A Hunters Vengeance

by Robert Blake

The sequel to "Uprising" and the second story in the Huntress series

1 A H U N T E R S V E N G E A N C E

Editor's note: This is the sequel to "Uprising" and is the second story in the Huntress series. As a reminder i am only the self appointed editor and not the author, the original author is known as GieGie and from what i can tell was the host of which no longer exists.I am uploading these stories because good fanfiction needs to be read and this is as good a place as any. Please read and review so i can see if everyone likes it.

Authors Note: This story was written out of mostly imagination and is not based upon the Metroid Comics at all. I haven't gotten a chance to read any of those comics, though I would like to, and this story comes from simply my imagination. Metroid belongs to Nintendo and I am using the storyline without permission, but I do not claim to have come up with the Metroid idea or Samus Aran myself. So giving credit where credit is due, the only things I have really made up myself in this story are the characters Jillian and a few others of which I'm sure you'll recognize. This story takes place after Super Metroid (before I knew what went on in Metroid Fusion.) So, I hope you enjoy it. Just call it a fans tribute!!!

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Chapter 1

It wasn't as if fighting an entire planet full of alien creatures that'd rather pull your eyes out and eat your brains than look at you was an everyday occurrence. No wonder she slept so long after she was done. Why did it seem as if she had to be the super hero for all of the Galactic Federation? Well, whatever higher being there was, they only knew.

She had gone to sleep on the bunk of her bed in her gunship, the one place she felt totally secure. She'd set the autopilot to a course heading to the planet Inia, having a small task to complete. Well, not so much a task as an old friend to see.

Contrary to popular opinion of the bounty hunter, she did have feelings, she had likes and dislikes, and she had her morals. She simply chose not to show them all the time. Especially to the bastards who thought they could have bought her off cheap. Maybe that was why she turned to the Galactic Federation when they offered her a job, simply because she felt like utterly destroying all the would-be employers that had a job for her that would make even the hardest of warriors want to vomit. She didn't care what anyone said or thought, she was not about to kill children or families for profit.

She always seemed to sleep very well after a large mission as she had just completed. Even though she knew she would gain new nightmares and reasons to run and hide in her sleep, she was so exhausted that her mind didn't work at all after the mission was completed. Zebes had been destroyed for the second time, and the last of the metroids were killed. At least, as long as those damn pirates didn't clone or genetically engineer them somehow. All they needed was the DNA to do so. After all, they had done so to that bastard Ridley more than once. And she knew they were foul enough to try it again.

Morons. Utter fools.

The COM on her bedside started beeping then, signaling to the sleeping hunter that she had a message incoming. The noise was soft, but loud enough to wake her up gradually. Slowly her hazel eyes came open, though unwillingly, and she pushed herself up, looking around the dark room wondering what time it was. "Lights", she spoke in a groggy voice and squinted with a small groan as the room filled with light then. In no hurry to intercept the message on her com-link, she sat up slowly and let the reality of the waking world enter her once again.

Even after rubbing her eyes she didn't grab the COM, and she simply walked towards a food replicator and got herself a glass of water and a small sandwich. Her appetite still hadn't returned fully, but she knew in a day or so she'd be as hungry as a horse, so she wasn't worried.

Finally she reached for the button and found the signal was from the Galactic Federation wanting to know where the hell she was. She had never reported back to them yet, but she didn't care to. She was tired and worn out, both physically and mentally, and she thought if they couldn't allow her some time to recover herself after a mission, then they could put their lips right on her ass.

Finally, she accepted the message and heard a voice, though gruff, she knew it was his regular voice and that he wasn't pissed at all. The President of the Galactic Federation was most likely worried, but she would deal with that later.

The message went as follows.

"This is the president of the Galactic Federation. We have detected a large explosion in the Solar System of Planet Zebes and have scanned, finding no remains of the planet exists and are needing your verification of its annihilation. Also, it would be good to know you're all right. This is President Senning, over."

Samus rolled her hazel orbs and stood from her seat on the bed after finishing her small meal and said, "Computer, reply to presidents message. President Senning, this is Samus Aran, I am verifying to you that I have eradicated the problem on Planet Zebes and am alive and well. I will report to you in 3 days on this mission with complete details. This is Samus. Out." Then she continued, "Computer, engage voice scrambler and cloak ships location on the message." The beep signaled it was done.

Not the one for much talking, she closed the COM as soon as it was sent and looked at her current position on the computer screen. Damn, she was only 15 minutes away from Inia. She did sleep a long time, around 18 hours.

Inia was in a system outside of the federations control, and Samus wasn't as well known around there as she was in the Federations systems. Though her name had spread throughout the galaxy like a wildfire on a dry field, there was still much speculation around her name and who she was. She could even remember hearing a rumor that she had planted the Metroids on Zebes the first time just so she could make money. Samus didn't even laugh at that notion, and actually found it quit offensive, but as always, she didn't care what others thought.

Only one person's thoughts concerned her.

Chapter 2

Jillian sat at her desk reading the daily news on her computer screen, curious about the recent dealings of the galactic federation and the space pirates. She was getting worried about her friend. Samus should have been there by now! Where the hell was she?

Like clockwork though she heard a knock at the door behind her. Her dog, a small terrier, started barking and jumping up and down like his mother were on the other side of the door. Jillian stood and grabbed Victory, her dog's name, and opened the door to see a towering 7-foot form inside an armored orange red and gold space suit standing before her. She gasped at first as Samus walked inside, and then shut the door before she started yelling as to not get the attention of the tenants in near by rooms.

"Samus!" She finally exclaimed and threw herself at the bounty hunter in a hug, despite the hard armor of her suit. Victory squirmed his way to the floor then and Samus placed her left hand upon Jillian's back, hugging her in return only halfheartedly, and then removed her helmet, causing her sandy blonde ponytail to fall out. It was true, Samus didn't usually wear her suit on such personal occasions, but Jillian had wanted to see the suit very badly since Samus had made some implements to it, which was why she'd gasped so when she'd seen Samus at first, but then, after she'd given Samus a hug, she stepped back and looked it over. "Damn, you were right, it does make you taller."

Samus snorted and shook her head. Then she sat down on a near by chair and sat her helmet next to her. She felt all out of sorts in such a personal environment, but she didn't mind it at all.

Jillian took the helmet and placed it on her own head though it was a bit too big and looked out of the visor at Samus. "Cool, I still don't see how you can stand it though, I'd get Closter phobic."

Samus tilted her head in a slight shrug and then said, "You appreciate it when you have lasers and missiles being fired at you."

Jillian just laughed softly and removed the helmet, placing it back where it came from. "Are you alright? Hungry?"

"I'm fine," was Samus's only reply. Victory jumped onto her lap then as she patted him with her left hand again, her right arm inside her cannon. "I don't have much time Jillian. I know you want me to stay longer, but I find the Federation wanting me to return and report on the events. I told them I would be there in three days, but when they get the message they'll be screaming at me to return and I don't feel like listening to their bullshit.

Jillian did indeed look disappointed. "Will you come back when you're done? Perhaps take me with you?"

Samus shook her head, "I told you I'm not taking you off this planet. It's too dangerous for you to travel with me. You're the closest thing to any type of family I'll ever have, and I'm not going to endanger you like that."

Jillian had met Samus after a space pirate raid of a colony on the planet JY33. She'd found the teenaged Jillian hidden in a pile of rubble, one of the ones who didn't make it to any escape ports to get out of the colony before they were killed. It reminded Samus of her childhood when a space pirate raid had claimed her mother and father. Though Jillian had been frightened of the Bounty Hunter at first, Samus had removed her helmet and showed her everything was alright. She then took Jillian to Planet Inia, a remote and peaceful planet without much corruption. In fact, it was mostly a vacation planet, and not much politics took place there, though it was more open to things such as illegal devices and weapons, as it was out of the federation's control. Samus still felt it was the safest place for her at the time, for even Samus didn't trust the federation totally.

No, Samus wouldn't allow Jillian to go with her. She would indeed come back, but Jillian would have to wait.

After explaining this to Jillian, they continued with their chatting, actually Jillian did, and Samus just listened, wondering if she could ever be like Jillian, who actually wanted to be like Samus. Each envied and idolized the other. They both craved what they didn't have.

"I know, I'm probably boring you with everything I've done in the past few weeks. I'm just so happy to see you again. Why did you have to be a bounty hunter anyway?"

Samus looked away. She never told Jillian about the Chozo, how the Space Pirates had also wiped them out of existence, she had only told them of her own family, and never expounded the details of that, the fact that every time Samus saw something terrible happen she wanted to right it, and in the end she wanted to make the pirates pay for everything. "Like I said, it's just what I am."

Jillian let her have that and just nodded, letting the subject go. "Do you still have the necklace I gave you?"

Samus nodded and pulled on the silver chain to show her. The medallion on the necklace had a red stone in it, something like Ruby, but it wasn't. Jillian smiled and then hugged her friend once more, Samus returning the hug more fully this time. Jillian knew she had things on her mind, and she then said, "Well, why don't you go and get it over with. I'll ask just once more for you to take me along for the ride."

Samus gave her a stern look as Jillian held up her hands in defeat. "Fine fine, I won't ask anymore."

Samus nodded, appeased then, as she then stood up and replaced her helmet, becoming once more the hard hunter which everyone had heard of. Her voice, distorted and mechanical from the helmets small vent sounded then, "I'll be back soon. I promise. But I'm not taking you anywhere with me while I'm not sure about threats. I don't want to have to look out for you as well."

Jillian nodded as the door shut and told her friend goodbye. After Samus had taken her leave, Jillian muttered, "I can take care of myself, and I'll prove it."

The engines of her gunship roared to life after the short visit with her friend, and shot out of the docking bay and off into space. Destination: The Galactic Federations Headquarters.

