depended on it. At least most of her clients were business like: they needed something done, and she could do it. But everyone who lingered at HQ for a lengthy period had too much time on their hands, in her opinion. The few staff members onboard closest to being her friends were the ones who annoyed her the least.

Now that everything was as it should be, Samus felt much more comfortable making plans. First off, of course, was to get some answers from the Galactic Council. They had a lot of explaining to do, especially about the exploding ship. While she would have liked to believe no one would destroy so easily, experience taught her differently. Most likely, that project would take quite some time. But she wouldn’t rest until it was resolved.

After that... things were more open. Eventually she’d take another job, though she could have lived off of only the money from this job for months. It was more about doing the work than the money. No... Samus decided that she had more important things to do at the moment, like going after Tal.

She assumed he was still on that planet, though as the thought occurred to her she realized that she could be wrong. Was it possible he had left? All normal humans needed air to breath... but Tal was hardly normal. He’d been able to handle extreme temperatures as well. Assuming that he could propel himself through space somehow, and nega-photons served that function nicely, he was probably as capable of going anywhere as a starship. It all depended on how fast he could move, and how much he needed to eat.

Useless speculation; Samus put it aside. She would handle that when it happened. Once more fully stocked and repaired, Samus felt prepared to take on just about anything. Which is why what followed was bad timing for someone else.

A warning light lit up on the dash, and a siren blared through the cockpit for a split second before Samus turned it off. Glancing at the screen, Samus discovered that she was being intercepted by three other ships. They’d be within firing range in about ten seconds, and the computer said their weapons were ready.

Strapping herself into the seat, Samus activated her manual controls. Wrapping her hands around the control shafts, the bounty hunter smiled malevolently. If they wanted to fight her, a fight they would get.

The instant they came within range, Samus dove directly down, avoiding the fire that lanced through the space where she had been. Spinning the ship around as quickly as possible and cutting her engines, Samus continued to hurtle backward, now while strafing the ships with fire of her own.

All three were shielded, and survived the blast. Again activating thrusters, Samus propelled her ship up, away from the ships. They were pirate vessels, she recognized now. Probably stolen from somewhere and heavily modified. Like most serious pirates, they were too well protected for her computer to scan them, but Samus was willing to bet all three were heavily armed.

Shifting power to forward shields, Samus broke into a barrel roll, breaking through the group of three ships. She took relatively little damage along the way, as she’d managed to surprise them. Curving upward, Samus doubled back over herself and let loose another burst of fire. Before they could fire in response she broke into another barrel roll, getting out of range.

They were sporting some impressive hardware, but their pilots didn’t seem to be the best. At least, nowhere near as proficient as she was. Targeting one of the ships with missiles, Samus managed to get a lock and then fired. The instant her projectiles were off, she dove from her position, fire from one of the ships barely glancing her own.

It dove down at her, and Samus began a brief and vicious dogfight with the ship. This pilot seemed to be a bit better, and lasted for a while before Samus managed to break down his shields. Firing a missile without guidance, Samus sent him up in flames, then rolled back into the fight again.

One of the ships was still mostly undamaged, and the other had managed to survive her missile, though the pilot hadn’t been able to dodge it. Enabling the thrusters on the side of her ship, Samus skidded in a new direction, strafing the ships as she went. Whirling, Samus activated her ship’s tractor beam.

The surprise move worked, and one of the ships was momentarily caught. Caught long enough for Samus to lock on and fire. Anticipating the last pilot, the one with the most able ship, would attack, Samus immediately spun away, narrowing avoiding further fire. Circling, Samus found that the other pilot had circled as well, and their ships now faced each other.

Having no time for evasive action, Samus continued to fire as their ships swiftly bridged the gap between them. Her eyes narrowed; he was barely using his ship’s full power, as if he was distracted by something else. She was destroying his shields, too. Their ships narrowly missed each other, and Samus dropped a bomb that quickly attached itself to her opponent’s hull.

Abruptly Samus realized what he had done. Why would he be willing to do a sacrifice tactic? What did pirates have to fight for other than their own lives? In any case, there were now five missiles hot on her trail. Jerking her ship hard to the right and wincing as internal wheels ground together, Samus attempted to shake the projectiles.

