The Price of Folly

by innersanity

Samus uncovers deception and corruption in the Galactic Federation...

            "I'm sick of this place," Jake thought to himself.  He looked up  at the stars spinning over the horizon, and wondered how long it would be till he was relieved from his post.  He sat at the controls of a tiny sensor station on the outlying border of the Minara Trade School, or MTS.  It was a colony for students and instructors.  Jake leaned back in the leather chair, and scanned the displays. 

            "What kills me is I'm not even here to look for anything, just to provide the computers with human confirmation of anything drastic, like a Kilhunter invasion, or a black hole forming a few klicks or something just as likely," he said out loud.

  MTS was based on a small moon which orbited a gas giant in the Minaran system.  The system had sixteen other planets, all barren and of little value, compounded by the system's remoteness.  It was the perfect place for teaching colonization of harsh environments.  The trade school created four mock-colonies a year as senior projects and to give underclassmen hands-on environment.  The instructors felt sims could never substitute for the actual experience of coordinating hundreds construction drones running on different operating systems, and at different levels of operational functionality.  Students complained when pieces of equipment broke down or failed to talk to each other, but the instructors insisted that one never had a full set of new drones running the same software out in the field. 

Suddenly Jake's thoughts were interupted- "Jake McLaron, this is shuttle 11.  We will be at your position momentarily for the shift change."

"Acknowledged eleven."  Finally!  It had seemed even longer than last month.  He was glad these assignments were few and far between.  Standing, he leaned on the console and tried to pick out the shuttle's approach over the horizon.  Soon one of the stars grew into the shuttle's angular sillouhette.  It swooped over the tiny observation post and doubled back to settle down on top of it.  Jake headed to the back room and grabbed his pack.  Up the spiral staircase he passed through the airlock and was into the shuttles cabin.  Jake's replacement observer stalked past him to the airlock. 

"Long shift Jake?" the pilot asked.  Jake settled into the co-pilot's chair. 

"Yeah, they get worse every time."  Jake stowed his pack in a compartment in the wall and pulled the restraints into place.

"Well, don't think I like flying people back and forth from MTS Central to these cubicles with life-support.  Its boring.  And its depressing.  People are always so quiet on the way there, like they're going to their execution or an exam or something."

"Pretty much, man," Jake smiled.  "Its rough in there. There's not even a net relay in there.  The scanner console hogs all the bandwidth."

They sat in silence for awhile, as the craters flashed by beneath them.  A couple minutes later the glow of MTS Central started to shine in the distance.

"Hey, by the way Jake, did you know that guy who replaced you at that post?"

"I didn't really see him, I was in such a hurry to get out of there."

"Well I'd never seen him before.  Kind of a little strange.  I tried to talk to him but he just gave one word answers mostly, and stared straight ahead out at the scenery."

"Weird," Jake replied, but his thoughts were already back at Central.  He had a structual analysis due at 1600. 

"Miss…  Smith.  You are here to teach the new class in colony security?" 

"Yes, that's right."  She pulled a data pad out from a jacket pocket and handed it to the attendant behind the check-in desk.   "All the details are on this," she added.  The MTS Central lobby was large for such an obscure school out in the middle of nowhere.  It was brightly lit, and a large sign behind the welcome desk read 'Welcome Visitors and Potential Students.'  A map pointed visitors to the cafeteria, baggage check and financial aid offices. 

"It seems you have special paperwork to exempt you from the normal baggage check procedures."

"That's right," Smith smiled.

"You certainly have a great deal of luggage don't you."  The attendant eyed the numerous metal cases carried by anti-grav drones. 

"Yes well, its mostly laboratory equipment for the classes I'll be teaching," she said. 

"I see.  Well, everything is in order.  Do you know where your quarters are?"

"Yes."

"Well then.  Have a nice day.  Here is your instructor's pass, and your data pad."

"Thankyou.  Come on guys," she said to the drones, which replied in affirmative beeps as they floated down the hall after her with the luggage in tow. 

She was quite tall and imposing in her black jacket and flight pants.  Her shoes clicked on the shiny floor. Students took notice of her, not just because of her appearance but because it was a strange sight to see a woman with an instructor's pass.  MTS teachers were traditionally men.  But no one stopped her on her way, and several minutes she was in a more deserted residential corridor.  She found her apartment, and the door unlocked automatically as the room's programming recognized her.  The room was good-sized, with a bathroom off to the left, a small bedroom to the right.  The living room featured a kitchenette and a full net console. 

She was tired from a long spaceflight, and it  was good to have a nice quiet room.  "Alright, time to unpack."

"Hey, who's the chick?" Peterson asked.  He leaned on his desk in Jake's direction.

"Who?"

"Look at the front of the class!" Peterson replied.  The whole classroom was filled, with about forty-five students total.  At the front of the room, a tall blond was opening a briefcase and pulling out some data discs.  She was dressed in a dark professional business suit. 

"Wow."

"You got that right."

"But why would they schedule us with a new class in the middle of a semester?  And why is a girl teaching it?  I thought there was some rule that all the instructors have to be old men," Jake said with sarcasm. 

"Guess not."

With her teaching materials spread out neatly on the desk beside the lecturn, the instructor began.  "I'm glad you all could be here today, I'm Ms. Smith, and I'll be teaching the new Colony Defense Systems classes.  I hope you will enjoy learning as much as I enjoy teaching.  If you'll all open your data pads, I will transmit the first set of notes and your sim assignments."  

Jake got his pad out of the pack next to his desk and it's screen flickered to life, displaying schematics of laser batteries, escape pods, shield generators and more.  The images flashed faster and faster until the download was complete.  His excitement for the class grew; this was nothing like the boring architectual classes or history studies.  "This is gonna rock," Peterson said nudging Jake.

"You got that right," he replied happily.  The instructor seemed to be the opposite of every MTS tradition.

