Metroid Retribution: Escape

Chapter VII – Convergence

No longer fatigued, though still as intrigued, Samus departed the stone temple; to her surprise, the sun was nigh the highest point in the sky. That's odd, she contemplated. Perhaps it takes longer for Tivus to orbit around its sun? Curious, she checked the internal clock of her power suit; it read 17:38. The sun definitely stayed in the sky longer than it did on Earth, which Samus based her clock on.

Only four and a half hours had passed since Samus entered the temple. Dismayed she lost this much time already, she hurriedly continued towards the west; she vowed nothing would disrupt her search now.

It'll be much easier to deal with the Federation if I have leverage—and what better way to do that than threatening them through incriminating evidence? Guess I don't have to hide on Bes III after all.


"Now to get off this godforsaken rock. Who would have thought the Federation would colonize this planet? It's a piece of crap."

"You're wrong," Noxus suddenly interrupted. "Tivus hasn't been colonized; it's been taken over because…"

"…Yeah, go on."

The Vhozon bristled, annoyed. "I don't know; this planet has always been somewhat of a mystery, even to those working for the Federation. Its true purpose remains unknown, and no reports concerning what place Tivus has in the confederation have been released, ever, besides 'a simple training ground for our forces.' But this place is anything but. Even so, my inside sources have no access to files on Tivus at all."

"So the Federation's doing something fishy here?"

"Most likely—but that's not what we're here for. Don't go off gallivanting on your own in hopes of discovering something related to the Diamonts; there are no guarantees you'd find anything, and I'm not wasting my time waiting in case you get lost."

"Harsh. Not even if we come across an outpost?"

"Especially." Noxus increased his pace, effectively ending the conversation. Hopefully spiky here didn't park his ship much further from here. I just want to claim the bounty and get away from this bumbling idiot.


The escape pod ejected from the side of the GFS Nemesis, the force of the expulsion startling Sam.

"Ah!" he yelped.

"What was that for? You were counting along with the countdown."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect the ejection to be so loud."

Valerie wrinkled her nose. "So you were…never mind. I'm not even interested." Sighing, she turned to face away from her partner, which actually was a difficult task—although the pod was the largest on the GFS Nemesis, it still barely held two people, especially if one of them was attempting to sit sideways on the leather seat.

"Need some help?" Sam barely suppressed a grin.

"Not from you, I don't." Grunting, Valerie tried one more time to make room for her head to lean against the sides of the ship.

She held the position for a couple seconds, and Sam was about to congratulate her when the discomfort became unbearable and she gave a cry of dissatisfaction as she reverted to her original position. "You know, if you keep acting that way it'll be hard for you to find a boyfriend."

Valerie glared at her shipmate.

"Okay, don't worry. At least you'll always have me-" Sam's comment was stifled when a shoe met his face.

Suddenly the small computer monitor to at the back of the pod beeped once, and Valerie abandoned her assault on Sam to check the alert. After typing a couple commands, she examined the screen to see a purple ship leaving the planet surface. In the corner of the display was a zoomed still image of the vessel. The two stared at the picture for a couple breathless seconds.

Sam broke the ice. "Is it just me, or does that look astoundingly like Samus' ship?"

Valerie ignored his question; instead, she took action and prepared to send a message to the GFS Nemesis. One second…two seconds…three seconds…. Frustrated the email was taking so long, Valerie slammed the monitor.

"Oh, come on, you stupid-"

The lights instantly went off, and the computer dimmed until it remained a silent black display.

"What did you do now?"

Surprised, Valerie stuttered. "I…well, it was- it wasn't…I just…. When the hell did the emergency vessel computer systems get so useless?!"

Great, Sam thought. Now I'm stuck here with a crazy lady in orbit around the planet the target is leaving. Goddamn it, why didn't I become a lawyer like my mother told me?


Py: Yeah, so this chapter was definitely short. I do apologize for that, guys. But frankly, my interest in Escape has waned over the year(s) and I do want to move on to other projects. And I know that itself is funny, since I have, like, five going on at once; that's why I'm trying to end them in the best way possible. But I've become quite attached to my fics, so I can't end them just yet.... So I'll probably update all my stories with short, less-than-1,000-words chapters. Sorry, and thanks for sticking with me this long. :/