A bit of fancy flying later, she’d managed to get rid of all but two. They were of a new variety she’d only read about, and some of the most sensitive homing missiles in the galaxy. Fortunately, that sensitivity was gained at a sacrifice of speed. But she could only keep ahead of them for so long.

Setting her ship on a straight line, Samus unbuckled herself from the chair and bolted toward the back. Entering the airlock, she switched her right arm to energy cannon mode as the air rushed from the chamber. Seconds later the elevator took her to the outside of the ship. Immediately activating magnetic boots, Samus stepped fully outside.

She couldn’t see the missiles following her ship with her bare eyes, but she knew they were there. Since the ship wasn’t shifting anymore, it was relatively easy to plot their trajectories... abruptly Samus fired a half dozen times behind her ship. Two explosions in space signified that she had been successful. Nodding to no one in particular, Samus moved back down into her ship.

Now the computer said she was alone again. Returning to autopilot, Samus leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head. Not too much of a problem, really, but it raised quite a few issues to think about. Could they have been mercenaries? Unlikely, as she was certain the ships had been of the typical space pirate variety. Then again, anything was possible. There was also a chance that they weren’t pirates, just people someone wanted her to think were pirates. It would have been pretty tough for pirates to get their hands on weaponry like that.

More questions were the last thing she needed. With a sigh, Samus repositioned herself in the chair and tried to get a bit of rest.

[skynes]

ooo the plot thickens.....

Want my guess on this?

Im gonna give it anyway.

The Galactic Federation do NOT want Samus knowing about the true purpose of the stations. If that means killing her by blowing up a transport ship, abandoning her on a planet or getting their pilots to fly Pirate ships to blow her up, theyll do it.

[uc pseudonym]

For the record... the occupants of the ships in the last chapter were space pirates in the traditional sense. All others (I believe) in the future are more literal: that is, those who pirate in space.

Where'd two of my readers go?

[skynes]

By traditional sense you mean the insect-like aliens with Ridley as their commander? (or lobsters as my gf calls them)

[uc pseudonym]

Yes, though Ridley is (at the moment) a nonentity.

Now I feel guilty for just posting that...

[skynes]

hey, where's the updates!?

[uc pseudonym]

They're under the passenger seat of my car.

-

Chapter 8: First Steps

A soft tone echoed through the ship, signaling that she was nearing the docking bay for the space station. Removing her helmet so she could rub sleep from her eyes, Samus replaced it and then sat up, waiting for her access codes to be approved by the station. As always, she watched them carefully, in case anything else went on. As always, nothing did.

The Galactic Council outpost loomed ahead of her, and one of the large docking bay doors opened. Quickly she maneuvered her ship into bay, setting it down gently. Iron clamps connected to the floor, securing it, and then Samus got from her chair.

She found there was no one waiting for her as the doors to her ship slid open. That was unusual, but then again, so was her visit. Most of the time she came to any Galactic Council location only when they had a job for her to do, in which case they always met her the instant she stepped from the ship. This time, her visit was far more informal... and far more serious.

Quickly striding from the docking bay, Samus got through the airlock and into the station itself. It was crowded, as always, with hundreds of people wishing to file complaints, or have their own opinions heard. Such a huge bureaucracy, such a huge waste of time. At least it accomplished the purpose of keeping the galaxy at least somewhat safe, and provided some sort of leadership, however slow.

Finding herself in a massive line, Samus gritted her teeth and shook her head. She didn’t have time for this sort of thing, and she wasn’t the waiting type, either. Jumping into the air and activating her jet pack, Samus flew over the heads of the surprised people in line. Though she swept past them very quickly, she thought she caught a few wistful looks in her direction. Feh. None of them would ever be able to fly a jet pack.

Flying low to make it through a doorway, Samus entered the main chamber. It was an extremely tall, circular chamber that made up the central core of the station. Around it were levels upon levels of walkways circling the chamber, dozens of doors on each. She had little time for any of these, not today.

Blasting straight up through the center of the chamber, Samus found a higher governmental level and landed on the floor in front of the door she was looking for. Most of the time she tried to avoid working with bureaucrats, but some sacrifices had to be made. One of these was her acquaintance with Mr. Divel. The politician had handled all cases involving her, as well as all the Metroid cases, and so she had gotten to know him at least somewhat well. Slimy guy, but he had a sharp mind and had a knack for politics.

