The sounds of the battle briefly intensified outside the bulkhead, before becoming eerily silent. Specialist Jane Atherway crouched back further into her corner, hiding behind the bulky armor of the PED troopers that had taken refuge with her. They too seemed nervous. They had taken cover in the aurora unit tank room. After the Valhalla had been incapacitated by the pirate Destroyers, they had been told to prepare for boarders. Nobody expected what would come. As the remnants of the Valhalla's fighter wing valiantly struggled to take out the boarding craft, they one by one succumbed to the enemy fighters and point defenses. From the moment those boarding pods made contact, the ship had gone to hell. As the Phazon Metroids swarmed out across the ship, they soon turned on the pirates that had unleashed them, and the chaos created was being felt on both sides. Fortunately, the walls of the AU room were thick enough the metroids couldn't easily phase through. It was here that the remaining marines had decided to make their last stand. A distress call had been sent out, but given the Valhalla's whole battle group was destroyed, the odds of reinforcement were unlikely.
The Gunnery Sergeant who was commanding what left of the marines turned to her, flipping up his blue visor. "You ok there Miss?"
Not trusting herself to speak, Jane nodded weakly, clutching her sidearm with a death grip. The marine didn't seem reassured. He placed his armored hand on her shoulder, being careful not to put too much pressure on her. "Hey, don't you worry. Those walls are triple-plated Maladium, and we still have the sentry turrets. No way will the pirates get through here with anything less than armored assault drones, and the hallways are too small for those. We just need to hold out till Norion can dispatch reinforcements."
The deep bass voice of Aurora Unit 313 drifted across the chamber. The marines were gathered around the platform, with the walkways retracted. "I detect energy spikes on the opposite side of the main blast door. It would seem they are attempting to cut through with welding torches." The normally reserved AU seemed shaken by the prospect.
The Sergeant gave one desperate look around the chamber, hoping for anything to turn the tide in their favor. He saw a few more crates in the corner, and ordered the marines to arrange them to give them a little more cover.
"Alright people, stand to. Hold all Phazon till I give the order. We just have to hold out a little longer. We can do this." It was an empty promise, and the marines knew it, but nobody said anything. They had to hope, the alternative was a straightforward slaughter. Jane was whimpering, trying her best to blend in with the corner. The ten remaining marines fanned out behind the crates, forming a protective wall between them and the aurora unit. Everyone tensed, guns pointed at the blast-shielded door as it glowed cherry red from the cutting torch. There was a pause, the whole ship eerily silent. A loud bang resonated through the AU chamber, as the door was blown off its hinges, militia troops storming through the gap. "Open fire!" the sergeant yelled. The marines fired on the militia troopers storming through the gap, assault rifles clattering loudly as they ripped through the unarmored troops. Body after body fell, blood seeping out. An armored pirate came through after them, returning fire, purple phazon shots plastering against the crates. The marines shifted their fire to the new threat. Shuddering under the multiple impacts, it brought its forearms up in an attempt to protect its face. It lunged to the left, briefly evading the shots. The marines tracked it, keeping up the fire. One paused to load a missile launcher. The distinctive whoosh was buried under the sounds of the Assault Rifle fire, but the explosion was felt. The pirate ran, vainly trying to escape his doom, but it was too late as the missile detonated at his feet, tearing through his armor, shredded remains of his torso catapulting across the chamber. Jane was laughing hysterically now.
Shifting their fire back to the gap, more armored troopers swarmed through. Another volley of missiles was fired, and the defense turrets opened up, the large projectiles carving bloody gashes through the pirate ranks. One pirate managed to toss an energy grenade, the explosive landing in the marines midst. One jumped on it; his armored frame muffling the blast, consuming him as he saved the others lives. Nobody had the time to mourn him though, as the pirate hordes continued to swarm through. Metroids began to trickle through the gap, screeching as they made a beeline for the troopers. "Phazon, NOW!" the marine sergeant bellowed. The marines tapped their phazon siphons, the raw blue liquid flowing out to their weapons and enhancing the strength of their armor. Splitting their fire, the sprayed the metroids first, overloading them with the pure blue energy. They tracked the armored troopers, swiftly annihilating them under the deluge. One managed to tap his PED, retaliating. He vaporized a marine, before the return fire repaid the favor. A pirate commando tapped his PED, and soared through the gap on his jump boots, flying over to the platform. The marines tracking him the whole way, he landed with a thud beside one, energy scythe flashing. Slashing with the blade, the marine was quickly cut down. He turned in time to see the Sergeant's powered armored enhanced fist connect with his jaw, the Commando's armor caving under the raw force of the impact. Reeling from the impact, the commando leapt back, before charging the Sergeant. The energy scythe flashed through the air again. Bringing his gun up, the marine caught the blow on his assault rifle. Pinning the blade between the projections above and below the barrel, he twisted. The pirate resisted, but his arm couldn't take the pressure. It ripped with a sickening crunch. Taking the whole arm, the marine impaled the scythe into the head of the Commando, his body crumpling immediately.
