My name's Sol. That's it. No other first name; and no last name. At least, that what I tell people when they meet me. If anyone asks any further, I tell 'em to piss off. My story's not for sharing, and I'd appreciate it if people stopped asking. Eventually, they all do. However, there's one person I'd tell my story to. I'm going to leave this here in case something happens to me, like getting kidnapped or dying. I doubt it will, given the peaceful life I now have, but you can never be too sure. I've left instructions with people I trust to show this to the one person I want to view it. That being said, this is my story.
I own a place called Sol's Sundries down on the lower part of a planet called Barbaad V. Whether it's parts for anti-grav generators or shielding units, I've got it. It's not a luxurious place, but I get a lot of customers via the bounty hunters who come here. It wasn't always this way, though. I grew up in a pretty horrible way.
My mom was pregnant with me, but it turned out that her body couldn't take it. She was given a procedure to remove what would eventually become me, and that growing body was placed in a "maturation pod". It wasn't that she didn't want me or anything. Her body just couldn't handle the strain. So she kept an eye on me as much as she could. Or, at least that's what I figured. You see, I never got to know her. Our home was attacked shortly after…
Incident Report Number: 452-54B-1
Planet Name: Sealed Upon Request, Contact General Sepulveda for further information
Settlement Population Before Incident: 355,231
Settlement Population After Incident: 0 (see addendum)
See addendum 452-54B-2 for further details
Cause of Incident: Non-native attack (Assumed Space Pirate Attack)
Notes From Reporting Officer:
Jesus Christ. Not a single survivor; not even kids! What kind of monstrous S.O.B. even DOES shit like this? No evidence, aside from the numerous blaster fire burns on structures around the settlement. Any and all civilians seem to have been killed. I'm getting a message from one of the men under my command; it looks like they found something. More will be added later.
Additional Details: Sealed Upon Request
End Report
Before the federation even got there, salvagers could smell the fresh scrap on the planet. Mind you, I use the word "salvagers" lightly. These guys might have been just as bad as the pirates, if not for the fact that they did things for money, not power. That and they had a very loose moral code of "try not to kill". Didn't stop some of the members though. Their boss found the pod I was in; apparently I got lucky. My mother heard the attack coming, and tried her best to hide my pod. By that point, I was eight months in. She stored some extra nutrient packs in the pod in order to assure that I would be able to survive, as well as jerry-rigged a waste management system. It was only supposed to last for two months. I was there for three.
The salvager gang that found me had a leader named Ember, and usually she was a queen bitch. However, I guess luck was on my side again, because she decided to take me in. By the age of three, I was learning reading, writing, and marksmanship (yeah, they were not keen on coddling or protecting me at all). By five, I was running small jobs with them. Everything was far from alright, but soon changed when I turned ten. A botched job taking over what looked like an easy mark of a ship turned out to be a honeypot set up by the Federation. Ember didn't even bother to try and "save" me. "Sorry kid, but I can't risk it!" That was the last I saw of my adoptive "mother".
The Federation granted me leniency seeing as I was a minor, but on condition. I was given public education, and resources to live. Honestly, I couldn't be happier. The food was leagues better than what I got as a salvager. The only thing they wanted in return was for me to enlist when I turned eighteen. I didn't even blink twice. I was second best in class in all of my grades, and that followed into my military life. I had been on no less than five assignments when they gave me my own team. It consisted of Mike "Steelknuckle" Ross, Anya "Iceshot" Kessler, Tomas "Brightbrain" Reyes, and Emily "Softy" Ayasegawa. We were a team like no other, always on top of things, and always having each other's back. Especially Emily. We started out rough, at first. Eventually, though, she found her way into my heart, and me in hers. Things seemed perfect, and we had planned to settle down once our enlistment period ended when I turned 23. If you've watched any action movies though, you know this is the part where an "unfortunately" happens in the story.
That Unfortunately came in with what would be our last mission. We had reports that a terrorist cell had set up shop on a distant planet. It was supposed to be a simple mission: get in, kill the bad guys, get out. The intel briefing left out that these "terrorists" had hijacked a top-secret weapons cache with experimental exo-armor and other weapons. We got pinned down almost as soon as we hit planetside; lost Ice on the crash down. We were able to make a push to their front door, but we quickly got surrounded. Steel made the sacrifice to keep the mission going. Brain was the next to go, but not before giving us a damn good plan. He was probably the only reason I'm alive. We found the main cache, and blew what wasn't being used against us to smithereens. Finally, we met the big bad.
