Chapter Ten: Extraction
"The blizzard seems to have died down, sir," a Space Pirate pilot said to Ridley.
"At a notable rate, I assume?" Ridley replied.
"It is now safe to fly towards the target," another Space Pirate said.
"Alright, hop to it, then!" Ridley demanded. The Space Pirates yelled yes sir out loud, and began the engine of the mother ship. One of them began to steer in the supposed direction of their target. "What is the distance?"
"Around two hundred miles, sir," the pilot replied.
"What? Then how did these people not find us out of all this time Settlement Zero has been here?" Ridley wondered. A Space Pirate cartographer walked up to Ridley.
"Our geographic scientists have mentioned that these peoples' infrastructure is isolated from Settlement Zero by the bitter cold temperatures in between," the cartographer informed.
"Ah," Ridley replied, slightly interested. "So we outsmarted an ancient race, eh?"
"Ehh, how so, sir?" the cartographer asked.
"We established a serum that will enable you to endure any freezing temperature with ease. You would think that an ancient species that has probably lived here for hundreds of thousands of years would beat us to the idea wouldn't you?" Ridley wondered.
"The other thing is, is that the area between the infrastructure and Settlement Zero seems to have ruins somewhere in there. We drew conclusions that it is some sort of burial ground for the race, that is dishonorable to disturb, but we can't be quite so sure for now," the cartographer answered. Ridley thanked the cartographer for the information, and told him to finish whatever he was working on.
"How fast is the ship moving?" Ridley asked the pilot.
"Around one hundred fifty miles per hour, sir," the pilot responded. Ridley looked at what the pilot was doing. He was surveying the ground for any sort of checkpoint the mother ship could stop at in case of emergency.
"I'll tell you what," Ridley said to the pilot. "Let me take the wheel, and you take a break."
"Really, sir?" the pilot hesitated.
"I know how to fly a ship," Ridley said.
"I know, sir. You easily outmatch me in the area; my issue is, well, is it really okay for me to just leave my position?" the pilot asked, confused. Ridley very rarely offered breaks to Space Pirates of a lower ranking than scientists, so this was very unusual.
"As long as I say it's okay, it's okay," Ridley replied in a very casual tone.
"Well, thank you, sir," the pilot said cheerfully. He got out of his seat holding the ship controls. Ridley came to sit in his seat, and as soon as Ridley grabbed the controls, the pilot let go and walked out of the room. The co-pilot turned to Ridley.
"Why'd you give him a break?" the co-pilot asked. Ridley turned and cocked what would have been an eyebrow if he had eyebrows.
"Are you questioning my authority?" Ridley wondered.
"N-no, sir," the co-pilot stuttered. "I would never do such a thing intentionally, sir."
"Very good," Ridley said calmly. "Now I think it's time you get back to work."
The co-pilot saluted Ridley by pretending to create incisions in its chest, then opening his crustacean claw as wide as possible. This was the way Space Pirates saluted. Ridley returned the salute, and the co-pilot got back to his current work. Ridley turned on the Radio Screen and set the ship's controls to auto-pilot. He quickly entered some precise coordinates for the ship to follow.
On the Radio Screen, Ridley viewed Weavel kneeling at the side of a rock in the middle of the blizzard-y area. Ridley clapped, and got Weavel's attention. Weavel saluted when he saw Ridley on his Radio Visor.
"Sir!" Weavel said, slightly startled.
"Where is Samus and what are you doing?" Ridley demanded.
"Funny thing about that is, I'm watching Samus on my Radio Visor," Weavel replied. "We split up, and she got the more interesting path."
"What are you doing, stalker? Watching her strip?" Ridley joked, but in a serious tone.
"Do you want me to show you her current predicament?" Weavel asked. Ridley nodded. Weavel quickly redirected the signal stream to Samus's Radio Visor. Ridley could see the giant one-eyed beast in front of her. He gasped.
"Holy crap," Ridley said. "Is that a…could it be? Is it a—"
"Frezocul?" Samus asked. She immediately understood that Ridley was checking in on them.
"Why yes, that's the name I was searching for," Ridley responded. "How, though?"
