ULTIMATE WEAPON
OF THE CHOZO
By tikitikirevenge
SEVEN – CONTRACT
SR Cluster
3210/4/8, 10.00
It had been a while since Samus Aran had been directly contracted by the Galactic Federation. Not since Zebes, in fact, and that was over a year ago now.
As the distance to planet Septer rapidly diminished, she glanced again at the contract.
Extract all civilians of the Galactic Federation from the
archaeological site on planet Septer (estimate: 7 persons, all
human). Collateral damage to the site or hostile parties involved is
acceptable.
Payment: 6 million credits upon acceptance of
contract.
2 million credits for each live civilian returned to the
Federation.
Additionally, all criminal charges unto you within the
past 12 months are considered void upon acceptance of contract.
"Twenty million credits," she muttered to herself. It was a reasonable sum, all things considered. When she'd started bounty hunting, the money was the incentive. Recently, though, it was often the hunt for the sake of the hunt.
In addition to being the first time in recent months that she'd been contracted by the GF, this was the first time she had done any work since BSL.
The first step here would be to camouflage her ship, and buy herself some time. Paint wasn't readily available in the middle of space, so she would have to make do with the next best thing.
She set her ship down on a mountain of ice on the night side of Septer, and, after checking that her power suit was firmly sealed on (an almost unnecessary precaution, but it paid to be safe), stood from her seat. She then moved over to the small elevator in her ship, and stood still as it carried her up and into the wind and sleet.
Samus hopped off her ship, and then looked at the frozen ground. She was standing on top of a small plateau on a steep mountain face. The ground seemed to be entirely ice, and although she was sure there was rock underneath, it wasn't visible.
Carefully, she fired several penetrating plasma beams straight into the ground. Almost immediately, the ice began to thaw, and she stopped, and watched as her ship sank about a metre into the ice.
Samus then fired an ice beam into the water. It froze, trapping the underbelly of the ship with it. A sub-vocalised command through her helmet started the engines of the ship, and after a few seconds, it started to rise from the bed of ice. Assisted by a few carefully timed missiles, the ship rose up into the air, taking a sizeable chunk of ice with it.
The ice was rough and uneven on the inside, but that was good. Even at a close range, it looked reasonably white. It wasn't perfect, but if she kept close to the ground, it would shield her approach to her targets reasonably well.
Covering the top of the ship with ice would be more difficult, considering that it wouldn't be possible to flip it upside-down in such high gravity. Instead, she moved her ship around to the side of the nearest cliff face, and fired a missile to unsettle the ice and bring some of it down upon her hovering ship. It wasn't nearly as thick as the underside, but it would do, hopefully. The longer it took for the Space Pirates to notice her, the longer it would take for them to kill the civilians.
With a careful hop off the cliff-edge, Samus jumped back onto her ship and then inside.
Inscription Chamber
Chozo Ruins
Planet Septer
10.00
"It is in your best interest to co-operate," said Ridley, staring not at the three lead scientists surrounded by pirates, but instead at the Chozo writing on the wall of the cavern. Despite the nature of the message it contained, there was a strange beauty to it. "You all needn't die."
"I told you, we don't know what it means…" stammered Rivers. A human of about forty, he appeared to be the most senior of the scientists.
They were inside a cavern about a hundred metres under the ground. Fluorescent lights, doubtless installed by the scientists, cast a gray light over the circular chamber, which was nearly large enough for Ridley to fly around in. The walls were pure rock, unlike those of the human-built compound above. Half a dozen Zebesians stood around the scientists, menacingly waving around the plasma guns in their claws.
Ridley didn't respond immediately. Regardless of whether the human was telling the truth, it was frustrating to deal with hostages, particularly overly-indoctrinated citizens of the Federation.
"I'll give you all ten seconds," he then said, "and then one of you dies."
The humans looked at each other, fear turning to hysteria in just seconds. One of them raised his hands as if shielding himself, crying, "Oh please, no, we don't know anything, we don't know anything-"
"Kill him," said Ridley, still facing away. He heard the sound of an underling's plasma beam firing, followed by the gasps of shock the other two hostages made.
