A/N: Another chapter, my few remaining readers. After coming out of my hiatus, I am trying to update somewhat more than I used to.
I am disappointed, though, that my poll hasn't gotten any votes. In fairness, not many people probably saw the poll, so if you didn't, well, see if you'd actually care to vote in it!
And on that note, let's continue.
Samus had just rushed into the Gunship's control room when Adam spoke.
"Lady, there's something I've just found that you must see."
"What now?" she said, not trying to conceal her exasperation, "I've found the next clue, and given what happened on the surface, I don't think I have time for—"
"You must see this, Lady. After I saw it, I began to worry about… just look at it, okay?"
"Fine," Samus said, disgruntled, "what is it, anyway?"
"Data I extracted from a nearby terminal."
Samus wanted to point out that that was impossible; a computer terminal couldn't be on a desolate planet like this, even with its history. But the urgency in Adam's mechanical tone told her to not ask questions.
"Uploading the data now."
The data was finished uploading in a matter of minutes, and as Samus read through it, her worries about the events of what happened on the surface slowly began to fade.
Month VI, day XX: It's finally happened! Today, I have finished the data I needed in order to complete my ultimate weapons. I've run a simulated test, and it's proven my theory. These weapons are incapable of malfunction.
But in order to be sure, I need to test them. No, strike that. I'll only need to test one. If one of them works, than the rest surely will.
Good thing an available target is within easy reach…
Month VII, day IX: Test result: success. The weapon went off without a single malfunction. What's more, it accomplished its task easily, sending its target into a ruined state within mere hours.
Think of what I could accomplish with this weapon! Combine it with the right mode of firing it, and I could lay waste to entire fleets. With a weapon like this, I can't be beaten!
This is why I have chosen to stay on this planet. I do not fear for my own life, as my weapon has given me the means to deal with any… visitors that come here. I will stay here until the time is right, creating more copies of my weapon. In due time, I will rise and conquer the galaxy with my new weapon: a weapon known as—
"The Entry ends there," Adam explained.
Samus stared at the screen for a few minutes, taking all of this information in.
That's when it hit her. A horrible realization hit her.
"How long ago was this?" She asked, "And by that, I mean in what year did this occur?"
"The same year the sun went dark."
Not a word was spoken for several moments after.
Samus fired up the Gunship, and as it rose into the sky, she activated her comm unit.
"Adam, transmit a signal to the nearest Federation command ship. We have no time to lose."
If whoever created that weapon is still here, she thought, the subject of the Gems is the least of my problems. It will be the least of anyone's problems if it's as powerful as whoever wrote this claims…
Noxus had no idea what happened.
One moment, he, Spire, and Eclipse were walking calmly through the desert. The clue had said: look in the hives for the next clue, and Spire decided that this was referring to a series of hive-like caverns on the bottom of a vast mountain to the East. Since nobody could think of a better suggestion, that's where the three had set off for.
Of course, what followed was that little incident earlier with the Ecligun. After that, though, things calmed down.
Up until the moment when the red beam shot out of nowhere, aimed straight for Eclipse.
There was nothing Noxus or Spire could do, and Noxus doubted that he himself would do anything even if he had a chance to.
The red line of energy shot forward, and in that second were it contacted the back of Eclipse's head—
Nothing happened. It was as if the energy didn't even touch him.
Only then did Spire and Noxus take action, firing at where it seemed the energy came from. Despite that, it seemed that their attacker had moved- or was immaterial.
"Let me handle this," Eclipse said, "I know how the invisible type work."
He then aimed his weapon at varying locations, pausing occasionally to lift his head slightly. If Noxus didn't know any better, the Vhozon would say that Eclipse was smelling the air.
"What are you—" He began, but stopped as Eclipse did a 180-degree turn, aimed the Ecligun at a position above him, and fired.
The projectiles struck against something, and then it became visible:
A Kriken ship.
"Trace," Spire muttered, "What a surprise."
"What's more of a surprise is that your Ecligun didn't do that 'black hole' thing that it did with the boulder," Noxus said, "Tell me, does that only work on rocks?"
"No, but that cloaking shield the ship was using acted as a thin layer of defense. Too bad that the ship won't be protected twice."
Eclipse aimed his weapon at the ship, and fired again.
Trace was so shocked at the black-armored being's survival, he was barely able to avoid the Judicator and Magmaul blasts headed his way. And when the being turned around and fired his strange weapon, Trace had no time to pull his ship out of the way.
How? How did he—
The thought was cut short at the sight of the Ecligun projectiles headed his way. Trace knew what would happen if those struck his ship. He'd seen what happened before.
Too late to dodge, he jumped straight through the window of the Stealth Snipe. He barely made the clear before the projectiles struck, hit the ground, and could only watch as his trusted ship collapsed upon itself and became a black hole— one that was much larger than the one Noxus and Spire had seen.
"I'm not quite sure that was supposed to happen," Spire muttered.
At this, Noxus whirled round to face him. "What are you talking about?"
"Me? Nothing," Spire said, almost innocently, "Nothing at all."
Noxus started to say something, but then stopped as Trace stood up.
Here we go, the Vhozon thought, Trace is probably still ticked at Spire for punching him, so he'll take the offensive, we'll have to fight back, and— what's this?
Trace was indeed aiming his weapon at someone, but that someone was not Spire, nor was it Noxus.