"Please open up the first schematic, its an image of your standard residential dome.  Forget everything you use right now for gate construction, its completely worthless," she began with disgust.  "Any half-bit pick pocket could break its security measures.  Here are the new standards for outer doors."   The thin doors in the diagram were replaced with heavy blast gates with an emergency seal function and electrocution countermeasures. 

Peterson raised his hand to Jake's surprise.  In their other classes questions were generally forbidden.  "Ms Smith?  Are you sure the average consumer in the market is going to want their place to look like a prison?  And half of this stuff isn't legal in Galactic Federation space anyway."  He smirked at Jake as if to say, Let's see how she handles this.

She smiled and leaned on the lecturn.  "What's your name student?"

"It's Peterson, sir.  I mean Ma'am." 

"Peterson.  Of course I don't expect anyone to want most of these defences.  They certainly wouldn't want to pay for them.  But this class is for all of you, the students.  How many of you plan to use what you learn here to build outposts and other facilites for yourselves?"  Nearly every hand went up.  "Well then, I'm sure you'll want to have some of these options open to you."  Not everyone seemed convinced, but somehow it just didn't matter.  The class exeeded expectations.  Ms. Smith just had a certain charisma that connected with the students, even though the majority of them were male.  The three hours of class time flew by in disscussions of everything from auto-tracking lasers to the latest political upheavals in the core worlds.  When Jake sat down at his desk in his afternoon class, he felt the strict traditions of MTS prestige settle down on him like a heavy blanket in summer.  The instructor walked in exactly on time, and opened his data pad just the same as he had for the last year and a half.  The class was perfectly silent and attentive, all too aware of the consequences of disrupting the lesson.  It was about the Telrusion rebellion of a hundred and thirty eight years ago, and how the infinite wisdom of the Galactic Federation prevailed once again.   And how an ancestor of the founder of MTS fought in the battles and was decorated on nine separate occasions.  It was misery.  And Peterson wasn't even in the class to commiserate with.  It was rough. 

"Ah, Ms. Smith.  Please have a seat," the council leader said.  She closed the ridiculously tall doors behind her and took an empty seat that bore her name, freshly printed.  There were roughly twenty-five instructors seated around the heavy wooded table.  The walls of the large meeting hall were also wood paneled, and several paintings of ancient founders hung on them.  At the far wall behind the council leader's chair, there was an expansive window which boasted an impressive view of the moon's surface and the bright orange gas giant it orbited. 

"Ms. Smith," the concil leader continued.  "I understand that our MTS administrators in the core worlds contacted you as the most appropriate candidate to replaced the deceased Instructor Gragg, but it escapes me why they changed the course designation from 'Fudamentals of Advanced Post-Calculus Algorithms' to this rather odd title, 'Colony Defense Systems.'  We've never offered such courses in the past." 

"That is correct," another administrator added.  "Did you meet with the administrators?  Could there perhaps have been some confusion in their haste to fill the position?  I do not seek to offend you, Ms. Smith, but MTS has a strong tradition of male leadership, and your appointment may signify a significant alteration of policy that we would like to be familiar with in case-"

"I never met with any administrative types," she intterupted.  "I just received an offer over the net, and accepted.  So here I am."  The council was silent for a moment. 

"Well then, it seems you will be a part of our, ah, team for the forseeable future," the council leader stated reluctantly.  "On to the next order of business."

Back in her room, Ms. Smith went straight to the computer console.  And called up long distance commincation.  After a few moments, the MTS emblem was replaced with a 'ready to call' screen.  "Time to check in," she thought to herself.  She input her personal encryption software and loaded up of the dialer.   Soon a worried image filled one of the display screens.  It was a middle-aged man with a bit of grey in his goatee.  He was seated at a desk, and the hum of background office chatter was noticeable. 

"Samus!  Do you have any leads?  Do you still think the Parasite is there at the trade school?"  He asked quickly.  "Because if you're wrong, Dios help us."

"Calm down there Senator.  You and your research programs created this little problem.  It's your responsibility.  And I'm not just doing this out of the goodness of my heart you know," she replied firmly.  If there was anything she hated, it was people who couldn't clean up after themselves.  But it was a living.  The Senator sighed.  He looked very tired. 

"I'll arrange for whatever compensation you want afterwards," he said.  "Could you please just tell me if you've found anything yet." 

"Nothing so far," she replied curtly, resting her chin on her elbows, looking perfectly bored.

"What are we paying you for?!" he exploded, standing to his feet.  She was surprised by the sudden outburst, but decided it was just a lack of sleep combined with senators' usual winning personalities.  He leaned on the desk and brought his face closer to the camera.  "We're not funding a private vaction for you Aran.  This man is dangerous, even more so than we thought.  The Telrusion's latest lawsuit against the Fedaration-"

"Your latest grudge against people who stand up to the Federations really just doesn't interest me, Senator."

"If you had let me finish, bounty hunter, I would have told you that this isn't about saving face in front of the Telrusions anymore.  Parasite is more than we thought it was."

"Explain."  Up to this point, Samus was wavering between amusment and boredom, but now a flicker of concern began to scrape at the back of her mind.  She'd been given enough assignments to know when someone was trying to nice up to something. 

"I don't think I'm exactly the most qualified, since I don't quite understand it exactly.  Here is Dr. Sangran though, he was the director of the Parasite project."   Another display screen came to life and Dr. Sangran stepped up to the camera. 

"Ms. Smith?  Can I speak with the bounty hunter?"  he asked, clutching a data pad nervously.

"That's me," she said impatiently, "Smith is my cover here."

"Of course, well ah, let me get started then."  He looked down at his pad.  "Basically, as I'm sure you know, Parasite is one of a long history of super-soldier projects, similar to the one that resulted in the development of expermental suits such as your own."   His fidgeting reluctance only made her more worried.  "Parasite however focuses more on purely biological enhancements rather than bio-mechanical systems.  It re-works the subject's physiology, but only to a point."

