An explosion echoed throughout the chamber. Space Pirates poured through the hole in the wall, wearing a kind of armor Samus had never seen before. She fired at one of them anyway, testing the strengths and weaknesses of the new design. The beam bounced straight back at her.
Dodging both her own and the enemy's shots, she planted a missile straight in the Pirate's chest, hearing a satisfying sound as the enemy flew across the room in pieces. Pieces, she noted, that didn't last very long. The Anti-Metroids had absorbed most of the building, and the structure was likely to collapse at any moment. Sparing a moment to glance at Link, she saw he had already downed his third foe. She had to remember to find out what he did to those swords – they seemed sharper than their energy-based counterparts. She made a few more dents in the Space Pirates, then, nodding to Link, grabbed the scientists and ran.
They reached the ship in a few minutes, and climbed aboard. Their ship was off before the Pirates could give chase, and Samus brought the weapons up to bear. "We can finish both of them with one shot," she muttered, pulling the trigger.
The building had been on the verge of collapse, but that was no longer an issue. There was no longer a building. Nor were there very many Space Pirates. Most of them had been killed in the blast, and those few that survived didn't appear to be in any shape to come after them. The Anti-Metroids were splattered all over the surrounding area, though they showed no signs of damage- the parts with cores intact began to reform, and the rest of the mass simply lay there.
Not bothering with another shot from the ship, Samus emerged from the ship and neatly shot a plasma beam through the center of each remaining creature. She shook her head to clear the doubts of a moment ago. The creatures weren't even as difficult to kill as Metroids, and she had done well enough against those. Now the hard part came – finding the rest of them and destroying them.
"Can we find out where these things came from?" Samus asked the scientist who had lost her suit previously.
"We'd need to find a different group of them, and calculate their trajectory. Then we could narrow it down to a strip of about three systems at the first stop, increasing the further we go from-"
Link had already programmed a different destination into the computer, one Samus had never seen before. She looked at him questioningly, but nodded.
The trip passed quickly, and the ship emerged above a world so ravaged that Samus could scarcely tell what it had once been. She landed the ship far away from any signs of life, since on the descent she saw beings that could only be hostile.
Link tossed her a small blue sphere, then practically ran out of the hatch, eager for something. Samus followed, but turned to the scientists as she did. "Stay here," she instructed them, "it may be dangerous." As she emerged, Link handed another trinket- this one a small hand mirror. She looked into it, confused, and saw only her own reflection, but got the distinct impression everything around her had changed. When she looked up again, she was surrounded by beautiful stone buildings and vegetation. It was a scene right out of history books- an idealistic painting of life before computers and machinery, where everything was done by hand. And yet she was standing in it.
"What is this, a hologram? Or was that whole thing coming in just a very elaborate illusion?"
"Neither," a soldier came up behind them, wearing, of all things, a set of loose fitting steel armor that wouldn't stop a single Power Beam shot, and carrying a wooden spear. Obviously, this place was very ceremonial. She couldn't see the real guards, though, which meant they were very good.
"Each one is a separate world, with only a very few methods of traveling between them. For some reason, spaceships land in the Dark World, which has saved us the trouble of hiding. If you will come with me, please."
The escort led Samus to a large chamber. The furnishings were quite obviously antique, but Samus had to wonder how anyone had lived like this. She sat down nonetheless, if only to set her hosts at ease. As she waited, she heard Link talking with another person – that is, from the way the speaker responded, he was talking to someone, and Link was the only person who could stand next to two people and only have one hear him. An entire entryway would certainly muffle that voice.
"You need what? Well, of course, we have been holding it for you, but it was secured. You should have the Triforce of Courage within a couple of hours?"
"The princess is currently enjoying our hospitality, but she was with you until recently, so I'd imagine you know of more of her exploits than I do."
"Yes, of course, we can arrange for our Hero to have access."
"No news of him yet, but he will have to return soon for what he left behind. The Triforce of Power's pull is difficult to resist."
Link emerged once again from the conference hall, this time deigning to speak to Samus directly. "Come with me."
Once they were in the courtyard, Link handed her a roll of some kind of leaf. "I need you to follow this map and see what you can find. Make sure you keep the Moon Pearl and Magic Mirror. The portal should be back the way near where we came in. Please?" Samus had turned and started marching back the way they came before she heard the last note. Taking orders, as long as they made sense, was part of her job description, but giving them likely wasn't in Link's. He seemed to either wait for the offer or ask. One way to make friends, she supposed.
When she had traveled far enough away to orient herself based on the castle's position, she unrolled the leaf , looking for a terminal or datachip. She found nothing and, puzzled, examined it closer. To her surprise, she found the map actually inscribed on the leaf. "Quaint," she muttered, twisting around until she found the castle on it.