"You – you sick…" began one of them, who then stopped short as Ridley turned around and gazed at him emotionlessly.
"Pawns," he said, staring right through them. "I could explain to you, but you wouldn't listen, would you? The humans and all the other pitiful little races of your GF…"
"They're still not talking," said one of the pirates, standing directly behind the senior one, Rivers, with one claw raised like a scythe to the man's neck and the other loosely holding a plasma gun.
"They were probably telling the truth, then," said Ridley. His eyes flicked over to Rivers. "Good. You should continue your work, humans."
"You… you monster!" managed Rivers.
Ridley snorted. "What a very original insult, human. You have no idea what a service we are doing you…"
Exterior
11.04
As she'd hoped, the journey around to the sunlit side of the planet was uneventful. She landed her ship as close to the entrance to the ruins as she dared.
Samus was no stranger to live bounties, but she had always felt uncomfortable with actively saving lives, not taking them. It wasn't that she didn't like the idea of heroism; it just wasn't her preferred style of work.
Outside the ruins, the wind was still howling fiercely. Samus gazed at the recently built tunnel that led down to the main dig site, and, standing right outside the front door, switched on her x-ray visor to see how many pirates she would have to contend with immediately. Surprisingly, there was only one, who, as luck would have it, was even looking in the other direction.
How convenient, Samus thought. She raised the cannon on her right arm and fired a single, uncharged shot at the door, which smoothly glided open.
The Zebesian inside turned to face the newcomer and froze. It opened its mouth to say something, possibly a warning, possibly a profanity conveying its incredulity. Either way, Samus cut it off with a single, penetrating plasma beam which passed straight through the creature's armour and sent it flying back, unconscious before it hit the ground.
Samus strode down the dank, ice-walled hallway. As she reached the pirate's unconscious form, she stopped and slowly pressed her foot down on its skull, crushing it. She paused briefly, contemplating the implications, then looked forward and continued down,
The Federation had kindly supplied her with a map of the dig site, and she had spent the bulk of her flight memorising that and considering strategy. The tunnel she was in went forward for another hundred metres and down for about ten, before flattening out into an unorderly network of tunnels and living quarters. The actual dig site was somewhere below that. It was an interesting setup – Samus had been in enough subterranean chambers to be able to quickly gauge how much violence a given underground complex could take, and she predicted that if all went even slightly smoothly, there would be no danger of cave-ins.
Another scan with the x-ray visor revealed that at the end of the tunnel, she wouldn't be quite as lucky. There were at least seven pirates in the next room, and considering the delicacy of the mission, it would be best to hold off detection for as long as possible. A casual glance at the ceiling revealed an air duct which she should have known would have to be there – an air duct which, she was sure, had not been on the map the Federation had supplied.
How annoying.
A power beam blast knocked the grating from the ceiling, and Samus lifted herself up, curled into the Morph Ball, and continued on her way.
4 months earlier…
The following interview was conducted 3209/12/13 in the Felonia Detainment Compound, by authorised Galactic Federation representatives. All names and other sensitive information have been removed.
SUSPCT: Is this interview on public record?
INTRV1: Galactic Federation record, yes.
SUSPCT: But not publicly available?
INTRV1: No.
INTRV2: I think we can all agree that it's best for all of us that the public not know we are detaining -----.
SUSPCT: Of course. If word got out… hmm. Am I still considered something of a hero?
INTRV1: After the ----- incident? Of course not.
SUSPCT: To the public…?
INTRV2: We will be asking the questions in this interview.
SUSPCT: Of course. Go on.
INTRV2: Today we want to discuss with you the subject of the Federation-owned computer you damaged.
SUSPCT: Allegedly.
INTRV2: Are you aware that the computer is imprinted with a psychograph?
SUSPCT: Yes. And yes, I know who it's of. And no, this did not result in a mental breakdown of any kind.
INTRV1: That was quick.
INTRV2: Shut up, -----… We are authorised to use torture if necessary. Perhaps you would enjoy that, Ms -----?