"Go on," she coaxed, as she straightened her jacket unconciously. 

"Well we were able to recover some of Parasite's tissue from samples extracted from the, uh, victims corpses after his escape.  Analysis shows that the mutations were already progressing far beyond their intended target helixi.  The changes were meant to provide the soldier with various enhancments, such as organ redundancy, self-regeneration and poison glands among other tidbits.  But the genetic reconstruction process went totally off the charts.  The alteration virulli got out of control, we've got a few partial bio scans from security camears when he got away, and they indicate drastic changes as well as the possibility that he may be able to infect others with the virulli that effect the changes in his body."

"Excuse me doctor, I don't me to interuppt, but I thought that was supposed to be impossible,"  the senator cut in.  "Weren't the virulli tailored to his genetics only?"

"Actually, they were even more specifically targeted to cetain body systems, but they managed to adapt and affect his entire body, so theres no guarantee that his condition, isn't contagious." 

"So what's the worst that could happen?"  Samus asked hopefully.  "That we'd have more super-soldiers on the loose?"

"Well, there's that.  We certainly don't know how this condition would affect the mind of new infectees, whether or not their intellect would be intact, or if they would just drop into some confused state.  But a major concern is that this has the potential to become a plague of sorts, the virulli may be lethal to those humans whose DNA is incompatable, and theres no telling how it will affect alien physiology," the doctor explained. 

"Basically Samus," the Senator said, "we have the potential for a major embarrassment for the Galactic Federation, if not a full out cross-species plague.  Find Parasite, wherever he is, and do whatever it takes to end the threat.  If he is at MTS, don't let him leave!  Our agents are conducting a system by system search, but every passing day the radius of his escape zone grows.  We can't let this one get away from us."  With a few final threats and harrassing words, the Senator ended the communique.  Among the parting insults, the Senator had demanded to know why Samus thought Parasite was at MTS.  Her answer was the same as before.  The galaxy was too big to search on her own, and besides, Federation scouts were out in force looking for him.  She also knew that the Parasite subject was a dropout from MTS, and was a nephew of one of the instructors.  He had even grown up on the desolate moon-base.   His name was Stephen.  In Samus' mind, Stephen had too many ties to MTS not to return to it.  In the eyes of the Galactic Federation, Stephen was a horrid Frankenstein creation,  a weapon planned to expand the regime's supremacy.  And now that weapon was malfunctioning, and it was damaged piece of equipment that had to be cushed and recycled.  But she believed that if there was anything left of his mind, then that was something she could touch. 

"In light of the fact that this class was begun midway through the semester, it seems that we will have to cut the lectures short, as much fun as they are, and move on to direct experience,"  Samus announced.  No one recognized her as the incredible bounty hunter, because she'd always been careful to conceal her identity under the helmet.  In fact, half of the populace probably thought Samus was a man.  Some grainy photos linking her to her suit had made it into news-nets, but no one cared too much.  After the various run-ins with organized crime, metroids, and the military fiasco on SR1138, the Federation clamped down hard and downplayed everything to the media.  Samus was known, but hardly a celebrity.  It was better that way for business anyway.  She was good at what she did, but she always wanted to take her bounty alive when possible.  It just wasn't worth the regrets to do otherwise.  No one pays that well.   Most of all however, she hated politically motivated jobs.  She turned them all down.  It was one thing to blast faceless horrors animated by the pulsating mass of flesh known as the mother brain.  Her psi-waves were strong enough to reach out over great distances and mutate non-sentient life-forms to obey her.  She shuddered at the memory.  That was an experience she hoped not to repeat anytime soon.  But she could never bring herself to act on the pettitions she got all too often that began 'assasinate political dissident,' or 'capture anti-government activist leader and return them to prison world Kelta for "disciplinary measures."

And yet here she was, on a small moon, on the lookout for someone who became inconvenient because of an accident of selfish science. 

"Ms. Smith, are you alright?" Peterson asked from his desk about halfway back in the room. 

"Yes, I just lost myself for a moment there,"  she quickly pulled herself together and looked out at the forty students waiting patiently.  She smiled.  Maybe she'd missed her calling.  Not only was teaching fun, but it was something of a power rush.  All these students just waiting to hang on one's words.  Maybe at a looser institution they wouldn't be so studious.  So perhaps strict standards did have some benefits, for the instructors anyway.  "Well, I took the liberty of rearranging MTS finances a little bit last night, so it seems that you each have a budget for upgrading your rooms to the security levels we've studied so far in class.  Today during our class time, and tonight after classes are over, I expect you to plan out what secuirty measures you plan and obtain the supplies from the student resources center, and I'll be making rounds to supervise construction and review your schematics.   That's it for now, I'll see in a few hours."  The class was overjoyed as they talked among themselves and began to leave.  "Oh, one more thing," Samus called out.  "The first thing I expect you to do is disable the MTS Central's surveillance devices in your rooms.  I know that was one of the first things I did when I got here."   Grins all around.  This was beautiful insanity and empowerment to the students who had gone about their daily life at school knowing that every moment was scrutinized by computers for signs of deviant behavior.  "Theres an attatched portion to the lecture upload about surveillance circumention, so make good use people.  Have a great time!" 

"Stephen Doe?"  the school counselor asked.  "So I see you just recently enrolled in our school.  What seems to be the problem?"  The couselor was an older man with thinning grey hair, and he was bored out of his mind.  He had been an instructor for forty-eighty years, and had missed a place on the MTS council by just a few votes, and was awarded with a consolation retiree position of school counselor.  It was pitiful.  But he made the best of it, and endured whining students.  One thing he was pround of was his office.   It was large, and the walls were covered with ancient books, all collectors items from the coveted pre-digital era.  His heavy wooden desk was reminscent of the décor of the council's meeting room.  So at times, he felt as if he had his own private council; his own piece of the power.  The only thorn in his side was the trickle of complaining students that came through his doors. 

