Not Exactly Typical
A Metroid Fan Fiction by RebelX
Chapter One: A Usual Morning
Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo or any of its stories, characters, etc. I do own everything you don't recognize. An author whose name escapes me now said it best: "Everything you recognize I don't own. Everything you don't, I do" (or something like that)
Author's note: I've revised this first chapter, so if you've already read you should read it again just in case.
Log 07.12.9603
This is Maintenance officer 9 reporting an unusual event. This morning at approximately 10 am something broke through the atmosphere and crash-landed in sector 27. Investigation revealed the crashed object to be part of a ship. The black burn marks indicate metal was subject to some explosion before entering atmosphere. A sample was taken for study, test results are expected within the hour. Halfway through sector 27 a path of broken vegetation and predator corpses was discovered leading away from the crash site. It seems impossible that an animal could have survived re-entry or space by clinging to the metal found at the crash site, yet bio scans indicate an unknown creature to be wandering around within the proximity of the crash. Surrounding outposts and Federation HQ will be notified immediately. End Log.
Lucius groaned as she sat back in her chair, her body still sore from the unexpected run back to outpost 255. She pursed her lips as she read back over what she had written. It did not mention the strange cries she had heard on her way back to the bunker, or the fact that the path of broken vegetation was two meters wide and three meters tall. Whatever was out there, it was big, it was mean, and it's screech made her blood run cold. After her second revision of the new log, she entered it into the databanks. She sagged forward with her head in her hands, her elbows resting on the computer desk. She thought over the events of the morning, if only to keep her mind off of that terrifying scream echoing inside her head.
A small animal stalked through the lifeless corridors. It walked on all fours; each step made with intense purpose. The canine face was hardened with unbreakable determination. The small cross between a dog and a lizard had a mission, a job it deemed very important. Years of self- training had rendered it perfect for this self-proclaimed duty, which it performed every morning with perfection. It navigated the gray, twisting mass of corridors with ease, never pausing once. Finally it turned to a big blue door. It reared up on its scaly hind legs, reached up, and pressed a small black button. The door slid open with a hiss, and the animal entered. It readied itself to pounce, its eyes narrowing in concentration. The small clock on the bedside table turned to 9:30, and a buzzer went off. That was its cue.
People were screaming everywhere as the town went up in smoke. The relentless shower of bombs did not heed them, the small colony continued being blown to bits for no reason at all. A lone girl stood in the middle of the chaos, tears streaming down her face. She had just watched the invading pirates shoot down her parents. Life suddenly seemed empty and meaningless. Her stuffed animal fell from her limp little fist and hit the dusty sand with a dull thud that echoed in the air. Dead silence followed. Not a thing stirred about her. Ruins smoked around the tiny girl, corpses were thrown about everywhere. She recognized every dead soul strewn about her, shed a tear for each of them. Her eyes closed as she hung her little golden head, the world dissolving into darkness. Then out of the gray mist there appeared a great ruby-red figure. The fuzzy outline of the dragon stooped down and looked at her dirty, tear-streaked face. It reached out with a clawed hand and gently forced her chin up. She looked into its swirling yellow eyes, tears continuing to flow from her own blue orbs. She spoke one word, her soft voice asking the question that is often the hardest to explain. The dragon could not answer. She closed her eyes as her vision turned black, the simple question still echoing in her mind. Why? Nothing would answer her. Why? Nothing could answer her. Why? The echo became a single note singing through the darkness. Then the note began to break up into stutters of song. The stutters turned into beeping, and the little girl woke up.
With a jolt a human figure sat up on the cot. The animal had already leapt into the air. It sailed into her, easily knocking her off the small green cot and onto the cold metal floor. With a happy yip it started licking her face with it's forked blue tongue. "Joxer! Stop that! Get off me, you stupid git!" The animal yipped even more happily, its tail wagging with incredible speed, then complied.
"Honestly! Every morning, the same thing! Why must you always ram me off the bed?! Is it your mission in life or something?!"
The animal merely panted stupidly. With a roar of frustration, Maintenance Officer number 9 picked herself up off the floor and dusted herself off, then went off to have breakfast.
