This is a story I wrote many years ago. Its finished, so I'm just going to post it as it is.
The ship shook as it entered the atmosphere of the planet. There was another mission to be done. The person aboard thought this would be a simple "go in, kill, get out" mission, but she was wrong.
Samus Aran's mission was to exterminate some pests that were attacking a Galactic Federation base by night. Somehow the creature was, quote "going through walls" and stealing supplies. No one knows where this creature came from for it has not been categorized nor been spotted on any other planet.
Another strange event was going on around the base at the same time. Many people on the base have been getting a strange sickness, making them randomly attack their fellow workers and giving them a dangerous adrenalin spike. The origin of this sickness is still unknown but is suspected to be connected to the strange appearance of the creature.
The ship stopped shaking and began to smoothly glide down to a patch of buildings seen below. It was an amazing ship, Chozo at the basis of the design and worked only for Samus herself. It was orange with a green visor in the front. The pilot could exit the ship from the bottom and come back for repairs whenever. It was the ideal ship for a bounty hunter.
The ship stopped in midair, probably getting permission to dock. This was confirmed when the ship shortly landed in a small clearing outside the base. The bottom door slid down and touched the ground. There stood Samus in her power suit looking as confident as ever.
Her suit was orange like her ship; in fact it was a perfect match with the ship right down to the same shape of the visor. She had boosters on her back enabling a double jump, an arm canon able to shoot multiple types of beams, and the whole suit had a shield powered by ten power tanks. Somehow she kept loosing the power tanks on major missions, only to find them again throughout the planets she explored.
Samus walked off the platform to meet up with a man in a galactic federation power suit. The hunter smiled as he stiffened at her sight, unsure if he should solute or not. Yes she used to be in the galactic federation, but not anymore. Now she is the galaxy's most dangerous bounty hunter, and she's proven that fact on multiple occasions. This mission is going to prove that again.
"No need for special treatment," Samus said. "I'll probably be gone tomorrow morning, if not earlier." The soldier loosened his stature at her words.
"If you would please follow me to the briefing room, Samus, and you will be filled in on the details of your mission there." The trooper put out his hands to show the direction.
There was no need for an escort, Samus thought. She downloaded the map of the whole area before coming so she could find the briefing room by herself. She always got the map of an area if she could for it helped her many times. It's especially useful on hunting missions like this. Oh well.
She followed the soldier to the closest building. The doors automatically opened and they went inside. The building mainly had boxes and random supplies, but some of them were toppled over and there were a few gun scorch marks.
"Did the creature attack here?" Samus asked while bending down to examine a distorted box. It was clearly opened with some sort of claw.
"Yeah," replied the soldier. "Just last night the ghost attacked."
"Ghost; is that the official name you gave it?" Samus asked.
The soldier watched as Samus looked at the wreckage. "Well you know how it can go through walls?" Samus nodded while putting the box down. "That's just it, since it can go through walls its nicknamed ghost. Though I heard it has to be visible while holdin' stuff. That why you're here?"
"Yup," Samus motioned to continue. "Lead the way."
The soldier nodded. The two continued down a hallway, the battle marks could still be seen here, so the battle went through the area. Samus scanned the marks and but it just concluded what the soldier said.
"So how long have these attacks been going on, and how often?" Samus asked.
"I don't know! bout a month? You'll have to ask while being briefed, I only know what you know, even less probably."
"Ok," Samus said, not surprised by the outbreak. She tended to ask too many questions to the wrong people.
They went outside again and cut through a small opening outside to get into a domed building that was the briefing room. The soldier left Samus there and said someone would be waiting inside. She thanked him and entered the building.
It was like any other briefing room, a projector in the middle along with computers streaming the most recent information. There was a long table around the projector with comfy chairs for long meetings. Only one chair was occupied and that was filled by a rough man. He was probably high ranked, if Samus knew briefing rooms.
"Ah Samus you're here!" said the man.
