Samus Aran: the birth of a mercinary
It was long ago, when a crash orphaned a small human child in our midst. She was seriously injured, and needed blood to survive. She was far from able to survive on our world as she was, so I gave her some of my blood. I was a Chozo Shaman.
When the council learned of my disgrace, I was stripped of my position as a Shaman, but I swore that I would teach the human youngling of the ways of a shaman, and raise her as my own.
I decided that she needed a name, as her kind does, so I named her after a legendary Chozo Warrior: Samus of Aran. She cannot play with the Chozo younglings, so I built her a suit that will keep her safe and help her play. Soon she will have to leave my nest.
She has come of age, and we seem to be leaving her, wheather she's ready or not. We have attained the wisdom in order to transcend the material world, so I decided to give her a nest culling present, like the warrior after which she is named. I gave her the last of the ancient weapons, and upgraded her suit. It was only now that I realize that her eyes shine just like any Chozo's.
"Samus of Aran, you must keep your eyes dark when you meet other humans. Else they will think you not human." "But...parent, you always told me to let my eyes shine so all could see." "In time, yes. But humans eyes do not shine as yours, and it will frighten them. If you need to let them shine, put your helmet on and let them shine to your hearts' contentment. I sense great Chozo blood in your veins." "Parent, only your blood runs through my veins!" She replied playfully. "I mean it in another sense, my youngling. I must go now, and you must take the repaired ship to your parents' people." She began to cry, she was only 18 cycles old, far from an adult Chozo, but it would have to do. "Do not be sad, my youngling, for where I am going, I will always be with you, and other Chozo still exist in this realm, you need only find them." And with that, I let my self fade into the universe, hugging her until I was gone.
Chapter 1: How do people live like this!
Samus of Aran walked into the space ship. It was originally a interplanetary shuttle, made for three, from Terra. Now it was completely refitted with Chozo Teck, so that it could barely hold two, three if it had to. There was little space to move, with the "thing-that-warps-new-space" taking up so much room. She new in her old language that it was called a "Wyrm Hole Drive", but that was such a confusing name. In her suit, she could barely manuever to the forward controlls. She'd flown to the moon and back a few times, just for the fun of it.
Samus punched a few controlls into the displayes, and brought rather awkwardly the harness over her suits. "Why couldn't they replace the human restraints while they were at it." She asked herself. She finally got herself restrained in her orange mechanical exoskeleton. She had grown accustomed to just living continuously in the self cleaning suit, seeing as all the Chozo Young would show up at a moments notice, wanting to frolic among the tree tops, and dive in the deep lakes and sink holes. The main engines started when she fastened the harnesses, and the ship took off to it's destination. As soon as she was out of the atmosphere, a human voice said, "You may now feel free to move about the cabin." flatly. Sometimes Samus would play with the voice, to see if she could get a conversation going with it, but it never really answered any hard questions.
Samus thought for a while, not moving. "Well, the humans aren't going to accept me looking like this." she finally decided, and proceded to get out of her suit. It had been so long, that she had to conciously think on how to do it. She finally enterred the correct commands. on her arm pad, and it disengaged her torso sections, pulling back slightly to let her arms out. She kind of stank a little, having not bathed in what must have been months. She entered the commands into her lower torso and legs to releas them as well. She also needed to raid her robes for decent clothing; her under garments wouldn't get the welcome she was looking for.
Samus of Aran finally craned her neck to take off her helmet, when she remembered what the old ex-Shaman had told her. "You must keep your eyes dark when with other humans." Well, that wasn't to hard, she might as well been a shaman herself for all she knew about channeling her own energies, so her eyes were pretty easy. She slipped the helmet off, revealing short feathered blonde hair. Her eyes slowly dimmed and became similar to the humans she would meet. Her ship had to get into deep space before it could safely use the Wyrm Hole Drive, so she could get something to eat in the meantime. She remembered when the other younglings wouldn't let her play if she obtained a SHEQuie' nut from the forbidden forest. She nearly got her self killed getting it, and her rump still smarted when she thought about what Parent had done to her afterwards. But the rest of younglings finally accepted her after that, seeing that none of them had the courage to repeat it.
"Warning, The ship will enter Wyrm Hole Drive in 30 minutes." Samus let out a long bored sigh, and floated to where her suit floated in mid air, and pushed it into the small cubbie to secure it. She made her way, swimming to the front, and buckled her self in to the pilot seat. She put on her helmet, since it could interface with the ship and give her the stats she needed for a Jump. "Calculating Jump Coordinates."
