One of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing

You're gonna spread your wings and take the sky

But till that morning, there is nothing can harm you

With your mother standing by

-Summertime

IV

Ceres was silent, save for the sigh of solar winds that buffeted its cracked and brittle frame. As soon as Samus stepped out of her gunship she knew that she would find no life here. The same hallway that she had walked down not an hour earlier was peppered with slash marks and bullet holes in the walls. Several of the portholes were cracked, and the harsh fluorescent lights had all been broken. The glass crunched under her boots as she walked.

It was familiar destruction, but it turned her stomach nonetheless. She would know this type of brutality anywhere, even if there were no bodies heaped on the floor to tell of the loss of life. They had probably all been jettisoned like flotsam into the vacuum of space, lost forever. She thought of the black-haired scientists, and walked on.

The keypad of the first hatch she came to was smashed in, bare wires still sparking and spitting. The actual hatch door was crumpled on the floor in front of the threshold. She stepped over it easily, passing through the antechamber and into the lab.

There was no hum of computers, no clicking of fingers on keys, no sounds of creatures in their biotubes. They were dead, as well. Exactly as she feared. She walked through the forest of tubes, looking carefully in each one. There were several plant-like specimens, some birdlike creatures with scales instead of wings, and an assortment of aquatic parasites. She was too late to save all of them. There was nothing more she could do here except try to track down the culprits.

It was…small, Samus told herself again. It was probably the first one to be—

She stopped herself. She had to look, at least. She had to try.

And so she did.

She did not have to look far.

The only door in the laboratory that she could force open led into a dim hallway. She followed it, her footfalls echoing, until she came to a hatch that opened up into a large cargo area.

"You," she said, and the relief that flooded her voice made her weak in the knees.

It had been transferred from its jar into a containment tube, barely big enough for its body. It was propped up against the wall next to a tower of metal supply boxes, and she would have missed it in the gloom if not for the overjoyed squee it let out when she emerged through the doorway.

"What are you doing in here all by yourself?" she asked as she picked her way over the scattered cargo debris on the floor. When she reached her hatchling she picked up the tube and laughed as it positively vibrated with the hatchling's joy. "You must have had a real scare, huh? At least the scientists knew enough to hide you from those bastards. You deserve better than to be made their slave."

The Metroid hatchling squeaked.

"Either way, it's okay. I've got you." Her voice took on a soothing tone. "I've got you."

Holding the container under her right arm, she tried to open the lid with her free hand, but the metal slipped in her armor-encased fingers. It's probably one of those containers that you need two hands to open, she decided. And I guess it's not the best idea to let it out here, anyway. It could get hurt. She peered into the glass. It doesn't seem to be any worse for wear.

The station was dead. The scientist was dead. They were alone.

"Looks like I'll be toting you around after all until I find somewhere else to put you," she said. "You'll probably eat all of my fruit and violate my privacy all the time. I shall have no peace at all."

Metroids are not pets, Samus Aran.

"Then it's a good thing that you're not my pet," she whispered conspiratorially to the Metroid. "I am your mother. For now, at least. Just until you get big enough to avoid getting stuck in small spaces." She laughed aloud and turned to go.

"How touching."

Samus flinched away from the hissing voice as if she was struck by a physical blow. She mentally kicked herself for not sensing him, for not scanning the room, for not doing anything and being stupidly distracted and completely oblivious to the cloaked form that perched like a vulture on the top of the storage boxes. Whirling around on her heel and simultaneously switching the hatchling's container to her other hand as she sighted her power beam, she could only watch with cold hatred as Ridley reared up from his perch, wiry wings spread, mouth open in a jagged smile.

She was not equipped to fight him. Not here, not now, with so much at stake. The thrumming beneath her arm vibrated her very heartstrings.

"You have something of mine," Ridley's words oozed over her ears like black slime as he crawled down the pile of boxes. Samus kept backing towards the door, her power beam level with the dragon's eyes.

"You own nothing here," she spat.

Eyes smoldering like burning coals, Ridley gestured with a clawed hand to the container under her arm. "Give it to me."

Samus tightened her grip on it. "It is mine," she ground out.

My hatchling. Not yours. I am its mother.

