METROID

ISOLATION

"Number One, anything on the scanners?"

"Still nothing, sir."

Captain Travis Grissom sighed and adjusted himself in his seat. "Finish up your sweep, and then we'll call it a day."

"Yes sir."

This was day 28 of the Corsica's 30-day mission into the Allorith system. She was a small surveillance vessel, built for the sole purpose of observation, with a skeleton crew of 50 members. And they were all ready to get the hell out of there. So far, the only things that could even be considered remotely interesting were the asteroids they had passed along the way and the lone comet they had entered into the data archives. Everything else had been so trivial that the Federation would probably not even bother to archive it upon their return.

But now their voyage was almost at its end, and the crew of the Corsica could finally look forward to getting out of this depressingly small ship and on with their lives. Most of them would be happy just to get a decent sized hot shower, or a bed that was actually comfortable…

"Captain?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to his Number One.

"I think I've got something." The man said, pointing to his displays.

The Captain forced himself out of his chair, walking over to the radar screen. "What is it?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"Well I…" the other said. "I'm not really sure. I'm picking up some strange signals but…I think it's another ship."

That caught the captain's attention. Another ship? In this corner of the galaxy? That was almost impossible, since there were no colonies or inhabitable planets for light years.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Almost positive. Hold on…I'm picking up a new signal. It looks like some kind of distress call. They must have noticed us."

The captain was silent for a moment, weighing their options.

"Orders, sir?"

"…Change course." The captain finally said. "Move to intercept the vessel."

"Yes sir." Came the reply. "Changing course, ETA fifteen minutes."

"Henderson," the captain said, addressing the communications officer. "Try and get out a message to the vessel. Tell them we're en route and we can provide aid if necessary."

"Yes sir." Henderson said, and got to work. Number One gave him the coordinates, and he began sending out messages on various frequencies. "Attention, unknown craft. This is the Federation Surveillance Vessel Corsica. We have received your distress signal and we are willing to provide medical or mechanical aid if you require it. Please respond. Attention, unknown craft…"

The hailing continued for the next fifteen minutes, with all messages going unanswered. Finally, the vessel was in sight. It was an extremely small vessel and it looked to be dead in the water, with no traces of movement or power fluctuations appearing on the scanners.

"Number One, what have you got?" Grissom asked.

"It looks like a civilian ship." The other replied, running through the results of the scans. "A ship like that could hold, maybe, a crew of five people at the most."

"How could something that size have made it this far into deep space?" The captain wondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine. It's possible they've been adrift for some time, but that still wouldn't explain the distress call we just received."

"We're going to have to board it, then." The captain said, standing from his chair. "Maybe we'll find some answers in the ship's log. At any rate, we can't just leave it out there…"

He stopped, looking out the viewport at the derelict craft.

"Sir?" the other asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Something doesn't look right…" he replied, and gestured to the empty space behind the ship. "I thought I saw something else there for a moment…"

A beeping sounded from Number One's instruments, and he looked down at the results. "Got a result on the ship's ID, sir." He said. "They match that of a ship that was reported missing - that can't be right…"

"What?"

"A ship that was reported missing…almost twenty years ago."

The captain took a look for himself, verifying the results. "Something's not right…" he said.

Right then, the instruments went crazy.

"What the hell is that?" The captain asked, trying to follow the waves of incoming data.

"I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!"

Captain Grissom looked back to the ship, and he could have sworn he saw it again. He was almost positive that he had seen something behind the ship, but there was nothing there except empty space.

"Wait…" he muttered.

And then they all saw it. The space behind the vessel rippled for a brief moment, and something massive began to appear. An enormous hull became visible, dwarfing their vessel by at least a hundred times.

"Cloaking device!!!!!" the captain yelled, and the bridge erupted into chaos. He pulled out the microphone from the console in front of him and yelled, "General quarters, all hands! Red alert, repeat, red alert! This is not a drill!"

"Oh my god…" Henderson gasped, staring at the massive ship as it became fully visible. The vessel was truly gigantic, and it looked like it was built for war.

"Sir!" Number One called out. "I've analyzed the ship's markings. They're space pirates!"

"Cooper!" Grissom yelled. "Get the ship ready for a hyperspace jump!"

Space Pirates. The most feared and deadly force in the entire galaxy. And now they were face to face to face with one of their capital ships. The Corsica had weapons systems, but they were an afterthought at best, not designed for taking on anything this size. Space pirates were not known for showing mercy to anybody, and Grissom knew that negotiations were out of the question. Their only chance was to make a jump into hyperspace and escape.

"Engaging the light drive." Said Cooper. The ship's energy core would have to power up before they could make the jump, a process that took about one minute. Grissom only hoped they had that much time.

"Incoming!!!" a voice shouted, and the Captain looked up in time to see a glowing missile streaking towards the ship.

"BRACE!!!" he cried, just before being thrown to the floor as the ship rocked violently. The red emergency lights flared on as the Corsica stabilized, and the piercing alarms began to sound.

The ship jostled a second time, but instead of an explosion there was a steady rumbling sound. Grissom looked out the viewport; their ship was surrounded by a bright blue glow.

"Tractor beam…" he breathed, followed by a loud curse. "They have us…"

"We have them sir." The pilot said, standing and turning to face his master. "What is it you wish to do, lord Ridley?"

The hulking, Dragon-like creature known as Ridley took his time responding, glaring out the window at the unfortunate Federation vessel as it was pulled closer and closer to them. He nonchalantly flexed his talons, a wicked grin spreading across his already monstrous features.

"Detain the crew." He finally replied. "I'll be down shortly to give you further orders. If any of them try to put up a fight, kill them."

"Would you rather we kill them quickly, or slowly?" the space pirate asked, putting hopeful emphasis on the last option.

"Whatever suits your fancy." Ridley grinned, and the other left with a cackle.

Ridley redirected his gaze out the viewport, to the still approaching form of the Corsica.

His grin widened.

Yes, everything was going according to his plan.

END CHAPTER

I had this idea a while ago, but I didn't want to publish it because I didn't know where I wanted to take the story from this point. But I got hit with a little inspiration for the rest after watching the movie Pandorum (which is really good, by the way). So now that we've got the exposition out of the way, expect things to get moving pretty quickly next chapter. Let me know if you like it!