Chapter 3

Explanations

"The Chozo were right. You ssssee, our weapon… It turned out to be more then we could deal withhhh… Our eldersss had made it not ssso much of a weapon assss a power, a deadly forcsssse, that when unleasssshed, it overpowered not only the Chozo, but ussss asss well. All life on the planet wasss dessssstroyed. That isss why the planet issss dead."

"Figures," Samus commented.

"Then why," asked Adam, "has it not destroyed more of this galaxy? I would think that a power strong enough to wipe out a planet guarded by two ancient and wise peoples…"

"Ancient and… wisssse?" The V'lla laughed, a sound like a large volume of high-pressure gas escaping from a pipeline in a series of short bursts. "Yessss…. The Chozo perhapssss. But not ussss. We created thissss dessstructive forcssse, and we could not control it… As for your quessstion, odd computerized being…"

"Adam," Samus said. "Remember that name, as he will most likely piss you off quite a few times before we're done here."

"Pissssss… me off?"

"Make you angry," Adam hurriedly explained.

"Ahhh. Yessss… Well, as for your question, Adam, the containment of the power isssss the work of the Chozo. Mosssst of my people fled the planet when the power wassss unleasssshed, but the Chozo ssssstayed. They sssstayed and sssssacrificed their livesss to the Power sssso they could build a sssseal. Thissss ssseal sssstopped the Power, and it remainssss on our planet hhhholding it back to thissss day. Oddly enough," Tsyr'llrash continued with a concerned and puzzled expression, "Even the Chozo who ssssurvived after the built the ssseal did not leave… They ssstayed on the planet and died. Whether of sssstarvation from issssolation on sssuch a bare planet or from ssssome effect of the Power, we are not ssssure."

"The Chozo obviously have some obsession with sealing stuff." Samus couldn't help making a gruff remark even in a serious moment.

"The sssseal hassss been undisssturbed for many, many, yearssss… But now, sssomeone ssseeksss to disssturb it. That, Hhhunter, isss where you come in…"

"Why should I help you?" Samus began, "I'm finally getting a vacation…"

"Haha… that's what they're calling it now… Face it, Samus, they gave you the boot…"

"Shut up, Adam. Anyway, give me one good reason why I should help you."

"Other, of course, then the whole 'It will wipe out civilization as we know it' stuff. Apparently, Samus doesn't care, and she hasn't realized yet that 'civilization as we know it' includes her. Sorry, she's kind of slow when it comes to things that don't involve violence…"

"Adam, this is gonna involve violence pretty soon if you don't shut your digital trap."

"Well, Hhhhunter," Tsyr'llrash interrupted their exchange, "I believe the identity of the dissturbersss of the sssseal may have ssssome… persssonal interessst to you…"

"Who?"

"The Sssssspace Piratesssss…"

Everyone in the room could see Samus's widening grin through her helmet.

"Ummm, Samus? Are you… OK?" Adam's voice was hesitant and somewhat nervous.

"Heh heh heh… I've been waiting for a chance like this. I haven't kicked some Space Pirate ass in entirely too long of a time. I'm in."

The V'lla version of a smile dawned on the messenger's face. "Exsssscellent… When can we depart?"

"As soon as possible. This is gonna be fun…" Samus's apparent glee was starting to seriously unnerve Adam. "I'll go pack the ship and get it ready."

Adam sighed. "She has a one-track mind…"

"General, we'll be arriving at Vweilu fairly soon. I recommend you prepare yourself for the exit from D-space."

Forcystus nodded at his pilot respecfully and complied with his suggestion, but the truth was there was entirely too much on Forcystus's mind to consider run-of-the-mill ship procedure important. The moment we arrive, the Hunter is going to open fire at us. She is not of the disposition to trust Space Pirates, and I do not blame her. We will have to use force to get her to listen. I'm playing with fire here, and if I'm not careful, the entire galaxy will want nothing more then to have me dead. He glanced at Sephiter, calmly sitting in the pilot's seat, guiding the ship on its pre-realspace preparations, and his thoughts turned to his team. Why do they follow me still? I have withheld no truth from them, and they know as well as I do that we are quite possibly going to our deaths. Why have they not returned to the Conglomerate?

"Is something troubling you, General?" Sephiter's voice was concerned.