It was Eclipse.
"So, you think you can just keep kicking me after you brought me down?!" Trace snarled, undisguised hatred in his voice, "Do you think I haven't forgotten?! DO YOU?!"
For a moment, Eclipse was taken aback. But he wasn't nearly as surprised as Noxus and Spire were. Trace hated Spire's guts more than any of the other Hunters, and the Kriken wasn't too fond of Noxus either.
So why was it that he was aiming his weapon at Eclipse, the complete stranger?
"I have a question."
Weavel turned to look at Kanden. It was the first time the Hunter had spoken since the two left the hangar. Weavel had to give the mutant credit for keeping silent all the way to the One-Pathed Cave, though he supposed that he couldn't stay silent forever.
"Is it important? Because if it isn't…" He chose not to finish the sentence, instead he pointed his weapon at Kanden.
"Yes, you could say it's important," Kanden began, "You remember when you asked Sylux how he ended up with his armor and weapon? And how he seemed to get all defensive and only mention something called a Falling?"
"Yes, I remember that," Weavel said carefully, knowing all too well what was about to be asked.
"What was that Falling?"
Weavel stopped walking. He hesitated at first, wondering if what he was about to say should be said.
"I… was never too clear on what happened. When it occurred… I happened to be training on one of our bases. I wasn't around to see it. Only to hear of it."
Kanden also stopped walking. There was something in Weavel's tone that he had never heard before. Something…
"From what I was able to gather, the Falling was… a period of time in the Galactic Federation which many… have chosen to forget. Because of… the events of it.
"The Commander of their army became corrupt… or rather, he became paranoid. He was convinced that every planet that had a small army was… a threat to him. To that end… he massed one of the largest… one of the largest assembled fleets in history and began… a campaign of destruction."
"And let me guess," Kanden cut Weavel off, "Cylosis was a planet on their target list."
"It's… very likely" Weavel said, "What is known, though, is that the Falling was one of the first known appearances of Samus the Hunter."
This, Kanden did not see coming.
"We feared that the Homeworld would… become one of the targets of their campaign of destruction. To defend ourselves, we massed our forces… we massed them all around our planet. By the time we were finished, though… it was over."
"How did it end?" Kanden asked, "Was there an assassination, did the Commander's ship malfunction? What happened?"
"That, I never found out," Weavel said, "And by the time I had reached a high enough rank to find out how the Falling ended… well, I bet you can guess who showed up."
Kanden didn't respond. It was all too obvious who Weavel was talking about.
"Okay, but that doesn't explain why Sylux ended up the way he is," Kanden said, "Surely there must be more."
"Of course there's more. We just haven't—"
"One last question," Kanden interrupted, "This defensive measure sounds far too out of character for the Pirates. Who's idea was it? Ridley, or Kraid's?"
"It was Kraid," Weavel said, irritated, "At the time, Ridley wasn't—" He then stopped himself, and turned around, as if looking at something only he could see.
"I've told you too much. Come on, Kanden. We have a clue to find."
With that, he hurried down the pathway. Kanden shrugged, wondering what Weavel had meant, and then followed his ally.
They were even closer now.
"It's because of you that I've ended up like this," Trace snarled, "I was one of the most promising Kriken the Empire had ever known, and then… you just had to show up and put an END to that, DIDN'T YOU?!"
Spire eyed Trace warily. He'd always known trace to be one of the more levelheaded, if arrogant, Hunters. He supposed that those qualities came from being a sniper.
But this…
It's strange. Trace claims that Eclipse has done something to him. But unless that was before Eclipse arrived on this planet, it couldn't be true. After all, Eclipse said that he has been here for too long of a time. That's why he looks the way he is.
While Spire had been thinking to himself, Trace had aimed his weapon straight at Eclipse's Visor.
"I know your armor's weak spot, you scum. I know that your visor can't take a point-blank blast from my weapon. You should also know, considering how I've shot you at that range before!"
That can't be right, Spire thought, otherwise he'd be dead, unless… no, that's impossible.
"So tell me, you dirt bag, which would you prefer? Me capturing you and hauling you back to one of our prisons for you to be put to death, or should I just kill you now?"
"You think you could kill me? Try it. Unless, of course, you're too scared to fail again!"
Trace let off a yell of pure rage, and at the same time he fired—
Only to discover that Eclipse was now behind him.
"What?!"
"Let me explain," Eclipse said, mockingly, "It took you approximately .07 seconds to activate your weapon. After you activated the weapon, it took precisely .04 seconds for the weapon to respond to your command. It then took another .5 seconds for the weapon to actually fire. Combined, it was more than enough time for me to pivot around you."
He gave a harsh laugh, and then struck Trace across the head with the side of his weapon.
"You still haven't learned a thing."
The Kriken was sent flying, and then found himself on the ground. When he came to his senses, he realized with a dawning horror that all three Hunters had their weapons pointed at him.
"Trace," Eclipse said, in a voice that was part mocking laughter, and apart contempt, "you're finished."
A/N: What's with the sudden cliffhanger overuse? Even I don't know the answer.
As we begin to understand part of the mystery that is Sylux's past, we also begin to unravel what caused the system's sun to become what it is now.
What exactly was the weapon? What could Eclipse have done to Trace that ruined him completely? And how do the Gems fit into all this?
These answers may very well be revealed in the next chapter.