AUTHOR'S NOTE

To anyone who has already read the story so far, this may come as a surprise. But I've decided to rewrite the story. It's going to be relatively the same, just better, I hope. That being said, welcome to the first remastered chapter of Total Corruption. Every subsequent chapter following this that hasn't been updated yet won't break the storyline, since everything lines up still.

LEGEND BELOW

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

''What in the world?'' = Normal thoughts and or communication system.

Off in the distant corner of an unknown galaxy, a battle was being waged. Two separate armies fought against each other for supremacy, massive battle cruisers dominating the space around a singular planet. Two sides fighting to the death, knowing only one would prevail in the end.

The attackers, the Space Pirates as they were dubbed, strived for total galactic domination. This army of mixed alien races and slaves had been the dominant source of terrorism in the galaxy for over the last several decades. But now, here above their corrupted leader's homeworld, the final battle was being waged.

The defenders were the Galactic Federation, a group made up of the willing combinations of multiple different societies of alien races that came together to form a pact of sorts. Where the Space Pirates killed and conquered, the Galactic Federation's goal was to keep the peace.

The Federation had managed to keep the Space Pirates under control for the better half of the last decade, but as a side affect of recent events, the Pirates grew too powerful to be contained. When the Pirates gained control of a new power, their fight against the Federation took a turn for the worst. The Federation was unable to stop the Pirates on their own, and had to resort to a different tactic to win.

The Space Pirates ruler, Dark Samus, controlled all under her with an iron fist, destroying any who would oppose her way. With her poisonous powers, she altered the very minds of her servants, turning the Pirates into a cult that serviced her every need. She was a queen among men, and she used her rule to spread a virulent poison across the cosmos, taking over the very planets and turning them into a birthing ground for even more of her mutagenic poison, Phazon.

With a threat of that level, the Federation had resorted to high level assassination attempts on the Pirate's leader in the hopes that the army would fall alongside her. What the Federation hadn't foreseen was the corruption of their own. Dark Samus had taken their own high ranking troops and turned them into her own willing servants.

Because of this nigh unstoppable threat, the Federation turned to their last resort. Forced back into a wall, the Federation resorted to hiring a Bounty Hunter to do the job. This lone Hunter was tasked with accomplishing what no one else was physically capable of, the death of the Pirates leader, Dark Samus.

To anyone else, this would seem suicidal. But this wasn't just some bounty hunter. No. The Federation were forced to turn to the very best. The Legendary Bounty Hunter, Samus Aran. Samus was born human, and raised by the mythical alien race, the Chozo. Under the Chozo's watchful gaze, they turned her into the most dangerous weapon in history. Infused with their very dna, and trained under the harshest of conditions, Samus was turned into the most dangerous bio weapon ever seen. And then, before the Chozo vanished from the face of the galaxy, they offered her the Power-Suit.

The Power-Suit was the most advanced suit of power armor to exist, capable of integrating nearly any form of technology into its own, growing in power as it did. It offered insane boosts to physical and mental strength, and to even use the suit one would have to be trained from birth on in mental control. It was a one of a kind, and no other suit is known to exist. As Samus grew up, the Suit grew in power alongside her. Samus became a bounty hunter at the age of eighteen and would go to prove to the galaxy that she was not one to be trifled with. Every mission she ever accepted she accomplished without fail, building up a reputation as a Legend.

And so, when the Federation knew that victory wasn't certain without help, they turned to her. Samus was sent deep into enemy lines with the goal of uncovering all the Pirates secrets and determining the source of their power. That's when she found her, the evil Dark Samus. A twisted mockery of nature itself, Dark Samus was a clone of her, with a cloned Power-Suit as well. The information behind how and why that was possible was unclear, but at the time it was unimportant. Samus would show this dark clone of herself that she was better, and brought Dark Samus to the brink of death in the pursuing battle.