The equation slowly filled her helmet, and she found a few major errors, but fixed them before the Drive was powered up. "Calculation approved. Preparing for Jump." The Drive reved up to a fever pitch and Samus' hearts were pumping, she had never jumped before.
After the jump, she still had a while to go before she could get in contact with any humans, planet side or not. She set to examining her presents. She had two double barrel pulse pystols from her birth parents, and Parent had given her the last Chozo Weapon. It looked like a cannon, and she thought she could modify her suit to use it. Not that she would. Violence was to be only used when necessary for one's or a group's survival. Qoute the Shamanic Teachings.
She started to modify her suit to holster her older guns, after stowing her going away present. "Hailing Uknown Ship: Respond or be destroyed." came over the radio when she was right in the middle of a screw. "Wait!" She yelled. She shoved off of the back of the cabin, shooting her way to the cockpit at top speed. "Repeat: Respond or be destroyed." the radio drolled on. "This is Samus of Aran, please do not destroy my ship!" She nearly yelled in Chozo. "I'm sorry...you're not coming in. Speak in English." Samus rolled her eyes. Carefully in english, "Please don't destroy my ship, you dolt!" She calmly composed. "I need your registration before I can let you dock or even come into the flight lanes, so send the info." She had completely forgotten to name the ship. "This is the...uh...Chozo-rian." She had just named her ship "The Ascended Chozo" in Chozo. "Fine. What company are you with?" the voice sounded just as bored as Samus was nervous. "Uh...I'm freelance?" She read from the sticker on the safety belt. For once she was glad they hadn't replaced everything on her shuttle. "Okay, Freezinger. You're granted clearance to dock. Release your controls to the computer and lower your jump field." Samus complied and soon she was docked in pier 3c04.
She realized almost too late, that She was still in her tattered underwear. She rumaged through her clothing for something that wasn't so baggy she'd catch space debri in it. She finally found her mother's pants and jacket, tattered as they were. They were tattered before the crash, and the ravages of time hadn't helped her out a lot. Samus finally decided to where a robe over the clothes, and to stash a weapon on her leg...just in case.
She opened the door, to find a man in an orange jumpsuit waiting for her. "Hello Traveller! This station has complimentary Shuttle Repair, because we're so far out on the rim." The man kept trying to get a peek past Samus as he was saying this. "Would you like any repair to your...ship?"Samus had been intent on not letting the apparent mechanic see her 'modified' shuttle. "No, it is in perfect working order, Hu-", Samus barely caught herself before she called him 'Human' rather than what a normal human would call him. "-Friend, But thankyou for the offer. I have buisness on this station I have to take care of. Would you be so kind as to watch my ship?" Samus smiled at the curious man and batted her eyes, letting just a little glow escape to make her seem mysterious. The man fell right into it. "Yes ma'am!" and soluted. She walked out, and pushed the button to close and seal the door shut, so he couldn't look if he wanted to. "No peeking." Samus said as she walked away.
Even with three layers of clothes on, Samus still felt naked without her suit. She saw signs pointing toward the markets and stores. Maybe she could find a job there, get some 'money', which she knew from Parent that she needed to exist within human culture.
Soon she arrived at the store area, and it had a few tall buildings, if you could call them that. They looked more like support columbs to Samus. Then it dawned on Samus, that they were both. The market was crowded, but not extremely so. Some man came up behind her and asked, "Where ya headed, toots?" Samus did not like his tone. It almost insinuated inferiority on her part. "To find a job, friend. Might you know of where I could aquire one?" she asked innocently as she turned around. The man was taller than she was, and had arms like Nictu' tree trunks. "I think I have a job for you." he said in a mischevious tone, and he reached out and grabbed Samus by the arm. "Release me!" She yelled. He ignored her and talked to a man in one of the booths. "Ya think she's worth much? I mean Sex slaves are only valueable if they're young and untainted."
It dawned on Samus what he planned to do with her. "Release me, or I will make you do so." she said defiantly, and calmly. He continued to ignore her, and the man in the booth said, "I need to examine her 'features' first." The Large man turned his attention to Samus, and reached for the collar of her robe. 'I gave him fair warning." was Samus' thought as she picked his wrist out of the air, and twisted hard. "Ahhhgg!" grunted the Large Man. Samus adeptly twisted her other arm out of his grasp, and braced herself as she threw him over her back. He landed soundly on the grating, face up. Samus leaned down and put him in a head lock. "I did ask nicely. Now I must know, if I let you live, weakling, would you follow me?" She asked matter-of-factly to the man. He struggled a little bit, but Samus only squeezed harder. He was at her mercy. "No, I wouldn't!" He squeeked out of his throat. Samus abrubtly dropped his head, and began to walk off.
