Disclaimer: All content is owned by Nintendo, Microsoft, and 343 Industries. The only thing I own is the plot!

I certainly would love some advice or criticism. As I said in the description, I'm not sure exactly when this takes place in the Halo side of things. I would check the years that each game took place, but my resource is not with me right now. I hope you enjoy!

This galaxy, she knew it all too well. She had been here more times, more times than she could keep count of. It was like any other time she would be here though, on terms of business. The Galactic Federation once again wanted her to do their dirty work. There was an unusual amount of Space Pirates appearing in the GF territory, which was something they were greatly against. Of course, she had to find the source, and she was very certain of what it was.

How obvious it was though, and how the GF hadn't seen it, puzzled her. Somehow, somewhere, Dark Samus had resurrected herself. That or Ridley had found a new source of power, or had his metal coat plastered back onto him, giving the Space Pirates a false sense of security thus striking again. Even though she knew that it was one of the two, she wasn't sure how it started or where it did, and that's why she had this undertaking. She had been searching for them for six days and eleven hours. So far, she had only come across small fleets of the pirates and one small base that had been there for two weeks or less it seemed.

She glanced at the radar, nothing in peculiar though. She then gazed out at the stars, nothing new. Sometimes she wondered why she wasted her time on this. Half the time she only did the job to eliminate Space Pirates and to receive her pay. She slumped in the pilot's seat, letting out a sigh. If she didn't find something by the end of this week, which was in four days, she would head back to Earth delivering the bad news. She stared out the neon green windshield for a few more minutes, deep in thought. As she did so, something caught her eye.

Something was entering the atmosphere of Tallon IV. In her mind, it had to be the pirates. No doubt about it. There was nothing else that came to mind that would be on the only planet with phazon still on it. If it were something else, it would be after the same thing as the pirates. Though she had that feeling that it was the Space Pirates, something in the back of her mind was telling her otherwise.

After twenty minutes or so, she made it to the planet's surface. She exited the gunship, then commanding it to examine the area to find whatever had crashed. She looked around. It was the same as when she left it except the Chozo ruins were no longer in place. She strolled around; nothing seemed out of place, except for one thing. As she left the landing site, she came across a path of trees that were ablaze and knocked onto the ground. She followed the path for some two hundred feet before stumbling across what she was looking for.

She was dead wrong. It was far from the technology if the Space Pirates, or the GF for that matter. In fact, it seemed to be older, and not as complex. The first thing she noticed was the scattered bodies surrounding the outside of the pod. She could only imagine what the inside looked like. She scanned the dead, not receiving much more data than: Deceased.

They were human, wore a more durable armor, nothing like the GF troops. On the side of the pod, there were the letters: UNSC. She figured that that's whom they belonged to. She finally entered the pod. Less were on the inside, which she was grateful for. She looked around, instantly noticing someone that was clad in armor that was a shade or two darker than olive green. She stared at the opaque, golden visor. She quickly scanned him. He was still alive, and very, very strange. Whether he was human or not she couldn't be too sure of for the suit's system wasn't being very clear. He seemed to be the only survivor of the crash. She tapped the visor.

"Adam," She said to the AI, "Land the ship near my location. There's one left from the crash."

Adam quickly responded to the command, leading the ship towards her direction. "Was it the Space Pirates as predicted, or something else lady?"

"They're a human of some sort. My suit is having a hard time collecting the data."

"When you board the ship I'll see what I can do with the data. Is there anything else?'

"No, that'll be all, thank you." She closed the line.

She examined the armor; it was nothing like she had seen before. It was damaged, but not to any extent that would keep it from working properly. In the back of the helmet, she pulled a small chip. It was strange. Very strange. It must've had some purpose. She scanned this, finding out that it was an AI chip, the AI still safe and sound inside. She walked out of the destroyed pod and back into the open. She continued to examine the chip. Suddenly, something tackled her to the ground.

