-Metroid Fusion
--Blackdie
---Chapter 4: Hunter and the Hunted
"...and this is where we combine the two substances for the final product. Here is the goal of Project Blackdie" Victoria finished.
Samus and Victoria had relocated to the lower labs after the scientist had disclosed the purpose of the facility and it's "final product". Zonagen. It had answered some questions for Samus, like why the base was situated on such an unforgiving planet. The materials needed for making Zonagen could literally be found lying everywhere outside. A special vehicle designed for sand recovery and an environmental suit was all you needed to complete half the work. It however, did not explain any time before or after the arrival of Phantoon.
"Zonagen. Another Federation weapon. Humph." Samus commented while looking over the pressurized tubes leading to large vats for mixing.
"Sebester sent an unencrypted message to General Graves a week ago. Next thing I knew, he had acquired a large cargo ship and took every drum of Zonagen for relocation. I thought he had official orders. Like Graves had responded... but there was none to be found anywhere."
"He's operating on his own then." Samus decided.
Victoria nodded.
"It was three days ago. He told me that he was leaving the facility, and left everyone without combat experience or who couldn't pull their own weight. He didn't say why or where he was going... he just left."
"He just left you here to die?" Samus asked, beginning to wonder how cold and dangerous Tanner could be.
"No... it wasn't like that. The day he left, a Zon freighter was scheduled to arrive. We could get a ship off the planet then... but..."
Phantoon arrived. Samus thought.
Samus turned to see Victoria shaking, memories still fresh in her mind and driving her nerves crazy.
"They landed, the decontamination finished... and no one got off the ship. Henry went to see what was the matter. He didn't come back either" She paused to gulp. "When we found his body at the bottom of the loading ramp, it came after us. We ran to hide, but there was no escaping. So it took its time killing us off. That's when the Federation Police arrived. The first group. They got one step off their boarding ramp before it slaughtered them."
"I see. Then the other two units arrived to experience the same fate."
"If Tanner was still here..." Victoria caught herself before continuing and began again. "Then you showed up, and got rid of it."
Samus said nothing, to confirm or deny that statement. Her primary concern was keeping Victoria in good mental health. Any facility data gathered by security cameras or crew logs had already been wiped out by Phantoon upon arrival. The Wrecked Ship on Zebes was devoid of any clues to where it came from, and Samus knew Sand Trap's computers would be the same way. As advanced as the ghost was, he was still a creature of habit, creating fear and confusion wherever he went.
"Is there any way you could explain Tanner's actions?" Samus asked suddenly.
"He was tired of sitting here and getting swept aside by other projects. The B.S.L. took most of our funding when the Metroid sample was taken from the larva." Victoria moved over to a table full of various scientific devices and smiled. "I've never seen Tanner so happy when he heard it was destroyed. But it didn't bring our funding back, nor the Federation's attention."
The sound of this made Samus wonder if the B.S.L. was the only Metroid farm the Federation had set up. Victoria had nearly confirmed it, if an installation as expensive Sand Trap went on without proper funding after the B.S.L. went down. But there was no reason to be there now. Sebester Tanner was on the loose with a ship full of deadly biological weaponry that could be hijacked at any time.
"The Federation never knew what Zonagen was capable of." Samus told Victoria. "Their Metroid projects took up all their attention, and now they let this slip through their fingers. But Tanner knew and anyone who wasn't with him, he'd leave for dead right here."
"No." Victoria said strongly.
Samus became annoyed with Victoria's ignorance, but kept herself restrained and let the scientist continue to talk.
"Tanner said... they'd send someone as soon as possible, cause it was a security risk."
"That ghost you saw was Phantoon. Phantoon is a part of the Space Pirates. Surely you heard stories of their speed and brutality? Did you really think they would pass up an opportunity like this? You should have reported him. He put this entire facility in danger."
Victoria didn't respond and Samus's voice grew cold.
"You know the weapon better than anyone else. You are head of the Zonagen Research Team, and Tanner left you here? No, more like you didn't want to go with him." Samus realized. "You wanted to stay behind, and your team joined you. What did Tanner tell you before he left?"
"What's wrong with you?" Victoria lashed out. "I barely escaped with my life! My friends are dead... how can you be so cold?"
"I just don't like it when people are lying to me. Somehow, lies always surface at the worst possible moment. They can cost people their lives."
Victoria flinched at that statement and turned away. It was an instant giveaway to Samus that she knew something and quickly moved in front of her. Whenever the scientist tried to move, Samus was there to block her. It was easy with the size of the large Varia Fusion Suit.
"Where did he go?" Samus asked again.
"I don't know! He didn't tell me!"
There was a long pause and Samus pressed further.
"You know what Zonagen is capable of. You saw what Phantoon did here. Try to take some responsibility. What will happen if the Space Pirates find Tanner first and take Zonagen and it's blueprints?"
