Author's notes: Well Devil X Hero feels like a bust. Time to move onto new things and some experimentation. Hence I present Metroid origins. My own original take on the Metroid series meant to take us to Samus's origins before she was a Bounty Hunter, not like that shit storm Other M. Read. Review. And let me know about all that you know about it. Also something else I've included in the story is the Codex system, something I took from the original Metroid games, since that is how most of the story gets told in the games, I'm including it in the story.
The entire scene seemed to unfold in slow motion as the three year old little girl was knocked back by the explosion, the down right demonic silhouette of the creature that caused it barred down on her, the last image that flashed by her face was of her ruined home world before a loud buzzing sound made it's self known.
The dreaming woman decked her holo-clock turning it off, still not fully aroused yet her pet a squirrel/rabbit type thing flew onto her chest and began playfully licking her face.
"Ugh! I'm up Pyonchi! I'm up!"
Getting up was never a pleasant topic for her. Her room was usually decorated, if you could call it that, with hand drawn pictures of a nightmarish dragon beast that constantly haunted her dreams. She was an attractive young woman, blond hair, green eyes and Caucasian skin. Her boyishly short blond hair framed her slender face and together with the beauty mark on her chin complimented her features quite nicely, which in turn complimented her slender body very nicely as well. Her first order of business was getting dressed, she started with a violet undershirt and added black skin tights for her legs, on top of those she fastened her green military dress and donned her yellow and black five inch heeled boots, followed by matching bracelets, finally she attached a ear piece to the side of her head.
"Now lets see if my codex is working today."
The woman looked over to her pet, a line of text appearing above him identifying him as a Rabbillis. (Codex entry 1. Unlocked.) The good news she noted was that the thing seemed to be working again, the bad-news was now it was reset to zero so random snippets of information was going to be popping into her head for a little while now. Now that that was sorted out the woman activated the music player function on her ear piece as she began running to work.
"Hey Samus!" Norion (Codex entry 2. Unlocked) was a primarily city planet, it's tall buildings had taller buildings built on top of them, entire chunks of the ground had been ripped from the planet and suspended in the air by support cables and anti-gravity generators to create parks thousands of feet above the ground, Samus was living near the residential district and passed by a N'Kren (Codex entry 3. Unlocked) neighbor, a slender humanish looking alien with a bulbous head and elongated arms, Kallik here was the local gardener. "You going to get a sky-car today Samus?"
"Why would I do that?" Samus ran off the edge of the platform and landed on one of the cities sky rails and began grinding along the rail as the magnets in her shoes did their magic and pushed her along. (Codex Entry 4. Unlocked)
"As a sign that you're not insane." The gardener said as he got back to work.
Samus jumped off of the rail and onto a sky car, (Codex entry 5. Unlocked) the mag-boots (Codex entry 6. Unlocked) stuck her to the roof of the vehicle, giving her a leisurely view of the skyline as she was carried across the city, but still released easily enough for her to jump from car to car as she found a steady stream of cars going in the right direction, rail to rail, narrowly dodging cargo deliveries as she went along, and building to building, catching glimpses of angry passerby's trying to go through their day, even occasionally boosted through the use of the rocket like heels, eventually stopping outside of the Chozo (Codex Entry 7. Unlocked) embassy.
"Samus. Always the reckless fool." Samus looked over to spot the Chozo's ambassador. "It's days like these that I regret getting you those damn boots!"
Like all of the Chozo Old Bird (Codex Entry 8. Unlocked) was a very bird like creature. His head very closely resembled a eagle's, his limbs were long, gangling, and quite scaly much like a ostriches legs, finally his torso was disproportionately muscular and covered with feathers, not that most people would be able to tell with the large orange cloak obscuring most of his features.
"Why? They're very comfortable Senator Old Bird." Samus responded coyly.
"You can call me father Samus, I did raise you like you were my daughter after all." Bird said shaking his head at his daughter's antics.
"But today I am not your daughter, today I'm your awesome bad-ass bodyguard and driver." Samus opened the door on a hover limousine inviting her father in. "And you have a lot of appointments today."
Contrary to the adrenaline fueled start to the morning, the rest of the day seemed to drag on. Colonization rights for the planet Bryyo (Codex entry 9. Unlocked) between the Diamont (Codex entry 10. Unlocked) and the Vhozon (Codex entry 11. Unlocked) and the native Bryon (Codex entry 12. Unlocked) people was like asking fire not to melt ice, literally. They had to deal with the flood of complaints directed at the Kriken (Codex entry 13. Unlocked) concerning unprovoked attacks on other planets. And Samus herself found herself playing messenger pigeon between Humanity (Codex entry 14. Unlocked) and Ylla (Codex entry 15. Unlocked) ambassadors. Sufficiently bored now she was looking for a little excitement, although there shouldn't be anything interesting happening today, she soon learned that she was wrong in her assessment.
"Bird!?" Samus was in the midst of looking for her 'father' senator Old Bird of the Chozo, after having been called in for a emergency meeting. "Come'on Bird yah Old Turkey where are yah!?"
Samus looked to her right and saw that Bird was in the opened room that she had just shouted that slightly derogatory remark next to. On either side was a soldier of what looked like commander rank if his uniform was any indication (Codex Entry: Classified) and a man whom Samus recognized as Senator Hardy (Codex entry 16. Unlocked): career military man, semi-honorably discharged, years of non-combat service and a cushy desk job had made him as fat and bloated as one of the grossly over inflated spaceships covered with a ridiculously huge amount of guns he was so fond of and drowning in the political swill had made him just as stupid as the fool who designed them, which Samus had a ongoing bet with her drinking buddies that it was Hardy himself.
"You know, 'Old Turkey' is actually quite a high compliment among the Chozo." Bird said attempting to provide cover for his daughter.
"Really? It doesn't sound like it: does it sound like a compliment commander Markowitz?" The senator said, looking pass Bird at the commander.
"Doesn't really Sir: of course I'm not all that familiar with Chozo culture Sir. Senator Bird would know more than me Sir." The commander responded, his entire being one of utter neutrality.