She flipped over, still under the weight of whatever hit her. It was the man that she had just been examining moments ago. He didn't have any weapon with him to her knowledge, so he kept pounding her visor. She charged the armor cannon with him oblivious to it. She shot him, sending him a few feet back and off her. She changed the beam to the nova beam and shot him various times while he was slightly dazed, and finished her attack with a super missile. She was certain that would have killed him, but she couldn't see through the smoke that had arisen. As she was changing the visor to thermal to see through it, she was once more pushed to the ground. She was hit in the visor with the end of a pistol, shattering the visor. She was defenseless for the moment, his foot pressing the arm cannon against the ground.

This was quite the startling sight. What he was fighting was not a robot, not a man, but a woman of the finest features. He now stared into the woman's eyes, which were filled with a blazing fire of anger. He ripped the chip from her grasp and got off. She instantly got off the ground, charging the armor cannon and pointing it at him. He merely pushed the arm cannon so it was pointing to the ground. He inserted Cortana's chip back into the helmet. The woman calmed down, just standing and staring at him.

"Who… who are you?" She asked, taking deep breathes.

He glanced at her. She was bizarre; her suit was the first thing that he noticed; its bright coloration of orange, yellow, and red. He had never seen such an elaborate design for armor. What caught his attention the most though were her eyes that were once protected by the neon green visor. They were a bright blue, almost to an unnatural scale. Her herself, was rather pale compared to other humans he'd seen.

"Who are you?" She repeated the question, only now her tone was harsher.

Suddenly something flew over head landing not too far away. It had the same color scheme as the woman's armor, so he figured it must've been hers.

"Who are you?" He asked in his usual monotone.

"I'm known to most as the Hunter." Something about that just didn't sound welcoming. "If you tell me who you are, then I'll get you off of this planet. Alright?"

"Do you need to know who I am?"

"If you don't want to be left on this hell of a planet, then yes."

"Most people call me Chief, Master Chief."

"Alright then, let's get going."

He followed her back to her gunship. He knew that it wasn't the best idea, but he didn't want to be stuck on this planet. For sure, the UNSC would never find him if that was the case. If was a few minutes before they reached the ship, but he didn't mind. She boarded the ship before him. The ship was roomier than he would have thought it to be.

"Hello again lady. Who might this be?"

"Adam, this is Master Chief."

"Lady, may I ask how your visor was broken?"

"Ask him."

"I'll go straight to having the helmet repaired."

She removed the helmet, placing it on a counter. She had long blonde hair, a rather thin face, and those gorgeous eyes. He just stared at her.

"Is something wrong?" She looked at him with a puzzled look. He shook his head. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I don't kill humans unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Yeah… human." She looked down at the floor, slightly saddened.

"Is there something wrong with being human?"

"So… You're human according to the little data I collected, but that's not the case, is it? You're the only one that had that armor, and the only one to live. Tell me, what you are if not human."

"That's none of your business Hunter."

"It is. I'm the one getting you off this planet, so you are going to tell me."

He just leaned against the wall, not responding. If he ever wanted to get back 'home' then he would eventually have to speak. For the moment, he wasn't in the mood. Something about her seemed more than odd, like her strength. Just about no regular person would stand a chance against him, as that usual was the case, but she fought back, and she did pretty well in doing so.

"Is there a reason they call you Hunter?"

"I'm a bounty hunter."

Great, I'm stuck with a ruthless killer.

He merely tilted his head back, crossing his arms.

"I didn't say psychopath. It'll be about four days until we arrive at our next destination, so you had better come up with something to talk about, like yourself. Oh yeah, I'm very good at telling what you're thinking by your actions."

"What's the difference, both kill; both psychopaths and bounty hunters enjoy it."

"I never said I like to kill, I just… was trained how since I was a mere child, so I'm rather skilled at it."

That caught him off guard. He could easily emympathize for her, the lack of childhood, being force to become someone, or something, you're not for the safety of those who never thank you for your sacrifice. "I know how you feel."

"Explain." She spun the chair around and stared at him with a hint of curiosity.

"I was six when they kidnapped me from my home planet. From that age I was trained and experimented on to become a war machine."

"I was three when all the life on my planet was wiped out by the Space Pirates. If it weren't for the Chozo, I wouldn't be here."

"Chozo?"