Turns out the "terrorists" were former Federation that deserted when their unit was wiped out. They were going to hit a large mixed civilian/military outpost as both revenge and a way to bring attention to their group. I sympathized but wouldn't have it. Neither would Emi…
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTANT SHIT! WE LOST EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! AND THOSE FUCKS AT COMMAND JUST SAT BY AND SAID "GOOD JOB, NOW GET LOST"! NO, THESE FUCKERS ARE GONNA PAY!"
That was the rant of former Captain Mary Goode. A long time ago, she was seen as the best of the best.
"That isn't going to bring back your squad, Goode! Think of the civilians-"
"THEY'RE JUST AS LIABLE! THEY ALL IGNORE THE BULLSHIT SO LONG AS THEY HAVE THE LATEST GADGET OR THE HOTTEST CAR! THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT US! THEY LEAVE US TO ROT ONCE WE GET HOME! GOD FORBID-"
It was at this point that Emi was able to get a shot off while she was distracted. We made quick work of most of the others, all demoralized after their leader's death.
"…Damn, Sol. This whole operation was B.S. We lost everyone…Ice, Steel, Brain…they're all gone." Emily spoke with eyes clouded by pain and loss.
I gripped her hand in mine.
"I know, Emi. We can mourn them later, but right now, we've got a job to do. We're still alive and we're-"
I was cut off by a blaster shot, and Emily fell to the ground. Across from us, a bloody and half-dead deserter was holding a smoking and nearly broken blaster.
"That's for Mary you bitch!"
I saw red. The rest was a blur, but when I came to, he was dead and barely recognizable. I ran over to Emily. It must have been a short time; she was barely alive, though.
"Sol….I.."
"Emi, please...don't!" I couldn't hold back the tears.
"I …love you…Sol…always.." Her eyes lost their light. She was gone. They all were.
My heart broke then and there, but my mind knew what to do. For all of them, I had to finish the mission. I gathered the evidence, as well as the bodies of my friends and comrades, and the body of the woman I loved. We-I returned to base, and all of them were given commendations for dying in the line of duty. So did I, though for getting out alive; little good that it did. I had a sinking suspicion that this was fucked in some way, so I got my superior, General Sepulveda, to listen in while I spoke to the man who gave us this mission: Colonel Ivanov. I was NOT happy about what I found out.
"Colonel, they weren't mere terrorists. They were deserters."
"I know, soldier."
"…What?"
"They were part of a highly classified mission, but they couldn't handle the pressure. They lost a lot of good people, but that's not an excuse for treason. That being said, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to keep this a secret. The weapons that those people had are Federation secrets, and-"
"COLONEL, HALF OF THESE WEAPONS WERE ILLEGAL! THE FEDERATION SHOULDN'T EVEN BE FUCKING WITH THIS-"
"CAPTAIN IF YOU CANNOT DO AS YOU'RE TOLD, I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR-"
"That's enough, boys." That definitely got his attention.
"G-General."
"Don't. Don't even try to "General" me."
General Sepulveda wasn't just angry. He was pissed off.
"After close inspection and careful consideration of the facts, several people, including at least one general, has been found guilty of treason for creation and utilization of illegal arms last week. Sol had a feeling you were one of them, but not only did you participate, you were the one SPREARHEADING A FUCKING COVERUP AND KILLING ONE OF OUR BEST TEAMS! GUARDS, IN HERE, NOW!"
Three weeks later, the colonel was court-martialed and received a life sentence for treason and no less than seven counts of murder. I was in attendance and testified on my team's behalf. When all was said and done, the General came to talk to me.
"Listen, son, I know that this was probably the worst thing to happen to you, but-"
"If you're asking me to reconsider, General, the answer's no. I'm done."
"Please, Sol, think for a minute! Not only are you one of our best, but after this trial many in our ranks see you as a hero; a man of integrity who could, and did, wind up changing things! You helped root out a corrupt colonel; that doesn't happen often. If I had that kind of opportunity when I was young-"
"General, there's two great differences between me now and you when you were younger."
