This is my first venture into the world of fan-fics, so if you read this I'd greatly appreciate any reviews. Advice on my writing would be great too. I don't own Metroid or any characters from the games. Grandle and Kelshan, along with Malthius are my creations, though.

It was deathly silent as Samus pressed her back against the wall of the dimly lit corridor in the labyrinth. As she tried to catch her breath, she scanned the room trying to see where it was. She knew it was still there somewhere, waiting. She had shot it many times, but it seemed that it was invincible. It was wearing her down. It was winning. Staying near the side of the corridor, she carefully approached an intersection. As she slid along the wall to the corner, she readied herself; she knew that she had to be quick. Her heart was pounding so she took a deep breath to calm herself. Then, she spun around the corner, only to find nothing was there. In the blink of an eye she turned to face the other direction expecting to see the thing charging toward her, but still there was nothing.

She was just about to start down the path when, suddenly, she heard a screech from the shadows above. Looking up, she found herself staring at a hideously twisted, bird-like face with glowing red eyes. It's long, slender arms clung to some piping that lined the ceiling. It was a Space Pirate! It jumped from the ceiling, slamming into her and sending her falling backwards with the creature on top. Thinking quickly, she used the momentum and rolled backwards as she flipped the thing off of her. Just as quickly as she gotten her balance though, it was on its feet again. This time she was determined to get the upper hand. Turning towards it, she charged at it full speed while unleashing a fury of shots as she tried to hold it at bay. Drawing near, she lowered her shoulder and slammed herself into it. Doing this sent the pirate sliding along the floor,

Taking this brief chance, she looked around quickly for a way to inflict some kind of damage to this thing. As she looked, she noticed the wires that lined the walls. Perfect!,she thought. She quickly ripped out some wires; this caused some of the light to go out making it even darker than it was before. She pulled them out enough so that the ends reached the floor. Backing off some, she aimed at the pipes above them and fired. This caused water to burst from the pipes and form a puddle where the wires were lying. The pirate had gotten back up and started advancing toward her by now. She ran in the opposite direction to put some distance between them, hoping that it would follow; it worked. The pirate charged forward, paying no attention to the electrified puddle of water. As its feet touched the water, it started jerking violently. Electrical waves were emitted forth from it with a brilliant light, causing the entire hallway to be lit for a moment. She watched as it collapsed to the floor with it's limbs sprawled out. She made sure to keep her distance from the water as she approached the motionless, mechanical space pirate and gave a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the lights came on fully and she heard a voice that came from seemingly everywhere.

"Bravo, Samus! I must admit you had me doubting you would find it's weakness for a moment, but you were able to pull yourself together and use your wits. Now, if you'd be so kind, after you get cleaned up, I'd like to have a word with you. I'll be in my office waiting when you're ready."

Her breathing was returning to normal now as she made her way out of the room. Heading towards the showers, she couldn't help but wonder what it was he had to say. She pondered on this as she removed her suit and quickly showered off the sweat she had worked up while fighting the in the training chamber. Soon she was dried off, dressed, and on her way to the General's office.

Stopping outside the door, she gave it a quick knock.

"Come in," said the voice from inside.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" said Samus as she slowly opened the door.

"Yes. Please, have a seat, Lady," he motioned towards the chair opposite his desk.

The office was nicely sized and had a window behind his desk which made up the entire wall. From here you could see various parts of the space station, as well as marvelous views of the nearby planets. The office itself was nicely furnished with a small couch as well as some comfortable chairs near the desk. In a cabinet on one side of the room sat several medals and trophies.

Making her way over to his desk, she sat down in a chair and tried to get comfortable.

"First of all," he said, looking sternly at Samus, "about your performance back there. While you did eventually find the weakness of the "pirate", you took longer than you should have."

She sighed at hearing this. I knew he would say that, she thought.

"I know you've dealt with stuff like this before and you've obviously survived but, while you are quite a gifted warrior, you're still young and you still need to improve on areas other than pure combat."