An old woman came up to her and asked, "Are you looking for work?" she said, in a cracked voice. "Yes, I am." "Can you bartend?" she asked in a slightly smoother voice. "Please explain what that entails." Samus asked, not making eye contact, keeping her eyes out for the Large Man. "You serve alcohol to people, and if they get to drunk, you cut them off. You know, you've seen movies right?" She explained. Samus gave her a predecided answer for knowing the culture, as if she did. "I lead a sheltered life on the colony. There was no alcohol for drinking."
"Fine then. You don't really have to drink any yourself, just if the customers get out of hand, you would need to...'escort' them out." Samus instantly recognized why she might be good at this job. "When do I start?" She turned to face the crone. "Tonight, if you've got nothing else. Show up around 1600, so I can train you in the drinking part."
Samus went back to the Chozorian and had a meal, and fiddled with her suit a little more. When it was time to leave, she noticed a piece of hardware that wasn't Chozo, or anything that had been on her Shuttle before. She instantly ripped it off, generating sparkes. She studied it, and found it to be a data recorder, with a camera. There was only a few kinds of people that could make something like this, this sophisticated. One of them was a mechanic. She put it in her pocket, and considered what to do. She walked out of the ship, and walked away. Then she stopped and went back to the ship.
She came back to find the door open, and the earlier mechanic's voice saying, "Where did it go! I need to know how she's done this!" over and over again. Samus pulled her pulse pistol and aimed it at the human shape as she walked up. She watched him rummage for a few minutes unaware of the danger. She coughed to gain his attention. He turned and stared at her, then at the gun. "I believe I said 'no peeking'." was all that she said to him. "The next time I catch you even near MY ship. I will make sure that you never work on ships ever again!" She said as she reached and threw her burglar out of the ship, to the floor three feet below. He scrambled to his feet and ran off."I certainly hope that I don't have to do this every day." Samus thought to herself.
Samus went to the training, expecting long hours of hard work and meditation. Instead she got a lesson in mixing drinks in proportions she was overqualified to calculate.
"You're the best drink mixer I've ever seen!" the crone spouted after she tasted a margarita."You've been putting me on! There's no way that you've never done this before!" Samus didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm just good at chemistry." She said, beaming with pride."Well, you've convinced me! You're Hired, and you're the head of the Bar Tenders for my club." "Does it pay well?" Was Samus's only question. "Hell yes! Can you start tonite?" "Yes, I suppose." The once Chozian had only one more question. "When tonight?" "You'll need to where this uniform, and be ready and HERE at seven." Came the crone as she handed Samus a skimpy little outfit. "How am I going to hide a weapon in this?" Samus thought as she she returned to her Ship.
Samus showed up early and put Her weapons behind the bar where she would be working. Unfortunately, she was in a black and white, skin tight, with nothing to keep clothing over her breasts, if she spread her arms to wide… "I can't believe I'm wearing this! It has absolutely no fuction at all!" Samus fumed as she got the staff together. "String the women on by mixing the drinks slower. Get the men drunk and keep them that way, don't worry if one gets violent, I've got that covered." was all that she could think of to tell them. They knew how to do it, they had more experience.
Samus worked into the night, and made some pretty good tips, as well as some friends among the customers. Most of them weren't assholes, they just wanted to get drunk for various reasons, mostly to dim the pain of living. Toward the end of the night, one man started to get pretty violent, and Samus cut him off. "Just give me another DRINK!" came out the slurred words. He began to swing a punch. Samus didn't let him finish it. She reached out and grabbed his throat. "You're going to leave, and sleep it off, or you're going to stay and die." She said calmly. He froze. He turned backed off and toppled his way out of the bar. All of the customers and staff were silent for a moment. Then they all aplauded. "You just kicked Yank's Ass! NOONE'S EVER STOOD UP TO HIM BEFORE WHEN IT COMES TO DRINKING!" One of her staff yelled over the applause.
