Toward the dark reaches of space, a small Space Pirate Alliance transport streaked through a field of Space Pirate wreckage, land chunks and various materials put in motion by the destruction of Zebes. For every klick gained with cruise speed engaged, Executive AX7-45 felt the tingle of anticipation fluttering in his stomach amplify. Captain Enforcer-Z9 sat at the controls of the rugged old transport, not expecting any Federation trouble makers but was always prepared for the worst.
"I can only assist you so much, sir. My obedience lies with Commander Phexris now,"
"I understand that, En-Zee. I'm not forcing you to do anything" AX7 replied with his thoughts running elsewhere. En-Zee was fairly uncomfortable with the casualness of the executive's reply.
"Sir, with all due respect, I stuck out my neck for you getting that information. I'd like some… acknowledgement,"
"I thanked you for that, En-Zee,"
"Yes, but now you're pretending it was just a stroke of good luck" En-Zee complained.
"Commander Phexris is a monster, En-Zee. If we slip and allow him to take control of the alliance, we'll lose what civilized attributes we have. Since the beginning of this war the Federation has never even considered us freedom fighters, battling for a cause. At this rate, Phexris will turn the universe into a slaughter house,"
"You've known him for so little time, sir, and yet you make these very large assumptions,"
"I can read a Space Pirate brute like the back of my hand… And Phexris, is nothing more than a Space Pirate brute,"
En-Zee had planned on replying, but a harsh beep from the main navigation console prevented him from doing so.
"We're close,"
"Good. Maybe we can find some missing puzzle pieces" the executive said hopefully. En-Zee flicked down a red switch somewhere off to his left, activating a sonar beacon that not only picked up on other crafts, but detected radio transmissions also. The battle-scathed captain didn't take his eyes of a stray rocky mass heading the ship's way. A graceful twirl brought the small ship below the chunk, and En-Zee released a small sigh of relief. Now they were closer to where the core of Zebes would have been, if it had in fact not been destroyed.
"More segments of that communication relay… and maybe, just maybe we can find direct details of who the message was meant for" AX7 noted to himself, almost as if he didn't know how close to potential destruction the ship came to.
"The beacon's not picking up anything, I think we got the whole message" En-Zee replied. He knew this trip was for nothing. AX7 frowned at the Captain's quick conclusion.
"Oh look, there has to be something around here,"
"Not a trace of… wait…"
En-Zee's voice was tinted with surprise.
The tractor beam heaved in the dismembered mess, the strain tugging on some areas of the body and not others. Once it was sucked through an open hatch through the hull, the invisible beam was deactivated, and the hatch sealed itself shut.
AX7 barraged past a few containment cylinders to the cargo bay, flicked the door open via a switch, and took a step closer to the new discovery, this time slow and cautious. The Executive's eyes were awed.
A frozen coat of jagged blue and white mixed ice shielded the long dead familiar figure. Half of Commander Ridley's dragon body had been destroyed in Zebes's explosion, as the edging torso was crisped with black, frozen ash. A glacier with scattered crimson shades sprouting from the sliced epidermis of the neck trailed down to the left leg, packed with iced over innards.
"What have we found?" En-Zee asked as he engaged in a brisk walk toward the end of the ship. AX7 was unable to take his eyes of the daunting finding, but conjured up a small response.
"Ridley,"
En-Zee dropped his clipper down on the switch, and the ship's sublight engines were engaged as it approached the asteroid field.
"You'll need to think carefully about this, sir,"
"Yes" acknowledge AX7, his thoughts elsewhere.
"Phexris will do everything he can to prevent a memorial for Ridley, it'll set back the soldiers. Are you sure you're doing the right thing? It may not be good morale for them. What if the Federation attacks tomorrow?" En-Zee questioned. AX7's concentration was broken, and his tone was agitated.
"They're brutes, En-Zee. If chucking Phexris out of power means screwing with the soldier's minds, then so be it. Our true power lies with our larger weapons. We just need the labor" AX7 explained.
"They're my soldiers! You can't treat them like waste!" En-Zee countered.
"I have to En-Zee, I can and I will. You'll see it's for the better of things,"
"And is it for the better of things if I decide to take Phexris's view on things?" En-Zee shouted. There was a trembling silence as AX7 shot his bodyguard a degrading stare.
"Don't forget who you are, En-Zee. And don't forget what we're fighting for,"
En-Zee remained quiet as he guided the ship through the assortment of space rocks.
Grainy specks meshed thickly, bouncing across the breeze, and then suddenly whipped in miscellaneous directions at the wind's mercy. The typical and unchangeable weather of the Ershos Dirtlands wasn't any less ferocious during the night, and posed a threat to ships that needed to land. To maintain hidden from the Galactic Federation, only two small red beacons were placed on either side of the submerged hanger. As a deep thrum faded into range, a small and old-model Space Pirate ship hovered forth, in between each of the markers, throbbing red every few seconds, and steadied itself. When Space Pirate control received notification of the ship's presence, the landing bay doors were opened. Masses of dust caved in below the floating ship, diminishing into a dark square aperture below the surface. The aging craft dived in with haste, and the hanger doors then flicked effortlessly back into their original state. Outside, the Dirtlands remained wild as usual, seemingly untouched.