"…and those are?"
"….You had a wife, not a girlfriend, and she never died in your arms in combat."
"…*sigh* Okay, I understand. When you put it like that, I can't really blame you now can I? Try to enjoy life outside, Sol. Oh, and about that person you wanted be to look into…"
"Yeah, I got all of the info, and after a good amount of thought, I realize that I need to ask you for a favor."
"What would that be?"
Mission Report Number: 825-46XA
Planet Name: Sealed Upon Request, Contact General Sepulveda for further information
Mission Parameters: Find and eliminate hostile terrorist cell
Surviving Enemies Captured: 0
Surviving Unit Personnel: 1
Results of Mission:
- All members of terrorist cell eliminated
- All but one member of the operating unit KIA
- Discovery of treasonous action and production of illegal arms by Federation Colonel Samuel Ivanov
Unit Report – Post Return:
The entire unit was destroyed to protect the "dirty laundry" and the even dirtier officers of the Federation. It is the humble opinion of this Captain that more thorough internal investigations into all personnel, regardless of position, be carried out on a more regular basis.
- Captain Sealed Upon Request
Records Officer's Report – Commentary:
Son of a bitch. Seriously, I think we fucked up in the extreme with this. I know corruption exists everywhere, but we lost one of our best units to some of our own vets. The really messed up part is that they weren't even wrong: further investigation into the colonel tied him to a coverup of a mission given to the ex-federation-turned-terrorist-cell members that caused them to go rogue in the first place. In all honesty, if the captain didn't cooperate with the investigation and instead turned this over to the media, the Federation would be fucked seven times over. We're lucky he just wanted out. I also agree with his assessment: we need more internal investigations to prevent events like these from happening.
Cumulative Mission Outcome:
- Terrorist cell eliminated
- All members of unit Episilon-8 "Ragtag Runts" KIA, save one
- Captain of "Ragtag Runts", Data Sealed Upon Request, alias "Sol", submitted application for early retirement
- Application for retirement approved
C.O. Memo: Usually, early retirement is saved for those who are either too "old" to fight and haven't reached the proper age, or those with medical issues. It's not usually meant for a soldier who is in their prime. However, given the circumstances of the mission, as well as the great service he has done in revealing one cover-up and one potential cover- up, I believe the typical application of this benefit program can be overlooked. Along with the retirement pay that is usually given, the Federation has opted to include a considerable bonus for helping avoid a potential catastrophe if this got out any other way, as well as (and more importantly) for helping to purge corrupt officers from our ranks. Request approved, and Sol, please see a psychologist.
- All sensitive data sealed upon request of Captain Data Sealed Upon Request A.k.A "Sol"
End Report
After that, I set up a new life on Barbaad V, running a parts shop on the lower side. I've been to a shrink; it never fully helped, but I'd be much worse off if I didn't. Every day seemed to meld into one repetitive cycle: get up, eat, work, piss around, go to sleep, repeat. Some nights though, the nightmares keep me awake. I jump out of bed, screaming for Emi. On the worst days, I'm a sobbing mess, but I've been getting better. Then, about a month ago, I heard about a certain bounty hunter. Apparently, they're the best of the best, and have saved the galaxy at least once. I was talking with one of my customers, and she just kept ranting about her.
"..She always keeps her armor on, but that just adds to the mystery!"
"What's your point, Aisha? She's just a good bounty hunter."
"She's NOT just a good bounty hunter! She's Samus Aran! She's a freakin' legend!"
That name. It alone made me curious. I actually heard of it before that fateful mission, and I already knew everything there was to know about this woman. Aisha was right; she was a legend, someone to look up to. Kinda made me happy to know that someone was looking out for the galaxy. What I didn't realize was that I'd be getting to know more very soon. One afternoon, I heard the ringing of the digital bell that alerted me to customers entering my shop.
"Hey, welcome to Sol's Sundries! How can…I….help….you?"
She was here. Samus Aran, in full armor, and quiet as death. I really hoped I didn't piss her off or get on her wanted list somehow. The only people that could want me dead though would be…
"I need some replacement parts for my holo-interface on my ship. I have the specs right here."
