(This part is a foreword by the author to explain some things, so skip ahead of this if you do not care. Some stuff in the Metroid lore is contentious and contradictory, For example, the federation is depicted as a military in the games but the wiki calls them a police. Amongst other things, I tried my best to stitch a coherent narrative about the Metroid universe, taking some inspiration from other science fiction. Don't forget to leave a constructive review, have a good day. -The author)
Metroid: The Lonely Star
-Episode 1: Well of trouble- Samus P.O.V
I always figured when I would travel the halls of a starship for the first time I would be receiving indignant looks from higher officers for one reason or another, instead as I jog down the hall I receive indignant looks from classmates I've never met, space academy students and so on. See the Galactic Federation has a tradition, take the graduating classes from the students of the Galactic Federation space academy and the Federation force students, and put them on a 60-year-old cruiser together for about a year. I would say it's a test considering it's supposed to mimic a deployment of soldiers and sailors to a foreign location, however as time went on and testing on the core worlds changed to save on ships, during peacetime, this 'test' became more of a tradition. There was not a single real Galactic federation officer on board, cameras sure, but everyone had an acting rank and a job to carry out. The Valedictorian and Vice Valedictorian of the first graduating class were the Acting Captain and Acting Commander of the ship, I was in the second class heading to specialized infantry, destined to be the personal platoon to a High ranking General, thusly I was given the rank of Acting Colonel. We aren't completely unsupervised, two Frigates ride alongside us on our training mission, probably laughing at us for the mistakes we make or the soap opera that is a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds crammed into a ship together.
The G.F.S Swarga Loka, an old predecessor to the new age battleship, a large ship in her own right and armed to the teeth, our mission was simple...stupidly simple… investigate a strange spatial phenomenon, In a solar system deep in Federation space where planets should be, but nothing seems to be orbiting this lone star. This wouldn't be a big deal, as it's been charted and explored before, but recently something showed up on longer range sensors from nearby starbases; while this isn't the biggest thing on the Federations minds seemed like the perfect test.
I return to my quarters 10 minutes before I have to report to the bridge, standing outside of it in the blueish grey of Federation marine armor stands Anthony Higgs, probably my only real friend and my Acting lieutenant colonel. His helmet was at his side as it was pretty hot in those suits and the old design of the ship did not help.
"Colonel Aran." He smirked and nodded, Anthony always enjoyed poking my buttons, I always appeared stoic, but sitting 7 months in this old bucket, I would go insane without him.
"Hey, Anthony" I sigh, calling him a subordinate felt weird, we were always equals, height, grades, hopefully, rank in the future.
"Permission to enter Colonel?" He says again, really trying to aggravate me.
I step inside and reply "Sure, want a drink?" I say, making my helmet dematerialize.
"Don't we gotta be on deck in ten minutes?" He chuckles as he steps inside.
"And? I'm the equivalent rank to the captain. Sorta, it's his ship." I say putting two shot glasses on the desk in my room, pulling a half bottle of whiskey out of the bottom drawer, I'm not really a drinker, but Anthony and I always give each other the drinks we hate for our birthdays. I hate whiskey, he hates fruity drinks… I'm more of a scotch person.
"Oh, are you ordering me to drink sir?" He snickers again leaning on the wall.
"If it gets you to shut your face," I say filling both the glasses.
"What's it like? Only being able to use your left hand while in that suit?" Anthony asks, picking up his glass
"Great because it has a cooling unit," I reply with a smirk and pick up mine
"Fuck you." He laughs as we tap our glasses together.
"A little weird when I have to type on the bridge, but I've gotten really good at it as of late. The commander comments on how much it bothers her, not for any real reason, but kinda like a pet peeve." I explain looking out the window and downing my drink
"Ah, getting along with the Captain and Commander? I think they're cute," he smirks putting his glass on the table again.
"Together or in general?" I reply
"Eh, both. Short stout Avilo women and lanky Velron men really do it for me." He laughs.
"Ah, well maybe you should say something in morning briefing today?" I reply as a small device beeped on our hips, something to keep us on schedule.
"That's our cue." He starts "After you Colonel." He finishes with snark.
I simply roll my eyes, putting my stoic back on.
The walk to the bridge wasn't too long, we couldn't have our normal banter as we got nods and salutes from some of our classmates and peers.
The spartan bridge with consoles and communication centers down a long walkway in front of the large 360 view screen, allowing the officers to see everything around the ship, at least the ventral side, it switches to dorsal when we need it too. Of course, right now it's only showing the trails of light and subspace ripples that go with exceeding the speed of light.