"Yes, I trust we can begin the briefing right away?" Samus replied. The man looked slightly disappointed, like he was expecting a casual conversation about weapons first or something, must be a fan of Samus. Being a famous bounty hunter means you run into people like this a lot.
"Where shall we begin?" he asked.
"You could start with the time and location of all the attacks, it might help me predict the next appearance of the… Ghost as you call it."
"Yes, yes to business." He got up and pressed a button on a remote. "This is a diagram of the whole base. So far the Ghost has attacked here, here and here." He pointed to three points on the map. "Each a storage buildings. This creature is merely attacking for food. It has yet to attack here," he pointed to one more spot on the map. "This is the largest storage building and where you will be posted tonight."
"Maybe you should move all the supplies to that building?" Samus pointed to the last spot. "Then we'll know it'll attack there, at less it's smart. Which brings me to my next question; what are the creature's capabilities and physical features?"
"We tried putting all the food in one place after the second attack. It made no difference; the creature left us alone and attacked a cargo ship when it came instead. It can smell a trap."
"And the creature itself?" Samus asked. "What does it look like?"
"One big eye, claws, he's fast, and some nasty teeth. It drools, a lot." He replied.
Samus thought back to the scene of last night's attack. There was a lot of drool, which would be an ideal substance to test for a possible disease. If this creature is the cause of the recent sickness then it may be used to make a cure.
"I need a list of all the soldiers involved in combat with the ghost," Samus said with that thought. "And a detailed exanimation of each of the attack sites."
"Aren't you going to just kill it?" the soldier asked.
"I'm the best, so I can't be lazy or my reputation will be ruined. Besides it may be the cause of the sickness going around."
"Ok, do what you want, ask what you want, just keep it related to your job." He said.
"Thank you sir," Samus said. "Is there any more information I should know first?"
"No, just get the job done fast and keep me posted." He shrugged.
"I will sir," Samus got up and left the room. The high ranked officer was still in the room slightly dazzled about who he just talked to.
After a few hours, Samus yielded little answers. It was unlikely that any of this research was going to help her in extermination of the ghost, but better safe than sorry.
The saliva was being tested for a possible source of the sickness. All the people involved in the attack against the ghosts were being checked and so far there was no connection to the creature, meaning the sickness most likely came from another source.
Samus questioned some of the sick people, but all of them were claiming she was the ghost, space pirates, or some other horrifying creature. Only one man was sane enough to even see she was Samus. The doctors said that the disease worked fast, first making the victim feel sick then see their worst fears shortly later. They did say people were beginning to get sick around the first attack. Samus asked for times and dates each person reported to show signs of the sickness. She was looking into it even though it wasn't part of the job. She just thought she might get paid more if she found a cure.
The day went by quickly, and soon the sun was setting. Samus was forced to stop her investigations to take her post at the supposed attack site. Hopefully she could kill the creature tonight and deliver it to the lab to be dissected. Or at least that was what she planned.
A few soldiers were posted to stay with her just in case. A rookie was put outside with Samus to keep watch and alert the others of the arrival of the ghost.
"So, you do missions like this all the time?" asked the rookie.
"I guess, but normally I do more difficult jobs." Samus replied slightly annoyed. The kid was asking her questions all night long. "I took this one because I had nothing else to do. I hope to leave this morning."
"Wow, so this must be normal day. I'd love to get out of here and do some real fighting, not be on watch all the time."
"You should consider yourself lucky you don't have my job," Samus snapped. "It took me years to get where I am. Tell me, why did you sign up for the galactic federation?"
"So I could go out there! See new things that no one else saw, do the impossible! I grew up in a small town so I wanted to go on an adventure."
"Pfft," Samus replied. "Well you'll be here waiting for ghosts for some time before you see all that." Samus checked her clock on her visor. "Well will you look at the time, it's time for you to change shifts! Why don't you inside and get an hour or two?" Samus flicked her hand and the rookie looked disappointed but went inside the storage building.
Samus, relieved that the rookie was gone, started skimming for life signs. She connected to the system and checked all the other cameras on sight. Maybe the ghost wasn't coming out tonight?