"I didn't think so. Well now that your under-aged bodyguard has graced use with her presence..." Hardy started.
"Excuse me I...!" Samus was cut off by her father making a cut it motion with his talons, prompting a miffed Samus to take her seat next to her father. "I'm 19!" Samus growled under her breath
Now that the others were seated and enjoying the selection of food nearby Adam took his place next to a far off screen, being the one to brief the senators and bodyguard.
"Approximately twenty Minuets ago this was broadcast across the cosmos." Suddenly the screen came alive, symbols and words of every type imaginable flashed across it as it rapidly scrolled down. "It is a message, in every known dialect, including several dead ones and more ancient ones yet to be properly translated, it has permeated every screen, every major hub of communication and several million minor ones and even in the minds of several powerful psychic species in the known galaxy. We are fairly certain that they all say this..." the text settled at the bottom of the screen, which coincidentally had the message clearly written in English. "'The Secret to Ultimate power is in the Alimbic System (Codex entry 17. Unlocked)...'" the screen switched over to a map of said system, a solar system made up of five planets "to recap this area gets it's name from being the original home system of the Alimbics (Codex entry 18. Unlocked): one of the so called 'Old Races' alongside the Luminoth (Codex entry 19. Unlocked) and Chozo and are therefore gifted with incredibly potent technological resources. Among the three Old races the Chozo are the only ones significantly active. Hence the reason why you've been asked to come here: your opinion Senator Bird?"
"The Alimbics are a reclusive race, they value their privacy greatly, one might even describe them as Xenophobic. The focus of their technological development can change on a whim depending on what they deem to be the greatest problem currently plaguing the galaxy/most effective, efficient, and non-damaging way to resolve it. In the old days of a galaxy at war this would naturally be a weapon of great power to try and scare the populace into peaceful resolution." The Chozo explained with his hands together, as if the tapping of his fingers helped him think.
"So this 'Ultimate Power' could actually exist?" A slightly concerned Hardy asked as he bit into a doughnut.
"If it did the last thing that the Alimibics would do would be to advertise it's location to the known galaxy!" Bird pointed out as Samus pored him a cup of tea.
"Okay problem solved it doesn't exist! Doughnut anyone?" Hardy asked offering his half finished doughnut to the others.
"It's not that simple sir." Next was head shots of different alien people, plus one question mark. "The promise of Ultimate power has attracted the attention of half a dozen of the most fearsome hunters in the known galaxy, each leading their own army." The screen zoomed in on the first of the Hunters, Rundas (Codex entry 20. Unlocked) a Vhozon, a gangly looking blue alien, as if she hadn't had enough of those for one day "Rundas is a big game hunter, he's in it for the sport, he's after the heads of the other hunters as much as the Power." Next was the second head-shot, Ghor (codex entry 21. Unlocked) a brain attached to a cybernetic body. "Ghor is rather charitable by nature and specializing in technology for obvious reasons, he's more likely trying to keep the other less than ethical hunters from the Power than use it himself."
"Yah right, he'd be just as likely to wave it around declaring himself ruler of the Galaxy as anyone else!" Hardy said as he angrily waved around a doughnut.
"Ahem, as I was saying." Moving on from the outburst the Commander continued with his speech: the third head shot was of Gandrayda, (Codex entry 22. Unlocked) so that's what a Proxivor looked like. "Gandrayda is a shape-shifter of the Proxivor race (Codex entry 23. Unlocked), able to assume the form of bio-morphs much larger or much smaller than her and with them their powers, she seems to think of the whole thing as a game of some sort." Fourthly was Spire (Codex entry 24. Unlocked) a lava golem looking creature. "Spire a Diamont seeking to claim the Power for his species and reinvigorate the dying Diamonts."
"How the heck did he get 'save my people' from 'ultimate power?'" Hardy asked as he crammed the doughnut into his mouth.
"He's a Diamont sir: their brains are made of rock." Moving on was number five, Trace (Codex entry 25. Unlocked) red insect like creature. "Trace, a member of Kriken required to conquer, or help conquer, a planet in the name of his people to pass his right of passage into adult hood, with the Power their rate of conquering worlds goes from 'once in a generation' to 'once a day.'" Finally the question mark took center stage. "Ridley, the Space Pirate supreme leader, we don't know his species, where he comes from, heck we don't even know what he looks like! What we do know is that the Pirates consist of a loosely affiliated collection of castes formed from various half-assed super soldier projects and a super massive hive mind. (Codex entry 26. Unlocked) Simply put, even if this weapon does or does not exist or is or is not in the Alimbic Cluster is irrelevant. It has only been half an hour since the message was broadcast and these six are already tearing one another apart in search of this power and we don't even know what it is, at this rate the galaxy will be at war in days!" The commander explained, a bit of fear creeping pass his defensive measure.
The bit of doughnut dropped from Hardy's jaw dropped open mouth into his coffee mug. Samus racked her Codex for a reference to Ridley (Codex Entry Not Available) that's strange, even that commander got a classified but according to this, this Ridley guy just didn't exist.
"For this reason a joint task force is being assembled." Next a ship appeared on the screen (Codex entry 27. Unlocked) "This ship, number VI XI V, otherwise known as the Vixen by it's crew, has been retrofitted with a prototype slip stream drive (Codex entry 28. Unlocked) making it one of only six of it's kind in the known galaxy, all others being Old Race ships. Several more ships from other allied races have also sent reinforcements, but they won't make it there as fast as the Vixen. A task force consisting primarily of Galactic Federation experts has already boarded the Vixen, but we would benefit greatly from a expert on Old Race technology."
"That would be Samus." Bird said as he sipped from some tea.
There was a long pause in the room as everyone expected Bird to continue talking.
"Is there something the matter?" Bird asked, eyes darting back and forth.
"Bird, if you don't start laughing, then we're gonna have to assume you ain't joking." Hardy said as he accusingly pointed his fourth half eaten doughnut at the Chozo.
"That's actually quite funny." The suddenly giddy Chozo senator said as the other senator breathed a sigh of relief. "Because I'm quite serious." Which prompted the fat man to faint.
