Chapter 2:

Back on Daiban, Samus made her way over to her gunship. As she walked through the hall, she considered what she would do once she left. She had not had any recent job offers, mainly due to her questionable status as to whether or not she was a criminal, but she knew that there would be more offers in the future now that she had been cleared of any wrongdoing. She entered the landing bay and walked quickly towards her gunship. She was anxious to get off of Daiban and search for new jobs. She also wanted to check to see if her Metroid DNA had properly integrated itself into her own original DNA with the absorption of the SA-X's Core X into her system, like her Chozo DNA had at the age of three. She had experimented with this by spending time in cold areas and environments, but she had not tested her tolerance for cold once her Omega Suit had been activated, even though she had been able to fire the Ice Beam without a problem when dealing with the Omega Metroid on the BSL research station.

As she stepped out onto the landing pad, she looked up into the sky. She stared at the beautiful cloud formations in the sky and thought about K-2L and Zebes. As she was looking into the sky, though, a cloud formation broke apart, as if some invisible force was forcing its way through the formation, and her musing quickly vanished. She focused on the cloud formation that was breaking apart and knew the instant she saw it that it was not a natural occurrence. After a moment of thought, she figured that there was only one thing that could disrupt a cloud formation of that size in that way: a cloaked ship flying through the atmosphere. She immediately rushed over and boarded her gunship. She did not need to see a series of lights and outlines of gray metal to know that something bad was about to happen.

Upon boarding her starship, she immediately went to the computer and powered up her ship. Inside the main computer, the eye of Adam Malkovich activated and, upon seeing Samus in an almost frantic rush to activate the comm array, he asked, "What's wrong Samus?"

"We've got a cloaked vessel directly above Galactic Federation Headquarters," she answered. "I think it's launching an attack."

After a few moments, Adam replied, "Correction, they are launching an attack."

The ground then rocked and Samus heard the explosions outside of her ship. The sound of screams and cries also assaulted her ears as the ground shook and more explosions sounded. Samus checked her sensors and saw that a capital starship had just appeared directly over Galactic Federation Headquarters. It was currently deploying drop pods, and firing energy blasts at the ground where known defensive cannons were stationed, providing covering fire for the deploying pods. The cannons went up in clouds of smoke, fire, and ash upon their meeting with the ship's blue energy bolts. Samus checked her sensors and identified the starship as a Galactic Federation troop transport, the G.F.S. Putze. It had already knocked out the defensive batteries for Galactic Federation Headquarters and drop pods were landing on the roof, penetrating the skin of Headquarters uncontested. For a fleeting second, she wondered why a Federation ship would be launching an attack against Federation Headquarters, but soon, her thoughts turned towards another, and far more likely, culprit. Space Pirates, Samus thought bitterly. Ever since Ridley had escaped her after the beating she gave him on planet Z-1A, she had wondered what they were doing. So far, no news of the Space Pirates had come, either over the media or through intelligence channels. X Parasites mimicking Zebesian Space Pirates had appeared on the BSL research station, but she had figured that they had been imitating infected Zebesian clones that had been developed by the Galactic Federation. Not wasting any time, Samus called into the radio, yelling, "This is Samus Aran to Daiban Control. Galactic Federation Headquarters and Federation City are under attack from the G.F.S. Putze, a Federation troopship! The starship is currently deploying troops on top of Galactic Federation Headquarters. We need assistance, immediately!"

A voice soon answered, "Understood. We have just detected the starship and beginning to mobilize defensive forces. We should arrive within ten minutes."

Ten minutes? Samus thought with shock. Unless there was a contingent of Marines and/or Army Troopers present inside Headquarters, the Pirates, or whoever was launching the attack, would have accomplished everything that they wished to in that time.

"Federation Headquarters won't hold out for ten minutes," Samus called into the radio. "We've got a capital ship hovering over Headquarters ready to blow it apart should the troopers they're deploying fail! Those troops and whatever other defenses you can muster are needed now!"

"We'll do what we can," the voice responded before the signal was cut.

Samus then activated her Omega Fusion Suit. A golden light surrounded her as the organic looking orange and yellow armor appeared over her body. She then looked over to Adam and told him, "Adam, keep a link open with my suit. Inform me of any changes, or any other signs of Pirates or whoever else is attacking."

"Understood, lady," Adam replied.

