Prologue

A dream… I had been reliving the tragic moments of my recent past. Thanks to the Hyper Beam, which was given to me somehow by the baby, I laid Mother Brain to waste. The explosion that followed destroyed the planet Zebes, along with the remains of the Mother Brain, the Space Pirates, and the my blood enemy Ridley.

Not even a fragment. None of the baby remained on me. I knew it to be true, but still couldn't help looking at my palm for a sign. Never again would I encounter the baby… never.

I don't know how much time passed since then. Days went by in their own quiet way, and people's recollection of Space Pirates and Metroids grew nebulous over time, relegated to a past concern of the galactic community. One day, I picked up a distress signal. Baby's cry: a common SOS with the urgency of a baby crying. The nickname comes from the fact that the purpose of the signal is to draw attention. I altered my flight path as if it had already been part of my schedule. Baby's cry; it was as though it were crying specifically for me.

Chapter 1

Samus landed in the docking bay of the space station called the Bottle Ship. It was dark and desolate, and Samus could not help but feel that a great evil dwelled here. Running up the ramp, she spotted a large ship nearby. Upon closer examination, she saw it was a GF assault ship. What are they doing here? she wondered. Running thru several dark passageways, she had not gone very far when something hit her in the back. Turning, she saw several GF soldiers aiming at her. Samus rolled around, ready to pump them full of missiles if they fired again.

Suddenly one of them stood and walked toward her. "Ah, fancy seeing you here princess," said a voice she hadn't heard in well over a decade. The soldier's visor lifted up and he said "Remembuh me?"

"Anthony," said Samus.

There's only one person who calls me princess and gets away with it. And that person is Anthony Higgs of the Galactic Federation Army.

"Haven't seen you since that last mission," he said. "Hey, and your buddy's here too."

General Adam Malkovich. Also in the Army, and formerly my superior officer. Yes, there was a time when I was enrolled in the Galactic Federation Army. And then I… well, I was young and inexperienced. As the result of a certain incident, I left the Army and started off on my path as a solitary bounty hunter.

"What are you doing here?" he said. The first words out of his mouth were typical, coming from Adam. To answer his question, I recounted the details of what had brought me to this place, and then I asked what circumstances had led the Federation here. "That information is not for an outsider," he snapped. The word he so obviously chose, "outsider" pierced my heart.

"Commander, we're all prepped," said another soldier. He stood back and waited. The explosive device he set exploded, but the door wouldn't budge. "Ah, no dice," he said. "I think our only option is to use the laser to slowly burn our way thru."

"The electrical system here is out, and we can't get the wall to open," Anthony explained. "We tried using explosives, but it's tricky to pull off without collateral damage. What we need is a way to focus the blast onto one centralized location." Samus rolled her eyes and fired a missile at the door, totally destroying it.

Samus followed Adam, but several rios came flying past and blocked her. One of them knocked her off the catwalk. Samus blasted them, then climbed back up and followed the team to the command room. With the electrical system out, the rooms were pitch black. Luckily, Samus had her X-ray Visor.

In the command room, the soldiers were gathered around the mutilated body of a crew member. "He's dead," said one of them. Someone or something attacked him."

Suddenly the body shuddered, and a tiny purple bug crawled out from under it. "Get away from me!" the soldier who had set the explosives said, kicking the bug away. Raising his machine gun, he fired at it, screaming. "Lyle! Enough!" said the other one. It was obvious there was some pervasive danger throughout the facility. Everyone could feel it, especially Samus. "Adam, listen to me," she said. "Clearly this facility is in complete disorder. It's too dangerous for your men to go alone. That's why I've…" she stopped as she saw something. Hundreds of the same purple bugs were crawling up the walls. Gathering on the ceiling, they dropped to the ground and formed a huge purple mass with a single eye in the center. "I knew it," said Samus.

Everyone fired at the bug mass, but it was useless. Being made of a zillion purple bugs meant it could easily absorb the blows. "This ain't good! Nothing's workin'!" said Anthony. "Listen up," said Adam. "Freeze guns authorized! Samus, do you have the Ice Beam?"

Samus shook her head. "Sorry, Adam. No," she said. "Use missiles then," he said. Samus fired a barrage of missiles at the creature's eye. The bug mass responded by swinging one of it's arms at her. All it hit was the floor. "Concentrate your fire on a single location and freeze that thing!" Adam shouted. "And Samus, you attack the frozen spot." The soldiers managed to freeze one of the mass's arms. Samus fired a missile at it, shattering the ice and killing the bugs that made up the arm encased therein.

