Chapter IV - Caedo
Tenebrae ibi semper est.
Samus knew K-2L for only three years of her life; the seventeen after were spent with the Chozo. Most people imagine this relationship as the Chozo taking Samus in as one of their own children, but this is far from the truth. The Chozo do not experience childhood; they are not born. How they come into being is uncertain, but they are full-grown when they do so. They do, in fact, age, but live very long lives.
A better analogy would be to place the Chozo in our minds as gods, and Samus as a mere human. They watched her, and guided her in times of great need, but they did not truly take care of her. She thus spent most of her life alone, seeking answers to the great, burning questions in her mind. What really happened on K-2L? Why did the Space Pirates attack? Where have they gone now?
When Samus reached an age where she could handle the technology, the Chozo granted her the Power Suit. Now, you might see that she was wandering a desolate planet one day, and stumbled upon a suit on the ground. That is far from the truth; the Chozo were not known for granting random gifts. Samus was sent through grueling tests, during which the Chozo were entirely without mercy. I will not bore the reader with repetitive description of the challenges that had been lain before our hunter at that time. To briefly summarize, she failed only one of the several hundred trials.
Samus blazed through the physical trials, and mastered the intellectual trials. She failed one willpower trial: the release of long-withheld, powerful emotions. The Chozo knew that even though the Newborn did not spend a very long time with her parents, her instinctive love kept them close to her heart, weakening her with anger. They eventually agreed that they would nevertheless allow her access to the suit, albeit not with full capability. She would have to earn the majority of her powers.
The Chozo were already departing from this world as they raised the Hatchling, and they knew this. When Samus reached the age of twenty years, they left her. She was completely alone.
Samus burst into the station's command center. Pieces of machinery were scattered about the floor, and nothing seemed to be in an operable state. The hunter, carrying a pistol in her right hand, stepped cautiously into the room. Two operators had been electrocuted to death, their bodies thrown into awkward positions on the floor; the other one had his arm severed from the shoulder by a shard of glass and had bled to death. Samus ignored the gruesome scene and approached her Fusion Suit's holding chamber. It was still perfectly sealed behind bullet-and-plasma-proof glass. The hunter punched in a code on a numpad to the suit's left which caused the glass to slide to the right. Samus turned her back toward the suit and then stepped backwards until she made contact with it. She slipped her left arm into the arm cannon and activated the fitting sequence. Just as it finished forming tightly around her hand, the ceiling caved in.
A Space Pirate fell into the room from the ceiling; or, rather, landed, since it seemed to have fallen through of its own accord. It was eight feet of purple ugliness, with scissor-like hand-claws and equally grotesque teeth. Its large, black eyes were entirely pupil, making it impossible to tell what they're focused on. The pirate opened its right claw and stretched its hand in Samus's general direction. The gun within fired, but Samus pulled her suit out of the chamber and dodged the blast, then retaliated with the a single missile to the pirate's face. Green goop splattered all about the chamber, completing the gruesome scene.
Samus leapt to her feet, prepared for more of the creatures to arrive. None did, so she risked donning the rest of her suit. As she attached the visor she heard the sound of a weak voice coming from below a desk. She removed the chair before it and saw that it was the SR chief, and he had been badly wounded. A gash across the chest showed that he had survived a Space Pirate attack. "One hell of a lucky man," thought Samus. Then, to the chief, she said, "What happened here?"
"The... pirates," he said. He seemed to fall asleep for a moment, but Samus injected him with a drug that woke him. He continued: "They must have had a station set in orbit around SR388. They came in swarms and attacked our station... after you... don't..." His voice drifted into silence as his eyes closed.
Samus placed a hand on the chief's forehead. "Rest in peace, old friend."
These monsters are going to pay.
The station collapsed around Samus as she quickly made her way through the corridors. She encountered countless Space Pirates, and slew them all on sight; luckily, she was well-stocked with missiles. She ran full-force into the airlock door, smashing the open button repeatedly with her left hand. The door didn't budge. She examined the button more closely, and saw that it was outputting text. "Emergency: hull breach, airlock doors sealed," it said.