Samus then rushed out of her gunship and back into Galactic Federation Headquarters. Looking up into the sky once more, she witnessed the drop pods raining down upon Galactic Federation Headquarters, each pod seemingly appearing out of portals suspended a few hundred meters in the air. Samus used her visor's telescopic abilities to identify the lifeforms emerging from the pods. Just as she had thought, they were Space Pirate Troopers. A wave of energy arced near the portals and the large troop transport soon appeared. Just then, another volley of blue energy bolts rained down upon Federation City. These bolts were only anti-starfighter level bolts, though, and thus, only took out a single small building with each hit. Still, the weight of fire could add up fast. For a moment, she wondered why they had not fired on Galactic Federation Headquarters themselves. A couple volleys of bolts should have been enough to level the building and kill everyone inside. She soon saw scarlet lances of energy erupt from several defensive emplacements from inside Federation City. The lances struck the Putze and a bluish energy screen flared into existence on the bottom of the vessel. The vessel had not lost its power yet, but she could tell that it was taking a beating, and had likely come to Daiban already having sustained damage during its capture.

The vessel then rose into the air and its engines began to glow. A feeling of horror entered her heart as she looked down at the crowded streets of Federation City. Many were beginning to hide in shacks and houses, but only the most sturdy of buildings would withstand the forces that were about to be unleashed upon the city, for the massive troopship was going to enter warp inside the atmosphere of the planet. Unlike most Space Pirate vessels, which went into warp not only through opening a window into subspace to fly through, their flight was often accompanied by a massive thrust from their engines. Fortunately, the Pirates were using a Galactic Federation ship to enter warp, but the effects would still be devastating, for a window would still open into the airless void of subspace, and anyone trapped outside, and structures of inferior construction quality, would be pushed into the window, or at least towards it, by the rush of air seeking to fill in the void.

Samus quickly dove back into Galactic Federation Headquarters, the door sliding shut and a small hiss sounding after the door closed, told Adam over her radio, "Adam, magnetize the ship's landing pads now! The Pirates are about to jump to warp inside the atmosphere!"

"Already done, Samus," Adam called back to her. "Samus, I'm detecting multiple Space Pirate signatures, hundreds of them."

"Where are they headed?"

"The Main Chamber of the Galactic Federation Council."

Samus then ran down the corridor and called out to the soldiers, Galactic Federation Army Troopers and Police Officers, "A Space Pirate assault force has just breached Galactic Federation Headquarters! Protect the Council members and the Chairman. Make sure that nothing gets past you. I'll try to intercept the Space Pirate assault force and thin out their numbers before they reach you."

"Yes, ma'am," the Army Troopers responded as they went to their posts and proceeded to stand guard near each council member's office. She was worried that they would not have the armaments to deal with the Pirates that managed to get through, though. Any Space Pirate that had shielded armor would easily be able to shrug off all but the most concentrated of weapons fire from the lightly armed troopers and Police Officers.

Outside, the building, the Putze continued to rise until it was almost a kilometer into the sky. Just then, a portal opened in front of the ship. Air immediately rushed through the opening into subspace, the rush of air dragging all types of birds and other flying creatures into subspace, along with small, flimsy structures that housed the poor of Daiban, along with anyone who was not safely inside a more sturdy structure. Hundreds of people were pulled into the air and flew towards the portal, dragged along the currents of air. The Putze slowly made its way into the portal, the captain of the ship looking down at the surface of Daiban in glee. He grinned at the sight of so many Federation citizens being dragged into the air, and into the airless subspace where they would likely freeze, and most definitely suffocate, to death. The captain laughed out loud at the sight, a sound that would have unnerved any civilized person, but did nothing to disturb the rest of the bridge crew. The captain made certain to crawl into the portal so he could drag as many Federation citizens into subspace with him as possible.

Outside, the ship still slowly made its way through the portal. By now, half of the ship had made its way into subspace, but the slow crawl was allowing more people to be dragged along with the ship, as well as some weaker structures. Other structures that were strong enough to not immediately be dragged into subspace, were nevertheless being strained by the constant rush of wind upwards. Some of the structures were beginning to have their roofs torn off, with the occupants of the structures sent flying. After a couple more minutes, though, the Putze had finally fully entered the portal.

Once the ship was through, the portal closed and air rushed to fill the space that was now unoccupied, producing a clap in the process. Those still in the air, however, now found themselves suspended at various heights as the rush of air ceased, and gravity took over. People and materiel fell to the ground, inflicting more damage to the city, and killing more of its citizens. This event would almost certainly call the entire medical staff away from Galactic Federation Headquarters and to Federation City, itself. That would hopefully, in the Pirates' eyes, deny medical attention to any wounded Council members and security officers inside. In addition, it would also draw security away from the other ship that had gone to Daiban, and was tasked with carrying out the true objective of the mission.