A sound. Something sounding like footsteps trying to be hidden sounded from behind Samus and she turned her eyes to the side from which they came, sitting as if she'd heard nothing. Then she turned around as if she were simply doing routine, and walked in the direction in which the noise had come from, switching to her thermal visor, seeing a heat signature, but unable to tell fully what it was as it was hidden behind several pipes on the wall. Now standing right next to the signature she saw, yet facing a computer monitor as if she were reading something, the being suddenly found a cold metal cannon held in it's face.

"Samus don't, it's me! Jillian!"

Samus quickly switched her visor off and looked, seeing it was indeed Jillian as she lowered the cannon and pulled her out from behind the piping. "How the hell did you get in here Jillian?"

Samus's voice was stern, but not harsh. She could never be that harsh with Jillian as long as Jillian was alright.

"I snuck into your cargo bay while you were boarding. I'm sorry, but I just had to, I wanted to show you I can take care of myself!"

Samus grumbled, her form towering as she turned away and said, "So much that you almost got your head blown off."

Jillian grumbled, "I know. But I can, honestly. You'll see! How did you know I was there anyway?"

"You were trying to cover your footsteps and I heard you. Then I just switched to my thermal visor and got your heat signature. That's how, and I won't see anything because I'm turning around and taking you back RIGHT now."

Samus sat down at the helm and began, "Set new course heading to--" as Jillian protested, but she stopped suddenly causing Jillian to stop as well.

"What is it?"

"Damn it, I don't have enough energy to get you back to Inia, only to get to Planet Margides."

Jillian hid her smile and said, "I guess that means I'm staying."

Samus shot a look at her through the visor of the helmet, though Jillian couldn't see it really. She was very angry, perhaps not with Jillian, but then again maybe so. "I guess so," she said sarcastically, and then added, "But you're not leaving my sight. Be prepared to have my constant attentions. And that I can promise isn't very nice."

Jillian raised an eyebrow at Samus, now seeing she was obviously angry, and she sat down on the floor in the corner of the corridor and said, "Damn Samus, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come with you for once though."

Samus took a deep breath that sounded through the helmets ventilation shaft and looked back at her monitor. "I know you did, though what's so great about being around me I don't understand. Don't attempt to explain it either; you'll probably just make me even angrier. Just sit tight, we'll be there soon enough at light speed."

Chapter 3

The grand hall of the Galactic Federation was filled with people from all over the Quadrant, and they were all sitting in their designated area according to their ranking in the federation. President Senning sat in the front row along with his advisors, and so on and so on. They had received the message from Samus Aran that she was in the docking bay refueling her ship, and would be there any minute.

Just then the doors opened and the tall hunter walked through them in all her armored glory, looking forward as the smaller girl, Jillian, followed behind her. Samus approached the President and stood there, the light shining through the large glass walls glinting off her armor as if it were also made of glass.

"Who is this girl? We have no use for her here!" One of the more cynical senators stated from his seat in the third row. The President was about to calm him down when Samus shot her face towards him and said, "She's none of your concern. This meeting is not classified, at least I have not been told so, and therefore she is allowed here. If you have any problems with her presence then come and confront me."

As expected by Samus, the man whom she did not know nor had any business with shut his mouth and sat back. The President just shook his head slowly as he looked at Samus and said, "Now, can we continue? Please give us your report of the recent events on Planet Zebes."

Samus looked at Jillian and in a voice no one else could hear told her to sit down. The redheaded girl complied quickly and took a seat, already feeling out of place in the large room. Then Samus walked over to a large projector, and after pressing a few buttons on her cannon arm she extracted a small disc and inserted it into the projectors machinery. A few flashes and then pictures of the landscape from the view of Samus's visor came to life.

"As you can see when I first arrived, the planet was barren and under the deluge of an acidic rain which cleared up after some time. I found the entire planet to be deserted, corridors and all, until I stepped into their scanners unknowingly; they were somehow cloaked to all my visors. Once my presence was alerted to the space pirates, they came out in full force."

The screen went on to show a pirate attacking Samus, as if the people in the room were Samus herself, engaging in combat with the creature, and becoming wounded, but prevailing in the end as her entire visor was covered in green blood. A hand then wiped the blood away and the scenes went on. Jillian watched in disbelief. She remembered those Pirates very well, and she felt a surge of hate and anger move through her, not only for what they did to her, but for what they did and are still doing to her friend whom she looked at as an older sister. She also had no idea of what Samus had gone through on the planet, and now knew the nature of the nightmares Samus had told her she had, hell, the nightmares Jillian had even witnessed her having. She'd wake up in a cold sweat sometimes, and once almost broke Jillian's neck when Jillian had tried to wake her up from the terrible dream. Indeed Jillian could see now the real weight of the burdens this woman carried.

"I finally made my way into the rebuilt Tourian to find that the Mother Brain somehow was back, most likely engineered by the space pirates once again, and I eradicated her with the help of the Metroid. It triggered a self-destruct though and the entire planet was blown to pieces. Mother Brain killed the Metroid, which I had sought to rescue, and though that part of my mission was not a success, the rest as you can see was. There is your report."

The screens went blank then and Samus turned to look at the President and all the senators and politicians of the Galactic Federation. The same senator as before who'd wanted to know who Jillian was spoke again then, "You say rescue as if the Metroid was in turmoil and needed you, when it almost killed you itself. Are you in some way attached to this life form?"

Samus's eyes narrowed behind her mirrored visor menacingly and she said, "As you can see, this creature saved my life as well. I did not consider it a pet if that's what you mean, but it was a huge opportunity at one time. Now I realize though that the Space Pirates will stop at nothing to harness their power, even the destruction of the Ceres Space Station, as you know. Therefore I am glad they are eradicated, because now the Metroids will not be able to be gotten hold of."

The man sat back, his curiosity appeased as the President continued, "Well done Aran. I expect you are wanting your pay now."

"It wouldn't be a problem if that's what you're thinking," Samus replied blandly through the helmet of her power suit.
The President nodded as he placed a briefcase upon the table before him. Samus took a few steps forward and retrieved it, then turned her back upon them and headed back towards the door, motioning to Jillian to come along. Jillian stood, wondering if that was it. This is how it ended? Nothing else was given to her for saving the Galactic Federation for the millionth time? She stopped then and turned around looking back at them as she spoke, "Maybe my opinion doesn't count much to you people, but I think you owe a lot more to Samus than you've given. Every single one of you in here owes your lives to Samus! You all--" and she was interrupted by Samus grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room. Then the doors shut and the President looked forward, somewhat thoughtfully, as he said, "This meeting is adjourned."

Walking throughout the corridors to the docking bay, and then boarding her gunship, Samus looked over at Jillian who seemed to be deep in thought. As they descended into the gunship, Samus finally spoke, "What's bothering you?"

Jillian took several deep breaths before she answered, "I never knew you went through so much, and I just..." she paused, "I just hate those damn pirates so much Samus!"

Her voice had taken on a more urgent tone and Samus took off her hood and leaned against the wall, throwing the suitcase of money onto a nearby table as she closed her eyes and exhaled, pulling her light sandy hair from it's ponytail. Jillian looked up at her as she thought for a moment and then bit her lip. "I'm sorry Samus."

Samus looked at her for only a moment, thinking she had nothing to be sorry about. Samus hated them too. As she took her seat at the helm then and pulled the ship to life, leaving the docking bay, she thought about how Jillian had never seen her angry. Really purely angry. She only hoped it would be a side of her that Jillian would never witness, and Samus took another breath, rubbing her forehead as she began to speak. "I know you hate them, you've nothing to be sorry for. I hate them just as much, if not more, because they killed both my families."

"Both of your families?" Jillian asked then, wondering what she meant.

"After my colony was destroyed and I was left there alone, I was found by the Chozo. An ancient race of creatures where I got my suit and my abilities from."

Samus turned and looked at Jillian then, the look upon her face one she never showed. "I was raised by them, all they cared for is peace. My race loved to war it seemed. Together, we taught each other much, as they were so far advanced from humans I couldn't even begin to describe it. I wanted revenge so badly I could taste it. For every nightmare I had, a space pirate would die, it mattered not who they were. The Chozo infused me with their blood and equipped me with this suit. I claimed my place as a bounty hunter then and my hate has nearly consumed me. You're one of my lights, Jillian, one of the few I have left. I don't want to see you become what I am. Cold and calculating, though I do care, yes, I'm still not the woman you want to be."

Jillian listened and nodded. "You've gotten your revenge now haven't you? Can't you just quit?"

Samus shook her head, "No, I've forgotten what it's like to lead a more normal life, and I wouldn't be good at it. I'm not built for that, I'm built for this," she said and looked around her.

Jillian looked down silently and nodded. "You're still my family and I still love you."

Samus nodded, "As I you. That's why I won't let you become what I am."

"That's why I want to help you whenever I can."

"I don't need help."

"I don't need guidance then."

Samus growled halfheartedly and then turned back to the helm. "Let's just get you home."

Chapter 4

Space was always cold. Home to some and hell to others, it was an endless sea of nothing. In the middle of that sea she stood. Watching as one life after another rose before her and lifted into the darkness above. No one could see it like she could, the detail of the faces as they passed her, all of them innocent, and behind every one of them stood a Space Pirate.

Samus screamed out from behind her helmet and lunged for them, but missed every time, falling onto a ground that seemed not to exist, yet it was there. She fought endlessly to get at them, wrestling with herself and the ground which she hit so endlessly, until one grabbed her from behind and ripped her helmet off. Then it's foul cold hands encased her cheeks as it turned her head to the side and broke her neck, a loud snap sounding and echoing in the darkness, until that darkness consumed everything everywhere.