She handed me a tablet, and I looked over it, trying to keep my cool.
"Yeah, I think I got those, gimme a few minutes to find them."
After about five minutes, I had the parts and rung her up for the price.
"…That's less than you have them marked for, Mr. Sol."
"Please, just Sol Ms. Aran."
"Samus."
"Okay, Samus. As for why it's less, you've saved the galaxy's collective ass more than once. I think you deserve a bit of a break every now and then."
"It was a job."
"Even so, a little thanks for doing so never hurt."
"...Thank you for that, Sol."
"No problem. Come by anytime, and I'll see what kind of discount I can give you."
"I might just take you up on that. Goodbye, Sol."
"See you around, Samus, and be careful; it's a dangerous galaxy out there.
Samus would come by every month or so for replacement parts and such. We would talk a bit, but never really for long. I guess that's why I'm leaving this. Samus, if anything ever happens to me and you find this, know that I'm sorry. I really liked getting to know you, but I think you could do without associating with a broken, messed-up guy like me. As for what I mean, well, it's best that you have a look for yourself. If anyone else finds this after whatever happens to me, I want you to look too. Give this to Samus Aran, please. This would be my last wish should I die.
Incident Report Number: 452-54B-1-2 (1)
Please Enter Credentials to Access Sealed Document: Access Approved.
Planet Name: Terran Colony K-2L
Settlement Population Before Incident: 355,231
Settlement Population After Incident: 0 (See addendum 452-54B-2 for further details)
Cause of Incident: Non-native attack (Assumed Space Pirate Attack)
Survivors: 0
Addendum 0.1: 1 survivor indicated by forensic evidence; evacuated by unknown entity
Addendum 0.2: Entity discovered to be of the Chozo species:Data on line and after added post investigation
Name: Old Bird
Status of Survivor: Alive, raised by rescuer(s)
Name: Samus Aran
Age (At Time of Incident): 3
Gender: Female
Parents: Virginia Aran (Deceased), Rodney Aran (Deceased)
Mission Report Number: 452-54B-1-2 (2)
Mission details added to report after investigation and previously unknown links to incident were uncovered
Mission Report Details: Rogue salvager attack on Honeypot 7473, mission successful. One member of rogue unit captured, nicknamed Sol, age 10. Awaiting deliberation.
Notes From Reporting Officer: What the actual fuck, he's just a kid! Apparently he was "rescued" from an abandoned maturation pod and used for light work. Might as well have been slavery, the poor little guy. Wait, wasn't there an empty maturation unit on…submitting request for genetic testing immediately. If this means what I think it does, then….we'll have to cross that bridge later.
-Request Approved-
CO Notes: After much investigation (as well as several years' worth of red tape and bureaucracy regarding the incident), the identity of the individual in question (now fourteen years old) has been found through evidence and genetic testing. Also, the nickname Sol wasn't due to this individual having any relation to the Sol system or any other logical associations, but rather just a shortening of his name. Documents recovered from the operation included a mangled and dirty journal, likely from the leader of these salvagers. The reports of this incident are to be added to the K-2L Investigation as soon as reasonably possible, seeing as they are directly connected. The individual will be notified when deemed appropriate.
CO Notes (Addendum): An arrangement has been made for Sol to enlist in order to mitigate any charges that might be held against them. It seems messed up, but it's better than seeing him in juvie. Since he will be enlisted, it would be prudent not to reveal this until his initial period has ended; that way he will perform with no distractions, and he can investigate later without the burden of service on him at the same time. After all, family matters like this usually lie heavy on one's mind.
End Report
If this doesn't give you an idea of who I am, I'll say it out loud. My real name is Solomon Aran. Samus, if you're watching this, that means I'm either missing or dead. Yea it's true, and if you need verification, ask my former CO. I'm your little brother. I didn't want you to know, because after all I went through, my mind is really screwed up. I don't want to drag you into my shit. Also, I didn't think you'd want to associate with someone who was raised by people that were pirates in all but name, seeing as pirates are what took our family away. I wish I could have talked to you more, even if time has passed since this recording, I know it will never be enough. Maybe if things were different, I'd either be a better person, or be courageous enough to tell you. Regardless of what happens though, always know this: Your little brother is proud of you, and loves you. Always.
