Phazon Mines
Samus got off the elevator and stepped out of the door and into the main mining complex. The main complex was above ground housed within a valley. In the middle of the valley stood a giant crane, which the pirates had originally used to mine the Phazon. The crane looked in disrepair; the metal frame was rusted and looked like it could fall at any moment. Across the valley from her current position was the door that would take Samus to the Phazon mines.
She stepped away from the door and saw that the crane looked to still be in use. Checking the radar screen on her visor, Samus saw that there were ten Space Pirates in the near vicinity. With any luck she could just slip by. She crept to her left and slid along the wall towards the door that led to the mines. Then she heard the whirring of servos. She jumped away from the wall as two missiles impacted where she had been standing. She had forgotten about the missile launchers.
"Hugntress," She heard one of the pirates shout. She didn't need her universal translator to know they had spotted her.
Samus dove behind a pillar, out of sight from the missile launches. When she was sure they had stopped firing she leaped around the edge and fired two missiles of her own at one of the launchers and slipped back into her hiding place. Then the beams started to fire down on her. Samus looked up. Oh great.
Five of the ten pirates were standing above her, but that wasn't the problem; the problem was that of the five pirates only two looked alike. All of them looked like normal Space Pirates except for the colors lining their bodies. She had encountered pirates like these once before on Tallon IV and had hoped to never encounter them again.
These were Beam Pirates. Beam Pirates were one of many enhanced versions of regular Space Pirates. The problem with these pirates was they were only weakened by one weapon and the same weapon didn't weaken them. The Beam Pirates wore shields that could only be phased by one of the four known beam weapons. If the pirates were lined in purple they could be weakened by the wave beam, if they were lined with white they were weakened by the ice beam; yellow, power beam; and red, plasma beam. And to make things worse each Beam Pirate wielded the weapon they were vulnerable to, and one to many hits from a plasma beam would spell certain death for Samus.
As it stood there were two whites, one red, one yellow, and a purple in front of her, one missile launcher behind her and five more Space Pirates somewhere else. This is not going to turn out well.
Samus immediately jumped to her right and shot a missile into the five pirates. If the other five didn't know she were here, they sure did now. All five pirates were knocked off the ledge and Samus took the advantage.
She switched her arm cannon to her ice beam, charged it up and fired at one of the ice pirates. The pirate was hit with the full impact and frozen in place. She did the same to the other ice pirate. What I wouldn't give to have my ice spreader right now.
She then changed to her power beam and charged up a super missile. She locked on the yellow pirate and fired. The pirate was killed instantly.
Next, Samus switched to her wave beam and fired two charged shots at the wave pirate. The pirate took the first in the chest but was able to dodge the second and jumped behind one of the pillars. The pirate came out to fire, but Samus was ready and again hit it with her charged wave beam. The pirate was knocked over the edge, dying on impact.
Samus was scanning for the plasma pirate when a plasma beam blasted past her mere inches from her head. In one fluid motion Samus ducked, did a one-eighty, and switched to her plasma beam. She shot off two quick beams at the pirate and it staggered backwards. Samus took the opportunity to charge up her plasma beam and incinerated the pirate.
Now to deal with the other two.
At that moment an ice beam shot over her head and froze a piece of equipment. She hadn't been fast enough; the pirates had already thawed out. On instinct she ducked and ran to the other side of the pillar. Then she heard the whirring sound.
Samus swore and quickly spun around, locked onto the missile launcher and fired two missiles. Both impacted, blowing the launcher up.
Before she knew it, Samus was dodging ice beams again. She changed to her ice beam and jumped over the ledge nearest her, landing on the platform below. She charged up the beam and waited for the pirates to come after her. The first and probably the most stupid because he looked over the edge, came first and Samus fired, freezing him in place. Then, changing to her missiles, she fired one and blew the frozen pirate to pieces. The second pirate was smarter. This time Samus had to bait it. She looked up over the edge and saw the pirate was gone.
Swearing to herself again she quickly looked around. The pirate was on longer in sight. Then she heard the slightest of noises coming from around the corner. The pirate planned to get off a sneak shot at her. Samus had other plans. Quickly she transitioned into her morph ball, rolled up to the corner, and laid a power bomb. Rolling away, she morphed out of her morph ball and waited for the bomb to explode. When the bomb exploded the pirate jumped back on top of the platform he had previously been on and Samus was ready for him. Again she fired a charged ice beam at the pirate, and then once frozen, a missile to blow it apart.
