Prologue
----Mission file 02546----
8 days ago, contact with Galactic Federation trooper squad Bravo was lost.
----Contract Agreement----
Locate Federation troopers and render assistance.
----Data Confirmation----
Last transmission received from a rogue planet in the Dasha region called Aether.
Uploading last known coordinates_
Scanning… target found.
Analyzing… flight path set.
Samus Aran looked thru the window of her new gunship at the planet Aether.
It was a strange planet, with an atmosphere that was grey but had purple overlaid on it that shimmered. Samus ignored the feeling of dread that gnawed at her stomach and flew the ship into the atmosphere.
Once in the atmosphere, it became clear that it was very stormy. The clouds were constantly shifting gray and purple, with lightning rending the darkness every few seconds. Undaunted, Samus prepared to land.
"Easy now… easy… alright I'm gonna start the landing cycle."
Suddenly the ship lurched. In the cockpit, warning signs went up all over the place. "Dang it!" Samus growled. "Lightning strike. I'm losing control. Better hang on tight."
Samus's gunship was now freefalling toward the ground ten thousand feet below. "Okay, were going down," she said.
Samus hit the rock surface with tremendous force, breaking thru it to reveal a room of sorts below. Samus pulled up and set the smoldering gunship on the ground. After turning on the ship's auto repair functions, Samus jumped out of the ship and surveyed her surroundings.
She was in a naturally formed room with stone walls and a ceiling that was partially destroyed due to her ship crashing thru. Behind her ship and on the sides of the room were tall odd looking stone pillars and one pillar under a high ledge that led elsewhere that was so short as to not really be a pillar at all but more of a stone block. A crystal of some sort was imbedded in the outward facing side of the block. A half a dozen yards away the opposite end of the room was blocked by what appeared to be a giant web with a green pod set squarely in the center.
Samus scanned the tall pillars first. Object scan complete. Statue houses a generator, motivator unit, and an energy projection array. All systems are offline, due to age or structural damage.
Samus scanned the stone block next. Object scan complete. Statue's motivator is functional, but requires power to operate. The Power Beam can't energize the statue. Seek an alternate energy source.
Finally, Samus scanned the green pod in the center of the webbing. Object scan complete. Organic pod containing a highly acidic fluid. Shell is vulnerable to weapons fire.
Samus fired at the pod and it burst, instantly destroying the strange webbing. Several more webs were behind it, but Samus blew them up too. This revealed a door leading to another room. After walking thru the door, Samus found herself in a room that led to a fork. One way was sealed by a bizarre door with a hologram. Samus scanned it. Unable to interface with door control system. Cannot translate alien text. To access the door, you will need to update your translator files.
The other way led to a big hole. Samus took a deep breath and jumped into the hole.
Samus landed with a thud and found herself in a cave of sorts with GF crates piled here and there and a GF gate blocking the way. Devices on the walls were expelling green gas. Fire was burning everywhere.
Samus's back hair stood on end. Something is definitely wrong. I knew it. Samus scanned the dead creatures on either side of the door. Terminated bioform scan complete. Codex genome match: Splinter. Cause of death: inhalation of industrial grade pesticide. Toxic elements still present in local atmosphere. Maintain suit lockdown for effective life support.
Samus opened the gate and scanned a panel to open a cargo door. Inside she found several computers and a map station. After getting the map, Samus went into the next room and was horrified by what she saw.
Worker Splinters, creatures that perform the menial labor of the swarms, were busy preparing food for the hive. The unappetizing menu consisted of deceased Galactic Federation troopers strung up by their toes from the ceiling.
Samus killed the bugs, then scanned one of the bodies. Terminated bioform scan complete. Codex genome match: standard human. Scans indicate that this trooper died of cardiac arrest. Chemical levels in body suggest a state of extreme fear at time of death. The next body said: Cause of death: blunt trauma to numerous critical points. Bioscan results indicate there were at least thirty individual attackers involved in this trooper's demise.
The next one said: Source of fatal wounds: Galactic Federation assault weapon. Trooper was in all likelihood killed by friendly fire. Whether it was an accident or not remains to be seen. The next one said: Cause of death difficult to determine. Digestive fluid present within armor; subject is being broken down into simpler matter for consumption by local predators.
The last one said: Scans detect an extremely high level of an unknown toxin in target's body. Micropunctures detected in armor and body; trace elements of toxin around these areas.
In the next room there were several dead troopers and fires burning. Samus scanned one of the troopers and read his diary.
I don't like this plan. This hive is just one small portion of a larger network. There may be dozens of hive systems like this all across the planet, and they may all be linked. Destroying this one may buy us time, but it may also provoke the other hives into attacking.
The next trooper's diary said:
There's something wrong with the lock systems in this section. They've failed twice, locking us out until someone came around to let us in. If it happens again while we're playing bait for those things, well at least we'll go out fighting instead of hiding in the control area.
Samus found a tunnel leading to another room. After rolling thru the tunnel, Samus found a bomb slot. She then detonated a morph ball bomb in the slot to restore the panel in the other room. As the deed was done, the lights went out. Then it happened.
One of the dead troopers stirred. And moved. And got up and walked towards Samus. Slowly, with a zombielike attitude. "I-it can't be," she said. "Th-these guys have been dead for eight..." Several more got up and started shooting at her. Samus scanned one.
Morphology: Dark Trooper. Deceased GF trooper. Bioscans indicate terminated life signs in this trooper and the presence of an unknown biomass with parasitic tendencies. Although the trooper's armor has been compromised, the bulk of it remains intact. Weapons systems remain online as well. Full parasitic fusion has yet to tube obtained, resulting in low agility and response time.
Samus moved closer. Behind the broken visor of one dark trooper, she thought she could see dark purple skin and glowing red eyes. As the trooper fired, Samus fired a missile, sending him flying backwards, where it crashed to the floor as dead as a doornail.
After doing the same to the second one, Samus rolled back into the other room. Several more corpses were getting up and firing at her. Samus knew some otherworldly beings must be inhabiting these bodies. Judging by the Splinter corpses she had found, it seemed that these entities had possessed them, making them much harder to kill. A large swarm of these Dark Splinters was probably what wiped out squad Bravo.
After killing the dark troopers, Samus opened the gate, revealing several more. Samus killed them, then went thru the door beyond. Samus found herself in a small room piled high with crates. Samus blew up the crates to gain energy and ammo, then went into the next room.
The next room was misty, with a few crates lying around. But that was not what caught Samus's eye. Directly in front of her was a shadowy figure. It wore a suit just like Samus's, except it was a very dark blue, almost black. Samus almost fell over from the wave of terror that engulfed her.
The Worm. So help me... the Worm. The Metroid Prime was not dead. It had returned... as a Dark Samus!
The Metroid Prime fired its arm cannon at a purple thing in front of it. The thing turned into a cloud that made a noise that sounded like wind and lightning. Dark Samus went into the cloud and vanished.
Samus scanned the cloud.
Scan complete. Unknown dimensional anomaly. Anomaly seems to be a dimensional rift. Target destination unknown.
Samus took a deep breath and stepped into the cloud.