Disclaimer; I own nothing in this fic.


Chapter 2


2100 hours

Pending mission… Space pirate's invasion

Location scanning… Lake Hyrule

Samus stood on a small ledge as she looked out at a distant desert while two strange men of opposite height and size watched her nervously as they had never seen anyone like this. She was in full armor now as her visor had greater capabilities then her own vision. The setting was at its greatest distance but she still couldn't make anything out but the frigate itself was definitely of space pirate origin.

The small glimpse she had of the desert wasn't very informative for her as to why they landed there and not anywhere else. She continued to watch the large frigate as she asked, "Is there anything of importance out there?"

"All that's out there is the Arbiter Grounds." The short man said. "Everything else is a wasteland."

"There's also the great fairy fountain." The tall one added.

"That's just a myth." The short one said with a wave of the hand.

"These Arbiter Grounds, where can I get a better view of them?" Samus asked.

"You have to jump down into the lake to the look out over there." The guard Captain said as he showed her the lookout. "The only way down is by cucco."

"Is there any other way to see it?" Samus asked.

"You might have a decent view on the bridge but you wouldn't see much no matter how good your vision is." The short man said.

Samus looked over at the bridge for a short moment before leaving the house without word as the guards followed her. They walked in silence as there were no words to be said between them as they wanted to part from their unwanted company at first chance. As they reached the top of the stairs outside they were stopped by Samus as she spotted some activity in the distance by tall rocks that stood close to the path back to the castle but it wasn't space pirate, it seemed to be native.

"There are some creatures by the rocks." Samus said.

"That's nothing to be suspicious of." The Captain said. "There are many creatures in Hyrule that wonder about like this. A lot pose minor threats but there's no need for concern."

"I'm not concerned." Samus said. "Nothing your planet can throw at me is concerning."

The guards gave her an angered look at her judgment of their land as they couldn't accept her technology or 'science'. Their views on matters were completely opposite of the others as Samus's 'science' gave her much doubt to Hyrule's 'magic' and 'deities'. Both their views had very little in common as Hyrule's religion had yet to be abandoned and her science had long since abandoned the simple whim of religion.

They continued on and were soon ambushed by a hoard of goblins. They carried bows and clubs as they rushed the guards and Samus. The guards drew their swords to attack but Samus simply raised her power beam and shot a single shot at each one. Five shots were fired and five were killed before the rest fled in panic. Even the guards stood in shock as they had never seen such a power before.

Samus continued on without much care for the guard's reactions to her actions as she walked to the bridge without word. The guards followed momentarily but still speechless as she fired off another shot off to the side without even looking and a shriek from a goblin marked its death. They glanced over to where the shot had been fired to find the goblin falling off the side of the bridge with a bow still in hand.

When they reached the center of the bridge Samus stopped at the ledge and looked towards the desert once more before climbing up onto the ledge. She went up alone as the guards remained behind since they wouldn't be able to see anything. They lingered by the ledge, but clear of the woman, in silence as they awaited the strange woman they knew little about but dared not make a challenge to her now as their death would be guarantied.

After a moment Samus jumped off the ledge and walked off as the guards hurried to catch up to her. "What is the importance of the Arbiter Grounds?"

"It was built to hold the worst criminals ever known. The ones sentenced to death were sent directly to the underworld by a cursed mirror that was kept at the top of the prison." The Captain said. "All that's left in its ruins are the souls of the condemned that refuse to rest. The road there is impassible so none could try and claim the mirror for their own uses."

"What power does this mirror hold now?" Samus asked.

"None, it has been destroyed in the past couple of months." The Captain said. "Princess Zelda has even confirmed it with her own eyes."

"Zelda," Samus repeated in a mutter. "If the mirror has been destroyed then why is the road to the desert impassible?"

"It has been that way since the day the prison went to ruins." The Captain said. "The only way to travel there now is by cannon at the bottom of the lake and the only way down is by boat from Zora's Domain or by cucco. With the weight of your armor you may have difficulty getting down."