"SHIT!" Samus sat up from her bunk on the ship and rolled out of the bed, clad in only a tank top and a pair of white shorts. Jillian had heard the commotion and came in to find Samus lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Samus, are you alright?"
"Don't touch me! Don't touch..." she trailed off and pushed herself up, making her way to the sink in her small quarters, drawing water and splashing her face with it. She then rubbed her eyes and looked up at her face reflecting in the mirror, staring at it. It stared back.

Then Jillian jumped shocked as Samus turned and rammed her fist into the wall. The wall actually bent somewhat, but Samus's hand had suffered more from the blow than the wall did. She didn't cringe in pain or pull back however, even as blood began to pour from her knuckles. "I sincerely wish you weren't here right now."

Jillian grabbed a few clothes and said, "Why not, so I won't see you like this? I've seen you have nightmares before, remember? You're not scaring me."

She took Samus's hand gently then and began to wipe the blood away as a tear trailed down Samus's cheek. Jillian looked up at her, having never seen her cry before. She was even more surprised when Samus pulled her closer for a large hug. Jillian simply patted her back and rubbed her hair gently, as if she were her mother.

"Yes, I remember Jillian, but you've never seen me vulnerable. I don't like it," she whispered, and actually found her first smile in a while.

Jillian looked up just as she smiled and returned it, saying, "Well, I won't tell if you won't."

Samus started to chuckle then as she opened her mouth, but was cut off as the entire ship shook. "What the hell was that?"

Making her way to the monitor, the ships scans detected two vessels of about the same size off the port bow.

"Space Pirates?" Jillian asked.

"No, renegade bounty hunters. These guys do everything in groups and go against all the rules of a hunter."

"Hunters have rules?"

Samus grinned sheepishly, "Not really, but there is a certain etiquette in different areas. These guys basically conform to their own etiquette if you get my picture."

Jillian nodded and stumbled as the ship took another blow. Raising her shields, Samus turned to her weapons systems and locked on to the vessels, firing one shot and destroying one of them totally.

"Well that was simple," Jillian said then as the other ship began to retreat.

Samus shook her head and plotted a course to follow the retreating ship, saying, "Nothing's ever simple. These guys came after me for a reason and I want to know what it is."

Jillian nodded, unable to help the fact that she was excited. She had started to think Samus was full of hot air about it not being safe to travel with her, but now she could see otherwise.

The scans indicated the ship was from a region near an ice world called Syfia. The world had undergone a permanent ice age due to its suns turn to a dwarf star, and nothing on the planet had survived save perhaps a bacteria of some type. It had always been rumored there were activities going on beneath the surface of the planet, but Samus had never had a reason to care in particular. Maybe now she'd find out.

The ship, which couldn't travel as fast as Samus's gunship, was easily followed, and sure enough it led them back to Syfia, and then begin to enter the atmosphere.

"Don't they know they're being followed? Or are they incredibly stupid?"

"No, and yes. I have a cloaking device on my ship which causes it to be remiss in scans and also in visuals. You can thank the Chozo for that bit of technology."

"Thank you Chozo," Jillian said with a grin.

Samus couldn't help but smirk, and followed the ship all the way down to the surface almost, settling in a valley of icy hills not too far from where the ship had landed. She then stood and went to go get her power suit on as Jillian asked, "Ok, what do we do now?"

"We don't do anything. You stay here, I go check it out. I don't know if there's any oxygen on this planet or not and I don't have an extra spacesuit, so sorry, but you're not coming this time. Too dangerous anyway."

"Aww man," Jillian grumbled and sat down in the cockpit as Samus emerged a few minutes later, fully armored.

"I don't know how long this will take Jillian, but I can guarantee your safety here. So stay put. If you get hungry use my replicator."

Jillian rolled her eyes slightly and muttered, "Yes ma'am," as Samus exited the ship.

The skies were filled with some type of electrical lightening, though it didn't seem to interfere with Samus's radar. The only thing that was interfering with anything was the damn snow blocking her vision. But she wasn't too worried because nothing was around, and cautiously made her way to the ship which had attacked hers earlier. Slowly she approached it, looking upon the back hull, and long spider like legs reaching out from it which it was sitting upon. She scanned it for life signs, but detected nothing. Only a small heat signature showed up in her infa-red visor, and she checked the x-ray to find a door hidden beneath the snow, recently used. Making her way towards it, and opening it, she slowly looked inside to find some sort of elevator shaft as she looked for a way to activate it, and pressing a large red button on the wall, felt it shake some as it began to descend downwards.

Soon, she emerged into a room that had been dug out into the underground of the surface, and surprisingly enough, she found that there seemed to be a subterranean market going on. Neon lights lit up signs above small bars and shops, written in all types of alien and human languages. She then stepped off the platform as a few people made their way by her and into a shop, sparing glances her way as if they weren't frightened of her, but curious as to who she was and why she was here.

Perhaps they were outcasts of society, simply living out their lives in an underground world away from the rest of society. In any case, Samus didn't care. She was only curious as to find out who the hell had attacked her and why. But where to start?

As she walked forward, she decided to check out one of the bars. Maybe she'd get a few leads there.

As the door opened, the smell of alcohol filled Samus's nose through her helmets vents, and she didn't particularly care for it too much. She liked to drink yes, but she didn't like the smell of it.

Already attracting attention, she watched as a large man stood up and began walking towards her. She prepared herself for the worst and looked up at him, even at her height, watching as he came closer and closer until he spoke in a rough voice not even a mother could love," No weapons allowed. You're going to have to leave it outside, leave yourself, or I'm gonna have to throw you out."

"Is that so?" Her warped voice sounded through the helmet. "Then I suppose I'm just going to have to show you what this weapon can do."

The barbarian looking creature with a smell more foul than a rotting carcass growled at her then, "You'll sincerely regret it."

"I don't think so," Samus replied as she started charging her beam up and held it straight at his head, particles of energy being sucked into the base of her cannon like a vacuum.

Even that didn't seem to scare the creature as he grabbed her cannon quickly while the blast went off, diverting it towards the ceiling. Samus ripped her arm from his grip like butter then and drove the end of her hard gun into his gut, knocking the wind out of the man as he backed up and reached for her other arm, but she quickly avoided it, and faster than he could keep track of, ended up behind him with the cannon pointed to his head, using her left arm to pull herself onto his back so that her helmet was level with the back of his head. She then whispered into his ear, the warped voice sounding as if it were evil itself, "I have missiles in this cannon, now do you want me to test them out on you or would you rather answer a few questions? Either way, I'll find out what I need to know, and I won't think twice about killing you."

"Alright...damn it, alright! I just needed to see what type of person you are, if you are a person. You're new around here and I run most things down here. So I have to lay down the laws."

"Do your laws include harboring renegade hunters?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I can see you're a hunter yourself. In fact you look like a very skilled hunter and I might have a job for you. I can pay very well."

"Save it for later asshole, you run things down here, and I tracked a renegade hunters ship here, a ship that attacked mine, and I want answers, not in one second, now, or you're going to be short a brain and a head."

"Don't be like that, just let me explain. I don't know about any renegade hunters, no, but people always come and go here, the ones who know about this place anyway. If you want I can lock down the elevator shaft, it's the only way in and out, that way you'll find what you're looking for."

Samus nodded, "Alright then. But do it now, if I can't find what I'm looking for, I'm coming back to see you," and she let go, stepping back from him, his mere stench about to make her sick.

He nodded then and went off to do as he said he would, while Samus stepped out of the bar to watch him, just to make sure he did so. Soon, the clamps could be heard locking down on the shaft, and Samus diverted her attention to the people about, looking at each of them wondering if the renegades could be among them. Somehow she doubted it though. Just then, she felt a surge of electricity hit her from behind, and she cringed in pain and fell to her knees. Her visor became filled with static, and she knew she had to start moving otherwise she'd be shot again from the blast of the electrical weapon. Pushing herself forward, she turned around at the same time and looked back, as the visor clearing, seeing a man who looked at if he had all the money in the world. He was clean, well shaved, and carried a large gun with him, though not as big as Samus's.

Charging up her beam, she kicked a table over onto its side and let the blast off towards the man who'd shot her. She then ducked down behind the table as another shot came her way, and she groaned. She didn't want to kill him just yet if at all possible, for she wanted to know what this was about, but she would kill him if she had to.

"I'm going to kill you Samus, I don't care how well equipped you are. Your day has been marked, and that is this day!" she heard the man yelling then.

"Right, like I haven't heard that before," she muttered to herself and flipped to her x-ray visor to see through the table top, seeing that he was indeed approaching, yet slowly.

She only had one chance at this really, otherwise she'd have to kill him, and she took her chance, standing quickly from behind the table and firing off three small bursts from her cannon at his weapon and his leg. The first missed as she didn't have time to aim, but the second two hit on target, the first hitting the weapon and causing it to overload and malfunction, the second hitting his leg and causing him to fall forward and hit the ground. His lack of armor was a huge weakness on his part, and as Samus fell to the side, she watched him as he collapsed to his knees, yelling in agony and holding his leg where her blast had hit him.

She then pushed herself up and walked over to him, lifting him up with her left arm and slamming him against a near by wall. "Who wants me dead? Who sent you to kill me? You're too stupid to have wanted to kill me yourself."

The man cringed in fear and agony, and taking deep breaths he said, "I don't know who they are, but they offered to pay me an enormous amount of money for your death, or capture, either way. Some sort of pirates or something."

Samus became even more enraged as the larger man who led the underground market came up behind them and listened. "I want to know exactly where and how they found you, every detail from how much to what you ate since then, EVERYTHING!"

Samus's grip tightened on his neck then and he gasped for air. "I run all types of jobs for outlawed groups of the federation. I'm pretty well known in the underground world, and I was called on from these pirates to kill you. I've heard your name before, but I didn't know you were this damn advanced; otherwise I wouldn't have taken the job. They offered me ten thousand and paid me five thousand in advance."

"Where are they," Samus said calmly and held her gun to his head, saying if you don't tell me, you're dead.

