Author's Notes: I'm getting tired of just writing Ed, Edd n Eddy fics, so I decided to write this to put some variety in my stories. Besides, I don't see too many fics about unnamed characters in the Metroid Section.
P.S. For those of you who've played Metroid Prime 3, you should recognize the scene this story is based on, if not, I heavily suggest playing it again.
In The Vacuum:
The Last Moments of a GF Marine
Name: Kelvin "Kyle" Horstson. Rank: Private, GF Marine stationed on GFS Olympus…
…Importance in the universe: Zero, zip, nada.
Yes, if you were lucky enough to find this audio log, my very last audio, you should consider yourself important. You have salvaged the log of a complete nobody. And you probably thought the tech heads had it bad, right? I envy them. They get to stay where it's safe, or huddle in a closet and not get reprimanded for it. Not like us Marines. We fight, and, in most cases, die on a battlefield. That's our job. Me, I'm going to die out in the vacuum of space.
Yeah, you heard that right, space. No blaze of glory for me. No place on the list of martyrs. I get to die out in space, moving as if I'm stuck in an endless pool of water, except you can't float to the surface. Meanwhile, there are Space Pirate Jolly Rogers and my comrades Stilettos flying and space fighting all around me…
You'll never know how much praying I did, and still am doing, to keep those things from hitting me and ripping me to pieces. That would be such a dumb way to go. I think I'd rather take on a Commando Pirate. At least then I could go down fighting.
So, by now, you're probably wondering just how I got in this mess. You know, floating out and space and all. You'd think that I would be back on the ship, fighting off pirates or doing the same thing down on Norion. Well, to be precise, I was on the ship, obviously, and then we were attacked by the Space Pirates, just as we had four hunters on board. Our, and by extension, my, job was to clear the way to their ships. So I, with one of my squad members, was fighting off a few pirates in one of the corridors.
We thought we would be alright when Samus Aran showed up, but boy were we wrong. I don't, nor want to, know how one of our own Stiletto fighters, ablaze like a giant fireball, came crashing into the section of the ship that we were in. Well, from what I saw, the two pirates were killed upon the collision. However, the collision rendered the corridor asunder, and the vacuum of space quickly kicked in. The other member of my squad had no chance, tried as he might, he failed to grab something. I suspect that he is also floating around somewhere, probably also recording his last words.
I, however, managed to grab onto an outcropping of the wall, giving me two chances for survival. Either I held on until the bulkhead closed the breach or wait for Samus to fire and hit the manual seal switch. Neither happened.
I lost my grip just before the bulkhead closed and Samus never succeeded in hitting the switch. Though she has my thanks for trying. I'm just lucky enough that that the standard Marine Suit has thirty minutes of emergency air for these types of situations. My only and I mean only hope now is that someone finds me before I run out of air. The chance of that happening for a nobody like me is the same numeral amount for my usefulness…
ZERO.
The most likely possibility is that I will run out of air in the next… 24 minutes and that I will die a slow, agonizing death of suffocation. I hope that you will skip past the last few seconds of the audio log. All you will get is silence and gurgling, probably more silence than gurgling, as these suits are design to shut down a minute after the occupant's time of death, if not sooner, and I can only hold my breath for about three minutes.
Well, now that the details leading to this point have been disclosed to you, the only question is… Where do I go from here? Well, I was born in Colorado, my dad was a farmer, and I join the armed forces after having a falling out with him. Real smart move, right? If I had known this would happen, I would have shot myself the moment I got on board. Not suicide, though. I'm not that sort of guy. Just a wound bad enough to keep me in the Medical Bay for about a month or two. Heck, maybe I could have done it bad enough to get sent back home. That would have at least given me time to reconcile with him before they dragged me back out here when I got better.
… Or maybe I should have signed up for that PED program that everyone was talking about a few months ago. I didn't though, because I didn't want to get Phazon Sickness and nobody told me that no one using a PED had gotten Phazon Sickness. Yet, at least. But if I did sign up for the program, I would be down on the planet, WITH AIR, instead of floating around here, in space.
What's even the point of griping about it? I could have signed up for the program, but the fact remains that I didn't. No use griping about what you can't change, but, then again, I'm supposed to entertain you for the next, oh say, 20 minutes or so…
…
…
Okay, I have nothing. I guess a dying man has very little things to really talk about. Kind of letting the fact that you won't be around anymore sink in, maybe? I don't know.
What? Do you still think I have any chance of surviving this? Oh, great. Now I'm having two way conversations with people who aren't there! Whatever. Point is that I'm floating away from the battle, which means the chances of someone finding me are decreasing, fast. The gravitational pull of the planet is also pulling me in, and I don't think these suit things are meant to go through re-entry. Hopefully I can launch this log into space so that someone can find it before then.