"I will not travel by means of cannon." Samus stated. "I'll repair my ship and fly there with more ease."

"How long will that take?" One guard asked.

"It should be done in a matter of days." Samus replied. "The space pirates will remain in that area for awhile before moving on to expand their territory."

"Are you certain of this?" The Captain asked.

"Positive." Samus confirmed. "I've fought many of them before and know how they act and expand their territories over captured planets. They are likely scanning their current location for test subjects and things of use for them so they have an increased force against any threat this planet may hold towards them."

"We must inform the Princess of this immediately." The Captain said.

"That is why we are returning to the castle." Samus said.

2215 hours

Pending mission… Repairs in a primitive land

Location scanning… Hyrule Castle [throne room]

Samus stood before the Princess with no need to bow before her as the soldiers did even with the dark looks she was getting from the men and women that stood beside the throne watching them. She was still in her power suit but had removed her helmet once more for her voice to be heard more clearly as she explained her findings and theories on what was happening in the desert. The others present in the room spoke of outrage and doubt only to be silenced as Zelda spoke,

"I have little doubt that what you say is false." Zelda said calmly. "What do you plan on doing now?"

"I will repair my ship and travel there in a matter of days." Samus said. "If they try to expand at all I'll take them all out and destroy any of their experiments."

"What will that do to our land?" One man asked in outrage. "We've all witnessed what you have done to the courtyard. What more will you destroy while you're here?"

"I was shot down and lost control of my ship." Samus stated. "I had only enough control of it to avoid the castle. If I hadn't this castle would no longer be here."

"It doesn't matter how you have arrived here." Zelda said calmly. "The castle and its surrounding wall is still intact preventing much work to be done. The grounds can be repaired with more ease then the walls of the castle. I am grateful that you have not done anymore damage then you have but that doesn't matter with this new threat in this land."

"The threat will not last very long and will not know anything outside of the desert." Samus confirmed. "I'm going to repair my ship so I can depart sooner."

Samus turned to leave without waiting for any form of permission from the Princess and none was given nor was she halted by her or the guards while the courts men were outraged by her behavior, "How dare you leave the Princess's throne without permission to do so? She is the ruler of this land and you will show her some respect, woman!"

Samus stopped and raised her power beam to the one that spoke to her as she allowed a beam to charge. She did not like to be disrespected by anyone. The guards offered no form of threat out of fear of her weaponry and didn't try to stand in the way as they didn't like either the courts men or this woman. Zelda rose to her feet at the threat and said, "Samus is not one of this land and so there is no reason for her to bow before me or even have my permission to do anything. However I do wish for cooperation between her and my court."

There was no word of cooperation on either side and Samus's threat was not dropped nor was the courts men's anger. As time went by the tension rose and it was no longer about Samus and the courts man it was Samus's anger against the Princess's word. For her to drop her threat was to obey the woman and she did not want to be controlled even in the slightest by this woman. The two women held their angered gaze at one another as all in the court looked between the two awaiting the next word or move to be made.

When nothing came to pass and their gaze turned to glares as it became clear to all that no cooperation would be had easily. They silently battled for domination over the other and all bore witness to the event. The odd part of this battle was that no threat was ever made to Zelda as the weapon was still pointed at the courts man. Their eyes narrowed at one another before Zelda smirked and Samus left the room as the charge beam dissolved into nothing.

The door was closed loudly marking the woman's leave. She collapsed against the wall in the hall dropping her helmet to place her hand on her forehead as sweat dripped down her face. The Princess had done something to her when their eyes were locked. There was no explaining it but it was as if her voice was in Samus's head and spoke to her. She had even seen a glimpse of this land shrouded in darkness and evil and a part of her felt fearful of that evil as it remained inside her as if staining her already tainted being.

She remained standing there for a couple of minutes before retrieving her helmet from the ground and putting it on and walking down the hallway at a quick pace to return to her ship sooner and make all the repairs that she could and rewire everything to run with the damage that she couldn't repair as she, along with this planet, lacked the necessary material to make all the repairs. She would have to 'acquire' some parts from the space pirates just to leave this planet. At her first chance she would leave this place behind.