They repeated the process with the second arm, after which the thing tried to slam it's body at Samus. Freezing the lower body was the last straw. Samus shattered it with a missile, scattering the bugs to the wind and leaving the eye to crawl away. It was not quite sure what confused it more, the fact that it had lost, or the arrival of another missile that put an end to it's bafflement forever.

"Samus." Adam stared at her. "Looks like I'm going to have to ask for your help on this mission. However, I'm also going to ask that you follow my commands. You don't move unless I say so, and you don't fire until I say so." He paused for a moment. "Any objections, lady?"

The thumbs-up sign had been used by the military for ages. Me? I was known for giving the thumbs-down during the briefing. I had my reasons, though. Adam Malkovich was normally cool and not one to joke around. He would end orders by saying, "any objections, Lady?" He knew I wouldn't disagree. It was just his way of noting our trust. At the time I felt surrounded by people who treated me like a child, or used kid gloves because I was a woman. Adam knows my past, and he knows me better than anyone else. It touched me on some level that Adam would acknowledge that past by calling my something delicate, like lady. My thumbs-down was a twofold response. A sign of derision at being called a lady, and a signal of my complete understanding of mission orders.

The other soldiers were ready to support me with friendly smiles, despite the fact that I clearly had so much to learn. Among them was Anthony. In the face of his well-meaning behavior, and that of the other soldiers, my response was to become increasingly bitter. I was a child. Always with something to prove; a chip on my shoulder. I was angry. I felt that if I let my guard down I would easily be broken. And beyond that… I was scared. And yet I could see in Adam's joking manner how close he felt to me. I knew that I would never find anyone who understood me like Adam. Confession time. Because I was so young when I lost both of my parents, there's no question I saw Adam as a father figure. When I rebelled against him, I knew I could get away with it. And yet, when the time came, I still left his side.

I was so young. Young and naïve…

"Exactly what transpired here on the Bottle Ship is still uncertain," said Adam. Here's what we do know: the equipment we thought had been destroyed is intact and fully functional, and we've seen casualties attributed to unidentified and lethal creatures. The situation is critical. Our top priority is to find any survivors and bring them to safety. Here's one problem: the wireless interference in this facility is all-pervasive. Your comm systems are useless."

He paused. "Well then, Lyle, investigate Sector 1. And show a little restraint with the explosives." "Gotcha!" said Lyle. "Maurice, head to Sector 2. Repair any equipment you come across." "Affirmative," said Maurice Favreou. "Anthony, you're Sector 3. I'll leave you to decide whether plasma guns are called for." "Yes sir!" said Anthony. "James, head to the control bridge. Our communication issues might be the result of electrical interference." "Alright," said James Pierce. "And KG, run a sweep of the residential area and search for survivors." "Very well," said K.G. Misawa.

Adam looked at Samus. "And Samus, you go to the system management room. Do everything you can to get the electrical system up and running. Looks like your comm system still works. We can thank the Chozo for that." "Thank you Chozo," Lyle said. Samus chuckled.

"Each of you is authorized to use a freeze gun. Samus, use the Ice Beam if you find it. Regarding auxiliary weapons, the use of bombs has been authorized. If you find any other weapons lying around, we will continue to authorize as we see fit, however… we currently have no plans to authorize the use of Power Bombs. As you know, they have the ability to spread a high-temperature heat wave over a vast area, impacting living things, which is a nice way of saying they can blow the crap out of anything they touch. You should be well aware of how dangerous Power Bombs are, and how their devastation can't be obstructed with common materials."

He paused. "That's the end of the briefing," he said.

It was the first joint mission I'd been a part of since the Phazon incident. And it was the first time since my Federation days that I was following the commands of a superior officer.

"Understood Adam," said Samus. "No objections, of course."

Samus went to the system management room and restored the power, turning on the lights. "Samus, go to Sector 1," said Adam. "Lyle went ahead to secure a route to a facility of interest. I'll leave you to survey Sector 1."

Samus went to the main elevator, which contained elevators to sectors 1, 2, and 3. Samus took the lift to Sector 1, the Biosphere. An automated female voice issued from the speakers as it went down. "This elevator is bound for Sector 1. A level 3 warning is now in effect in Sector 1. Please avoid traveling alone and remain armed. Stay alert to your surroundings at all times."

Samus refilled at the nearby station, then set out into the Biosphere.