Chapter 12
Arbitration
Samus was called in by Admiral Dane. Apparently the Federation has enacted a policy that she must report back to him periodically. She wasn't really doing much anyway. Just exploring and finding spare energy tanks. As she arrived on the GFS Olympus, she noticed that there were many Troopers apparently going to the infirmary for showing signs of Phazon Sickness.
That can't be good. Samus thought. She made her way to the Captain's Quarters, unescorted this time. When she arrived, she found Admiral Dane going over battle plans with Aurora Unit 242.
"Samus, glad you could make it back. I'm sorry that you have to report back to me like this, but maybe I can be an asset for you. We're currently using the data on your suit to develop a replacement PED for you, just in case. I'm sure you've heard of our 'internal problems'." Samus nodded, and Dane went on, "We've actually got a plan in the works to completely wipe out the current fleet, then take the home world. Unfortunately, that's even harder than it sounds." Dane brought up the planets Bryyo and Elysia on screen. "They're currently targeting these two planets, both filled with important resources. We need the fuel gel on Bryyo and the data on Elysia, specifically Skytown. There's no way we can divide our fleet and effectively protect both, and Harkov still refuses to send in major reinforcements. I talked to the Sergeant Major he sent. Sergeant Higgs. The guy completely agreed. If we have more than 140,000 fleets to choose from, why does that bastard not want to send one? At any rate, we need major support on those planets. We're sending you to Skytown. We need you to ensure that our important data is not lost, by any means necessary."
Samus nodded, then turned to leave. She stopped, feeling a light cramp in her stomach, then moved on, thinking nothing of it. She arrived at her ship, then set the coordinates for Elysia.
"... Lady? Are you feeling okay?" Adam asked her.
"Yes... what would be wrong with me?" Samus responded.
"Nothing, it's just, it would seem you're hormonal levels are different than usual. But then again, that really shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary." Adam concluded. Samus, slightly confused, took off from the ship, heading for Elysia. When she entered the Elysian orbit, she found herself in the middle of another battle, this time between Sangheli ships and local Federation ships. She received a transmission from a Federation Gryphon class vessel.
"Samus? Samus Aran? Oh, thank God! Please, we need your help! We're getting hammered by these ships, and there's simply not enough ships in the 7th Fleet to give us backup! Can you help us?" Samus immediately switched to manual controls, and activated her ships defense systems. She then opened her radio frequency to be able to send and receive transmissions from all over the area. The first thing she heard was,
"Keep pressing my brothers! It will not be long before their defenses fall!"
"Yes, Fleetmistress!"
"Fleetmistress, a new gunship as appeared!"
"Destroy it!"
"At once Fleetmistress!"
A team of Seraphs approached her ship, but she fired the first shots, destroying a few with her missiles.
"Aargh! K'tax! You'll pay for that you scum!" Samus kept taking out the pilots one by one until she eventually got to the last one.
"No, no! Aargh! I'm taken too much damage, forgive me Fleetmistress. K'tax, I'll be with you soon." Samus destroyed the last Seraph sent after her, feeling some remorse, but sticking to her goal of lightening the forces in orbit.
"Sleep, brother. We will reunite someday," the alleged Fleetmistress said. "Shipmistress Kala, do any of your ships have a lock on this mysterious gunship?"
"Forgive me, Fleetmistress, we do not."
"Shipmaster K'han?"
"My apologies Fleetmistre- Aagh! Fleetmistress, it is attacking the Assault Carrier directly!"
"What?"
Samus was indeed firing missiles at the various weak points she discovered that the ship had. Every time it attempted to fire a weapon, the shield goes down. Samus exploited this opportunity to target the ships weapons themselves.
"Banshee pilots, rid us of this pest!" Samus suffered damage as multiple Banshees descended upon her. Samus tried to out maneuver them, but there were simply too many. She almost considered retreating, when multiple Stiletto class fighters appeared on her radar. They took out her pursuing Banshees.
"We're not exactly comfortable with being this close to a Sangheli Carrier, so can we hurry up please?" The group followed her pattern of damaging the weapons as the shields go down. Samus redirected her ship toward the bridge of the Assault Carrier.
"Fleetmistress, we have sustained heavy hull damage. Most of our weapon systems are offline. I've ordered a full evacuation. I will remain on board, and die with honor."
"K'han-"
"Fleetmistress, I have shamed you. I will not be able to face you again, having been defeated by a lowly gunship."
"...Very well Shipmaster. We are tracking the gunship en route to the bridge. All that remains is one final effort."
