METROID: EMENDATION OF AGES

PROLOGUE LOG ENTRY 926
The flux capacitor wasn't as advanced as I had hoped. Time travel has come along way since this thing was made. Modern devices took much of the bodily stress out of jumping, but not this one. I feel like I've been hit by a star cruiser. Something is wrong in the lab, however. No one is here, and there is no evidence that anyone ever has been. The silence is creepy. What is going on?

Lita out…
Lita scanned the room. All of the controls, all of the displays, all of the equipment was unmanned.

She checked her chronograph. It had only been two minutes from when she had originally jumped to the past. So where was everyone?

"This just isn't right," Lita thought to herself.

She weaved through the 'Jump Room', as it had been labeled, and exited into the hallway, which was eerily in the same condition as her last location.

The hallways were usually a superhighway of engineers, scientists, and timecops, but not this time.

Lita continued down the hall until she came upon the data terminal.

She pulled out a small headset from a compartment on the terminal and placed it over her ears.

She adjusted the microphone.

"Search Marcusson," she said.

SEARCHING….

…..

…..

RESULT NOT FOUND…

READY…

"No. That's not right. Computer, search James Marcusson," Lita said.

SEARCHING…

…..

…..

RESULT NOT FOUND…

READY…

"This can't search Samus Aran," Lita tried.

SEARCHING….

…..

…..

RESULT FOUND…

SUBJECT: SAMUS ARAN
STATUS: DECEASED, COMBAT
PROFILE: TWO STAR GALACTIC FEDERATION GENERAL SAMUS ARAN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY VICTORIES IN THE FEDERATION'S MOVEMENT TO ELIMINATE SPACE PIRACY. ARAN ROSE QUICKLY IN THE RANKS OF THE MILITARY THROUGH CONSTANT SUCCESS IN TAKING PART IN AND LEADING MULTIPLE RAIDS ON PIRATE STRONGHOLDS. AFTER ARAN'S PROMOTION TO TWO STAR GENERAL, SHE WAS ORDERED TO TAKE TEN DIVISIONS TO THE ALIMBIC CLUSTER. ALTHOUGH SHE PROTESTED SHARPLY, SHE OBEYED HER COMMANDING OFFICER AND PROCEEDED WITH THE OPERATION. UPON ARRIVAL, ALL TEN DIVISIONS, INCLUDING GENERAL ARAN WERE SLAUGHTERED BY SCORES OF BOUNTY HUNTERS.

END PROFILE…

READY…

"N….no….that can't be…then how….I can't…." Lita stammered as she began to cry, "Computer, search…Adam Malkovich."

SEARCHING…

…..

…..

RESULT FOUND…

SUBJECT: ADAM MALKOVICH
STATUS: CURRENT
PROFILE: AFTER GARNERING ACCLAIM AS A WAR HERO, MALKOVICH WAS HONORABLY DISCHARGED DUE TO INJURIES SUSTAINED IN BATTLE. MALKOVICH CONTINUED TO OFFER MILITARY ADVICE TO THE GALACTIC FEDERATION UNTIL THE ALIMBIC AFFAIR. MALKOVICH NOW RESIDES ON THE PLANET VHAZON.

END PROFILE…

READY…

Tears streamed down Lita's red hot cheeks.

"I thanked her by changing the past and getting her killed…" Lita said aloud to invisible ears.

Her only hope was to find Adam Malkovich…

As Lita turned from the console, she felt herself swoon a bit. She braced herself against the nearest wall as she felt her knees give way.

She collapsed to the floor and squinted as a cacophony filled her cranium. Beeps, buzzes, sirens and other erratic noises pierced her consciousness.

Tears flowed from her eyes as she began to lose composure. She clutched the sides of her head as if she were trying to keep it from splitting apart.

Lita inhaled sharply preparing for a sanity expelling scream...

then there was silence...

Lita opened her eyes and her vision returned from blurred to sharp. She lifted up off of the ground and noticed a few drops of blood. She checked her head, but there were no gashes or cuts. As she lowered her hand, another drop hit her finger. She checked her ear. A crimson smear revealed the source. Both of her ears had started bleeding during the...situation.

In the still air of the station, Lita heard something beeping.

At first, she recoiled, fearing another painful episode, but realized that is was a communication console in another room.

She took her time and gathered her composure as she wandered into the room.

There were two signals: one was coming from a moon circling Planet Vhazon...

the other came from the Rho Quadrant...

CHAPTER 1

LOG ENTRY 927

Two random signals and still not a person to be found… Now what? It makes me wonder if there are any ships left…

If Adam is still on Vhazon, then I'd probably be best trying to respond to that signal.

Lita out…

From the communications console, Lita pulled up the main desktop.

She clicked on the hangar inventory icon.

A small error window popped up with a white X inside a red circle.

"Stupid Windows…why couldn't the programmers update when the new OS's came out 25 years ago?" Lita grumbled.

She quickly bypassed the error and pulled up the hangar layout.

All bays were empty with the exception of one: a lightweight spy craft used for covert ops. It was lightly armed and heavily cloaked for maximum stealth.

It would have to do.

Vhazon was nearly half a lightyear away, and Lita knew she would need to go into light animation for the ten hour journey. She also knew that any modern day quest without the knowledge or support of her battalion warranted heavy preparation…and supplies.

Lita ventured down the hallway and came to a pressurized door with a palm plate.

She placed her hand on the frigid scanner and the door hissed.

As she entered the room, she sighed in ecstasy at the multitude of racks filled with all sorts of weaponry. Pulse rifles, plasma pistols, rocket launchers, SPG's, RPG's, and mini-MAC's…a militant's dream.

Lita helped herself to nearly one of everything. She carried all of the weapons to the hangar, and then returned to gather plenty of ammo boxes. She would not run short of "supplies" on this trip.

After checking all of her supplies and each of the consoles inside the ship, Lita sent the command to disengage the hold on the craft and open the hanger bay doors.

Not too long afterward, she felt woozy. Multicolored "blind spots" appeared in her vision. She blinked rapidly and forcefully, trying to make them go away, but to no avail. Moment after moment, the spots grew larger until her entire scope was undistinguishable.

Suddenly the bright colors vanished and she saw nothing but black. Then she felt a sharp pain in her back. She turned to face the source, but still only beheld the darkness. A blunt strike on the side of her skull sent her reeling to the side, but another sharp pain in her side sent her back. The pains and strikes kept occurring more and more frequently until Lita felt like she had actually been cast into the deepest ring of hell.

Finally her body jolted and she felt cold…no, she wasn't cold…the floor was cold…

Her vision returned as she stared sideways across the floor of the ship. The cold metal chilled her skin, and felt as if it might stick as she tried to right herself.

"What is happening to me?" she asked herself.

The ship had drifted freely into the side of the hangar. That must have been what brought her back to reality.

Lita went to the front of the ship and ordered it to import the coordinates for the signal from the Vhazonian moon. She then worked her way back to the cryopod for some much desired sleep.

Not only had the time travel caused her severe fatigue, the two "episodes" she had experienced after her return felt like hours a piece.

She blinked her eyes once and saw the frost gather on the inside of the glass…then unconsciousness.

Silence…

Deadly silence…

This isn't good…

Even with these brave soldiers, I don't think I'll make it out of here easily…

The walls are turning a blood red color and look to be turning moist…

None of our communicators seem to be working, and there doesn't seem to be a passage out of this room…including our point of entry…which seems to be nonexistent…

I only hope the fleet knew our last whereabouts so they can track our location…

All we can do is wait…