"I, feel…  strange,"  Stehpen said painfully slowly.  He stared straight out the window. 

"Can you be more specific,"  the counselor asked, careful to hide most of his annoyance.

"I, was here, long ago, but different, I…"

"The records show this is the first time a Stephen Doe has attended this institution.  Though I admit I do not comprehend why you would try to start classes midway through a semester.  Perhaps you should consider withdrawing and returning next fall if you are experience difficulty adapting to the intensity of the learning experience-"

"NO! I, learn to control, I not," suddenly his speech was blurred gurgling sound that made the couselor frown.  But he soon regained his speech.  "Was here before, I will learn.  Pain of keep inside I keep, no fail, no fallure!"  Again his speech disolved into confusing gutteral chokes before dropping off to silence.  The councilor stared at him for a moment with disgust, and decided the student must have some sort of mental handicap or some such thing.  Such people were not supposed to be admitted to MTS. 

He reached a decision and pulled a data pad out of a desk drawer and began tapping instructions into it.  He glanced up with disgust as Stephen's attention focused on a desk ornament, a glowing Telrusian Ball mini-lamp.  "Stephen, I'm going to recommend to the council that you be removed from the school for this semester, so you can re-apply this fall, perhaps when you will be better able to meet the challenges of MTS.  And I'm also going to recommend that you be given a nurses appointment to check out that upper-respiratory condition-"

"NO!!  No fail!"  Stephen burst to his feet and flung his arms back.  The councilor looked up, eyes wide with surprise.  Stephen's face contorted horribly, and out of his stomach three fleshy cords burst through his student's uniform and grabbed the councilors head.  Jerking him to his feet the cords whipped his head around sideways with a distinct crackling sound that resounded with finality.  Stephen stumbled out of the office and down the hall, with greenish-yellow fluids seeping out of his torn shirt.  He mumbled softly, "control, eha no fail, they hurt…"

"How's it going Jake?"  Samus asked as she walked up to his room with a couple of drones trailing behind her.  They had a couple metal luggage crates in tow.  The hallways were wide, and there was a lot of equipment scattered across the shiny floor, marring its pristine appeareance.  Pieces of wire and open toolboxes were strewn about on either side of the doorway's entrance. 

"Pretty good, Ms. Smith.  We've already got the power lines in place for the EMP shield and the autotrack cannons," he answered happily.  He rubbed his hands on his work clothes, they were a little greasy from the manual work. 

"Hey, teach!" Peterson called stalking up to the doorway. 

"Is this the roomate?" Samus asked. 

"Yeah, unfortunately."  Jake answered with a grin.  "He's a trouble-maker but I keep him under control most of the time."

"I see."  Samus smiled.  Kids. 

"Does it look ok so far?"  Peterson asked eagerly.  She went to the doorway and examined the power couplings. 

"Yeah, it looks ok so far.  Ambitious though.  But that's a good thing," she added.  "Could I see the specs?" 

"Here they are," Jake said, producing a data pad. 

"Not bad.  Redudant wiring, EMP shielding, plenty of lasers, missile resistant doors.  I like."  The truth of it was she was concerned about parasite, and was thinking towards protecting the students.  It would be so much easier to protect people if the dorms were turned into veritable bunkers.  "But I don't think you'll need EMP shielding too much here, I'd focus more on the armor and lasers.  And maybe construct some sidearms." 

"Will do," Peterson said with yet another smile.  He seemed to be indomitably happy whenever Ms. Smith was near. 

"Ms. Smith, do you mind if I asked what those crates and drones are for?"  Jake asked as his curiosity got the best of him. 

"Oh, those.  That's just some basic spare parts for students so they don't have to go all the way back to the student resources center for something trivial."

"I see."

"Well, it looks like you boys have things under control, so I'm going to move on to the next floor.  Good job."

"Thanks!"  They both said. 

As she swept away down the hall, Peterson stated thoughtfully, "This is so cool."

Samus was not going to take any chances.  She wanted to believe Stephen was here at MTS somewhere, but she was starting to doubt her reasoning.  What kind of mission was this anyway?  She was enjoying the teaching, but that was not the point.  If Stephen was as much of a danger as they thought he was, then she had to find him.  She had a description, and had seen video of him at the research facility.  He was tall with short dark hair and a narrow little face.  She pulled her data pad out of her pocket and glanced at the map.  The next students' room to inspect was just a little ways farther-

"What is that?" she asked out loud as she knelt down to a closer look at a doorframe.  The drones beeped in curious tones.  A thin greenish-red liquid was seeping out from under the door.  She put her hand over it, the stuff was warm.  Suddenly the door burst open, and Stephen towered over her, horribly disfigured.  His face looked like it was split in half diagonally with some sort of tendrils growing out of it, and his stomach oozed the thick congealed liquid.  His right arm wasn't even recognizable, it had formed into something resembling the leg of a praying mantis, and strange stalky limbs stuck out from his back and sides at strange angles. 

"Can't contain," it and roared. She looked up in shock, and caught a quick view of the room behind him.  It was covered with strange green growths and spore-plants, but she didn't see much because Stephen swept his mantis arm down hard and knocked her out of the way.   He stumbled away at surprising speed, and his shrieks sounded less and less human. The words were no longer even remotely intelligable.  Samus rolled and got back to her feet.  She hungrily grabbed for the nearest box and tore it open, and pulled out a shining red helmet with a wide black visor on the front.  "Time to suit up," she said aggresively.  But inside it broke her heart to know she was going to have to kill a human being, or what used to be one. 