On the far side of Federation City, a cloaked Space Pirate transport made its way down to an unoccupied area of the city. This area had not been affected by the Putze's jump back into warp, but it was still devoid of any security forces due to the attack on Galactic Federation Headquarters. The ship slowly descended to the ground, careful to not descend too quickly or draw attention to itself. Its cloaking device would prove problematic should there have been children at play, or a large crowd close by, for any bystander could then accidentally run into the ship and expose its existence. Still, due to the area being deserted, they were safe, for the moment. The ship soon touched down near a non-descript building and powered down all systems save for the cloaking device. The lead Commando then took out a device the size of a small, hand-held game and pressed a single button on it. A map immediately appeared on the screen. They were marked by green dots on the map, with their objective marked with a yellow dot a few buildings away in an underground area. The Pirates could not fault the Federation for keeping its most important Aurora Unit in an area like this. After all, the best way to protect something is to keep it in an area that's not likely to be traveled very often. They suspected that there were tunnels underground that would take them to and from the computer and the more respectable parts of Federation City. That did not concern them at the moment, though. The only focus of the Commandos was to make it to Aurora Unit Zero undetected. The doors to the cloaked transport soon opened, and the dozen Space Pirate Commandos soon filed out of the ship and proceeded to make their way towards their destination.

Inside Galactic Federation Headquarters, Samus made her way towards a console on the wall of the corridor and plugged her arm cannon into the computer. She was most fortunate that the console had a map of the entirety of Galactic Federation Headquarters, in addition to a scan of each and every lifeform inside. Samus downloaded the map and had her suit identify any and all known variations of Space Pirate in the building. They were soon identified, all of them being identified as Zebesian Space Pirates, and shown to still be confined to the upper levels. However, they looked to be making steady progress towards an elevator that would take them down to the Council members' level. Samus then went over towards an elevator that would take her to the lead force of Space Pirates. She boarded the elevator and waited as it took her up to Level Ninety-six where the Space Pirates were trying to board the elevators so they could reach the Federation Council members.

Upon reaching Level Ninety-six, the doors opened, revealing a hallway full of Zebesian Space Pirates. The bodies of several security officers also lined the corridor. Samus fired a series of green plasma beam blasts into the horde of Space Pirates. Several Zebesians fell to the initial volley, large, smoking holes burned into their chests by Samus's plasma fire, but the others retaliated by firing their own pulse cannons and a series of green plasma missiles at the bounty hunter. Knowing that her Fusion Suit's defenses were significantly weaker than her Varia or Gravity Suit, even in its Omega form, Samus did not stand there and let the blasts strike her. Instead, she weaved and dodged the incoming fire, only sustaining a few hits, which still took out most of an entire Energy Tank. Samus continued firing on the Zebesians and another six fell to the ground. Still, she could see more Zebesians flooding into the corridor, and streaming past her. Only a few members of each squadron stayed behind to stop her, and they were only doing so in order to allow the others to get past so they could likely make their way down to he main hall and attack the Federation Council members and kill as many of them as possible before dying. Knowing this, she activated her radio and called, "This is Samus Aran on Level Ninety-six of Galactic Federation Headquarters. There are too many of them for me to stop on my own and a lot of them are getting by. Mobilize everyone that you can. I think that the Pirates are targeting the Federation Council members."

"Understood," came the response.

Now it was Samus's job to ensure that as few Pirates managed to get past her as possible. She continued to fire blasts of plasma at the horde of Pirates, but each shot was only felling a single Pirate, while two or three managed to surge past her. Even worse, was that she was beginning to take a few hits as well, for she had already lost three of her Energy Tanks, and a fourth tank had nearly been depleted as well. She was really feeling the loss of the defense that her normal Power Suit had given her earlier. She decided that the best thing she could do was to try to take out or disable as many Pirates as she could as quickly as she could. To that end, she switched to her Ice Missiles and charged a missile. A bulge of icy blue energy formed at the end of her cannon as more Pirates flooded into the corridor. Once the Ice Missile was charged into the Diffusion Missile, Samus unleashed it upon the Zebesians. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and streaked towards the nearest Zebesian Space Pirate. The missile struck the Zebesian and exploded in a massive wave of frigid icy energy. The initial impact froze the Zebesian solid, but the detonation did not stop there. A wave of icy energy erupted from the center of the detonation and engulfed the entire squadron of Zebesians. At least twenty Zebesians were frozen by the Diffusion Missile. She wasted no time switching to her Power Beam and charging a single shot to shatter as many Space Pirates as possible.

Samus unleashed her first shot at the first frozen Pirate and shattered him. She then fired a Charged Shot at a second, then a third, and a fourth. She managed to shatter six Pirates before the others managed to thaw. Still, as they were beginning to thaw, Samus noticed more Zebesians approaching. She then charged another Diffusion Missile and unleashed it at the horde of approaching, and thawing, Pirates. Again, another wave of freezing energy washed over the Pirate forces and froze them solid. Right after the next wave was frozen, more Pirates arrived. Again, Samus unleashed another Diffusion Missile on them, and again, she froze the entire advancing horde.