SUSPCT: You and the other interrogators mentioned that yesterday and the nine days before that. I don't think that you will though.
INTRV2: Oh, yes?
SUSPCT: You won't because if you do, sir, I can guarantee that it will destroy whatever reputation your military has with the masses.
INTRV1: Don't-
SUSPCT: Acting under Federation guidance, Lieutenant -----, I made a split-second judgement about the situation. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do; maybe I saved the life of every living creature under the Federation. And whatever you have been told, I do not enjoy being held under arrest by one of my preferred employers, I do not enjoy being made to justify doing the right thing for days on end, and I certainly will not stand for being interrogated by the arrogant son of a commander who never took the courtesy of-
(Incoherent noise.)
INTRV2: Kill her! Take that little vermin ----- and execute her on the street!
INTRV1 (to security personnel): Don't shoot!
SUSPCT: Assaulting an innocent. How inappropriate, -----. Maybe the stories are true.
INTRV2: I will kill you, I swear. Once this is all over and the Federation is done with you…
INTRV1: -----! Take it easy. Do you need medical attention?
SUSPCT: No, sir, it's just a bruise.
INTRV2: My shoulder…
SUSPCT: It's just dislocated. I can snap it back in place for you if you want.
INTRV1: Be very careful what you do around here, -----. He's not a good enemy to have.
SUSPCT: Thank you for the advice. Do you have any more questions for me?
INTRV1: After that? No – we still recording? Stop the tape, please. Guards-
Transcript ends here.
11.10
Samus counted four civilian hostages in what looked like the dining room. They were pressed against the wall farthest from the door, with a handful of Space Pirates standing around them, making various taunts and threats.
Samus dropped down through a ceiling vent into a crouching position, and fired four beam shots in rapid succession. Discounting four of the seven civilians she had been assigned to rescue, Samus was now alone in the room.
One of the hostages, a pale-skinned twenty-something man, was the first to react, saying, "Please tell me you're on our side."
Slowly, Samus lowered her arm cannon and nodded. "Yes. You're going to be out of here in a moment." It still felt strange to hear her actual voice coming out of the suit. For a long time, she'd used a voice filter among other things to hide the fact that she was female. When Samus had started hunting, she recognised a certain bias against female bounty hunters, something about not being willing to kill. It was only about a year ago, after her highest-paying job ever, that she had finally decided that in her case at least, it made no difference. "I was expecting more. Where are the others?"
The same man as before spoke. "Where?… uh… ruin site. I'm pretty sure they were taken to the chamber there."
Good and bad. She had been planning on stopping there anyway, but the further down the hostages were, the longer it would take to get them out. "Do you civilians have access to night vision gear? Somewhere nearby?" she said.
One of them nodded and opened her mouth to speak. Samus waved an arm, cutting the woman off.
"Good," she said. "I'm going to go to the control centre and do something about the lights. I'm not here to mollycoddle you, though. You all know the way out, and I would be very upset if any of you happened to die on the way out."
Another of the researchers may have said something, but she was already back in the air ducts, watching the time carefully.
11.12
"You are pawns," continued Ridley. "Can you not see that, humans? They are manipulating you, and you are only helping bring about your own destruction."
"Just don't hurt us," said the hostage named Brown. "Please. We'll just do whatever you say…"
With a frustrated roar, Ridley exhaled, scorching the ground right in front of the two men. "Every time, humans. Every time I have an opportunity to speak with a loyal citizen of the Galactic Federation, this happens. Not just the humans, either. All of the-" He stopped, and whipped his head around to face the closest of the pirates. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what, Commander?" the creature said, looking startled.
"I heard weapon fire… oh, forget it." Annoyingly, for all the improvements that had been made to the Zebesian species under Ridley's command, the creatures still had the hearing of a human.
Ridley turned to face Trezyn, the pirate he'd left in charge of the lookout. "You were responsible for security, Zebesian. Is there any way, say, a Freelancer unit might have slipped past your guard?"
"No," said the pirate hurriedly.
The other fifty pirates in the room had their blasters pointed at the two hostages, looking at Ridley, waiting. "Shoot?" said one.