By the time Samus had dispatched with the second ice pirate she saw two more plasma pirates coming her way. Quickly she looked for a way to destroy the two pirates and looking up saw the crane looming over them. Charging up a super missile she fired it at the crane and was rewarded with the screeching of metal and the crane fell on top of the pirates.
I don't care if you are Ridley, no pirate could have survived that, Samus thought. Looking at her visor she saw that four of the five dots had gone out. Must have been two more in the area where the crane fell. Good, makes my job easier!
That left one more, and according to her radar the pirate was just above her. Samus switched to her wave beam, which could penetrate any solid matter and turned on her x-ray visor. Looking up she located the pirate. Sure enough it was directly above her. Probably thought it could jump down and surprise me. Samus lifted her arm straight up and fired. A few shots later the pirate fell over dead.
Feeling proud of herself, Samus looked at her energy level. She must have taken more hits than she thought as she was down to one reserve energy tank. Somewhere around here there should be a station where I can recharge my energy. After a few minutes of searching Samus found the station, refilled her energy, and headed for the mining entrance.
Not paying attention, Samus shot the door and was dumbfounded when the shot bounced off and the door did not open. Taking a closer look she saw that the door had a white ring around it. Sighing, she changed her arm cannon to the ice beam and opened the door.
Being more careful then when she first entered the mining facility, Samus recalled the last time she had been behind the door. If memory serves me correctly there should be two missile launchers just around the corner. Samus pressed herself up against the wall, readied her missiles, and leaped from her hiding place, prepared to lock onto the launchers and blow them to pieces.
To her surprise the missile launchers weren't there. Instead it was a long, empty hallway with a door at the end. Steel and rock made up the walls, suggesting that the pirates had carved out the mine all those years ago. The pirates must have been to busy stealing more Phazon to take the time to repair these launchers.
Samus put her arm cannon down and walked to the end of the hallway. She was no more than half way down the hall when something hit her from behind and sent her flying toward the other end. Getting up she turned around and looked down the hall. It was empty.
Shadow Pirates.
Shadow pirates were another type of enhanced space pirate, similar to the Beam Pirates. But unlike the Beam Pirates, the Shadow Pirates were invisible, using the latest in cloaking technology, at least to the naked eye. If one was equipped with a thermal visor, like Samus was, the Shadow Pirates could easily be detected by the heat signatures they left off.
Samus switched to her thermal visor and located two Shadow Pirates that were advancing towards her. Samus charged up her super missiles and fired two at the pirates. The pirates flew backwards landing on the ground with a thud. They did not get up. Samus looked at her missile gauge, she was almost out of missiles. Somewhere there has to be a station where I can reload my missiles, she thought. Stepping through the door she recalled the nearby station where she could reload her missiles.
Phazon Main Mining Complex
About an hour later, fully loaded with missiles, Samus stepped through the door to the main mining complex. She slipped into the shadows and worked her way across the upper platform. She was almost to the ramp that would lead down to the machines that were mining the Phazon when she heard the voice. It was his voice.
Hurry up you bumbling idiots. The Hunter could be here at any minute, Ridley yelled at the pirates.
Samus crept over to the ledge of the platform. At first she couldn't believe what was below her. The pirates had decided not to ship the Phazon through the mines and instead had drilled a hole through the wall and built a platform right outside where they could land their ships. It looked like they had been there for quite some time, possibly even before the BSL incident. There were about twenty space pirates in the mining facility along with the rest of the army on the platform loading the Phazon into their ships. At ends count there were about a hundred and fifty space pirates.
Samus backed away trying to form a plan. She couldn't take on a hundred and fifty space pirates single-handedly —she wasn't stupid. The last time she had been in this part of the mining complex she had been able to open a force field that had been holding Metroids and let them feast on the pirates. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any Metroids around for her to sic on the pirates.
She peeked back over the edge and this time saw Ridley, or more precisely Meta-Ridley.
Meta-Ridley was an all-mechanical pirate that had the mind of the true Ridley uploaded to its memory core before his death. Meta-Ridley stood twice as tall as a normal space pirate, which was to say about nineteen feet tall, and had every sort of weapon imaginable equipped to it. To top it all off he could fly too, which made it that much more difficult to kill the crazed mechanical leader, if killing meant watching him "die" at least five times over the last five years.