"Not far from here, 10 light years. If you let me go to my ship I can get the coordinates."

"I don't think so. I think I'll kill you now and get them myself."

"No! Please! Here, take this, it will give you access to all my records and databases." He pulled a small card out of his pocket and handed it to her. She let him fall to the ground then and picked it up, scanning it. It was a memory chip, something used often on older ships like his. She then looked down at him and said, "I knew we could come to an agreement. Don't let me see your face again, because if I do, you won't have a face anymore, understood?"

The man nodded vigorously and started trying to tend to his wounded leg. Samus turned around to walk off again only to be confronted by the larger man who'd bothered her earlier.

"So you're the legendary Samus? Word is there are bounties on your head all over the galaxy. Why are you so interested in this one?"

Samus looked at him blandly from behind the visor of her helmet and said, "Because no one's ever been stupid enough to try and collect one of them before."

The barbarian looking man started howling in laughter as Samus walked off, and he called out, "You're always welcome back Samus, if you ever need anything or want to know more about this place. I only hope this type of thing doesn't bring you back here next time, saying there is one."

"You never know, anything's possible." She found she actually kind of liked it here, besides the fact that she'd been attacked and everything. It seemed to be quiet, humble, and not at all decorated or fancy like most places she'd been. Plus it was hidden, and she knew that if she hadn't even heard of this place before, then it was a very good place to be most likely.

As she ascended the now open elevator, and exited to her ship, she found Jillian waiting inside for her. "That didn't take long. Did you get what you came for?"

"And then some," Samus replied removing her helmet and sticking the memory chip into her databanks to download the information. "Turns out they were sent by the space pirates."

"No shit!" Jillian exclaimed as Samus got her ship into the air, high enough to target the renegades ship through her scopes and fire off a missile at it to destroy it once and for all. "I can't believe I didn't kill that bastard who was stupid enough to try to kill me. He's not in good condition though. And if I ever see him again, he's dead."

Jillian nodded her head at that, knowing Samus would be true to her words. As the data downloaded into the system, then took a look at it, plotting a course for Inia as she did so.

Reading the information, she found out that the man who tried to kill her was actually a pretty accomplished hunter in his own unorthodox way of doing things. He'd collected on over 500 bounties, and counting, his name was Jerod Tagis, and he was a 37-year-old man with a dead wife and child, killed when he was working as a policeman for the galactic federation. Ever since then, he quit his job and did work as a bounty hunter against the federation because of his personal vendetta against them.

There was all sorts of information on the bounties he'd carried out and the people he'd carried them out for. The last was the Space Pirates and information on Samus. Finally it ended as information on this bounty not complete. But it gave the coordinates of where he'd received the bounty from and how he'd been able to track her. That was the shock to Samus and she stood up quickly, facing Jillian who looked at her in alarm. She'd read the information too.

"You're going home now Jillian. No arguments. It's not safe with me any longer."

Jillian didn't argue, simply nodded fiercely and replied, "How far away is Inia from here?"

"An hour and a half at light speed." Her voice seemed to trail off, and there were a few long quiet moments between them, only the sound of the ventilation system of Samus's helmet sounding as she drew breath. She wanted Jillian to be out of there. She wanted to be alone, severely alone. She walked to the doors of her small quarters and stepped inside, shutting them behind her. Jillian didn't follow, knowing better. It wasn't everyday you were betrayed by the Galactic Federation, and Samus had just been seriously deceived.

Chapter 5

The hour and a half passed and Samus saw Jillian safely to her room. She did have second thoughts about leaving her there, but there was no way in hell she was taking Jillian with her. As a safety measure, Samus left Jillian with a large plasma rifle, one that even though she hadn't used it in several years, had been taken very good care of, and was enough to blow a hole through at least 3 people standing in a row, depending on the status it was set on. That put Samus's mind at ease as she boarded her ship and set a course for Planet Margides again. She was heading to see the one person who'd literally placed a knife in her back, and she was not going to let him get away with it so easily.

President Senning was about to see the wrath of Samus Aran. Her hand tightened its grip on the arm of her chair until she heard it cling, breaking off. How dare he mess with forces he had no idea about? How dare he!?

When Samus read how she had been tracked on Jerod Tagis's memory card, she couldn't believe it at first. It had to be a setup. But it was the Presidents authorization codes on the card itself. The only reason Samus knew was from the information she'd gathered on him over time.

As it turned out, he sent a signal to a bounty hunter, Jerod Tagis, a bounty hunter who, even though hated the galactic federation, was willing to accept this mission because of first the high amount of money involved, which was far more than 15 thousand, and second, because he'd been asked by the Space Pirates to do the job first. As it turns out however, the Space Pirates had followed up incase of his failure, and called a secret meeting with the Galactic Federation. There, they made an agreement that with the destruction of Samus Aran, the Space Pirates would call all of their forces out of the Federations space, and leave the Federation alone once and for all. Though Samus knew her death meant a lot to the Space Pirates, she highly doubted they would have backed their word, and she knew that the Galactic Federation were to stupid to realize that.

The one thing she didn't understand was why, if Tagis had been to this meeting, and President Senning knew he was working on the bounty, did President Senning contact him a day later and hire him for the job. It just didn't make sense, unless the President wanted to give him a higher price, and cause more motivation for the jobs success. There were no conversation log on Tagis's memory chip however, no data giving any reason why he was contacted by the President the day after the meeting to be hired for the job. All it said was the date and that the president had officially hired him for the job himself.

Something was definantly amiss.

"Jon, get that report in to me as soon as possible, I don't care how long it takes, I just need that information," Senning said, speaking into the COM on his desk. It was late evening, a dark night with no moons. Planet Margides had three moons, and all of them were black this night. As black as the mood of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who stood outside the window on the ledge, looking in silently to the Presidents office. Cloaked in shadows and fueled by rage, she waited as 5 people in a row came in to talk to him, not one of them noticing the hunter waiting just outside the window.

As they talked, Samus thought for a minute what she would like to do to him, how she might like to kill him, but first how she would get the information she wanted from him. It didn't take long either after that for the people to leave, and the President to sit back and relax in his large leather chair. It was time.

Senning watched the ceiling for a second and was surprised when the lights went out. Just as he was reaching for his desk, he found that his COM had also powered down, and he felt something press against his chin, something cold, and slowly lift his head up. Then he heard a voice, very familiar, and knew exactly who was there. "Didn't expect me back so soon did you?"

"Damn it Samus, you scared the hell out of me. I thought you were off doing whatever it is you're doing when you're not working fo--"

"Shut up Senning, I'm not here on a visit, if you can't tell. I want to know something. It's a question I've been curious about since I was a small child, and considering recent events, I think you're just the man to answer that." She paused for a moment and everything got quiet, maybe it was just to give the president a second to comprehend what was going on and get his thoughts right. Or maybe it was just so she could find the right words. Then she continued. "Tell me when a conflict gets so bad you have to actually stab the ones who've helped you in the back just to get ahead?"

Senning turned his head slightly and looked towards the green glow of Samus's visor, a look of confusion all across his face. "I don't know what you mean, I--"

He shut up when Samus shoved her cannon harder into his throat. "No, you do. Tell me, there's a name on the tip of my tongue that I think might get your attention. It's one you've heard rather recently. What was it again, Tagis maybe? Jerod Tagis? No, I must be mistaken. It couldn't have been a bounty hunter. Not you Senning, you're too pure of a soul."

Every word of her comment was drenched in a sarcasm so filled with hate that even the warped sound of her voice through her helmet couldn't hide it. Senning however still didn't seem to know what she was talking about.

Finally Samus cut to the chase, "Why did you hire someone to kill me just to get the Space Pirates out of your hair?" Then she bent over and whispered into his ear maliciously, "You must know what a foul person I am when I'm lied to. Don't lie to me now Senning, because only the truth will set you free."

The word free was drawn out long and slowly, as if to promise him something he couldn't comprehend. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He seriously didn't want to die, not now, not here, but he didn't know what to tell Samus for he had no clue what she was talking about. He would never hire a bounty hunter to kill her, first he knew that would be foolish plain and simple for the job would never get done more than likely, and second, he owed far too much to this hunter to even consider killing her.

"You're silence is not very convincing Mr. President. And my patience is growing thin."

Senning stuttered then, "Samus, I seriously have no clue what you're talking about. I'm scared beyond words right now, so believe me, I'd tell you anything I know. But I have nothing to tell, it's the honest truth!"

He jumped when Samus's armored fist went into the table, breaking the wood of the surface, and she walked away from him then, speaking, "Lights."

The room was illuminated suddenly, but the power wasn't restored. Samus had managed to get the power shut off to this room by over righting the system with a signal, and only she had the codes for it. Needless to say, the doors were locked, and she was the only one who could allow anyone in and out at the moment.

As the lights were restored, Senning found himself staring at the back of the towering hunter, who turned around slowly and reached up, slowly removing the helmet from her head, the exhaust making a hissing noise before it was removed, and revealing the face of a young woman in her twenties, a face that could very well win beauty competitions, much less be secluded behind some robotic mask. Senning knew it was a woman, but he'd never seen her face before. Her beauty actually startled him, and he couldn't help but wonder more about her, about her past and what would lead a woman to such a life as the one she'd chosen.

"Senning, I'm running out of time, and so are you, though I'm afraid you've even less time than I." Her voice, surprisingly soft at the moment, spoke slowly, and she placed the memory chip upon the table, pulling up his COM for him and inserting it into the machine. The information began to flash across the screen then before Sennings eyes. Samus began to speak once more as he watched the information flash across the screen, most of it centered around some kind of Hunter named Jerod Tagis. "Interesting isn't it? The fact that a man so cold and so vengeful against your federation could actually work for you when offered so much money isn't it. It shows how people really are in my opinion. Now, here comes my favorite part," she said as the information with the Presidents authorization code was brought onto the screen. "My, my, you gave my location to him didn't you? Oh, and you authorized this with your own codes. Look what we have here, I do believe this belongs to you," she said, pointing out the code to him and his very name, stating that he had hired the hunter himself one day after the meeting. "Now this is your very last chance Senning. I allowed you to see my face because I wanted you to know exactly who it was you've deceived and betrayed, and I wanted you to see for yourself my anger from my own eyes."

