Author's Note: Hi everyone. Once again, thanks for reading. I'm pretty pleased to present you with a second chapter in the span of a week.

For anyone wondering, yes, I'm still planning to continue with "Dreams Unwind," but I seem to have a bit more momentum for this project at the moment.

At any rate, enjoy Chapter 4, and as also, reviews are greatly appreciated :)

Chapter 4: The Meeting

"You know, you really should put on a shirt before going in to see the Chairman." The equine secretary looked across her desk at Samus as the bounty hunter sat in one of the yellow faux leather chairs in the waiting area outside of Keaton's office.

Samus looked down at her outfit, still in her same attire of blue jeans, combat boots, and the bright orange crop top. Then she looked back up at the secretary.

"I am wearing a shirt," she said flatly, noting how the equine woman's suit blazer matched her magenta hair perfectly.

"That's a sports bra," the secretary said, looking unamused as she stared at Samus over the rim of her glasses.

"It covers everything required by law." The bounty hunter returned the annoyed look. "It's not public indecency."

The secretary just shook her head and sighed as she looked back down at the holoscreen on her desk. "It may not be illegal, but it's not respectful. You're going into a meeting with the Chairman of the Galactic Federation, and you're half naked."

Samus didn't say anything. She supposed it did show off an awful lot of her abdomen, and her arms were completely bare. She probably should have realized it wasn't appropriate attire for this kind of meeting, but when she had run off her ship the day before in pursuit of Sylux, she hadn't considered she'd end up in a situation where her outfit was socially unsuitable. As it was, the only reason she wasn't in her armor now was because she didn't know what the fake Samus was up to, and she didn't want anyone to notice them in two places at the same time.

"Do you… have an extra shirt?" Samus asked, feeling kind of naked and embarrassed now as she looked around and saw all sorts of people walking by dressed in various types of suits.

The secretary stopped her typing and looked up at her. She was quiet for a moment, and she looked Samus over as if trying to figure out if the woman was serious or not.

"I have an extra sweater," she said after a while, "but I'm not sure it would fit you."

Even though her bottom half resembled that of a horse, her top half was very much that of a human female, and she was far more petite than Samus in that area.

The bounty hunter just nodded. She had known it was a long shot, but she figured she might as well make an attempt at looking appropriate. Given that she had mangled every interaction she had since being discharged from the medical facility though, she figured being nearly shirtless in the Capitol Building was pretty par for the course. She crossed her legs and arms, awkwardly trying to hide her bare midsection as she waited for the Chairman to call her in.

It seemed to take forever, and Samus wondered who Keaton was meeting with before her and if Admiral Dane was in with him already. She was at least eager to see Dane again, although it would be the first time he was meeting her without her armor. Once again she wished she had thought to buy a jacket somewhere on her way in.

The equine secretary got an alert on one of her holoscreens.

"Ms. Weaver," she said, looking up at Samus, "The Chairman will see you now."

Samus just nodded as she stood up. She used a lot of aliases, especially on Federation planets, so the secretary only knew her as the socially problematic Ms. Weaver who showed up from time to time for odd meetings with the Chairman.

As Samus opened the door to the Chairman's chambers, she saw Keaton sitting behind his desk as usual, but she also saw two other human men sitting across from him. The first one she recognized immediately as Admiral Dane, a very tall man in his mid fifties. Formal as always, the Admiral had a very dignified posture, and he was dressed in his decorated olive green Marine uniform.

Samus didn't recognize the second man, someone dressed in an Army General's blue and white coat. He was fairly pale from spending so much time in space, and his hair was completely gray. He looked roughly as old as Dane if not a bit older. His face was very angular in nature, with a prominent nose and cheekbones. As he stood up from his seat, he turned to look at Samus and stared at her in dismay.

"You didn't tell me your next meeting was with a mercenary," he said to Keaton, still looking Samus up and down.

"Need I remind you, General Roberts," Keaton said as he glared at the gray-haired man, "that who I meet with is my business and not yours. And if it wasn't for your branch's piss-poor attempts at taking Zebes costing us the lives of thousands of troops, we wouldn't have to deal with private military contractors in the first place."

General Roberts made a huffing sound but held his tongue. His eyes didn't leave Samus though until he finally strode over to the exit and walked out the door, closing it with a bit more of a dramatic flare than the Chairman preferred. When at last he was gone, Keaton gestured for Samus to sit in the chair recently occupied by the General.

"Have a seat," the green alien said, completely unfazed by her inappropriate attire as she sat down. Samus wondered if he didn't care because he wasn't humanoid or if he was just used to her by now.

"Good morning, Samus," Admiral Dane said as she took a seat next to him. He didn't quite smile, but he gave her a friendly nod. "I'm glad to see you out and about again."

Samus returned the nod. "It's good to beout and about again. A month in the medical facility was far too long."

"You're looking well," he said, "and I really mean it when I say I'm glad to see you again. I honestly thought we had lost you at the end of that last mission."

Samus just nodded again. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She knew Dane had lost a significant percentage of his troops during the final battle to take down Phaaze, and she couldn't imagine what that must have felt like for him.