"The Metroids..." Victoria stuttered, slowly seeing Samus's point. "They're primarily interested in the-"
"Any weapon is good enough for the Space Pirates, so long as the Federation or anyone else doesn't have them instead." Samus corrected.
Victoria was glaring at Samus now, she had overcome her fear, and now distrust and anger filled in the holes.
"What are you going to do to Sebester if you find him?"
"Turn him into Graves. I have no authorization to terminate anyone from Sand Trap."
The scientist looked up and backed away from the bounty hunter. Her eyes were overfilling with anger.
"Did you have authorization to destroy the B.S.L. and SR-388?" Victoria asked strongly.
"You don't know anything about that mission." Samus told her, refusing to give up any ground.
"I'll take that as a no." Victoria was frantic now, with a unstable voice. "You operate on your own as well. You're everything Tanner said you were. You're a monster. That's why you're so good at fighting the Space Pirates. It takes one to slay one!"
Victoria caught herself in her own unstable rambling and froze in mid sentence. It was then Samus crossed her arms with the arm cannon in full sight. Even with the visor shielding Samus's face, Victoria couldn't help but have the feeling the she was glaring at her angrily. The tension was mounting for the Sand Trap scientist, but when Samus spoke again it was in a calm and collected tone.
"You nor I have time for this. Tell me what you know about Tanner's plans." There was a pause. "Please. Whatever I can do to him, Phantoon or any other Space Pirate will do tenfold. I know you're trying to protect him for whatever reason, but he's putting countless lives at stake."
The mere mention of the Space Pirate phantom caused Victoria to do a double take. She gagged and clutched her stomach. It seemed like any mention of the word "Phantoon" would bring back horrible memories.
"No... Not that... I would never wish that on anyone. I just don't want you to kill him!"
Samus said nothing and continued to wait. Victoria had become quiet now, and sat on the floor, holding her legs close to her body.
"Big Blue. Tanner said if he ever got out of here, he'd go to Big Blue because there was so much water. It was so warm... It was everything this place wasn't."
"Thank you. We're leaving now. I'm going to drop you off at the nearest colony. You'll have to face General Graves and the Federation now."
Victoria nodded and lowered her head.
"Whatever... just take me away from this place..." She sobbed.
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The Waterfall City on Big Blue was something else. Every building was built into the cliff where the ocean came to a massive drop, and the end result was a curtain of water rushing by the windows. The bottom was too far down to hear any crashing, so a crystal clear window of water fell so close, you could stick your hand out. The only problem was, the sudden interruption would send the spray of water everywhere. Tanner had forgotten what it was all about after being away from civilization so long.
He stood on the balcony, looking down at the abyss where the water disappeared. Not too far was another waterfall, where the city had been built in a canyon Oh yes, this was certainly much better than some dump on a planet where the only thing was black sand. Even the hotel room was able to keep his attention for hours on end. So much so that Scratch couldn't help but come up and check up on him.
"Hey boss." Scratch called out from the door.
Tanner knew that to Scratch, nothing was sacred, not even privacy. This prompted him to quickly look himself over before appearing in public. He had lost the suit coat, but kept his brown pants and white shirt. The one modification he did do, was a cheap looking, blue tropical shirt, decorated with all kinds of strange flowers. The concept was foreign to him, but he had seen everyone else do it and the more he looked like anyone else, the better.
"You ever heard of knocking, loser?" Tanner yelled back.
By that time, Scratch had hacked the lock and barged in with a sly grin.
"Nice to see you haven't gotten drunk or anything. Come on, we're ready to go."
Tanner turned toward the balcony and the room as if he wanted to stay in there forever. But eventually he nodded and followed after Scratch down to the lobby. There was a long glass elevator ride before reaching the ground floor. Statues of the local aquatic life and graceful dolphin-like fountains lined the walls. It was the cleanest water you've ever seen, and the most you could have ever wanted.
"Damn, I'm glad we picked this spot." Scratch said as they went outside through a glass tunnel that was used to divert the waterfall and keep guests dry.
"It's nice for a scene change. But don't forget we're here to do business."
A truck soon pulled up in front of them, and the bald man with the beard was at the wheel. A muscle man with thick brown hair was in the passenger seat wearing some sort of mechanics outfit, but Tanner promptly kicked him into the backseat along with Scratch. They exchanged some greetings, and the bald man carefully maneuvered the truck into the fast moving traffic. It had taken them awhile to adjust to the high-speed antigravity transportation on Big Blue. They had been in a position where no driving was required for so long that very little of them remembered how to do it.
"So, boss, who are we gonna sell this stuff to? No one knows about it. And if we advertise, the Federation's gonna come looking for us." Scratch pointed out.
"Tanner's got it figured out." The bald man answered.
"I didn't ask you, Chester."
"They're already looking for us." Tanner said suddenly. "I heard Graves bought himself some top talent bounty hunter."
The cab went silent.
"Well..." The bald man known as Chester began. "Who is it?"