"You never picked up every Ocul you left behind at Settlement Zero," Adam said. "Therefore, it is extremely likely that those adapted well enough have migrated to this area."
"Was there something you needed?" Samus asked Ridley. She ran up to the Frezocul and tested her Plasma Beam on it. The beam simply caused a small red spot to heat up on its leg, with the spot to subsequently disappear after that.
"Technically, no," Ridley said. "I have contacted you to check your progress, and to inform you two that the blizzard had died down enough for us to come by and pick you up."
"Yes!" Adam cheered. "So we can finish our compromised mission and leave?"
Ridley glared. "It is up to Samus, sir," Ridley hissed.
Samus thought about it while dodging a potentially deadly blow from the Frezocul.
"Sure," Samus said.
"Alright then, I suppose we will pick you up whenever we find you," Ridley replied. Weavel sounded relieved.
"Alright, when you reach a fork in paths, turn left. You'll find me a ways down there," he said.
"Alright," Ridley spoke.
"Oh, and also—"
Weavel was cut off. Ridley had terminated the signal. Weavel roared.
"Damn it!" he yelled.
"Don't take it so hard," Samus said sarcastically. "I'm not that boring."
"It's not really you, as much as it is computer man," Weavel spat.
"I beg your pardon?" Adam asked, slightly enraged from Weavel's rudeness.
"Just ignore him, unless he's saying something extremely important," Samus said to Weavel.
"Lady, I will not tolerate cyborg's rude demeanor for much longer," Adam said. Since Weavel didn't make a smart mouthed reply, Samus assumed that Adam spoke privately to her just then. She ignored any further comments, and focused on the Frezocul.
"Now how do I kill this thing?" Samus wondered. She quickly aimed at its eye and shot it with a charged Plasma Beam shot. The Frezocul winced in immense pain, and fell on its side. Samus walked over next to it, and examined it from a slightly safe distance. The Frezocul opened its eye again, and swept the thin ice lake with its leg. Samus quickly ran out of the way with a perfectly timed Speed Boost, and then she saw the monster plant its foot into the ice again. Then she remembered the logbook scan.
"It'll starve when its feet are disconnected from its food!" Samus thought to herself. She began to think of a way to disconnect its four large feet from the frozen lake's surface. With a creature this enormous, it would be nearly impossible to perform such a daunting task. Samus's thinking cost her her balance, as she felt herself sink down the frigid lake underneath the thin ice. Quickly, Samus swam back up to the surface, and climbed back onto the ice. If she continues to get knocked down like this, she probably could not finish this fight.
But sure enough, missiles from the sky flew in at a breathtaking speed and hit the Frezocul directly in its eye. Samus quickly traced the missiles' smoking paths to figure out where it came from. Soon, a giant purple ship flew in above, coming from the missiles' origins. The ship stood taller than at least seventy Frezoculs stacked up on each other on their hind legs. Shortly after the ship set its landing gears on the surrounding walls of ice, a black figure that seemed to be traveling at the speed of a jet rocketed down towards the Frezocul. Samus examined the figure closely, and ran up to get a better view. She switched to Scan Visor and picked up a scan she already got: Ridley. Ridley was on the Frezocul's head, wrestling as if to stun it. Soon, the giant monster stopped fighting Ridley's assault, and Ridley quickly flew over to the kneecap equivalent of a Frezocul on one leg and, with great force and obvious straining due to loud cries in pain, Ridley slowly twisted the Frezocul's leg up to face the sky. After this inhuman feat, Ridley stopped and panted. He pulled out a telecommunicator.
"Alright, assault plan A takes far too much energy," Ridley spoke into the walkie-talkie-like device.
"Well what do you suppose we should do, sir?"
"Switch to plan B!" Ridley yelled angrily, clearly moody from straining his muscles and using an unfavorable amount of energy.
"…Sir, you've never established a plan B," the voice responded.
"Well, make something up!" Ridley shouted. He wiped his forehead, and began to fly down towards Samus.
"You weren't too hard to find," Ridley said to Samus as he approached her. "I just had to search for the abnormal alien creature going out of control."
"Ridley," Adam said. "I'll tell you what. How about we ride in your ship, allowing you to minimally experiment on Samus, and then you simply take us to the nearest neutral civilization?"
