I apolgozei for the tardiness of this chapter. I fully intend to update every Thursday.
In responses to the previous chapter I have been continually surprised that several people asked for descriptions of the alien life forms involved (via several different avenues of communication). Simply put, I never cared. The matter is so tangential to the story that I didn't consider it very important. However, in accordance with what people care about, all future aliens (not including this chapter) will be better described.
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Chapter 3: Sacrifices
Striding through the corridors, Samus quickly made her way toward the main laboratory. She wanted some answers, and she wanted them now. If they wouldn't open the blast doors, she'd blow them open herself.
Rounding a corner, Samus found that something else was already afoot. Instantly she spun back around the corner, pouring over the image in her mind. Monsters had been swarming around the heavy blast doors, but they really weren't doing any damage. Flipping to infrared mode, Samus glanced back in that direction. There was a very hot area near the base of the door, and two more on the sides. What could those be?
Risking a glance around the corner, Samus got an answer to her question. Several monsters were against the blast door, patiently breathing flame onto the door, slowly melting through it. Already they had made their way several feet into the thick doorway. The two other heated areas on the sides were having the same done to them.
[i]They're getting around them,[/i] Samus realized suddenly, with a slight chill. [i]Not only are they breaking through the blast doors, they're tunneling around the other side, to catch them on both ends.[/i]
That wasn't normal alien behavior. All alien life forms discovered to this point weren't capable of higher thought, certainly not a planned attack such as this one. Something was definitely wrong, but Samus didn't want to think about what it could be at the moment. If they managed to break through, they'd slaughter the scientists effortlessly.
Samus came around the corner, both guns blazing. Immediately the monsters turned toward her, though the first ranks had already fallen. Before they could fully charge, Samus fired rockets into each of the side tunnels being burned. Flaming infernos destroyed the monsters within each. Meanwhile, the rest of the monsters were rushing forward toward her.
Out of curiosity, Samus briefly switched to Darklight mode, long enough to confirm that all these monsters were indeed saturated with radiation. Most of them glowed a dull green or blue, so they were probably just contaminated by this station. Then they were near her, and Samus had no more time for such investigations.
Firing a grappling hook directly up, Samus waited until it clamped into the ceiling, then allowed the chain to retract, pulling her above the wave of monsters. From her higher position, Samus continued firing down at the aliens below. Several flying monsters detached at once, then flew at her from opposite directions. It was a planned attack, she realized, and actually coordinated.
Not to be outdone, Samus pulled herself up to the ceiling and activated her magnetic boots. Once upside down with both hands free Samus fired in both directions and destroyed the flying creatures. So this might be a bit tougher, though they didn't have any powerful monsters.
Something caught her from behind, and Samus felt herself propelled across the room, and into the wall. Landing heavily, Samus barely raised a gun in time to blast away the monster leaping at her. With a bit of time to think, she realized what they had done. It had been a surprise attack, and a relatively good one. Much smarter than usual.
Still, they couldn't truly match her in intelligence or firepower. The last of the monsters charged toward her, but were wiped out before they bridged half the distance. Checking the nearby areas with her infrared scope to ensure there were no more, Samus turned back to the blast doors just as they slid open.
An ashen faced scientist stumbled forward, and others soon followed him.
"What's going on here?" Samus demanded. The scientist shook his head numbly for a few seconds before finding his voice.
"This station was attacked by monsters from the nearby planet. They can breath in space, and were apparently launched here. Once inside the station, they slaughtered everyone. Everything is contaminated." He made as if to rush past her, back down the corridor toward the ship.
"Wait." Samus extended an arm in his way, catching him and instantly stopping his momentum. "That doesn't make any sense."
"What do you mean?" he asked nervously.
"How could alien life forms like that escape the planet's gravity? None of them have that sort of flying ability. This space station model automatically broadcasts an SOS if any unidentified objects near it without authorization, but you said you hadn't received any word. Why didn't that happen?
"More importantly, I saw some strange experiments going on in the other labs. What exactly was this station supposed to be researching?"
"I don't know!" he insisted, wringing his hands slightly. "We have to get out of here!"
"I better get that double pay," Samus growled, making him shrink back just slightly.
"Right, right, anything you ask. We'll get to the ship as quickly as possible, you find the Power Core and plant a destructive device. If this station is allowed to continue, the monsters will spread and contaminate the universe!"
"I'll do it," Samus said after some contemplation. "When I get back I expect to get some answers."
"Certainly."
Whirling on a heel, Samus strode down the corridor, letting the scientists go in the opposite direction. If they ran into any monsters, it was their fault. As a mercenary it really wasn't her job to ask questions, but this issue was bugging her. Obviously, she wasn't being told some important details, and that annoyed her more than anything. Who was being less than honest?