Princess Zelda sat in her throne with a smug feeling inside her as she had overpowered the other woman that had her guards so terrified. She had used the abilities she had that Samus so openly dismissed to acquire the woman's submission in her presence. It wasn't something she was fond of doing and she rarely used it on others unless it was necessary to reserve her land from war. In this case she would have to use it against Samus often to assume a steady balance between her court and Samus's defiant attitude towards her rule.

Samus returned to her ship and immediately reconnected her power suit to her ships power to charge it with the rest of her energy tanks as she found it unlikely that she would need them here and if she ran into something troublesome then her skill and weaponry would more then make up for her lack of suit power. While her ship charged she opened a packed of instant food and tossed it into the instant oven and turned it on.

After two seconds it beeped and she took out the meal and went to her chair to enjoy the first meal she had since crashing here. It was one of the rare occasions she was free to eat this soon after a crash landing. This was the first time she had crash landed in a somewhat civilized civilization and was not met with an immediate attack but rather a somewhat warmer gesture then she usually was met with though there was still violence that ensued.

She took a bite of her meal and brought up a screen on the computer and went over the damage that could be repaired idly. After awhile she just sat back to relax but it wasn't for long as a small beeping started and a small red light came on in the corner of the screen. She tapped the light and a small window opened revealing the young Princess standing outside of her ship as she looked at it curiously but seemed to hold a slight anger in her eyes.

Samus observed the Princess for awhile before exiting her ship to allow her to have the discussion she wanted to have. When their eyes met the anger in Zelda's eyes slowly vanished. "What is it?"

"You never got the information you wanted." Zelda said. "You've done as I asked you to so I will do as you want me to and inform you on everything I can."

"Come in then." Samus said. "It would be easier to upload the data to my database if it's done at the same time."

She walked to the ledge of her ship and leaned down with a hand offered for the other woman. It was taken with a smile as Samus pulled the Princess up with complete ease and led her to the hatch before making her stand over it. She sank into the ship with a startled expression on her face making a slight smile form on her face before she entered as well. Zelda's eyes were wide with the shock of technology present as she stood in shock at her new surroundings.

Samus placed a hand on her shoulder to bring her out of her shock. Their eyes met for a moment before Samus led her to the side and pulled out the small cot from the wall and sat her down before going to her computer to enter the new information. When the log was ready she looked at Zelda and said, "Shall we start with history."

Zelda began with the history of Hyrule and, even though Samus found the religion foolish, she inputted everything into the log without pause or hesitation and asked as many question that she found necessary and held her skepticism to herself. She didn't care if her opinion would upset the Princess in her beliefs but she didn't state them to quicken the process of gathering information and she gathered as much of it as she could and more then just history but natives, the lands, their myths, and even their cultures.

When they finished their little information session Samus looked it all over contently before going to her power suit and removing the helmet to bring it to the main computer to upload the information to her personal database so she could identify them later on with the encounters she would have with them and she could upload it for any future use for her or others once she uploads this to the Galactic Federation's main database.

She stopped in the middle of what she was doing and brought up the map of Hyrule she had saved to her helmet's database and watched it carefully for a long time in silence. This was uncharted space and the Galactic Federation had no reach out here at all and not many travelled out as far as she had. Even with her data entry on this planet and the confirmation that its here not many would come this far for a long time. But what if the Galactic Federation decided to come out this far? What would happen to this land of religion and whims of magic?

Magic, perhaps there was more to it then she really believed. Samus looked back over at Zelda and said, "You did something to me before. What was it?"

"I used my power to pressure you into dropping your guard." Zelda replied calmly. "It isn't something I normally do to others. I only use it when I deem it is necessary to do so to ensure peace."

"Do you expect me to believe you used magic on me?" Samus asked skeptically.

"I expect you to believe whatever it is that you expect to believe." Zelda stated. "It certainty wasn't this 'technology' of yours."

