Metroid: Rogue: Ch 18

Into the Belly of the Beast

My ship flew through the endless reaches of space, passing through system after system as we approached and eventually passed the outer edges of the Federation controlled sector.

I cared not about stealth or subtlety as any Federation ship that might take up pursuit would turn around at the edge of Space Pirate territory and any conspiracy forces would already know I was coming from the signal we had been following.

As for the signal, it had not remained active long, the Rezbit drone no doubt meeting its destruction shortly after the signal activation, but it had been enough. The signal had reached the Federation comm beacon network and through it reached me and I now had an exact lock on what we presumed to be the conspirator’s primary base.

My hands clutched my controls tightly even as I steeled my gaze ahead out through the window of my ship. Memories of the ill-fated mission at the BOTTLE ship, the experiments conducted above SR388 flowed through my mind. The conspirators had started this, but I would finish it.

“Samus, you okay?” asked Adam a note of concern in his voice.

“I am quite fine,” I said firmly, “just anticipating finally putting an end to this conspiracy once and for all.”

“So do I, such an organization does not belong within the Federation,” agreed Adam, “but in order to truly dismantle them we will need to find documents detailing who it is on the Federation Council who are backing them. Without that, the conspiracy could be reborn.”

“Indeed,” I said simply.

“Don’t neglect that finding proof of the conspiracy’s far reach will be the best way to clear both of you of the accusations of treason leveled against you,” added Anthony as he walked up next to me, holding his Luminoth riffle, in the process of inspecting and cleaning it in preparation for the mission.

“True enough, but acquiring such evidence must come as a last concern for us. Too much could potentially be at risk for us to worry about that first,” said Adam firmly.

“I agree,” I added, “first we dismantle them and then we can see about clearing things up.”

“Good plan,” said Anthony and smiled a bit as he continued, “though to add to that, any particular plans once your names have been cleared? It has been quite a while.”

Adam fell silent for a quite a while and I myself was not entirely sure. I would never quit Bounty Hunting, but right after this? Well, there was one thing…

“I would need a full body scan, need to know whatever side effects the metroid vaccine is causing in me as I am pretty sure that metroids seeing me as one of them…to some extend…is not intended,” I said slowly even as I let my eyes go to my left hand. I remembered the weird texture of the metroid as I touched it aboard the comm station.

“I would call them seeing you as one of their own as an understatement,” said Anthony his smile still there, but underlain by a note of seriousness and perhaps a hint of worry. “I only saw it briefly, but you were able to order those metroids around, not just deter them. Almost like they saw you as some kind of…”

“…queen,” I finished for him, not even sure if that was the comparison he intended, but one I had started to draw myself. “The metroid which bonded to me, who was cloned, and whose DNA saved my life had the potential to become a queen. That this could be having an effect is not impossible,” I said calmly. While the entire thing worried me on some level, I did not feel afraid.

“Could it be dangerous, these alterations that are happening?” asked Anthony, the worry now clear as he was not even cleaning the gun anymore.

“I don’t rightfully know,” I said in complete honesty, “my ship’s own bio-scanners have picked up nothing that stands out, but it is not nearly as precise or thorough as it could be.”

“It would probably be a good idea to pursue clarity on this subject no matter if we manage to clear our names or not,” said Adam, speaking again suddenly. “As for your question, Anthony…”

“Once we a through this I would like to rejoin the Federation in some capacity, whether as an active part like I have been with Samus or in a more advisory role if that is what would be needed,” said Adam slowly, his voice remaining neutral.

“Guess we are both planning to be soldiers to the end then, commander,” said Anthony as he saluted the screen with a smile.

Adam, much to my surprise, chuckled for a moment before continuing, “it would seem so indeed, Anthony.”

“With any luck I will be able to serve under you again someday, commander,” added Anthony with a smile.

“I would be honored to lead you again as well,” answered Adam in a tone where I could just imagine the smile behind it. Adam soon continued, “however something to consider, Anthony. At least one commander has been taken in for treason, others may follow soon and you will have had no small part in unraveling the conspiracy. If everything that has happened is unveiled to the public and our names cleared, you could be looking at a fast track towards becoming a commander in your own right.”

“Me? A commander?” asked Anthony in disbelief.

“Why not?” I said with a smile, “I think you could make a great commander.”

Anthony smiled a bit, as he looked away, “you really think so? I mean I have not really done much in this mess. I was just swept up in this mess; you two did most of the work,” he mumbled and suddenly headed off towards the back of the ship to finish checking his gear.

I simply continued smiling even as he walked of. I could think of few soldiers more worthy of becoming a commander than Anthony.

Some time passed mostly in silence as Anthony finished up checking his gear and I could see the purple dot representing Adam go over all the data we had gathered off to the side on my cockpit window, likely double checking everything to see if there was something we had missed.