Many nights followed, and soon Samus had amassed a small fortune. It was months before she found out about the gun range. "Fires of the Chozo! I need to Practice!" and she was off. She nailed every target, on the stand still course. She nailed every target on the mobil course. She nailed the hostage takers and the burglars in every criminal scenario. She left all of the guards with lock jaw, and a list of questions to go with them. She had to avoid most of them, except, "Where did you learn to shoot like that!" to which she answered, "At home."
Samus kept her record of excellence at the bar for months, until one day, when a hooded figure entered the bar and asked for a drink, in weird hisses. "May i hAVe a NOoooOOLisshhhsssuuuun?" he asked. Samus raised her guard a little, just because of the suspiciousness of it. "Never heard of that one. What's in it?" she responded, her hand reaching under the bar to make sure her pistol was there. Not that she needed it against one opponent in close range, but no sense in taking chances, in the forest or anywhere else. "OgUUL And exxxXXTreemelyyYYY old VERUUT." Samus smelled something. It was like rotting flesh and burning hair combined, but with ozone added in. "We don't have any of that out on the frontier, we've only the basics, like margaritas and bloody marries and such. Or maybe you want some food?" She asked. That smell, it was familiar, like the smell of her suit or the forest on a cloudy day."NOOOOoooooo. I wish to becomE EneebREATEED. BEFore the END." Samus gave him an Everclear tonic, and told him to take it real slow. After a few hours she asked, "So, what did you mean about "the end?"
"The end OF THIs pLACe anD ALL On it iS GOIng tO OCCUr Tonight At," he checked his watch, and a man sat down beside him in full battle armor, "I'll have a martini, on the –" "Ten MiNUTES froM NOW." And the apparent non-human then downed the rest of his drink, feeling rather hasted. "As I was saying, martini on the rocks ma'am." "Sure." Samus said, preparing to go home. This alien wasn't a regular, and he was so drunk that he couldn't have formed coherent lies if he wanted to. "Sir, I believe that you are going to need to be sober in the next few minutes," Samus said, stuffing her pistol in the back of her pants under her cloak. "And why is that I ask?" the pompous soldier said in his arrogance. He must have thought he could take on anything, and even Samus knew she couldn't take on anything. She said, without pause or regret said, "The man next to you said we're all about to die in about eight minutes," and nodded to the passed out creature. "And you believe that drunk!" "He's too drunk to lie, and too drunk to panic, so yeah."
The soldier stared at her like she had just sprouted another head, and a moment after that, an alien burst through the door in what appeared to be a full battle suit and yelled in some language that most in the bar did not understand. Samus was not one of them, and she understood "get down or die" among other things. She didn't hesitate to pull her pistol and shoot it in the head. If it was possible for the soldier's astrained look to become more so, it did so inspite of the universe's rule against it. "You should really listen more," Samus said as she hopped over the bar. Then she looked the soldier up and down, and grabbed him by the hem line of his uniform, and began dragging him out of the bar. "Hope you can run."
Samus had little trouble bringing the struggling soldier out of the bar, and into the bazaar. It was swarming with aliens in the same battle armor as before. Hundreds were ransacking the street, searching for valuables probably. They shot everything that moved. Samus didn't really have a big enough problem with that to interrupt a contingent of trained soldiers with only her pulse pistol. She proceded down the street like she belonged there, and they didn't seem to notice her and the now still and quiet soldier. She whispered to the soldier as she walked, " Don't make a sound. We're heading back to my ship." She let go of him, and turned him to look at her. He had a look on his face of internal turmoil. She knew exactly why. "We'll come back for them, but we have to hurry. I can't beat them with only a plasma pistol. Now hurry, before they notice a couple of harmless humanoids in the street," and they proceeded quickly and quietly. As they walked, Samus began to unlock the seal she had put on her abilities and her glowing eyes a few months ago to hide her secret. She needed those abilities to us her suit, and to transform, not to mention that it could save her and the soldier's life if they ran into any problems. By the time she was done, they were almost to the dock. She grabbed the soldier and pulled him to the side, into an alcove. A couple of alien attackers walked by apparently chatting. "We may have been able to walk through the streets, but the dock may be just a little harder," Samus told the sweating soldier. She was really surprised at their incompetence. She really should be with the ascended right now.
