1Okay people, it seems that there were a lot of mixed emotions about the last chapter I posted, so lets just get all this out of the way first thing, alright? I do not now, nor will I ever write a full-blown lemon in any of my fanfics. What you saw in the last chapter is as close as I'll ever get. However, anyone who wants to is welcome to make a mini-fic that features the sex scene between Ridley and Samus in a more descriptive manner, provided that I am given credit for which fic it is based off of. Secondly, to those who thought that this fic would just end with those two making love, you are dead wrong. I do plan to give this a much deeper plot than that, alright? Good. Well, I think that just about sums up all the complaints that I received. To those of you who gave me encouragement, suggestions, and random generic praise, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Chapter 7: The great escape!

The space pirate frigate landed in the woods about five miles from where Ridley and Samus were situated. Several elite pirates along with stealth soldiers, air soldiers, and ordinary foot soldiers were called out to hunt them down. They quickly worked their way towards the underbrush, their orders were clear. Kill Samus Aran and Ridley without remorse.

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Ridley sighed in content as he held Samus, his love, next to him. "I'm not going to lie to you, Samus, that was the greatest thing I've ever experienced."

Samus, who was laying next to him, smiled. "I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much, Ridley... but what now?"

Ridley tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Samus sighed. "I'm a bounty hunter with a current mission of eliminating all space pirates and their technology... you are a commanding officer for the space pirates. I... I'm not sure if this will work out."

Ridley frown and held her closer, easily telling that she was trying hard not to show her hurt, that she was trying to stay strong. "Samus... I gave up my position as a space pirate officer... and a space pirate in general... when I found out how I really feel about you. To hell with the other space pirates. I'll even help you stop them."

Samus smiled at him. "Ridley, thanks. You really are my true love." She giggled.

Ridley chuckled and sighed gently. "Thanks, Samus... thanks."

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes. Before either of them could react, several space pirates of different varieties jumped out of the bushes, their glowing eyes, as well as their silent rifles, were fixated on the couple. "Samus Aran and Ridley... by the order of the high command of the space pirates, you are both sentenced to termination. If you try to resist, then we shall only prolong your demise. If you cooperate with us, then we promise to make this as swift and as painless as possible."

Samus sat up, blushing intensely, even though she knew that space pirates had absolutely no interest in a human female's anatomy. She quickly covered herself and registered what she said. Ridley sat up and growled. "What the hell are you doing? What are the charges against me exactly?" he asked. He knew very well what they planned on killing Samus for, but they didn't know anything about his mutiny yet.

A large elite pirate stepped forward. He spoke in the same language that Ridley had known since his childhood, but Samus was unable to understand his side of the conversation without her visor, which held her translator. The elite pirate stated, "Ridley, although it is true that you were a commanding officer of the space pirates, and an admirable warrior, you have alienated yourself from us by not only taking on these disgusting human traits, but by also becoming mates with our sworn enemy, the hunter!"

Ridley's eyes widened. "Damn you all. But wouldn't the high command like us captured instead? I mean, Samus has been with the human federation before, surely she knows some of their secrets and defensive strategies."

Samus looked at him. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked gently.

Ridley smirked. "Buying us time... if they go for this, then they will go through space pirate protocol and start to read us our rights... when they do this, hit the bottom center button on my arm cannon... it's an emergency beacon auto pilot for my ship."

Samus nodded and waited to see if the pirates would actually fall for Ridley's bluff. It was true that she had been in contact with the federation many times, but they had simply been meetings and briefings for her missions, or when she received her payments. She knew absolutely nothing about the federation's defenses or military strategies.

He pirates watched them carefully. The power suits were a safe distance away from them. The closest thing to them was Ridley's arm cannon that rested next to samus' hand, but the barrel was facing her and she would have to turn it around and take another five seconds to slip it on. By that time, they would easily be able to kill her. The pirate nodded. "You do have a point, Ridley. Very well." He made a waving motion with his hands and the other pirates raised their rifles above their heads while the elite pirate started to recite their rights, which were rather limited.

While this was happening, Samus slowly inched her hand over to Ridley's arm cannon. She was lucky that all the pirates seemed very bored with their leader reciting the same things that they had heard so often. She pressed the bottom center button and it blinked from red to green to blue in that order.

As the pirate finished reciting the rights, he looked at them. "What a glorious day that this is for the space pirates. We eliminate two potential threats and then we take over the universe with the ingenious 'metroid core' operation."

Ridley raised an eyebrow. "Metroid core? What the hell is that?"

The pirates all chuckled in unison. The elite pirate smiled. "I guess, since you won't be here to admire what your former troops are going to do, I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you. You see, at the center of every planet is the core, essentially the heart of planet. Metroids feed off of every type of energy they can find. We have invented a special type of miniature missile that we can place metroids into. These missiles will be able to hit a planet at such a fast velocity, they will be able to blast straight through the minor layers of a planet and eject the Metroids near the core. When this happens, they will sense the immense amount of energy from the core and fly straight towards it. When they find it, they will suck the core dry. And with no core to keep it alive, the planet in question will wither and die."