"Father." By now Samus, carrying a packed bag full of clothing and personal items, and Old Bird were standing on the observation deck on one of Norion's major ports, the port in question housing the Vixen. "Why did you choose me for this mission anyway?"
"You're not a child anymore Samus: you've outgrown you're limitations. All you're life you've been looking for something, now you may have the chance to find it." The Chozo cryptically stated.
"What is that even suppose to mean?" Samus said her face scrunched with puzzlement.
"That is for you to decide." Bird said as he started to walk away.
"But of all the things you signed me up as you picked engineer!? You know I only took basic engineering right?" Samus shouted unconcerned about who could hear.
"Which means that you are one of the few Humans who can understand what this says." Bird said handing Samus a dossier chip. "Your photographic memory will do the rest. And don't worry about Pyonchi, I'll look after him while you're gone."
"Lucky me." Samus said her face scrunched in distaste.
Samus jumped off of the balcony and landed feet first on the ground, the first thing she saw was being greeted by a Federation Trooper (Codex entry 29. Unlocked) dressed in Camo-green armor plating, a cycloptic orange visor, and a black skin tight Carbon Nano-tube suit underneath.
"Engineer Aran?" The Marine asked as if he didn't already know.
"My name is Samus Aran! Say it with me, SSAAAMMUUSSS!" Samus said holding a imaginary name tag in the air and stretching it out.
"Right this way madam, I'll take you to your quarters." The marine said, ignoring her antics and showing her to the ship.
Rolling her eyes Samus made her way the ship, guided by the Marine to her room. Along the way she caught the crew shooting her dirty looks, the bonds here were close knit, and it seems that meant that there wasn't any room for her. She quickly got to her room without incident, it was a cramped little space, largely occupied by a cryo-pod (Codex entry 30. Unlocked), a sonic shower stall, and few dresser draws built into the wall for her low few belongings she brought with her along with a personal computer terminal.
"You should make whatever preparations you need, the commander wants to see you at 18 hundred hours."
The Marine left Samus to her business, she immediately hacked the terminal and downloaded the Codex on the Commander from the briefing (Codex entry 31. Unlocked) and was immediately impressed by the lengthy list of accomplishments by Commander Adam Markowitz. Next Samus opened her bag and got into a blue colored Zero Suit (Codex entry 32. Unlocked) light blue mostly, with patches of dark blue at her knees, wrists, under arms and chest area that served as additional protective armor. She snapped on her Rocket Bracelets/boots and strapped her holster around her leg and inserted her Paralyzer (Codex Entry 33. Unlocked) now that she was appropriately dress she could start studying. Samus opened the dossier chip and began scrolling down the file at speeds that were absolutely blurring. She must have lost track of time when she heard the door open and saw the Marine, instantly closing the dossier chip and got up.
"What took you so long?" Samus asked as if she was quite bored and wasn't in the middle of something important.
"I'm on time madam. What were you reading?" The marine asked, his armor hiding any distinguishing features.
"A romance Novel featuring the wild tales of two sister's sexual escapes featuring incest, S&M bondage and scenes that would make a grown man blush, case in point." Samus said pointing out the Marine.
"If you didn't want to tell me the truth you could have just said so." The Marine spat before stepping aside to let Samus out.
The Marine led Samus to the bridge where she saw Adam in his commander's chair, sitting in front of a large computer screen and between the two of them several crewmen manning their stations.
"Commander the engineer has arrived." Adam spun around in his chair to face Samus. "You said you wanted to speak with her."
"My name is Samus Aran!" Samus shouted angrily!
"Private, leave us be." Adam instructed waving his hand dismissively..
The Private did as told and left, leaving Adam and Samus face to face.
"So you're suppose to be Bird's engineer?" Adam asked, doubt across his features.
"What do you mean 'suppose to be!?'" Samus spat with her hands on her hips.
"It's been my experience that engineers aren't nearly as pretty as you." And now it was Samus's turn to blush. "They're also usually not brutish thugs who are hired on by senators to act as intimidating body guards." That wiped the blush off of her face. "So Lady you can talk the talk, lets see you put your life where your mouth is!" Adam threw Samus a dossier chip. "That is everything we got on our slip stream tech, from what I have been told as it is we're very likely to rip this ship apart thereby killing everyone on-board without some serious improvements: impress me!"
Samus, still mildly offended, looked over the dossier file, the hardware was decent, for humans, but the software was virtually non-existent.
"Do you have another one of these? Or is this really all you got for software?" Samus asked, pointing out the dossier chip.
"Our scientists think that if they can get a look at what the inside of a slip stream portal looks like they can figure out how to shield a ship from it. Sadly thus far every attempt to utilize Slip stream technology with anything bigger than a fighter typically results in the ship in question getting ripped to shreds upon re-entry, which makes gathering data a risky, often disastrous, very expensive, and usually failed attempt." Adam explained, waving his hand dismissively.
"Well this should improved our odds a bit." Samus rewrote and dramatically expanded the data file before handing it back to Adam. "This new software should resolve some of the issues but I took the liberty of programming in a fail-safe that will drop us out of slip space after a few of minuets."
"Why only a few minuets?" Adam asked a look of curiosity on his face.
Testing her? Trying to squeeze out ideas on how to improve their slipstream tech? Maybe both?
"Well the Quantum field used to generate the slipstream tunnel is notoriously unstable and requires constant adjustment or it'll collapse, smaller SS tunnels require far fewer adjustments because they're more stable and can therefore go the distance. With this software combined with one of your so-called 'highly sophisticated computers' I'd bet the field would last a few minuets, the fail-safe is designed to drop out just a little early just to keep us from ending up like a big splatter of paint on the side of some planet in Alimbic." Samus explained looking pretty smug right now.
"Just how fast will we be able to go?" Adam asked still not impressed.
"That's usually dependent on how fast the ship your using can go. If my memory serves me correctly your only at about warp four, warp five if your feeling stupid, so with this you can hit warp eight or nine, ten may result in that awkward splattered across Alimbic bit." Samus explained, her fists colliding to provide visual reference.