As Samus prepared to take out the bridge, the Assault Carrier unexpectedly dropped it's shields. Samus instinctively fired a missile barrage at the bridge, but was caught off guard when the ship fired a beam from it's main Energy Projector. Samus managed to dodge before being bisected, but the shot grazed her ship, causing major hull damage. Her missiles destroyed the bridge, thus rendering the ship inoperable. The GFS Gryphon class vessel finished it off.
"Samus, you've been hit! Are you okay?" came a transmission from a nearby fighter.
"I've taken severe damage, I'll need to land and make repairs," she responded, while descending toward the planet.
"Are you the pilot of this gunship?" came a transmission from the Fleetmistress. "Mark my words, bounty huntress, in killing my brothers you have sealed your fate. Our Arbiter will deal with you. Harshly."
Samus managed to land safely on Elysia, despite the intense firefight going on overhead. She landed in a Federation landing site, so hopefully that would be able to speed up repairs.
"I will commence auto repairs. You should make your way to the Aurora Unit. It should be able to direct you to the data that needs to be secured. Any objections, Lady?"
Samus simply moved on ahead with her objective, knowing Adam would realize the answer is "no". She traveled through the many tight corridors of Skytown, Elysia. Even now, the planet's maintenance robots still function. As she moved through the floating city, she exited an enclosed building and entered the 'fresh air' so to speak. The air is toxic to most humans, but not her. Upon exiting, she noticed a group of Federation Troopers pinned down by a Sangheli phantom preparing to drop off it's passengers. Samus fired several super missiles at the dropship. It turned it's attention toward her, then it's hatch opened and released a group of Unggoy into the area. Before it could flee, Samus destroyed the Phantom. This got the attention of about half of the Unggoy.
"Who the fuck is that?" one called out.
"I don't know, shoot at it!" another said. Samus fired upon the rather rude Unggoy, but these seemed different than what Dane described to her. She imagined them to be somewhat disorganized, but they actually seemed to have a sort of battle plan. Samus killed one, which elicited the response,
"No! That was me girlfriend!"
"That was a girl?"
"Well, yeah! I mean, right? I wouldn't have, you know, slept with her if..."
"No way, man, I saw him in the showers. That was definitely a dude!"
"You mean... by the forerunners! Ugh!"
"Haha! It's a trap!"
Samus killed off the rest of them, although she was slightly disappointed since their dialogue was rather amusing. Samus walked up to the two Federation Troopers.
"Thanks a lot, Samus, we really thought we were goners! We're setting up defenses in this area, and refurbishing it to be the new Aurora Chamber. I understand those little guys aren't much of a threat, but the one thing we've learned about them is: 'if you see one Unggoy, there's more. If you see more Unggoy, there's at least one Sangheli. Seeing as there's no Sangheli out here, you might wan to be careful going inside. We have more backup in there, but still."
Samus entered the building, and instinctively rolled into a morphball, just as she did so, a fuel rod shot passed over her, impacting a wall, and nearly killing a Federation Trooper. Samus returned to her feet and fired a missile at the Sangheli who fired it, killing it. The Federation Trooper walked up to the Sangheli and kicked it's body, then picked up the Fuel Rod Gun.
"I bet those bastards won't like seeing one o' these fired at THEM!" The Trooper rounded a corner and started firing fuel rod rounds. Samus rounded the same corner and entered a large circular room with multiple floors. Federation Troopers and Sangheli were battling in this area. Samus joined in on the battle jumping down onto the lower level of the area. She timed her landing to end up on top of a Sangheli. Upon landing, she tackled the Sangheli to the ground and fired a charge shot into it's skull. Samus stepped onto an elevator in the center of the room and was lowered into an area with tight knit hallways. Multiple Sangheli were down here, firing upon the dead bodies of multiple Federation Troopers. They noticed her arrival and fired at her, Samus side stepped and strafed as much as she could, but there wasn't much room to avoid the shots, she took damage regardless. She targeted the Sangheli with seeker missiles, fired, and killed them all in one fell swoop. Samus repaired damaged areas around the room, then rode the elevator back up. She was pleased to find that she had reactivated the security system, and Sangheli were taking heavy fire from multiple turrets stationed around the area. Eventually, the last Sangheli fell, allowing the Fleet troopers and mechanics to perform their duties in preparing the area for the Aurora Unit.
Samus left this area and began her trek toward the Aurora Unit, beginning with a tram ride from Skytown east to west, encountering enemy forces at nearly every turn. When she finally arrived in the room, it was filled with Unggoy, there were possibly a dozen Unggoy firing upon the Aurora tank. When she arrived, they noticed her presence.
"It's one of those federation bastards!"
