Chapter 12: Subversion

"Damnit, commander! How much slower will this hunk of junk go?"

Keaton roared at his 1st officer. He was back in command of the battlecruiser Excalibur, and he was once again in command of the Galactic Federation's Combined Fleet. Unfortunately for him, the fleet needed to stay together and this made the trip very dull and boring. Not to mention the two-day flight that would be required for them to reach Forge.

"I'm sorry sir, but the slowest ships in the fleet are moving at their full speed! We can't go any faster for the sake of keeping the fleet united!" The officer didn't look at Keaton when he spoke, instead helping an ensign with the controls of a comm. station. Keaton was in his usually bad mood, and his on-board guests could see through him.

A jolly and baritone voice popped into the conversation. "Keaton, don't worry," It was Hardy, munching on a 12-foot sub sandwich in the meantime. "I'm sure Samus and Houston can do perfectly well on their own! And with that Mechaguardian she briefed us on – Ridley is done for sure this time." Before Keaton could grab the sub from Hardy, a final guest interrupted the quarrel.

"Enough, both of you. Samus requested immediate backup and that's what we are here to give her." The President of the World's Congress was sitting upright in a very comfortable-looking pilot's chair. His black, sparkling eyes were fixed on Keaton. "Just keep her on course, Admiral Keaton."

Keaton turned to the president, hesitating for a moment.

"Mr. President, if I may bring up my one complaint-"

"If it is about my coming along, can it. I decided to come along twenty-five hours ago, and I do not go back on my decision. I am here to ensure the successful and proper execution of the operation."

Keaton hung his head. "Yes, Mr. President."

The President then rested his body back against the chair and spoke with much authority to the helmsman. "Ensign Donald, prepare the proper coordinates for a hyperspace jump to the Forge system." Aye sir." "Lieutenant Rackham, signal the rest of the fleet and transmit the same coordinates to their computers." "Aye sir."

Within moments of acknowledgement, every ship in the Galactic Federation Combined Fleet floated into a spearhead formation, following the by-the-book procedures of using a hyperspace jump with so large a fleet. The President's order were followed flawlessly and every pilot's adept abilities made the formation shift look like ballet in space.

Flight Ensign Donald reported in. "Coordinates set, Mr. President." Following right after was Lieutenant Rackham, "Sir, the fleet is in position for the hyperspace jump."

Keaton leaned in to whisper to the President. "Sir, are you sure this is a good ideas? Hyperspace jumps are risky and could spread the fleet over the known worlds-" The President waved him off and responded to his officers' reports. "Lieutenant, open a comm. channel to the fleet." "Aye sir, comm. channel open."

The President did not even stand up to deliver a speech. His bold voice sounded like a bellowing captain's command, "All ships jump to hyperspace on my signal. Three-two-one: Engage." On the last command, every ship in the combined GF fleet hit its warp engines and made a solar boom in the space around it. The images of all the ships warped forwards and then the rest of the ships followed suit. In an instant, the fleet was gone,

* * * * *

Bright lights.

Excruciatingly bright lights. Scratch that, the light does not hurt.

Colors. Armor plating and circuit boards. Red siren lights.

Voices. Familiar but unseen voices. Nearby.

Heat. Dry. Complete.

Diagnostic complete. All systems nominal.

Present location appears to be the pilot seat of a small ship of unknown design. Ship identified as belonging to-

"SAMUS!!! Wake up, SAMUS!!! You won't believe what just happened!!!"

Voice of excited and positive tone. Voice identified as belonging to-

"HOUSTON! WHAT?! What the hell did you wake me up in the middle of the night for? If it's not a band of pirates or the GF fleet, go away."

Voices confirmed. No immediate danger. Activating conscious programming systems. Running diagnostic - - -

"No, but it's just as good! You'll want to hear this!"

Diagnostic complete. Emotional systems and memory databanks sustained no damage. Scratch that, sustained heavy damage but were repaired due to an unknown source.

"Houston, if this is another one of you're stupid dreams about Gerrard Capashen, the goblins of wrath-"

Unknown telepathic link detected. Running tracking program.

'Welcome back Alpha.' 'Who are you?' 'My name is Adam. I belong to the Galactic Federation. I serve Samus Aran.' 'Samus?' 'Yes. She helped you inside when you were damaged.' 'How?' 'Unknown. Space pirates used an unknown weapon on you. No damage I couldn't repair myself.' 'Thank you.' 'Not a problem. You an I have much in common.'