Dark Samus knew that she could never beat Samus in raw power and skill alone, and so she resorted to using the same power that brought her into a position of power in the first place. She used her powers to corrupt Samus, infecting her with her strongest Phazon seed possible. That would ensure that Samus too would fall under her control. As the Phazon grew inside of Samus's body, it changed her and her suit, mutated her just like Dark Samus knew it would. But unlike the others, Samus's mind remained under her control, even when her own body was forcibly changed. Now, powered up by the very Phazon her evil clone had planted inside of her, Samus would end up chasing her clone back to its Phazon infested home-world via a large tear in space, bringing with her the entirety of the Galactic Federation's armada.

While the Federation took on the Space Pirates above her home-world, Samus followed after Dark Samus to the planet's surface. The battle the pursued would ultimately result in the death of Dark Samus and most of the Pirates army. But in her death, Dark Samus succeeded in completely corrupting the Federation's best warrior. With the queen of the Phazon dead, the rest of the poisonous mutagen began to die off. With nothing commanding it's every whim, it had no reason to exist further.

This reaction should have cured our Bounty Hunter, but she was too far gone to be cured. There wasn't simply Samus and the infection inside her. She was too slow in destroying her clone, and because of that, she had been completely turned. The only original part of her being left now was her mind, which even then had not gone fully unscathed by her gruesome transformation. Because the Power-Suit in its nature was partially biological, it too was corrupted by the Phazon.

However, Samus had no time to asses how this had truly affected her, because the moment Dark Samus drew her last breath, the very planet itself had reached its end. The planet had begun to fall in on itself, the very energy that charged it had begun to cascade. She knew that she were to stay, her life would be forfeit.

But the battle had done its fare share in harming her, and now it would be a struggle to even return to her ship alive. But that didn't stop her. She wasn't planning on dying here, and she moved. She ran, as fast as her super powered legs could carry her. As the planet collapsed around her, the remains of the ambient Phazon energy that wasn't given a command had sensed her presence, and began to flood her body. Unable to even attempt to stop it, her body began naturally drawing in all the Phazon energy around it, including the remains of her dark clone.

Her eyes grew heavy as the very center of her being, hidden away deep in her core, absorbed all the energy. She tried to block it out, but her body greedily sucked it all in. With every step she took, the poisoned life energy was pulled from the surroundings and deep into her body. Her new form was unable to curb its sudden and deep hunger, and her concentration began to wane as she moved further.

She could see her ship close by, hidden behind all the cliffs and massive blue Phazon tentacles that covered the dying planet. Her core burned inside her, filled to the brim with massive amounts of raw unrefined energy, pooling up, until it reached its very max. And then it began filling even more. Her helmet's HUD flashed multiple warnings, but she ignored them.

She needed to get off this planet, regroup with the Federation fleet, otherwise it was going to kill her. The Power-Suit attempted to absorb some for her, but it quickly reached its power reserves maximum too. Blue light began emanating from her blue glowing body, shining so bright that the suit had to expand to let it out. The Phazon enhancement device built into her breastplate short circuited as the Phazon reached an unmeasurable level.

Tentacles of raw uncontrollable Phazon began to grow off of her suit, waving around untamed. The energy was so much that her body couldn't contain it all, and every empty space inside of her was used to store more liquid Phazon, and even then it wasn't enough. Perhaps this was how her dark clone envisioned her dying, filled to the bursting point with her own essence.

She could see it now, her ship, so close. Her legs shook underneath her, her movements becoming heavy. Faintly she heard the Admiral desperately call her name over her communication system, but her mind couldn't focus on anything but escape. Behind her mountains collapsed and caved in, the terrain splitting apart. Her armored fingers grasped at her dark red breastplate, suddenly unable to breath. She fell to a knee as she reached her ship, her armored form slamming heavily into the ground. Her body felt bloated, as it was forced to contain four times its absolute limit. Her ship scanned her and automatically pulled her in. She opened her mouth to breath, but the only thing that happened was liquid Phazon pouring out from her blue lips, filling her helmet.

Her arm cannon fell limply at her side, as she found no strength to lift it. Her vision filled with a viscous blue liquid, she used the last of her strength to pull herself to the command console, her vision faded completely, but not before she entered a destination and set the ship to auto-pilot.

