Chapter 6
The SA-X sat in a darkened corner of the cargo bay with her head hanging down. The green-lit visor seemed depressed as it shined faintly in the dark. Lana was sitting on top of a cargo box swinging her legs like an impatient child, playing around with various buttons on her arm cannon. The two of them had been told to meet one of Adam's human contacts at Galactic Federation Headquarters.
Lana looked over at the SA-X and smiled beneath her helmet, but she couldn't see her eyes respond with the same happy gleam through the visor, and if she could, she would notice that the SA-X's eyes were pure white, as if rolled to the back of her head. That was not the case; her eyes had lost all color as a strange feeling overcame her, almost as if she had lost her memories again and had them replaced with someone else's. She slowly began slipping into a dream...
"What is this place? That's me!" Samus thought to herself as she faced a Samus Aran look-a-like. The Samus clone shot at her, blasting her across a space station room. As she hit the wall, her body dissipated into a green amebic form. Before long, her body reclaimed its structure and she fought back against the clone. She grabbed the clone by the throat and pinned her against the wall. She could see the being's eyes behind the green visor, eyes that showed fear, eyes that quivered, eyes that glowered determination. "I've never seen eyes like these." The SA-X thought to itself. "I've never seen eyes reflect so much. Is this life? Is this what separates me from them! There has to be a meaning to my existence! I will FIND IT!" She screamed and threw the bounty hunter across the room again...
Lana looked over again at the SA-X and found her shivering in her dark corner. The entirety of her armor seemed to be shimmering at a molecular level. "Samus? Samus? Are you okay?" Lana asked hopping off the cargo box and walking over to the SA-X.
...The SA-X's memories shift. She found herself in a docking bay, but not in her human form, but in her X form. She could see all around her. Just down the hall, she could see Samus fighting a Metroid, an Omega Metroid on top of that. Samus was taking a beating by the oversized Metroid. If she didn't do something quick, the Omega would find the SA-X as a nice dessert. She floated over to the Omega Metroid, as her instinct to kill her natural predator began taking over. She reformed into Samus as the original sat crouched, drained from the battle. The SA-X fired on the Metroid with its ice beam, damaging the Omega Metroid. The Metroid lurched forward and swiped at the SA-X and everything went blank.
The SA-X's memories quickly shifted again to another battle with Samus Aran. This time Samus was running away from the SA-X, trying to keep from getting hit by the powerful ice beam. The SA-X screamed in anger, "Why won't you just die!"...
Lana shook the SA-X violently, as her screams became louder and louder. Before Lana could react, the SA-X jumped up and grabbed Lana by the arms. Lana tried to pull from her grasp but was unable to. She looked through the visor and saw Samus' eyes were pure white. "What is wrong with you, let go of me!" She yelled at the SA-X. Lana had never seen this side of the SA-X and began to get scared. "Samus...stop please", she whined through her helmet.
...The SA-X brought the clone up to her face, "I will kill you!"...
"What are you talking about? I haven't even done anything to you!" Lana cried out as the SA-X started relaying her memories through to the conscious world. The SA-X threw Lana across the cargo bay. Lana crashed into a box, smashing it and its contents to splinters. Lana couldn't take anymore. "I don't want to fight you!"
"You can't weasel out of this!" The SA-X said firing a missile toward Samus...
Lana dodged the oncoming missile and fired her power beam at her. The shot was just absorbed by the SA-X, who was now running toward Lana. Once she came within reach, the SA-X reached out and grabbed Lana, wrapping her arms around the fusion suit. Samus' body began to shimmer again and her arms turned into a gelatin form. Lana's suit quickly came to life with warnings that her suit was being infected. The SA-X was trying to infect Lana. Lana had to think fast, she could feel her nervous system slowly shutting down. "Damn it SAMUS! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME!" Lana brought her arm cannon up and armed it with a Diffusion Missile. "I'm sorry Samus..." Lana fired the missile and upon impact a radius of six feet was turned into a winter wonderland. The SA-X was blown back by the impact and Lana struggled to keep up with her flying body, as she brought her foot down across the SA-X's chest, dropping her hard into the ground. The SA-X's body returned to normal and the color in her eyes started to fade back in.
The SA-X brought herself to her knees and with bowed head, removed her helmet. Lana found tears streaming down Samus' face, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."
"Do you think you can make anymore noise?" A lady said walking across the cargo bay. "You're lucky this facility is just used for storage. What the hell is going on here?"
"It's my fa..." The SA-X started wiping the tears from her eyes and rising to her feet.
"Samus", Lana said, cutting her off, "We'll discuss this later. Okay?" Lana turned to the lady clad in Federation uniform. "Are you?" She asked.
"My name is 1stLtn Roslyn Baker. However, you can call me Ross. I'm the contact that Adam set you up with. How is the old man...I mean, how is he?"
"Adam's fine."
"Adam has filled me in with the details that you both uncovered from Atlass286. It wasn't a lot but it headed me in the right direction. Atlass286, as I'm sure you concluded yourself, was a station used for experimentation. From what I was able to find out through records, Atlass286 was used for studying the X parasite. The only thing they pulled from the station before it was shut down was the study information on the organism. From what I understand, they are going to continue the research at an undisclosed location."
"What about the intruder. I'm not surprised they would be experimenting on dangerous life forms; after all it is definitely not a first. Where did the killer come from?" Samus asked.
"It's unknown. There was no indication of hull breaches to enter, nor to exit, though the station did shut down before the suspects departure", Ross answered. The possibilities of where this intruder originated from are pretty much up in the air. However, radar from a passing Federation cargo ship, indicated at that time, a very small blip heading toward an unknown planet in the same region. That is the only lead we really have and that is where I suggest you start your investigation."
"Why do we even want to continue hunting this bounty if the Federation is only going to apprehend us when we come to collect our dues?" Lana asked, suspicious of the possibility that Ross was playing the two of them.
"If you bring back the body, that would be enough evidence of your innocence."
"That won't work. If the Federation is out to get us like I think they are, then we've already heard from Major Tom that the possibility of bringing in a "decoy" to get out of trouble would not work", Lana explained.
"I will have to look further into that", Ross responded, "I must go now, I've already been missing from my office now too long. Good luck to you both. The back corridor to this cargo bay is empty, as it is only used for emergency procedures, it would probably be a quicker route back to your ship."
"Thank you", Lana said. Everyone nodded to each other before heading back in their own directions. Lana and the SA-X silently walked down the corridor toward Adam, both feeling uncomfortable in the others presence. A crash down the hallway alerted the two bounty hunters, as a lone space pirate fumbled around with a door. A few shots rang out in the hallway and the space pirate turned and began running toward the huntresses. Once he realized that the legendary bounty hunter was in front of him, he stopped in his tracks, frozen in terror. A bustling behind him caused him to turn as a group of three Federation officers came around the corner.
As if things couldn't get any worse, a fourth party arrived on the scene, the being clad in blue chozo-type armor emerged from a nearby door. "What the hell is going on?" Lana yelled over the confusion. The Houston impersonator approached Samus with his arm cannon raised. The scene seemed to stand still as Samus could feel a familiar presence. She had had this feeling the entire time she was at the station but couldn't place her hand on it.
"All of you! FREEZE!" One officer yelled, firing a warning shot into the air. The Houston imposter seemed to look from the Federation officers, to the Arans as if trying to decide whom the better target would be and who would be less of a threat. The Arans, the space pirate, the Federation officers, and the Houston imposter all stood frozen; lasers, arm cannons, and Galvanic Accelerator Cannon pointing everywhere. Everyone was in a standoff.