'Was Samus actually worried?' 'She denies it, but she has a respect and alliance for you. You might want to get back to the human world.' 'Elapsed time of conversation: 2 nanoseconds. Affirmative, Adam. Thank you again.' 'Talk to you later.'

"- and their leader Squee, The Maginificent, you're gonna get a pounding!!!"

Samus was furious at Houston and was too groggy to notice Alpha, in a fully retrofitted armor suit, get up from the pilot's chair. Houston on the other hand, watched the android walk slowly toward them both. Samus only looked up at him with tired eyes. She really didn't get much sleep that night. Or perhaps, Alpha thought, she wasn't used to sleeping at all.

"Alpha?" Samus asked groggily. Alpha nodded, his golden visor making Samus' and Houston's reflection perfectly. Samus punched Houston on his shoulder. "Loser! This is a stupid you're trick using Alpha's inanimate body!" Alpha chuckled inside. Houston was using his hands to bat away Samus's barrage of punches and slaps, but couldn't fight a woman.

"Samus?" Alpha spoke with his all-too-familiar monotone. It caught her immediate attention. "You're really –" Alpha shrugged as best he could, the armor was still bulky for his internal muscles. "Alive? Depends on your definition. I'm disappointed in you both."

Samus reverted back to her smart-ass bounty-hunter self and snapped back at him. "And why would you be disappointed in us? YOU'RE the one who gave out on us there!" Alpha shook his head and reached for the top hatch to Samus's ship. He spoke back to her as he lifted himself out of her ship. "You should have been hunting down Ridley and his gang while Adam was working on me. He's had time to-"

Adam's computerized voice blared at him.

"ALPHA! GET THE HELL BACK IN HERE!!! DON'T SHOW YOURSELF OUTSIDE THE SHIP!"

Alpha let go of his footholds and handleholds and dropped ten feet to the floor of Samus's Cabin. He turned to glare at the computer terminal, even though Adam was throughout the ship. Samus asked Adam quixotically, "Adam, what's going on?" Adam's voice hung on their air for a brief moment and continued to explain. "The installation's security systems are online. Ridley can see us from his perch."

"How do you know?"

"Because, lady, Ridley has always been in control of a planet's resources. In Zebes his space pirates had a fully fitted monitor room. You saw what it was like."

"Yeah, so?"

"SO – If Ridley thinks that Alpha is out of the picture, we can step up the advantage." Alpha interrupted. "Wait, everyone. I'm detecting an unknown but crude media file in my recent memory databanks. - - - It's Deltha, my creator."

Samus and Houston leaned in. "What's it about?"

"The message was transmitted via the electric blast that pierced my armor. Not only was I damaged, but I was infected with a small but crude message." Samus was getting impatient. "---And it says what?"

Alpha paused for a moment, as if he'd frozen on the spot, then spoke.

"Deltha is Ridley's prisoner and being forced to cooperate. His alternative is death –" Samus mumbled. "Sounds like Ridley, all right." Alpha continued, "I am in danger by helping you two. If I expose my current condition, Deltha will be killed. I have - - - I have been transmitted a copy of all of the map data of the installation. He wishes me the best of luck and that - - - and that - - -" Alpha's voice broke away abruptly and his shoulders sagged.

Samus didn't think that AI's could have emotions. Probably an error in the message. Time to get back to work. "Okay then. Alpha, stay here with Adam and keep working on some badly needed intelligence and mapping systems." "Roger, milady." "Understood." Samus was surprised to see Alpha standingupright again and facing her. She smiled and put on her helmet and Houston followed suit.

Samus's voice came through the comlink in her helmet. "Houston, come with me. We won't be splitting up this time. Not unless something comes up. Finally –" But Samus couldn't finish her sentence due to the interruption of Adam's emergency sirens. Red lights flashed throughout the cabin.

"Adam! What's going on?"

"A transmitter dish is emerging from the largest mountain in the area. Unknown origin. Technology is outdated to - - -" Alpha interrupted Adam. "Old-earth technology. It's a planetary shield projector." Samus was confused at what was probably Ridley's next move. "What would Ridley need that for?" Houston only tapped Samus on her armored shoulder and pointed up at the open hatch to the sky above.

* * * * *

"Mr. President – Admiral Keaton! The fleet has arrived intact. We are ten kilometers from planetary orbit. What are your orders?"

The President had only spoken the order to jump to hyperspace two seconds ago, the fleet's time slightly increased due to its incredible speed. The planet Forge below had patches of black clouds covering its atmosphere. Keaton could see the lightning that crossed between the thunderclouds from space. It would have been a superb sight for tourists had they not been there to hunt space pirates into extinction.