She set the helmet aside and kicked off her shoes.  She pulled boots out of a crate and slipped into them.  If she'd had a mirror she would have laughed at how funny it looked to wear just the boots without the rest of the suit, they were so large compared to her skinny ankles.  The leg pieces fit over her pants and locked into place.  It tickled as they pressurized and came on line.  The torso and shoulder pieces fit over her clothes as well and locked into place. Finnally she put her hand into the gun arm and fingered the familiar controls.  Just as she was about to tap her suit's computer wirelessly into the MTS Central computers a thought struck her:  Why didn't the security alarms go off?  Surveillance was omnipresent at MTS, alarms should have gone off the second anything out of place occurred.  She eyed the door to Stephens room and put on the suit's helmet.  The heads-up display analyzed the door with a heat scan.  It was hot.  She tapped the open-door control, and it grated open.  Inside she got a long look at the life pulsating inside.  Pieces of human bodies were woven into a macbre web of flesh and greenish veins.  A few people must have been people who wandered into the room, she guessed.  It was horrifying, but she had learned to control her repulsion, or at least delay it.  Then her eye caught what she was looking for.  The tendrils converged on the rooms computer console, and bured themselves in its electronics.   So Stephen was in charge of the computers now it seemed.  Sudden anger flared up in Samus, but not at Stephen.  Her grip tightened on the fire controls of her gun arm as she thought of the arrogant scientists and politicians for conducting experiments that could turn people into this.  With ease she called up the plasma beam configuration for her gun arm and the circuits fell into place.  Servos clicked and the gun's telescoping muzzle widened.  She could feel the power surge in the shoulder reactors, as strong as her anger, until the pure energy coursed through the suit's microscopic pathways and burst out in brilliant flares.  The explosions echoed down the hall and light flashed out the doorway.  Smoke trailed out the door as Samus emerged, and dashed down the hallway to find Parasite before anyone else got hurt. 

"MTS Central online, performing reboot scans," the colony's public address system announced.  The corridor distance flashed by as Samus ran. 

"Come on," she thought.  "Hurry up!" She needed Central's surveillance systems to find Parasite without searching the whole complex floor by floor.  Suddenly the alarm klaxons blared. 

"All students please return immediately to your rooms, a security breach is in progress," the computer announced.  "Please remain calm." It added almost as an afterthought.

"Excellent," she thought.  The students would be safest in they're rooms.  She tried again to tap into Central's compters and quickly gained access.  The computer reported a few civil disturbances and a fire in Stephen Doe's room, but the biggest flag it set up was in the main lobby where a 'level 5 security breach' was in progress. 

"That's him," she thought and made for the nearest elevator. 

"Jake, what are you doing?  The computers are down."  Peterson said.  "Help me with this cable."  Jake was feverishly working at their room's computer console trying to coax some information out of it as to what was going on.  The alarm still rang obnoxiously. 

"The computers came back on just now." 

"Well you won't find out anything until they want us to find out.  That's how it works here.  Lets just keep working on the security project.  There's nothing better to do.  Its probably just a drill anyway."

"That's how things used to work.  But I've been getting extra hacking downloads from Ms. Smith."

"Oh, I see, so you're the big hacker now."

"Not really, but I should be able to get past the student firewall at least."

"Show me," Peterson said.  He set the cable wiring aside and looked over Jake's shoulder. 

"There, I'm in!" Jake said triumphantly.  "Look, its no drill.  There's some people out of their rooms, and a fire, and something bigs going down in the lobby."

"Crazy!" Peterson's eyes glowed.  "Now what are you doing?"

"I'm running a location check on the students roster, just to make sure everyone's ok."

"Good idea."  The search ran for a couple seconds, then the results came.  Not everyone was in their room, but everyone's life signs were stable,  except for Peterson and Jake. 

Peterson grinned.  "It looks like we're the first ones to block out surveillance so far."

"Oh yeah, we are good."  Jake basked in his success. 

"Do you wanna run the staff roster too?"  Peterson asked.

"Yeah, might as well.  Let's start with Ms. Smith."  But the computer couldn't find her anywhere.  Of course her aparment was a dead zone for the sensors. 

"Maybe she's just in her room,"  Peterson said. 

"Let's go check,"  Jake said unconvincingly.

"What?  But what if she's actually there?  Won't you feel dumb."

"Wait, her apartment is in the on the other side of the wing from the dorms, there's no way she would have gone back in the time between when she was here and when the alarm went off." 

"Well we have to find her," Jake said with conern. 

"Could we really do any good?  It looks like theres a fire or something." 

"Well, I'll try to access the vid-links and see whats really happening in the lobby."  Jake went to work on the code.  But as Jake was studying one display, Peterson checked the roster status-list and cursed out of shock-

"Look at the roster!  Peoples vitals are dropping off, mostly sercurity though-"

"I'm into the cams now!" Jake exclaimed, and a fuzzy image of the lobby fizzed in and out, until the chaos into focus.  There was a towering figure at least fifteen feet tall with several arms with sharp claws and pincers at the ends.  It's face was unrecognizable, with bloodshot eyes pointing off in odd directions, with a huge gaping mouth full of dripping teeth.  It moved about with agility as a dozen security guards fired rifles at it.  Some were crouching behind the welcome desk, while others were out in the open. 

"They're using riot amunition, they don't even have real charges!" Jake said angrily.  "We've gotta do something."

"We've got the laser gear, and I bet some other people in the class have munitions too."

"We could get some live ammo from the cache and get it to the security people too,"  Jake said.

"Good call."  Jake said as his heart beat up fast, spinning with fear and planning what to take.  Peterson got the gear together and Jake kept an eye on the computer displays.  After a few minutes they were out the door and headed to the nearest classmates rooms to get some backup. 

Samus' heart pounded in her ears as she dashed down the hallway, nearly a blur.  It was always the same no matter how many times she met conflict.  The rush of danger was addictive.  But at the same time there was always a fear of danger.  Or at least a painful respect for the possibility of failure.  Fatal failure.  She slowed down as the heads-up display map indicated her proximity to the "disturbance."   She walked up calmly to the last door, and gun arm dialated open once again.  One final step would take her in range of the door's sensor, and she would be in the thick of it-

The door exploded outward at her, the force of it sending her over backwards.  She rolled easily with the blast and ended up back on her feet, with her left hand bracing her gun arm.  Smoke swept through the doorway, and dripping metal residue slipped down the doorframe as the doors crumpled.  She stifled her surprise and stalked up to the door way.  Through the door she saw security personnel cowering behind overturned desks and crates sporadically firing their riot guns at the towering hulk that was once Stephen.  It shrieked as the riot blasts richocheted off it's side.  It was resembling an insect more and more with sharp serrated claws at the end of its limbs.  Several bodys lay around the lobby, with puncture wounds, apparently from the claws. 