Samus looked around for something she could use to distract the pirates. Looking up, she saw a metal beam hanging precariously from a boom attached to the ceiling. She looked directly below and saw that the pirates carrying the crates of Phazon were walking directly underneath the beam and boom. If the beam crashed down on them and Phazon was released it would kill a good portion of the pirates below. Taking careful aim, Samus shot the line and watched as the beam fell; smashing two pirates carrying a crate and releasing the Phazon.
Samus had been right. The Phazon did kill many of the pirates, but not as many as she'd hoped. The pirates had been quicker than she thought, many of them jumping out of the way before the Phazon reached them.
The surviving pirates looked at where the beam had been and then in her general direction. Spotting her, the pirates advanced forward. Samus turned to run and was clotheslined by an invisible force as she tried to run through the doorway.
More Shadow Pirates.
Getting up and switching to her thermal visor, Samus ran back into the mining complex. Hitting her emergency call to contact Adam, she thought, Great...there goes my surprise attack.
Ridley was very pleased with the way things were coming around. The Hunter had arrived two days later then he had predicted. The Hunter has walked right into my trap. Just a week ago by Galactic Standard he had started a rumor that the pirates had once again began basing their operations off of Tallon IV. He thought the news would have traveled faster, but in any case it did not matter. By having the hunter show up two days later than scheduled he had been able to get all the Phazon he required and plan for the Hunter's arrival. He had known exactly when the Hunter's ship had set down on the planet, exactly when the Hunter had entered the mines, and known when the Hunter had entered the loading bay. All thanks to the many Shadow Pirates he had set up around the facility. Although his plans had almost went to hell when the two Shadow Pirates at the entrance to the mines had gotten it into their head that they would take the Hunter by themselves, but thankfully the Hunter hadn't been smart enough to check for anymore Shadow Pirates.
An explosion shook the platform the Hunter was standing on and Ridley looked up to see the remnants of a power bomb explosion fading away. The Hunter was fighting — good. It was more fun this way. With a tweak of his back servos, Ridley unfolded his wings and took flight. As he headed for the Hunter he realized — he didn't even know if the Hunter was male or female. Oh well, Ridley thought, the Hunter will die soon enough anyways.
Out of the corner of her eye Samus saw Ridley take flight and head towards her. Just what she needed. And where was Adam? What was taking him so long? Not only had she fallen into a trap, but she also had to deal with the hundred and fifty pirates and their crazed, mechanical leader.
A loud obnoxious screech erupted from Ridley's mouth followed by what Samus could only guess as a command in the pirates' own language. He landed in front of her and raised to his full height, towering over her. Suddenly all the pirates retreated, leaving her alone with Ridley.
Speaking in her tongue Ridley said, "Underneath you are ten crates of pure, unaltered Phazon surrounded by explosives. Also the explosions will set off a chain reaction that will cause the facility to be demolished. There won't be a trace of you or this facility after the explosion. On my command, once the ship is far enough away, my troops will set off the explosives and you will die."
Keeping her defense up Samus replied, "And you expect me to just stand here?"
"No," Ridley smirked, "this is a trap after all." Opening his mouth Ridley let out a stream of fire aiming just in front of Samus. The fire touched the platform and ignited a barrier of fire that wrapped around Samus. Ridley then turned and took flight, along with the ship.
Samus wasn't stupid. Even without her danger indicator screaming in her ear, she knew she would not be able to jump through the flame without taking heavy damage to her suit and after the fight with the pirates her energy was extremely low. She wasn't sure she would be able to get through the flames without losing the rest of her energy, and having her suit fail on her now was not the best option in the world. If her suit shut down she would never be able to get out of the mining facility before the pirates blew it up. But, what if she could create a gap in the fire? A gap big enough for her jump to through.
Switching to her ice beam, Samus shot at the fire. The ice beam worked, but only for a few seconds. Before she could escape, the fire had melted the ice and the route was gone. She had to think of something else and fast, but what? Then it came to her.
Power bomb.
Samus changed into her morph ball and laid a power bomb. Without morphing out, she charged up her boost ball and, as soon as the bomb exploded, zipped through the opening.
Coming out of her morph ball in a run, Samus saw her gunship touching down on the landing pad outside. Climbing abroad she said, "About time, we have to get out of here before everything explodes around us."
Without saying a word, Adam turned the ship around and took off. Samus looked out the cockpit, deactivated her power suit, and saw that the pirates' ship was still not out of range. They had plenty of time.
Then everything exploded around them.
