"Calling Samus Aran! Come in Samus Aran!"

"Oh fuck," Samus groaned. Samus set down the kettle on the counter of her ship's kitchenette, and stepped heavily into the control deck of her spaceship. She sat in the pilot chair and picked up the small phone as she stroked her blonde hair, lined here and there with gray streaks. "This is Samus," she sighed blankly, watching the ship's autopilot cruise the galaxy.

"Samus," said the panicked voice on the other end of the transmission, "Get to point 20-X-17 pronto!" The voice shrieked.

"On my way," Samus groaned, hanging up the receiver. As Samus arose to put on her armor from its chamber in the ship, she suddenly moaned and rubbed her side. "Forty long years," she grumbled, "I'm getting too old for this…"

-

Metroid-NG: The Stars of Aran

-

Lana had just gotten out of SR-004's combat college two months ago. SR-004, the moon of the infamous SR-883 that housed a massive infestation of parasitic Metroids thirty nine years ago, had become the leading Galactic Alliance Soldier's training facility in the galaxy. Lana Aran took pride in the fact that her grandmother was none other than the legendary Samus Aran, the loved and feared bounty hunter, who single-handedly eradicated the entire Metroid race. Since the final Metroid incident twenty years past, the species known as Metroid was declared and proven extinct for good.

Now at her home on Planet Wandaar, Lana could vividly remember that fateful Saturday in many Novembers past…

-

Lana, her mother an one of her mother's friends were all sitting in the living room, watching the television blare on about the mysterious disappearance of Samus Aran.

"She jus' come 'round here n' tell me t' fill up her ship," said the slackjawed refuelling station attendant on the television. "I fills it and then she jus' left."

"Did anything else happen?" asked the interviewer from offscreen.

"I jus' told y', she come here wantin' fer a refullin', an' I gives her ship a refullin' and then she went."

"Lana," Said her mother suddenly, "Would you mind fetching that old photo album from the attic?"

"Sure mom!" Lana said, jumping up from her armchair in the living room, brushing her emerald green-dyed long hair.

Lana trekked down the hallway of her house, and came to a stop in the middle of the corridor. Giving a string dangling from the ceiling a light tug, a trap door on the ceiling popped open, and out tumbled a crude staircase, which flopped out from the top of the trap door and slid to the floor. Lana propped the ladder into the trap door and began to climb.

Inside the dusty dim attic, Lana stepped over to a small case of shelves and began inspecting the wares on one level. "Where is that stupid book?" she muttered, peering into the dust covered memorabilia.

Accidentally, she let her shoulder bump into the support poles of the shelf unit, and a small heavy object smacked her on her back. Profanity passed through her lips as she rubbed her sore back. Looking around on the ground, she saw what had hit her.

It was a small smooth red helmet, with two oxygen tubes lining the chin and jaws, and sported a large green visor. "The hell is this?" she muttered to herself, picking the helmet up.

Just as she slid her hand into the head of the helmet, she felt something rough rub up against her fingertips. Suddenly, that rough material tumbled out of the red helmet and thunked onto the floor. Curious, Lana set the helmet on the ground beside her and knelt down to lift the small object into her hands.

It was a small rectangular parcel, just a brown cardboard box tied shut with string. There was a tag on it, and Lana read it aloud.

"Not to be opened until the death or disappearance of Samus Aran."

Intrigued, and since the tag was valid enough for her, Lana hastily tore open the package.

Inside, she found numerous computer chips and sloppily drawn diagrams, maps and other small notes, scribbled on scrap paper.

Among the clutter, she found a small envelope, addressed to "Whomever finds this letter."

Lana took the small envelope and ripped it open. Taking the letter out, she was somewhat surprised when the letter unfurled, fold after fold tumbled over one another, finally stretching from Lana's eye level to her waist. She began to read.

"Dear whoever finds this letter," Lana murmured as she read.

-

I was travelling the galaxy one day, searching for the last of the Metroid race, when I happened upon a small barren planet. It was on the far reaches of the galaxy, far into the realms of uncharted territory. Upon the planet, after I eradicated every Metroid on the surface, I journeyed down an underground passage, and found a massive electricity generator.

It was cylindrical in shape, and was, I'm guessing, about forty feet in height. The cavern it was in was the size of a small palace. It looked like the generator was crammed into the large cavern forcibly. I took the power output reading from the generator with my suit. However, the power from the generator was so intense, my armor blew a fuse. The reading I got from the generator was over 1,444,000 UniWatts- seventeen times the power of modern electricity generators! The style of generator this was was beyond me. It looked like nothing I had ever seen in other power generators. I realized that- should this generator ever be used for the wrong purposes, the results could be catastrophic. I was about to destroy the machine, when I found that my armor, badly damaged from the oversurge, had malfunctioned in its energy cannon.

Battered and bruised, I left the planet and vowed to return to destroy the generator some day. All I could remember from that point was that I felt very tired…

Suddenly, I found myself awake in a hospital bed. The nurse at the side of me said that I had fallen asleep at the helm of my ship, and had crashed onto the moon of SR-207. When I told her about the generator I had found, she laughed and said that such technology would be impossible. Feeling rather ashamed, I falsely admitted to a joke.

But, as I live and breathe, I swear that generator was real. It could have just been a dream I had while sleeping on my ship, or it really did happen.

I'm still not sure. If such a machine was just a figment of my fancy, it would make no matter who I thought would reach it. However, if the generator was real, if such power ever fell into the wrong hands…

-

Lana paused there. Then, she continued reading.

-

Somewhere in this attic, I have hidden my old space armor. It must be found out if that machine does exist. And, if so, if anyone has utilized its awesome power. If I was to go public with my discovery, I fear that I would have been ridiculed and be forced out of my job as a credible bounty hunter- possibly have been committed!

If you, the reader of this letter, are capable of discovering my mystery planet and generator, then by all means search for it. It must be known if such a power exists.

Should you decline this challenge, then let it be on your conscience that you may have let the peace and security of the galaxy crumble. However, if you do accept, then I wish you good luck.

Yours,

Samus Aran.