Ridley laughed. "Absolutely not," he retorted. "Samus is a Space Pirate now, and thus she must work like one."
After a short pause, a loud wincing could be heard. Samus looked at the Frezocul, and Ridley turned around to follow suit. The Frezocul had its legs tied together with its head segment, rendering it immobile. Within seconds, the Frezocul ended its struggling, and closed its eye.
"And there you have it," Ridley said, clapping his claws. "Dispatch is an improvisational genius!"
Samus walked past Ridley without saying a word. Ridley understood that Samus only talked when either she was asked a question or if she really needed to. Yet still, Ridley was the first to start a conversation.
"Where is Weavel?" Ridley asked Samus. Samus pointed in a specific direction.
"It's only an estimation," Adam reassured Ridley. Ridley sighed.
"I want results," Ridley spat. Adam sighed to Ridley's remark as Ridley did to his.
"Though not one hundred percent accurate, I would say his current location is Latitude 70 and Longitude 37," Adam calculated. Ridley swore. He pulled out a device that resembled a GPS, only with a peculiar foreign design to it. He set up an input of Latitude 70 and Longitude 37, and then typed "Vho" in the "Other Information" box. When results popped up, he pressed a button, and punched in "Recovery Squadron". He then pulled out his telecommunicator.
"Recovery squadron," Ridley spoke with a military-like tone. "Get to these assigned coordinates and retrieve Weavel pronto. I have sent you the coordinates."
Instead of a verbal response, Ridley got a bunch of small ships zipping out of the giant purple one, heading about half a mile over from where Samus was standing to the ruins on the horizon. Ridley looked at his GPS-like device and seemed to be timing the ships. In thirty seconds, the ships flew back in to the ship.
"Well? How did it go?" Ridley asked into the telecommunicator.
"We have successfully retrieved Weavel, sir, and we are ready to leave whenever you are," a buzzy, static-y voice sounded.
"Very good," Ridley said, as he turned off the device. He turned to Samus, smiling. "My my, sir, you sure seem to know how to pinpoint coordinates."
"Quite," Adam gloated. "In fact, I—"
"It's one of your redeeming qualities," Ridley spat, with his eyes narrowing. "Don't get cocky with me, computer man. We still cannot pinpoint whether or not you are trustworthy."
Ridley turned around to walk off. "Pun intended, I assume?" Adam wondered. Ridley turned to face Samus.
"I suppose," Ridley said, in a very assuring tone. Adam spoke to Samus privately.
"What is it with these bastards calling me 'computer man'? I find it very rude and demeaning," Adam said.
"Find a rude yet fitting name to call them back," Samus suggested. "With Space Pirates, that may be your only hope socially."
Samus started to walk behind Ridley as they approached the Stinger flagship to get back to the mother ship.
"Why would I try to get along with these repulsive crustaceans? They are nothing to me," Adam said. Samus treated the question as rhetorical and stepped into the Stinger. Ridley flew back into the mother ship into the Stinger docks, and Samus quickly booted the green-blue, trilobite-shaped ship up to fly. Within a few seconds, she flew into the Stinger docks. "You could have used that opportunity to pull a fast one, somewhat like what you did on your first mission on Zebes!"
"Adam, that was years ago," Samus said. "I can barely fly this thing now."
This was true; Samus was flying the Stinger in an unorthodox fashion, and she managed to enter the docks in that exact same fashion. The Stinger hit the metal floor and bounced upwards about five feet, subsequently skidding across the floor, causing sparks to rocket outward. Shortly after, when the vehicle stopped, the cockpit door popped open with a white hand following it out. The white hand gripped onto the ledge of the cockpit and pulled its main body upward, revealing the white and black Subzero Suit with its ice-blue helmet and pink visor. Samus heard a voice in front of her.
"And although you have probably met before, I introduce to you Space Pirates, Samus Aran!" the voice called. Samus looked up, and saw Ridley standing there with a large squadron of Space Pirates. The Space Pirates raised a claw, and performed the Pirate salute, followed by the formal human salute. Samus saluted with a Space Pirate salute, and then walked up closer.
"So are we ready to take off?" Samus asked.
"Why yes, we are," Ridley replied.
