Chapter 1

Samus Aran rolled through the ventilation shaft in her morph ball mode. Eventually she found a grate where she could see down into the very large warehouse below. She deactivated her morph ball mode and looked down into the hideout of her next bounty.

The warehouse was filled with people of all species. They were all wearing similar clothing, which included a black cloak and hood. One humanoid standing on a small platform at the back of the warehouse who was holding a large ceremonial rod.

That must be Dreke Plaga, Samus's current bounty. Dreke looked like a typical human in almost every way, except for the eyes. The eyes were a pure color of deep red, similar to those of Ridley or Kraid. He is wanted by the Federation at a very high price, dead or alive. Three bounty hunters have already gone after him. They were never heard from again.

For only a second, Samus wondered why the Federation wanted this man. Perhaps he was a terrorist, or a traitor, or perhaps he merely insulted an admiral's wife. It didn't really matter to Samus. He was a contact and nothing more to her at this point. That is all that mattered.

Samus scanned the area under her and planned the best way to attack. Some of Dreke's guards were on a catwalk above the main floor carrying imperialist-like sniper rifles. The vast majority of enemies were on the ground floor around Dreke. They were carrying standard weaponry someone might find on the black market, but nothing to powerful. They should be easy to dispose of.

After deciding her plan of attack, Samus reactivated her morph ball and laid a bomb to shatter the grate under her. She dropped into the warehouse and fired two super missiles into the catwalk as she fell towards the ground. The snipers didn't have time to respond before the frail metal walkway shattered under the impact of the missiles. They fell to the ground and broke their necks upon impact.

Samus landed hard, but gracefully onto the ground floor and began picking off enemies one at a time. She was immediately bombarded with weapon fire and she did her best to swiftly avoid most of it while returning with her own beams and missiles.

Curiously, Samus noticed, Dreke did nothing but stand and watch as she mowed down his forces. Most of the time a bounty would run or return fire, but Dreke merely waited for the battle to end.

After Samus killed the last of the hooded guards she turned to Dreke who was standing on a short platform just in front of her. She raised her arm canon and aimed for his head. The bounty was dead or alive and since a corpse was much easier to bring than a living person she decided to collect the cash dead.

Samus fired three power beam shots into Dreke expecting him to drop dead or at least cripple him. After all, he was wearing no sign of armor or shielding. However, Dreke seemed to be unaffected by the beams and stood his ground. It was as if Samus threw paper balls at him.

She then tried her wave beam. It also had no effect. Then she switched to her ice beam and fired a round into his chest. As expected, Dreke didn't freeze or even shiver. Instead he stood like a statue and waited for the next round. Samus didn't want to use her plasma beam in case he disintegrated and she would have nothing to present to the bounty office, but he was giving her no choice. Samus's arm canon completely extended and she shot several rounds of liquid hot magma into Dreke. Nothing happened. Finally, Samus fired a missile into him and watched as it exploded in his chest. Dreke stood there as if she didn't do anything.

Realizing the futility of her effort, Samus lowered her arm canon and activated the scan visor. It took about two seconds to scan until words appeared in her visor.

Error: Scans inconclusive. Unknown readings detected.

Dreke started to chuckle a little and took two steps toward Samus. She raised her arm canon and took two steps backward.

"Samus Aran," Dreke said in an eerily strange voice, "I know about you. Of course that is not saying much since you are a legend among the Federation, but still…"

Dreke eyeballed Samus who was standing her ground. Her canon was fully extended and ready to strike if he tried anything unusual.

"You will not need that here," Dreke said. He raised his free hand and snapped his fingers in the air.

Samus's visor went static and started displaying several warning signs. Before she could run a diagnostic her suit deactivated leaving her with only her blue jumpsuit on. Unable to determine how Dreke managed to do that she looked at her now unarmored hands, then back at Dreke.

"I have more power than you can even begin to realize, Samus Aran. You cannot hope to defeat me and claim your bounty, can you? If I were you, I would leave right now and not return."

Samus shifted her body into an aggressive stance. She did not care how much power this person has. He was still her target and she would first die then walk away from her mission in utter disgrace.

Dreke noticed her stance and realized she planed to fight even without her battle suit on.

"Very well," he said. Dreke raised his hand toward Samus, opened palmed. A surge of intense pain flowed through Samus's body. She clenched her teeth together trying to overcome the pain. Samus dropped to her knees with one hand around her chest and the other planted into the ground. The pain started to calm.

Dreke started to walk towards her. Samus tried to get up, but as soon as she did the pain came back and forced her back down. She was completely immobilized.

Dreke put his hand on top of her head and closed his eyes. "Do not be afraid, this will not hurt you."

Samus did not feel any pain, but it did feel like a worm was crawling around in her brain. Dreke was digging through her memories. She started to have flashbacks to the space pirate raid on her planet, the Chozo, her mission on Zebes and everything after. Eventually Dreke stopped and took his hand off her head.

"Very interesting," he said, "You've had a very traumatizing early life, haven't you? You've lost your parents, your home, the Chozo and everyone you have been ever really close to."

Dreke turned around and started to walk towards the exit. Samus struggled to free herself from whatever force Dreke was using to hold her down, but it was useless. Before Dreke disappeared through the exit he stopped.

"Some of them are still alive," he called back still facing the exit, "Did you know that? There is a Chozo colony on the planet Glesis. It is a small planet beyond known space. No Federation scout has ever set foot there."

Samus stopped struggling and listened with disbelief. That was impossible!

"If you will not go there for that reason alone then go there for your bounty," Dreke said now looking back at her, "I will be waiting there for you. I took the liberty of giving you the knowledge and coordinates during our link. If you must kill me then we will meet there. Good luck, Samus Aran."

Dreke snapped his fingers again. Samus was released and her power suit reactivated. She got up slowly to be sure there was no more pain. After a quick diagnostic the suit showed all systems to be online and fully functional. Certain there was no physical damage she turned to face Dreke, but he was gone.