"So… what? Are you saying I need to think more when I fight, like I had to do back there?"

"Yes," he nodded in reply. "That's why I had the robot designed to only be susceptible to electric shock. You've done a marvelous job as long as I've known you. I'm not trying to put you down, I just want to pass on my knowledge. I would hate to see something happen to you." he said as he looked at her a little more gently now.

She couldn't help but smile a little. "Thanks. So... is that all you wanted to see me about?" she asked as she started to stand up.

"No, I have something more important I wanted to speak to you about."

She sat back down again looking at him with curiosity.

"Alright, I know you're curious now so I'll get right to the point. There have been reports of some strange activity involving space pirates on Malthius. I can't go into much detail at the moment, but I just wanted to give you a heads up on the matter."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Well, I had thought that I would have you look into it," he said, then quickly added. "That is, if the mission is approved by the Commander."

"Is it important?" she was hoping it would be. She had been looking forward to getting some action for awhile now.

"I believe that the others think it's nothing to really worry about, but I think there's more to it than meets the eye. I can't tell you everything just yet, though I did figure that you would be interested. You should come to a quick meeting tomorrow I will be holding on this matter. Everything that is known will be explained then."

"Well, I guess I can squeeze it into my busy schedule," she said sarcastically with a grin on her face. "What time should I be there?"

"Be there at 7:00 a.m. on the dot!"

"I'll be there. Good night, sir," she said as she got up and walked towards the door.

"Good night," he nodded as she exited the office.

After returning to her apartment for the night, she fixed herself up a nice little supper and sat down to watch the news while she ate. The apartment was very simple and plain. It was just a place on the Federation's space station that they had arranged for her to stay in while working with them. She looked as if she was watching the news as she ate, but she was really just staring blankly at it while her mind was drifting and thinking of other things. She couldn't concentrate on the news so, after she finished eating, she decided she would try to unwind by writing in her journal before going to bed.

--Samus' Journal Log. d10.19--

It's been awhile since I've seen some action, but it looks like I could be getting a mission soon. Could this finally be my chance for payback against that retched beast, Ridley? Ugh... It sends chills down my spine just thinking of him. Even just the faint memories that come to mind are unbearable. I've tried to block most of it out, but sometimes those memories manage to get back in my head. Those images of him... no. They're too much for me to handle. I probably shouldn't even worry about it. He may not even be involved. I've got to try to get my mind off of this now.

The reason I had begun working with the Federation to begin with was because I thought that it would be easier for me to hunt the space pirates down instead of working alone. I still remember that first day when I met Adam. He seemed impressed from what he had heard of me. The look on his face though when he found out that under that power suit was a sixteen year-old girl... it was priceless. I think that had he found that out before hand he wouldn't have given me a real chance.

He reminded me of my Father and, even now, he still does. I can't recall all that much about him, but I do remember what he looked like and I know he resembles him. He was a tall, well built man with broad shoulders. His flattop hair was dark brown and I remember the stubble on his cheeks that would rub against my face when he held me close. Adam looks much the same aside from the fact that his hair is now starting to turn a little gray, giving a peppered look to it. I remember that, for the first time since that dreadful day, I felt as if I was with my Father again. It sounds silly I know, but I sort of think of him as something of a father now that I have no one else close to me. We've grown to know each other well and trust each other over the past two years we've worked together. He's very intelligent and he has taught me much since I have come here. I'm starting to get tired now so I'll head off to bed and get some rest. Tomorrow morning could be interesting.

The next morning Samus awoke to the sound of her alarm clock; it was 6:00 a.m. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and proceeded to get out of bed and fix some breakfast. After eating a good sized meal, she took a quick shower to fully wake herself before heading out to the meeting. She hurried herself, not only to make it there in time, but also because she was itching with the anticipation of finding out more of what was going on. Upon arriving, she was greeted by Adam who was waiting outside for her to arrive.

"Good morning, Lady," he greeted her with a smile as he opened the door for her.

"Good morning, sir," she replied.