After seeing that there were no other approaching Zebesians or other enemy forces, she went to work shattering the frozen Space Pirates so that they would not cause any more trouble later. Each Charged Shot took around two seconds to charge, and another second was used finding, targeting, and shattering a Pirate or group of Pirates. Samus did not hesitate to go up to the Pirates and shatter them with her fists and with kicks, or by tossing them into each other. She knew that she would shatter more of them that way, but that should they thaw fairly quickly, they would have an easier time managing to hit her with their own weapons, and she would have to work quickly to charge a Diffusion Missile since despite the return of her Ice Beam against the Omega Metroid, she was hesitant to use the beam again, since she had become far more sensitive to cold environments than before, due to the Metroid Vaccine. She suspected that the Metroid DNA might still be a little unstable and that it would not be a good idea to test her tolerance to the Ice Beam, at the moment.

Samus continued to shatter Space Pirates as those who remained intact started to thaw. She knew that she would have to use another Diffusion Missile to freeze them once more, but as she started to charge the missile, energy fire erupted from behind the Zebesians. Four frozen Zebesians were instantly shattered and four more of those that managed to thaw were shot in the back by orange energy projectiles. The Pirates turned around and found a squadron of six Galactic Federation Marines standing behind them, pumping energy fire into their ranks. Samus, seeing the effect of the Marines' fire, quickly backed away and switched once more to her Plasma Beam and opened fire on the remaining Pirates as well. Some tried to flee from the Marines and make it past the Hunter, only to be cut down by Samus. The others tried to face down the Marines, only to be slaughtered in the massive crossfire between Samus's Plasma Beam and the Marines' energy rifles. In less than ten seconds, the battle was over, with Samus and the Marines emerging victorious, and the Marines not suffering a single casualty.

"Is that all of them?" the Marine commander, a Major, asked Samus.

The bounty hunger shook her head. "A number of Pirates made it by me before you arrived. I'm almost certain that they're targeting the Council Members of the Federation."

"Alright, Samus, we're on it," the commander responded as he and the rest of his squad rushed towards one of the elevators and rode it down to the main level. Knowing that there was little more to do here, Samus followed the Marines, hoping that the Army Troopers down in the Main Hall were holding their own against any and all Zebesian Space Pirates that managed to make it that far.

Down in the Main Hall, squads of Federation Army Troopers and Police Officers were trying to deal with the numerous Zebesian Space Pirates that were attacking. The chambers of several Council Members had already been breached, and Council Members killed, by the Space Pirates. Other assembly areas had seen groups of Council Members assembling to talk about recent calls for more rapid military recruitment and the consolidation of power to the Chairman of the Federation. Many were opposed to that idea, not trusting Elric, but others were more open to it, for in Elric's proposal, the Council Members would have direct control over their territories, answering only to the Chairman, himself. These meetings had been unceremoniously interrupted by the Zebesians and many more Council Members had been cut down by the assaulting Space Pirates before they were either dealt with by the Federation Army Troopers, or moved on to hunt down other Council Members.

Some of the Council Members, however, had gotten wise to the Space Pirate attacks, despite the internal comm systems either not functioning or being jammed by the Pirates. Councilman Colin Williams and Madeline Powell were involved in a discussion with other representatives of Sol as to what to do should the Federation start trying harder to force them to carry out their edicts when the door to their chamber was shattered by an explosion and two Zebesian Space Pirates came sprinting through the door, looking for some sport. They got more than they bargained for when both Colin Williams and Madeline Powell drew their defensive side arms and opened fire on the two Pirates. Their first two energy blasts splashed against the shields of the Space Pirates, inflicting no damage to the Pirates. However, the humans did not stop firing there. They continued to fire and on the third shot, collapsed the shields of the Zebesians. Two more shots were all that were needed to fell them.

After the battle, seeing that it would be useless to stay in the room, they quickly went over and strapped two force field projectors to themselves and exited the room. Outside, the room, they saw the dead bodies of two Federation Army Troopers lying at the entrance. Colin knelt down and took the pulses of the two dead troopers. Seeing that there was no life in them, he picked up their guns and handed one of them to Madeline Powell. "We won't survive this by hiding. It's us they want," Colin told his colleague.

Madeline then took the gun and gave a confident grin. "Then let's take the fight to the Pirates," she replied. With that, the two of them then patrolled the corridor and assisted any troopers they found in fighting off the Space Pirates.