In the space above her, the Admiral had called a full retreat, and all ships were ordered to return through the tear in space before it collapsed and left them all stranded. He had tried to call out to Samus, but got no response from her, nor anything from her vital signs. He knew that if he waited, he and his fleet would likely be destroyed by the super energized planet that was going critical beneath them all.

All Federation ships immediately retreated through the tear in space, leaving their enemies to their fate at the hands of their dying planet.

Down on the surface of the planet the silhouette of Samus's orange gun-ship was seen as it fled the planet as fast as it could, flying full speed towards the tear. But she wouldn't make it. Her fiery red glowing eyes rolled up into the back of her head as she fell to the floor of her ship undignified, unconscious from the explosive pressure placed on her body. The interior of her suit began to fill with the excess liquid Phazon that poured from her mouth, corrupting it more. Blue was seen seeping from parts of the suit, her helmet's respirators filled with the liquid.

As the planet exploded beneath her, the tear in space began to collapse. But just before it did, her ship sped right through it. But as the Federation ships appeared on the other side, safe back in their own controlled space, Samus did not. The tear closed, before she ever made it through, closing on her while she was still inside. When the ship slowed to a stop, where it was left was neither where she started or where the others had went. She had been left behind, in the space between the tear.

With no other command issued to it, the ship held its position, silently waiting for another command. But that command wasn't coming anytime soon...

In the distant corner of the Milky Way Galaxy, a lone human mother ship was seen drifting by. The ship was massive, bigger then any human space faring vessel before it. Clocking in at an estimated five thousand six hundred ninety four meters in length, it was an absolute behemoth of a star ship. Across the beautifully decorated silver hull of the ship were hundreds of automated defense cannons, only made even more powerful by the four massive mother ship decimating cannons on the front of this vessel.

Painted in massive bold letters across the sides of the hull was the name, Infinity. The Infinity, as it was so aptly name, was the culmination of the very best of humanities inventors, and as well as stollen technology from an ancient unknown alien race who's power and ability far outmatched even their own. She was easily able to hold well over seventeen thousand people, and still have spare room available. Her crew, made up of many different ranks of people and soldiers alike, would be the driving force in keeping this beautiful ship alive.

Currently, she was tasked with the goal of exploration. To explore the stars and uncover its secrets. At least she was on paper, but no one in the know would tell you otherwise. She'd only just entered commission a few months ago, and relatively speaking, was still testing the waters with her crew and the ship overall.

Most days the soldiers would spend time training in combat drills, while the better troops, the Spartan super soldiers, would be gifted with the hyper advanced real-time training stimulation, the War Games. Where the lower soldiers were simple men and women, these Spartans were the very best the human race could produce. Covered from head to toe in an armor made out of titanium, these super soldiers dominated the battlefield. It was the War Games simulation where they honed their skills safely.

Most of the time the simulation was overseen by another Spartan themselves. Of course, that Spartan was almost always the Spartan's commander, Spartan Commander Palmer. Standing at six feet and nine inches, Palmer was not a woman to be trifled with. She had earned her armor, Scout class Mjolnir armor, the white and red painted titanium shining under the heavy lights that illuminated the training deck of the Infinity. Her expressions were often hidden behind the sharp blue visor of her helmet, her armored hands clasped behind her back as she stood watching over the training.

Her expression soured as she examined the overall statistics of her Spartans, all three hundred of them. They were well above any normal soldier, in effectiveness, efficiency, and lethality. But they weren't up to her standards. They needed something to test them further, and being that she was the commanding officer here, she was going to alter the settings to make her point known. Perhaps the simulation was going too easy for them. She'd like to even the odds, and decided to throw in another enemy battalion to mix it up. That'd show them not to let their guard down on the front lines.

She grinned behind her helmet, already seeing signs of her Spartan's getting caught off guard. They'd need to step it up to beat the sim now.

"Commander!" Palmer frowned when the sound of someone calling out to her reached her ears. Fun time was over it seemed. Following the voice was a Spartan, suited up in white Scout class armor similar to hers, lacking the higher detail however. She looked down to the Spartan, the other woman only reaching six foot six inches. The Spartan saluted her, before continuing.