En-Zee shuffled into the pilot's seat, not keen on leaving the ship just yet. AX7 placed a clipped across the back of the seat.
"I apologize for my behavior before, En-Zee. My thoughts were… elsewhere. You can understand,"
En-Zee knew there was no apology necessary, the bodyguard would resume his normal tasks as usual in spite of what thoughts were roaming through his mind. There was however, the issue with Ridley's discovered corpse.
"Of course sir" En-Zee replied emotionlessly. "But my concerns lie with Ridley's corpse. Phexris will jump down our throats if he hears about this,"
"I know" AX7 said. He wandered back through the ship's narrow passenger bay. "The good Commander already suspects we were up to no good out there. Right now any trip to the Zebes site will look suspicious. So we're going to go with a story,"
En-Zee hated keeping secrets within his own circle.
"I don't like the sound of that sir, we may end up in our own bird's nest,"
"That won't happen because nobody else knows about what we found. We went out there, we were hoping to find any information we could about the destruction of Zebes… and we found nothing. Understood?"
"Yes sir,"
"Good. When the time is right I'll tell the brutes about Ridley's body. When Phexris gets riled up about it, I can exploit his lack of respect for Commander Ridley and other Space Pirate icons. I'm aware he's already made that mistake and it's a good start, but we still need to wait, because he's made a strong impression,"
En-Zee clicked an inward mandible, which generally signaled a nervous twitch.
"You want to brainwash the brutes as well, sir?"
"En-Zee," AX7 digressed, "they'll be in safer hands,"
"Right… sir" En-Zee nodded. As AX7 left the ship En-Zee remained still and silent. Now he understood perfectly what was occurring. With his position of power taken away from him, AX7 was prepared to go to great lengths to obtain it again. If AX7 planned to manipulate the soldiers as Phexris had done, then who was truly looking out for the wellbeing and future of the alliance?
The shaded eye slots molded into Phexris's protective mask shifted as the entrance to his private accommodation opened. Another Space Pirate came through, this one coated in a black leathery skin. Phexris eyed En-Zee closely as he sunk himself into a seat on the opposite side of an oblong desk.
"Don't make yourself comfortable, Enforcer-Z9" came the disturbingly raspy voice. "I don't have time for small talk, you came here with an offer and I want to hear about it,"
En-Zee's eyes looked swollen from emotional stress. Possibly a sign of deceit against his former master. En-Zee found it difficult to raise his voice, every second he spent in the Commander's room he felt like a traitorous whelp wiping away any form of integrity he had.
"It has recently come to my attention," the Captain said in a shaky voice, "that AX7-45's hunger for his power back may not be healthy for the alliance. He was a good leader, but now he's been consumed by the idea of control,"
"You want to work for me?" Phexris cut in with a smile beneath his mask.
"No" En-Zee replied abruptly. "I want to try and bring him back. But for now it's probably best if I don't let him get ahead of himself…"
"Why are you here?"
"I trust the alliance will be treated well in your hands for now. AX7-45 needs to realize where his priorities lie. Which is why…"
"I said I didn't have time for small talk, Captain. Either you leave my office, or you get to the point,"
"We found Ridley's body and AX7-45 plans for a memorial, which he knows you'd object to. He'd use your surprise to render you disrespectful toward Space Pirate icons. I'm not sure it would work but I don't want AX7 making the wrong moves if it did…"
"What? Ridley… he was completely destroyed!"
"It seems Ridley tried to flee from Zebes after he realized the planet was going to explode, we found what remained of his corpse…"
"This can't happen; I will not have the fragile minds of the soldiers influenced!" Phexris bellowed as he shot up from his seat. "Ridley was a great Commander but he is in the past now. With those soldiers following his leadership religiously they will never be able to move on if AX7-45 brings the subject up again…"
En-Zee watched the Commander's actions closely. Was Phexris's clipper jabbing into his side because of his anger, or was it because there was a Space Pirate pistol neatly tucked away behind his cape?
"What are you going to do?" En-Zee inquired.
"I'm going to find that corpse and destroy it…"
"Sir!" En-Zee interjected. "Commander Ridley deserves a proper memorial! Maybe it's just better if we wait,"
"Enforcer-Z9, Ridley is dead and his problems are over. Now I've got to think about mine,"
Phexris turned to En-Zee hesitantly. "You've already gone this far, Enforcer-Z9. You've diminished your loyalty toward your master, so now why not complete the job, hmmm?"
"You want me to foil my own master's plans? That won't happen,"
"You've already foiled his plans by coming to me, and he'll find out about indefinitely. Now do you want to be known throughout the alliance as a stool pigeon or a team player?"
En-Zee snorted a chuckle himself. Phexris obviously wasn't a man of his word, and relied on blackmail to skip him through his campaigns.