Just as she was thinking this, there was some yelling. Samus got up quickly and checked inside the storage building. There was nothing. There was another yell, but farther away. It was coming from the kitchens.
"C'mon!" She yelled at the soldiers, who followed her at what she thought was a slow pace.
The group burst into the boiler room and saw a kitchen lady backed against the wall.
"You ok?" Someone asked while walking up to her.
"The ghost!" she yelled. "It's right there!" she pointed at the table behind them, and Samus turned to find the room empty. She turned on her X-ray visor then her thermal. Nothing.
"You sure you saw it?" asked the person holding her asked.
"It's right in front of you!" she continued pointing "Can't you see it?" she asked.
Samus turned on her thermal visor again and saw her body heat was that of a fever.
"She has the sickness," Samus said. "She's seeing things. Must have been scared the ghost would attack the kitchen where there's some food so she sees it."
The soldiers looked both relieved and annoyed.
"Let's take you to the hospital wing." The soldier said. "Where the ghost can't get ya'" The lady nodded but was pale as a ghost (pun not intended.)
"You take care of her," Samus ordered. "The rest of you head back to the storage building. We may yet catch the ghost."
The group began heading back to the storage building. When they got back Samus began to look for connections to the creature to the sickness again. She got a computer and began searching for clues while two soldiers took watch.
The lady who was sick gave her an idea. What if the disease was being spread by the saliva that got into the food? Samus checked where each person who was sick was posted. All of them were at a location where they would go to any of the four storage buildings except this one. This building was yet to be attacked so Samus began to look for more connections
She first checked the people to get sick after the first attack. They all ate lunch at the same place, the lunch room that the poisoned food would be taken to. Each time the ghost attacked more people showed up to be sick, all going to the places where the poisoned food went. This creature was the cause and there was proof.
For a moment Samus was pleased she cracked the case, but she had no idea who to tell. After a while she began to type a report to send to the hospital wing so they could confirm her findings.
I have found and proven what is a probable cause of the sickness going around the base recently, and it is the creature nicknamed the "Ghost." I have compared the time and place each person was when they got sick and found a direct connection to the creature. Each person would have gone to places to eat that would have received-
Samus stopped typing her report when she heard someone yell.
"It's the ghost!" a soldier yelled. Samus got up and joined the frenzy.
"Where is it?" Samus half yelled half asked.
"It disappeared behind that wall!" someone answered. "But it hasn't gotten food yet so it'll come back!"
They all stood still, unsure if they should stay inside and wait for the ghost to return or chase the creature. Samus herself wasn't sure either. She tried turning on her visors one at a time but nothing showed. The creature could walk through walls, not go invisible.
"You four go outside and see if you can find it," Samus said. Just as she did the ghost dived through the wall and sank its teeth in the person next to her. Samus only hesitated for a few moments and raised her arm canon.
The ghost was quite ugly, looking somewhat like omega metroid in body shape, except it had one huge eye, didn't have the same mouth shape, and half the size. It looked more like a dinosaur actually.
Samus charged her beam, and deciding since it nearly almost works, aimed at the eye and fired. It went through the ghost and instead hit the soldier it was eating. The creature, still angered by the attempted assassination, dived at Samus. She dodged easily but not the guy behind her.
"Sorry," Samus said while trying to figure out what to do. She scanned it, but there was not much in the files that could be much use. Instead she thought of an idea by herself. Her gun ought to hit the teeth since its being used to eat the soldier.
Samus fired a second shot, but this time at the teeth now glued into flesh, and it blew into bits. The creature was screaming in pain. It looked at Samus then jumped through the wall.
The rookie picked up a box full of food.
"What are you doing?" the person besides him asked.
"Making him solid," the rookie replied. Impressed by his reasoning he picked up a container as well.
The creature jumped behind two soldiers, each sensed the creature and dodged just in time. Someone threw a box at the ghost, but it avoided it like poison and jumped out again.
Samus ran outside and met the creature. It screamed and was about to pounce again, but she shot at its feet before it tried to escape. It made a direct hit and it fell to the ground. Samus walked up to the thrashing creature and fired another charged beam at it. It then became still.