"At ease Spartan." Palmer stated, giving the shorter women her full attention. "What do need Serra?" Palmer asked, addressing the woman by her first name, showing just how much she thought of her.

"I've got the most recent report in from scout team bravo here for you." The Spartan named Serra offered, handing a PDA over to her. Palmer took it, quickly reading it over. Her eyes narrowed when something caught her attention.

"A ship? They found a ship out there?" She asked, handing the PDA back. Serra nodded in confirmation. Palmer's brows furrowed in thought. Without another word she started walking, heading towards the main elevator, Serra following faithfully behind her. "Have they made out any ID.?" She asked, although she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"No ma'am. I sent the report to Captain Lasky for further review, but he recommended that you inspect it personally." Serra stated, clasping her hands behind her back. Palmer frowned. If Serra forwarded the report to the Captain for personal review, she must have been been worried. "But.. That's not the issue.."

"Explain." Palmer stated seriously.

"Biometrics detected extremely large amounts of radioactive energy alongside life signs too strong to even come from one creature." Serra explained, her head tilted down. "The Captain recommended the use of hanger bay 5 to bring it in. All personal have already been evacuated from the hanger." Palmer furrowed her brows in thought, but didn't speak further. The two Spartans reached the Infinity's main elevator, quickly setting off for the hanger bays.

A few minutes passed in silence as both Spartans patiently rode the elevator to the observation deck. Palmer's gaze drifted to the super reinforced glass window that exposed the outside of the Infinity. Her eyes locked onto what she assumed was the unknown gunship floating a small distance away. It was hard to make out any distinct markings from this distance, however she could clearly see that it was merely drifting through space uncontrolled. The reason behind its lack of movement was unclear to her at the moment, but she'd soon find out.

Her thoughts were cut short when the elevator jerked to a halt, the doors opening to the observation deck placed directly above the hanger bays. The deck was alight with life as many lower class workers ran back and forth, carrying various information to others working on site. A random Marine ran up to her with a salute.

"Commander Palmer!" The Marine exclaimed, offering a salute.

"What's going on here?" Palmer asked, her arms crossed over her titanium breastplate.

"We were waiting for your command before we did anything with the gunship ma'am. We've been running scans on it from here in the meantime." The Marine explained, getting a nod from Palmer.

"I see. Well then, what are we waiting for?" She asked. "Bring it in." With her command sent, the Marine ran off to inform the others of their new orders. The deck buzzed to life as the people prepared to intercept the gunship. Force fields popped to life to shield anyone from being sucked out into the cold death of space as the cargo bay port opened. The observation deck sent out a tractor beam that easily grabbed ahold of the smaller ship before dragging it inside. Many of the workers on site warily watched the ship for any sign of hostile intent, even though they knew that anything like that was highly unlikely to happen.

As the ship entered into the Infinity, the tractor beam shut off, and it fell to the floor with a thud. Palmer sent a glare to the man working the tractor beam system for not being more careful. The large cargo bay doors closed after the ship had been brought in, and the force fields dropped as well. Silently they waited for a minute to see if anything would happen, but it didn't.

"Commander, I advise that any unshielded operators avoid physical contact..." The scientist foreseeing the operation stated, giving the two Spartans a look. "Radiation readings are fluctuating... I can't give you a clear answer..." Palmer gave the man a nod of appreciation, before vaulting over the protective railing to the landing bay below. The other marines were quick to follow, although stairs were in fact used this time around.

The ship they dragged in was just as alien looking as it was human. The design wasn't of any kind Palmer had personally witnessed before, nor did it match any secret program that she wasn't supposed to know of either. The ship was designed in a way that made the main body look as if it were shaped like that of a bird's beak, with the two side parts framing the head. A long green window framed what she suspected was the cockpit, shaped into a bent V. On the underside of the ship was a mount that looked as if it could be used to hold it aloft if it so required. Decorating the strange space craft's hull were never before seen alien symbols.

The Spartan was armed with only a security Magnum, forgoing any heavy weaponry due to the fact that she was on her own turf. She approached the gunship, only to stop as it began to move on its own. Where previously it was sitting on the ground unceremoniously, it's rear thrusters kicked on and lifted it off the floor. Palmer took a step back, but stood her ground. The marines looked spooked, but a wave of her arm made them stand down.