"Mind if we stop back at Settlement Zero for a bit?"
Ridley paused. "What?" he asked confused. "Why would you want to head back to that old facility?"
"I have…I have a few friends there that I made, and I think it's wrong to just leave them there," Samus answered. Weavel stepped up.
"Sir, it's not a trap," Weavel assured. "I was there. You want the truth?"
Weavel looked at Samus. She nodded.
"I am now the queen of the Metroid population back at Settlement Zero, Ridley," Samus said. "I killed their queen back when we stepped into their hive…"
Ridley was shocked. "Should we allow Metroids on this ship?" he asked himself, out loud so the rest of them could hear it. "It would be a great convenience."
"Really?" Samus wondered.
"Yes," Ridley responded. "How many are there?"
"Hundreds, if not thousands," Weavel answered. Ridley cackled in joy.
"Even better!" he called out. "We have enough space for twice that amount!"
"So we'll go there first?" Samus asked. Ridley nodded. He called for a screen communicator to come down and bring the pilot on screen.
"How was your break?" Ridley asked calmly.
"Oh it was great, sir. I—"
"Save it," Ridley barked. "Head back to Settlement Zero, at the entrance to where we discovered the hive."
"Uh, yes sir," the pilot replied. The screen rose back up, and Ridley looked at Samus.
"We're going to send you, because the rest of us would be eaten," he said. Samus nodded.
"But how would I get them in here?" Samus wondered. Ridley cracked a smile.
"Follow me," he said. Ridley led Samus down a network of hallways and corridors, of which each Space Pirate along the way stopped to glance at Samus in a somewhat confused manner. Samus ignored this attention and continued to follow Ridley. They stopped at a large door, which Ridley set up his access to. His access was granted, and the large door slid open. "Welcome to the old containment chamber."
The corridor behind the large doorway was hangar-sized, yet abandoned. A disturbing silence came over Samus as a draft blew in.
"You held Metroids here?" Samus presumed.
"Not only Metroids, Samus. Anything we found to be deadly yet powerful enough to help us," Ridley answered. He beckoned Samus to follow him, and led her down to the large and flat floor. "Tanks were once placed in this room to contain the more dangerous of subjects."
Samus walked over to the even larger doorway at one side of the room. "What is this?"
"An airlock dock," Ridley replied. "We used it to carry cargo in and out. You will be using it to get the Metroids in here."
"How will you seal the Metroids in?" Samus wondered.
"We have security regulations I expect everyone to follow," Ridley said. Suddenly, he changed the subject. "Would you mind if we extract some of the Metroid DNA from these Metroids?"
Suddenly, Samus seemed to grow a bit agitated. "Why?" she asked. "So you can experiment on them and attempt to make them your slaves?"
"Samus, now please. I may have been that selfish in the past, but as of now, we are suffering," Ridley pleaded. "My entire race is at stake here, and Metroid DNA is the answer!"
"The answer to what?" Samus demanded. Adam spoke up.
"Oh my," he said aloud. "Have the Space Pirates, perhaps, been afflicted with the X Parasites?"
"Don't talk crap, Adam," Samus spat. "We eradicated the X."
"But have we?" Adam said. "I suppose you have completely eradicated Phazon too, am I correct? And the Metroids? After your second mission on Zebes upon annihilating that dastardly mechanical brain, you believed the Metroids were gone forever. Now look at this! The Metroids are not gone! The last was cloned, even now; there are those that aren't clones that still thrive in this planet nearly exiting the galaxy. So, with this logic, anything you believe is gone for good may very well still exist out there, just simply out of Galactic Federation jurisdiction."
"No, computer man," Ridley argued. "Phazon is gone. We have different squads examining at least seven other galaxies."
"But seven galaxies don't make a universe!" Adam barked. "The universe goes on forever, therefore Phazon, the X, and other things may still exist out there, be it in a neighboring galaxy or two trillion galaxies away!"
"Adam!" Samus interrupted.
"What?" Adam asked, irritated.
"Just shut the hell up, please," Samus said. Adam grew angrier.
"Lady, you are not authorized to speak to your commander that way!" Adam yelled. Ridley broke up the verbal fracas.