"If we've gotten all of our pleasantries out of the way," Keaton said, looking between Samus and Dane, "we can proceed with the actual meeting." He still sounded annoyed, although his tone was softer than it had been. "As I already briefed you and General Roberts on, Samus here saved my life yesterday when the terrorist attacked Daiban. Unfortunately, we were not able to apprehend whoever the attacker was. Unless," he continued, turning to Samus, "you managed to track down this unknown entity?"

Samus shook her head. "No. But I do know who it. The terrorist yesterday was that bounty hunter known as Sylux, the one I lost track of after the Alimbic incident a year or so ago."

Keaton nodded. "I remember. The one you claim wielded Federation technology based weaponry, but about whom you knew nothing."

"That is correct," Samus said, sitting up a bit straighter. Her self-consciousness from earlier was vanishing as the other two in the room listened to her. "Still no species data. No discernable sex. Still using the shock coil weapon though. I don't know exactly what xir motivation is, but xe still seems to hate the Federation and almost seems to take delight in toying with me."

"Toying?" Keaton asked, staring curiously at the bounty hunter. "With you?"

Samus nodded. "Xe's been sending me anonymous transmissions for months, but they were very vague, and for a long time I honestly thought they were coming from Dark Samus. They stopped for the month I was in the medical facility, but I received one yesterday just before the attack. Sylux sort of tipped me off, although I don't think xe was expecting me to find xem so quickly. We battled for a little while in one of the buildings nearby—don't remember which one—but xe told me about the bomb that was in the Capitol Building and how it was set to a timer. I didn't have time to fight xem and rescue you, so I just chose to rescue you instead."

"And why didn't you explain this before?" Keaton asked, not irritated so much as genuinely trying to understand.

"Because I was being shot at," Samus stated flatly.

The Chairman just nodded. "Fair enough. I want you to know though, those shots when you were leaving weren't authorized. The soldiers who fired them are facing the penalties for their actions." He paused. "I saw they hit their mark. I hope you weren't injured too badly."

Samus shrugged. "Honestly, it was pulse rifle fire. I'm not hurt at all."

There had been a bit of minor bruising on her chest and back when she had checked herself prior to her shower the night before, but it had likely disappeared by now. Bruises and things like that never lasted long for Samus. Even serious injuries healed far faster for her than a normal human. Despite what the copious amount of scars on her body may have suggested, it actually took quite a lot to hurt Samus Aran.

"Can you be more specific on the type of weaponry Sylux was using?" Keaton asked.

Samus shook her head. "Same cobalt blue armor. Same shock coil. Still everything from my original report from the Alimbic cluster. From everything I could tell, the bombs xe used were pretty generic, not specific to any unusual type of weaponry. Overall, nothing new. No new leads."

Admiral Dane looked thoughtful as he listened to Samus. "Whoever xe is, xe obviously has some personal vendetta against the Federation, and the fact that xe's using armor and weaponry made with our technology should theoretically make xem easier to identify." He looked over to Keaton.

The little green alien shook his head. "I'll get Intelligence to revisit the files on Sylux from the Alimbic incident, but they have so much on their plate right now, I doubt it will be a priority, especially with no new information. The war already has all of our resources stretched pretty thin. We absolutely did not need a lone wolf bounty hunter making terror attacks, especially not when most of our own solo operatives are dead or out of commission."

Samus nodded soberly. She knew he was referring to the deaths of Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda as well as her own extended stay in the medical facility.

"Well, for what it's worth," she said, "I'm not out of commission anymore."

Keaton looked over to her, and Samus noticed just how tired the alien looked. "But you realize this means you need to do the job of four people now. Three out of our four best hunters are dead, and each one of them rivaled you in strength. I'm not going to lie to you, Samus. Unless we can enlist someone else as powerful as you, your workload has just quadrupled."

"The other three may be gone," Admiral Dane said, striking an optimistic tone and garnering their attention, "but Samus was always the strongest out of all of them. She's a damn good warrior and a far better ally than I think the military gives her credit for."

Samus didn't say anything, the praise making her feel self-conscious again.

"While that's all well and good," Keaton said, turning from Dane to Samus, "even though you are a powerful warrior, this will very likely be more than you can handle. Even if it doesn't hit you right away, I have no doubt being the last surviving hunter of your caliber will mean far more numerous and more dangerous missions. It will wear you down, Aran."

Samus nodded slowly, not sure why he was emphasizing something so obvious.

"You're going to need to take real care of yourself," he continued. "Eating, sleeping, and working out regularly. Keeping yourself in peak form so you're fighting fit at all times." His eyes narrowed into a glare. "Not getting yourself drunk and passing out on your space ship or getting into bar brawls or whatever the hell it was you did this morning."

"It was a diner," Samus said, not realizing how irrelevant that detail was until the words were already out of her mouth. "And don't worry, I won't repeat that mistake. Sylux's random attacks yesterday were a wake-up call for me. I know I'll have to be ready at all times. I have no intention of compromising myself again."