Both ships were flung in opposite directions. Samus, not being buckled in, was thrown from one side of the ship to the other as Adam tried his best to correct the ship's roll. On the ship's third roll Samus hit her head and everything went black.
Samus woke up with a throbbing headache.
"About time you woke up," Adam said.
"How long have I been out?"
"Three standard hours," came the reply.
Samus got up and looked out the cockpit. They were still floating above Tallon IV and there was no sign of the space pirates.
As if reading her mind Adam said, "The pirates took off almost immediately. Also, while you were out I scanned the planet. It seems the explosion completely obliterated the mining facility. There's no trace of it. And it also appears that the planet seems to now be void of all Phazon. I can't even find a micro liter of it."
Samus looked down at the planet. It looked so peaceful. Maybe now the planet could finally rest. Turning back to the computer she said, "Let's head back to Earth. I know HQ and I are not on friendly ground right now, but they needed to know of this new development." Taking control of the ship, Adam laid a course for Earth while Samus tended to her headache.
It took several hours to reach Earth from Tallon IV via one of many hyperspace routes through the galaxy. While on the way to Earth, Samus had a chance to ponder why the explosion had gone off early. It was clear that the space pirates had not been far enough away from the facility or else they would not have been caught in the resulting explosion. Perhaps something had malfunctioned or one of the pirates had gotten trigger-happy? In the end it did not matter. Samus had failed to stop the pirates and now they were somewhere loose in the galaxy with a ship full of Phazon.
Upon coming up to Earth, Samus knew something was wrong. The orbital defense system that surrounded the planet was no longer there. She had been gone for a while, but not nearly long enough for HQ to decide to remove the defense system. And even if they had she would have heard about it over the comm, she was sure of it. Deciding to take a more detailed look, Samus flew the ship closer.
Noting that the side of the planet where the Galactic Federation headquarters was stationed was not facing the sun, Samus decided that perhaps communications were down and perhaps their computers had not been able to pick out her darker colored ship against the night sky.
As the ship entered the Earth's atmosphere a warning tone sounded. "Adam, what is that?"
"It appears, My Lady, that the ship suffered minor damage to the engine core during the explosion. The damage was so minor that the scanners never picked it up, but the hyperspace travel seems to have damaged it further." Another tone sounded as Adam took control of the ship. "I'm going to set us down on the upper east coast of the North American continent. A place called Manhattan Island. The settlement just outside the ruins of New York City should have some sort of communication device you can use to contact HQ."
Once the ship was set down and Samus had gotten together the equipment she would need, she got off the ship and looked to the horizon where the old ruins could be seen.
Her jaw dropped.
Speaking into her communicator she asked, "Adam, are you sure you're right about where we are?"
"Yes, My Lady, why?"
"Because what's in front of me does not look like old ruins." Samus pulled out her vision enhancement visor and took a closer look at the "ruins" of New York City. Sure enough, directly in front of Samus were not old ruins, but many blinking and twinkling lights set against a dark horizon. While she could not see for sure, the lights seemed to make up the shape of several tall buildings and skyscrapers. Her com-link beeped.
"I did a scan of the area. We are where I said we are," came Adam's response. "But..."
"But what?"
"I also did a technological scan. There are no signs of Galactic Federation technology. It's as if they do not exist."
"What could cause this?"
"I am not sure, but I would postulate that the explosion on Tallon IV caused a dimensional shift and we were thrown into another universe. HQ has theorized this could be possible, but it had never been proven."
Samus shook her head and cursed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
"What's wrong, My Lady?"
"There are three things wrong, though I am sure I will be able to think of more, just give me time." Even though Adam could not see, she ticked each reason off on a finger. "First, there is a good chance I will not be able to fix my ship, the parts needed may not even exist. Second, I can't contact HQ; and thirdly, how long do you think it will take the Space Pirates to figure out what happened? The one planet they have never truly been able to conquer is Earth, but now, in this different universe, Earth is vulnerable." Samus looked around at the peaceful serenity of a world yet to be tainted by space pirates. "And when the pirates do figure out they are not in their own universe, they will take their chance to conquer Earth. And when they do, Earth won't stand a chance."
"Well since the outpost clearly is not here, there is probably very little you can do until it is daylight," Adam said. "I would suggest you come back inside and wait till tomorrow before you venture out there."
"Yes," Samus agreed. "That sounds like a good idea." With that she re-entered the ship and closed the hatch. She had a long night ahead of her and much planning and theorizing to do.