Stalking through the doors, Samus silenced the security guards with a glare. They knew who she was, and knew better than to try and stop her when she was in this sort of mood. She hoped they knew that they couldn’t stop her, even if they tried. After the hallway filled with guards Samus entered the foyer of Mr. Divel’s office, a plush room second only to the office itself in luxury.

The receptionist spared her a glance, and didn’t even try to question her. Samus was relatively certain she pressed some secret button in her desk that alerted Mr. Divel to her coming. He was never surprised to see her.

Shoving both doors open so that they banged against the opposite walls, Samus strode into the office, practically radiating an aura of anger. She had gone far too long with no questions being answered, and now she was going to get some. Either that, or heads would roll. Mr. Divel had many contacts, legitimate and otherwise, and he surely knew plenty about the situation.

[uc pseudonym]

“Now, now, Miss Aran,â€

[uc pseudonym]

The question was if she could actually trust anyone here. Someone had rigged the ship to explode, and they’d used a self-destruct function to do it. Now why a ship would have a self-destruct function was beyond her, and why it would be triggered was even further beyond. All she could think of was that someone had triggered it from without... but that would have required them to have hacked into the system, or planted something there in the first place. Either way, they had a lot of power.

She didn’t really fear having to fight someone, she could handle that, she feared the more subtle methods they might use. Space pirates were nothing. Poison in food or water, a quick injection while she was asleep, running electricity through her floor... possibilities were endless. Most of them her bio suit would protect her from, but not all. Anyone who wanted to kill her could find a way to do so.

As soon as she could get away from civilization the better. Life was better when around just a few people who weren’t so obnoxious, like a select set of bounty hunters or someone like Tal. There were far too few good people in the universe...

Thinking about that instantly made her think about Shilo- the exact opposite of a good person. Jerk. As a politician, he would never do anything she could shoot him for. Almost enough to make her want to go pirate, like some bounty hunters, and disobey all rules. But that life certainly wasn’t something she wanted either.

With a sigh Samus fell back on the bed heavily. Her bio suit balanced the impact, ruining the effect and preventing the act from relieving much stress. Maybe it would just be better to give up on this entire issue... pretend it had never happened...

A beep jerked her alert. Had it been an alarm, Samus would have already been on her feet, but as the case was it was just to notify her she had a message incoming so she just sat up slowly. Already? Very few people had her computer IP here, so her messages were few. Mainly just Mr. Divel, Shilo (who knew how he had gotten it?) and a few select bounty hunters. None of whom she wanted to talk to.

Regardless, she needed something to shake her out of this mood. Getting to her feet, Samus moved over to the computer panel in the wall. The message was, sure enough, from a bureaucratic station elsewhere. Could have been worse, then. Still, she didn’t want to take it. Just as her fingers hovered over the reject button, she noticed something strange.

It was encrypted just as it should be, but something wasn’t right. All the proper access codes were intact but slightly disrupted, as if someone had done a hack job of getting in. Much more interesting. Considering this wasn’t her computer and thus not her problem if it got wiped, Samus opened the message. For a few seconds the computer whirred, then opened the message itself.

There was no text included, but there was a video feed line, probably containing the main message. In addition there were quite a number of attached files, but she’d be a fool to open those. At least she could see what the video feed was.

Tal suddenly appeared on screen. Behind him was a sterile, clean room, giving no hint of his location. Overcoming her initial shock at seeing him again, Samus stepped back to watch the message. He had returned to his human form; the human looking form anyway.

“I hope you didn’t delete this,â€

[skynes]

Ill admit... I really wanted to see Samus break Shilo's arm... even just once, Maybe scorch him with a plasma shot or something...

[uc pseudonym]

Then I'm doing my job.

I guess I'll post again next Friday, unless something interferes.

[The_Marauding_Maniac]

I just started reading this. Wow UC, it looks like you got another reader!

[uc pseudonym]

I haven't updated this due to disk problems, but then I realized that I had placed the files on network. So I should be able to update promptly from now on, assuming there are no temporal or serious problems.

-

Chapter 9: Eye of the Hurricane

“Sir, there are six unidentified ships approaching the station at a high velocity.â€