CHAPTER 1: ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE...

Hunter Log 3837
What kind of setup is this? First, they send me packing, laughing behind my back, now this? They know that I hate formal affairs. I'm a bounty hunter,
not a space marine. I don't have dress whites, nor do I care to. I have very little as far as formal attire…very little use. What good would a dress do in combat? Absolutely none whatsoever. I was not born into the Confederation, therefore the President is not my commander-in-chief. I answer to no one but the one who pays me, and the pay for this past one better be massive like my unknown benefactor had promised…

I give them two hours max, then I'm away again.

Samus out...

Samus' vessel left very little room to change…and her attire, very little to the imagination. Samus only owned one dressy piece of clothing…and it was a
knockout. As she emerged from the craft, the soldiers could only stare. The blonde locks that encased the face featuring the voluptuous red lips. The locks led to an athletic upper frame: defined trapezius muscles
that sloped at easy 25 degree angles, broad, but still feminine shoulders, supporting spaghetti thin straps of a slinky red dress, which happened to show off her "twins", as the other hunters referred to them in their drunken slurs. The scarlet encasement ended halfway down her thighs, which were the epitome of definition. The lights of the hangar shimmered across the muscle curvature of her quadriceps. Her feet were adorned by matching stiletto-heeled shoes.

If she was going in, she was going to make jaws drop.

The only sound heard as Samus entered the facility was the clicking of her heels against the composite metal floors. clipclopclipclopclipclop

Once inside the first door, a marine in his dress whites firmly saluted Samus, but his eyes showed nervous admiration of many different varieties.

"Please, madam hunter, follow me."

"Lead on, soldier," Samus replied with an eyebrow cocked at the young marine.

They walked side by side down a maze of corridors until they reached a compressed door adorned in red, white, and gold.

"Madam hunter, you're solo from here on," blurted the marine.

"Thank you, kind soldier, but that's the way I prefer to work," Samus said, patting the young man on the shoulder.

The marine saluted as Samus entered the room. Inside were five men standing in front of a panoramic window. They all turned to greet their visitor, but the visages of the men showed their surprise at their new guest.

"Samus?...Samus Aran?" asked a man in highly decorated marine dress whites.

He extended his hand.

"Yes sir, Commander," she said, returning the friendly gesture.

The commander, visibly shaken and surprised at Samus' unusually firm grip, straightened his posture and adjusted his collar.

"Samus, this is President James Marucusson of the Confederation." the commander said, stepping aside to make way for the President.

The President extended his hand toward Samus.

"I'm already familiar with him. He's on eighty percent of the public transmissions, and honestly, the reason I turn them off," Samus replied with tact, simply staring at the President's hand.

Clearing his throat, the President uttered, "Ahem! So you are Samus Aran?"

"Yes, Mr. President." she said, finally looking him in the eye.

"From the descriptions of your accomplishments, I was expecting a more…"

"Masculine?" Samus interjected.

Stuttering, the president acknowledged the comment.

"Ah…well, yes. I was expecting a man to be the hero of Zebes...but I guess that isn't the case."

"Well, evidently my benefactor knew what he was ordering when he ordered me to retrieve the baby Metroid," sarcasm boiled from Samus' lips.

"Well, in a way, yes," the president replied.

"What do you mean by that, President?" asked Samus with an edge in her tone.

"Well, our intelligence 'did' point to an attack on Ceres Station by Space Pirates…" said the president matter-of-factly.

"So you knew…" Samus trailed off in disbelief.

"Yes, Samus. We knew."

"And you let all of those people die…" she said, squinting her eyes at the president.

"They were...acceptable losses." said the president firmly.

"Death by treachery is not acceptable, Mr. President. You should have learned that in your military days." Samus replied, inspiring conviction.

"Ms. Aran, I learned quickly the difference between acceptable losses and unplanned casualties of war. There is a difference." said the president with an emotionless tone.

"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!" exclaimed Samus, allowing her emotions to pounce forward at the commander-in-chief.

The president recoiled, as well as the other men in the room. After a moment, she realized what she had done and she quickly sobered from her anger. After a long pause, the President broke the piercing silence.

"I guess you want your pay for your mission on Zebes."

"As soon as I meet my benefactor..." Samus replied calmly.

"I am your benefactor, Ms. Aran." said the president.

"What?" Samus replied with a look of disbelief.