Tanner said nothing, and simply gave him a glance that said it all without the words attached. He should just let the topic slide.
"Anyway," The muscleman began. "I was thinkin', you know the Space Pirates are always wanting stuff. And if we let them in on our deal, we could buy ourselves some immunity from their operations. You know, turn a blind eye to us whenever they raid a colony. There's this Pirate defector I met in a bar, who could probably hook us up. He says he could get Ridley to come down and take a look.."
"Boris, are you retarded?" Scratch snapped.
"What?" Boris held his hands up.
"Let me ask you something, muscles." Tanner interrupted. "Say you're driving along some forested planet. A furry four legged creature runs out in front of you and you nail it. You just killed it. Now, what do you think the chances are that someone will find you, arrest you, and bring you up on charges for killing that animal?"
"Who cares about a damn animal." Boris scoffed.
This was exactly what Tanner wanted to hear, and spun around before jabbing his finger into Boris's chest.
"Exactly. Now you know how the entire Space Pirates group views the Federation and it's inhabitants. The reason why they do so much killing, and take what they want, is because we're animals to them. Forget any sanctity of life and sentient being shit you've been taught before. They'd rather kill you and mount your body on the wall than try to coexist."
This had shut up Boris, but Scratch was not satisfied by his boss's explanation. Mostly because he favored the idea that Space Pirates were just a bunch of alien jackasses that didn't play well with others.
"Is that so? What about Ridley?" Scratch demanded. "I hear he's got this real deep vendetta with Samus Aran... If she's just an animal to him, why does he go after her so religiously? Who cares about an animal?"
Tanner paused to roll up his window. They were heading through an underwater tunnel, and the ocean smell was beginning to become aggravating.
"You know those wolf animals on Earth right?" Tanner continued.
"Yeah? So what?" Scratch said slowly.
"You know they're dangerous, and you respect them for it. This means whenever you see a wolf you're going to be very careful around them. But that doesn't change the fact they're still animals." He laughed. "Hell, Ridley's more like Captain Ahab lookin' for a white whale."
"Huh? Well god dammit." Scratch huffed, knowing he was beat.
The cab was silent again as Chester pulled off the underwater road to reach the surface. They were approaching a spaceport specially designed for long distance freighter ships.
"So, remember. Don't any of you losers go trying to contact the Space Pirates. I don't care how much you think you're a goddamn expert on them. The facts are that they take what they want and leave the rest for the worms. Don't ever forget that. You hear me?" He waited for them to all nod earnestly. "Good, now shut up about them."
Now they had pulled onto the road leading to the South Blue Ocean Spaceport. Any approaching craft landed on the surface where a massive platform was constructed, and was then lowered into underwater hangars. Bad storms and Tsunami's could occur at any time, and there were several ships sitting on the bottom of the sea that tried to push their luck. The ship that Tanner and most of the Sand Trap crew was in one of the lowest parking bays, known for housing the ships with the more sensitive cargo.
The tunnel they drove the truck through required ID cards and retinal scans before the guards would let them into the hangar where their ship was stored. The large open room was occupied with a mass of people, moving about a line of semi trucks with the same anti-gravity technology all vehicles in big blue contained. The thirty or so people were all dressed in jumpsuits of some sort and worked quickly with loading gear. Nearly every single one of them saluted when Tanner approached. One could say they were highly organized.
"Yo! How we doin'?" Tanner yelled over the noise to a heavy man in an expensive gray business suit.
"Almost got everything out. Soon the only thing sitting here will be an empty spaceship."
"Good, remember to tell everyone to change out of those monkey suits. We ain't working in Sand Trap anymore. Do it quick, first things first. You hear me?"
"There some kind of problem?"
"I think we're gonna have company real soon. Federation company. You know what I mean? It doesn't help us that most of these guys have had their heads under the sand so long they forgot how to think. Keep a real good eye on them, make sure their brain is operating on all cylinders."
The heavy man nodded and turned toward the group unloading the freighter ship.
"Sure, any other specific messages you want me to pass along to them?"
He thumbed toward the group working around them.
"Yeah, tell them not to talk to any bounty hunters." Tanner said sarcastically.
Then he took a moment to organize his thoughts and became more serious.
"And don't mouth off about anything in relation to Project Blackdie. We're gonna run this like it's a black op. Like the old Galactic Army days."
After mentioning that, the heavy man couldn't help but salute and rush off to carry out Tanner's request. What the men where moving were square, pressurized black boxes. Every single box was labeled with a glowing blue number and security code. Federation emblems could be found on top of every container, but there were men quickly burning them off with laser cutters.
Scratch, Boris, and Chester soon began to help along the final process, which involved moving every crate from the ship to the back of the trucks. Tanner oversaw the process, nodding approvingly at the work. Then, he began to plan their next moves. The arrival of Samus Aran had to be taken into account, no matter what.
--To be continued...
---Next Chapter: Boiling the Big Blue