Forcystus smiled. "Nothing that should concern you, if it hasn't already. You know as well as I that we may not come out of this mission with our lives, or our honor, intact. Why do you follow me? Why does Wraythe? Why does anyone? We risk the displeasure of the Conglomerate now more than ever, and now we are willingly involving the Hunter in this. The Hunter, who is more dangerous to any Space Pirate than Ceberus ever could be."

"General, I cannot speak for the troops, but Wraythe and I have long shared your dream of seeing our race returned to honor and nobility. I cannot serve the Connglomerate under Mother Brain." A pained look crossed his face. "There is also the matter of… retribution. Father would… not approve, but I must."

Forcystus's expression was one of empathy. "Ah yes, your father… I will see that you have your vengence, Lieutenant."

"And I will follow you to the ends of the galaxy, General. Which is right about where we're going to be in a few millicycles." He held down the intercom button. "All personnel, prepare to revert to realspace. T-minus 5…. 4…. 3…. 2…. 1…."

As the countdown ended, Forcystus gripped his command chair while the ship shuddered and jolted, returning to realspace. Forcystus's stomach felt like it had just flipped over in his torso and knocked around several other internal organs in the process. It always felt like that during D-jumps.

IAh, displacement jumps/I Forcystus thought. II don't think I'll ever get used to those./I

Displacement jumps, or D-jumps as most called them, were the chosen method of long-distance spacetravel by most space-capable beings. If the galaxy was traversed at sub-light speeds, it would be impossible to navigate the great distances that seperated star systems, so of course, the ancient people devoted themselves to finding a way to break the light barrier. Unfortunately, it had been decided long ago that the laws of physics did not permit an object to travel at the speed of light or above, so the ancients spent many years searching for a solution. The solution they chose, of course, had been the simplest. They simply built a new universe, one in which those pesky laws of physics did not apply.

The ancients had recently perfected singularity and wormhole technology, so transdimentional meddling was perfectly feasible. Creating a new dimention was not an easy thing, however, and the immense power rumored to be consumed by the 12 mammoth singularity generators the ancients used was unrivaled in any project in the history of civilization. It was said that the economy and resources of the ancients were crippled by this act, but the result was that a new universe was created, one that was close enough to ours to be reached with a basic singularity phaser that could be mounted on any capital ship class spacecraft. They called the new universe D-space, for displacement space. Apart from the ships that popped in and out of D-space occasionally, the alternate dimension was completely empty; devoid of air, water, or material of any sort. Becoming lost in D-space was not something that one aspired to accomplish.

Recent advances allowed a smaller version of the displacement phaser to be affixed to gunship-size craft like Forcystus's ship. This allowed Forcystus to roam the galaxy freely without the aid of a larger Space Pirate frigate or battleship. This was instrumental in both his role as special ops general and his plan to overthrow Ceberus. He didn't like D-jumping, but he couldn't do without it.

Forcystus peered out at the dusty brown world of Vweilu, looming ever larger in the viewport as they descended toward the space garage. Unexpectedly, he saw a pair of points of light headed away from the planet as they descended.

"General?"

"Yes, Wraythe?" Forcystus turned to his trusted technopath and right-hand Pirate as she peered into the cockpit.

"Samus's ship has left the spaceport."

"What?" Forcystus's attention turned to the two ships heading away from the planet. "Get me an ID on those ships."

"Yes, sir. Scanning now." Wraythe tapped out a few more commands on the computer interface. "One is a positive identification as Samus's gunship. The other is some sort of fightercraft, unknown design and origin."

Forcystus peered at the fighter's hologram as it showed up on-screen. It was an odd, claw-shaped craft, with five curved spines surrounding the bubble-like cockpit. A tail-like aperture stretched some distance from the rear of the ship, probably for maneuvering.

"Someone got to her before us," Forcystus stated, perfectly calmly. He turned to Wraythe. "Prepare a tracer probe."

"Yes sir."

After a short pause, Wraythe reported the tracer program had been loaded into the probe. "Alright, Sephiter," Forcystus continued, "You know what to do."

Sephiter smiled as he pulled back on the throttle lever on the instrument panel, The ship accelerated rapidly, pulling behind Samus's ship in a burst of speed, its narrow profile, dark coloring, and advanced stealth technology keeping it hidden.

"Missiles loaded, General. Preparing to fire."