Samus rode the elevator back down to the Main Level of Galactic Federation Headquarters, hoping that she would reach the level and intercept the Zebesians that had managed to get past her before they had done too much damage. The seconds were slow as Samus rode the elevator down to the Main Level. After about twenty seconds, the doors opened and Samus and the Marines were greeted with a display of dead bodies, Federation Army and Police Trooper and Zebesian alike. She noted that the number of Federation dead vastly outnumbered the number of Zebesian dead. Samus and the Marines filed off of the elevator and proceeded to split up. The Marine squadron turned to their right while Samus turned left and proceeded to search for any Zebesians, as well as any survivors of the attack.

Not far into her search, she found Councilman Colin Williams and Councilwoman Madeline Powell huddled behind a makeshift barricade of steel crates, along with two aides and a Galactic Federation Army Trooper. A squadron of six Zebesians had them pinned down, and the Army Trooper's assault rifle, which merely fired physical bullets, was doing little to the shields of the Zebesian Troopers. The Zebesians were advancing on the position of the Council Members when Samus came onto the scene and immediately opened fire with a charged burst of plasma. The large green burst leapt from her arm cannon and struck the nearest Zebesian Space Pirate in the chest. The blast instantly overcame the Zebesian's shields and inflicted direct damage to the Pirate. The Zebesian was instantly vaporized by the attack, and the shields of his cohorts flared as well as he was annihilated by Samus's Plasma Beam. Samus then targeted the other Zebesians as they fired volley after volley of plasma missiles at her. Their missiles, however, were unguided and as such, Samus was able to dodge them with ease. The missiles sailed past her and detonated over a dozen meters away. She then fired two plasma blasts at each Pirate, one to take down the shields, and the other to kill the Pirate. Each fatal blast burned a massive hole into the chest of the unfortunate Zebesian, sending them tumbling backwards. After a few seconds, the battle was over.

Once the battle had ended, Samus went over to Williams and Powell and asked, "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine," they both responded in unison. They then turned to their aides and to the Army Trooper and asked, "You all okay?"

The others nodded. "We're fine, sir and ma'am," they answered.

"We should get you back to your chambers," Samus suggested. "You'll be safest there."

"It's too late," Councilwoman Powell replied. "The chambers were first place the Pirates attacked. Many of us were taken off guard. Most of the Council Members that have not been killed have retreated into the Council Chamber. We know that Elric is in there with his Personal Guard."

"That's even worse," Colin Williams said. "There, the Pirates can herd all of their targets together. Their primary target is likely going to be Elric anyway. The Council Members inside are going to be cut down by the Pirates."

"I know," Madeline responded in a dour tone.

Not if I can help it, Samus thought harshly. A contingent of Marines soon approached and told Samus, "Ma'am, we have secured several of the Council Member's offices and chambers. However, there appears to be a large gathering of Pirates outside the Federation Council Chamber. Most of the Council present on Daiban has hidden in the Main Chamber."

Samus then directed, "Assign a detail protect Councilman Williams and Councilwoman Powell. I'm going to the Council Chamber and take some heat off of the Council Members."

The Marine commander nodded and assigned four Marines to guard Williams, Powell, and their aides. They also handed the Army Trooper a Freeze Gun, a large pistol that fired bursts of freezing energy almost as powerful as Samus's own Ice Beam. The Army Trooper gladly took the weapon and remained with Colin Williams and Madeline Powell as they went to search for safety and wait out the rest of the battle.

Samus then proceeded to make her way towards the Main Council Chamber. Along the way, she encountered small teams of two and sometimes three or four Zebesians, many of them blowing open entrances into the offices of Galactic Federation Council Members, some of them firing into the offices. Samus quickly cut down the Pirates before they could advance any farther in their mission. When Samus came across an open office or chamber, she quickly peered inside to see if it was occupied. All too often, she saw the dead body of a Federation Council Member lying on the floor. Some of them, however, were merely wounded and when Samus encountered one that was wounded, she called for medical help. She also took any first aid kits that the wounded may have had in their offices or chambers and gave the kits to them, only administering quick aid, for she knew that the longer she stayed inside one office, the greater the chances of a team of Zebesians managing to break into more offices and chambers and killing the occupants.

As Samus continued down the Main Hall, she encountered several more offices that had been broken into, as well as numerous teams of Zebesians Space Pirates. After killing the Zebesians and checking inside the offices and chambers, she found that Council Members inside were all dead. Many such offices held at least a dozen or so Council Members. She gave a dour look as she stared at the ground. At least two hundred Council Members were currently confirmed to have been killed, with countless more aides, Army, and Police Troopers. And that number was bound to rise. She vowed to make certain that no one else would die, except for Space Pirates. With that determination, she continued to make her way towards the chamber.