Samus swore under her breath, but then an idea came to her. She eliminated a Space Pirate that had been following her, then backed up to a safe distance from the door. She loaded her missile launcher and fired it at the bottom of the door. Immediately, everything started to get sucked out through the newly-created hole, but before it could make Samus move, she rolled into a morph ball. The hunter shot through the door and into space like a cannonball. She unfurled herself at a precise moment and landed directly on top of her ship's entry port.
The ship automatically dropped her in after reading her signals and she launched full-speed toward SR388, without the usual flight preperations. This was a dangerous thing to do, but she figured she was skilled enough to handle it. Hell, she'd even survived a crash at this speed. A rage filled her as the chief's stunned, dead face burned into her mind. Along it came a flash of her dream images, those terrible events that had actually happened but she could not consciously recalled. Ridley... he was dead, gone twice over. She needed a new focus for her fervor, and thus it was forced upon the Space Pirates orbiting about SR388.
Samus had no need for a stealthy entrance. Her grapple beam shot out of her arm cannon, hooking its plasma onto the door. She pulled her arm back, and didn't even wait for door to be completely removed before she curled up and rolled through the doorway. Her fist shattered the Space Pirates' skulls as she blasted others, running unhindered toward the station's center. Every single one would die, she thought. No, it wasn't a thought; it was a feeling. Fury.
The hunter blasted through another door into the core. There, a brilliant sphere of phazon fueled the station. Samus didn't even flinch at the sight, not once wondering how phazon could fuel a ship. She only planted her power bomb and then dashed the entire way back to her ship.
A blinding explosion followed Samus's ship as it flew towards the surface of SR388, threatening to engulf it in flames. Aran had by then calmed herself, and she had become aware of what she had done. Not seeing any use in regretting that which has already passed, she continued onward to the surface. Enough slaughter; it was time to investigate.
Tenebrae ibi semper est.
Samus knew K-2L for only three years of her life; the seventeen after were spent with the Chozo. Most people imagine this relationship as the Chozo taking Samus in as one of their own children, but this is far from the truth. The Chozo do not experience childhood; they are not born. How they come into being is uncertain, but they are full-grown when they do so. They do, in fact, age, but live very long lives.
A better analogy would be to place the Chozo in our minds as gods, and Samus as a mere human. They watched her, and guided her in times of great need, but they did not truly take care of her. She thus spent most of her life alone, seeking answers to the great, burning questions in her mind. What really happened on K-2L? Why did the Space Pirates attack? Where have they gone now?
When Samus reached an age where she could handle the technology, the Chozo granted her the Power Suit. Now, you might see that she was wandering a desolate planet one day, and stumbled upon a suit on the ground. That is far from the truth; the Chozo were not known for granting random gifts. Samus was sent through grueling tests, during which the Chozo were entirely without mercy. I will not bore the reader with repetitive description of the challenges that had been lain before our hunter at that time. To briefly summarize, she failed only one of the several hundred trials.
Samus blazed through the physical trials, and mastered the intellectual trials. She failed one willpower trial: the release of long-withheld, powerful emotions. The Chozo knew that even though the Newborn did not spend a very long time with her parents, her instinctive love kept them close to her heart, weakening her with anger. They eventually agreed that they would nevertheless allow her access to the suit, albeit not with full capability. She would have to earn the majority of her powers.
The Chozo were already departing from this world as they raised the Hatchling, and they knew this. When Samus reached the age of twenty years, they left her. She was completely alone.