Tossing the scythe-arm to the side, the marine turned to the battle, 3 of the remaining marines had already used up their phazon, and the other five were still struggling to keep the enemy pinned. Suddenly, the whole ship shuddered, throwing everyone not flying to the floor. Hauling himself upright, the marine Sergeant looked up to see a large dent in the ceiling. There was a short pause, before the dent started to glow bright orange, molten globules dripping off as something cut through the armored walls. Hauling its massive bulk through the gap, it fell heavily to the floor, uttering a loud, piercing screech. The pirates immediately ceased fire, retreating through the now useless blast door. It was Meta-Ridley, the half machine dragon-general of the space pirates. It lashed out with its tail, severing the marines behind him in half before he could react. The five standing in front of him aimed their assault rifles at him, standing their ground in futility, phazon making their bodies glow with a blue aura. As one the opened fire, streamers of raw phazon glancing off his armor. Opening his jaw, Ridley snatched up one of the unfortunate troopers. The others seized the opportunity, shifting their fire to his maw. Ridey spat out the shreds of the marine, his crimson blood coloring Ridley's mouth. Inhaling, he spat a beam of fiery plasma at the marines, raking it across them, three of the marines simply vaporizing as though they were never there. Standing alone, the Gunnery Sergeant stood his ground, staring down the exponentially larger dragon. "You know, one of these days, someone IS going to kill you. If Samus Aran can do it, I'm sure there are others who can as well." Ridley snapped out again, attempting to grab him in his jaws. The marine deftly side-stepped the lunge, tracking the dragons mouth as he went. He fired, forcing phazon down his throat. Ridley recoiled in shock, rearing up on his hind legs. Charging forward, the marine planted his rifle into the beast's chest, firing. Roaring in agony, Ridley grabbed the marine in his claws, tossing him through several bulkheads.
Jane watched in horror as the last GF Marine was spiked through the walls. There was nothing she could do. She was a simple environmental systems tech damnit, this wasn't supposed to happen to her. As she watched, the dragon-esque creature padded over to the AU tank, severing the connections of the artificial intelligence to the ships systems. The defense turrets that had been helping to hold the pirates at bay fell silent, dangling uselessly from their cradles. Grabbing the AU tank, Ridley tugged, ripping it from the pedestal, flying off and out of the ship with his prize. Why the pirates wanted the AU was beyond her, but she was glad to see him go. As the pirates swept across the room, searching for anything of use, one of the armored troopers stopped by her. It looked at her, head cocked in an expression of confusion and pondering what to do. Jane shook, froze to the spot in fear. He reached up, flinging out his scythe, moving in for the kill.
===Warning. Playback Error. Check storage medium for faults===
A single tear rolling down her cheek, Samus exited her Scan visor. She knew all too well how this ended. Several months after this footage was shot, the torn remains of Jane Atherway still littered the floor. It was the same here as it was all over the ship, no survivors. At least now, with this combined with data from the pirate homeworld she knew why they had attacked the Valhalla. Sighing, reassuring herself that there was nothing she could do, she pushed on, stalking through the grisly wreckage of what was once a symbol of Galactic Federation might and power.
Coughing, she felt the pain in her side as the phazon that was slowly consuming her body pressed on her abdomen. One of these days, the pirates would pay for what they had done, and Dark Samus/Metroid Prime too. Samus just hoped she lived long enough to be there when the final blow was delivered.