In fact, ordinarily Samus would have long ago left a job like this. But this was the Galactic Council, they were essentially good people. Not that there couldn't be bad people within a good organization. Or good people in a bad organization.
As she walked, Samus brought up a diagnostic of her bio suit. Power sources were still running normally, though they were a bit overheated from the recent fighting. Fortunately, they'd cool down quickly. Some rockets were gone, but they probably wouldn't be necessary unless she ran into a truly gigantic life form near the Power Core. The one hit she had taken during the battle had caused 5% damage to her right arm, but most of it was superficial and would be healed by the suit's self repairing function. She was good to go.
Shifting the bio suit around her hand to energy cannon mode, Samus began to run down the corridor. The sooner she made it out of this bizarre mission the better. Quickly she made her way through the station, drawing closer to the Power Core. It was a relatively simple design, actually, and it was inevitable that she would reach the Core itself.
A faint hum began to vibrate her just slightly, as she neared the Core. It sounded like an energy based Power Core, which was a good sign. Those could be destroyed relatively easily. The corridor she was in continued to wrap around itself, and Samus eventually realized it was merely a ring around the room containing the Power Core. So the entrance must not be on this level.
Not having the time to bother going elsewhere, Samus blasted her way through the wall. Ducking through the hole, Samus glanced about the chamber that contained the Power Core carefully. It still appeared to be functioning normally.
For someone who had never seen the central Power Core of a space station, it could be an awe inspiring sight. A long column in the center of the station was merely a tall chamber, designed solely for the purpose of containing the Power Core. The Core itself was a solid blue column of energy that glowed in the center of the room, flying up from a metal base on the floor to a ring on the ceiling. At the very bottom the base of the Core contained numerous computer panels for control of the station's power. Above it, catwalks extended for more specific work, dotted by computer terminals. Samus had seen Power Cores before and ignored it.
Because she had made her own entrance, none of the catwalks were nearby. Jumping from the hole in the wall, Samus activated her jet pack in midair, flying up toward the top of the Power Core. It was probably best to take out the receiving end, as the power surge resulting would wipe out the rest of the station quite efficiently...
Something struck her from the side, tackling her into a nearby wall. Immediately Samus switched off her jet pack and activated her magnetic boots. Now standing on the wall, Samus grappled with her attacker briefly before hurling whatever it was away.
As it flew through the air, the vaguely humanoid alien caught a hold of one of the railings on a lower catwalk, swinging itself around. Flipping through the air, it landed on the catwalk. Somewhat surprised, Samus let herself drop to the nearest catwalk and glanced down at this strange being that had attacked her.
It leapt from the lower catwalk a second later, and to her shock, actually got up to her level with a swift kick. Barely turning aside, Samus managed to catch the attack, but it struck her hand with enough force to cause a bit of pain, even within the bio suit. So it was a powerful alien, then.
Bringing up her gun arm, Samus blasted the thing with a bolt directly in the chest. As it fell back, Samus got a better look. What it really looked like was a young human male that had somehow grown an exoskeleton. Could it be something mutated from all the experiments within the lab?
Just as the creature fell back on the catwalk, it suddenly jerked, pushing itself away from the metal grate and into the air. Its feet, which seemed to still be in boots, slammed into Samus' midriff. Fortunately, her bio suit instantly stabilized, absorbing the force and preventing her from being thrown back. The alien agilely landed on its feet just in time for Samus to smash an elbow into its face.
Putting aside thoughts of the being's relative humanity, Samus leveled her gun at it just as it fell against the railing. Before she could fire, however, it pushed itself off the railing and knocked her arm aside, ramming her in the side. Letting it knock her over, Samus fell back, then immediately whirled on the floor, taking its legs out from beneath it. Even as it was in the air, Samus continued to spin to her feet, slamming a kick into the alien. It was launched over the railing and fell far below.
Disturbing... very disturbing indeed. What had they been doing here? Turning from the catwalk, Samus again used her jet pack to get herself up to the top of the Power Core. Pulling a metal circle from her bio suit, Samus set it against the top of the Power Core and began to set the bomb.
Sweating, the scientist fell into the chair, breathing heavily for a few moments before reaching for the phone at his side. He held the receiver in his hands for a few moments, unwilling to make the call. But it had to be made. There were always sacrifices for any great cause, and he had no doubt that his cause was great.
Quickly dialing the number, the scientist waited as the phone rang...