"Give 'im hell!" All the Unggoy in the room then proceeded to throw Plasma Grenades at her, she dodged a few, but several stuck to her armor. The resulting explosions dealt heavy damage to her shield, and elicited a cheer from the Unggoy, which quickly stopped as she stood up.
"He's not dead!"
Samus fired several Super Missiles at the group, quickly killing them all. Samus walked to the center of the room and interacted with the Aurora Unit. It became visible in the tank, but it's communication systems were damaged.
"S-Samus. Static Down below-systems- attacked." The Aurora Unit opened a hatch which led to the lower level, were the Aurora Unit's wiring was kept. Samus rolled into a morphball and entered the hatch. Upon arriving on the lower level, she found Sangheli damaging the Aurora Unit's systems and firing upon dead Fleet Trooper bodies. They quickly shifted their attention to her, and began firing Plasma Rifle and Needler rounds at her. Samus jumped and dodged around the rather wide open room, returning fire as avoided enemy fire. One Sangheli ran up to her after his shield went down, and attempted to melee her into submission. She paused briefly to catch his hand as he swatted at her, then countered with a kick to the head, sending him across the room. He remained motionless. Samus rolled into morphball mode and rolled between the Sangheli. She dropped a powerbomb, waited for it to explode, then returned to a bipedal state. No Sangheli were left in the room, but all the technology remained unharmed- more or less. Samus proceeded to weld broken power conduits back together. After she did so, Aurora Unit 217 reestablished his connection to Skytown, and was able to communicate remotely with Samus.
"Samus, we are in the most vexing predicament, and require assistance. Skytown West is being bombarded by enemy forces, and is losing it's capability to properly function. We have data that is imperative to attaining victory in this conflict. Please help us." Samus turned into a morphball and rolled her way back to the Aurora Unit's main chamber.
"I believe I may be able to help you," Samus responded, then sent out a message over her comm systems. "Is there any personnel in Aurora Unit Chamber B? This is Samus Aran, please respond."
"Samus Aran, this is Commander Michaels, what can I do for you?" came the response.
"Would your AU chamber be able to hold an Aurora Unit at this time?"
"Um, we have the basic systems running, but it'd be a little while before it could be connected to the network. Why?"
"Because I'm about to drop one off. Samus out."
"Wait, wha-" Samus disconnected her comm systems, then aimed a Super Missile at the ceiling. After destroying the roof, Samus called her ship in to her location.
"What do you need, Lady?" Adam asked, while flying overhead.
"Adam, would you be able to fly this Aurora Unit to AU Chamber B?"
"My repairs are complete, I don't see why not."
"Good. I need you to take the Aurora Unit to that chamber, then pick me up from Landing Site A."
"Samus, I have been installed with a fail-safe that will cause Skytown to fall in ten minutes if I am disconnected from this chamber." The Aurora Unit said.
"And do it quickly." Samus added.
"Absolutely." Adam grappled the Aurora Unit with the gunship's undercarriage grappling hook, then carefully lifted it out of the chamber.
"Thank you Samus. Good luck." The Aurora Unit said.
Samus nodded, then activated a timer in her helmet, to let her know how much time she had left until the place fell. After Adam took off, Samus turned and made her way toward the Landing Site. Upon exiting the chamber, she noticed several Federation Ships taking off. The Aurora Unit probably announced that Skytown was falling. A Sangheli Phantom descended overhead, dropping off a Hunter pair. They were not delighted to see her. They immediately fired from their Fuel Rod Guns. Samus dodged both shots, then fired a charge shot back at them. The one she fired at brought up a shield and blocked the shot. The other Hunter simply fired it's cannon again. Samus dodged the rather slow moving shot, then fired a super missile at the Hunter. That drew blood. Noting the damage, Samus fired another Super Missile at the Hunter, killing it. The second Hunter, enraged, then ran straight toward Samus, leaving it's fleshy abdomen wide open to attack. Samus fired upon the Hunter's "worms", then quickly dodged out of the way when it tried to crush her with it's shield. Samus wasn't prepared for a quick second strike however, which smacked her across the helmet and sent her sprawling back. The Hunter tried a quick follow-up, but Samus rolled into a morphball, leaving a bomb behind. The explosion threw the Hunter off balance, and Samus followed-up by grabbing the "worms" on the Hunters body, and tearing them out. The Hunter roared, then keeled over, dead. Samus checked her timer.
8 minutes. Samus rolled into a Morphball and activated a cannon that sent her flying toward the building that housed the Landing Site. Upon arrival, she quickly made her way toward the Landing Site, but as she ran she received the disheartening message.