After a minute or so of walking, and taking down several more teams of Zebesians, she eventually made it to the Galactic Federation Council Main Chamber. Outside the chamber, a few teams of Zebesians were still exchanging fire with teams of Army Troopers and Federation Marines. Samus, however, quickly noticed that there were several doors that Space Pirates were flooding through with minimal resistance. A few energy bolts or bullets emerged from the door and struck a Zebesian, either bouncing off their shields or penetrating the shields and killing them. Samus, seeing that the Marines and Army Troopers were holding their own against the Pirates, went to the nearest door that had no Army support and opened fire on the Zebesians. Being taken by surprise, the Zebesians never stood a chance. Before the first of them turned to try to fend off their attacker, three had already fallen to Samus's opening attack. The others then proceeded to turn around and try to fire on Samus, two more Pirates falling before the remaining four Zebesians managed to get a few shots off. She managed to dodge several of the energy bolts and plasma missiles, but one of the plasma missiles managed to strike her, and exploded. That single hit managed to take off fifty units of energy from her current Energy Tank. Samus was unbothered by the enemy fire and systematically took down the remaining Zebesians. Once they were dead, she rushed into the chamber so she could clear it of any remaining Space Pirates.

Once she arrived inside the chamber, she witnessed the deaths of eleven alien Council Members who were ruthlessly gunned down by a quartet of Zebesian Space Pirates. Samus quickly avenged their deaths by firing numerous shots from her Plasma Beam at the Pirates. Green beams of energy erupted from her arm cannon and in four seconds, she had felled the four Zebesians. Before engaging the remaining Pirates, she surveyed the chamber. Too many dead aides and Council Members lay strewn about the room. Entire areas were covered by the remains of Federation Council Members, Army, Marine, and security troopers. Federation Army Troopers, Police Officers, and Marines stood by the entrances to the chamber, making certain to stem the tide of invading Zebesians, but there were Pirates entering the chamber from the mezzanine area, mowing down fleeing Council Members and aides in the process. Samus focused her attention on the mezzanine and jumped up to the deck, spinning around, unleashing a field of yellow energy, a trademark of her Screw Attack.

As she arrived on the mezzanine, she plowed through one of the attacking Zebesian Space Pirates, promptly annihilating the unfortunate Pirate. She soon landed and took shots at the approaching Pirates, being careful to use her normal Ice Missiles, rather than her Diffusion Missile, for fear of freezing any of the surviving Council Members trying to evacuate the mezzanine with the missile's blast radius. The blast radii were still sufficient for Samus to freeze two or three Pirates with each missile if they were bunched close together. As the Pirates attempted to flood into the mezzanine, she proceeded to choke the entrances with frozen Pirates. The other Pirates that tried to enter did the remainder of Samus's job for her as they shattered their frozen comrades so that they could enter the chamber and start killing. Unlike most of the Space Pirate Troopers, these Pirates did not run away or act frantically when engaging Samus, always yelling, "It's the Hunter!" when they encountered her. These Pirates were either silent, or gave roars as they opened fire on Samus. Samus could tell, though, that beyond their mission to kill everyone they came across, they were not all that intelligent. They merely fired indiscriminately towards Samus, not caring about who was in the way. Several Zebesians had been felled by friendly fire as they were willing to shoot through their comrades, firing pink, undulating beams similar to Samus's current style of Wave Beam. When these beams struck Samus, they took off fifty units of energy per hit. Samus then returned fire, quickly freezing the surviving Zebesians with Ice Missiles in order to choke the entrance once more. She was just about to charge a Charged Shot from her arm cannon when a missile came in from behind her, struck the lead Pirate, and detonated, shattering all of the remaining Pirates. Samus looked behind her and found a Federation Army Trooper coming up from behind, carrying a missile launcher, along with a plasma cannon and backpack strapped to his back. The visor of the Federation Army Trooper retracted and revealed the face of a black man, sporting a grin. Samus recognized the man all too well and gave him a smile from behind her helmet.

"Nice work, princess," Anthony said. "You don't mind that I cleaned up, do you? There are more Pirates coming in from the secondary entrance."

"Thanks Anthony," Samus responded as she rushed over to the secondary entrance to the mezzanine in order to intercept any Pirates that were trying to come in so they could have the high ground against the surviving members of the Federation Council.

Captain Anthony Higgs of Platoon 07 gave another grin and said, "You're welcome, Samus," as she rushed off to stem the flow of Pirates onto the mezzanine. Anthony soon rushed after her so they could finish off the remaining Pirates before heading back down to the main level of the chamber and helping his comrades fight back the remaining Zebesians.