Ridley took a step forwards, his foot crushing scattered debris under its weight. "Give it to me," he said in a voice that was venom in the air, "and I shall let you live."

"I do not value my life above the well-being of the entire galaxy," Samus said, drawing herself up. "I would die before I give in to you."

"That can be arranged."

It happened before she could blink. Ridley's tail, which usually waved like a scaly banner behind his body, had been hooked around one of the storage boxes he had been perched on. It surged forwards like a loosened bowstring and one of the huge boxes slingshotted out of place, tumbling through the air in a collision course with her body. She dove out of the way with millimeters to spare, landing heavily on her left shoulder as the box slammed into wall she had been standing in front of, bursting to pieces. The metal of the canister under her arm groaned but held firm; the hatchling inside was chirping frantically.

It's okay, I've got you, she thought dimly. She rolled onto her back and prepared to stand when she saw Ridley's hulking iridescent form come crashing like a meteor out of the air, bearing down inexorably on her body. She could not stop him. He would crush both of them.

She flung her arm out and the hatchling's tube sailed through the air just as Ridley landed full-force on top of Samus's body, crushing her into the metal panels of the floor. She grit her teeth as his claws scraped against her power suit, the action registering as intense pressure in her chest. Nevertheless, she raised her right arm and fired a volley of charge beams into the scales of Ridley's stomach. Screeching, he took to the air again, wind from his wings peppering Samus with bits of metal and glass.

When she sat up, she saw the Metroid's canister rolling to and fro on the ground nearly a dozen paces from where she was. Ridley, circling in the air above her, was getting ready for another dive, but whether or not he was aiming for her or the hatchling she could not tell. She decided to be safe and started sprinting towards the squeaking shape.

Ridley opened his mouth and a rain of fire fell from his jaws, slamming into the ground around Samus's feet as she ran. One of them struck her shoulder and almost sent her down, but she staggered back into her gait as she quickly approached the tube.

"Gah!" The purple whiplash of her archenemy's tail swung out of the gloom at the level of her neck, catching her right where her helmet and power suit met and sending her tumbling through the air. She met a short sudden stop at the far wall, collapsing onto all fours and coughing convulsively.

Ridley, his wings beating out a triumphant tempo in the air, reached down and gripped the Metroid's canister delicately with one of his talons. "I believe I shall be adopting this little one," he crowed at her. "You never struck me as the motherly type anyway." His laugh overwhelmed the Metroid's panicked squeals.

Samus lurched to her feet, swaying unsteadily. "This isn't over," she said in a breathless voice, raising her power beam once more. "The hatchling isn't yours!"

But Ridley was ignoring her. Instead, he beat his wings harder. He was preparing to escape.

"I said this isn't over, Ridley!" Her voice cracked on her cry and she clamped down her hand on her beam, powering up the most powerful shot her underequipped power suit could produce. Ridley's head was up; he wasn't looking at her. She released the bright glowing star of energy and watched as it arched through the air, connecting with the same talon that the dragon was carrying the Hatchling in. The beam struck the scales just above the canister, burning through to the tender skin beneath.

Ridley screamed in pain and his clutch on the tube loosened; the Metroid began to fall. Samus, clutching her side, stumbled towards it, hoping to catch it before it struck the ground.

She never got the chance.

Just as she raised her arms and spread her fingers to welcome her hatchling back, the dragon tucked his wings and plunged towards his target. Samus could only watch as the leader of the Space Pirates snatched the Metroid out of her tenuous grasp as easily as she would have picked a raspberry off of a bush. In the instant it remained before her eyes she memorized the way Ridley's claws scraped against the reinforced glass of the canister, the way that the Hatchling was pressed to the bottom of its cage, the way its jellyfish dome was still tinted pink from the fruit it had eaten earlier.

So small.

And then in a rush of wind and wings, it was lost to her.

Samus craned her neck, watching as the great winged pirate swooped upwards through the circular station and out of sight. Her fists clenched with impotent rage. She knew where he was going. But by the time she got there, it would be too late.

But she had to follow them, at least.

She had to try.

The author is lazy and can't count so there will be like six-ish chapters instead of five or maybe seven because the author stupid yeah seven sounds like a good number okay g'bye.