"The others are already here, so if you'll go ahead and take a seat we'll begin."

She entered the room and saw that two others were already seated at a large table. The room itself was big and long. There was an enormous monitor at the end of the room that was used to show maps and graphics for visual aid. For privacy reasons, no windows were in the room so there were several lights lined along the ceiling to provide sufficient lighting. At the head of the table was Commander Grandle. He was mostly bald aside from the little bit of white hair on the back of his head. His moustache matched his hair and his face was somewhat hard and cold. In his eyes you could see the wear of the years of battle he had endured. He was now somewhere near seventy years-old. The man on the right was General Kelshan; a hefty, red-haired man whose face was a bit long and sported a goatee. Adam took a seat opposite of Kelshan. Samus followed and sat down next to him.

"Now, General Malkovich has gathered us here due to the reported activity of space pirates on the planet Malthius," said the Commander, motioning towards Adam. "So, let's get straight to bussiness. From what I have heard, I do not believe there to be much more than a few space pirates trying at another sad raid attempt. The Malthians have given no distress signal, so I assume that they are able to handle themselves adequately. With that said, my question to you General is, why would you wish to waste this young girl's talent on such a useless trip? There are many things that are much more important she could tend to."

Samus looked over to Adam, but remained quiet and continued to listen.

"Well, I can see how it would be so easy to assume that, sir," Adam replied as he looked over his papers. "I have looked more closely into this though and I've found some interesting things. First of all," he said as he pressed a button, bringing up his reports on the screen. "I found that, while there have indeed been reports of space pirate activity on the planet, the Malthians themselves have given no report of any attack."

"Well, maybe they just didn't feel they needed to notify anyone," suggested Kelshan.

"Ah, but they are usually quick to report any attacks," Adam pointed out.

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Grandle as he thought it over. "That they've been killed off?"

"It's possible," Adam paused to think for a second. "That would explain why we haven't heard from them. They may have been attacked too quickly to have time to call for help. It wouldn't take a very large force to wipe them out, especially with space pirates. It could have been quite easy to make landfall on the planet without the Malthian's knowledge. At which point, it would be easy for the pirates to dispatch of them."

"So then, if that is the case, what would the space pirates be after?" asked Kelshan, "As far as I know, there is nothing of value to be found on that planet."

"That," Adam paused and sighed, "I can not answer. I've tried to find a reason, only to have come up with nothing. I just have a feeling though that something is not right here," he said looking at the Commander.

Grandle noticed the look he gave him and sat in thought for a moment before speaking again. "I guess your ideas are credible. You seem to have researched this matter enough," he paused and let out a small sigh. "If you feel this strongly about it, I suppose I'll grant permission allowing you and Samus to investigate the situation. I haven't known you to be wrong on things such as this, so I guess there is no reason to distrust your judgement now."

"Thank you, sir!" said Adam nodding his head. "Now," he said turning to Samus, "before we end this, do you have any questions, Lady?"

She thought for a second to make sure that she hadn't missed anything important. Then she looked at Adam and replied, "The only question I have is when do we leave?"

"Always ready for action," said Adam giving her a small grin. "With the President's permission, I would like to set out today as soon as possible." he turned to look at Grandle.

He nodded his head. "I'll have your ship ready for you before noon. That should leave you time to prepare for the trip. Kelshan, do you have any more questions?" he asked looking at him.

"No, sir," he said shaking his head.

"Very good then. Meeting adjourned!"

So, if you took the time to read this I'd be grateful if you let me know what you think.

I had the idea way back to try and trick the readers into thinking she was actually fighting a real pirate when in reality it was only her training. Hopefully that worked out.

I basically used this first chapter to help set some things up and explain just a little about Samus and Adam. I tried to show that Samus has a hard time dealing with the pain that Ridley has caused, though not too much... yet. Also, as you can see, she tends looked at Adam as a kind of a father figure since she has no family left.

After I make sure everything with this chapter is straightened up I'll get to work on the next one. Hopefully I'll see all of you again then.