Well, many many thanks to G3Rain1. Without his help (and encouragement?) my story would be confusing the whole way. Here are the fruits of my last few weeks: Retaliation.


Chapter II: Retaliation

Sylux slammed against the side of the ship, his back feeling the brunt of the impact. His heels knocked against the ship wall, and Sylux heard his Federation armour thud on it. With strenuous will, he lifted his left foot up and placed it onto the wall, focusing most of his strength into the ball of his foot. He vigorously pushed himself off the wall, slowly gaining on Samus. Not to let herself be overtaken so easily, Samus shoved back against Sylux, efficiently turning the fight into a pushing contest. With a strain, Sylux thought back to minutes before… how had it come to this? All Sylux had been doing was fulfilling the wish of his client: to capture a living Samus and bring her back to his client.

--x--

Sylux remembered that he had been sitting on his blue-and-black leather cockpit seat polishing his arm cannon after he had successfully infiltrated Samus' ship ten minutes ago, when suddenly Samus had pointed her gun at his head. Why would the bounty hunter try close combat? She knows my Shock Coil is much better at that than her weak martial arts…They would barely be a challenge! Sylux had thought. In fact, I should subdue her right now-

"You move a centimeter, and this primed Omega Cannon will blow your brains out. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't do it anyway," Samus had declared, unknowingly answering Sylux's question. Then the green-and-purple hunter had simply swiveled around in his chair and sprung up from his chair, Shock Coil at the ready. However, Samus had heard the springs in the chair creak from the forced pressure and nimbly sidestepped. Sylux glanced at Samus' arm cannon and saw she had been bluffing – of course, since she turned it in to the Federation; I'm such a fool! – and barely dodged her charge beam. As a counterattack, Sylux had then rammed into Samus, attempting to shock her with his affinity weapon; but Sylux was caught by surprise when she spun out of his pathway and thrust herself into her, slamming him against the side of the ship… and that final remembrance guided Sylux's mind back to his current predicament.

--x--

Meanwhile, Samus was starting to struggle in her tussle with the other bounty hunter. She dug her right heel into the metal hull of the Delano 7, pushing back with all her might. When Sylux began claiming an advantage over her, Samus released her grip with Sylux and spun to her right, almost tumbling over; she was the first to regain balance. Sylux barely had a hold on his sights when a devastating blow was delivered to the back of his head, knocking him into the ground. Samus' left foot pounded the ground with a victorious thud; the aching it received from striking Sylux's head was already starting to null. Samus then debated on whether or not to kill Sylux, but decided against the homicidal action. There would be a time for killing later; what Samus really needed to know was who had sent Sylux – she hardly believed the Galactic Federation would hire him. Enjoying the prospect of seeing Sylux squirm under her interrogation gave Samus joy, and she quickly tied up her captive with an energy rope.

The huntress glanced out the window and saw her own gunship floating in orbit alongside Sylux's ship; glad her ship was mostly unharmed and flyable, Samus ordered it to board the top of the Delano 7's hull with her still-functional command visor. There was a muffled thud as her ship attached its landing clamps onto the Delano 7.

Samus switched to her scan visor; her heads-up display lit up with dozens of new available scans, and she started with the one she thought would be most useful: the ship control panel. She inclined her head toward the target and locked her sights on it, and the scanning bar gradually filled until the entry showed up on her display. She skimmed over most of the text on the technical status of the panels, and saw the branch about entry logs.

Intrigued, Samus initiated the control panel's logbook function, and the screen filled with dozens of entries, the oldest dating to less than thirty years ago, with the newest one entered in the previous hour. She activated the latter, revealing on the screen Sylux's latest record.

-- Opening Logbook

-- Reading Logbook

-- Displaying Latest Entry (Entry #17829)

-Beginning of Session

August 27th, 2081

For the past few months, I have dedicatedly tried determining the location of bounty hunter Samus Aran's gunship; I believe my search has finally neared fruition. A few minutes ago, a purple gunship registered to bounty hunter Samus Aran entered my scanning range. Curiously, it has not left its position, leading me to wonder who resides in its cockpit; in a few moments, I will board the purple gunship and kill the famous bounty hunter known as Samus Aran.

-Ending of Session

-- Reading Logbook

-- Scanned No Later Entries

-- Closing Logbook

Damn, Samus cursed mentally; her own mistakes had, once again, put her life – and the Etecoons and Dachoras' – in danger. Damn it, Samus, why did you have to stop here? You're doing a great job of exposing yourself to the Galactic Federation now…Gotta be more careful and scan everything as you enter a new system. Even as she closed Sylux's logbook and accessed the ship controls, she considered that even if the Federation had not hired Sylux, the bounty hunter could still send an anonymous report to them, which worried Samus even more.

Ignoring the notion, she turned her direction to the computer stationed in front of the leather cockpit seat. Without sitting down, Samus bent slightly over and touched the holographic pane that hovered across the control panel. She redirected the Delano 7's path to Aliehs III with a one-minute countdown. If the Delano 7 was sent back to the Federation, it could take them off Samus' tail for a while; at least, until they figure out who returned the prototype ship. Samus quickly took hold of Sylux's energy ropes and dragged him over to the Delano 7's exit. As they went out, a beam of light materialized, and artificial gravity caused the duo to ascend into Samus' gunship.