Samus burst into the station's command center. Pieces of machinery were scattered about the floor, and nothing seemed to be in an operable state. The hunter, carrying a pistol in her right hand, stepped cautiously into the room. Two operators had been electrocuted to death, their bodies thrown into awkward positions on the floor; the other one had his arm severed from the shoulder by a shard of glass and had bled to death. Samus ignored the gruesome scene and approached her Fusion Suit's holding chamber. It was still perfectly sealed behind bullet-and-plasma-proof glass. The hunter punched in a code on a numpad to the suit's left which caused the glass to slide to the right. Samus turned her back toward the suit and then stepped backwards until she made contact with it. She slipped her left arm into the arm cannon and activated the fitting sequence. Just as it finished forming tightly around her hand, the ceiling caved in.
A Space Pirate fell into the room from the ceiling; or, rather, landed, since it seemed to have fallen through of its own accord. It was eight feet of purple ugliness, with scissor-like hand-claws and equally grotesque teeth. Its large, black eyes were entirely pupil, making it impossible to tell what they're focused on. The pirate opened its right claw and stretched its hand in Samus's general direction. The gun within fired, but Samus pulled her suit out of the chamber and dodged the blast, then retaliated with the a single missile to the pirate's face. Green goop splattered all about the chamber, completing the gruesome scene.
Samus leapt to her feet, prepared for more of the creatures to arrive. None did, so she risked donning the rest of her suit. As she attached the visor she heard the sound of a weak voice coming from below a desk. She removed the chair before it and saw that it was the SR chief, and he had been badly wounded. A gash across the chest showed that he had survived a Space Pirate attack. "One hell of a lucky man," thought Samus. Then, to the chief, she said, "What happened here?"
"The... pirates," he said. He seemed to fall asleep for a moment, but Samus injected him with a drug that woke him. He continued: "They must have had a station set in orbit around SR388. They came in swarms and attacked our station... after you... don't..." His voice drifted into silence as his eyes closed.
Samus placed a hand on the chief's forehead. "Rest in peace, old friend."
These monsters are going to pay.
The station collapsed around Samus as she quickly made her way through the corridors. She encountered countless Space Pirates, and slew them all on sight; luckily, she was well-stocked with missiles. She ran full-force into the airlock door, smashing the open button repeatedly with her left hand. The door didn't budge. She examined the button more closely, and saw that it was outputting text. "Emergency: hull breach, airlock doors sealed," it said.
Samus swore under her breath, but then an idea came to her. She eliminated a Space Pirate that had been following her, then backed up to a safe distance from the door. She loaded her missile launcher and fired it at the bottom of the door. Immediately, everything started to get sucked out through the newly-created hole, but before it could make Samus move, she rolled into a morph ball. The hunter shot through the door and into space like a cannonball. She unfurled herself at a precise moment and landed directly on top of her ship's entry port.
The ship automatically dropped her in after reading her signals and she launched full-speed toward SR388, without the usual flight preperations. This was a dangerous thing to do, but she figured she was skilled enough to handle it. Hell, she'd even survived a crash at this speed. A rage filled her as the chief's stunned, dead face burned into her mind. Along it came a flash of her dream images, those terrible events that had actually happened but she could not consciously recalled. Ridley... he was dead, gone twice over. She needed a new focus for her fervor, and thus it was forced upon the Space Pirates orbiting about SR388.
Samus had no need for a stealthy entrance. Her grapple beam shot out of her arm cannon, hooking its plasma onto the door. She pulled her arm back, and didn't even wait for door to be completely removed before she curled up and rolled through the doorway. Her fist shattered the Space Pirates' skulls as she blasted others, running unhindered toward the station's center. Every single one would die, she thought. No, it wasn't a thought; it was a feeling. Fury.
The hunter blasted through another door into the core. There, a brilliant sphere of phazon fueled the station. Samus didn't even flinch at the sight, not once wondering how phazon could fuel a ship. She only planted her power bomb and then dashed the entire way back to her ship.
A blinding explosion followed Samus's ship as it flew towards the surface of SR388, threatening to engulf it in flames. Aran had by then calmed herself, and she had become aware of what she had done. Not seeing any use in regretting that which has already passed, she continued onward to the surface. Enough slaughter; it was time to investigate.