Anthony and I approach the briefing room adjacent to the bridge, entering inside to find Acting Captain Eyrl and Commander Lanzr standing by a smaller view screen of the solar system we are slowly approaching.
"Reporting for duty Captain," I said stoically.
The two of them sit down and the Captain replies "Welcome you two, we actually have something to talk about today, albeit briefly."
"Oh, is it someone's birthday?" Anthony jokes taking a seat.
"Yeah, Ensign Ramirez funny enough, I'm joking." The Captain chuckles softly, I wasn't lying to Anthony earlier, when this mission started he was wound way to tight, but as the months passed and the pressure broke from our shoulders… he and the commander actually became decent people.
"Jokes aside, we'll be reaching the Xymioun system within the hour. We've received orders to investigate and scan the system and try to find any information about the sudden appearance of a gravity well." Lanzr replied.
"What else do we know about this system?" I inquire looking out at one of the frigates escorting us.
"It is a single star system, this was apart of the Chozo territory of the federation." The commander explains.
Just hearing the name of those people… The last real family I've ever known… fills me with a bit of sadness. The Chozo that raised me, granting me my power suit… helping me grow as powerful as I am… I show no vulnerability to my peers, but on the inside, knowing that this place might hold a secret of the Chozo…
Anthony sets his gaze on me very briefly… "Anything you know?" he says softly
"Not even a little bit." I sigh
"That's right… your armor is Chozo, isn't it… Well, the chozo had a massive territory when they formed the Federation. Maybe we'll get lucky and find something." The captain shrugs sighing.
"The sensors of this ol' bucket aren't that great, but let's see if we cant give our babysitters a show." He says, standing up and straightening out his uniform.
There is a small noise from the intercom module on the wall, the Acting Captain goes over and presses a button "Yes?"
"ETA five minutes captain!" The disembodied voice of the ensign exclaims through the old speaker.
The captain sighs "Showtime."
The four of us step onto the bridge, Anthony standing off to the side, with the commander and captain in their proper posts, giving small orders to the ensigns.
Soon the ship dropped out of lightspeed, coming into view was a single star… like the sun of the sol system, a near perfect match. There should be planets here…. or satellites of any kind… but it was just a single lonely star.
The captain "ordered" the two frigates to take up basic defense positions as the ship begins to orbit the star.
"Begin a solar system wide sensor sweep." The captain orders, afterward he sighs and says just loud enough for us to hear "and now we-"
"Captain! I'm detecting 10 small raiders like vessels!" An Ensign exclaims from his faraway console.
"On screen!" The commander orders.
Small was a relative term, in this case, these raiders were capable of holding upwards of 100 people… and these were very familiar raiders.
"Space pirates," I say to Anthony, my fist tightening
"All hands to battle stations! Shields up! ½ speed! Charge all weapons!" The captain ordered, the klaxon blaring across the ship.
"Captain! Captain Haris and Captain Velock are hailing!"
"On screen!" He replied
Two faces appear as the actual officers look stern.
"Acting captain Eryl. Captain Haris will engage the raiders, I will take the position on your Ventral flank. Cut your engines, but charge them up, prepare for an emergency burst and wait for the word to punch it… head for the opposite side of the star on my word." Velock commander.
"Aye captain." Eryl replied, "You heard the captain, cut the engine, prepare for shooting around the side of that star!"
I turn to Anthony "Rally the infantry, there could be piercer ships nearby, set up checkpoints and start arming the troops."
"Yes, sir!" He nods and rushes down the hallway as I move to stand near the captain and commander.
I lean forward as he turns her head to hear my report "In a few minutes you'll get a report on what decks have what checkpoints, infantry is beginning to prepare."
Commander Lanzr nods as I step back.
Captain Haris's Frigate, the steamrunner, got in range within seconds… It began unloading a volley of particle weapons into the raiders as they begin to swarm past the frigate, the frigate planned for this and used its engines to swing the vessel around and chase the raiders towards the Swarga Loka.
Captain Velocks voice sounded over the coms "Punch it, cadet!" He said, commanding the acting captain.
"Full power! Emergency engine burst!" The acting captain exclaimed.
The ship proverbially lurched, speeding as fast as the old cruiser possibly could heading around the star like a comet, now the speeding toward the cruiser from the port side. This thankfully was anticipated by Captain Velock, as his frigate, the Nova swung from our ventral side to the port side… preparing to fire on the raiders as we pass by the sun.