As they boarded the ship, the huntress was pleased to see the Etecoons and Dachoras unharmed. Samus set Sylux on the other side of the ship, away from the Zebesian animals. That should be safe enough for the creatures, Samus indignantly thought. She took her seat at the cockpit of her purple ship and accessed the online map. If I go to Aether, maybe the Luminoth can help me… but most likely the Federation's still on the planet for the reconstruction. I have nowhere else to go though. Samus tapped impatiently on the control panel – the timer in her helmet indicated there were only about ten seconds until the Delano 7 warped to Aliehs III, only with Samus' gunship. Well, I'll just have to take care of the Galactic Federation there if I have to. Samus considered calling for Adam to direct a path to Aether, but thought better of it – if Samus had called for him when Sylux boarded the ship, then most likely the hunter had deactivated Adam somehow.

Even as she opened the manual piloting controls, Samus' gut instinct – the one she had relied on for most of her missions –told her there was something wrong. When she tried to detach her ship from the Delano 7, her suspicions were deemed correct.

-- !MALFUNCTION! UNABLE TO RETRACT GUNSHIP CLAMP

-- !WARNING! GUNSHIP CLAMPS UNSECURE

-- !WARNING! ATTACHED SHIP ENGAGING WARP DRIVE

-- !WARNING! GUNSHIP CLAMPS UNSECURE

-- !WARNING! ABORT TAKEOFF IMMEDIATELY

Five notifications flashed on the screen in front of Samus, and she responded by furiously tapping "Release Clamps" and giving the ship as much thrust as possible, hoping the force would release her gunship from the Delano 7 at the expense of its clamps breaking. There was no response from her ship for a few seconds, but then it suddenly jerked to its right as the Delano 7 entered hyperspace and Samus was flung to her left, her shoulder taking the brunt of the fall.

Sylux's ship had entered hyperspace and successfully made it through to Aliehs III in a matter of seconds; Samus' ship was thrown off midway, haphazardly exiting hyperspace.


"Samus? I tried to get the meddling Zebesians away from your injured body, but they hadn't listened. I think you'd better check on your captive, though." Adam's familiar computerized tone bore through Samus' haze of drowsiness. Samus realized she had been asleep for a while… and remembered what had happened.

"Adam? Where are we right now? How long have I been sleeping?"

"I believe we're in the orbit of planet Tivus. You have been unconscious for the last half-hour."

Samus racked her brain, trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar. Tivus… That was where the GFS Valhalla was before it fell to the Space Pirates. I wonder what makes it so important to the Federation… "Adam, I'd like us to just remain in orbit for the meantime." Samus got up from the ground and faced Sylux. The multicoloured bounty hunter was still unconscious – or at least he seemed to be – but Samus decided to confirm he was anyway. It would not do to have a battle onboard her already-damaged ship.

Samus strutted over to Sylux; his armour was mostly unscratched from their last battle; she was impressed by the endurance of the Federation prototype equipment. Even as Samus kneeled on the ground, a shimmer of light passed by his visor. Again, Samus thought it amazing how clean Sylux could maintain his power suit; she could hardly scratch the dirt off the heel of her boots.

So that was what the shine from the ambush was… Samus reflected, as she diligently went to get a spare energy rope from the back of her ship. She tied a knot around Sylux, completely ensuring his "captured" status. Then she turned back to window of her spaceship and made her decision.

"Adam, prepare to land on Tivus."


"So it turned out that Viper was bluffing?"

"Not exactly. The poison is either effective immediately or lies dormant for, oh, about several decades until it actually starts to… you know."

Spire was relieved; if Noxus was not going to die yet, then maybe the success rate of their mission will not be too low. "So d'you think he's still on the planet?"

"I'm not sure. As I'd said earlier, you should've chased after Viper. I was in no shape to chase the Pirate, but that didn't mean I couldn't have limped my way there," Noxus replied haughtily. "And if you had followed my recommendation, you'd probably be closer to capturing him than you are now."

"Hey, don't forget I helped save your ass back there. If it weren't for me, there would've been no chance of you finding out what kind of poison it was. Good thing I remembered about the Urety incident a few years back. Moreover, weren't you listening to me a few hours ago? Viper's criminal record is nasty: most hunters he's faced end up dead – and those are the lucky ones. Others end up getting poisoned like you… well, no offense meant."

Noxus bristled at the comment, but shrugged it off. He was lucky to be alive. The poison Viper had used was one used frequently on Wotan VII during its liberation war. Officially named the Corrue Virus (nicknamed "Covee"), it had been developed by the Space Pirates. Many bounty hunters in the galaxy preferred the toxin to others, due to its effectiveness in battles and assassinations. The victim was subject to stings more painful than lava for a Vhozon, more often than one would enter a spaceship in his lifetime. Most likely, the prey would be dead within hours, but otherwise, over weeks he would go insane. Only about a sixth of the population, naturally immune to the toxic substance than most for unknown reasons, would stall the effects for numerous years. Unfortunately, afterwards the effect is prolonged.

Luckily for Noxus, Spire recalled the Urety incident, which happened a few years ago on the planet Jovia XII. What happened was the Corrue Virus had been reengineered as a gas, successfully killing one-third of the planet's inhabitants. Ever since that episode, the Corrue Virus received a popular title among hunters, and most, if not all, hunters study the symptoms of the toxin – including mild everyday headaches, a slight pigmentation paling, and, more importantly, the changing of the eye and vein colours.

"You're wrong on at least one thing, though: even without your help, I would have figured out it was the Covee anyways. Almost every bounty hunter's studied the damn poison… Anyways, are you sure Viper headed in this direction? If we're not on his track, we might not be able to find Viper anymore."

Spire nodded, and the pair of aliens continued heading west.


This certainly seems better than my original chapter on second thought. It's not up for the moment because I'm busy working on the third chapter. In it, we'll find out why Adam hadn't responded, and who hired Sylux.