She said the words with honest intent, but there was the small voice in the back of her mind that knew it wasn't true. She had a lot of demons, and she knew, deep down, that she had never truly had any of them under control. Especially not since the phazon corruption.

"The entire Federation is counting on you, Aran," Keaton said with an uncharacteristic sincerity. "We need you alive and on duty, so don't go getting yourself killed or worked into such a state that you're useless."

"I'm not planning on getting myself killed." Samus wasn't sure if he was being so repetitive because he thought she was stupid or if he was simply that desperate. A long look at the way his wrinkly skin and eyelids drooped, though, made her realize it was the latter. It had been twenty-five years since the war began, and it had been raging since before Keaton had ever taken office. The Chairman was exhausted, and he worried about Samus reaching that same state.

"Good," Keaton said, once more aloof as he pulled something up on a holoscreen and turned the projection toward Samus and Dane. "Now, since nothing can be done about Sylux at the moment, we might as well move on to our next point of interest." The screen zoomed in on a small planet in a far off solar system that Samus had never seen before. "This is Actaeon. It was considered a possible site for a Centurian colony until the raids of 2204 when the idea was abandoned. Intelligence has discovered that since the fall of Phaaze there has been an increased amount of traffic to and from the planet, but none of the energy signatures match any Federation-registered ships. We believe it to be a Space Pirate base, possibly one where the higher-ups in their ranks have gone to recuperate since Aran took out so many of their other bases and officers."

Samus studied the image of the planet carefully. It looked so small and insignificant compared to the vast space around it, but she knew she couldn't judge a planet by looks or size. If this really was where the higher-ranking Space Pirates were gathering, there was a good chance she was number one on their hit list.

She recalled her recent battles with Ridley, the Commander of large factions of the Space Pirates. She had faced him in battle twice in that mission alone, and one of those fights had nearly killed her. It was only Rundas, the Phrygisian bounty hunter, who had saved her from certain death. And then she had failed to return the favor when she encountered him a month later, severely corrupted by the phazon. She could still see the image of him impaled on his own icicle as she had watched helplessly. It was an image that would be forever burned in her mind along with the sounds of Dark Samus's cackling.

"What we need from you," Keaton continued, addressing Samus directly, "is to accompany Admiral Dane's fleet in an offensive raid on the planet. The Admiral said you did a good job covering his troops in the bomb squad last month, and I think it would be helpful to them to have you assist."

Samus frowned as she stared at the holographic planet. "Why put the fleet in danger at all? I've always worked alone, and I took down their operations on Zebes three years ago. I doubt whatever base is on this planet is anywhere near as organized or fortified as the one on Zebes was. I can go in by myself."

"I thought you would say that." Keaton shook his head. "What did I just get done telling you though? You're going to be run ragged in the months—or even years—to come. Take the backup. Work with Dane's fleet. This isn't a matter of whether or not you can take down this base by yourself, Aran. It's a matter of allocating your strength for optimal efficiency."

The mercenary looked away from the holoscreen and glared at the Chairman. "Then you're condemning many of Dane's troops to death."

"And if you insist on continuing with your regularly-scheduled recklessness, then you're condemning many more people to die. Billions. And possibly costing us the war." The Chairman glared back at her every bit as fiercely. "Maybe you understand the individual battles, and I'll give you that you've been instrumental in many of our victories these past three years, but you don't understand the war as a whole. Our forces are holding on by threads, and after twenty-five years of constant raids and attacks, we're spent. We're depending on private military contractors like you to fight our toughest battles because we just don't have the power to keep up anymore. The Pirates outclass us in technology even if we outnumber them. And they have powerful bioweapons that are forbidden by our laws."

"And you only have one bioweapon," Samus said as she stared at the green alien. Her face was blank and empty "And you need to preserve that weapon."

"Precisely," Keaton said, not taking mind of Samus's flat tone.

Samus looked up at Admiral Dane, and he nodded to her silently.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice," she said.

"The troops will be glad to have you fighting on our side, Samus," Dane said with a small smile at the bounty hunter.

Samus had a million things she wanted to say in an attempt to talk the Admiral out of sending his people into the raid, but she knew it was no good. "I'm happy to help," she said after a while. "But I do have one condition."

Dane nodded again. "Anything you'd like, Samus."

"I need you to take me to the shipyards as Aliehs-III. You know my ship was damaged and subsequently destroyed by the explosion of Phaaze." Both Admiral Dane and likely Keaton knew very well that Samus's reports of her ship's destruction had been false, but they pretended they didn't. "I need to get my other ship, and I'll accompany you in that."

"You're welcome to join us on one of our ships," the Admiral replied.

But Samus shook her head. "I don't do well living with people in close quarters like that. Besides, my ship is a much smaller target. If I'm really as important to the war effort as Keaton is making me out to be, then it's best to minimize my chances of being shot down."

"That seems like sound logic and a reasonable request," Dane said.

Keaton nodded, but he looked skeptical as he looked Samus up and down. "Yes, solid plan. As long as you're not imprudent enough to try anything stupid, Aran."