Outpost 255, like all the outposts on R47V4K, was an unused federation research station that had had its funding pulled due to economic troubles. Like all such abandoned research centers, it was hoped that one day research would be able to continue there. That was why every outpost was assigned two maintenance officers who kept all the more important systems fully functional and the facilities maintained. These maintenance officers were usually out of work bounty hunters that wanted a job where they wouldn't have to be under the thumb of some Federation suit. As usual among bounty hunters going around in casual garb, no one knew their real names. Those names were to be connected only with the various body armors characteristic of bounty hunters nowadays. Maintenance Officer number 9 was known as Lucius, apparently the shortened version of some space pirate commander's name. Her partner in outpost 255 was Maintenance Officer number 10, who she called John. He called her Luke as a sort of joke, because it sounded like her name and she reminded him of a character in one of the ancient movies, Star Wars. Their main concerns were the life support systems, the main computer, the communication systems, the database, the security casing around the restricted research area (they were not actually allowed in any of the research areas) and the emergency systems. In their free time, however, they liked to upkeep and use the recreation area as well. Supply ships came every six months, bringing spare parts and repair equipment that they requested. Food and water was taken care of by the life support system that was their top priority to maintain.
Lucius wearily made her way to the mess hall, yawning all the way. She had gotten used to her nightmares by now, and used to Joxer long before. She sat down at one of the long tables, feeling not quite ready to eat anything. She stared at the shiny surface of the smooth polished metal table, thinking about the parasite nest she would have to clear out in a few hours. The little buggers had made a good mess of the wires, disabling many of the security systems on the doors and on the main computer. That wasn't too much of a concern, considering that the unused facility didn't attract much attention from pirates or anything, but you never knew when the Federation was going to send a surprise inspection to make sure they were doing their jobs. Any parasitic infestation even in the most trivial of systems would have to be taken care of immediately.
As usual at this hour of the morning, John was still asleep. Lucius couldn't really get going without her coffee, and also as usual she was too tired to get up and go get some. So the traditional occurrence of Lucius dozing off in the mess hall also took place.
"You forgot to turn your alarm off again" a rather grouchy voice interrupted her slumber. She blinked off her sleepiness as John slid into the chair across from her. This was also traditional of a typical morning at outpost 255.
"Oh yeah. Sorry"
"Why do you even use the thing? You know Joxer'll wake you"
"Nah, he won't pounce unless I'm sitting up"
"Humph" John glared at the little dizard, who panted back up at him with the usual stupid expression.
It was at this point in time when something unusual happened. The proximity alarm went off.
Author's note: Well, I've revised this now, so it should be better. Slightly. Review! Yeah.
A Metroid Fan Fiction by RebelX
Chapter One: A Usual Morning
Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo or any of its stories, characters, etc. I do own everything you don't recognize. An author whose name escapes me now said it best: "Everything you recognize I don't own. Everything you don't, I do" (or something like that)
Author's note: I've revised this first chapter, so if you've already read you should read it again just in case.
Log 07.12.9603
This is Maintenance officer 9 reporting an unusual event. This morning at approximately 10 am something broke through the atmosphere and crash-landed in sector 27. Investigation revealed the crashed object to be part of a ship. The black burn marks indicate metal was subject to some explosion before entering atmosphere. A sample was taken for study, test results are expected within the hour. Halfway through sector 27 a path of broken vegetation and predator corpses was discovered leading away from the crash site. It seems impossible that an animal could have survived re-entry or space by clinging to the metal found at the crash site, yet bio scans indicate an unknown creature to be wandering around within the proximity of the crash. Surrounding outposts and Federation HQ will be notified immediately. End Log.
Lucius groaned as she sat back in her chair, her body still sore from the unexpected run back to outpost 255. She pursed her lips as she read back over what she had written. It did not mention the strange cries she had heard on her way back to the bunker, or the fact that the path of broken vegetation was two meters wide and three meters tall. Whatever was out there, it was big, it was mean, and it's screech made her blood run cold. After her second revision of the new log, she entered it into the databanks. She sagged forward with her head in her hands, her elbows resting on the computer desk. She thought over the events of the morning, if only to keep her mind off of that terrifying scream echoing inside her head.
A small animal stalked through the lifeless corridors. It walked on all fours; each step made with intense purpose. The canine face was hardened with unbreakable determination. The small cross between a dog and a lizard had a mission, a job it deemed very important. Years of self- training had rendered it perfect for this self-proclaimed duty, which it performed every morning with perfection. It navigated the gray, twisting mass of corridors with ease, never pausing once. Finally it turned to a big blue door. It reared up on its scaly hind legs, reached up, and pressed a small black button. The door slid open with a hiss, and the animal entered. It readied itself to pounce, its eyes narrowing in concentration. The small clock on the bedside table turned to 9:30, and a buzzer went off. That was its cue.
