Chapter 12
"The space station seems to be up and running at 50 of its capacity", Adam said as Lana activated the elevator, "you should have no problems with doors or elevators. The GFP have already overridden the entire security system upon their arrival. I can't pinpoint the exact location of all their units, they have a scrambling device in use; one newer then my last upgrade."
"Alright, that should be enough to get me by. Keep me up to date on any information or transmissions", Lana said as she boarded the circular disc of energy and descending into the cargo bay. Remnants of cargo boxes littered the floor of the cargo bay; the splintered mesh of wood and metal had been blown apart from one end of the bay to the other. A few cargo boxes here and there threw their shadows high on the walls as the bays low white lights swung calmly about from the change in pressure. Lana quickly made her way out of the bay and began her trek up into the space station. She wasn't sure where the HA-X might be, but she planned to head to the security room to see if she could track down where the being could be.
Bloody streaked covered walls lined both sides of the corridor as if some young child had taken a bucket of red paint and ran down the corridor playfully spreading the thick liquid, leaving handprints every few hundred feet. The floor was filled with pools of dried blood and there was still no sign as to where the bodies of the victims might have been. Lana followed the hallway she was in until she reached the intersection to another corridor that would take her to the stairwell that led to the security room. Her suit's sensors picked up a slight disturbance in a large room just before the stairwell and as she approached the door to the stairwell, the wall to her left began to pound.
Lana quickly somersaulted back as the wall to her left blew apart in pieces and the body of a Galactic Federation Officer slammed into the opposite wall, streaking blood down as his body fell limp on the floor. Two other officers backed out from the exploded wall firing their laser rifles back into the room. The one closest to Lana yelled over to his partner to retreat and the two turned and stopped in their tracks as they came to face Lana. "Shit. Lt? Lt, the bounty hunter is here to! Please advise." The officer on the COM link was aiming at Lana as his partner covered their back; from the hole in the wall another two officers fell back through, one bleeding from the arm severely.
"I don't want any trouble", Lana said, her arm cannon poised for action as she slowly back peddled to the nearby hallway intersection. The other two officers noticed Lana and immediately took aim.
"Roger that sir," the COM officer said, ignoring the bounty hunter's comment and yelling, "the bounty hunter too!" The other officers split into two groups, two firing back into the hole in the wall and two opening fire on Lana. Lana managed to somersault backwards toward the intersection and disappear around the corner before any real damage could be done to her after a few of the laser shots nicked her armor. She inspected the armor and found just a slight burn mark on one of her shoulders, but none of her suits energy had been depleted. Lana could make out the sound of running footsteps coming toward her as the troops gave chase to her; she quickly turned around and ran back down the hallway.
......
"Sir. There is no sign of the bounty hunter. Do you think she split?" One of the troops asks his superior.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling she's still around. Keep your eyes peeled because I here this little lady can hide in some tight spots, and watch yourself around ventilation ducts", the officer responded, taking an aimless shot at one of the slatted vent covers hanging above the ceiling, creating a smoking hole just beneath one of its screws before the small group of troops continued down the corridor.
Lana sighed in relief as smoke from the recent laser shot clouded the small confines of the ventilation duct as light from the corridor below filtered through the small opening creating a beam of light in the smoke. With the troopers now gone, Lana popped open the vent cover and rolled out and landed on the floor, making her way back to the security room, being extra careful going through the corridor of the space station.
After a few detours around some random fights between the two opposing forces, Lana finally made her way into the familiar security room. Many of the monitor screens still displayed the static that Samus and herself had left them, while others displayed empty blood soaked rooms or the various fights the Galactic Federation were involved in. Lana noticed that on one particular screen, the lights had been dimmed down and a couple of figures could barely be made out. Of the two, Lana could make out blue shoulder pads on one, she tapped the glass and said, "I've got you know Houston."
Lana went back out into the hallway and backtracked to a ventilation shaft down the corridor. Rolling into a morph ball, Lana popped herself up into the ventilation system and began rolling along, keeping her radar tuned to both the direction of the vents and movement around as she didn't want to be caught in a vent in a room that was occupied by one of the two forces. Lana figured if she could use the electrical systems like a map, she could follow the wiring using the least amount of electricity consumption to find the room that Houston was in. The Federation Troops stationed here before the slaughter undoubtedly knew the station like the back of their hands, as she never came upon one map of the place. According to her sensors, there were a few places completely without power, but those didn't matter, she was only interested in the lower powered rooms.