Samus soon arrived at the secondary entrance and saw that slowly but surely, Space Pirates were managing to get through whatever defenses the entrance to the deck had in place. She switched to her Plasma Beam and charged it until a ball of green energy was surrounding the end of her cannon. She then fired at the lead Zebesian and instantly annihilated him with one blast. She then fired at a second, and a third. Three shots were sufficient to take down the Pirates, despite their defensive shielding. Evidently, the shields worn by these Zebesians were not at the same level as those worn by some of the others. Her fire was soon joined by Anthony's. The two of them soon turned the entrance into a no man's land, with any Pirate that dared to stick his face into the chamber, promptly having it blown off by the combined fire of the two soldiers. After a minute or so of Zebesians attempting to come through and use the mezzanine as a tactical location to snipe unwary Council Members, the flow of Pirates stopped, a mountain of Space Pirate corpses plugging the entrance. Samus did not stop to admire her work, or make small talk with Anthony, though. Once the threat in the mezzanine was dealt with, she immediately jumped back down to the lower level so she could assist the rest of the Army Troopers, Police Officers, and Marines in dealing with the remaining Zebesians.

On the lower level, Samus saw that the Federation forces were slowly driving back the Zebesians, but it was coming at a cost. She knew that without their ship, though, that there would be no escape for them. She figured that they were trying to regroup so that they could make another push against the Federation Council Members, those that were still alive, before they fell. Samus put an end to their plans as she charged the largest group of Space Pirates and fired a series of Ice Missiles at them. The missiles detonated and froze the entire group of Zebesians. The Federation Army Troopers then opened fire on the frozen Pirates with their assault rifles, their bullets tearing through the frozen Pirates and shattering the entire group. After a mere ten seconds, the fight was over.

As soon as the group of Zebesians had been taken down, she noticed that the rattle and whine of gunfire had ceased. She looked around at the various entrances to the chamber and found the bodies of numerous Zebesians piled up at the entrance. The troopers, both military and police alike, each looked over to his or her partners and comrades. Samus looked around the entire chamber and saw a large number of Council Members emerging from beneath their chairs, as well as Chairman Elric and the Chairman of Defense, Rickard Lorenz. Samus, however, also noted the numerous members and aides that did not move from their cover once the fighting had stopped. Closer inspection would reveal that they had been shot full of holes by the attacking Zebesians. Samus also noticed a large number of dead Zebesians lying close to the overturned chairs and makeshift barricades that the Council Members were hiding behind. When all was said and done, close to two thousand Council Members had died inside the Main Chamber. And that was not counting those who had been killed in their own offices and chambers.

During the fighting inside Galactic Federation Headquarters, the Pirate Commandos made their way down into the bowels of the underground of Federation City, towards Aurora Unit Zero. So far, on their way, they had met no real resistance, only a few children, two human, one elf, and one simian-like child of Mauk's race, playing with water guns. The children were young, no older than ten Earth years old, with one of them being around seven or eight, with there being two females, one human, and the elf, and two males. From the looks of things, it was obvious that they were poor, though they had not let it show on their faces. They were acting as if they were part of elite fighting forces pitted against one another in the underbelly of the city. Their mission had been to soak the others with copious amounts of water without getting soaked, themselves. The Pirate hid from the sight of the playing children at the direction of the Commando leader. Once the children's game had taken them away from the Pirates' mission, one of the Commandos asked, "Why did you not authorize us to kill the children?"

"Our mission is to infect the Aurora Unit and take its DNA, not have fun," the leader responded. "The murders of the children would have drawn the attention of their parents and possibly the Police. Even poor children such as them sometimes have tracking devices implanted in them or on their clothing. We can't risk such an important mission failing because we can't stop ourselves from having some fun with Federation children."

That answer seemed to satisfy the other Commando, as well as the rest of the group. However, in the long run, it would not matter whether or not they had murdered the children or spared them. Most of the people on Daiban were already dead anyway, especially those trapped in the lower sublevels of the planet's cities. They just did not realize it yet.

The Pirates continued on their way, only encountering lowly maintenance workers along the way, who they promptly shot to pieces. After clearing the path, they entered a much larger corridor. The leader took out his map and spied the location of the Aurora Unit on it. He found that they were close, only a few rooms away. With that, they continued forward.