"Lady, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, the Aurora Unit is safe, and the defensive measures put in place will ensure that it and our data is secure. The bad news is, I just flew past Landing Site A. There are several Sangheli dropships, and Sangheli troops present. There's no way I can land without ensuring that we'll be stranded. Sorry, Samus but you'll have to clear the area first." Adam informed her.
"Understood." Samus quickly made her way to the landing site. Upon arrival, she witnessed a pack of Sangheli preparing to take a Marine hostage. The Trooper was being held by the neck by a Sangheli in ceremonial looking gold armor, but that didn't stop him from making the bold statement,
"Get your slimy hands off of me, split-lip or I'll shove my foot so far up your ass you'll have an armored boot for a chin!" The Sangheli, unperturbed, simply tossed him into a waiting Phantom, seeing it off with a command in a rather deep voice,
"Make sure this one remains contained. Get him to talk." He then turned toward Samus. Instead of rush her, like she thought they would, they seemed to wait for this one's commands. "Eraprep rouy snopaew," he ordered in an unknown language. All the subordinate Sangheli save for one ready what ever weapon they had in their hands, be it Plasma rifle, Plasma Launcher, Needler, or Energy Sword. The "lead" Sangheli turned toward the one Sangheli who did not respond. Before he could say anything however, that Sangheli turned on it's allies and killed the Sangheli closest to it, swiftly following up by killing the next. The Sangheli, caught off guard, all went down quickly, save for one. This one grabbed the traitorous Sangheli by the neck and ran an energy sword through his body.
"That is the price of treachery, although you aren't really a traitor are you?" The Sangheli told him. "He", was revealed to be a "she", when Gandrayda lost control of her shape, reverting back to normal. She was bleeding out from the sword wound, thanks to her body being resistant to high temperatures. She had little hope of survival, even with immediate medical care, but the Sangheli ensured that there would be no fathomable hope for her when he tossed her off of the Landing Site. He then faced Samus again. "I do believe I've heard of you. Have any Spartan's given you trouble lately?"
"Yes. One in particular." Samus responded.
"Ah. I see. You must be this illustrious 'bounty hunter'. You have defeated the Spartan before, it would be an honor to be the one to defeat you." he said.
"And who exactly, are 'you'?" Samus responded, while checking the time. 5 minutes.
"I am The Arbiter. I am the leader of the Sangheli army, and the ambassador of the Sangheli race."
"Well, 'Arbiter' I'm afraid that I'm not going to be defeated today. Or tomorrow, or at all. I appreciate the sentiment, but it's meaningless." Samus then released the charge shot she was storing, but the Arbiter activated a shield on his left arm the resembled the ones used by Space Pirates. Samus, having experience with these shields, then grappled the shield with her grappling beam and tried to yank it away, but The Arbiter was strong. He steadied his footing, then pulled back, yanking Samus through the air toward him, his Energy Sword was already primed for the kill, so Samus had no choice but to take the hit. The resulting stab definitely damaged her shield, but did no lasting damage to Samus herself, although at this point her Energy was running pretty low, as she only had two tanks left. Samus deactivated her grappling beam and kicked off of The Arbiter, damaging his shields. She then fired a Missile at him, but he brought up his gauntlet again, deflecting it. Samus closed the distance between herself and the Arbiter, The Arbiter, slightly caught off guard by the sudden rush, lunged at her with his sword. Samus dodged, then counter-attacked with a punch toward his lower back, The Arbiter predicted the attack, as his shield gauntlet was already in line to deflect the attack. He followed up with a quick swipe of his sword, which Samus ducked under, then attempted to counterattack with an uppercut from her cannon, which The Arbiter just managed to avoid by back flipping away. Samus faced her opponent, who seemed, almost satisfied.
"You are a worthy opponent. I see now why the Spartan found so much trouble in defeating you. There's no way anyone could have defeated you without the abilities I have now. It's a wonder how he survived. Then again..." Samus checked her timer 3 minutes. The Arbiter seemed to be able to read her HUD because he then said. "But I have no time to waste. At least one of us will die here, and I have no intention of becoming a memory."
He activated his suits active camouflage, then swiftly moved toward Samus. He landed three consecutive sword strikes before Samus could dodge. She switched to her thermal visor, and started charging her cannon. The Arbiter closed in on her again, but this time, Samus dodged each swipe of his energy sword. He went in for a lunge, but Samus back flipped away from him and quickly countered with a charge shot, knocking him off his balance. Samus then dove toward him while charging her cannon, tossed him to the ground and prepared to fire a shot straight into his head, but he moved her arm out of the way, diverting the shot. He then kicked her off of him, sending her sprawling toward the edge of the Landing Site. She performed a kip-up back to her feet, as the Arbiter stood up on the other side of the area. His shields recovered around his body, something Samus had never seen done by these people before. Possibly because they aren't usually alive long enough. Samus and the Arbiter stared each other down, each one unsure of how to defeat their opponent. Then, Samus checked her timer.