By the time the raiders reached us, the frigates tore ninety percent of them to pieces, the remaining few were handled expertly by the commander, who managed to say it before the captain.
"Fire on the remaining ships!" She exclaimed, and right on cue, this old buckets guns lit up the final few raiders like fireworks.
However, just as relief took over, two ships smoothly flung around the star with Captain Haris's ship following behind, the sight of hundreds of space pirate vessels in the fleet formation made our heart sank…
The ensign began rattling off what they were "50 piercer ships! 50 raiders! 1… unknown cruiser! Length 450 meters! Height 90 meters! With a full complement of 10 torpedo tubes, 80 point defense weapons, and 10 heavy particle banks! Its shields are up! The piercer ships are heading for us! The raiders are breaking for the Nova!"
The cruiser was just as big as us… But way more powerful…
"Captain Velock?!" the acting captain exclaimed
"Open fire! Begin to turn the vessel around, get a distance-" he began
"Captains! Our engines are beginning to weaken! The emergency burst fried our primary couplings too the main engines! We're stuck at ¼ speed!"
"Then retreat as fast as you can to captain Haris, we will defend you with our lives, jump to your highest ftl factor and send out a priority distress call with our coordinates! Captain Velock out." He concluded
The acting captain sighed "Begin that long distance distress call-"
"Captain something is jamming our subspace messages!" An ensign exclaimed
"Damn space pirates!" The commander exclaimed "Swing us around, focus fire on the Piercer ships! Don't let them break the shields!"
I suddenly in my helmet I get a response from Anthony "Sending report to the Commander now! All decks have five checkpoints each, armed to the teeth and ready for those piercer vessels!"
"Good job Anthony, Head back to the bridge with a squad… We might have to defend the bridge." I say sternly.
"Yes, sir!" He replied.
The ship turned as hard as it could and began to meet the Steamrunner just as the piercer and raiders made it in range… We opened fire on predominantly the piercer ships, which was our first mistake. Yes, they could have gotten close and drained segments of the shields, However, the raiders drained it faster.
Over 20 raiders opened fire on our port and starboard side, within seconds the ensign exclaimed "Port and starboard shields down!" And not a second later, 20 piercers began stabbing into the bulkheads of the ship and opening like flowers inside the ship's interior.
They thankfully were relatively pressure sealed, and while the Swarga Loka was old, she was tough.
The steam runner and the Nova began to take out the remaining raiders just as the Cruiser came into range…
"Breaches on decks: 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 20! The checkpoints around main engineering entrances on decks 15 and 17 have engaged the space pirates and are holding the line!" The commander exclaimed.
Not a minute later Anthony and a group of armed infantrymen enter the bridge "Set up a checkpoint here at the entrances to the bridge!" He commanded
"Our fore, aft, ventral and dorsal shielding is holding!"
"More power to the aft shields, there's no way we're going to hold up to that cruiser!" The captain commanded.
While this wasn't necessarily a mistake, it did leave the bridge open for a piercer ship. Which was the first thing that happened... Only three piercer ships made it and stuck into the bridge in front of us. I began charging my arm cannon as the ships opened and space pirates began rushing out of it.
The infantry and I were hot on our feet, opening fire immediately, Anthony preferred the heavy plasma gun, while the others just had high-end rifles, my arm cannon charged heavy blasts over and over as I rushed forward to defend the barely armed Bridge crew.
The space pirates barely stood a chance, I rushed forward and grabbed one by the neck throwing it into the air, before it met the ground, Anthony had riddled it with plasma shots. Another I held open its maw and fired my charge beam down its throat.
My armor was just as tough as Galactic Federation armor but way lighter, so while I was spry and shot around the bridge like an acrobat, my teammates fired at the places I set up. Soon, the empty piercer ships were all that's left.
"Emergency view screen!" The captain commanded, seeing as the main view screen was damaged.
A smaller screen near his station flickered too life, this one was big enough for the commander and he too uses as I stepped through the walkway, the blood of the space pirates on my orange and yellow power suit.
Stepping next to the captain, I watch as the two frigates engage the cruiser.
See the Swarga Loka is an old battleship, obsolete and weaker than these frigates in every way possible… So you would think, they had a chance… And watching them... They did… for a short time.
The steam runner came in on the port side, The Nova stormed in on the starboard. Firing their payloads into the cruiser with all they have… and they did quite a bit of damage.
Minutes and minutes go by and soon the shields on the opposite cruiser go down while the shields on the frigates remain stable.