He let the phone continue to ring, despite the fact that it was on his desk. This call would be an important one, that was certain. Only the most important individuals or issues had access to the private phone within his office. All other calls were handled by his secretary, and by "handled" he meant "ignored." None the less, he allowed the phone to continue ringing, giving the impression he was a very busy man who couldn't be bothered.
His office was worth thousands of Intergalactic Credits, and was extravagant by any standards. The walls were lined with plain, yet tasteful and expensive wallpaper, and dotted by the occasional priceless work of art. He himself hated art, but the art was there for a different reason. Each piece was carefully selected to further his image of a deep-thinking official. Most families could have lived for weeks on the money the thick carpeting was worth. In the center of the room, dimly lit, was the huge desk the man sat at. It was almost as if he was a part of the room, so well did his immaculate grey suit fit with the rest of the decor. Atop the desk there were assorted papers, as well as a plaque labeled "Richard Divel."
On the eighth ring Mr. Divel picked up the phone. Eight was a good number: enough to show that he was plenty busy, but not so many that it seemed he was inattentive.
"Yes?" he asked. On the opposite end of the line he heard heavy breathing.
"Mr. Divel, sir, this is Jamison, the science station was a disaster! We need to take extensive measures immediately!"
"Slow down," Mr. Divel responded calmly. "Explain what happened."
"It's as we feared sir, it's just like Station Ruby. This time it was worse, but we were ready for it."
"Will the situation be contained?"
"Well, yes, sir, but we have another problem. Samus knows more than she should, I think she's figuring out what's going on. When she comes back I'm gonna be forced to answer some tough questions. What can I say?"
Pausing for a moment, Mr. Divel considered his response carefully. "You are correct, drastic action must be taken. We cannot afford to have anyone as dangerous as Miss Aran working against us. Very well, I will handle it."
"What are you going to do, sir?"
"You don't need to know that, Jamison."
"Sorry, sir, I-" Mr. Divel set the phone down, ignoring whatever else was said. Jamison had served a useful purpose, and been helpful in the past, but at this point extreme measures had to be taken. Quickly tapping a few keys, Mr. Divel opened a panel in his desk, revealing a pale blue button. His hand hovered over it.
Sometimes, for a great cause, sacrifices had to be made...
Moving through the corridors toward the ship, Samus again went over her current condition. Though her bio suit had managed to repair most of the superficial damage taken, that mutated creature she'd ran into at the end had caused more extensive damage. Nothing that wouldn't repair automatically, but it would take quite a while.
Nothing got in her way as she moved to the ship, which was strange, considering how many monsters had plagued the station before. She was grateful for it, and didn't question the causes. Lately she'd had too much questioning to do. Along the way, Samus continued to think over all the evidence she had.
Reaching the ship after what seemed to be an eternity, Samus quickly moved through the hatch and into the ship. She was greeted by the group of scientists, all of whom were sitting around in the main lounge of the ship, as if weary from the day's adventures. They weren't through the woods yet.
"Alright, I want some answers," Samus announced to the group. They glanced at her nervously, quite a few of them looking as if they'd rather have seen one of the monsters on the station. Eventually a female scientist worked up her nerve and walked over to Samus.
"As near as we've been able to figure out, Miss Aran-"
"It's Samus."
"Yes, yes. Mistakes were made, the experiments went horribly wrong..."
"That doesn't exactly match your former story. What about..." Samus let the sentence trail off, cocking her head and listening carefully. She heard a faint whine, humming beneath all the ship's operations. A whine that should not have been there.
Suddenly she realized exactly what was happening, and immediately turned, making a break for the door. There was a bomb. She didn't want to think about why or how, but she knew this ship was going to blow and she didn't have long to get out. The doors connecting the ship to the station had already closed, but Samus blasted them open with a rocket, not slowing her run.
For a few moments the scientists milled about, confused and unsure as to what to do. Samus had just disappeared down the corridor when a nigh-cataclysmic explosion ripped through the ship. Dozens of minor explosions blasted through the ship, then the main Power Core exploded, destroying the entire ship in a hail of molten metal.
Inside the station, Samus let her breathing return to normal. That had been far too close. Only a few meters behind her was the endless expanse of space, framed by the destroyed remains of the corridor. Automatically Samus had switched to her own air supply. It would last her a few hours, long enough to let her find a portion of the station that still had air.
One thing she knew for certain: the ship had self destructed. Such an internal blast couldn't have come from anything external. Which meant one of two things, either a self-destruct feature had been activated, or there was sabotage of some sort. The former was unlikely... unless, of course, it had been triggered from a distant location...
"The bomb!" Samus suddenly exclaimed, unintentionally aloud. "C!"
