Well, it's been what, almost a year and a half now? If anybody was interested in the first chapter I apologize for the long wait. I got occupied with other things and busy with college. Hopefully this time I'll keep the evil procrastination away and stick with it. Hopefully at least the time I took will have paid off. As before, I don't own Metroid or anything from the games. Malthius and a new character in this chapter are my creations.

Adam and Samus blazed through space in the Federation ship, the Astraeus. The ship was a gray color and was not one of the larger ones of the Federation's fleet, but was still a pretty good sized ship. Samus stood gazing out of the window as they came out of hyperspace. Her eyes grew wide with fascination as she stared at a large portion of space in front of her that was void of any stars. As they approached this spot in space she saw small islands of green appearing, looking as if they were just floating among the dark void. In reality, this was just a unique deception that is played upon the eyes. The black space among the stars was actually the planet Malthius itself. A large portion of the planet was covered in a hard, black substance called sabilinth. As for the islands of green, these were not unlike oases that would be found in a desert, having the only trees, grass, and water on the planet.

Adam switched on the cloaking mechanism so that their ship would not be spotted. As they broke through the atmosphere and drew closer to the planet's service, Samus was able to make out mountains and valleys amidst the sea of black. From higher one wouldn't even be aware of shifts in elevation, but now at their height you could begin to make out the shapes. Wanting to stay hidden for the time being, Adam landed the ship in a valley which was not too far from one of the larger oases.

"Alright," said Adam as he turned towards Samus. "I want you to keep a low profile and proceed to the main city. It's in the nearby oasis. We're currently south-west of the city. Lucky for us it is mid-day and there is plenty of light. At night it becomes very difficult to make out where the ground is or isn't due to most of the planet being black. During the day, though, the light helps make things pretty clear.

"When you come near the city, follow along with it to your left and you should eventually come to a temple. Once there, I want you to see if any of the Malthians are harbored inside and, if so, get any information possible from them. We need to know what's been going on here. I want you to proceed with caution, though. Space Pirates could very well be in the vicinity. I'll keep in touch, as usual. Any objections, Lady?"

"No, sir," she replied with a grin hidden behind her visor and opened the elevator door which led to the outside. She pressed a few buttons, stepped inside, and then instantly dropped down.

Adam returned to his seat in the control room and flipped on the audio-visual communications. "Testing, testing. Lady, do you read me?"

"Yes, sir, crystal clear," she slowly replied. She was looking around at the magnificent landscape. Even within a simple valley as they were, the light that shone from the sabilinth created an odd beauty.

"Anything wrong?"

"No," she jerked herself back to her full senses, "I'm on my way." With that, she set off at a brisk but careful pace, making sure to watch for any Pirates that could be hiding among the darkened areas that were hidden from the sun. As she proceeded, the cliffs on either side of her slowly began to decline. Occasionally she would spot something among the shadows, but every time it turned out to be a simple creature peeking out from a hole (or at least she assumed a hole was there in the shadows since the creatures seemed to be able to disappear quite easily).

Soon she came to what was like a low wall that formed out of the edge of a small cliff. Over that wall and down the cliff she could see the main city. There were wonderful buildings, some obviously houses, surrounded by lush plants and trees that shaded them from the sun. To the right and further in was a very clear blue pool of water with small streams of water branching off in various directions through the city. Looking more closely, she saw that a few of the homes looked to have crumbled in places, and one of the larger buildings had completely collapsed on one corner, leaving a rather good sized hole.

"Sir, do you see this? I'm going to go take a closer look and see what I can find." she said anxiously.

"Wait…" he said as he looked thoughtfully at the monitor. "No, continue to the temple as planned. The leader would be there, not in the city, and he or somebody of higher status is who we should first be concerned with."

"But sir, what if there are Malthians down there that need to be helped? What if I just…"

"No," he cut Samus off before she could finish. "Going down in the open when you don't even know if it will do any good is foolish. It's the perfect spot for an ambush if Space Pirates happen to be nearby, and seeing this only helps confirm my suspicions. If any good can be done, the best place to do so is at the temple."

She stared at the run down houses, imagining the families that would have lived there. "Sir I just…"

"The temple! Do not argue with your commanding officer!"

To this she didn't reply, she just slowly turned from the city and made her way along the edge of the cliff, taking one last look upon the place as she went. Looking ahead now, for the first time she could see it. A tall structure made of the black sabilinth rose out of the base of a mountain. The temple seemed to shine even brighter than the rest of the strange black substance that was exposed to the light.

After uneventfully making her way forward, she eventually reached the front of the temple with still no sign of intelligent life. "You would think I would have seen at least one Space Pirate by now if they really are the ones responsible," she spoke quietly to Adam.

"That's what worries me…" he replied concernedly.

Climbing the steps, she looked up. The top of the temple towered high above her. Inside the entrance she found a large hall with seven large columns on either side, spaced out perfectly down the great hall. On each column there hung a bright crystal which illuminated the entire stretch from floor to ceiling. She had a difficult time keeping her senses focused on watching for signs of movement due to being drawn into the beauty of it all. She had not been in such a place for a long time. It reminded her somewhat of the Chozo temples she grew up around.

Bringing herself back, she pressed on down the hall. Doors could be seen all along the sides, but she didn't bother turning towards these. The place she was going was the large archway with double doors at the end of the room. Laying her hand gently on the door and pushing ever so slightly forward she found that it was open. Very quickly then, she pushed it fully open while backing up a step and aiming her arm cannon inside. Seeing nothing, she walked forward, aiming to the left and right as she entered.