After much hunting and inspection, Lana came upon a room occupied by two people; one of massive girth and the other hidden behind a suit of armor. She rolled toward one of the slatted vents and listened in on what was going on.
"You have tricked us!" Omega Nine said, raising his hands up in disgust, his shoulder turrets arming themselves.
"I am merely trying to make a living. Besides, I am giving you an opportunity to prove your leadership to these mongering space pirates. I've also brought you the bounty huntress. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I wanted YOU to destroy the huntress."
"Kill kin? You must be crazy, I wouldn't dirty my suit with that worthless blood", Houston said mockingly, noticing a sound from the ventilation shaft. "Besides, I think you would have a time trying to kill her yourself", Houston quickly turned toward the air vent and fired a missile. Before Lana could respond, the missile blew a hole in the thin metal and she fell to the floor, sprawling out of her morph ball as she landed. "Omega Nine...meet Lana Aran, daughter of Samus Aran, legendary bounty hunter."
Lana brought herself up to her feet and faced the mock bounty hunter and his friend. Omega Nine's shoulder turrets slightly turned toward the bounty huntress and began speaking, "Your mother caused us many problems and you have also had your share of troublesome interference in our business."
"Well I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better terms", Lana said sarcastically, her mother's witty attitude seemed to be surfacing since the SA-X's arrival into her life. Lana directed her next comment toward the HA-X, "Where's the SA-X?"
"There there now", Houston began, mocking the voice of an old cowboy, "that little lassie has already been taken care of. N' lemme telya, she weren't no eazn one to handle neither." Houston imitated himself firing at some invisible being.
"NO!" Lana shouted.
"Omega Nine. Now is your chance to prove yourself. Take care of this for me", Houston said flicking his hand toward Lana. The HA-X turned and began making his way toward a door and Lana gave chase, but before Lana could make it to the door, the massive space pirate came between her and Houston.
"You're actually going to listen to him?" Lana asked.
"I'll deal with him later. You are my biggest problem right now", he said slamming his humongous fist into an open palm.
"Whatever", Lana muttered as she prepared to battle the monstrous pirate. The Omega pirate wasted no time in attacking and quickly dispatched a few missiles from his shoulder turrets. Lana easily dodged the concussion missiles and responded back with missiles of her own. No sign of damage could be seen after the impact of the missiles and the pirate began lumbering towards her. He raised his arms into the air and with his hands locked together; he slammed his fists into the ground. Bands of dark energy began rippling from the epic-center of the makeshift quake and Lana found herself falling to her knees as the ground shook violently beneath her. Rivets from the metallic floor began shooting from their homes, ricocheting off the ceiling and walls as the floor began to crumple at the site of the pirate's impact.
The pirate fired more missiles from his shoulder turrets and this time they hit their mark. The shield in Lana's suit was able to take the brunt of the impact but at a high cost; an entire energy tank, one of nine, had been lost in the explosion. Lana racked her brain, watching the pirate for his next move when it dawned on her. She waited for the pirate to be firing another round of concussion missiles, and when the pirate started the sequence, Lana charged up a diffusion missile and fired at the turrets. Upon the diffusion missile's explosion, the missile launchers had been frozen over, but the missiles still burned in their tiny shoulder mounted silos. With nowhere to go, the missiles exploded in their own heat and from that explosion, more quickly followed from the missiles neighbors. Lana tore her eyes from the blinding light of the explosion and when she looked back, the Omega pirate's arms were no more. Both arms lay in bloody pools at the pirate's feet, green fire licking at what was once his shoulder turret. The pirate screamed in agony and fell to his knees, two chunks of his upper body had been torn from him and blood ran freely from these large wounds. Lana quickly took care of the pirate and dispatched another diffusion missile at his head, and when the ice particles parted, the pirate lay dead on the floor, his head a fractured mess of frozen skull and metal.
Lana gave chase to the HA-X and exited the door where he had left.