Suddenly it turned its head in her direction and shrieked loudly.  It turned towards her and spread its arms wide.  Green tendrils with bony spears at the end flung out of its stomach in an effort to impale her.  Instantly she dove to the right and morphed into a ball to roll out of the way.  She burst out of the ball and crouched behind a desk next to a shocked security officer. 

"What are you?" he asked, warily pointing his gun in her direction, as if it could damage her. 

"A friend." She answered reassuringly. 

A burst of acid spit flew over the desk and exploded, taking out a chunk of the wall above them.  Shaken, the security officer said, "Glad for any help.  We're pinned down.  All we carry normally is crowd control weaponry.  Who'd expect a mutant freak at a place like this?"

"Funny isnt it?" She thought to herself.  She aimed over the desk, and fired a few plasma bursts.  It had no affect.  Parasite roared and started towards them.  The security officer started to panic.  Crouching behind the desk again, Samus looked up at the ceiling and grimaced.  It was a transparisteel dome that gave a wide view of the stars.  It was a nice touch to the lobby, made it feel quite open.  But she was afraid to use missles—if she hit the dome, the security people would die from the decompression.  She had to risk it.  Jumping up on the desk, she switched to missles and was about to fire when another burst of acidic spit came flying at her.  She jumped aside, and it hit the desk, blasting it to pieces and melting the remains of the wood and the security officer.  For a moment she looked about, and realized the security team had already taken about fifty percent casualties.  Again she felt anger boiling up against the Federation experiments. 

She carefully aimed at Parasite, even though it was raging towards her, with its stomach tendrils reaching for her.  And she fired.  Two missile hit its shoulder, and embedded themselves in it.  A millisecond later they exploded, sending its arm flying across the room with green juices arcing behind it.  It screamed horribly but kept coming.  She fired again and again, and the blasts lit up the room with their flares.  Soon what was  left of parasite was nothing more than twitching pieces strewn about the room.

Finally silence fell over the room.  The surviving security officers began to come out of hiding, stunned by it all.  At first they didn't notice the dull whistling sound.  But Samus quickly realized what was happening. 

            "Get out!" She shouted in an amplified voice.  "Theres a stress fracture in the dome, something must have hit it!"  Some of the security officers looked up and saw the wideing crack in the east side of the lobby, and started to stumble towards the exits, but a few were too dazed.  One of them was stubbornly firing rounds into a piece of Parsite's leg. 

She quickly ushered the confused to the doors just as the hissing turned into a woosh.  But she manged to get them all out before the ravenous vacuum claimed all of the oxygen.  The alarms continued to blare, and the computer issued a warning as the emergency doors began to close to seal off the lobby.  She ducked under one just before it closed, and ran right into six or seven of her students!  They had backpacks full of gear and carried various homemade weapons pieced together from their security projects.  Lasers, stun-guns, electrocution nodes and other odds and ends made up their arsenal.  Jake and Peterson were at the lead, each toting a repeater mini laser turret that they had modified to run off a portable power source.  She was ready to burst with pride, but at the same time was glad they hadn't got there in time and gotten hurt. 

Then she realized they were staring at her with no small amount of apprhension. 

"Jake, is that what we saw on the surveillance feed?" Peterson asked softly.

"I think so."  Jake replied. "Stay back,"  He said to the others.  "Who are you?"  Jake asked the menacing bio-suit.  It was intimidating.  It stood about seven feet high, and the metal of its gun arm shined.  The faint whirring and clicking of servos was audible with every movement.  Its armor was thick, and the strength of its mechanisms were evident by its bulging mechanical 'muscles.'  The suit was the emobodiment of barely restrained power, ready to lash out at a moments notice.  And the dark visor reveal nothing of its occupant.  Suddenly, there was a hiss of released pressurization, and the suit's left reached up and removed the helmet to reveal-

"Ms. Smith!"  A girl behind Jake burst out.

"Actually, my name is Samus."  The bounty hunter smiled.  "I see you all are putting your education to good work." 

"We had the best of teachers,"  Peterson answered smoothly as he performed a mock-bow.

After a few moments of chatter, Samus said "well lets head down to the comunications center and see if we can sort out this mess."  The students agreed.

"If you don't mind my asking, where did you get that suit?" Jake asked.

Back in Stephen's room, the ruined flesh which Samus had sprayed across the room with plasma blasts was starting to bubble.  Ever so slowly, it coagulated and began to reform tendrils and veins, pulsing with life.  They reached for the ruined computer console and hugrily sought the hardline connection to the colony's computer core.  And they found it. 

"Well, I generally make a habit of keeping a low profile, but I think I can trust you people," Samus said.  The students hung on every word.  "I'm actually a bounty hunter.  I ah, hunt stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Melissa asked.  She was the quiet type. 

"To be honest, mostly squishy stuff that likes to eat people and disrupt galactic trade," Samus joked.  

"That's so great,"  Peterson said.  "Nothing ever happened here before you came.  This is great."  Just then alarms shut off, and the lights died.  Also the background hum of life support vents was gone. 

            One of the two girls with them let out a scream.

            "Lets not panic people, just stay calm," Samus said carefully.  Her mind was racing, trying to imagine what caused the outage. 

            In the lobby a single groan pierced the silence.  Or rather, it would have if sound traveled in a vaccuum. 