"There may or may not be a little band of rescuers in our midst," said Ridley slowly. "We can't afford to take…"
The power abruptly went out. For a moment, a dim red light running on auxiliary was all that lit the room. Then, with a shudder in the distance, that, too flickered off.
In the cave darkness, even Ridley couldn't make out anything for a moment, but he could certainly hear the panic and chaos that the unexpected change had caused.
"I was wrong," he said to no-one in particular. "The military don't like to fight in the dark… someone get the lights on in here!" The last roar didn't seem to do much to alleviate the pandemonium. "Trezyn?"
"Yes, Commander?" yelled the pirate Ridley had just been talking to. Funnily, he seemed to be right behind Ridley now.
"This seems to be quite a letdown on your part," said Ridley. "You will have to be punished."
"Commander!" The pirate sounded worried. Good. He deserved it. "I took all the normal precautions! I swear on Touranis' body, I… I…"
More shouting; more running. It sounded as if the hostages had slipped from the circle, if not from the room.
"Enough of this," said Ridley, before he let out a fiery breath that instantly reduced the creature to a smouldering corpse. A couple of other pirates in the same general direction had also been killed. Their burning remains cast a dim light over the room, a convenient side effect which Ridley hadn't considered.
The return of lighting restored a semblance of calm to the room, and Ridley cast his eyes around, searching for and finding the hostages. The two men had almost made it halfway to the door; a commendable effort for such a weak species. Pirates who had just been running around, trying to restore the light, now stood still, looking at Ridley, awaiting his command.
"As I was saying," said Ridley, nodding his head towards the two men, "we can't afford to take risks. Kill the humans."
"Kill the humans," said Ridley, just as Samus literally flew through the door and into the inscription chamber, through several pirates, and landed in a crouch in the middle of the room, directly between Ridley and the remaining hostages, her arm cannon pointed directly at Ridley. The Federation had neglected to mention Ridley's presence here, either. The assignment had just become a little more challenging.
Zebesians stood around the room, their beam weapons out and pointed in her direction, but stationary, as if unsure what to make of the new arrival.
It took her a moment to register that one of her bounties was dead on the ground, fear frozen onto his face. "You already killed one," she said, her voice annoyed but not truly angry. Ten years of killing had removed her appreciation of death.
"Samus Aran," said Ridley, his mouth curling into a wide smile. "The queen whore of bounty hunters."
Samus slowly turned her helmet until it was clear that she was looking at him through the visor. "What did you just call me, dragon?" she said icily.
Ridley opened his mouth in reply and Samus fired a missile into his mouth, knocking his head back for a moment. The sudden movement prompted the other pirates to start shooting, both at her and at the two hostages she was still able to rescue.
Thankfully, the scientists were smart enough to run on their own initiative, and The Hunter switched on her plasma beam and opened fire on the pirates closest to the door. The crossfire lit the room better than the remnants of Ridley's fire did, and the scientists soon covered the fifty metres to the door of the chamber.
"Get outside!" Samus shouted after them. She turned around to look at Ridley again, just as he let out a fiery breath which scorched her suit and forced her to jump backwards and out of range.
More Space Pirates ran around from behind Ridley to flank her. Without breaking eye contact with Ridley, she fired a super missile in either direction, sending them flying back.
"Are you really sending foot soldiers to kill me?" she said.
Ridley's eyes flicked from side to side, noting the dying pirates around him. "To be honest, I hadn't considered that the Federation would use you when I organised this strike."
"Really," muttered Samus, firing a charged beam into a group of Zebesians to her right. The smoke cleared, revealing four pirates still standing, weapons aimed at her.
"Go on, finish it," said Ridley; whether to his underlings or to her, she was unsure. She fired on the pirates as they shot at her. The Space Pirates' beams were harmlessly absorbed by her body armour. Her beams went straight through the pirates, killing them more quickly than they deserved.
Samus turned her attention back to the space dragon. "Why are the Space Pirates even here, Ridley?" she said. "You already knew about the amazing weapon or whatever it is."