Ten seconds.
Samus prepared to attack her opponent once m-
TEN SECONDS! Samus thought. As the realization hit her, it seemed to simultaneously hit The Arbiter, as well as Skytown itself, as the floating city began to quake and shut down. Samus and The Arbiter looked around the area, then at each other.
3...2...1. Skytown's engines shut down completely, and the city immediately began falling from the sky. Both Samus and The Arbiter took the opportunity to jump off of the falling city. Upon noticing each other, they both took aim with their weapons, Arbiter now armed with a Needler. He fired the homing rounds at Samus while she fired Power beam shots at him. The result did heavy damage to both shields, but Samus didn't expect the explosion upon Arbiter emptying his clip, with no resistance from anything, Samus was knocked away ten feet by the blast. She used the boosters on her back to adjust herself into a better fighting position, then fired a Super Missile at The Arbiter. He blocked the shot, as expected, but the blast damaged his shields and disoriented him. Samus then used her grapple lasso to pull herself toward the Arbiter. She braced herself on his body, then fired a charge shot straight into his chest. She then charged another shot and fired it into his chest. His shield was now completely down. Samus charged one more shot. The Arbiter, rather than looking afraid, looked... resolute. Almost as if he expected something like this. Samus hesitated in firing the shot, and the Arbiter punished her for it by redirecting her hand, and punching her square across the face. She fired the shot into the sky, harmlessly. Then, the Arbiter kicked her straight in the abdomen, eliciting a grunt of pain from Samus. That area was unusually tender today. To make matters worse, a Phantom passed over head, firing Plasma rounds at her. Samus avoided the shots, but it revealed it's true purpose as it allowed the Arbiter to board the craft. With him on board, it took off leaving Samus to fall into the ground below. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, her gunship flew up beside her, slowing to a speed that she can board with, similar to how The Arbiter just boarded his dropship. Samus stepped onto her ship, then was lowered inside by the platform on top.
"Adam, chart a course to the GFS Olympus. Send Fleet Admiral Dane a message that the mission was successful, all data secured, at the expense of Skytown West." Samus said in a tired voice.
"Will do, Lady." Adam took a moment to process her request, then performed them as specified. "Samus, are you feeling okay?"
"I'm just feeling a little fatigue, is all. I'm sure it'll pass." Samus responded, removing her Suit and lying back in her pilot's chair. "On second thought, could you plan a rather slow course to the Olympus? I think I need some rest."
"Already done, Samus. Samus, there's are reason I call you 'Lady'. It's because you are one. For most of your life, it's been rare for you to actually treat your self like one. I think you should change that."
"Adam, you know I don't have any time for that."
"After this conflict is over, maybe you will. You should settle down for awhile. Maybe get a boyfriend (it'd be easy enough for you). Or possibly go on vacation. Earth has plenty of beaches, and some of them are accessible year-round."
"Hmm. I don't think I've ever been to Earth. I think I might do that." Samus paused for a moment, then asked, "'Get a boyfriend'?"
"Well, sure. I figured if you're horrible at treating yourself like a lady, then maybe a 'male companion' might be a little better at it. Although considering your luck, he'll be just as horrible." Samus chuckled and said,
"Look, Adam, I have no intention of getting a 'boyfriend'. Just take us back to the Olympus." she then closed her eyes and began falling asleep.
Ahh, but that's the beauty of love, Lady. We never intend to fall into anything, now do we? Adam thought. As he took the ship through hyperspace, he began processing the data that the Aurora Unit uploaded to him. If this was to be believed, there is a wandering planet currently in Federation Space that will be traveling in orbit around Norion's sun, then splitting off within a year, to wander somewhere else. It would be a brilliant temporary encampment for anyone trying to invade Federation Space. Adam could see why it was so important. If he was the opposing side, he would make it a point to capture this planet. If he were Dane, he would make it a point for that not to happen. It would be interesting to see how this plays out, although something told Adam that everything is not what it seems. Oh, well. We will find out soon enough. Samus' gunship cruised along, in no hurry to arrive at the GFS Olympus.
A/N: Yep, there's another chapter for y'all. Normally I'd have something witty to say, but today I don't. Metroid Other M reviews are out, mostly everyone like it. There are several reviews which simply don't make any sense (ironically, those are the ones that dislike it) so I guess it's going to be one of those "love it or hate it" games. I'm sure I'll love it. I've also seen the ending of Halo Reach. Without spoiling anything, all I have to say is: :(