CHAPTER 4
HUNTER
LOG 3855
Note to self...never leave the
helmet behind... That makes me wonder what would have happened if I
had been without it when I fell in the ship on Zebes...
Something is definitely going on. The explosions at the Delta and Alpha hunter combines...then reports coming in over the public com links saying that Beta and Gamma have been hit as well. President Marcusson is dead...
The strikes don't resemble those by pirates, so that should rule them out...but who would carry out such a massive assault against bounty hunters specifically?
And who was "she"?
Samus out...
Samus cut off the
link for her log as she rubbed the back of her skull with her other
hand. There was a rather large lump, sensitive to the touch. Her
vision had begun to return to her. She was fine in the dark, but
would still probably struggle a bit in lighted environments.
"Grady, how far are we from Beta Outpost?" asked Samus.
"Just on the other side of this asteroid belt, ma'am,"
"Asteroid belt?" she questioned.
Just as she finished her sentence, the ship started banging and clanging.
"There is more debris here than I expected. Something has disrupted the field... Scanning for results..."
Through the front glass, Samus saw the asteroid debris clear...aimed directly at the ship was the massive primary MAC gun of Beta Outpost.
"Scanning complete. Judging from the heat readings, the MAC gun was fired recently,"
"Is there any damage to the outpost?" Samus asked.
"None, ma'am. I've gained clearance to dock,"
"Fine. Go ahead, Grady..." Samus trailed off as she brought up displays of side and rear views.
"Looking for something, ma'am?"
"Nothing in particular..." Samus said, trailing off again.
Grady brought the ship into the massive hangar and sat it down. The bright lights inside were already grating on Samus' head. She wasn't ready to go out in that yet as she was. She grabbed her helmet and adjusted the visor to dim the lights.
After donning the helmet, she exited the ship.
"Ah! A hunter! It's good to see you! We had quite a scare earlier, especially with what's going on at the combines," said a man as he approached Samus.
"I guess so. I see you had to fire your MAC," Samus remarked.
"Yeah! It was incredible, it moved the entire outpost! I...AHEM!...sorry, it was my first time to be here when it was fired. Our motion sensors detected an unidentified ship, but our visible scanners didn't pick up anything. We couldn't confirm movement with an actual visual, but we did manage to detect a small heat signature. I registered only about the size of an open palm on our scanner. After a few moments of failed communication, we fired the MAC," explained the man.
"Did it hit anything?" Samus asked.
"After it entered the asteroid field, we lost track of it. The heat signature was no longer detected, however, so we consider it a success," the man said.
"It depends on how you define success. That thing could still be out there," Samus said.
"And we'll be ready with our MAC gun. Nobody or nothing can penetrate Beta Outpost's defenses. That's why we're the strongest outpost in this region of space! There IS a reason why we're the only installation that hasn't been assaulted," the man said arrogantly.
"It COULD be that you aren't a main hub for housing hunters," Samus offered.
"You know that's not it," the man said as she turned to exit the bay.
"You don't know half of what I know..." Samus thought to herself.
The inhabitants of the Beta Outpost were as naive as a child in a boarding school, and cocky to boot. Whatever was going on was like a large game of chess. The opposing force had whittled the Confederation down to their King, but had not placed a checkmate. The firing of the MAC gun may have assured the Beta Outpost another "turn", but there are other pieces out there to put it into its final check.
Just as Samus had begun to exit the bay, a tone started sounding and a voice came over the intercom system.
"All hands on deck, prepare to dock a heavily damaged small cargo vessel. Clear landing space and prepare medical crews!"
All of those in the dock began scurrying around, moving ships to the edges of the bay. A group of men and women dressed in white entered the bay, prepped with their small medical kits. Samus turned to face out of the deck.
Before long, a small cargo carrier emerged from the asteroid belt. It was steadily falling, and the back hatch of the ship was blazing with the bright orange of freshly melted metal. Before long, it finally completed its approach, skidding on the floor of the docking bay. Sparks flew as she ship turned sideways and rolled three-quarters onto its top, breaking off one wing and coming to a stop.
Without missing a beat, the medics ran toward the cockpit as the docking bay hands were cutting out an entryway to the bridge.
Something didn't fare well with Samus. It was all too convenient for a damaged Confederation cargo ship to come out of the asteroid field into which a MAC round was fired. She decided to wait until things played out.
As soon as the hole had been cut in the ship, a young woman jumped out, clutching her arm.
"You guys are NUTS! I'm a Confederation cargo ship! Why are you shooting at ME!" she screamed.
The crew was totally confused.
"You completely destroyed my cargo! I have nothing left! What am I supposed to do now!" she exclaimed.
Everyone was still silent.
"SOMEBODY SAY SOMETHING!" she yelled.
"Uh, excuse me, madam, but are you saying that you were hit by our MAC round?" the man from before asked.
"MAC round, bullet, big FREAKING piece of metal, call it what you want! You SHOT at me!" she continued to raise her voice.
"We apologize, madam. We tried to establish communication with you..." the man started.
"My instruments were getting interference from inside the asteroid belt! I couldn't possibly have received incoming messages! What is your name?" she punctuated.
"I am Chief Operations Engineer Dan Horizon, madam," he said.
"Well, Mr. Horizon, Mr. Chief Operations Engineer, you can take me to your superiors so I can have your carcass thrown out there for shooting a Confederation cargo ship without confirming your target!" she exclaimed, pointing into space.
"Y-yes, madam," Horizon said red-faced.
Horizon took the lead as the woman followed him out of the bay. They were nearly to the door when the woman stopped next to Samus and stared at her.
She was nearly the same height as Samus, seemingly in her mid-20's.
The woman looked directly into Samus' visor. She squinted to try to see inside, but saw nothing but her own reflection in the dimmed facemask.
Unbeknownst to the woman, Samus was looking intently as well. Something was familiar about this pilot. She couldn't place it. It wasn't necessarily her eyes or nose or mouth...nothing totally in particular...but there was something about her. The thought gave Samus chills as bumps formed on her skin inside her suit.
After a moment that seemed to last for hours, the woman finally turned and continued out the door at the beckoning of Horizon. Before exiting, she shot one last glance at Samus, and Samus returned the favor. Then the door was shut.
Samus walked over to the cargo ship. The build was consistent with a Confederation vessel, but something seemed wrong. She continued around until she got to the damaged section. The MAC round had plunged into the cargo area, but it was noticeably smaller than other cargo ships Samus had seen. In addition, there were no cargo straps or any means of securing any type of box or container.
In the midst of the silvery-white metal, Samus noticed something red toward the door of the cargo hold. When she picked it up, she immediately recognized it. It was a military issue timer mine; however, this one had been tampered with. The timer chronograph had been altered to where the time could be set for over two hours.
This set off an alarm in Samus' head. There had been no infiltrator in the combines at the time of the explosions...by the time the devices detonated, the culprit was long gone, which would get hunters pointing fingers at each other.
That might explain the method of attack, but there was nothing pointing toward a motive except for the fact that they had transmitted a signal asking for Samus...and that woman...