“Final jump and then we should be there,” I said even as I entered the coordinates for the system where the Rezbit drones signal had originated.

Adam closed the data screens and Anthony walked up next to the seat in full combat armor, holding his riffle and his heavy plasma gun slung over his back, our two Rezbit drones active behind him.

“Remember, we have two primary goals. Stop whatever the conspirators are planning and search for leads as to who is backing them,” said Adam firmly, “protecting the Federation is our first priority however and will be our initial focus.”

“Understood,” said Anthony and I in unity.  

It did not take long before we emerged at the site of the Rezbit signal. A vast red sun dominated the system we entered, its intense rays leaving no habitable worlds among the five planets orbiting it.

I did not see anything unusual at first, but as I let my scanners sweep the system, it quickly noticed a huge power source near one of the systems outlying planets.

I brought my ship forward, heading closer relatively slowly, keeping the planet between the power source and me as I approached. I then set my ship into a low orbit as I kept an eye out for the source of the energy and it was not long before my scanners provided me a clearer picture of an installation near one of the planet’s moons.

The first thing that became clear was the presence of the GFS Valhalla in a stationary orbit above the moon and not long after a smaller power source at its side was revealed as a vast circular space station.

Approaching slowly, more things became evident on my scanners, including one frigate patrolling around the Valhalla along with several fighters and two Anhur-Class patrol ships.

More details were also evident regarding the Valhalla and the space station, the space station being comprised of a circular top half with several docking ports and a lower cylinder seemingly comprised mostly of automated robotic arms and other tools for ship repair.

Its work on the Valhalla was also evident as the large hole that had nearly split the Valhalla in half was, even if obviously haphazardly, gone and according to my scans, its shields and existing weapon systems were operational.

Suddenly a warning flared up on my control panel, indicating that the weapon systems of the ships ahead were powering up and moments later I was hailed from two places at once, the Valhalla and one of the Anhur-class ships.

“Let us see what they have to say,” was all I remarked, waiting just long enough for Anthony to put on a helmet, before I let the messages through.

The Valhalla message was a simple text message reading, turn back, we have no wish to harm you.

The other message was a two-way communication and as soon as I let it through, Milona Saenz image appeared on screen.

“Samus Aran, I had hoped you would be smart enough not to come here,” said Milona, her voice firm though her expression made her look very tired.

“You should know by now that that would be unlikely,” I answered even as Adam and I brought my own ship into combat readiness together.

“I do, but I am not sure what you hope to achieve. Your ship is powerful, but you are outmatched here. Turn back, do not force us to fire upon you,” said Milona clearly trying to remain firm, but her voice broke near the end as she let out a heavy sigh, “don’t let the cost of this be too high.”

“The cost of what!? What exactly are you hoping to do at the core worlds!?” asked Adam angrily.

“You have no need to know. We shall contact you once it is all over, to let you know your names are cleared,” said Milona seemingly regaining some of her composure. “Hopefully you will come to understand our actions, even if you don’t agree with them.”

“No I don’t agree with them,” I snarled right back at her, “countless lives have been lost to your attempted research and even more will be lost if you through with whatever it is you are planning.” I lowered my head for a while, taking a deep breath and calming my tone before I spoke again, “that is why we plead for you to stop this madness before it goes any further.”

“Milona, you are a commander of the Federation, we exist to protect the Federation and its citizens. We do not serve to cause the death of the people of the Federation,” added Adam his voice firm, “turn back, while there is still time.”

“I can’t,” answered Milona simply, “you must understand that this is for the good of the many…even if that means harming the few.”

“The few, like the marines serving under commanders who caught wind of your conspiracy. Just like the marines you lost on Norion?” I asked firmly.

There was no answer; all I could see was Milona tense up before abruptly cutting of the connection. With that, my ship alerted me as the ships around the Valhalla moved into position to repel me.

“So, any good ideas?” asked Anthony as we watched the force arrayed against us.
“I got one,” said Adam even as my screen filled with visual indicators, drawing firing arcs for the various ships across the screen.

“The space station is a glaring weak spot in their defense as the ship’s scans show no external defenses on it. We can use it as cover on the approach if we do so before the frigate can get in position,” said Adam quickly and zoomed in on a line running from the station to the Valhalla, “most importantly it is connected directly to the Valhalla and could provide us with an entrance point.”

“Wont they just destroy the station?” asked Anthony quickly.

“Not with the Valhalla that close, the explosion could easily cripple it based on the space stations size and proximity,” said Adam.

“Our biggest problem will be the fighters. They and their missiles are fast enough that we will be unable to dock to the station,” I said looking over the analysis.

“Then we won’t dock at all. I can outmaneuver the fighters; with the proper approach trajectory and a bit of luck I should be able to fling you at one of their landing bays, after which I will retreat to safe distance once you are inside,” said Adam confidently.