"The way you speak to me is starting to aggravate me, Zelda." Samus said.

"You will refer to me by my proper title regardless of if you're of this land or not." The Princess replied.

Samus rose from her seat and went to the back of the ship to check the power that it had now and found it had raised to a decent amount now. She opened up a panel beside it exposing an array or wires, some of them fried and melted from the crash, and begin sorting and disconnecting the damaged ones only to replace them right away with new ones.

It wasn't long before Zelda was infuriated by Samus's ignorance towards her and she went over to command respect. She got a few feet before the weapon she had wielded earlier was pointed at her. Samus looked over at her and said, "Sit down or leave, it's your choice."

Zelda was temporarily taken aback before her anger grew once more as she became tempted to use her powers on this woman once more. Samus's eyes narrowed as she said, "I can feel when you try your little 'spell' on me and I won't hesitate to use this on you no matter if you're a Princess or not. Sit or leave."

This time it was Zelda that withdrew from her anger and sat down. Samus's eyes were much colder up close then half a room away. She had seen eyes that dark once before and she didn't want to see it again. She watched Samus in silence for awhile before asking, "Is it possible that you posses similar powers as me?"

"No," Samus stated bluntly.

"Then what was that that I had sensed from you?" Zelda asked almost distantly.

"Probably the intent to kill." Samus said coldly as she closed the panel and tossed the damaged wires aside and went to stand before the Princess. "Have you ever come face to face with someone that was about to kill you while you stood completely helpless? There was not even a single shred of hope for you to survive, not even as a prisoner. The type of situation that hardly anyone survives and to survive it is to cheat death."

Zelda's eyes were wide at the depth of cold in Samus's voice as the weapon she held was placed directly above her heart. "The paralyzer is not lethal but a shot at this range on the heart would stop it completely in the end killing you. Can you escape death with your 'powers'?"

There was nothing in Samus's words, voice, or even eyes that suggested that this was a joke. Zelda tried to move back but was instantly against the wall and the weapon still against her chest as she felt a twinge of fear inside her. Samus didn't move away or show any form of kindness though it had always been absent in the woman she had always been calm or irritated but there was never this depth of hatred. The weapon was pressed into her chest as she asked, "Have you ever felt this form of fear before?"

The only response given was a slow shake of the head and no more then that so Samus removed the weapon and went back to the rear of the ship to gather a long rectangular box before leaving the ship and the Princess in fear. No one had ever had the courage to do something like that to her and any confrontation she had been in had never been so close and so one sided. For the first time she was powerless in a situation and it terrified her as she had always been recognized as someone with high ranking even when she was imprisoned. No one had dared threaten her like she had just been threatened.

Zelda sat quietly as her body trembled a little despite her attempt to calm it. After a long time she had regained her composure and was once more filled with anger towards Samus for what had happened. She rose from the poor excuse of a bed to the exit and climbed out of the ship, as the exit had been left open either for later ease or so that she could leave when she wanted to.

She climbed out and found Samus was nowhere to be seen but from the sound she was likely below the ship. She hopped off the edge and found Samus lying on her back while removing something from the ship. "What are you doing?"

"I'm removing my rear thruster." Samus said simply. "On my way into orbit I hit the top of a mountain and lost my left one so I have to move this one to replace it so I won't veer to the right when flying. Either way my landings are going to be unbalanced however so I'll have to power down my ship completely which is fine because my generator has been damaged so I'll have to rely on my thrusters more then my main engine. I should be able to make it back to the nearest Trade Federation and get the proper repairs."

"What if you can't?" Zelda asked.

"Then I'll slowly drift through space and eventually die." Samus said with a slight shrug. "Unless the Galactic Federation can pick up a trace of my pulse beacon with their long range radar then I won't have any way of survival."

Zelda stood at a loss of what was just said before Samus simplified, "Consider a pulse beacon a fire and the long range radar a tower or search party."

"Aren't their others like you around?" Zelda asked.