"If that's the way you want to play the game sir, I don't imagine you'll be around long,"
"The way I play the game, Captain? How is it worse than your traitorous schemes?"
En-Zee growled aggressively, taking a step closer toward his superior. Phexris was intelligent enough to realize En-Zee was a much more competent fighter than himself, and knew better than to go for his pistol.
"Don't like it, do you?" Phexris said with a cocky tone. "However let me remind you Captain, that AX7-45 is in no state to govern a military – something he is rather unfamiliar with. Stay on my side and you'll be doing the alliance well,"
En-Zee snarled as he turned and headed for the door of the quarters.
"The corpse will be destroyed" he muttered bitterly.
AX7-45 leaned forward toward the reinforced transparent viewport, his eyes feasting on the gargantuan beast that he had kept alive. There were times when he would lose track of his work and just stare at the all-powerful bioweapon, absorbing its essence like a work of art. At that moment, the electronic drone of Monitor Station's entrance opening ruined his contemplation, and AX7 was struck with a paroxysm of annoyance with his short patience. He turned resentfully to the hexagonal doorway, expecting to see his bodyguard wander through but instead was stared upon by Commander Phexris himself. Not particularly interested in the visit, AX7 gave the creature one last look and then turned to the attention-demanding swine.
"Commander Phexris, what brings you to my… 'bedroom'…" AX7 inquired, recalling an earlier conversation. Phexris uttered nothing as he approached the viewport alongside the powerless Executive.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Phexris then incoherently said. AX7 raised a leathery and furry strip of crust above his eye, not expecting such words to come from Phexris's mouth. He faced his treasure once again.
"Beautiful is an understatement,"
Phexris kept his eyes locked on the killing machine, but then started on a new note.
"I would say what a good job you've done AX7-45, however that wouldn't be accurate,"
"What are you talking about? It's because of my hard work that Kraid is still alive!"
"No it isn't" Phexris replied quickly with a hint of exultance. "You know Phazon may have enhanced Kraid's abilities, however there's a very special something that saved him from the wounds inflicted by Aran,"
AX7 wouldn't let the Commander manipulate his thoughts.
"No, Commander you are wrong. If it weren't for Phazon there would be no mainstay here with us now,"
"Maybe you should run a scan on Kraid to check for a foreign entity, or as I like to call him, Kraid-X…"
Phexris's cape trailed through the doorway as the ambiguous hints floated through the air behind him. The door closed, and AX7 immediately dived into his seat and activated a scan system. A holoprojector popped up as several purple laser beams within Kraid's dome circulated the sleeping monster, lowering through the large auditorium until they had examined every inch of organic material. A satisfying grin emerged on AX7's roach-like face. There was nothing, Phexris didn't have any idea what he was talking about. The frustrated scientist came up from his seat, and headed toward the door. He stopped in his tracks. Maybe a blood test was necessary to be on the safe side. Walking briskly back to the medical console, he engaged a blood test procedure, which would only take a few seconds. A pointed spine materialized from the divider of the auditorium and pricked neatly into a small area of the dragon's jagged fern green thoracic area. It only took a few seconds to gather the required blood, and the device retreated back into its compartment. The results flooded the holoprojection. The word 'unknown' nested amongst other words in the report, and AX7's eyes were immediately drawn to it. He tapped his clipper on the underlined words 'unknown substance', and an image came up. AX7 couldn't tell what the zoom was, but the measurements were the least of his concerns. A single organism polluted the projection; a wriggling horror that resembled the shape of an 'X'. AX7 froze as his heart refused to beat. Trembling with the realization he had been somehow swindled, he staggered to the viewport, staring at Kraid in a new light. The sleeping beast, coated in dark and light forest greens and murky yellow, hunched over itself almost in a fetal position, shifted up and down with every breath it bellowed. Giant barbs spawned from the base of Kraid-X's spine, and grew larger as they neared his neck. Shoulder blades formed with perfect arcs stretched through the dome, only able to fit in the space by a few meters. Less than two minutes ago AX7 felt as if all this was his own. Now it was different, Phexris had stolen his treasure even before he even had it. With a huge swing, AX7 bashed his clipper against the reinforced viewport, but his force wasn't enough to make it flinch. He stormed toward the door of Monitor Station, with a new agenda in mind. Phexris had vanished from the adjacent corridor, leaving the path to the elevator clear. He gyrated violently away from the viewport, taking giant gasps of air with a bellow rumbling deep within his stomach. There was one thing that could bring Phexris down, but the timing wasn't right. Desperate times, AX7 told himself. He had no choice. He approached the entrance, and proceeded down the corridor to the nearest elevator. Confirming nobody else was in the vicinity, he punched in the level details, and within a few moments the black and silver-aligned doors opened in an iris. Directly ahead of him were maximum security Space Pirate guards, boasting enough weaponry to level a GFMC capital ship. AX7 started toward the transport desperately, but was stopped in his tracks by the barrel of an ominous repeater rifle.
"Executive AX7-45, you are under arrest,"