Ridley chuckled. "But the layers of earth near the core are so hot that surely the metroids would be burnt to a crisp, correct?"

Now it was the pirate's turn to chuckle. "Wrong, Ridley. During your absence, we ran several tests on the temperature survival characteristics of the metroids. As it turns out, while they are very easy to kill in colder regions, they thrive in heat. Experiments have shown that they can survive in temperatures equal to the center of the sun!"

Ridley smiled. "Well... there are two other things wrong with your plan." The pirate cocked an eye. "We will be around to stop this from happening... but you won't be around to see us stop it." He pointed up.

The pirate didn't even get the chance to see what happened before Ridley's ship landed on him, crushing him and several other pirates to death. The other pirates scattered in the confusion.

Samus smirked and grabbed her things, including all the pieces to her power suit. "Come on, Ridley, time to go!"

Ridley nodded and grabbed his own power suit and ran on board, hopping into the pilot seat and engaging the main engine. "Where did you land your ship, Samus?"

Samus looked at their current location. "About three clicks to the northewest of this moon's gravitic tilt."

Ridley nodded and eased the ship off the ground as the few pirates who hadn't fled from the scene started to fire at the ship with their rifles. It was in vain. Ridley's ship was made to deflect all ground based weaponry. He quickly flew over to where Samus' ship was and activated an emergency magnetic attraction. Samus' ship was pulled upward onto his. "We're linked. Now, let's get out of here. Buckle up, it could get a little bumpy."

Samus nodded and jumped into the seat next to his and quickly put on all the safety harnesses as the exited the atmosphere for the moon. She looked at Ridley gently. His expression was hard, cold, just like when he was a dragon. "Ridley? What did that pirate say to you?"

Ridley sighed and was about to answer when a loud alarm blared. "Uh-oh! I think that this may have to wait, Samus... they set up a blockade for us!"

Indeed, they had set up a blockade. Three large space pirate frigates were there, all armed and ready to fire at them. Samus gulped. "Can we escape?"

Ridley looked down at the controls. "We can, but I need to get to the other side of those frigates to do it. It's risky, though. If the front guns don't get us, then their rear cannons just might."

Samus smirked. "What other choice do we have? Besides, My whole life has been one big thrill ride anyway. This is just another twist on it."

Ridley chuckled. "Right... enter the coordinates for the federation planet into my navi-computer. I think that we'll be safe there for right now." Samus nodded and pressed several buttons, entering the galactic coordinates for the federation planet.

Ridley turned a few knobs. "Computer, alter our course to g-7 and engage those frigates at point blank range. I want all power that can be spared to be reverted back to the shields."

The computer whirred a few times before a clearly feminine, yet monotone voice said, "All power that is not being used by the engines has been sent to the shields, which are now functioning at 194. However, the odds of surviving a direct assault against three space pirate frigates is calculated at 153,392 to 1."

Ridley smirked. "Never tell me the odds." He looked to Samus. "Ready?"

Samus nodded. "I'm ready."

Ridley smiled and rammed the thrusters on, sending them straight towards the frigates. The frigates responded by firing several rounds off at them. Ridley did his best to avoid them, but they were taking a lot of damage. Samus gulped. "Ridley, we've got to hurry! Our shields are now only functioning at 47!"

Ridley nodded. "I know! Don't worry, we're almost clear!" He pulled up and away from the frigates as he appeared behind them, but the frigates did not cease their firing. Ridley was quick to react. "Computer, quick! Activate the gravitic warp and proceed straight to the coordinates located in the navi-computer!"

The computer beeped in response and in half a second, the entire ship seemed to disappear, reappearing in something that could be called a wormhole.

Samus sighed with relief, but looked over at Ridley. "Alright, we're safe now... could you please tell me what is going on?"

Ridley nodded and got up, stretching a bit. "Apparently, the high command now sees me as nothing but an inferior beings because I'm human now."

Samus frowned. "But that isn't right! They're the ones who made you this way in the first place!"

Ridley nodded. "They knew that this would happen, Samus. They were prepared to terminate me as soon as I had outlived my uses in this form."

Samus growled. "Those bastards! How could they do this to you?"

Ridley waved it off. "We have more important problems right now, Samus." He quickly recited what the pirate had told him about operation metroid core.

Samus paled as he recited this. "But... can they really do that with metroids? I mean, destroying an entire planet by getting them to absorb the energy?"

Ridley shrugged. "Apparently."

The computer beeped. "It will be approximately five hours before the destination is reached."

Ridley nodded. "Samus... I... I know that this may be a bad time to ask, but... could you... could you teach me how to be human when we get to the federation planet?"

Samus smiled at him and walked up, kissing him gently, moving a few purple locks out of his face. "Ridley... of course I will." She kissed him again.

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There you have it, more plot for you to munch on and consider until next time. I know that the part about metroids being able to survive in that kind of heat is highly unlikely, but work with me, alright? Read and review and I'll get the next chapter up soon... if you people are still reading it by then...