Senning looked up at her then, seeing how deadly serious she was and took a deep breath. "It's a wrath I won't have to face Samus, thankfully. You have been wronged, but not by me. This "was" my code, but it was changed yesterday due to a security breach detection. This isn't my code anymore, and I didn't authorize any such thing as what is stated here. Put simply, I do believe I have been framed."

Samus's eyes glowed a dark blue as she turned her head away from him, "Then who on your senate knows enough to access your codes and use them against you, someone with a motive for your death perhaps?"

Senning sat back, seeing now that her anger seemed not to be directed at him. Though that relaxed him some, the tension in the room hadn't let up any at all, and he spoke quietly, "Possibly all of them, but only a handful whom I don't trust as far as I can throw."

"Names damn it!," Samus yelled slamming her fist back onto the table causing Senning to jump.

Suddenly words sounded in Samus's head as she stood up straight, ignoring the names the President started spitting out. Who is this girl? We have no use for her here! It was nothing more than a hunch, but Samus had learned to trust her instincts over the years, and she quickly looked down at the President. "Who is he," she asked interrupting him, "Who is the man who asked me the other day at my report of the activities on Zebes if I had become attached to the Metroid Hatchling?"

The President thought back for a moment and remembered. "That's Senator Dagan. He's one of the ones I was going to name to you. He's always had a lust for power and to control that which was not meant to be controlled, and to also do things in his own way, despite what it means to others."

Samus retrieved the chip from the COM and replaced her helmet, looking back down at the president. "Where can I find him?"

Just then someone began knocking on the door and yelling, "Mr. President, are you alright? You're door is locked and we heard some commotion."

"I'm fine," the president replied and looked at Samus who'd already made her way to the other side of the table. "He's not at his home right now, he's on a leave of absence, taking care of something personal, I don't know where, but I'm sure you can find it in his databanks." The president said and looked at her as if hinting at something. It seemed to Samus as if she would have to do a little bit of hacking.

Standing out on the ledge of the window again, she pulled her cannon up to her arm and pressed a few buttons, the sound in the distance of a ship moving closer could be heard and she stepped off the window ledge and onto her ship. She then looked back as the power was fully restored to the presidents room and the doors opened, three men coming in and looking about to see if anything was wrong. The president calmed them for a moment and looked back, only to see that Samus had disappeared from sight.

"Long overdue," he spoke silently to the space pirates surrounding him. "Too long I'm afraid. Have we heard from our hired hunter yet?"

One of the pirates looked back at Dagan, yellow eyes flashing from a hideous looking face. He began to speak in a low rough tone that sounded distorted, though could be recognized as english. "No, he hasn't, but if my calculations are correct, he won't be successful, and she'll track where he came from."

Dagan looked at the pirate angrily, "What do you mean he won't be successful! He had a partner with him, and both their ships were sent to attack Aran, there's no way she could have survived." He said stubbornly and turned off, looking away from the pirate who became very angry at the man's lack of experience with what the pirates called "The Hunter".

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No, simply saying that Aran could not have survived an attack from two ships, especially not any attacks from a skilled hunter such as Tagis."

"You fool! You know nothing. The Hunter thwarted us several times in our efforts to create powerful armies and use the metroids to attack the Galactic Federation, and you think that those ships would have been any match for her!?"

Dagan turned around then and returned the argument to the pirate, "Then tell me, if you knew so much, why did you allow Tagis to go after her?"

"Because it would bring her here. And we'll be ready for her. We already have something she doesn't want to fall in our hands, and also, we have prepared a trap for The Hunter."

Dagan looked at him even more angrily then, "Why wasn't I told of any of this!?"

"You're not the leader here, you don't have the need for knowledge. We kept our end of the bargain, you've kept yours, that's all that needs to be said and done."

Dagan simply raised his hand as if to wave the pirate off and left. Then the pirate turned to a comrade and made a motion with his head as the pirate nodded and took off to do what he was ordered to. With the destruction of Zebes, The Hunter had dabbled in their affairs for the last time.

Chapter 6

The light shown down on the woman sitting there with her head bent forward, resting upon her knees which were pulled into her chest. The metal on her skin, the cybernetic implants and enhancements, glinted in the light like silver. A black hand with only 3 fingers reached out and touched her shoulder, as she looked up at one of her Chozo fathers and smiled. The Chozo gave her a look of sympathy and said without seeming to speak, "Newborn, you are of your own flesh, but you are now of ours as well. Use this wisely, make it a part of yourself, and become more than what you are."

Samus nodded, still watching the birdlike creature. His hand was placed upon her cheek then as he spoke once more, "Look not, or be in danger of failing, listen well, and succeed."

Once more Samus nodded as the figure seemed to disappear and in his place came the glowing green of her visor as she slowly opened her eyes and looked into the waking world once again. She'd actually fallen asleep at the helm while the ship was in autopilot. Shaking her head, that didn't happen too often, and she wondered how long she'd slept. The journey to the space station where Dagan had gone was at least an 18-hour trip, and she looked at the time. She'd taken a 5-hour nap. At least she'd rested, she thought, though not as comfortably as she could have.

"Computer, begin personal log entry."

"Accessing...please identify yourself."

"Samus Aran, code 21556738-b109-73736389102."

"Access granted. Please place your left hand onto the pad where designated."

An image of a hand appeared upon the monitor screen. Samus placed her left hand upon it, the access would only be granted if she had her armor on and the hook ups were linked to her cybernetic implants beneath the skin.

"Accessing...Access granted Samus. Please begin your personal log now."

"Personal Log, star date 336-03-229. I find myself heading towards a space station named Delpha which is controlled by the Space Pirates. No doubt they have some sort of scheme going on there as always, but for once I find that I'm not heading there to confront them. Rather, I'm heading there to confront a man whom is collaborating with them against everything he is supposed to stand for. He is a traitor and a fool, and soon enough he will find that I am not so easily dispatched. Soon, Senator Dagan will know he was severely foolish and wrong to make the decisions he's made. As for the space pirates he's collaborating with, they will also once again taste my wrath. I believe they simply can't get enough of it.

I will now give my admission that perhaps President Senning is not as ignorant and like the typical corrupt politician as I once thought he was, though I must admit, he still makes me wonder from time to time.

Upon the confrontation with the President about the recent accusation I made against him that he was trying to have me killed, I gathered enough information from him to take the next step in my investigation over the meaning behind my would be murders motivations. I know there's many people who would love nothing more than to see me in my grave, but it has never been acted upon before so outright and blatantly obvious. After my acquisition of information, I hacked into Senator Dagan's databanks, and even with my advanced technology, it took me three tries to get into his systems. But I found the information was well worth it. Though it did not give a roster of the activities taking place on the space station to which I am currently headed, it did give a detailed description of his activities for the past few months. It seems that President Senning was right about him, and all he cares about is power and control. Dagan thinks that Sennings workings towards neutralizing threats against the Galactic Federation is weak, slow, and doomed to failure. He believes if he doesn't take matters into his own hands, one way or the other, the Galactic Federation will fall. So he sought an agreement with the Space Pirates that, upon delivering me dead to the Space Pirates, they would pull out all their forces in the Galactic Federation Space and leave them alone once and for all. It surprises me little that Dagan is foolish enough to believe the Space Pirates would keep their word.

So upon the employment of a well known bounty hunter in the underground, and a partner who met his end when I blew his ship into nothing but scrapes for a junk yard, I was sought out to be killed. I suppose, had I met my end, the space pirates would have simply killed Dagan and continued their work in the Federations Space. But somehow, I have the feeling that the Space Pirates knew that Tagis wouldn't be able to kill me, and that's where Dagan really comes into play in all of this. He set it up so that it would look like President Senning was trying to have me killed, that way I would kill the president, and he would be in the running for office as president. How this benefits the space pirates however, I have no clue, unless with Dagan as president, he would actually legalize their efforts in federation space or the like. Either way, they all deserve to die, and I am just the person to see to it that it gets done."

After she was done putting her words into her personal log, she said, "End log," and flipped the small keyboard pad out in front of her, typing some information onto her screen. She was trying to find out anything she could about the nearby planet of Syrus. Syrus was nothing more than a large gas giant, incapable of supporting any humanoid forms of life, even space pirates, but she was curious as to what the composition of gas was that made up the planet.

Soon, a picture of Syrus flashed across one of her smaller monitors, and she watched as the computer told her about the planet.

"Planet Syrus. Class A Gas Giant. 7.5 million kilometers in diameter, the surface of this planet is composed of gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen and hydrogen. Some traces of radiation found. Recommended safe distance from planet is 10 thousand kilometers. The core of Planet Syrus is of an unknown metal 30 times the size of Earth. The planets..."

"Computer stop, what type of radiation does the planet give off?"

"Analysis of planets radiation appears to be 95.7% Phazon Radiation, 6.9%..."

Samus went off in thought then when the computer told her the radiation was Phazon. "So that's why you're so near this planet," she mumbled to herself. Perhaps the Space Pirates had devised a way to collect the Phazon from the planet, or were working on it, and testing their solutions on the radiation from the planet itself. Then they could continue their work they had started on Tallon IV. "Computer, are there any asteroid belts nearby Planet Syrus?"

"Affirmative."

Samus looked away from the monitor then and to her view screen as she said, "How long before arrival at Space Station Delpha?"

"5 minutes and 42 seconds."

"Engage cloaking device."