Adam didn't look like he understood anything Samus just said, but they both knew that he wasn't the one that she was trying to impress.
"Churchill...!" a small fist sized hologram that resembled a octopus without the tentacles appeared (Codex entry 34. Unlocked) obviously the Ship's Aurora Super computer "what do you make of this?" Adam asked placing the chip on the hologram.
The Aurora Unit scanned the chip and downloaded the information there in.
"The Programming seems to be quite sound Commander, and what she has said is consistent with our data."
"She's as smart as Bird said she was?" Adam asked impressed starting to leak through an hardened exterior.
"Very much so sir."
"So we're gonna get there in one piece?"
"I will need time to implement the necessary modifications, but yes we should make it there with time to spare before the fail safe."
"Cool..." Samus bent down to get a better look at the hologram "that's an Aurora unit right?"
"An organic super computer, a concept we borrowed from your people the Chozo..." Adam deactivated the hologram with a press of a button "welcome aboard Lady!"
Samus's lip curled in offence, until the evil thought she just had replaced it with sly smirk.
"Whatever you say Lad."
Yep, those two were going to get along swimmingly.
"If you need to blow off steam then the cargo bay is always a good place to look for a little fun." Adam said, spinning around to hide his displeasure.
"Cargo bay?" Samus said with obvious curiosity.
Samus arrived at the Cargo bay, one of the first things she saw was a sign mounted on the side of the door: 'Fight Night Check your gear at the door.'
"Hmm? My kind of place." Samus said with a smirk.
Upon entering the cargo hold Samus saw several lockers for storing personal items, red meant occupied green meant not, she could also spot eye scanners no doubt for locking the items to be left inside to whom ever put them there. Samus opened a empty locker and put in her Paralyzer and rocket boots/bracelets and secured it with the eye scanner. Next she approached the crowd and did her best to look over them. Fortunately she didn't have to wait long, the loser of the latest round was sent flying through the crowd and landed at Samus's feet, a paramedic dragged the man away. The winner was tall, bald, heavily tattooed and quite muscular, he didn't appear to be intoxicated in the technical sense, but he seemed to be more drunk on victory than anything else.
"COME ON WHO ELSE WANTS A PIECE OF ME!?" The victor asked with both of his arms flexed in the air.
"That would be me!" Samus countered stepping into the ring.
That prompted the 'drunkard' to let out a laugh.
"Come to my room later, preferably with as few clothes on as possible, and I'll give you all of me yah can handle!" The victor said, holding back a laugh.
Immediately various oohs and ah's from the crowd was let out as the drunk raised his arms in a self cheer.
"Remain calm he can be disabled in a simple series of steps..." Samus sneaked up on the drunk and kicked out one of his legs "first dislocate left leg with kick to the knee..." as the drunk fell back Samus followed up the attack by hitting him in the jaw with both of her fists clasped together sending him flying "double duke to lower mandible will discombobulate jaw..." after being knocked to the ground the drunk got back up, enraged this time, Samus gave a finger taunt and smiled prompting him to charge her "Large number of tattoos indicates that target will not be dissuaded by pain, rage and injuries will prompt him towards poorly planned attacks, encouraging this behavior increases odds of victory..." Samus grabbed the drunk's arm and used his own momentum to swing him around, breaking his wrist and dislocating his shoulder in the process before throwing him to the ground "grab stumbling punch and in one smooth motion break wrist and dislocate shoulder..." Samus walked around to the front of the drunk, who was now having a bit of trouble getting up, and finished him off with a kick to his jaw "finish with final blow to the jaw fully dislocating offending body part in question. In short, left arm, jaw and left leg fully dislocated, physical recovery 6 hours, psychological recovery six months, capacity to spit lewd comments fully disabled."
Now that the issue of the offending drunk was dealt with Samus walked over to the makeshift bar set up on the far end of the cargo room and sat down at the makeshift bar, only to find Adam the apparent bar tender.
"Commander Adam Markowitz?" Samus asked a bit confused.
"Engineer Ian Markowitz actually, (Codex entry 35. Unlocked) Adam's my brother." The bar tender cleared up.
"Hmm. Interesting. Got any milk?" Samus said sitting down on a crate.
Ian pulled out a glass and pored in the requested beverage.
"So, that was fight night eh" Samus asked taking a swig of the drink.
"That was round 2. That is fight night" Ian corrected pointing out that another challenger had already taken the stage.
"Aha. You guys place bets?" Samus asked looking excited.
"Of course."
Samus transferred a modest sum of credits into the betting account, all her money on her self.
"Do me a favor and reinvest all of my winnings into the next round." Samus said finishing the drink off.
"All bets on you?" Ian asked as if it weren't obvious.
"Who else?" Samus said getting back into the ring.
"Coming right up..."
Adam, accompanied by a couple of marines opened the cargo bay to discover a makeshift medical bay, where the totality of his security force was busy getting their limbs set back into place.
"Who's idea was fight night anyway?" Adam asked with his usually neutrality.
"Yours sir."
"And aren't you all grateful!?" The commander asked with a bit of a smirk.
"Yes-sir."
"Now who's the lucky winner?" Adam asked walking into the bay.
"That was me." The trio of Federation soldiers looked over to Samus, whom was sat at the bar drinking milk with nary a hair out of place.
"Samus, I'm impressed, what you do, 5, 10?" Adam asked looking surprised.
"99..." a slightly surprised Adam looked over to his brother Ian "she got here late." Ian explained as he scrubbed glasses.
"Brains, brawn, Beauty..." a smug Adam eyed Samus knowingly "way to go lady!"
Ian could spot the vein pop in Samus's fore head, but the smile on her face told a different story.
"Got that right lad!"
And thus Adams face mirrored Samus's.
"Churchill has uploaded your modifications, those of you who are still conscious better get ready. Samus, you and Ian better get back to engineering. Doc get my gunners conscious again, we're gonna come into one colossal shit storm and I'd rather not be turned into shit myself." Adam barked switching back to serious.