… I think it's time to find something to take my mind off of my inevitable death. Maybe I should check the battle, see how we're doing. Luckily, I got blasted out backwards, so I can view the entire battle from here. Wow, looks like both sides are getting hammered hard. The Olympus seems to be doing fine, minimal damage. Good thing I have this scope visor to get it in detail!
Oh, wait, this is an audio log, so you can't see it, can you? Well, it seems that Samus' gunship just left the Olympus, so I at least can I have the satisfaction that my death wasn't for nothing, and most of our Stilettos have left the battle in orbit and are going down to help out on the planet.
But it looks like there are some Space Pirate Transports heading down to the planet too. That can't be good; it never is good when the Pirates invade. Guess they're getting cocky after taking the Valhalla. But I know the people of the Olympus and down on Norion won't fall so easily. Unlike the green crew of the Valhalla, we have experience on our side.
First off, we have four hunters, Rundas, Ghor, Gandraya and Samus, fighting in this battle, and just one hunter equals 50, no, 60 marines. Samus herself is said to be equal to all the marines combined.
Next we have Admiral Dane. Though I've served under him for the past five years, I've never personally met him, except for the occasional times when we passed each other in the corridors, not too memorable of moments. Though, from what I hear, he is the best that the fleet has to offer. He is rumored to have taken down a few Commandos by himself, but I think that's all that is, a rumor.
Finally, down on Norion is an array that'll send a signal to a satellite to unleash a laser from hell on any fleet that dare try to take the planet. Why they hadn't fire it off yet, I don't know, but I wish they would fire it soon.
… Damn. I lost track of how much time I have left. Better bring up the suit's info system… Looks like I have about 13 minutes of air left. The planet looks bigger now, but that's only because I'm being pulled in by its gravitational field. It really looks like I won't make it…
To you, yeah you, the person who finds this, I want to thank you for listening. I also I have a few requests. First tell my father, his name is Joe, Joseph Horstson, that I'm sorry and that it's under the shed. He'll understand. Second, I want you tell Admiral Dane that he was a hell of a commander and that Kyle said hello. And, lastly, in my locker back in Olympus's barracks, if the haven't cleared it out by the time you get to it. The combination is 37903. There is a book in there; it's titled 'The Galactic Federation Frontier', I wrote it, but I don't care what you do with it. You can throw it away, keep it, or publish it. I don't care; I was never a good writer.
Well, the planet is getting very close now and it feels like I'm picking up speed. So now I guess it is last words time. Wait, isn't that what I've been doing? Whatever. I have 9 minutes of air; I'm going to use them. So, for my last words, I'm going to give you some advice: If anyone tells you that becoming a Marine or a Fleet Trooper is the best way to defend the Federation from Pirates, don't believe them. Go become a Hunter if you want to do that. You'll have better hours, better pay, better equipment, namely your own, and all around better luck. Secondly, if you end up working as a starship designer, please remember to make a Hull Breach Seal Switch easily reached. If you were paying attention, the exact opposite is what did this to me.
And, finally, if you find yourself surrounded by everything, and it feels like there's no way out, please keep on fighting. Don't end up like me and not go down fighting, or in a position where you can't fight. Always, always go down fighting.
…Always…
I only have about a minute of air left, guess all of my talking used it all up faster than I thought it would. It's… uh… getting hard to breathe. I'm aiming my rifle away from the planet; hopefully I can blast… the pod away from the planet's reach…
This is Kelvin Horstson, GF Marine stationed… on GFS Olympus. This is my last log, and I am now… signing out.
The last audio log was, by chance, recovered by Samus Aran as she was leaving the Olympus for the planet Bryyo. It stayed in her ship's logs until her mission, fighting against Dark Samus and the living planet, Phaaze, was complete. When she was complete with her mission, she brought the log to the attention of Admiral Dane, who launched a search for Kelvin Horstson, despite the fact that the most likely possibility was that he was dead.
The burned remains of a GF Marine Suit were found in the forests of Norion. It had collided with Space Pirate transport, en route to the military base stationed there. It was carrying 4 Commando Pirates and a Pirate Commander. The collision caused just enough damage to bring the transport down. If the transport was allowed to land, it could have changed the tide of the battle.
The suit's intact registry number, 37903, matched it to Kelvin Horstson, as did the DNA found in the ash and flesh of suit. As instructed in his audio log, his final wishes were carried out. His father, after being told what had happened, dug up a box from under a shed, inside were articles from magazines and newspapers about life on the spatial frontier. Due to the fact that she was the one who found the log, Samus Aran was given the book found in Horstson's locker. It is currently unknown what she did with it. Finally, by Admiral Dane's request, an award was made in Kelvin's honor, given to those who died in combat, but showed outstanding bravery by continuing to fight. Kelvin Horstson was the first to be given the award.
Author's Notes: Well, here the story. It probably would have been better if I posted it on New Year's, but hope it's not to late to receive the New Year's welcome. Here's to having a good year and to a new one making it's way!