However something small was launched from a docking bay of the enemy cruiser…
"Can you zoom in on that object!" The captain exclaimed
The screen zooms in and locks on, at that moment, everything went silent for me…
It was a large, winged creature, with a grotesque and long maw, claws and deep red eyes…
Ridley…
As the cruiser turned its firepower onto the Nova, Ridley shot forth and blasted an energy attack from his mouth, breaking through the shields of the Steamrunner…
He piled into the front where the bridge was, ripping apart its metal and blasting energy into it… its guns turn on Ridley and began firing…. Ridley powered through it and crawled toward the engineering deck, tearing through the ship before pushing off the ship…
The Nova's shield finally breaks, allowing Ridley to do the same… Meanwhile, the Cruiser begins to unload into the damaged frigate… for a second it was dead in the water before finally exploding.
Ridley burrowed through and cut the Steam Runners engines before shooting back out the hole, causing the Cruiser too light up the Steamrunner and destroy it without even a signal to us…
Ridley makes a mad dash through the vacuum for us…
The cruiser begins to follow… at a rapid pace
"The cruiser is beginning to overtake us, captain!"
1 Au out from the lonely star, The cruiser opens fire… melting our shields in less than a second…
Ridley latched onto our hull and began to rip through the ship
"Captain! He's making his way to the Engineering entrance on deck 15!"
"I will engage ridley! Reinforce the troops on deck 15!" I commanded as I ran down the hallway toward the lift.
I hear the commander, and captain yells for me, But I had one goal…
Engage Ridley…
Anthony followed me, but I was too fast.
It took minutes for me to reach the area, where Ridley had plowed through the infantry lines and ripped a two deck level hole into engineering. Where Ridley blasted his energy from his mouth into the engine…
"RIDLEY!" I exclaimed, pure rage in my voice.
I began firing from the hallway, the charged shots bouncing from his skin… His red eyes meet mine… just as everything goes down, and suddenly the ship lurched, being pulled by some unseen gravitational force…
Ridley was suddenly Rocked by an explosion from a nearby conduit and ripped through the side bulkhead, making his way out too open space.
The emergency bulkheads close and the intercom sounded "ABANDON SHIP! REPEAT! HEAD TO THE NEAREST ESCAPE POD AND LAUNCH!" The captain's voice sounded.
More space pirates poured down our hallway, the remaining infantry began to fight, with Anthony and I blasting down several space pirates…
I rush and take a couple hits before smashing one Space pirates head into the wall…
Escape pods emerged like they were supposed to as Auxiliary power failed to keep us stable… I heard the bulkhead start to peel as people began entering escape pods… I Violently grab Anthony by the suit and throwing him into an escape pod… He screamed at me as the glass closed… I couldn't hear him. I could only hear the pumping of my blood as I begin to shove people into pods, the last one I reached for and latched onto just as the bulkhead tore and decompressed everything, I was strong enough to latch on just as the walls are ripped away. Turns out, what was peeling the bulkhead was the ship burning in Re-entry… to a planet, that wasn't here before…
I had no time for confusion as my escape pot malfunctioned… I saw the blue sky as I began to make my way to one in engineering… there were several decks between the open air and the engineering area… that's how much damage Ridley did… Finally, I make it to a secure one…
Forcing my way inside and finding it too close… the ship was about to impact… my pod never fired…
Suddenly blackness…
…
In my dreams, I hear the cries of younger me as my colony burned… the same red eyes of Ridley glaring into my soul… filling me with hatred…
I hear a low drone of a beeping noise… like a hospital monitor…
My dreams fade slowly, painfully… my body was sweating as I felt soft sheets…
My eyes finally open to a barely lit room, only one light was on… I could feel the cool air…
I wasn't wearing my suit, Just a medical gown...
I had no idea where I was, at first… My brain jumped to a galactic federation hospital… But that was dashed as I saw the monitor was written in the Chozo language…
I heard two voices… I stood up, my muscles ache, pulling the wires and drugs from my body… I Limp for the door… On my way there I notice a sink and mirror, I look into it to find, my normally short and tidy hair was unruly and slightly longer…
"How long have I been asleep… Where am I…" I gasp and wheezed… It hurt to breathe…
End of episode 1
(Author note: So fun fact, the Unit AU stands for an Astronomical unit, and it is the distance from the earth to the sun! Neat science fact. Hope you all enjoyed, Please create a constructive review if you can and thank you for reading!)
Next time!
Episode 2: Much like you.