Disclaimer: Read chapter one, it's there. There really is no need to repeat the obvious is there?
*BIG SHINY NOISE
Well, I thought chapter one went well, even though it is all narrative. This chapter will actually have dialogue so don't worry.
*small dull beep
Paths of Life
Chapter Two: When Worlds Collide
The images of the destruction of Zebes replayed on the computer screen mounted in the middle of the polished wooden desk. The images repeated several times before the man behind the desk reached out and tapped the screens off button. After being deactivated the screen tipped backward until it was lying flat, then recessed down into the surface of the desk where a sliding cover then covered it. The man behind the desk sat for a moment in silence, considering what he had seen. His concentration was broken by a voice coming from his small communicator.
"Commander, sorry to disturb you, but the results of the sensor sweep you requested just came in."
The Commander nodded silently. "Very well Lieutenant, I will meet you in astrometrics in five minutes."
"Yes Sir." The communicator went silent.
"Well." The Commander sighed. "You managed to cover your tracks again, Zero." He turned to the large window and looked at the stars. "You can't hide from me forever, 'old friend'."
With that, the blue armored Commander walked from his ready room and headed for astrometrics. He hoped the sensor data contained what he was looking for.
The Commander was walking down a corridor when a voice called to him.
"Commander! Commander X!"
X stopped and turned his head to see a forest green armored reploid coming towards him. X recognized him as Colonel Bastion, the man in charge of the ships' ground troops.
"What is it Colonel?"
"Sir" the Colonel said. "Since we won't be going to Zebes, shall I tell my men to stand down?"
X thought about it for a moment. "Yes, have them stand down. Then meet me in astrometrics. If this new sensor data contains what I think it does, I'll need your opinion."
"Sir!" The colonel saluted, then jogged to the launching bay.
X continued on to the Astrometrics lab, and the information he hoped was there.
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Samus was feeling much better. Her ship was intact and most of its systems still worked. She had set the autopilot, and was currently heading out past the Zebus' former sun's gravitational field at cruising speed until the ship could enter hyperspace.
At the moment she was enjoying the calm and was sitting in her quarters running a brush through her slightly damp russet brown hair. Her eyes were closed and a relaxed smile graced her faintly tanned face as she ran the brush through her hair while listening to the soft hum generated by her ships' engines. She sat wearing the clothes she normally wore when she was preparing for sleep, a pair of gray, slightly loose-fitting shorts and a sports bra of the same color.
Many would be surprised at seeing this side of Samus. Her reputation was one of a person who cared only for combat. One who lived and breathed violence of one kind or another. A ruthless little bitch that probably delighted in drinking the blood of her fallen enemies. That was so far from the truth that it was laughable. Yes, Samus enjoyed hunting and destroying/capturing a contract; after all, she was a bounty hunter. But she enjoyed the quiet side of her life even more. It was moments like these that lived for. Quiet moments when she could relax and enjoy the fact that she had yet again survived impossible odds.
She set the brush back in a drawer and walked out of the bathroom, heading towards her bed.
"Computer. Lights off."
Her small room was cloaked in darkness. Practically falling into bed, Samus curled up in her blankets and lay silent. As with most people, she did not instantly fall asleep. Instead she let her thoughts wander, eventually coming to a line of thought that she often came to when she had time to relax and think. What would she do with her future? Admittedly, she liked bounty hunting, the thrill, the rush of adrenaline, and the sense of accomplishment. But how long could her winning streak last? How long would it be until she wound up dead, like so many other hunters? All it took was one slip, one oversight, one miscalculation, and it was all over. Her last encounter with Mother Brain had brought those facts front and center in her mind. She had nearly bought it in that last fight. And come even closer in the escape. She really didn't want to die that way. Alone on some backwater world, lying forgotten until somebody stumbled upon her earthly remains. Hell, she didn't want to die, period.
So what could she do? Her job wasn't done yet. She still had her own personal little jihad against the pirates to complete. But what about after that? Continue as a hunter? There was that whole dying forgotten thing, which was regarded as the destiny of any hunter-everyone had a fuckup at least once in their career, and it only took one. Re-enlist in the Terran Federation Marine Corps (TFMC)? That had possibilities, but it wasn't much different from bounty hunting. Mercenary? Same thing. Space pirate? Not a chance in hell. She'd kill herself first. Smuggler? Not her type of business. Bodyguard? Nope, again, not her type of business. Raise a family? That was by far the most terrifying option she had thought of yet. Her as a mother? She had no idea how to raise kids. And who the hell would want to marry an ex-bounty hunter who would probably spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder?
