Hey guys, I got a bit of inspiration, and so I have begun a Metroid based fanfic. I love the series, and the games are pretty much always near the top of my favourite games list.

As for the fic, I hold no rights to anything originally found in games of the Metroid series. All Nintendo's. I have created characters, and they are mine, but that's it. Also, I am aware of the little timeline jitter, but I wanted the old ship with the new AI. Normally in the series that's a Fusion thing. Other than that, I think I'm following the timeline as if Super Metroid had just happened. I'm also using the term cycles for years. Millicycles for the case of this fic are days, centicycles as weeks, and decicycles as months.
One more thing. My timeline follows that of Wikipedia's, but Metroid Fusion hasn't happened yet. I'm also assuming for the sake of the series wrapping itself up that after the end of the upcoming Metroid Prime 3, Ridley is reverted back to his mostly biological state, as he was in Super Metroid, to help confirm all the timeline problems. Anyway, enough of my jabbering. Read on, and I hope you enjoy my first chapter… Reviews are welcomed!

Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked

"Must you insist on blowing things up on almost every mission, Samus?" questioned the sentient program running the computer of the gunship of Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter, liberator of worlds. She had just fled from the surface of the rebuilt Planet Zebes, before the planet self-destructed to atoms. She had just single-handedly took down the four guardians of New Zebes, including two of the Space Pirate commanders, Kraid and their leader, Ridley, before destroying the Mother Brain, with help from a Metroid hatchling she had retrieved from planet SR388 cycles previously. Unfortunately, that was the last known Metroid, and it had given up its life to save Samus.

"Lady, you were also supposed to retrieve the hatchling back from Ridley, before it could be cloned for use by the Space Pirates. Where is the hatchling?" Asked Adam.

"I don't cause half of the explosions, Adam!" she argued back, frowning as she removed her helmet, her hair falling out at the back and sides. Her pale face was stained with tears; She knew what the last Metroid had done for her, and yet she couldn't save it.

"-And I know full well what I was supposed to do, you stuck up program... Mother Brain killed it." she added, wiping her face quickly before she turned to face the cockpit of her ship.

"Oh come now, was it not you who destroyed Metroid Prime on Tallon IV, causing the Artifact Temple of the Chozo to cave in after exploding?" it pointed out to the Chozo-infused human survivor of the K2-L raid, fifteen years previous.

"That's not fair! How could I have prevented that?" she exclaimed, glaring at her ship's main touch screen.

"Point taken, Samus. Then how about the entire destruction of Zebes, not once, but now TWICE?"

"I didn't set those bombs!" she snapped, sitting at the cockpit. "Plus, all of these were for the best anyway…"

"I know, Samus. It was my best attempt to be "kidding", as best a program could do so. Remember, I've seen all of your exploits through your HUD." the computer explained. "I apologize, Samus. I saw exactly what happened in the tunnels of Zebes, and I know that you couldn't do anything to help it. You mustn't feel too bad. It was the hatchling's choice. It seemed like it thought of you as its mother figure, so it protected you with its life."

"There's a reason computers can't joke, Adam…" she retorted, sniffing once and crossing her suited arms over her chest.

The ship sped around a large asteroid, as Samus donned her helmet again, before inputting a code into her Arm Cannon. All of a sudden, her Varia Suit glowed, before disappearing, leaving her in a training suit and with her customised GF pistol.

"That's a bit better… You have no idea how heavy that thing is." she said to her computer, who she had named Adam, after her previous Commanding Officer, before he was killed in a skirmish with a Space Pirate Frigate.

"98.5 pounds, Samus. You forget again that I can easily read the dimensions of anything within the range of my optical scanners. In comparison, your Chozo infusion has helped you to cope with the weight. Furthermore, the suit is incredibly light for everything that it consists of, thanks to the technology of the Chozo. It was a good job that you did not destroy Aether, as the Luminoth seem to have a similar level of technology and intelligence to your fostering race. Pity that our visit to such a planet was so short, I would have found it interesting to analyse their race."

"Yeah… You try saying that about my suit if you explored an entire planet in it within a day. Anyway, where exactly are you taking us? I only ordered you to leave Aether's orbit." she asked Adam.

"I assumed that you would require rest, so I am taking you to the closest Galactic Federation frigate. It is currently 1.4 hours away. True, it is even closer to the border GF governed space than Aether was, but it is our closest choice, with the next closest being 3 millicycles away."

"Er… Good thinking, then." Samus said, sheepishly, as she noticed the coordinates planned on the nav-console as Adam had explained. "…Oh."

"It is because of its position that I advise you to put your Suit back on for the time being, Samus. I'll prepare the recharge port now." said Adam, and a whirring sound coming from the right of the cockpit signalled that the Arm Cannon jack had appeared from the wall, ready for use.

"Considering you were designed by the Federation, do you have any real idea what is actually outside of GF boundaries?" she asked, punching another code into the side of her pistol, and in an instant, her Varia Suit materialised around her.

Booting up primary survival systems… COMPLETE

Booting up shields… COMPLETE

Loading weapon systems…
-Power Beam… ACTIVE

-Wave Beam… ACTIVE

-Ice Beam… ACTIVE

-Spazer… DEACTIVATED

-Plasma Beam… ACTIVE

Loading Morph Ball technology… COMPLETE

Loading Boots and Miscellaneous expansions… COMPLETE

Suit loaded. Good evening, Samus.