Nobody was in the large room that appeared to be a shrine. She walked around the room which was lit by more crystals hanging on the walls. There were statues carved into the walls, and directly across from the door was an altar. The strangest thing was the computers that lined the right hand wall. She found logs entered into one and, sure enough, it was in the language of the Space Pirates. She quickly scanned it to translate.

Log mtotk10 - Mine Progress

Karpathium income and transfer is up 115 from last log. The rise is due to the recent addition of more Malthians that were found hiding among nearby caves. Search teams are still combing the area for any stragglers left behind. The team on Twin Tabula is producing results, but they are still in need of more resources, so this new increase is much needed. We are now putting more effort into the smaller sites around the planet to help with this as well. They…

Samus heard something stir behind her. She whipped around to find nothing, though she was sure she had heard something near the doorway. "Show yourself!"

"I mean no harm to you," replied a rough voice. A humanoid creature with four arms stepped into view. Its skin was blue, if you could call it skin. It looked more like muscle, and his body was somewhat larger than a human. At the end of his fingers were no nails, only rough skin. His face was thin and rough looking with a head that was perfectly bald, not a single hair on it. He looked worn out and tired.

Samus looked into his yellow eyes. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lamanith. I am a Malthian escaped from the Space Pirates," his eyes were twitching slightly. "And you are…?"

"I'm Samus Aran and I'm with the Galactic Federation. Now what did you say? Escaped from where?" she asked.

"From the mines. We are being forced to do the work of the Space Pirates. Did you say the Galactic Federation? They are with you?" he sounded very anxious.

"No, they…" she started but was interrupted.

"But you can still help, right!? Please, you must help us!" he begged.

"Calm down, it's alright," she tried to sound as assuring as possible. "How many Space Pirates are in these mines?"

"Not many. Not at the moment," his body gave slight jerks and twitches all over. "There are only enough to keep the miners under control. I was lucky enough to sneak out after having broken my bonds."

"What about your leader? Is he in the mines as well?"

"Yes, yes," he replied, "he's there as well. You must help him!"

"Alright, can you show me where to find these mines? Are you able?"

"Yes, I am alright," said Lamanith. "The mines are through a hidden passage in this room."

"You need to be careful if you go into the mines," said Adam so that only she could hear. "You should hurry and go help the others quickly before more Space Pirates turn up."

"Lead the way then." she said to Lamanith. He walked passed her and to the altar at the back of the room where he pressed a few symbols that were carved into it. There was a rumbling sound a then the statue began sliding to the side, revealing a passageway that led further down and back into the temple. With him in the lead, they both entered the tunnel, which was lit by the same sources of light as the rest of the temple. She was curious about what she had read in the log and so after a moment she quietly asked him, "What is this karpathium that the Space Pirates are mining for? I've never heard of it."

"Ah, so you know of what they mine for?" he gave a whispered laugh. "Karpathium is extremely rare and valuable. You know the sabilinth, the black substance which this very temple is made of? Well, it absorbs the light from the sun," he turned down a path that branched to the left. "This temple was designed to harness the light and channel it deep into the sabilinth where, over time, the light would cause it to transform in what is known as karpathium. It has numerous uses, one of those being the very crystals that are providing us with light. These are nothing compared to what they can become, though," his body gave another twitch.

"So do you know what it is the Pirates want it for?" she whispered as they continued down the tunnel.

"I have a guess, though it…" he suddenly fell forward onto his face, his body then began trembling all over.

"What's wrong!?" Samus leaned down to help him. "Can you talk?" she quickly asked, shocked by his sudden fit.

"I… I will… be fine," he spoke with quick breaths. "Go on… continue on without me… You… will find the mines easily.

"Are you sure?" she was skeptical about that. He didn't seem fine at all.

"Yes… Don't worry about me. This is not… something rare to me. Go… and try to save… the others." he continued twitching and shaking all over.

"Stay here until I get back, or if there is any way you are able, go back to a safer place and wait for me," she told him as she stood up to leave. She thought she saw him nod his head but between all of the other movement it was hard to tell. Leaving him behind, she proceeded onward with a slightly quickened pace, hoping to not leave him alone for too long. Through the tunnel she went as it wound down and back ever further when she came to an area that was more opened up where the lights were dim. She could see that there was more than one passageway and had just started trying to figure out which way to take when everything went dark. Chilling growls surrounded her in the darkness and then suddenly a colorful flash of light flooded her vision. Samus stumbled back a step from what had apparently been a beam attack.

She heard Adam speaking to her but she couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to what he was saying. Immediately she opened fired on any sound she heard, hoping to connect with her attackers. Cries of pain let her know that at least some of her shots had found their mark. She began moving around to try and make a harder target of herself because, whether through natural eyesight or aided by technology, her enemies were consistently coming close to hitting her. With beams of light coming from everywhere now, the darkness was giving way just enough to make out shadowy figures of the Space Pirates which allowed her to score a few more hits.

As she constantly tried to keep moving, Samus wound up running straight into one of the Pirates, sending them both tumbling to the floor. There was a brief wrestling match between the two with them rolling and trying to keep the other from shooting at point blank range. It wasn't long before she was able to overpower him and gain the upper hand, but just as she was about to blast him to his death she was knocked over the head with some large, heavy object. She instantly began to feel dizzy and tried to fire off shots in an attempt to get lucky and hit somebody, but whether or not any of her blasts found their targets she wouldn't know. Distant growls could be heard then silence soon joined the darkness as her mind faded from consciousness.

I had a tough time with this, at least in the beginning. Trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to happen and all, and then trying to keep it from being too boring in getting there was probably the worst. The action should definitely pick up in the chapters to come. Of course, any reviews and comments are welcome and much appreciated.