"Your Federation has failed to yet translate the rest of the text," said Ridley, not moving, eyes looking straight down at her.
Samus glanced at the far wall of the cavern, where the text in question was etched. He was right; there was far more writing there than needed for the parts she had heard of. "Interesting," she said, her eyes running down the text. She muttered another command into her helmet, which responded by taking a snapshot of the mass of writing that spanned the entire wall.
What sounded like a gunshot echoed from above, puncturing the silence.
"Aren't you going to go up there and kill my bounties?" she said to Ridley.
"They don't have any ships left," replied Ridley. "You're their only way out. I am patient."
Another cold silence. Samus raised her arm cannon again and kept it levelled at Ridley, who was only ten metres away. Either of them could cover that distance in a single leap if they wanted to.
"How in hell did you survive Zebes?" asked Samus.
"I was already in orbit by the time the Mother Brain blew the planet," said Ridley.
"So you were hit by the shockwave. Pathetic, really," said Samus. The civilians should really have reached her ship by now, but she hadn't gotten the automatic signal yet. She inwardly sighed and continued to stall. "Why do this? Why would a space dragon, the last of the space dragons, even, want to lead the Space Pirates? I was led to believe that your species are solitary creatures."
"Seeing as I am the only space dragon, I don't know why you would think so," said Ridley. "Let me guess, Aran: the hostages haven't left the dig site yet."
"Would I still be here if they had?" said Samus.
"Yes," said Ridley. "You would be here, and I would be burning your frail little human body to ashes."
Text appeared on the inside of her helmet visor, telling her that the civilians were ready.
"Tell me something," said Ridley, and acting on impulse, Samus turned and started running for the door, blindly firing missiles behind her without looking. She made it through and was halfway up the tunnel to the researcher's compound before Ridley slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground.
"You're not that fast," snarled Ridley, slamming his claws into her armour. Samus rolled onto her back and sent two missiles flying into his mouth.
Alone here in the tunnel connecting the inscription chamber to the rest of the world, with the power still out, it was difficult to discern anything in the darkness. Samus reached for her helmet and activated her heat visor just in time to see Ridley launch a flaming breath at her. She scrambled out from under him, but not before the flame hit and left her armour glowing.
Ridley roughly grabbed her with one of his claws, pinning her right arm at an awkward angle, swung her around to face his jaws, and started breathing again. Samus struggled to break his grip to no avail. She lashed out with her legs, managing to kick Ridley in the left eye. He roared in pain and reflexively dropped her. The Hunter landed on her back, rolled, stood, and continued running away.
"You filthy human!" yelled Ridley, as he hit his head on the ceiling while trying to refocus his eyes.
She made it into the recently built research complex, ducked around a corner, and started weaving her way through the corridors. She kept running, and then started to slow as she realised that there was no sign of Ridley. Had he beaten her to her hostage-laden ship?
Samus flicked on her x-ray visor and peered intently, dimly making out the outlines of walls and the sloped tunnel that she had first entered by, but no sign of the dragon. She switched the x-ray visor off, her breathing returning to a normal rate.
"Where are you?" she muttered. It didn't matter. If he had chosen not to follow her out, then all the better. She wasn't here to fight him, and experience had proven that successfully killing the beast would be difficult and time-consuming.
Samus took one last glance in the direction she'd come, just in time to see Ridley slam shoulder-first into a corner, looking directly at her.
How the hell can you run in a corridor half your wingspan, Ridley?, wondered Samus, before he rocketed into her and kept going until they crashed straight through a concrete wall, landing in a larger room and coming to a stop as they collided with another obstacle.
The room was, if she remembered the map, where all the heated water and gas was stored. That corresponded to the two-storey blue tank to her left and the equally large yellow tank, labelled 'flammable', which she and Ridley had just crashed into. Neither of them moved.
"You're usually so glad to fight with me," said Ridley, slowly rising onto his legs. "Are you scared of me, Aran?"
"I'm not scared of insects," said Samus, standing as well, arm cannon raised.
"Was that an insult?" jeered Ridley. "That was pathetic."