Samus positioned her Arm Cannon into the wall jack, and felt a rush of energy once again.

Recharge complete.

"Umm... Samus, we may have a problem." said Adam. Samus rushed to her seat and looked out.

"What is it, Adam? I can't see anything."

"That's the problem. The frigate was last known to be at these coordinates…"

"Pirates?" asked Samus, knowing the answer already.

"Quite possibly."

"How come we never got a distress signal?" Samus asked infuriated, slamming her armour-clad fist into an empty panel in front of her.

"You are forgetting that this is on the very boundaries of GF space. The signal may have been interrupted, and if received, too faint to decipher."

"I wouldn't have thought those bastards could be so tactical without a leader. Ridley's in a million pieces back where Zebes was-"

"Well, All of the events back on Aether were performed without the command of Ridley, Kraid or Mother Brain, to the best of our knowledge anyway." Adam explained.

"Are you saying there is any chance that any of those are alive? I just blew the damn planet up-"

"-Sorry to interrupt you Samus, but sensors are reading huge levels of Space Pirate activity in this sector. There is also another reading… A ship of unknown origin, single seater, headed towards us. Cannot confirm threat level."

"Who the hell is flying around here in unmarked space?" Samus exclaimed in surprise, a little cautious.

"Remember that this ship has no armed defences. The ship is approaching fast. Very fast indeed, the speed nearly matching that of this ship, Samus."

Samus checked the radar, blinking with two lights; Samus' ship in the center, the other ship closing in on its position.

"Well, it's not a Pirate cruiser. Those aren't that fast…" she mentioned.

"Incoming transmission from the ship, Samus. Patching through now."

"Samus? Samus-freaking-Aran? Boy are you a sight for sore eyes… What are you doing way out here?" the voice of a gruff man came through the communicator. Samus opened her eyes wide at the voice. She recognised it.

"Weston? Commander Weston?" Samus voiced back.

"GF Sector K Marine Corps, the very same, kid. Good thing you remember me. I didn't want you blasting me out of my ship." Weston answered.

"Well er… I couldn't anyway. This ship has no weaponry."

"…You need a new ship, kid. Especially round here, Pirates everywhere. Surprised I made it so far without being tracked." said Weston.

"Ms. Aran is fine with the ship she has right now, thank you, Commander." said an offended-sounding Adam. Samus rolled her eyes behind the darkness of her tinted visor; Even programs feel pride, it seems. Although, Samus thought, Adam has proven himself to be more than your normal everyday program.

"Anyway, you after the GF frigate around these parts? Give up now, 'cause I was the ranking officer on that pile of nuts and bolts. Once the Pirates heard about a borderline Federation station, it was a slaughter… I recovered a few men and made a run for it in the escape ships, but we were separated in the firefight. Still dunno even now if they're alive or not." Weston explained, a solemn expression plaguing his otherwise handsome face on the fuzzy holograph screen as he remembered the events.

"One more reason for me to hate the Pirates…" Samus muttered to herself more than anyone. She had a score to settle with the Space Pirates. She had already avenged the many lives of the people of K2-L, including her own parents, three times over. The Space Pirates had managed to rebuild their leaderseveral times She had just destroyed him yet again, and hopefully for the last time. Piece by piece, Ridley had lost to Samus' heavy arsenal over the cycles. She wondered if they would ever meet again in the future. She didn't doubt the possibility. Every time Ridley came back, he was much stronger than before.

"He was bad enough on Zebes…" slipped out of her mouth, causing confusion for the sentient and the commander.

"Samus, we have an emergency. We are being scanned, and not by Commander Weston. Retrieving course now… A planet not far from this position, 4.5 trillion teratons in size. Checking Federation references… Inconclusive. This planet is unknown to the Galactic Federation, Samus." Adam interrupted Samus' thoughts.

"Do I have to explore another planet this decicycle…?" Samus complained.

"Samus, I have calculated the signal frequency of the scanners. They match that of the Space Pirates!" Adam added.

"What?! How did they-" Weston began, but was cut off by the bounty huntress.

"Dear Chozo Gods, we've found the Pirate homeworld…"

"Rather, it found us, Samus…" Adam interjected.

Samus didn't know whether to feel fear or exhilaration. She had finally found the mainstay of the Space Pirates, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. There was a chance at vengeance, at last. But they already had the advantage. A glint appeared in her eyes, and then a broad smile crossed her lips.

"Adam, try and get us on that planet. I have a fight to finish." she said, cocking her Arm Cannon onto her shoulder.

"Samus, you do know that if we land, there is a high possibility that a new mission will have to be made. As your CO, I would have to assign you for once to destroy this planet willingly, wiping the planet clean of Space Pirate activity on the way. Any objections, Lady?"

"None at all, Adam. None at all." Samus answered, an uncontrollable grin spread across her face behind her visor.

"Samus are you NUTS?" The holograph of Weston yelled at her. "Look, I know you're good. I've heard what you've done and I believe them, but this is way too much even for you! We'd need a full scale GF fleet to take on the base of these bastards! You're one woman!"

"Correction, my dear Commander, we are one man, one computer, and one woman."

So, Samus has found the home planet of the Space Pirates, or rather, the other way round. What chance could the Huntress have? Then again, she's surprised us in the past.

Chapter 2, coming soon!