            The convulsing pieces of Parasite were pulling back together as its rage fueled its re-embodiement.   One of the security officers eyes flickered open.  The veins on his forehead stuck out.  They flowed with green blood, Parasite blood.  One by one, the infected officers rose despite the vacuum, despite the gaping wounds they had suffered.   Their bloodshot eyes burned with Parasites malice towards those who had done this to him…    every living being would pay. 

            "Senator, MTS Central is not responding to hails,"  the communications officer reported from his station.  The nervous Senator scratched at his greying goatee.  The bridge of the battlecruiser Triumph was bustling with activity.  There were scans to run and gigs of data to crunch.  The Senator stood next to Captain Shelley, who was seated securely in the command chair. 

            "We have destroy the colony immediately,"  the Senator said worridely.  "The risk of a plague is to great."

            "No, I'll give them a few hours.  There's no reason to assume that the disease is even infectious,"  Captain Shelley replied.  "Your scientists assured me the virus was tailored to the subject's genetics.  It's nothing to worry about."

            The Senator thought to himself angrily, "They didn't tell you how bad it might be because I orderd them not to!" 

            "All right Captain,"  the Senator said aloud. "A few more minutes."

            Samus and her group of students arrived at the communications room a half hour later without incident, though it was extremely.  The only light they had was a few glow beams and Samus' grappling hook set on standby.  Jake, who was obsessed with the suit by that point, couldn't imagine that the suit didn't have built in lights.  She explained that she relied purely on nightvision technologies.  Any light on the suit would make her more a target and less a hunter. 

            The air was starting to get a little stale, but they picked up some environmental suits from a supply locker along the way.  They had passed a few workers who were also suited up, but they ignored the students because they were desperately trying to find the source of the massive systems failures. 

            They lasered the door open, and found some communications perssonel inside who incredibly glad to see them.  They had been stuck inside.  The doors wouldn't budge.  For some reason the emergency release functions wouldn't work.  Jake wouldn't have wanted to be in their place, waiting in complete darkness as the air grew stale, not knowing if they were going to be entombed. 

            The communications personnel left to find some environmental suits. 

            "All right, Peterson, see if you can get some of these systems to run off the power supply for your laser,"  Samus directed.

            "Will do." He said.  A few moments later, they got a handful of consoles online.  They were disconnected from the computer core, but they manage to pick up a hail from orbit.  One of the displays came to life with a fuzzy image.

            It was the bridge of a battlecruiser.  "Senator!"  Samus said out of surprise.  "You came here?"

            The image flickered.  The Senator walked closer to the camera.  "How bad is it Aran?"  He asked.

            "It's under control.  Security took heavy casualties, and main computers are down, but the threat was neutralized," she said in a business-like manner. 

            "Its under control is it?"  He asked, brimming with tension.  "Our scans are picking up heat bursts throughout the colony indicative of small arms fire.  The dome of the main lobby caved in, imaging picked up massive damage."  He paused.  "We have no choice but to purge the colony."

            "What?!" One of the students exclaimed. 

            "You're going to fire on MTS?"  Samus asked calmly.

            "It's a tradgedy, but we have no choice,"  The Senator replied.

            "Calm down Senator,"  Captain Shelley interjected.  "I'm in charge of vessel, and I have no intention of firing on anyone until I know exactly what's goin on here."  Samus was about to say something, but the transmission was lost in static.  She knew that she had to get off MTS.  But what about the students?  They wouldn't all fit on her ship. 

            "How many ships are here at MTS?"  Samus asked.

            Parasite was whole again.  And it was incorporating the computer core into its conciousness.  Soon it would have access to all MTS systems…. And it did.  In it's minds eye it saw everything at once, every corridor.  And it laughed inside.  The panic and chaos of people searching in the dark for environmental suits and emergency supplies.  And it heard everything.  It heard the troublesome red and yellow suit talking with several youths about escape—in fact, escape was a common theme it heard echoing throughout the halls.  It turned its leering face up to the stars beyond the shattered dome.  Its disfigured grin boasted razor sharp teeth that dripped thirstily. 

            It closed its eyes, and made contact with the infected humans.  It was time to move. 

           

            "There's the construction pods, a couple shuttles.  And I guess a few long range ships, plus any visitors' ships."  Jake said. 

            "Is there more than one landing zone?"  Samus asked.  The students still found talking to her was a little disconcerting when she had the helmet on. 

            "No,"  Peterson said.  "Theres just one docking area."

            "Alright, I'm going to take you all there and make sure you all get on a ship and get out of here.  I'll go back and look for other people who might be trapped before I leave in my own ship."  Samus said. 

            With a little convincing, the students agreed to her plan.  She had to insist that she could take care of herself.  They got to the docking zone alright, but on the way, they saw several people crumpled with vicious green-encrusted wound.  Samus had a bad feeling that Parasite was not as easily defeated as she thought.  The seven or so students with her found a long range shuttle and soon were safely away.  She watched the craft rise off the deck and was surprised at a sudden feeling of motherly instinct.  She would have done anything to protect them, and was glad to see them safely away.  Suddenly she was gripped with fear:  what if the Senator's ship detected them?  If the Senator had his way-

            "Captain Shelley, that was a direct order!  Destroy that shuttle, it could be loaded with infected subjects!"  The Senator demanded.  His face was red and his hands were clenched as he stared lasers at the man seated in the captain's chair. 

            "Senator, those are Federation citizens.  I can't fire on an unarmed shuttle without reason,"  the captain said calmly.  The bridge was very quiet.  Only the hum of computers could be heard.  The flight and tactical officers edged their eyes as far back as they dared to glimpse the conflict.

            "You military types are all alike.  You leave me no choice."  The Senator pulled a comm pin from his belt and activated it.  "Commander Darren, report to the bridge with a squad of my guards and relieve Captain Shelley of his command."

            Captain Shelley stood to his feet.  "You can't do this, you have no authority-"

            The bridge doors opened, and four armed guards strode in with pulse rifles at the ready.  Commander Daren walked up to the Captain, brandishing a sidearm.