Neither of them moved for a moment.
Ridley raised one of his claws and slowly, deliberately pushed it into the side of the yellow tank. He pulled it out, revealing puncture holes the size of human wrists. With a hissing noise, the gas spread into the room. Ridley pushed away from the tank so that he blocked Samus from the huge hole in the wall and the door right next to it.
"Wonderful," breathed Samus. She estimated the rate of gas dispersion, and mentally concluded that the Varia suit had better be in working condition after all this time.
Ridley opened his mouth and exhaled. The air in the room burst into flame, engulfing everything in a blinding light. The sensors on Samus' suit went haywire, flooding her view with warning symbols as the heat burnt away against her power suit's protective shielding.
"Can't see," Samus grunted just as the gas tank exploded behind her, sending her flying forward and straight into something that felt like Ridley, so probably was. Samus started firing missiles into him, hearing him roar in surprise. Something rammed into her (his tail?) and sent her flying to the side.
The explosion had passed, but charred bits of plaster and wood were strewn across the floor, and smoke was everywhere, obscuring her vision. Her power suit's defensive capacity was at a dangerous 23 percent, and Ridley might actually be able to end this fight if she didn't get out of the blazing room. She re-activated her x-ray visor. Ridley was standing next to the water tank, blocking her off from the hole he had made. The door had apparently blown in the fire, and it was now fused shut, not open.
"Hunter!" Ridley called.
I am not dying at your hands, pirate, not here and now, thought Samus, looking around at the angles, looking for a way to get past Ridley's massive form.
"I just wanted you to know that surrender is still an option, even after eight years," said Ridley.
Samus had worked out her exit plan. It would give her about two minutes, which was more than plenty of time.
"I don't want to fight you now," said Samus, raising her arm cannon and aiming it in Ridley's direction.
"Your wishes are of no matter to me," said Ridley, readying another breath.
They fired at the same time: Ridley with a short burst of flame; Samus with two missiles. Ridley's fire hit Samus in the chest, playing more havoc with her power suit's warning systems. Samus' missiles flew to Ridley's left, hitting the giant water tank, which exploded from the combined impact and heat of the room. A wave of water almost Ridley's height crashed into him and Samus fired an ice beam, solidifying it.
Ridley was caught in the frozen ice, his jaw pinned open at a painful angle, and the rest of his body trapped in the crystallised ice.
Not wasting any time with the biting quip she had just thought of, Samus turned, blew a hole in the wall, and ran for her ship.
Damn her, thought Ridley, tensing his muscles under the ice. Some of the water had flooded into his mouth, making it hard to get a stream of fire going. The way the ice had formed meant it was fairly hollow, and he could break it with brute force in a minute or two.
He kept on pushing at the ice with his immobile limbs, watching as the ice gradually fractured. Soon enough, the ice around his right arm broke, and he swung it into the rest of the ice, totally shattering it. He turned and flew towards the outside world.
11.30
When Ridley reached the planet's surface, he was met by a small patrol of space pirates on ground and around a hundred small assorted ships circling in the sky, shooting at an orange ship which already was almost out of the atmosphere.
"Break pursuit!" he shouted, his words echoing across the barren, icy landscape. Seconds later, the ships began to circle downwards, towards the ground.
One of the pirates on ground approached him. "We didn't see the ship arrive, sir. I take full responsibility. I-"
"Apologies can wait," said Ridley. "We return to the main fleet now. With their hostages safe, the Federation won't hesitate to scorch the planet."
"What about the hostages and the Hunter?" said the pirate.
"What about them? It is a hollow victory for them," said Ridley. "They have gained nothing except for another tank of propaganda to further inflate their collective ego. We have a copy of the Chozo text that we can eventually translate. There is nothing left for us here."
Ridley opened his wings and flew up to join the small fleet. The pirates on the ground got into their own ship and departed from the planet's surface.
You'll die eventually, Hunter, thought Ridley, addressing empty air. Behind that suit you're flesh and bones, and nothing of flesh and bones is forever.
His bitter mood carried with him for a few more minutes, and then his mind turned to the future.