She'd set it to blow in ten minutes, thinking she'd long be away from the station. Now she had a serious problem on her hands. Setting aside her frustration, Samus instead focused on how to get out of the situation. Her air supply and jet pack could probably get her to that planet nearby, but she would have to assume it was habitable. While there was a good chance of that, it wasn't a risk she wanted to take.
The answer was actually relatively simple, and it came to her in a swift revelation. All stations were equipped with escape pods of some sort, it was just a matter of finding them. Whirling, Samus took off down the corridor, trying to remember anything she had glimpsed in maps of the station. If it followed the basic model, the escape pods would be relatively nearby.
If any monsters remained inside the station, they were keeping their distance. Samus was more grateful for that fact than anything else. While she probably had a minute or so she could burn, the last thing she needed was a fight to sap her time.
Eventually Samus got through heavy blast doors that led to the main hanger. As she had expected, no ships were docked there, but there were a few escape pods built into one of the far walls of the station. Launching a grappling magnet across the chamber, Samus pulled herself to one of the escape pods.
Fiddling with the control panel, Samus discovered it was password protected.
"I do not have time for this..." she hissed. Nevertheless, no computer was completely safe. Pulling a small chip from her bio suit, Samus slid it into the terminal. In a few minutes the technological lock pick did its work, and the door to the shuttle opened. Taking time only to grab her computer chip, Samus practically dove into the escape pod and entered a course for the planet below.
Soon she was off, basically falling toward the planet. There was enough fuel in the escape pod to adjust her course if necessary, but little more. The rations within were probably enough to sustain her for a few months, but beyond that she could have a problem. Assuming the planet was inhabitable, however, she could probably send out a distress signal and get off the planet before that occurred.
Looking out the back window of the escape pod, Samus watched the station silently as it retreated into the night sky. Without warning, an explosion ripped the station apart, flames blasting through space in every direction, lighting up the sky momentarily. The blast faded, leaving various surviving bits of metal to fly off in various directions. All that was left of the station was a bit of metal rubble, otherwise undistinguishable from the asteroid ring surrounding the planet.
With a heavy sigh, Samus returned to the front window of the escape pod. The planet loomed beneath, she would come into contact with its atmosphere in under a minute. It was mostly reddish, and a rather large planet for this solar system. No matter, as it didn't appear to be that bad.
Tapping a few keys on the computer terminal, Samus brought up a brief diagnostic of the planet before her. Surprisingly, it had a breathable air supply, and was relatively habitable to human life. Still, there was probably a high degree of radiation, and temperatures seemed to be unnaturally cold. At the moment the bounty hunter was merely grateful she could survive there. It made sense, though, if aliens had originated from the planet it would be relatively hospitable.
"Commencing entry," the ship's voice stated. Sitting down in the chair, Samus strapped herself in and braced for the ride.
The instant they struck the atmosphere, Samus knew it was going to be a difficult journey. All of the shuttle craft began to shake, vibrating slightly and then more as they moved through the atmosphere. Computer scans revealed that the atmosphere was a bit thicker than normal air, resulting in greater resistance.
Gritting her teeth, Samus grimly watched the heat levels of the outside of the craft rise. At this point, there was nothing she could do except wait and hope. It would be so ironic, to die now, after having made it through dozens of monsters and two giant explosions.
Lights began to dim as the outside of the craft began to take heavy damage. In any case, this ship would hardly be space-worthy if it managed to make it to the planet. Everything began to shake harder, and it seemed as if the ship would break apart into every separate component at any moment. Bracing herself, Samus closed her eyes and waited.
A shudder ran through the ship, throwing Samus back against her seat with incredible force. Metal grating against metal was all Samus could hear for a few seconds as the escape pod smashed through the ground. Eventually it came to a stop and Samus breathed a deep sigh of relief: she had made it.
Opening the hatch, Samus crawled from the escape pod and to the planet surface. Planting her feet on the ground, Samus glanced about. Around her was nothing but a desolate landscape, nothing visible as far as the eye could see. A fierce wind whipped past her, blowing sand against her bio suit. The temperature was horribly cold for a while before the bio suit adapted, returning her to a comfortable temperature.
Great. Just great. This was one of the most desolate planets Samus had ever been on. While her ship was still functioning, it undoubtedly couldn't fly. Perhaps she could broadcast an SOS signal and hope someone could find her. Meanwhile, it was a matter of finding better shelter. This was far too open for her tastes.
Locking the escape pod behind her, Samus began walking, in a random direction. All that mattered was not getting lost, but her bio suit's sensors would take care of that. As she went, Samus recorded everything, to make a rough map of the area around her crash site. This situation could become messy quickly. Very messy.