The President sighed heavily, taking Keaton's words right out of his mouth. "Samus and Houston are no doubt taking care of things. Let's prepare to enter orbit and set up a beach-head. Follow Samus's distress beacon." "Aye sire." Then the pilot hesitated for a moment as he acknowledged the President's order. "Admiral?" "I understand, Ensign. Mr. President?"

The President did not acknowledge the fact that Samus's ship was emitting a distress call rather than a homing beacon or something for formal. But he knew something was up. "Order the fleet full stop. Hail Samus's ship." "Aye sir."

* * * * *

"We're being hailed."

"Put it through."

"It's the President of the Galactic Fed-"

"Adam!"

"Acknowledged."

"Samus Aran and Armstrong Houston, this is the President of the Galactic Federation. I come bearing the combined forces of our worlds."

"Thank you, Mr. President, but –"

"But that is why we think there is a problem, Samus. What's wrong?"

"Sir – we've lost contact with the mechaguardian Alpha. And Ridley seems to be powering up a shield generator for the planet."

"What?! Stand by Samus! Lieutenant: search the planet's surface for such an anomally immed –"

The comm. signal was cut short, and a reddish glow filled the sky overhead Samus's ship.

* * * * *

"Too late Mr. President, we've lost all communications with Samus."

"Tell me something I don't know, damnit!" The shield barrier had completely circumcised the planet, filling the darkness of space with an eerie reddish glow. It's source was easy to spot – a concentrated spot of energy in the atmosphere that was an opaque red.

The communications officer quipped a response before the pilot could. "Shield barrier consists of ionic compounds and - - - electromagnetic radiation and debris. Nothing's getting through it without getting seriously messed up, sir"

The President kicked the seat of his pilot's chair and sat down with the fury of a smited champion. Keaton didn't dare put up any comments for the sake of his command. The President had his head in his hand and spoke with a significantly reduced authority, almost squandered. "Order the fleet to surround the planet and form a communications network and blockade. Nothing leaves or enters that planet unless I say so!" "Aye sir, transmitting orders."

* * * * *

"Hoo hoo! Nice timing, Deltha! Did you see the fireworks on that one!" Ridley was once again ecstatic and almost forgetting the fact that he was the bad guy in this situation. Deltha and Ki-Chac both looked up at the ginormous monitor, which was displaying the GF fleet hovering over the red shielding.

Deltha said nothing, and dared not think anything that might give away the surprise he had in store for Ridley.

"With the GF fleet no longer a problem, now all's that's left is Samus and Houston. And we have the walking talking calculator on our side! Let's get ready for the welcoming party!" Ki-Chac was frowning yet again at Deltha as Ridley rallied his fellow space pirates.

'Don't have anything human to say in defense of your Federation? Perhaps you aren't as useful as Ridley thinks you are.' Deltha gave a conscious thought back to the armored kihunter. 'What are you talking about? What could I possibly say to a bugger like you that would make things better for me?' Ki-Chac hesitated for a full second whether or not to slice Deltha's throat on the spot, but took into account the Kroban dragon behind him.

His glowing red eyes grew a few shades darker.

'You could either humor me or convince me that you would deceive Ridley but not myself. Now I know that to be a faded dream. Watch your back, Deltha. Ridley won't be around to watch you all the time.' And with that, Ki-Chac switched his casual armor to battle armor, a rainbow mix of scales and spikes. Almost instantly, the armor turned night black and Ki-Chac disappeared.

'Cloaking. Damned buggers.'

'I heard that. Don't depend on Ridley to save you too much – it'll get you killed anyways!' Ridley then turned back to Deltha, with a sly look on his sleek face. "Deltha! Since you have been such a useful mammal today, I'm giving you the option of choosing what to do with Samus and Houston!"

Deltha mumbled an obscene word at Ridley, but fortunately for the dragon, he did not hear anything but, "Gee, how polite of you."

"You can either have us kill them with your superior weaponry, or we can stun and capture them and bring them back. For final goodbyes and all that icky stuff. Your decision."

"Capture them and bring them back here."

"Oooooh! Feeling a little on the edge today? This should be fun! Don't touch anything you shouldn't – if you do, Ki-Chac will make sure he fulfilled all his lovely promises to you."

Ridley marched off with a horde of more armored space pirates and Deltha smirked for the first honest time today. 'All his promises – you bagpipe brain! How much fun it should be indeed.' Thought Deltha.

* * * * *