"My staff submitted a list to me of bounty hunters, and I chose you at random. Needless to say, you've done a fine job. For your pay, I will provide you with a new ship, and an updated AI..."

"Mine works just fine, thanks. Money will do." Samus said with resentment.

"I...suppose that can be arranged...I..." the president said, caught off guard by her lack of gratitude.

"Then put it in my account. If you have my file, then you know where the money goes. Goodbye, 'gentlemen'." Samus said as she nodded to the men, then left the room in silence.

She proceeded with an added tempo in her step. As she neared the docking bay, she had already removed her earrings furiously, as well as those annoying high heels. She'd rather go barefoot than wear those torture devices.

Samus finally rounded the last corner to the docking bay when she ran right into another bounty hunter.

In a growling voice he said, "Uggggh...Samus Aran...so you're back? And in quite...good shape, as well."

"Shut up, Shigger." said Samus, staring at the beast's torso.

"Oooh...don't be so mean. You know we all...heh...respect you." Shigger said, shuddering.

"What do you want. Tell me, beast, or I'll move you myself," she replied, still staring forward.

"I...wanted nothing but to...congratulate you...but I wonder...did you find anything on the ship?" Shigger inquired.

"The wrecked ship? CV-10962? On Zebes?" asked Samus, still staring.

"Yyyyesss...that's the one...did you find anything?"

"Nothing of interest to you. Now move, I have places to be," Samus said, shooting a look into Shigger's eyes.

"Tell me, woman...what did you find," probed the giant.

"Stale air, that's about it. Okay. I'll be leaving." Samus said as she tried to push past the seven and a half foot giant, but he grabbed her shoulder.

A bad move on his part... Samus reached behind her head and grabbed his wrist, and in one swift motion, twisted Shigger's hand completely around. He cried out in agony as his grip on Samus was released. She continued toward the docking bay.

Before she reached the door, Shigger had regained his composition and rushed at her, dull thud by dull thud...his feet trudged on the floor. As he neared Samus, she squatted and performed a back layout over the head of the behemoth...and planted the heel of her left shoe right into the axis bone of Shigger's spine. The beast went limp in the air and his momentum carried him into the docking bay doors, smashing them in.

Samus shook her head and pulled her hair back, gathering it with a rubber band and a hairpin. She continued to the door where the massive body lay limp and gurgling. His still alert eyes tracked her as she stepped over his motionless legs and into the docking bay.

Once again, the guards could do nothing but stare...except for one, who approached Shigger and removed the stiletto from his spine.

"Ma'am, you forgot this..." the guard said, running toward Samus with her shoe.

"I don't need it, soldier. As a matter of fact, you can keep this one with it to make a pair," she said as she tossed the other shoe over her shoulder without giving a glance and hopped on top of her ship.

"Finally," she thought. She couldn't wait to fly away in that precious solitude she continuously sought. Samus found peace in silence. There's no one to order her around, no one to belittle her. Ever since the movement nearly five hundred years ago, women had, once again, become an object of persecution and degradation.

"Ship, let's get out of this hellhole."

"Yes, ma'am. Destination?"

"Anywhere but here..."

"Random vector being plotted...proceeding."

As the ship hastily left the station, the comm link began to pulse.

"Samus."

"Ms. Aran, this is the President."

"What now?"

"I would like to apologize for my earlier behavior. Your money has been transferred and it includes a bonus for your trouble."

"Good, that's what I expected. Is that all you contacted me about?"

"Actually, no. I have another job for you. In this mission, money is no object."

"President Marcusson, is this another ploy just to get rid of me, or is this a bonafide mission?"

"It is 100 percent genuine, Ms. Aran."

"Ok, tell me what I need to know."

"I'm sending you the coordinates you need. You will rendezvous with hunter #298 there."

"Understood."

After closing the comm link, Samus sat back in her chair once again with an exaggerated sigh.

"Back to work..."

Samus quickly slipped out of her dress and into her protective undersuit. Piece by piece, she assembled her suit. Boots, leg guards, thoracic and torso plates, chest protector and shoulder pads, then arm protectors...the blaster would be saved until last.

"Ship, how long until we reach the appointed destination?"

"At our current rate...10 minutes."

"Ten minutes?"

"I do not lie, Samus."

"That is awfully close for a dire mission..."

"Destination in sight."