People were screaming everywhere as the town went up in smoke. The relentless shower of bombs did not heed them, the small colony continued being blown to bits for no reason at all. A lone girl stood in the middle of the chaos, tears streaming down her face. She had just watched the invading pirates shoot down her parents. Life suddenly seemed empty and meaningless. Her stuffed animal fell from her limp little fist and hit the dusty sand with a dull thud that echoed in the air. Dead silence followed. Not a thing stirred about her. Ruins smoked around the tiny girl, corpses were thrown about everywhere. She recognized every dead soul strewn about her, shed a tear for each of them. Her eyes closed as she hung her little golden head, the world dissolving into darkness. Then out of the gray mist there appeared a great ruby-red figure. The fuzzy outline of the dragon stooped down and looked at her dirty, tear-streaked face. It reached out with a clawed hand and gently forced her chin up. She looked into its swirling yellow eyes, tears continuing to flow from her own blue orbs. She spoke one word, her soft voice asking the question that is often the hardest to explain. The dragon could not answer. She closed her eyes as her vision turned black, the simple question still echoing in her mind. Why? Nothing would answer her. Why? Nothing could answer her. Why? The echo became a single note singing through the darkness. Then the note began to break up into stutters of song. The stutters turned into beeping, and the little girl woke up.
With a jolt a human figure sat up on the cot. The animal had already leapt into the air. It sailed into her, easily knocking her off the small green cot and onto the cold metal floor. With a happy yip it started licking her face with it's forked blue tongue. "Joxer! Stop that! Get off me, you stupid git!" The animal yipped even more happily, its tail wagging with incredible speed, then complied.
"Honestly! Every morning, the same thing! Why must you always ram me off the bed?! Is it your mission in life or something?!"
The animal merely panted stupidly. With a roar of frustration, Maintenance Officer number 9 picked herself up off the floor and dusted herself off, then went off to have breakfast.
Outpost 255, like all the outposts on R47V4K, was an unused federation research station that had had its funding pulled due to economic troubles. Like all such abandoned research centers, it was hoped that one day research would be able to continue there. That was why every outpost was assigned two maintenance officers who kept all the more important systems fully functional and the facilities maintained. These maintenance officers were usually out of work bounty hunters that wanted a job where they wouldn't have to be under the thumb of some Federation suit. As usual among bounty hunters going around in casual garb, no one knew their real names. Those names were to be connected only with the various body armors characteristic of bounty hunters nowadays. Maintenance Officer number 9 was known as Lucius, apparently the shortened version of some space pirate commander's name. Her partner in outpost 255 was Maintenance Officer number 10, who she called John. He called her Luke as a sort of joke, because it sounded like her name and she reminded him of a character in one of the ancient movies, Star Wars. Their main concerns were the life support systems, the main computer, the communication systems, the database, the security casing around the restricted research area (they were not actually allowed in any of the research areas) and the emergency systems. In their free time, however, they liked to upkeep and use the recreation area as well. Supply ships came every six months, bringing spare parts and repair equipment that they requested. Food and water was taken care of by the life support system that was their top priority to maintain.
Lucius wearily made her way to the mess hall, yawning all the way. She had gotten used to her nightmares by now, and used to Joxer long before. She sat down at one of the long tables, feeling not quite ready to eat anything. She stared at the shiny surface of the smooth polished metal table, thinking about the parasite nest she would have to clear out in a few hours. The little buggers had made a good mess of the wires, disabling many of the security systems on the doors and on the main computer. That wasn't too much of a concern, considering that the unused facility didn't attract much attention from pirates or anything, but you never knew when the Federation was going to send a surprise inspection to make sure they were doing their jobs. Any parasitic infestation even in the most trivial of systems would have to be taken care of immediately.
As usual at this hour of the morning, John was still asleep. Lucius couldn't really get going without her coffee, and also as usual she was too tired to get up and go get some. So the traditional occurrence of Lucius dozing off in the mess hall also took place.
"You forgot to turn your alarm off again" a rather grouchy voice interrupted her slumber. She blinked off her sleepiness as John slid into the chair across from her. This was also traditional of a typical morning at outpost 255.
"Oh yeah. Sorry"
"Why do you even use the thing? You know Joxer'll wake you"
"Nah, he won't pounce unless I'm sitting up"
"Humph" John glared at the little dizard, who panted back up at him with the usual stupid expression.
It was at this point in time when something unusual happened. The proximity alarm went off.
Author's note: Well, I've revised this now, so it should be better. Slightly. Review! Yeah.