A couple of minuets later the ship had opened a slip stream window into the Alimbic sector, the inside of the field was in a word spectacular. Rainbow colored lights moved at a snail's pace in comparison to the speed of the of the ship. Samus was watching the proceedings from the engineering bay, drinking a smoothie and looking out a window when she was approached by one of half of the Markowitz brothers.
"Good Evening Samus." Ian said as he walked to Samus's station.
"Good evening Ian." Samus countered before returning to the drink.
"Lovely evening isn't it?" Ian asked sitting down.
"If you say so."
"Something on your mind?" Ian asked a bit concerned now on his features.
"Something always is. I'm a Chozo after all." Samus explained as she finished the smoothie.
"Odd you look awfully human to me." Ian commented his head side ways as he attempted to find some detail about Samus that he was obviously missing.
"A human woman I barely knew gave birth to me, but I was raised by the Chozo, as a Chozo." Samus got up and threw the emptied beverage container into the trash can.
"We'll see." Ian stated as he continued to drink.
Ian and Samus finished their drinks and took their stations around the Warp Core (Codex Entry 36. Unlocked) as the ship dropped out of the slip stream. As Adam predicted they had come out in the middle of a massive fire fight between multiple ships, their shielding barely holding out under the massive strain of the hits. They weren't sure how they could tell if they were friend or foe, but they seemed to be just fine with shooting at them as they were with shooting at each other.
"Fire torpedoes there, there, and there. Open up a path and get us the heck out of here!" Adam barked pointing to several ships in front of them.
As Adam ordered three shots at various enemy ships cleared a path out of the fire fight.
"Sir there's a planet in sight. The star maps say it's called Arcterra, (Codex Entry 37. Unlocked) inhabitable and Frozen solid!" A helmsman stated looking down at a star map spread out in front of him.
"We ain't looking for a new vacation spot lieutenant! Get us out of here!" Adam barked, starting to get knocked around in his chair from the shaking of the ship.
As Adam ordered the Vixen sped off at it's top non slip stream speed towards the planet. Unfortunately for them the ship was hit by one last blast on their way out and knocked out their back thruster knocking them down towards the planet and smashed into the planets surface head first. When the ship crashed all of the windows and other more delicate parts of the ship were instantly shattered, many crewmen sent flying out of the ship in the process, included among them Samus.
"Are we alright?" Adam asked as he looked around the deck of the Vixen that was now doing an impression of a crumpled can.
"Far from it. The ship has suffered massive structural damage, several of the decks have been destroyed, life signs on the ship has dropped by three quarters and all of our primary systems have failed or are failing!" The helmsman stated with his head bleeding.
"Get to work on getting our people to safety! And someone get me Aran!" Adam shouted as he got up from the chair and made his way to the door.
"Sir, readings indicate that she's not on the ship." The Helmsman pointed out sadly.
"Damn it!" Adam tapped the com badge on his chest.
"Aran come in!" Getting no answer Adam groaned in frustration and went over to the doors and began prying them open.
"Oh ow!" A voice that suspiciously sounded like Samus announced over the radio with a bit of pain.
"Samus is that you!? How the heck are you still alive!?" Adam asked some of the joy coming back into his voice.
"Nice to see that you're okay too Adam." Samus replied sarcastically.
"What I meant to say is where are you? How is your condition?" Adam asked having calmed down from his earlier panic attack.
"Outside of the ship somewhere, and sore, very sore. I think I landed on something soft." Samus groaned halfheartedly.
"Snow is like that Samus." Adam stated pointing out the obvious.
"That it is but it isn't here." Samus stated also pointing out the obvious.
"Samus you do realize this planet is covered in snow right?" Adam asked looking slightly dumb founded.
"I got that from the snow poring in through the cracks. But I'm also looking at the Nose of the Vixen. I think I landed somewhere under ground." Samus replied sounding like she's getting a grasp on the situation.
"Can we bring up the forward facing sensors?" At Adam's question the screen, though cracked, brought up a image of the interior of a temple where Samus was standing and waved at the sensors.
"Looks tropical sir." The Helmsman stated with just a hint of hope in his voice aimed at Adam.
"Looks habitable, get as many of our crewmen, dead or alive, down there as possible!" Adam commanded with a bit of a smirk on his face.
A few minuets later the crew was in the ruins below, Adam was taking in his crew men, living and dead.
"Lazarus (Codex Entry 38. Unlocked) what's the prognosis on our men?" Adam asked looking at a length of floating beds that suspiciously resembled people underneath tarps destined for the morgue.
"Promising news captain." Lazarus was a muscular looking old man, with a bald and scarred head and a thick white mustache. "The cold kept these specimens very much intact for the most part, the inertial dampeners on the ship were still functioning for a bit when we crashed so the rest of them are mostly intact too. I'm preparing the standard packages now, Heavy Synthetic Weave, (Codex Entry 39. Unlocked) Medi-gel regulators (Codex Entry 37. Unlocked) and Positronic processors. (Codex Entry 40. Unlocked) They'll be up and running in no time!" Lazarus stated in a thick Russian accent, with a big smile on his face and while he twirled his thick mustache.
"Right. You just do the Voodoo you do and let me know how it turns out Lazarus. But if any of my men start talking about eating brains, I'm putting them down and both I and their families are holding you personally responsible, deal!?" Adam ordered seriously.
"Understood. I'll let you know how your men turn out." Lazarus replied plainly while he shooed the commander off.
"Hey Adam! Over here!" Adam met with his brother Ian next who was waving over to him.
"How's our ship Ian?" Adam asked expecting an obvious answer.
"Engineering's good, on account of the extra reinforcements there, but everywhere else? Crumpled like a can of soda. But I'm working on a fix now." Ian stated waving his hand over to what suspiciously looked like a random assortment of parts scavenged from the ship, including what suspiciously looked like the warp core.
"And what is this 'Fix' exactly?" A suspicious Adam asked looking down at the parts with a disapproving scowl
"I'm rigging up a repair drone by splicing together a Replicator (Codex Entry 41. Unlocked), a transporter node (Codex Entry 42. Unlocked) and a few other choice parts that will allow us to suck up the broken parts of the ship, and crank out brand spanking new ones!" Ian stated looking quite proud of himself.