"Computer man, or Adam," Ridley said, "First off, you are not Samus's commander anymore. She is not part of the Galactic Federation, and so far, you don't seem to be a part of it either. I would say I am the closest to her commander now, but to avoid enraging her to the point of committing treason, I give her more freedom than many Space Pirate Elites. Second, your nerdy astrology lesson is giving me a headache, so please, as Samus asked you in a manner most appropriate to counter your attitude, shut the hell up."
Adam was silenced. Ridley put everything back on subject. "Now, Samus," he said. "If you won't allow us to extract a Metroid DNA sample from your Metroid pack, please allow us to extract from you. It will be just a small sample that we can replicate. Just, please, Samus. For the good of the Space Pirates, I beg you."
Samus stopped to think about it for a moment. Shortly after, the TV monitor came down.
"We've arrived, sir," the pilot told Ridley. Ridley nodded, and the screen retracted into the ceiling.
"How many of those things do you have in this mother ship?" Samus asked. Ridley pointed to the ceiling. Samus saw a network of suspension cables along with the TV hanging there.
"We have one of those in every room of the ship," Ridley replied. He walked over to open the door, and the large airlock dock opened wide. "Go grab your children."
Samus nodded. As she walked out, she turned to Ridley and said, "I won't let you experiment on them," she told Ridley, "but I have no issue using them as a squadron in your armies."
Ridley rubbed his lower jaw and hmmed, as if intrigued by the idea. As Samus walked out, Ridley closed the hangar door to help keep the cold air out.
--
Samus walked into the entrance to the hive, that which was her exit when Weavel and her passed through the first time and vanquished the Queen Metroid. She stepped into the goopy floor, and saw all of the Metroids on the ground, sleeping. She called out, and soon, the Metroids all woke up. They encircled her in joy, and the Omega Metroids stomped the ground in excitement. She could easily tell that they were giddy their queen returned. Samus spoke to the Metroids.
"Alright, guys," she told the Metroids. "Follow me, but be quick about this."
Samus walked out the door and turned around. She then realized that the doorway outside was too small. An Omega Metroid ran up and bent the edges of the door to enlarge the doorway for the others to pass through. Soon, Samus walked out into the only slightly cold field. She signaled Ridley to open the door and extend a tube for safe transport. A small tube shot out from the mother ship and connected to the rusted, icy walls of Settlement Zero. Samus ran up the tube into the room, and stood in front of Ridley. The entire Metroid population raced in. After they all had entered the hangar-sized room, nearly half the room was full. Metroids attempted to attack Ridley, but stopped when Samus was standing in front of him, as if guarding him.
"As much as I hate you, Ridley," Samus said. "I don't want to be charged for murder."
"Fair enough," Ridley replied. He walked up the stairs and out of the hangar. He turned to Samus. "Oh, and one more thing. In case something horrible happens, this hangar here acts as a detachable escape pod. That way, if, say, we got shot down, you can escape with the Metroids safely."
Samus nodded. Ridley left the room and shut the door behind him. Samus turned to the Metroids. "Are all of you tired?"
The Omega Metroids ran up to Samus and roared in unison. The younger Metroids went to sleep, and the Omegas followed suit.
"I believe the Omega Metroids were bidding you a good night, Samus," Adam suggested. He still had some agitation in his voice. Weavel stepped into the room, and the Metroids ignored his presence since Samus told the Metroids to trust him.
"Yo, Samus," Weavel called down. Samus looked up at Weavel. "I have something I need to give to you."
Weavel led Samus into the Cybernetic Space Pirate training grounds, and walked over to the weapons supply.
"What is this?" Samus wondered.
"I have an arm cannon upgrade for you," Weavel told Samus. "I doubt you've ever had this sort of upgrade before."
Weavel hooked Samus's arm cannon up to a machine with a wire. After pressing a few buttons, Samus felt her suit upgrade; a feeling she had felt many times before. Then, Weavel seemed to receive Plasma Beam data from Samus's arm cannon and calculated some statistics. Shortly after, Samus felt another upgrade.
------------PLASMA SWORD UPGRADE ACQUIRED. SLICE THROUGH ENEMIES WITH INTENSE HEAT. ------------
Samus was puzzled. Soon, a sword akin to Weavel's sword made of orange-brown energy extended out of her arm cannon.