“Is that possible?” asked Anthony sounding a bit surprised.

“It is not easy, but I have done such spacewalks a few times. No one expects a human sized target coming at their space station or ship,” I said confidently.

“Indeed,” said Adam even as the purple dot dashed across the screen, updating the trajectories and calculating the approach.

I got out of my chair even as the ship shot forward. “I am leaving this to you, Adam,” I said with a smile even as I stepped over to the lift, “Anthony, ready the Rezbit drones.”

“I will and I will go as well,” said Anthony even as he stepped over to the lift. I was about to protest when he simply smiled confidently, “I know you don’t like it, but I am a marine and we can’t exactly afford to hold back now can we?” He then continued more reassuringly. “Don’t worry I will stay behind you and watch your back, no heroics from me, princess.”

I was silent for a moment, contemplating it and then simply smiled, giving him thumbs up.

Anthony smiled broadly, “okay, let’s do this!”

"I will head out on the ship’s hull and secure myself using the grapple beam, you follow on Adam’s signal,” I said even as I stepped into the lift.

“Got it,” Anthony answered even as the lift headed downwards, carrying me out into space.

I quickly used my gravity suit to draw myself towards the bottom of my ship, flipping myself over as I did and latching on with my grapple beam even as the lift headed back up.

“Get ready, things are likely to get a bit rough out here,” said Adam over the comm even as I could see him flying my ship towards the moon the Valhalla was hovering around, slowly putting the space station between the Valhalla and us.

The two Anhur-Class patrol ships were moving in to block our path while the fighters, at least the five closest to us were heading off on an intercept course. The frigate remained at a distance, still trying to close to effective attack range.

Looking briefly to the side, I noticed Adam readying the missile launchers on my ship, his voice cutting in over the comm. “Get ready, this is going to get a bit rough!”

I braced myself against the bottom of my ship as the fighters closed to attack range, opening fire with a volley of missiles. Adam kept my ship on its original cause until the missiles were close, then accelerating hard as he changed direction, heading straight for the space station.

The missiles tried to adjust direction, but were unable to follow the sharp turn of my ship and were soon outpaced. Following up on, Adam launched a volley of missiles from my ship, aimed at the incoming fighters, breaking their formation and preventing them from intercepting us before we had put them behind us.

Not that things got any less hectic as the two Anhur-Class Patrol ships opened fire form ahead of us, lighting up area between us and the space station and Adam threw my ship into a series of twists and barrel rolls, trying to remain a harder target.

My ship took a few impacts nonetheless, but the shields held until Adam was able to launch another missile barrage. Though the Anhur ships were able to take the barrage head on at little damage, the concussive force threw of their aim for a while as we closed with one of the space stations hangar openings.

“Anthony, get ready!” said Adam and moments later the lift descended behind me with Anthony and the Rezbit drones as the space station approached at breakneck speed.

“On my mark!” sounded Adam’s voice and just moments later. “Go!”

I leapt forward from the bottom of my ship, using my back thrusters to get a bit of extra force behind it, before turning to make sure Anthony was with me. He was, giving me thumbs up as we floated through the open space, the two drones right behind him and right on target.

Behind him I saw Adam throw my ship into a sudden half turn which no normal pilot could ever have done with being shaken badly, firing the thrusters away from the station and firing a third missile volley back at our pursuers.

I hit the hangar doors hard, bracing Anthony’s landing before we quickly made our way down to a maintenance hatch. I quickly forced it open, allowing us inside the station.

“That was kind of insane, princes!” exclaimed Anthony even as he leaned against the wall of the corridor we exited into, only stopping briefly to make sure there were no enemies in sight.

“I am just glad you made it okay,” I answered with a smile, giving him a moment to recover even as I looked around.

The walls of the space station were a drab white color with several tubes running along the top sides of the corridor. It was very open, with no entry or exit hatches in sight, minus one that probably led into the hanger next to us. I observed a few inactive turret emplacement where the corridors branched off, their inactivity bothering me greatly.

“We should move, I don’t like how quiet it is,” I said quickly and Anthony nodded, placing a drone behind himself and ahead of me as we advanced in the general direction of the tube connecting to the Valhalla.

We met no resistance, in fact, the entire station seemed deserted as we advanced through it, though the signs of someone leaving in great haste were there as we passed through an open recreation area and found half-eaten meals on some tables.

Though we moved fast, I was able to take in a few things about the station. Despite the exterior making it seem like a ship construction and repair station, the inside had been remade to accommodate a sizeable research area, in particular I noticed what I assumed was a cloning lab similar to what had been aboard the BOTTLE ship as we passed over a catwalk.