"Eh. It's not like things can get any worst." Adam added sounding significantly less enthused.
"On the subject how are the doc and the Zombies going?" Ian asked looking over Adam's shoulder at Lazarus suspiciously.
"He claims things are promising. Keep me informed of how your little project goes." Adam instructed as he walked away.
Samus who was watching the interaction between Adam and his brother with hints of confusion.
"Zombies?" "Let's just say for now that man has some weird hobbies. What do you know about this place?" Adam asked as he looked around the room that looked suspiciously like an ancient temple.
"It's old race, you'd think it would be Alimbic based on where we're at but this looks more like Chozo. Not surprising considering the close relationship. I'm going to go see what I can find by looking around, who knows I might stumble upon a clue to the secret." Samus stated before she walked off into a tunnel system.
"Let me know if you find anything kay!?" Samus yelled back with a wave of her hand.
While Samus and Adam had a conversation like that a camp not too far away consisting entirely of skinny individuals with oddly bent legs and dressed in blue exo-suits, otherwise known as Vhozon. One of them carried a digital tablet to their leader, as made evident by his use of ornamental spikes at various places around his body.
"Commander Rhundas sir!" The Vhozon stated saluting his leader.
"Lovely weather this planet has isn't it?" Rhundas stated overlooking the barren frozen landscape with what resembled a mug full of smoking liquid.
"A galactic federation ship has crashed 20 parsecs from here!" The Vhozon stated almost frantically.
"Really?" Rhundas grabbed the tablet and took one look at it before what can only be assumed to be a sinister smile spawned on his features. "Get the men ready, it would seem that once again the Galactic Federation is sticking their noses somewhere that they don't belong."
Codex entries:
1. Rabbillis: The Rabbillis is a species of alien animal commonly found around the Galaxy as pets, an especial favorite among children, the creature resembles a cross between a rabbit and squirrel. First found on a small mining colony K2-L they quickly proved to be inquisitive and curious creatures, most likely stemming from a lack of natural predators on K2-L.
2. Norion: Norion is a planet on the distant reaches of Federation space in small system known as Kalandor. Formerly a barren wasteland, a massive experimental terraforming effort led by the Aurora unit 486 "Clinton" has transformed it into a lush garden world with cities built on chunks of rock suspended in midair via anti-gravity technology. The planet is a hub of commerce with several planets buying and selling their resources off here in order to take advantage of it's Federation connections.
3. N'Kren: The N'Kren are a highly intelligent species of alien. Although usually peaceful many N'Kren science expeditions of dubious nature are sent to pre-spaceflight civilizations in order to extract information both biological and psychological information to determine if the people would make a good addition to the intergalactic community, or if all those involved would be better off if they never left the planet.
4. Mag-rails: Mag-rails are intercity transportation devices, although meant for freight transport many people have learned to install magnetic units in their footwear allowing them to 'ride the rails.'
5. Sky Car: A innovation on established cars utilizing a super conductive material combined with a natural super coolant, allowing the vehicle to simply float in midair above the magentized roads of planets across the galaxy, and propelled through the use of a eco friendly self powered plasma reactor.
6. Mag-boots: A product of the youth of today's bizarre fascination with needlessly reckless sporting endeavors they, and their counterparts rocket Bracers, are meant to combine the speed of otherwise dated rocket thruster technology and versatility of magnetic repulsors with close quarters combat, effective transportation and, according to some, a desire for fashionable accessories, into a set of highly flexible pieces of equipment.
7. Chozo: The Chozo are highly respected throughout the galaxy as one of the three so-called "old Races." Long since having believed to have reached the pinnacle of their technological development and formerly a war like race that had been ravaged by their bad habit, they have instead dedicated their time to the pursuit of the spiritual side of the galaxy, which has allowed them to 'ascend' to a higher state of existence as purely energy based beings. Of course still requiring the need to reproduce many Chozo maintain a presence in the physical world as well.
8. Old Bird: As his name implies Old Bird is a elder of the Chozo race. Widely regarded as a humble and wise leader he serves on the galactic senate as the representative of the Chozo race. In his personal life he has adopted a human orphan of the K2-L colony as a daughter, going so far as to splice in his own DNA to improve her at-the-time failing health, and has raised her into adult-hood.
9. Bryyo: A unique planet, Bryyo is a large planet four times the size of Earth that is tidally locked to it's sun, as a consequence forty eight percent of the planet is permanently, irreparably scorched, forty eight percent of the planet is completely, utterly frozen solid and a measly four percent of the planet is considered habitable by human standards at a climate roughly comparable to the Amazon or the Equator of Earth. It's unique combination of climates, large land mass, and massive natural resources have led to something of a 'colony war' between the native residents and others who have come to call the planet home.
10. Diamont: A unique life form composed entirely of what can best be summarized as a type of 'living molten metal' the Diamont's are unable to survive outside of their native climate of six thousand degree's Fahrenheit, instead a device is attached directly to their bodies that uses a mass of compressed hydrogen that allows them to survive in a normal atmosphere for short periods of time.
11. Vhozon: Vhozon: Native to the ice planet Vho, the Vhozon are a race that have adapted to embrace the cold with a nitrogen and ammonia based eco-system instead of a oxygen and water based eco-system. Able to rabidly compress air-born gasses into a liquid by inhaling them they subsequently fire the resulting liquid concoction from openings in their hands in what is described as a 'Ice Beam' reducing the state of their opponents to what can best be summarized as absolute cold, instantly freezing them.
12. Bryon: Bryons are the native dominant race of Bryyos, a lizard like species that stands on two legs and has four arms. Devastating wars that have ravaged the planet to the point where it has become it's currently tidally locked state have led to the Bryons to reject any form of technology more advanced than say a wooden plank on a cylindrical stone.
13. Kriken: The Kriken are a red humanoid insect like species native to the planet Krikos. The Kriken are a war like species, with a hierarchy based on a insect hive they are highly adaptable and aggressive, as part of their rite of passage into adult hood young Kriken must conquer a entire planet in the name of their race, their level success or failure and role during the incident determines their place in the Kriken Hierarchy. As a consequence of this life style the entire Kriken race is considered a enemy of the galaxy.