            "You stand relieved Captain Shelley."  Daren kept the pistol trained on the Captain as the guards grabbed him by the elbows and swept him towards the exit.  Shelley was strangely silent. 

            "No!" was all one of the pilots got out before a quick shot from Daren crumpled him to the deck.  Daren's eyes narrowed as the Senator ordered him to destroy the shuttle.

            "With pleasure."  He brushed a crewer out of the way and manned the weapons' controls himself.  "They're already out of range, Senator," he spat.

            Samus stayed outside on the docking zone long enough to watch the shuttle warp out of the system, with the help of the helmets telescopic vision.  Satisfied, she turned back to the airlock doors.  She had already worked out in her mind the fastest way to sweep through MTS and get people to the remaining spacecraft.  But just as she got to the airlock doors, they were forced apart by green tendrils.  She rolled to the side just as acid flew past, and landed on one of the construction pods.  Former security officers in early stages of mutation stalked out.  Their bloodshot eyes found her and they fired tendrils and poison at her.  She opened up with a spray of missiles and grimaced as two of them blew apart in a geyser of green pseudoplasm.  The scientists were for real when they talked about a total reconfiguration of internal organs!

            She took cover behind another construction pod and fired at the creatures coming out of the airlock.  She hit several of them, but the others were able to elude her.  Then she realized that they weren't attacking her anymore.  They were spitting acid from their reformed saliva-glands on to the ships on the tarmac!   It burned through a ship's hull instantly and quickly disabled it.  She realized Parasite didn't want anyone to escape.  

She armed the Ice-Beam, since Parasite could reform if she simply splattered it across the wall.  She also linked it with Spazer to give it more of a punch.  She went after as many of the zombies as she could, but more kept pouring out of the airlock and laid waste to the few remaining ships.  Her ship was safe, at the first sign of danger she'd sent it to nest several kilometers away from MTS just in case. 

Also, the parasite zombies weren't just security officers- they were other professors, students, janitors, all kinds.  And she realized that Stephen must be in there converting them all.  Were there even any left at all who weren't infected?  She ran inside and switched back to Plasma Beam.  Suddenly she didn't care anymore.  She had to save whoever she could and get away before every MTSer was zombified.   She dashed down the hallway and took a shortcut through the aquatics lab.  Vast aquariums full of alien life were the only walls of the classroom she entered.  She raced to the rooms exit, and was blasted back by a kick from Stephen, or Parasite, or whatever it was.  It now towered a good twenty feet and was as massive as an ogre.  It screamed, its gaping teeth hungry for vengeance.  It clutched a few unconcious students in each hand, but tossed them aside.  It smashed through the tiny doorway headed straight for Samus.  She leapt back and armed super missiles.  She fired, and it flew towards the beast.  It grinned and its and flashed up and slapped the missile aside without detonating it!  The missile shrieked off course and exploded into the aquarium wall.  The glass erupted outward as water flooded the room and kept pouring out. 

Samus stayed calm, even as the rush of water slammed her up against the other aquarium.  She activated the gravity suit, and her armor faded to a bluish hue.  Her feet landed solidly on the ground again despite being underwater.  Parasite shrieked, and bubbles of air flew from its mouth towards the high ceiling.  It struggled to make forward strides, and blinked heavily as it flailed about. 

Samus armed the grapple and fired it up to the ceiling.  She swung through the water and landed on a ledge behind Parasite.  Arming the Ice-Beam again, she fired off several blasts at Parasite.  It froze the back of its neck, but it shook its head and shattered away the ice.  In its flailing about it also shattered the other aquarium wall, and fish rushed out into the open. 

Samus couldn't believe how fast her life leapt from normalcy to a surreal freak show.  But such was the life of a deep-space bounty hunter.  She smiled as she remembered what the hyper-beam had felt like.  It had burned out most of her suits systems after just a few minutes use, but she'd give just about anything to have it now.  But at the moment it was back at a Federation research lab.  She armed the Plasma-Beam again and took aim, but just then the entire complex was rocked to its foundation, and she was thrown off of her ledge.  The water was down to halfway from the ceiling as it rushed out the doors. 

The colony shook again, and she realized the cruiser must be firing on it!  That left her only seconds to get out… She dashed past the enraged Parasite and was a blur as she headed for the nearest airlock.  Several infected humans tried to stop her, but she hit them first with Plasma blasts.  Except for halls where she got up enough speed just to ram them. 

Her ship heeded her call, and was there waiting by the time she got out the airlock.  It hovered calmly, and she leapt up and raced to the hatch.  She was in and at the controls in moments.  The ship pulled away just as an orbital barrage pummeled her former position.  Rear cams caught dramatic visions of merciless laser bursts raining down on MTS structures.  The spires and habitation modules collapsed in on themselves, and flames licked up at the stars until they were extinguished by vacuum. 

The computer informed her the battlecruiser "Triumphant" was seeking a target lock on her. 

She tried to control her anger and focus on evasive flying.  All the students and MTS personnel had perished for nothing.  Only a handful of her students had escaped.   And the Federation was directly to blame for it.  Perhaps it was time for change. 

Her ship jolted as a glancing hit struck it, but the shields held.  Soon the stars steaked into lines and were replaced by the swirl of warp space.  She was safe for the moment.  And she hoped the students who escaped would be alright.  Hopefully they would have the good sense to stay far away from where the Senator's agents could find them. 

She leaned back in the pilot's chair and removed her helmet.  She stared at the ships beautiful controls and ran a hand along the console's edge.  "No matter what happens, I'll always have you," she found herself saying out loud.  She smiled bitterly.  "I am a strange excuse for a human being." 

Back in orbit, high above the ruins of MTS Central, the Triumphant broke orbit and warped back towards the core worlds.  However, among the ruins, a singular concious reformed itself.  And wished it hadn't destroyed every last spacecraft.