"Cloaking device enabled."

The orange gunship seemed to waver then in its appearance as it sped through space towards the Space Station. It was only a matter of time now.

"Any sign of the hunter?"

The Space Pirate commander asked one of the cadets as the cadet spoke, "Negative. No signs of the Hunter or her ship."

Senator Dagan watched as the two conversed and then the commander, an older pirate by the name of Eblin, turned to him. Eblin had supposedly survived the two attacked from Samus Aran on planet Zebes and on Tallon IV. However he was not on Zebes when she blew the planet away. Among all the pirates, Eblin probably hated Aran the most, and he would love nothing more than to have her enslaved and tortured. Dagan knew this, and was pleased that the Space Pirate high command had placed him in charge of this operation. Eblin was pleased with that as well. He had never even seen anything but pictures of The Hunter, he'd never engaged in battle with her, but from reports and studies of her methods and attack patterns, he was highly confident in his ability to withstand anything she threw at him. He then spoke to Dagan, "Is the girl in place?"

Dagan nodded, "Yes, she is just where you asked her to be. The metroids we'll unleash may not stop Aran, but they will slow her down."

"They'll do their job. Cadet, inform me of any scans you pick up out of the ordinary."

"Yes sir," he said and continued working.

Chapter 7

It was far too quiet for her tastes, Samus thought as she entered the space station via her gravity suit. She had jumped from her ship to the hull of the Space Station and had gotten in through a force field which she had hacked into and turned off, then turned back on and depressurized the oxygen in the room by once more hacking into the computer system.

Now she was making her way down a dimly lit corridor with odd markings on the side that were glowing, written in the space pirates language.

Upon reaching the other end of the corridor, she found a map system of the station and quickly scanned the information into her databanks as she checked out what types of facilities the ship carried. One of them that pricked her interest the most was a bioengineering and cloning laboratory. She could only imagine what they had been up to in those places. She also realized they had many holding facilities for specimens and the like.

Tap tap clang. Samus turned her head in the direction the noise had come from and automatically reached up her gun to direct it at the sound. She switched to her thermal visor but picked up no heat signatures, only steam rising from a ventilation shaft, it had probably knocked something over.

Samus lowered her weapon then and walked toward a door, making her way through it and onto the other side. The room was not lit, and Samus didn't want to draw any attention if at all possible by turning the lights on, and so she used her thermal visor once again and could see rather well. She made her way down the stairs slowly, her senses alert and wide open. She saw and heard nothing, not even smelled anything out of the ordinary, and that bothered her tremendously.

Finally emerging into the next room and finding it bright enough to see, she suddenly felt a streak of anger mixed with fear wash over her as she saw before her a holding cell and Jillian on the other side of it, beating at the glass, but Samus couldn't hear anything she was saying.

Samus waved her hand at Jillian for her to step to the side as she was going to shatter the glass with a missile, but she felt something hit her on the back of the head and turned around to see a metroid flying overhead. The creature's body was clear, and shaped in an oval, three or four red nuclei inside the clear body, almost resembling a jellyfish, and three tusk like horns protruding out of it's bottom around an orifice used as its mouth to help it hold onto it's victim while sucking the life from it.

"Holy shit," Samus grumbled as she powered up her ice beam weapon and fired it towards the parasite. As it froze it in midair, Samus sent a missile straight into the core of it, blasting it to pieces only to find her visor covered and feel her energy being drained from her very soul. Another metroid had latched onto her.

Just as Samus was about to go into her morph ball to get the creature off of her, she felt something hit her in the stomach, but she didn't fall over and simply backed up, then going into the small ball and setting off a bomb which caused the creature the let go of her. As soon as she came out of her morph ball however, something hit her on the back, and she could hear the sounds of a metroid being blown away. She knew then that the space pirates had found her.

She turned around then to the one who had hit her and grabbed his throat with her left arm, shoving her cannon against his head and still using her ice beam, froze the creatures head in a block of ice, then smashed it up against a wall.

Samus turned around then, looking to see if there were any more pirates in the room, and felt a large burst of electricity surge through her. Eblin stood behind her with a wave shock device, a small tool used to immobilize enemies and out of control specimens by placing the end of it against them and letting a charge of electricity go through them for a few moments. The shock was far from enough to kill them, but it was enough, especially when set on high like it was now, to knock a creature onto its knees, possibly even render them unconscious.

It took several moments, but Samus finally fell forward, and the shock was stopped. She took several deep breaths and felt someone on both sides of her hoist her up by her arms until she was on her knees. Two pirates were holding her weakened form now and she watched as Eblin, though she didn't know his name, nor did she care for they were all the same to her, walk before her and lifted up the chin of her helmet.

"So, this is the legendary hunter. How the mighty have fallen."

Senator Dagan wasn't standing too far behind him as he said, "How the hell do you get that suit off of her?"

Jillian watched in horror as one of the pirates began pulling at her helmet. She thought it would come off, but for some reason it stayed where it was. Also, Samus was limp. Jillian guessed that she'd been knocked unconscious, and hoped that was a good thing.

"We'll figure it out. Take her to the exam room. We'll surgically remove it if we have to."

The pirates began dragging Samus's limp form off then at Eblins command, and Jillian turned her head away, wondering how the hell she could get out of this holding cell and help Samus.

Soon, the door to the white exam room opened and the two pirates drug the heavily armored hunter towards a table, getting her on top of it after a lot of struggle. Then one of them moved her helmet from side to side as if examining it, and tried once again to get it off. There were no latches and no buttons to press. Still the helmet remained where it was. Finally, in their own language, one of the pirates told the other that Eblin would be there soon and that he would decide what to do. Then they placed a small device upon her left wrists, something like a homing device that would detect her life signs, which were reading normal at the moment, and left the room after securing the doors.

As soon as they left, Samus looked around the room, spotting 3 monitors that were like security cameras and groaned somewhat out of the weakness she felt. She hadn't passed out, but she felt it would be better to pretend she had, and from the inside of her suit, she spoke. "Computer, engage secondary protocol for power suit. Replace all vital systems information with code Samus Omega."

She heard a few noises from the inside of her suit as the systems were working, and closed her eyes for a moment. The wave shock device had really drained her and she felt it would take her a little bit of recuperation time before she could get herself going again. But until then, she could continue to feign unconsciousness.

Only a few moments later the door opened again and Eblin, followed by Senator Dagan and one other Space Pirate entered the room. Samus continued to remain still upon the examining table, listening to what was being said.

The Space Pirate that had been following them was some type of doctor or scientist, and he began flashing a small light against Samus's visor, seeing the closed eyes beneath the helmet. Dagan looked and said, "I'll be damned, there is a person beneath all that."

Eblin didn't comment and said to the examiner, "Can you find a way to get the suit off without damaging it?"

He then looked at her cannon arm and lifted it up, finding a small console on the side of it. "I believe I have just found one of the control systems for her suit and her weapon. But I do not see a way to remove her helmet from inside. Don't worry Commander, if we have to use force to remove this suit, we will with the greatest of care. But as for now, I'd simply like to run an analysis on this chip from her cannon arm."

Eblin looked and took the chip himself, "I'll do it, you concentrate on removing the suit. High Command is on the way and I would like to have it off if at all possible when they arrive."

The examiner nodded and continued checking out the suit and possible ways to get it off without using force.

Eblin ran the chip through the computer system on the side of the room and Dagan walked up behind him, looking at the information flashing across the screen. The computer began translating the chip then, "Arm Cannon, of unknown design and origin. Unknown power source. 5 weapon settings. Power Beam, Ice Beam, Wave Beam, Plasma Beam, and Missiles, a concussive weapon."

As the computer went on, Dagan said, "How can it be unknown? Can't the computer read the chip?"

Eblin took a deep breath and said, "Perhaps it's the programming on the chip. It's of a design the computer has never seen before and cannot translate it."

"Do you wish for cannon specifics?" The computer then asked.

"Yes."

"Sir, I believe I have found a way to remove the helmet."

Eblin immediately returned his attention to the examiner then as the pirate began to lift the helmet slowly. The doors opened then and Jillian was brought in, a request Eblin had made, so that if push came to shove, he could use the girl to make Samus cooperate, or interrogate her about everything she knows of Samus Aran.

Jillian was then pushed into a seat across from the table with a weapon held towards her head. She watched sadly then as they kept trying to lift the helmet off of Samus.

"You see Commander, this suit has many organic materials in it, and it somehow is connecting with the woman wearing it. Though I'm not sure how this is possible, unless the woman has many cybernetic implants in her body, it will be even more difficult to remove it surgically with the woman still intact, or the suit she wears. Basically, if one perishes, so will the other."

Eblin growled then but his anger was stopped when the examiner finally lifted the helmet from Samus's head. She moved somewhat then as if she'd been jolted.

Dagan walked closer then and looked at the hunters face, and said, "I suppose with this helmet removed, we'll have a better chance of getting more information quicker from this suit?"

Samus heard Jillian whimper in sadness then and she hid the pain on her face and the anger in her soul, staying completely still. This is what Samus wanted to happen. She wanted them to take her helmet off of her, and it surprised her little that it took them this long to get it off. She wanted them to run the chip through the computers memory. What they didn't know was not only had a virus been passed into their systems that only Samus could activate when she felt the need, but the information on the chip was also wrong. She had 6 weapons, not 5; the last was a super missile which she only used in emergencies. She'd dearly love letting everyone in this room besides Jillian eat one now though.

The man lifted her eyelid open then, seeing her eye looking up and not moving. She watched the hideous looking creature move over her then and said, "She appears to be totally unconscious."

Once he let go of her eyelid, he pulled out a small needle. "I'll collect the DNA sample now."