The ship shook for but a moment before it landed properly, this time supported by an extended platform that appeared from the bottom of it. The two side heavy exterior armored guns bent in half, forming two more supports. The ship sat ten feet off the ground now, held aloft by the three oddly designed supports. Something Palmer noted was that the middle support seemed to double as a single person lift into the ship, most likely used by the pilot.

Palmer stood there motionless for a moment, wondering if the pilot would ever disembark. But after a few minutes of silence, she had a feeling that they weren't going to. She'd double checked the radar on her HUD, but it detected absolutely no movement whatsoever. She was about to step forward when the hissing of a pressure valve released from the ship. What she had previously presumed to be a lift system integrated into the hull was proved true when it began to lower, with something standing atop it. The second the being came into view, her radiation sensors in her suit went into a frenzy. Palmer took a few prepared steps back, distancing herself.

Her eyes widened in shock when a humanoid figure appeared supported by the lift system. It stood at a tall straight seven feet, easily taller then herself. The being was fully armored from head to toe in heavy duty looking dark blue and red colored power armor. Sleek but powerful looking legs connected to thick armored thighs that extended up to a thin dark silver plated waist. Above that was a bulky blood red colored breastplate that was topped by a broken looking control interface. Adorning both shoulders were large multi piece pauldrons that pulsed regularly as energy shield generators. Heavy looking and large, the bicep armor perfectly complimented the rest of the suit. The left arm looked rather bland in comparison to the suit, however the right arm was completely covered by a large heavy duty cannon. The helmet of the suit was a dark red as well, further accented by a powerful blue glowing angular visor.

However, most of that was currently irrelevant. What immediately grabbed just about every living soul's absolute attention, were the large and thick blue tentacles that seemed to have grown off the surface of the suit itself, flinging about randomly and uncontrolled. Palmer's eyes were drawn up to the figure's face, partially obscured by the glowing visor. She could see it, red glowing eyes burning behind the visor, fear and horror expressed openly. The figure reached out their arm, the one not covered by a weapon, reaching for the Spartan. Palmer found herself unable to move, locked in place by those terrified red orbs. Faintly she heard someone from behind her screaming for the entity to stop, but she wasn't paying attention to that.

Then the figure stopped, only a foot away from the armored super soldier. The blue tentacles lapped helplessly at her shining white armor, but doing nothing more. She felt an armored hand faintly touch her own breastplate, before they fell over, armored knees slamming into the metal floor below her, armored body slumping over almost lifelessly.

Pulling herself from her dazed state, Palmer quickly called for help. "I need a medic over here!" She quickly took a knee next to the downed figure, flipping its armored body onto their back. She was careful to avoid the blue tentacles that lapped at her harmlessly, still unsure as to their purpose. Her eyes watched the heavy looking cannon on the figure's right arm warily, easily identifying the weapon as something dangerous. Moments later a hazard containment medical team came rushing up to the Spartan, a levitating medical bed beside them. The team was outfitted in radioactive protection gear, the bulky looking suits very reminiscent of twentieth century radiation suits.

"Quickly now." The head medical officer said. The team was weary of the tentacles that lightly poked their rad-suits, but still managed to get the survivor onto the gurney.

"Activate the magnetic restraints. Don't ever rule out hostile intent." Palmer ordered, and the team was quick to follow her orders. The unknown quickly restrained to the gurney, taking extra care to increase the strength of the restraints by their weapon arm. With that set, they quickly begun the transfer to the nearest emergency operation center. The Infinity had a couple of them placed near the docking bays for a situation just like this.

With that the medical team quickly made their way out of the observation deck, heading to the medical ward two decks over. Commander Palmer and Private Serra stood there, watching the team leave the scene. Serra looked on in confusion, while Palmer stared intensely at the quickly disappearing medical team.

"Commander?" Serra asked, voicing her confusion to Palmer. Palmer didn't need anymore from Serra to know the question she was asking, and she didn't know how to answer it. The woman hated being left in the dark.

