Chapter 2

1 week later.

The Aaru, still attached to the Von Braun, floated through space. One could almost describe this scene almost as a peaceful one had they not known what horrors had occurred upon it. Communications with the Galactic Federation had ended almost within hours of the boarding parties arrival upon the derelict ship, enough time to warrant concern from its makers. Since this time not much had changed save for one thing; the Rickenbacker was gone, and in its place only fragments of still smoldering wreckage and fossilized biomass remained.

The higher members within the Galactic Federation military had first become worried when the Aaru's Aurora Unit, designated 502, failed to reestablish communications within 24 hours of making contact with the unregistered ships. At first believing that a communications error may have occurred, they waited an addition three more days, plenty of time they believed for the crew to fix whatever problem could have occurred. When the unit once again failed to make its report or even reply to messages sent to it, they knew that something must have happened to it and the ship.

No Federation ships were within jumping range, nor could any be spared for another two weeks. However, someone highly trusted by the Federation was finishing up a mission on their behalf and was only a few days distance away from the ship. The bounty hunter had saved the Federation several times in the past, and they knew that if anyone could find out what happened to the Aaru, she could.

------------------

3 days later.

A small ship, colored orange and slightly resembling the helmet of its owner, appeared before the Von Braun, which overshadowed it alongside its newfound companion. The sudden awe-inspiring sight as the ships eclipsed the sun, at least from the smaller ships point of view, was enough to keep its owner silent for a few moments.

Coming back to her senses, she quickly recalled what the mission had required of her. Known as Samus Aran, she was held as a hero of the Galactic Federation and a foe of the Space Pirates, a ruthless group of aliens that had until recently been commanded by the late Mother Brain and her second in command, the now in hiding Ridley.

From what she had been told, the GF ship the Aaru had encountered a pair of unknown conjoined ships of human origin. It had boarded both ships, and when the time came for it to report back to command, no reply came from either the Aurora Unit or the men aboard. The GF had now tasked her with attempting to find out what had happened and then report her findings.

When she first heard of what had happened, she assumed that perhaps Space Pirates had ambushed the ship, despite its size and armaments, though now she was not so sure. The ship seemed to be completely intact, and no telltale signs of ship-to-ship combat, such as scorches and burns, could be seen. She noted that the ships power appeared to be at minimum levels, and scans indicated that life support had been for the most part powered down, an unusual thing seeing as most of the crew aboard the ship were not equipped nor prepared to survive for extended periods of time without it.

Bringing her ship, a Hunter-class gunship, to the underbelly of the Aaru, she prepared to dock with it when she noticed that the docking bay had been sealed off. Attempting to hail the command deck, she received only static in return, and finally decided to attempt to dock with the other ship.

Flying by the side of the Von Braun, Samus stared carefully in hopes of finding a possible point of entrance. After what seemed like an eternity, she found what she was looking for. Attached to the sides of the ship, nearly hidden from view, she saw several access points from what once most likely hosted escape pods. Bringing her ship to a stop over one of them, she had it magnetically lock onto it before she exited the ship.

Clad in full power armor, she was a sight to behold. Making her way into the access point, she slid down and then commanded her ship to lower itself, sealing the area she was in. Turning her attention back to getting herself into the ship, she fired a missile from her arm cannon, blowing a sealed door. Had her ship not lowered itself beforehand, the atmosphere within the room beyond the door would have been sucked out into space as it depressurized. Sliding her way through this newfound opening, she found herself now onboard the once magnificent Von Braun.

Noting her surroundings, she saw that for the most part that everything within the room at least was in total disrepair with the dust of the ages coating nearly every available space, as well as several pieces of machinery tossed about and even jutting out of the very walls themselves. Whoever had left the ship had apparently done so in a hurry, though why she did not know.

As she moved towards the nearest door, she saw that it had been heavily damaged, and just as she prepared to open it she noticed something in the corner of the room, a body. Spinning about, arm cannon at the ready, she fully checked the room, and upon seeing no potential threats, moved herself slowly to the corpse. As she scanned the body of the fallen GF Marine, her sensors told her that the wound to the side of his head had been self-inflicted, and that he had been dead for over a week. Kneeling beside him, Samus reached for the side of his bloodied visor and removed a small chip. If she was correct, the chip would contain a recording of everything that had occurred since he had been onboard the ship.

Rising, she inserted the chip into her helmet and then turned towards the damaged door and unsealed it, all awhile her suit had begun to decrypt whatever was on the chip so that she would at least have some idea as to what had happened onboard the ship.

She knew that she was going to need every scrap of information she could get if she was going to succeed on this mission.