Samus's metal footsteps echoed as she entered the shrine ruins. If it were not for the dim rays of light leaking through the cracks in the ceiling, it would be almost too dark to see. For the time she was there, she did not find any hostile foes, but she was always ready. It was quiet, except for the sound of her breathing, and that could only be heard from within her helmet. Standing there, she examined the area. The stone walls and pillars were collecting dust and decaying. Most of the floor tiles were missing, leaving only dry soil at her feet. The light flowing into the room was red, but that could have easily been because of the atmosphere that the sunlight broke through. Beads of sweat rolled down her face, but it was cooler in the ruins than outside.
She proceeded down a hallway, or what was left of it, and came to a blockade of cracked stone. It did not seem like the pile of rock appeared there by natural means; something must have purposely moved it there. The stones did not break, even with her missiles and wave beam, because they were packed so tightly together. She noticed a gap at the bottom, where the warm stone met the floor. It was the entrance to a small, hollowed passageway that most likely led into the next room. If it were not for her bulky Power Suit, Samus could have easily crawled through the space.
She crouched, and collapsed her body, her suit transforming protectively around her in a sphere. Doing this, she became just small enough to go through the narrow tunnel into the next room. While she could not see as a Morph Ball, she was able to tell where she was going by other means. Once she had made it to the chamber, Samus restored her body to its normal form behind a pillar. She could sense other life forms in the room. They were powerful, but injured. Without moving, she could see a clawed guard by the door. It must have not noticed her when she passed it as a Morph Ball. She was certainly glad of this, for it was a Space Pirate. It only took her one glance to be sure of it.
The beast had huge claws, similar to the claws of a crab. The inside of the claws was rowed with so many spikes that they looked like teeth within gaping jaws. Space pirates had the ability to generate beams of energy from these claws, witch was definitely their preferred method of fighting. This was not the only obvious Space Pirate feature, however. Space Pirates also had piercing eyes witch glowed, and had no pupils. Their bodies were thin and agile, and their skin was like plated armor. Samus could easily penetrate their armor with her beams, and they could easily do the same to her.
The guard's white eyes shifted, but did not see the hunter in the shadows. Samus knew well that there were at least two more pirates here, and she could see one of their shadows. She locked onto the large Space Pirate standing guard, and charged up an indigo Wave Beam. The pirate noticed the ball of energy forming at the tip of her cannon, but he could not act fast enough to avoid being hit by the intense blast. He fell to the ground, roaring in the pain of his burned insides, and died. The two other pirates hissed things to each other, and Samus heard their clawed feet run across the floor in search of her. As soon as they came into her sight, she switched to her missiles. They heard the click, and were blasted apart by the weapon's strength. Neither of them lived to alert the others, and this was an advantage for the bounty hunter. She came out from behind the tall column, and stepped over the corpse of the guard. His inhuman eyes had lost their glow, and he had been burned so severely that he did not bleed.

There must have been something in these ruins, or else the Space Pirates would not have been wasting their time here. The next few chambers were blocked with metal doors, clearly built by the pirates, because the doors were very similar to those Samus once saw in their ship. The doorway opened at the command of her Wave Beam, and she proceeded through, her footsteps echoing until the metal entranceway closed behind her.