Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah; I don't own Metroid or any of its characters. That's kinda obvious since the men and women of Nintendo and Retro Studios are too busy perfecting Metroid Prime 3: Corruption to write fan fiction.

Author's note: I am a first time writer on this site, or any other site for that matter. Please, read and review, and be as honest as possible. If there is anything I can improve upon before the next chapter, please tell me. I would love to be able to make my fellow Nintendo fans happy!

"…ace Pirates…tacking our shu…quest imedi…stance…" And the rest dissolved into static. An S.O.S call, tracked to a shuttle aboard a space station orbiting the planet Arimas.

"Space Pirates, again? What do you think, Lady?" Aboard the space craft speeding toward the origin of the distress signal, the onboard computer/commanding officer of Samus Aran asked in what would have been disturbingly human way for a machine to request her opinion. Samus, however, merely shook her head and sighed behind her green visor.

"I think they just don't know when to quit." She replied, obviously perturbed by the continuing existence of her arch nemesis's. Throughout her many journeys, Samus has always had fend off the evil Space Pirates and their many schemes to conquer every other race in the universe.

The computer, named "Adam" by the bounty hunter, spoke up again.

"Well, we'll be arriving in a few hours to the orbit of Arimas. Once we're there, maybe you can teach them how to quit. Lady, can I ask you something else?" Samus smiled behind her face mask and nodded.

"You and I have been together for, what, a year since that whole 'event' at the research station around SR388?"

"Yes…your point, Adam?"

"Well…I don't know exactly how to put this…" The computer trailed off, lapsing into silence. Samus sighed and began routine checks of the craft's many systems. She knew to allow Adam some time to think about his wording. If it seems strange that a computer would be at a loss of words, then an explanation is in order: "Adam" the computer used to be a human CO by the name of Adam Malkovich. After his death, his brain was uploaded into a computer and he was sent to watch over Samus Aran as her CO, just as he did in life.

Only he could start talking to Samus and abruptly stop like that and get away with it. Samus knew all to well that, given enough time, Adam would resume the conversation as soon as his thoughts were all in order. Adam was also the only one who could get away with calling her "Lady". While it would have seemed insulting coming from anyone else, Samus always thought it sounded dignified coming from Adam, and never complained. In fact, she loved her nickname. It reminded her that even though he no longer had a human body, he would never lose his humanity. Her skilled fingers flew across the control panel in front of her seat as she finished the system checks. A red 'eye' on the control panel flashed; a sign that Adam was finally ready to speak again.

"Yes?" Samus asked in a sweet tone, reserved only for him.

"I just realized something." He replied slowly, as if he wished to stall for as long as possible before revealing his revelation.

"I ran through all the info we have on that space station around Arimas. And I found something that might interest you, Lady." And suddenly the cockpit of her craft was flooded with light as millions of pages of information scrolled across her readout screen.

"I'll just skip to the part I'm talking about." A single page appeared and Samus began to read it aloud. It was a journal entry by a scientist aboard the station.

" '…after docking with the satellite, we took the specimen to be dissected. It's enormous size and incredibly volatile temper was unusual for its species and we were determined to find the cause. What we found was astonishing! It seemed that the creature had been mutated by a unique substance found, apparently, on the planet's surface. And the substance was identified as the radioactive Phazon?!' " Samus' head snapped up. In an instance, memories of Talon IV came to her. Memories of the Chozo home world ravaged by the substance, mutating its wildlife and perverting the peaceful and powerful people known as the Chozo. Underneath the helmet, behind the visor; there was a look of grim determination.

"Phazon…how did those scientists get their hands on Phazon?"

"Well," Adam continued, "it goes on to say that they found the stuff in a crater, made by a meteor that crashed some years ago. They got as much of the stuff as they could find and brought it to the satellite."

"And now the Space Pirates, once again, have their greedy little claws on it." Samus finished, sighing heavily. She spent the rest of the trip trying to imagine the kind of horrors she would find once they arrived. To further their own twisted ideals, the Space Pirates would even experiment on their own people, creating monstrous 'warriors' that were filled with Phazon. She had fought them before and it seemed like she'd have to deal with much of the same again. After about two hours, Adam spoke up again.

"E.T.A, approximately 10 minutes." He informed her. The immense black structure was a sight to behold. A marvel of modern science, it seemed to posses enough space on it to keep any experiment-happy scientist busy for a long time. Bridges from one end of the satellite to the other were probably filled with men and women in their long lab coats, running because of so sort of find or discovery made in one of the many laboratories. Maybe, before that fated space shuttle brought the ones to conquer this place. Now, nothing and no one remained except the Space Pirates. Samus' ship docked with the satellite, and she stood to leave.

"Alright." Adam launched into the briefing, "There is a very good chance that the Zebesian Space Pirates have taken over this space station and found the supply of Phazon. Your mission is to confirm this intelligence with some reconnaissance. We will be in constant communication through a system in your helmet. When you have found proof of the Space Pirates, or lack thereof, report it to me and await further instructions. Any questions, Lady?" Samus smiled as new memories of her and Adam going through missions came to her. He knew as well as she did the answer to his question.

"Nope." She punched a button, releasing the airlock and opening the cockpit door. "Be right back!"

She dropped from her ship onto the steel floor of the satellite and proceeded down a hallway into the bowels of the space station, where she would undoubtedly find the Space Pirates and stop what ever plan they had for the Phazon.

If it were only that simple…