14. Human: Humanity is one of the more recent of races to join the intergalactic community, having only just been able to break free from their home solar system less than thirty years ago. And yet, they have proven to be one of the most industrious, creative, and most adaptable of races to enter the galactic community period, perhaps as a consequence of their planet which consists of a multitude of different biomes that they have come to inhabit every portion of.
15. Ylla: Ylla are short, squat, aliens responsible for maintaining the galactic economy, one of the oldest of the non-old races to inhabit the galaxy they are often respected and wide spread in spite of the fact that they prefer to use underlings, proxies and other means of indirect communication for social interaction.
16. Senator Hardy: A career military man, he has managed the utterly astounding feat of not seeing any actual combat throughout his decades long career and has instead wound up in primarily administrative duties, largely due to several citations for incompetence early on in his career. He continues his role as a comfy administrator as a senator taking credit for others hard work while the only thing that he seems to do right is keeping up a constant supply of fatty foods.
17. Alimbic System: A star system consisting of six planets: Alinos, Arcterra, the infamously large Celestial Archives, Vesper, and Oubliette. The home system of the Alimbic race they have long since left the system in pursuit of other goals. However a vanguard has been left behind to protect the Alimbic's many secrets from their abusers.
18. Alimbic: The Alimbic's are a race of telepathic insect like aliens, prizing high efficiency above all else everything they do is designed to be done in the most effective manner possible, a task made easier through an massive telepathic network, information is instantly shared, efforts automatically coordinated, centuries worth of innovation usually made in a matter of hours.
19. Luminoth: The Luminoth are tall humanoid moth like creatures. One of the three old races they are believed to have been born in the depths of space and to this day worship light as the workings of a god known as Aether, of which they have named their adoptive home world of Aether after.
20. Rhundas: Rhundas is a Vhozon, a ammonia based life-form rather than water, he has the ability to spew out streams of super concentrated streams of liquid nitrogen taken from the air capable of freezing a target solid in an instant. Donning a homemade pressure suit to help hold his body together he has set out to mount the head of every one of the galaxies top predators on his wall, and that doesn't exclude the sapient variety either.
21. Ghor: Ghor is an individual of unknown species, a veteran of many battles age and conflict has taken it's toll on his body which has forced him to have his brain surgically extracted and installed into a gangly cybernetic body, granting him a fusion of years worth of experience and immense technological prowess. Perhaps because of his own lost he is rather charitable by nature and protects people from all around the galaxy often for undercut payment.
22. Gandrayda: Gandrayda is a member of a unknown race of shape shifters, scraps of blood collected from scenes of battle show a protein relation to bio-morphs found on Jovia XII. Extremely long lived as made evident by a long history dating back a number of centuries. Gandrayda's colorful child-like personality is a strong indicator that she is still in the youthful stage of her life cycle, her ability to copy the appearances of others and her status as a masterful impersonator she is usually contracted for espionage work, but prefers any job that she can get a cheap thrill out of.
23. Proxivor: The Proxivor's are a species of amorphous shape-shifting aliens, possessing some sort of mysterious ability to alter their forms at will, some have theorized that their bodies have some sort of natural replicator system that allows them to decompile and reconstruct themselves at will, others say that they are not a biological or even physical race but rather a race of ascended beings like the Chozo who take a avatar on earth and stores their bodily mass in another dimensional plain.
24. Spire: Spire comes from the Diamont's, a large lava-like life form silicon and various metals substituting carbon in his molecular biology. The Diamont's produce a massive internal body temperature through the use of a self contained hydrogen fusion reaction in their chests, as a result they are extremely powerful. Spire's race can often be described as walking volcano's, a massive walking inferno with a tendency of spewing out balls of molten rock. Alas the fine motor skills required to maneuver such a hulking brute of a body doesn't leave much room for intelligence inside this walking statue's brain and as a result Spire is not known for being very smart.
25. Trace: Trace is a member of the war like race known as the Kriken. Exiled by his race for his rite of Passage into adulthood he has taken up hunting as a means to pay the bills as it were in the mean time. A sniper by trade, Trace is first pick among both political and personal assassinations, enough so that he has assembled a small following of other Kriken exiles into a band of gun wielding mercenaries. Tactical and ruthless, a durable insect like body houses a keen intellect worthy of a general in Trace.
26. Space Pirate: No one is sure of where exactly the Pirates came from nor what they are, if they even know then none of them are talking, preferring to either fight to the death or that failing implementing any number of suicidal plans. The vast amount of similarities yet differences between the various castes, ranging from hulking brutes to fast and lithe suicidal bombers has led to the wide spread theory that they are genetically engineered soldiers meant to fill every conceivable role in a army.
27. VI IX IV: The VI IX IV, or more often referred to by it's crew as the 'Vixen', is the latest in nearly 700 ships that have been mass produced by the Galactic Federation. Setting a record for the inclusion of prototype technologies, the Vixen sports weapons with incredible destructive yield, incredibly resilient shields, extremely durable armor plating, and most impressively of all a long distance slip-stream drive that dramatically increases the traveling distance of warp drive technology.
28. Federation Trooper: Troopers are the loyal soldiers of the Galactic Federation. Drafted from Orphanages at a young age, usually fresh from the lost of their families, the usually very motivated children are trained to the peak of human condition and taught various forms of close quarters combat. Once reaching adult hood they are outfitted with cybernetic augmentations, given various enhancement drugs, and outfitted with advance tactical armor based on a reverse engineering of Old Race technology.
29. Cryo-pod: Cryo-pods were originally a device to make long distance/term space travel possible, passengers and crew would be placed inside Cryo-pods and put into a state of suspended animation for the long journey. In more recent years Suspended animation technology remains unusually popular, with the innovation of allowing the mind to rest during the stasis it's not unusual for people to suspend themselves inside the pods during the eight hours that they sleep, extending the life span by one third into a full 200 years.