"I killed it! Or at least I think I did." Samus yelled. The soldiers came out and looked at the creature. "You had to aim at its feet, where it had to be solid." She pointed at the bloodied feet.
The galactic federation troopers looked impressed at Samus's handy work. Samus smiled, and then remember the two injured men inside.
"Someone get the injured out of there!" she ordered. It was funny how she was the leader, even though she no longer had a rank.
There was another scream. Samus was instantly looking for the source. It was hard to see in the dark so she turned on her thermal visor to reveal there was someone only feet away on the ground. Samus bent down and saw his neck opened and covered in blood. His suit never stood a chance.
Some men followed her shortly. They looked at the body at her feet, and their looks changed.
"How many of 'em could be out there?" one wondered. "We'll be killed like the people in the other attacks, and then the ghost will take the food, maybe even eat us!"
"Stay calm," Samus said. "If there was more than two we'd be attacked by now." Hearing this come from Samus calmed them, but Samus wasn't sure. Now she knew why they hired her.
The bush near them shook. Then another and another followed. It made the illusion they were surrounded. Samus saw two bright red shapes on her visor flying through the trees.
"There's only two," Samus said while looking at the rookie shaking.
One creature jumped out of the trees. All the bullets shot at it went through the creature not even harming it, but the other one indulged in the neck of a soldier. The other two soldiers whimpered, then ran leaving Samus alone to face the ghosts.
She fired at the feet of the one not occupied by a neck. Out of three shots only one hit making the creature trip and fall. It was not long before it got up but it was limping now. Samus ran to get away from the other one.
The two were now on her trail, for she was now the only one between them and their food. She kept firing at their feet, but they were too fast so Samus decided to risk a missile at one of them, but all it did was cause destruction. Another ghost joined the chase making three.
She stopped then jumped over one of their heads. She landed behind them gracefully then quickly turned and fired a few shots at their legs. All but one fell, and she fired at the two on the ground while running from the third. She stopped, rolled into morph ball and laid a few bombs. The creature bent down to bite her new ball-form but was met by multiple explosions. It flew back squirming of the ground.
Samus got up to find two soldiers staring at her, and she imagined them drooling for kicks.
"What are you staring at?" she said. Just in case she looked at the radar but it was blank. Both soldiers shook their heads and ran into the building. Samus gave a laugh and started heading to the building as well to finish her report.
There was a screech and she turned to find a ghost lunging at her. She tripped, and the creature landed a foot away. The ghost pounced again, and Samus fired at it in vain. She rolled out of the way and fired at the legs. It fell to the ground screaming.
Samus got up, now breathing heavily. She finished the ghost on the ground and sighed hoping this would be the last one. She'll probably have to go into the forest and go on a killing spree with these things.
Another ghost jumped at her, which she dodged. Just as she was lifting her arm canon, she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. She fell to the ground from shock, and aimed at the ghost that had its teeth lodged into her shoulder. Apparently it could make its teeth not solid part way then solid when it reaches flesh. It's the perfect way to get through all types of armor. She shot a beam up his mouth, and thankfully the other creature was occupied by the two other soldiers that were staring at her earlier.
She flung the limp body on the ground and held her arm to quench the blood flow, but when she looked down there was none. The creature bit her without harming her armor!
The other ghost lay on the ground dead as well. Samus walked up to the two soldiers.
"Are you the only two who survived?" Samus asked.
"No," one replied. "Two others escaped to another building." He pointed to a building beside the storage building.
"Well thank you for taking care of this one, I'd be dead if it wasn't for you." she put her arm, her right one, on their shoulders. "I owe you one."
"But what about you?" asked the one on her left. "I saw you get bitten."
"Don't worry about it," Samus replied.
By many years ago, I mean I wrote this is middle school. My narrative skills are now out of practice, I've been writing formal essays for so long now. If I'm going to write more stories, I need to do it before I go off to college. Think I should? Any requests for stories?