That jarred Samus. She wasn't about to let them have any samples of her blood. Standing on her left side, he prepared to extract her blood, and he found her left hand around the device, lifting it up and away from her neck with ease. Her eyes opened then and she sneered up at the pirate who would have taken her blood, in one fluid motion, faster than Dagan could keep track of as he backed away, she broke his arm and spun him around, breaking his neck. Then she slid off the side of the table and pointed her weapon towards Eblin and Dagan.

"I don't believe this is a wise choice of action Hunter, we have something you value," Dagan said and tilted his head towards Jillian.

"It doesn't matter, I doubt her weapon works without the chip we've taken from it, "Eblin said victoriously, believing Samus had no clue they'd already removed the chip from her weapon.

Samus looked at her cannon then and stood straight up to her suits full height of 7 feet. Her true face glared at Eblin who was roughly the same size from across the room and she spoke with her true voice finally then, a voice Jillian had never heard before, "Let her go, she has nothing of value for you, and any information she gives you on me I can guarantee will not be accurate." She only paused for a moment then and added, "If you do let her go, I'll be cooperative."

"No Samus don't!"

Jillian's plea was interrupted. Eblin twisted his head to the side. "No, I think you'll be cooperative either way. If we keep her here to use her against you, or let her go. But the command will be here soon, and you'll see the true wrath of the Space Pirates then Hunter."

Perhaps it was his demeanor, or perhaps it was the sound of his voice, how he said things, something Samus couldn't put her finger on, but it jarred a memory in her. A memory of a young child hiding in the closet, watching her mother, too scared to move, watching and listening as those same words typically were spoken to her mother. Samus's eyes filled with a kind of rage that only surfaced in a being maybe once or twice in a lifetime and she spoke then, "It was you. You killed them on the colony of K-12. You were in my home and killed my parents."

Eblin seemed to have no clue what she was talking about at first. Then he thought back to the name Aran and he remembered finally. "Oh yes, I did didn't I? Well, all you humans look alike, I can't tell one from the other, especially a sniveling scared pathetic woman like your mother."

Samus couldn't stop herself and lunged for the space pirate then. She jumped clear across the table to get to him but found the gun next to Jillian's head being charged to fire. She stopped then and held her hands in fists. "When the time comes, I will greatly enjoy killing you."

Eblin laughed menacingly and he said, "Not yet my dear hunter. You and I will have our fight soon, I'm sure, but not yet, and I'm not the one who's going to die."

Samus made no reply to his statement and folded her arms across her chest, waiting for them to get on with it. She never took her eyes off of Eblin however and as he spoke a command to the Pirate holding Jillian hostage in their own language, the pirate stood her up and took her from the room. Samus watched as he shoved her off and Jillian pulling away and looking back at him with hate. "Just go with him Jillian."

Then, after the doors were opened and Jillian left, the original two Pirates came in and took Samus by her arms, leading her out as well. Samus didn't fight them. There would be plenty of time for that later.

Soon enough, Samus found herself thrown into a large pit like cell, the door too high up for her to reach by jumping. She landed on her feet and fell to her knees, not hurt one bit. In fact, she could feel her strength returning, and her only real problem at the moment was that they still had her helmet and they had Jillian.

The dark black holding cell was frigid. As Samus exhaled, she could see her breath and she looked up at the door in thought for a moment as it shut and she was left alone to her thoughts.

"Samus, I'm so sorry."

Samus turned around to face Jillian then and grabbed her arm, "Are you alright? No, don't be sorry. I had a bad feeling when I left you alone yesterday and I should have acted on it."

"I'm fine I guess. But how are we going to get out of here? They have your helmet and the chip to your cannon."

Samus took a deep breath then and turned to face the door once more. "Maybe I could grapple my way up, but I can't really tell if there's any points for my grapple beam. It would be easier to see if I had my helmet with me. But don't worry about the chip, I had planned for this."

"If you say so, okay, I trust you."

Samus smiled somewhat at Jillians words and looked back at her, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Don't get too personal, the pirates have probably bugged the room to hear our conversation, just remember that I'll take care of everything."

Jillian nodded and couldn't stop herself from hugging Samus, who patted the girls back and then turned back up to the door. It had turned into a waiting game for the moment, and Samus knew it would only be a matter of time before they returned her helmet because without the suit, the only thing they could get from it would be perhaps a sort of prototype to make their own helmets. They'd need the rest of her suit to make it work.

"You scared me back there. You sounded so evil when you were speaking to them. I've never seen you like that."

Samus inhaled at Jillians words. They'd been sitting in the darkened room for about a half hour before Jillian had said that and she looked towards her finally, "Just remember it's not directed at you. More or less, in your defense."

Jillian nodded, knowing that, but she didn't know Samus had such a capacity for that type of hate. Though she could fully understand it, she still didn't know what to think of it.

Finally the door opened and Samus looked up, hearing a cling as a pirate threw the helmet down into the cell with her. Then the doors closed, and Samus reached out for her helmet, inspecting the inside of it to see what they'd done to it, if anything. Most of her safety protocols were engaged, and she highly doubted they'd be able to access anything in the helmet without it being directly connecting to the rest of her suit. It was powered down without it, and even then, they wouldn't be able to plant any types of devices inside the helmet, whether it be a tracking device or a weapon of some type, without Samus knowing it, for any alterations made to the suit had to be approved by Samus and only she had the codes for it, and to have just placed it inside the helmet would have been pointless because Samus would feel it when she placed the helmet on her head, which she continued to wait to do.

Jillian watched the hunter as she extracted a small chip from her arm and placed it between her teeth, then reached inside her helmet and pulled another one out. The one that was in her arm cannon was the chip with the true information on it for her cannon, and the chip she extracted from her helmet was the primary protocol for her suit. Basically, she was returning her suits functions back to normal. She then inserted both chips, starting with the one from her helmet first, into her cannon arm, and replaced her helmet onto her head, watching as the visor came to life again.

She would have told Jillian what she planned on doing, but she wanted a true reaction from Jillian to make it more believable.

Jillian gasped as Samus suddenly cringed and fell forward onto the floor, convulsing, and Jillian ran over to her, "Samus! What's wrong? Please answer me, please don't be dying!"

Samus continued to shake, though it was all an act, and let Jillian push her over, looking up at the ceiling and seeing the door open. One of the pirates jumped down into the room and pushed Jillian to the side, causing her to fall a few feet away from Samus. Then the pirate leaned over the shaking hunter to inspect her but found Samus's hand gripping his throat and pulling him closer. He then heard the words, "You're far too gullible", at the same time a charged sound, and then Samus's power beam going off in his gut, blowing a hole straight through him. The pirate fell on top of Samus, who pushed him off of her with a little effort, and pushed herself up to stand. Jillian realized at Samus's words that she had been faking the whole thing and breathed a sigh of relief as Samus said to her, "We don't have much time."

Then Samus checked the dead pirate for anything he might have on him that would be worth anything to her. Pulling the gun out of his hand, she handed it to Jillian and said, "Shoot first, ask questions later."

Jillian nodded and looked the weapon over so she could get the basic feel of it. She then asked, "How are we getting out of this room?"

Samus was currently working on that, replying, "Hey, I'm coming up with this as I go along."

She then scanned the door and found a grapple beam point about 5 feet away from it. Using her weapon, she blasted the door open, and then pulled Jillian closer with her cannon arm, using the small grapple beam device on her left arm and firing it off as a bolt of electricity resembling a continuous bolt of lightening shot forth from her left arm and pulled them up quickly, causing Jillian to gasp and cling to her tighter.

As they were pulled to the top of the room they could see two pirates heading for them. "Shoot them Jillian," Samus yelled, as her cannon arm was busy holding onto the girl beside her.

Jillian only hoped her aim was good and pointed the weapon towards them, firing off round after round of a red laser beam at them. Sadly, she didn't hit either of them, but she did hit a tank on the wall, causing it to explode somewhat and blow up the two pirates. Samus began shifting her legs and her weight then until they were swinging back and forth, and let go right at the door, falling through it and to the other side.

After they recovered from their landing, Samus looked at Jillian and said, "Not bad."

"Well, I learned from the best", Jillian said with a small chuckle.

Samus just shook her head and told her, "Let's go before they send more," and made her way off down the hall with Jillian behind her. Making their way into the next adjoining room, Samus looked around but saw no one, and then walked over to one of the computer terminals, accessing their databanks where they had the false information on her cannon arm. As soon as the information was brought up, she entered a code into the system to set the virus loose her chip had planted. Soon, all the computer screens were going haywire, and all the defense turrets had some sort of malfunction, as well as the force fields being shut down. Then she entered in something to the small pad onto her cannon arm, sending out a command to her gunship to dock in the docking bay and fire at anything without her biosignature.

"What's going on?" Jillian asked then and Samus gave her the explanation of the false chip and the fact that she never went unconscious and how she had planted a virus in their system.

"I guess you do have this all planned out then."

Samus just nodded and then went off with Jillian following her, using the map she'd downloaded earlier to find out where the docking bay was so that she could get Jillian safely aboard. It was only about 5 rooms away. The first was a corridor leading to some type of research area, then another corridor leading to a control deck, and then the docking bay control room. Samus started the journey there then.

Chapter 8

"What!"

Dagan jumped when Eblin yelled and shook his head slowly.

"What in the hell is wrong with these computers! Where did the information on Syrus go?"

Eblin went from computer to computer, but all of them were doing the same thing, flashing their screens and saying data not found when there wasn't even an entry made for the computers to find any data.

"I'm telling you, it's the Hunter, she did something to the systems."

"Impossible! She hasn't had access to them, and she's in the containment cell, how could she have done it?"

Eblin was interrupted when two troops armored in a silver colored metal came in and gave a report. "The Hunter has escaped her holding cell along with the other human girl. We don't have any trace of them. Our scanners don't seem to be working correctly, and there's a malfunction in the defense turrets."