She had thought of this before. She knew what she was missing, and sometimes it got to her. There were times she would have liked to have a good man at her side and a little voice to call her mommy, but she figured she had more important things to do at the moment. Like wiping out the pirate guilds. Besides, she liked single life.
[Maternal instinct I guess.] She thought.
But right now all she wanted was to sleep. She'd consider her life afterward. She rolled over and closed her eyes.
If Samus had any idea of what was coming however, she would have considered her options far more closely.
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"Well done lieutenant." X was surprised. The ships' Intel crew had managed to pick up three separate engine trails. Despite all the background radiation and debris leftover from the destruction of Zebes. One trail was obviously Chozo in origin; probably from a small escape ship. It would not be followed.
The Concordant had had several run-ins with the enigmatic race known as the Chozo. All but one had been peaceful. And that one hostile encounter had taught the Reploid Concordant Navy (RCN) that the Chozo was a race not to be screwed with. Their technology was so far ahead of concordant tech that it made the RCN look primitive in comparison. And the single Chozo ship that a loose-cannon navy captain opened fire on had wiped out a full destroyer squadron of twelve ships before jumping into hyperspace. The concordant and the Chozo were on peaceful terms now -thank god- but they had made it very clear that they would remain not get involved in the Concordant's war against Zero.
The second emission trails' configuration pegged it as one left by a Maverick ship. X had already called for it to be followed by a RCN dreadnought, the Hephestus. His ship, the Stormrunner, was only a heavy cruiser. Not suited for going alone into possibly hostile territory.
The third trail was obviously a Terran. And it was also a very fresh one. When the sensor crew followed the trail and managed to obtain a visual of the ship heading out of system. The ship was moving at a decent clip, cruising at about one quarter light speed. A small, yellow vessel, it was probably a patrol craft of some sort.
"We're in range to perform a deep scan of the ship sir." Said the lieutenant in charge of the sensors. "Do you want us to see who exactly this is?"
X nodded his head. "Go ahead."
The lieutenant tapped a few keys on his control board, scanning the small ship for any useful information or anomalies. Scanning was as far as X was willing to go. Reploids had gone five centuries making sure not to be noticed by any Terran ship. X wasn't about to break that run of good luck just because he was curious.
"Seems to be a modified Terran Federation Navy assault ship." The lieutenant reported. "Four high-output engines, two separate shield generators, heavy weapon load too, and quite a bit of armor along with it. This thing is definitely not normal military."
"How are you able to know that?" X asked.
"A ship like this would be too expensive to build and maintain in large numbers. I'd bet a years pay that it's a fringe ship."
X raised one eyebrow. 'Fringe' normally meant something that operated outside the boundaries of legal activity. "Smuggler then? Or a Merc ship?"
"I doubt it." The lieutenant replied "It's too small to carry much cargo, so that rules out smuggling. It could be a merc ship, but mercenaries rarely work in small groups, and that ship could only carry two or three people, max. Especially with all those modifications."
"So, what do you think it is?"
"My guess would be a bounty hunter sir. They normally work alone, and they seed a fast ship with good armor and heavy firepower in case a contract goes bad."
"Good job, lieutenant, anything else?"
"Not that I can see right now sir, whoever this is has scan-shielding, so it's messing up my readings…. Wait a sec, what the hell?"
X's attention was piqued at that remark. "What, what is it?"
"HOLY SH-! Sir, whoever is in there is in a whole new world of trouble, that ship is practically filled with the X-virus!"
[So much for not getting involved with a Terran ship.] The thought flash through X's mind as he started giving orders, he activated his communicator. "X to bridge, red alert, and move to intercept that ship!"
The reply was quick. "Yes sir, moving to intercept."
Klaxon sirens wailed throughout the Stormrunner as the crew dropped whatever they were doing and scrambled to their stations. Weapons activated, more security troops took up guard positions, sensitive information was locked down and Stormrunner was ready for battle.
"Commander!" The sensor officer shouted as X ran for the door.
X spun on his foot to the lieutenant. "Yes?"
"My sensors are detecting a single form onboard the ship, human in origin."
X gritted his teeth. "Damn, things just got more interesting." He activated his comm. Again. "Bridge, prepare a shuttle, and have Colonel Bastion meet me in launching bay two."
"Yes sir."
X cursed silently again, this intelligence gathering mission had just become a whole hell of a lot more difficult.