Samus peered out her front port to see an asteroid base. She knew from her graduate studies at the university about this particular station. It was Asteroid Orpheus. A station suddenly abandoned 50 years ago due to an unknown epidemic that swept through its decks. Eventually all of the crew, even those who escaped, died from the unidentified virus. All that is known about the virus is that after infection and initiation of disease, the capsids and viral DNA disappeared. Some of the scientists had actually seen this process under one of the lab supermicroscopes. They had been so fortunate to actually get a working sample, but had had the tragedy enough to see it vanish in front of their eyes.

She donned her visor helmet and arm cannon as her ship slowed to dock with the asteroid. The hatch opened and she climbed into the base. At the other end of the corridor, she saw a figure approaching her.

"Identify yourself."

"Hunter #298, Paul Silverwolf" the figure replied.

"Silverwolf?" Samus replied.

"A new hunter. I was recently transferred to this sector to perform a task for the President," the man explained.

"I, too, was sent here by the President."

"How convenient. That makes my job easier," the hunter barked.

"What exactly is your job?" asked Samus.

Without another word, the other armor clad hunter launched a grappling beam at Samus. She tried to jump out of the way, but the beam connected with her arm cannon. Before long, she was flung through the air by her arm. The beam disengaged and she crashed up against a blast window with a dull cracking sound. She hopped up and tried to respond with a plasma shot, but all her cannon did was sizzle. She looked to examine it and found that the grappling beam fried her extra beam capacity. She was only left with standard blaster shots, her ice, wave, and plasma beams had been disabled. This was definitely a problem. When she looked up, she saw a rocket heading directly toward her.

She desperately jumped to the side and dodged the rocket, but the window was not so fortunate. A silent explosion gave way to the vacuum of space. A screeching sound was heard from beyond the corner. Samus skidded toward the busted window, and as she did, she saw Silverwolf skidding on the floor, as well as his fingers skidding along the wall, digging into the steel plating. As quick assessment showed that Samus still had control of HER grappling beam.

She aimed at Silverwolf and fired. The beam struck him directly in the torso. After a quick look down, Silverwolf shot a desperate look at Samus.

"If I'm going down, you're going with me!"

Suddenly a powerful pull yanked Samus from her feet and she went flying out the window into the vastness of space. Upon the immensely strong tug, Silverwolf also lost his grip and hurtled toward the window. Before he could fly out, he launched his grappling beam and connected with the edge of the corridor by Samus' ship. The sudden stop almost ripped both Samus' and Silverwolf's arms from their sockets. They floated helplessly in space by their beams, which would eventually deplete their cells with constant use like this. Samus, already being in space, knew that she was no longer in the current pulling objects from the base. She gathered her strength and yanked on her beam as hard as she could. She flew past Silverwolf and traded glances with him as she did. The fear in his eyes was indescribable, a tell-tale sign of a rookie. As she flew past him, her beam crossed his beam.

A side effect of crossed grappling beams is a result called "beam redisbursal". The beams cross paths and switch grappling points. After the cross, Samus was connected to the corridor and Silverwolf flew out the window...connected to himself. Samus retracted her beam until she reached the corridor and entered her ship.

"Nothing but a backstab. NOTHING BUT A BACKSTAB!" Samus repeated to herself. She reached for the comm link button to recall the last message. It buzzed for a moment, then a voice answered.

"This is Marcusson."

"You bastard...you set me up..."

"No, Samus, I did not set you up."

"Then explain yourself, or you'll suffer the same fate as that hunter..."

"Samus, there was been a rebellion of a faction of hunters."

"A hunter rebellion?"

"Yes, a rebellion. A division of hunters from the Sigma Quadrant disagree with a woman being in the elite ranks of the hunters."

"They don't want me here, then. And they're willing to rebel over that..."

"Yes, evidently they are. We think there is more behind this, however. We have sources that tell us that they were on Zebes at the same time you were."

"On Zebes? You've got to be kidding."

"No, Ms. Aran, and we believe they tried to...salvage anything they could find."

"You don't think..."

"I believe that they are in league with the Space Pirates."

"...allegiance to the highest bidder...I wonder..."

"Samus, you must return to Zebes."

"Return? Wasn't it vaporized?"

"No, Samus. The self-destruct sequence was meant to blast the planet into sections that would allow reconstruction after a cataclysm."

"They're going to rebuild..."

"It is time, Ms. Aran. You will encounter a shipbuilding station on the way. Please, stop there and upgrade your weaponry and your ship. You'll need it."

"Understood, Samus out... Ship...time to return to familiar territory..."

"Already plotted, ma'am. Setting out."