Eblin raised his arms up into the air and roared loudly. Dagan took several steps away from him but didn't say a word. Soon Eblin got on the COM and began to issue a warning to all stations that the hunter was on the loose inside the space station, and for all hands to report to battle stations.

"How could this happen? We put her in a 30 foot deep cell!"

Eblin looked at Dagan who'd made the comment and said, "Shut up human! I don't know how she escaped, but she won't get very far!"

The research area and the docking bay personnel had been laid to waste at the hands of the enraged hunter who was so mercilessly killing them. Jillian even picked off a few of them from her hiding spots in the corners of the rooms, though Samus dealt the bigger damage to them, and came out only when the coast was clear to head to the next room with Samus until they'd made it to the docking bay. Before opening the door to the docking bay, Samus sent another command to her ship to cease fire on everything without her biosignature and entered the room to find that about 15 pirates had been killed from the weapons on her gunship. She smiled then and took Jillian to her ship, helping her onto the back of it.

"Stay inside. I'm going to find Eblin and Dagan. I've got a few missiles with their names on them."

Jillian nodded and Samus watched as she went to the hatch and then looked back at her. "Be careful Samus."

Samus nodded, "I will, you too."

Jillian nodded and descended into the ship then, as Samus once again returned the order to her ship to fire at anything besides herself.

Samus then turned about and walked off towards a door, exiting and working her way throughout the facility, killing whatever she saw, uncaring for the green blood that dirtied her suit, only taking the time to wipe it from her visor so she could see every now and again. Essentially, this was her revenge in part, and she was taking great delight in watching them die at her hands. It took a whole fleet of them to kill her colony off, and they still missed one, one that they were now paying dearly for missing, as now the one they missed was taking them out in the same manner.

Soon Samus was consumed with her vengeance and her mind was nothing more than a killing mechanism. With every space pirate she saw, there was a colonist behind them, and she killed them perhaps in the name of that colonist, or perhaps it was for her own pleasure of watching such foul creatures die. Either way, Samus didn't care one bit.

"Commander, I'm reading massive death tolls in the security chamber, and among the readings is a signature I can't place. These scanners still aren't working properly," one of the cadets told Eblin in their own language.

Eblin snarled the word, "Aran," as he turned to walk to the door. Dagan watched him and called, "Where are you going?"

"To put her head on a platter."

---

Chapter 9

It was dark, and only the sound of steam from busted ventilation shafts sounded as the blood covered bounty hunter stood there among the dead on the floor, her cannon arm resting upon her shoulder, her left arm against her hip, her eyes fixed upon the door, waiting for the one she wanted so badly to kill. Surely the high death toll she'd raised in the security chamber she was now in would cause him to come out of hiding, and she would be there, ready to unleash all her fury upon him.

It took little time for the door to open. Eblin walked in and looked down the ramp at all the dead pirates and the hunter standing among them. He snarled then and watched her for several moments silently, Samus returning his gaze as she remained standing there, both of them seeming to be sizing each other up. The mood of the room grew more and more deadly as neither of them spoke or took a step towards each other for long moments. Both of them were angry and both of them wanted to see the others blood spill. The only way to resolve this was a fight, and it was whose anger was greater that would decide the final outcome.

"I believe our time has finally come."

"Shut the fuck up bastard and bring everything you got," Samus yelled then and took off towards him.

Eblin lunged for her in return then, and the two met half way, in the air, their bodies clashing, and knocking each other to the side. Neither of them were going to use their weapons. This was going to be a physical fight to the finish, and both of them were ready.

Samus landed on top of Eblin then, hitting him in the head with her heavy cannon as he snarled and turned his head back towards her, pushing his foot against her stomach and getting her off him by throwing her over to the side. He then stood up quickly and made his way to her, trying to crush her helmet with his foot as Samus caught his action and rolled to the side, grabbing his foot when he tried a second time, and pulled him off his feet.

Eblin fell onto his back but immediately got back up as he and Samus came face to face, and he began throwing his fists at her, finding Samus blocking the punches until she was able to grab his arm and twist it behind him, at the same time reaching her powerful leg up and knocking him onto his back by hitting his head with her calf from behind. She heard the unmistakable sound of a limb being broken then, heard Eblins howl of pain, and just as she'd meant to happen, knew his arm was broken.

"That was for my parents." Samus said and walked over behind him, lifting his head up and banging the back of it onto her knee, causing a hemorrhage within his skull as the sharp edge of her boot broke his exoskeleton, and said, "That was for the colonists."

Then she stood over him, leaning down, one of her legs on each side of him, and removed her helmet. Her face was full of nothing but hate and anger and she began charging up the tip of her cannon with her plasma beam, the glare casting a red glow upon her face and she pointed it straight at Eblins head. "And this is for me," she said and let the powerful burst of fire like energy blow through his wounded skull and set it to fire. No sound was heard as his vocal chords were charred, but Samus knew she'd given him a painful death, just the way she'd wanted it to be. Hopefully he'd felt his head burning as well, Samus thought, but she knew she'd done a good enough job of causing him pain. Too bad she couldn't bring him back and do it again.

Replacing her helmet then and taking a deep breath, she looked up when she heard the door open and saw Senator Dagan emerge from the room behind it. He stopped when he saw the hunter looking up at him and said, "Oh, I'm so happy you've been able to rectify this situation! I've been trying for months, but to no avail. I was trying to get all the information I could on them by making them think I was working with them, but I just couldn't find a way to put a stop to what they were doing!"

Samus was basically ignoring his pleas of innocence and was making her way to one of the computer terminals that hadn't been destroyed. She then punched up a few buttons and on the screen, in the space pirate's language, flashed the signal and the countdown for the ships self-destruct.

"What are you doing?"

"Have fun dying with the ones you've allied yourself with. I'm sure this ship will make a wonderful grave for you."

She'd set the autodestruct sequence to 3 minutes, which gave her enough time to simply walk back to her ship. She heard Dagan run up behind her then and yell, "You're going to leave me here? You can't do that! I'm a senator!"

"You're nothing more than a worthless piece of shit. You fit in here well, and you'll die here well with the rest of the garbage."

"I'll use an escape pod damn you!" Dagan cried as he ran to another computer and set one of the escape pods to active, or rather tried, until he found they were all offline. "No! Please, take me with you! Let me rot in prison, just don't let me die here!"

"You're pathetic," Samus said as she continued to the door and opened it, still walking to her ship like it were nothing more than a day in the park. Dagan continued to follow her as well, hoping perhaps he could stow away on her ship if he couldn't convince her to take him to jail.

Just then Samus heard above Dagans ranting for her to take him with her a gun charging and then firing, turning around and pointing her cannon at whatever it was quickly, only to see Dagans blood exploding out of his chest and falling forward, revealing Jillian standing behind him. Samus stood up straight then and took a deep breath. "How did you get out of the ship?"

"I guess I'm somewhat of a hacker myself. I couldn't just sit around and let you have all the fun anyway."

Samus smiled beneath her visor and said, "Let's get the hell outta here before this ship is blown to kingdom come."

Jillian nodded and took off after Samus who started running for the door then, deciding she's wasted enough time just walking, and got into the docking bay with Jillian right behind her.

As they entered the ship, Samus got behind the controls and turned the ship around, finding the docking bay doors were closed.

"Wait, can you open them?"

Samus tried to override the lock system, but in the end got frustrated and pulled out her weapon control, firing off a large missile at the doors and blowing them to pieces.

"That works," Jillian said with a smile and held onto the back of Samus's chair as the ship took off into warp speed away from the space station. Once the ship had reached the safe distance from the station, Samus turned on the view screen to watch the ship explode. Magnifying the image, they both waited a few moments and finally saw an explosion of blue light, reaching out into a circle and then stretching to the sides, growing wider and wider until it almost consumed the view screen and then began to shrink back down. Jillian and Samus, who had once again removed her helmet, breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed for a few moments before looking at one another.

"Well, now what?" Jillian asked.

"Now I think it's time for a little vacation."

Samus entered the ship into light speed again, destination; Planet Inia.

"You know, I have an extra room if you're willing to occupy it for a little while, and Planet Inia is considered a planet of vacation."

Samus knew Jillian was hinting at something, and said, "No, I meant a vacation on all these hard bounties, I think now I'm just going to go after some easy ones and be done with it."

"Samus!" Jillian yelled and hit her large armored shoulder.

Samus just grinned up at her and said, "What the hell did you think I was planning to do?"

Jillian grinned, happy that Samus was finally going to spend some time with her, not the hunter either, just the woman, like she'd wanted it to be. "It's about damn time!"

"You're telling me," Samus replied in a small grumble and set her ship back to autopilot. She then stood up, ready to remove and clean her armor, when a signal came in from the Galactic Federation Headquarters.

Samus groaned and hit the accept button. It was President Senning once again wanting to know her current location and activities. He was interested in knowing what had happened after she'd left his office the other night, and Samus rolled her eyes as she said, "Computer, send a reply to the president."

Jillian listened as Samus composed her reply then, saying only, "I'm dead Senning, deal with it. Samus out," and then sent the message.

Jillian started laughing as Samus just turned to go into her room. She then looked back and said, "What's so funny?"

Jillian stopped and looked at Samus for a moment, who had a dead serious look on her face, and she gasped somewhat. "You mean, you're no longer a bounty hunter?"

Samus continued to look at her for a moment with that serious look and then smiled, "Hell no, just taking a vacation like I said. You're far too gullible."

Jillian pursed her lips and folded her arms, remembering that that was what Samus had told the pirate on the space station when she'd been pretending to be sick. Following her into her quarters then, Jillian said, "Yeah, well that wasn't funny, you really scared me back there!"

"Deal with it."

"Hey!"

"What did I say?"

"Damn it Samus!"

"Well?"

And the arguing continued on as the ship sped through space to Inia, where everything would be peaceful and serene for a little while. That was, until The Hunter would come back.

The End