Samus really saw no real reason to keep up the illusion, so she let her eyes begin glowing again. "What are you!" the soldier said, a little too loud for comfort. Oh, that's right, the soldier didn't know, and she hadn't warned him. "Perfectly human, just like you. I just know a lot more about certain things than you do. Now your going to have to trust me for this to work." "Did you bring this on us?" He accused. Trust. Right. "No. In fact, it was against my better jugdement to bring you along. This is a lot easier alone, and frankly, you've been dead weight. Now do you trust me to keep you alive?" The soldier was a little surprised to here the woman talk like her plan was the only way. "What's the plan that I'm in danger and you're not?" Good. There's a start. "This is how it works. Run, do not walk, jog, or dally on your way to 3c04. You will be boarding a small orange shuttle when I arrive. Are you ready?" "Ready for what?"
Samus shoved the man out into a group of passing aliens. The shock of the aliens was fortunately long enough for the soldier to get over his and run. He heard gunfire. Lots of gunfire. He just kept running as fast as he could the sum two football fields to Pier 3c04. He didn't even look back. When he got there he jumped on the shuttle and scrambled to the door and began pounding on the OPEN pad over and over. When it didn't work he shrunk beside the door and curled into a ball among the gunfire all around him. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to avoid the frightening reality around him, nearly succeeding in replacing it with his own. Then, without warning, the raging war sounds stopped. He opened his eyes and looked around him, and saw about 20 aliens in full armor, sprawled about around the platform, dead. The alien's blood was pooling under the square grating and conduits. "Sorry, I could have sworn I left it unlocked today," came the calm voice of the woman that had literally shoved him into hell, "Good work though."
"What!" The soldier said, Jumping down from the shuttle. "Why did you shove me to my death!" He yelled, "I'm lucky to be alive you bitch!" Samus had been smiling, but she lost it before she began speaking. "Luck had nothing to do with it, Mr. Body Armor. I killed every Combatant that you passed by before they even got off a shot. I'm the reason you're alive. Besides, you asked what the plan was, and you wouldn't have run so fast if you had known I was going to protect you, so I figured demonstration was the fastest way to explain." The look on the soldier's face melted to the equivalent of "What The FUCK!" "You mean that you saved my life?" " 247 times to be exact, out of 345 soldiers. Is that some sort of record?" She held up a steaming pulse pistol. It was glowing red-hot. "All that fire was you!" the soldier said in shock. "Yeah, who'd you think it was? These aliens use beam weapons. You wouldn't have heard the shots even if they'd gotten one off." She got up on her shuttle and punched in the key pad the unlock code, opened the door, and went in. "God, she's perfect," was all the soldier said as he stood there. Then he rushed into the shuttle and closed the door after a few moments of hesitation.
When he got in, he wasn't surprised to see his savior putting on an orange suit. Interested in an explanation, but not surprised. She had the chest almost on, and she saw a helmet and another part on the floor. He saw her bare back as she covered it with the armor. She looked back at him with those glowing eyes, like high-beams. "Sorry, my eyes are a little brighter than usual. I haven't let them shine in a while." The soldier looked away a little too quickly, realizing that he had been looking in her eyes for too long.
Samus finally got her suit latched and reached down for her helmet and Parent's repaired and adapted gift. She put the helm on, hearing the click as the data links attached. She put right hand inside the weapon of the original legendary warrior, and said "Charge," inside her helmet. She heard the hum of fusion generator began to acquire the energy necessary. It would take a while, but it would be hell on any who crossed her when it got done.
She looked on the soldier through the green visor. "So, what's your name soldier?" "Now you ask? NOW YOU ASK MY NAME!" he nearly exploded. "Yeah." He lost his thunder, mumbled "finally the bitch asked" Then to Samus, "Gregory Schmit, infantry. And yours Mrs. Psycho?" "Samus Aran, of the Chozo." A few tense moments passed. "What's the Chozo?" Samus considered weather or not to tell him. "The Chozo are a race that evolved from birds, but the last survivors of their ancient race Ascended to the next plane of existence about eight months ago. A Shaman raised me from when my parents died." Gregory looked at Samus like she had just sprouted a third, shrunken head covered in rainbow sherbert. Yeah, that look. "Let me guess: You couldn't Ascend with them." "No, I just didn't want to. I feel my place is on this plane of existence. Maybe I was meant to save you. Maybe I've not done it yet. I'm not gifted with seeing the future, but I sure as hell can save the people on this station, if not the station itself." Samus began to push Gregory out of her ship, and pulled her now cool pulse pistol off of the small shelf, getting ready for the fight of her life.
"Stay here, out of sight." she said as soon as she had him out.