"Yes, Chozo. They were a race of alien, bird-like creatures that were advanced in many subjects, many about the knowledge of the galaxies and how they became what they are, and how they will end. But their technology, unmatched to this day. The Space Pirates had followed them to K-2L, my home planet, and they obliterated everything, everyone. The Chozo went unharmed though, found me, and I became their 'hatchling'. I trained with them until I was fifteen, and then I left. To this day, I don't know why I made such a foolish mistake to leave them on their own. Not long after I had left, Zebes, the planet that they lived on, was taken over by Space Pirates, and not a single Chozo remained. All my life I've worked solely to avenge them and my people. "

"Life is cruel, isn't it?"

"Very much so… I'm going to go rest now. If you need something I'll be in my room." She stood up and walked into her room, shutting the door behind her.

"She is a strange person indeed." Cortana blurted out.

"Not strange, just puzzling."

"I want to learn more about her, would you kindly insert my chip into the ship so I can learn more about her from the database?"

"Cortana, you do know that if you get caught she may kill us?"

"I'm aware of this; now let me read the files."

He inserted the chip into the ship as asked and sat down. Cortana would probably take a few hours collecting all the data she could get. He dozed off after a few minutes or so.

After two hours of rest, she woke up at last. She had forgotten for the slightest moment about her 'guest' and was startled at first to see him there. She glanced at the computer system, watching the AI. She didn't mind this too much. Her attention was on him again, and she had the slightest curiosity of what he looked like. She made sure the AI had her full attention on the files before she crept over to his side. She gently lifted the helmet.

She was shocked by how pale he was. His hair was dark, almost black. Scars were scattered on his face, one on his cheek, one stretching from his forehead, finishing at the bridge of his nose, and one where he had busted his lip. There were faint freckles dotting his cheeks. His nose was misaligned from being broken at some point.

She caressed the side of his face. She was enjoying the company for she was usually alone on her missions. But this time, it was different. She had him to accompany her. Working with someone wasn't necessarily her strong suite, but she loved it, not being alone. She only hoped that he would want to assist her, but hope had failed her before, many, many, times before.

After a minute or two, he opened his eyes and gawked at her. She had a soft smile, rosy cheeks, and glistening eyes. People always stared at her so she was used to it.

"You're quite the striking person." She said softly. "Here's your helmet." She placed it in his lap. "I'm sorry; I just wanted to make sure you were human."

"That's… that's alright. You never can be too sure, can you?" His voice was shaky.

"Did I infringe you? I didn't mean to. Because I'm alone so often, sometimes I forget boundaries."

"It's fine as long as you didn't do anything." He replaced his helmet.

"What? Oh, I would never!"

"That's good to know."

"So, does your AI have a name?"

"Her name is Cortana."

"It's nice to meet you Samus Aran." Cortana returned.

That caught her off guard. She should have known that the AI would do something like that, as all do. Her face turned slightly red.

"Lovely name for a lovely girl…" He mumbled.

"Isn't that a male name though?" Cortana queried.

"No, no it's not." She took the chip out from the computer. "I believe this is yours." She handed it to him.

"Thanks."

"So Samus, exactly who is the leader of the Space Pirates, Ridley or Dark Samus?" Cortana sat down on his shoulder.

"Dark Samus if she's alive, Ridley if not. If neither, then they crumble."

"You have an evil double?"

"Unfortunately. She is a real bitch."

"Hey Chief, imagine you having an evil double. How terrible would that be?" Cortana giggled.

"You should hope not Cortana."

"You said that you were trained as a living war machine, what are your people fighting?"

"The Covenant, the Flood, and anything else that threatens humanity."

"You have a lot on your hands then. Would you like me to take you back from whatever place you came from, or would you possibly… help me?"

"It wouldn't hurt to help you."

"Thank you."

"What are the metroids, friend or foe? Your data contradicts itself. It says that they can wipe out the entire life on a planet and that you kill them to keep them from doing so, but it says here that they have saved your life."

"Foe. It was one metroid that I consider a friend, but he is no more. If that's all, I would prefer to sit here, in silence."

As she wished, they not sat there, in silence.