A large number of cryogenic stasis tubes were below and I assumed that they had to contain, or have contained, zebesian space pirates, since cryo freezing would not work on the new metroids. The scale of it all worried me a bit and I could see Anthony eyeing it as well as we passed through.

Finally, we reached an airlock that matched the location of the tube connecting with the Valhalla, but a bulkhead blocked it and the nearby terminal refused access citing a station wide lockdown of some kind. I was able to glean the location of the main computer terminal from the terminal though and quickly set off towards it.

Arriving without incident once again, I quickly turned to Anthony as we entered the main control room. “Watch the entrance, I don’t like this.”

“Me neither, something is wrong here,” answered Adam as he took up position along with the two drones.

A hand print scanner protected the main terminal, but my suit quickly circumvented it accessing the main computer system.

“Adam I am downloading the computer files directly to my ship, go through them while I look for a way to open the blast door,” I said quickly even as I scanned through the computer system for the main controls of the station.

“I got it and...” started Adam, but cut himself short with a small, “no.”
“Adam?” asked Anthony over the comm.

“The conspirator’s plans are here. I will give you the brief version,” said Adam sounding on the verge of anger. “It is a coup against the Galactic Federation council.”
“What?” asked Anthony in complete disbelief.

“They are going to unleash Zebesians upon the core worlds, distracting the first fleet as the Valhalla breaks through the defenses and crashes into the Federation HQ. The initial Zebesian attack will have placed the HQ under lockdown and the Valhalla will easily destroy it before they can evacuate. The council will be dead, except for the few not present currently, presumably including the conspiracy’s masterminds,” told Adam quickly, his voice seething at this point.

“With most of the council gone the Federation will be in a state of crisis and the remaining council members, with the conspirators at the helm will use this opportunity to restart the metroid bio weapon project, alongside other planned changes to the military…for the safety of the federation,” snarled Adam, putting particular weight on the last part. “And that is the simply version. Samus, Anthony, we have to stop them!”

“And we will, you can count on that,” I said confidently even as I searched the computer for the blast door. Finally finding them, I directed the computer to unlock the blast door blocking us, but much to my surprise the computer denied my attempt.

“Alert: Ship operation in process, airlock 7 controls hard locked for your own safety. Alert: airlock 7 damaged,” said the message popping up on screen.

“Adam…” I started, but he cut in before I could get any further.

“The Valhalla just started its engines, breaking the connection tube and it seems to be heading out of the system, the fighters and frigate breaking off to follow it!” said Adam quickly.

“Damnit,” I said and turned to Anthony.

“I heard, let’s get back to the hangar!” said Anthony even as he opened the entry hatch.
Before we could exit, a familiar voice cut in over the speakers.

“I am afraid you will have to stay a while longer,” said Milona firmly as her visage appeared on one of the screens, though she was not wearing her usual marine armor.

Instead, she was clad in one of power suits based of my armor that the conspirators had created.

“Samus, Anthony, both Anhur-class ships are docking with the station, I think you are about to have company,” informed Adam us.

“I will make it clear what is arrayed against you. Twenty marines in top of the line gear, five with heavy plasma guns and five in our prototype power armor, including myself, supported by salvaged space pirate drones,” told Milona firmly, “even if our armor does not match your own suit, five should give even you pause, especially with backup. But it need not come to bloodshed, our orders are merely to keep you busy here while our plan is carried out, nothing needs to…”

“You are right, nothing needs to happen,” I said an ice-cold rage slowly gripping me. I knew exactly what they were aligning against me and it was impressive, but it also meant horrible things for them.

I opened a closed line to Adam. “Adam, get to the Federation core worlds and warn them. I will follow in Milona’s ship once I have dealt with this,” I said firmly, trying to make it clear I did not want to discuss this.

Adam seemed to catch this as well as he only sent a short reply. “Understood Samus.”

I then slowly turned to Anthony. “Keep those drones close and follow my orders to the letter,” I said coldly and Anthony simply nodded, not raising a single question as I turned my attention back to Milona.

“Samus, you don’t seriously think that you can…” started Milona.

“No, you are the one who does not understand!” I snarled even as I hoped desperately that Milona would see reason, but also knowing it was unlikely. Already I was disabling the non-lethal settings for each of my weapons one by one. “I have been playing nice with your forces, hoping to settle this with minimal casualties. I did so simply because I do not like killing humans, just as you do not want to kill me. So for the sake of both of us, throw down your weapons and let us pass.”

“You don’t really think that is an option, do you?” asked Milona even as I could see her raising the helmet of her power suit to her face, slowly putting it on.

“Very well then, Milona Saenz, then you leave me no choice,” I said coolly, my mind crystal clear and focused. I took in a deep breath as I looked up at Milona and spoke one last line, “let me show you and your forces why the space pirates call me ‘The Hunter.’”