30. Adam Markowitz: A Commander in the Federation Military, a decorated war hero that has years of experience on such war torn planets as Zenthos, Azaron and Metrios, all infamous for being slaughtering grounds of Federation troops, with several instances of him having been credited as the reason why his men have gotten out alive. A loyal and uncompromising leader in all things, his status as a so called miracle worker has made him the first choice among supposedly hopeless causes.
31. Zero Suit: The Zero Suit is a combination protective, motion sensor suit and stealth suit: one layer is a combination micro camera lined, 3D screen projector, creating a suit that can take in the environment and create it's own custom camouflage on the fly. The second layer consists of body armor, composed of compressed Carbon Nanotube plating, something usually reserved for fighter ships or in the case of more expensive ships cruisers. The third layer is series of diodes that track the movement of the body, allowing to remotely control machines with body movement.
32. Paralyzer: A small energy weapon powered by a self recharging plasma generator. The Paralyzer serves as a combination distance weapon, firing non-lethal though very painful electrical shocks, as well as an length of plasma suspended inside an electrical force field, resulting in a very effective and extremely painful close range weapon. The Weapon was designed by the Chozo to fill three purposes, the first is to create a effective non-lethal weapon, the second is a weapon that if ever lost or stolen would not have a major impact on the populace, the third is to demonstrate that although peaceful, the Chozo will defend themselves if provoked.
33. Slip Stream Drive: The basic idea behind a warp field is to alter reality around the ship to allow it to be accelerated to speeds beyond the speed of light, which although potent is still very limited. Slip Stream technology gets it's name from it literally "slipping" inside a new artificial reality where the laws of physics need not apply. The technology is highly unstable and with the Galactic Federation's current model the device becomes so worn out after only one run that it needs to be replaced with every run.
34. Aurora Unit: Aurora Units are biological supercomputers, in a nutshell a large mass of neural cells carefully arranged into a large brain and suspended inside a vat of neural gel and nutrients. An highly advanced intellect, it's raw intelligence is augmented through access to vast information databases. The Aurora units serve several purposes throughout the Galactic Federation, usually dependent on where they are stationed, their roles have ranged from personal secretary, scientists, and even military commanders.
35. Ian Markowitz: Ian Markowitz is a friendly, out going and highly intelligent engineer with the United Earth Federation marine core. Although considered intelligent he has under gone a strange phenomenon of being rapidly promoted to the comfortable position of Corporal within the marines and yet staying there for most of his career, the suspected party is his older brother Adam Markowitz. 20
36. Warp Core: The product of human innovation, plus alien technologies. The warp core is a massive, self contained sphere consisting of Anti-hydrogen compressed down into a miniature dwarf star. The star produces vast quantities of energy all of which is harvested by a sophisticated array of solar panels until such a time where the star reaches the end of it's life cycle at which point in time it collapses in on itself as a diamond hard ball of Anti-Carbon, at which point in time it is concerted into a large mass of energy by introducing a equally large mass of Carbon and the reaction is used to reform the star therefore restarting the process.
37. Arcterra: A cold and barren planet considered to be habitable by only the most hardy, and cold loving, species in the galaxy. Sporting a nitrogen based Eco system and being the furthest planet from the system's sun Arcterra is rightfully considered the coldest planet in the known Galaxy. Strangely enough though, certain species seem to thrive in the extreme cold, ship scanners indicated that a colony or military base of some sort has been set up on the planet.
38. Lazarus: Lazarus is an unusual fellow, to say the least. He has an unhealthy obsession with reviving the dead, utilizing genetic engineering, cybernetics and other less sound methods in his experimentation. None the less he is considered to be one of the best medics in his field and has been employed by the Galactic Federation in what he describes as 'A mutually beneficial relationship.' In addition to a large some of credits on a weakly basis he also has access to a virtually unlimited supply of test subjects for his experimentation. The soldiers under his care on the other hand, while grateful to once again be among the living, do everything in their power to stay away from the mad doctor.
39. Synthetic Weave: The answer to certain laws concerning cybernetic enhancement, as oppose to limb and organ replacement which is designed to restore what has been lost a Synthetic Weave is designed solely to augment pre-existing tissues. Bone Weave reinforces the bone structure with a micro filament cable composed of Titanium and Carbon that effectively makes the bone unbreakable, also used in treatments to repair broken and shattered bones. Muscle Weave laces the muscle tissue with a composite 'Memory Polymer' each wire contracting the muscles to a precise angle increasing muscle speed and strength in the process. Skin Weave is composed of a flexible silk based compound that maintains flexibility and increases the skin durability to a level that is several times stronger than steel. All weaves are naturally hollowed out, so that stores of Medi-gel can be sucked up by the system and delivered to any wounded area.
40. Medi-Gel: Normally the subject of genetic engineering is considered to be taboo in the public, and legal, community, the one exception to this being Medi-Gel. A combination of stem-cells, exact variant differs between species, and bacterial colonies spliced together with natural anesthetic and clogging agents being produce by the bacteria, the idea behind Medi-Gel is to create a renewable battle field medicine and mass produce it.
41. Positronic brain: Originally the Positronic Brain designed to serve as a cybernetic processor with ability equivalent to a human brain, the design proved to be too difficult to mass produce. Instead a less ambitious version, a Positrontic Processor, was created which was far smaller and could act with increased efficiency with smaller less ambitious tasks. One of the most common applications is a prosthetic brain regulator for those who have suffered brain damage and thus involuntary actions no longer work.
42. Transporter Technology: The Transporter gets it's name from it's ability to near-instantaneous teleport a subject from one location to another over a short distance. The technology breaks the subject's molecular structure down to a semi solid state and sends it to a receiver where it's usually returned to a solid state unharmed and intact. Several mishaps have occurred however where improperly filtered matter has been mixed up with the beam. As such only inorganic matter has been officially approved, with experimentation with inert biological matter, and a living subject being completely out of the question at this point in time.
43. Replicator: A more advanced version of a bio-printer use in the creation of food products the Replicator is a voice activated dispenser that on command 'prints' any type of food or liquid on a incredibly precise level, to the point where industrial grade replicators have been used as an alternative to mass farming techniques.