The next room contained nothing, and no one, of interest. The Pirates continued through the room not bothering to stop to look for anything of value. The next room merely contained a single technician, which the Commandos shot to pieces before he even noticed their presence. This drew an audible sigh from the Pirate that had come across the playing children not too far away. They then took one look at the other end of the room and saw the large set of doors that led to the Aurora Unit's chamber. The leader then pulled out a handheld scanner and pointed it at the doors. The display showed that there were four Army Troopers on the other side of the door armed with assault rifles and Freeze Guns, and over a dozen security personnel and technicians overseeing the Aurora Unit. The Commando leader was surprised to find no additional defenses protecting the Aurora Unit. The Pirate grinned. These troopers and security personnel would be no problem, and without any additional defenses, infecting the Aurora Unit with the virus, as well as extracting enough of its DNA to create two clones of it, would be easy. Even better, with the defenses as weak as they were, chances were that the security breach would not be detected until it was too late. The Pirate Commando leader then approached the door. The Pirate then armed his grenade launcher, which had been retrofitted with heavy explosive grenades, and fired it at the door. The grenade streaked from the launcher on the Pirate's right shoulder and struck the door, blowing the door inward.

Inside Aurora Unit Zero's chamber, the explosion of the door propelled shrapnel into a technician and security officer, felling them instantly. The Pirates then stormed through the entrance while the Army Troopers unslung their assault rifles and opened fire on the Commandos. Their bullets, however, were ineffective against the heavy shielding of the Pirates and bounced off of their shields, inflicting no damage to the Pirates or their shields. The Pirate Commandos casually leveled their guns at the four Army Troopers and opened fire before the Army Troopers had the chance to drop their assault rifles and draw their Freeze Guns. In less than a second, all four Army Troopers were dead, literally shot to pieces by the Commandos. The security officers and technicians attending to the Aurora Unit fared even worse. Even though the security officers had energy pistols, the firepower of the pistols was woefully inadequate against the shielding of the Pirate Commandos. The energy bolts struck the energy shields but failed to inflict even the slightest bit of damage upon them. The same could not be said of the Commandos' energy bolts upon connecting with the security officers and technicians. The golden energy bolts burned through the torsos of the security officers and the technicians, felling them instantly. In a few seconds, the battle, if it could be called such, was over.

Once the fighting had ended, the Pirate Commando leader approached the Aurora Unit, a semi-organic brain that was suspended behind a force field. He was flanked by two other Pirate Commandos as he approached. The others took up positions around the room, securing it against any unexpected intruders. The Aurora Unit turned to face the Pirate Commandos and activated its vocalizers, yelling, "Intrud…" but it was stopped before it could finish its first word, for one of the Pirate Commandos had gone over to its control console managed to deactivate its vocalizers. After typing in a few more commands, the defensive screen protecting the brain shut down and the Pirate Commando leader approached the brain. His first order of business was to take a needle and stab it into the neuron and gray matter mass that was the Aurora Unit. After stabbing the brain, he drew the DNA of the Unit into a vial. Once he had obtained enough DNA to clone the Aurora Unit twice, the Pirate Commander pushed a second needle connected to a vial into the Unit. Once the needle had penetrated he gray matter and neuron mass of the brain, he injected the virus into the Aurora Unit. Immediately, the Aurora Unit became docile, as if it were awaiting instructions. The Space Pirate Commando grinned. His job was finished. "Alright everyone," he called. "Job's done. Let's move out. Once we get to the ship, we'll give the signal to Lord Ridley."

The Pirate Commando at the control console and raised the defensive field over the Unit once more. The other Pirate Commandos then went over and took the bodies of the fallen Army Troopers, security officers, and technicians and dumped them into an acid vat, disintegrating their bodies. Once the bodies had been disposed of, the Pirates then filed out of the room and made an uneventful trip back to their cloaked vessel.

Once they made it back to their vessel, the Commandos checked to make sure that there was no one within sight of them. Once they knew that the area was deserted, the Pirate Commando pushed a button on his arm cannon. The door to the cloaked transport immediately opened, a single light appearing in the middle of the street they were on, and a ramp extending down to the ground. The Pirates quickly filed back onboard their vessel and once they were onboard, they closed the hatch. The cloaked ship then took off from the ground and ascended through the atmosphere as quickly as possible. They did not worry about being detected too much, for the Federation was likely too distracted by the assassination attempt on Chairman Elric and the rest of the Federation Council. Once they had breached the atmosphere, the Pirate Commando leader opened a channel to Space Station Moreau and said, "Mission accomplished, Lord Ridley. We have it, and we did it." The leader did not want the Federation to know what they had accomplished on the off chance that they had managed to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Good work, Commando P'Karn," the voice of Ridley crackled in over the radio. "Return to base, immediately."

"Roger that," P'Karn replied.

With that, P'Karn cut the channel and began to plot the warp jump back to Space Station Moreau. After the Pirate Commando leader had plotted the warp jump, the transport jumped to warp, the twelve Commandos the only survivors of the Space Pirates' mission to Daiban. However, the damage they left in their wake would cripple the Federation, if not strike its deathblow.