"I don't know..." Palmer replied, before making her way to the command deck. She needed to see Captain Lasky about this. Just before she left the observation deck however, she turned back to the crew, throwing out one more order. "Alright everyone! Clear the area. That gunship is not to be moved without my express permission." With that said, the woman made for the exit, intent on speaking with the captain immediately...

A thick blue glow accentuated the entirety of the command deck, large computer terminals and holographic displays lighting up the massive open room. Roughly twenty different people filled the room, all completely absorbed in separate tasks that combined would assist in keeping a ship of the Infinity's size functioning properly. The chatter going between the crew became a haze to anyone just entering the area.

In the middle of the room was a large horizontal computer display, the system serving as a wide scale holographic three dimensional map and ops control station. The device also doubled as a link for the Infinity's A.I to easily interface with every system ship wide. Standing next to the terminal was a man decorated in a level of ceremonial garb that made him easily identifiable as the Captain. His face was set into a frown, staring down at the holo-table intently. The brown haired man had been busying himself by personally reviewing a various number of reports, from the general maintenance of the ship to the training of the Spartans.

The Infinity was currently occupying the space above a previously uncharted planet. Lasky had been tasked with hunting down ancient alien artifacts of extreme significance, and the Infinity was to act as the mobile headquarters for the duration of the mission. Between sending search parties and research teams to the planets, the crew would spend quite a lot of time training in the simulation deck. It was only recently that the galactic war between the UNSC and the genocidell alien group known as the Covenant had come to a close. The UNSC had come out as the victor, but only just barely.

Humanity well knew that if another war was to sprout up right then, the chances of surviving it were slim. They needed to use this time to further advance their own forces, and potentially track down weapons that might lead to their survival. They knew that the Covenant wasn't the end of it. They knew that something else even more dangerous lurked out there, waiting. Honestly, the very thought sometimes kept Lasky up at night.

He had a busy day ahead of him, and it was about to become busier. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Commander Palmer approaching him.

"Lasky. Are you busy?" Palmer asked as she walked up to the man. Lasky put down the video tablet he was using, and turned to the Spartan.

"Not anymore." The captain responded with a thoughtful frown. Palmer grinned at the man's attitude before her frown returned, not he could see under the helmet she wore.

"Lasky, we have a problem." Palmer informed, her arms crossed. Lasky turned all his attention to her when she said that.

"Care to explain?" He asked, walking after her when she started to leave.

"My scouts picked up a wrecked gunship drifting just outside Infinity around an hour ago." Palmer started. "We brought the wreckage into the cargo bay. The thing was in pieces, and clearly not Human, Covenant, or Forerunner made either." Her explanation clearly confused Lasky if the look he gave her was anything to go by.

"Then what was it? I was informed of the existence of the ship earlier, but nothing more." Lasky stated.

"That's the thing. I've never seen anything like it before... But that's not important right now. What's more important is the one lone survivor we found among the wreckage." She continued, getting a thoughtful look from the captain.

"Alien or Human?" Lasky asked.

"Good question, I just wish I could answer it. My first thought's are human, but we won't know until we can see the whole body." Palmer explained. The way she said that, made Lasky feel like he wasn't getting the whole story.

"'Until you can see the whole body'? What do you mean by that?" Lasky asked, repeating her own words. Palmer seemed to struggle with something internally.

"Well that right there is the problem. The survivor is completely covered from head to toe in a heavily armored suit. The only part I could make out was part of the face through the darkened visor." Palmer explained, stopping to call the elevator to their location.

"Interesting..." Lasky brought a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought. The both of them rode the elevator in silence, Lasky dwelling on this new information he was given. Palmer's eyes drifted to the reinforced window to her right, her gaze flowing over the planet that Infinity currently resided over.

Palmer was a little concerned at the moment. She had expected to receive a call from someone in the medical ward by now. She told the head medical officer to call her when they managed to get the suit off, or at least the helmet. She didn't think it would be that hard... Even then, she had yet to get any new information from the medical deck...

The Spartan narrowed her eyes, shoving the worry off to the back of her mind. It was probably nothing to worry about...

Chapter

1

End