"There are but it isn't likely they would help me." Samus stated. "At the most I can salvage another ship from the space pirate frigate and rip some parts off of that. I need to replace a few entry couplings since the buffer panel on the left wing is damaged but still usable."

"There sure is a lot to this metal." Zelda said as she placed a hand on the ship in slight awe. "Will the repairs take long?"

"That depends on how much is damaged and what I can salvage from the space pirates." Samus said. "I'll have to kill them all before I can take their equipment. Hopefully I'll be able to find a power supply as well there so I won't have to rely on my suit for my ships power so much."

"Your armor powers your ship?" Zelda asked in amazement.

"No, I'm just using the energy in my suit to boost the power of my ship." Samus said. "I normally use my ship's power to repower my suit. The type of energy is the same so I can convert it back and forth when I need to and with a working generator I never have to use my suit to bring power to my ship."

"You certainly know a lot about these things." Zelda remarked.

"It's necessary for me to know these things just like it's necessary for you to always show your strong side even when your frightened." Samus said. "Being strong isn't just about knowing your strengths but knowing your weaknesses and improving on them as you go along. You don't always have to put on a strong face. There are times to be afraid and times to grieve."

Zelda was taken aback by these words and angrily said, "You say this as if I do these things."

Samus stopped what she was doing for a moment and looked over at Zelda before returning to her task at hand. It wasn't long before she sat up as much as she could and brought herself out from under the ship while still carrying the rectangular box and removed herself from underneath it. She climbed on top of the ship once more and pulled out a short but wide tube with a nozzle on top before glancing at the Princess, who continued to watch her, and putting it away and moved on to a different part of the ship. Any welding would have to be done later and away from the Princesses eyes.

Zelda watched Samus filled with intrigue as she went about the repairs with apparent ease. She was now at the large hollow tubes at the back part of the ship making Zelda climb back up for a better view. There was silence as Samus continued on until she stopped with a slight sigh and said, "Take two steps to the right, you're in my light."

She did as she was told as Samus continued the repairs with various tools of the likes the Princess had never seen and doubted their very existence in Hyrule as she had not seen many tools. When she was done with this part of the ship she placed all the tools in the box and went back to the hatch as she said, "It isn't wise to stand on top of a ship when it's about to take flight. You can either be inside or outside to watch but keep a good distance."

Zelda hopped off the ship anxious to see what it could do. She walked away at a quick pace so she wouldn't miss a thing. "That's good enough."

She looked back at Samus to find a slight smile on the woman's face as if knowing how much she wanted to see this. Samus reentered the ship and there was nothing for a moment as Zelda waited patiently for anything to happen but as time went by she became sourly disappointed at the inactivity of the ship. She was hoping to see it make any form of movement at all even if Samus's effort was in vain and it didn't do much. Just a simple shift would be enough to excite her.

Samus relaxed in her chair with a window open on her computer as she watched Zelda with growing amusement as her excitement began to die down little by little as her disappointment sank in from the lack of events. The ship would move and Samus was well aware of that and it was simply waiting her command now but she had to taunt the Princess, who couldn't hide her curiosity or excitement towards her technology as anyone not completely interested in it would have fled shortly after she had threatened them. A smile formed on her face as she straightened up in her chair and began to power up her gunship.

Zelda's eyes widened with disbelief and fear as fire began spewing out of the tubes of the ship, the two large ones in the back and the three small ones underneath the ship. The three underneath shifted direction and forced the ship up into the air as the whole thing made a strange sound that was both frightful and calming for her. The ship leveled out and shifted to the side before landing on the ground out of the small trench it had made during the crash.

By this time Samus was completely amused as she watched Zelda from the window of her ship. It wasn't long before she couldn't hide her amusement so she hit a switch on the control causing a shutter to cover the window so Zelda couldn't look in and see her laugh. The laughter was short lived as all her amusement was and she was soon back to reorganizing her data base and replacing lost files with ones from her helmet's data base. It wasn't long before she was rejoined by the Princess as she spoke words of amazement and awe.