"Melee weapons?" Samus asked, astounded.
"Yup," Weavel responded. "I figured it would give you a better advantage in close range combat whenever the opportunity arises."
"But only for Plasma Beam?" Samus asked.
"Nope," Weavel simply answered. "That first upgrade I gave you allows you to acquire melee weapons for all of your other beams; you just have to find the upgrade itself."
Samus swung around the sword in a fashionable execution. Weavel seemed to be pretty impressed.
"I suppose you don't need any training?" he assumed. Samus shook her head.
"Nah, this seems easy enough," she spoke. Suddenly, the mother ship shook with great force. Soon, a TV screen plopped down.
"Attention all Space Pirates," Ridley yelled through the screen. "We are under attack, repeat, we are under attack! The attackers are a heavy fleet of Galactic Federation airships! I repeat, we are under attack, this is not a drill!"
Samus got on her toes. "Should I get ready to fight?"
Weavel shrugged. "Depends. Can you pilot an assault aircraft?"
"Yes," Samus answered. "But what does that have to do with this?"
"Didn't you hear?" Weavel said. "A bunch of airships are attacking us!"
"Should I just go man a turret or something?" Samus asked.
"Hey, it's your choice," Weavel said calmly. He lied back on a machine. "I don't see the point in it, though. These sort of attacks happen more often than not, and we always turn out alright in the end."
Samus took off after Ridley's control room. As expected, Ridley was there, busy with keeping things under control.
"Can I help at all?" Samus asked. Ridley turned to Samus, and spoke as though he was in a hurry.
"You want to attack the Galactic Federation?" Ridley asked. Samus nodded.
"Duh, that's why I'm a Space Pirate," Samus said. Ridley nodded, beginning to remember every little detail about that.
"Well then," he said. "Er, this is huge, Samus."
"How huge?" she asked.
"The Federation is actually tearing us apart this time, Samus," Ridley said sadly. "I'm about to order an evacuation."
"How many ships are there?"
"One, but it is heavy duty and all new. It doesn't seem to destroy as easily as the last ones they have used," Ridley responded. Samus seemed to gain an idea.
"So it's indestructible?" she asked.
"To our weapons, at least," Ridley said. "It's no use, Samus, we are going to fall. This isn't the end of the Pirates, but this mother ship will be ruined."
"I have a plan," Samus said. "But you're going to have to let me on their ship."
"Are you mad?!" Ridley shouted. "They will kill you!"
"Maybe," Samus said. "But I know a Federation gunship better than any Space Pirate."
Ridley seemed to understand what Samus was getting at. "Fair enough," Ridley spoke. "But how will you get on?"
"Adam," Samus said.
"What?" he barked.
"What we need you to do is help us out," Samus told Adam.
"For you or for the Space Pirates?" Adam demanded. Samus quickly answered.
"For me," Samus replied. Adam agreed.
"Good," Samus said. She turned to Ridley. "What we are going to do is communicate with the gunship. Adam will convince the Federation that you have prisoners of war violently contained here, making the Federation create a bridge between their ship and our ship. The Federation troops will make their way in here, and the Space Pirates will kill them. I will sneak onto the Federation's ship and weave my way into the ship's maintenance sector. I will then sabotage the ship and rig it to crash into the ground, destroying it. This would buy time for us and end their ship."
"Brilliant!" Ridley shouted. "But one flaw: how would you return? The ship crashing would not give you enough time to make it back. May I rather suggest a time bomb?"
"That would be nice," Samus said. Ridley opened a hidden compartment, retrieved a small device, and handed it to Samus.
"Don't allow its size to fool you," Ridley said. "This tiny bomb can destroy anything up to a hundred mile's radius."
"Wouldn't that destroy our ship as well?" Samus asked.
"No," Ridley replied. "You can set the time bomb to a certain blast radius as well as the time it takes to explode."
"Very nice," Samus said. Adam sighed and would've shaken his head to Samus's reaction to such a device if he had a head. Samus was calling a weapon that would be classified terroristic "very nice". But Adam said nothing.
"Well alright then," Ridley broke the silence. "Let us start this mission, and hope for the best."