CHAPTER 10

LOG ENTRY 935

The change in Cade was dramatic. He's always been cowardly, but in a flash, he was a killing machine. He literally moved so quickly, I couldn't see him.

What baffles me even more is that "the keeper" seemed to realize a connection among the three of us. I knew Samus and I were connected, but I didn't even know about Cade…

Lita out…

Cade helped Samus up.

"Now what?" he asked.

"We need to take that fuel cell to the ship so we can get the heck off of this planet," Lita said.

"Fuel cell? That's what this is?" Samus nearly choked.

"Don't worry. It's not radioactive. It's a new kind of energy, clean and extremely potent, yet entirely stable," Lita explained.

"What is it?" Samus was perplexed.

"Vilonium…" Lita sighed, then started walking out of the cave.

The entire way to the ship, Cade was silent. He still held the fuel cell, and his arm still dripped with entrails.

When the trio arrived at the ship, Cade froze and slowly looked around.

"What's wrong, Cade?" Lita asked, only to be silenced by a finger to her lips.

"Take this and do what you have to do, but do it quickly, we're in a trap…" Cade said.

"So you see it, too…" Samus remarked.

"Yeah, I'll go left…" Cade whispered.

"Right," Samus breathed as she moved to the right.

Lita wanted to say something, but only stood silently. She looked to Cade for a response, and he shot her a look that screamed "HURRY!".

She tripped backwards over a broken vine and crashed to the ground under the fuel cell. Knowing this was where she needed to be anyway, she rolled the cell along the ground and crept under the ship. She touched a hatch that decompressed and slid away revealing a slightly large cylindrical opening. Lita lifted the cell to the opening where a vacuum took hold. The container was sucked inside and the hatch closed.

A breeze began blowing in Lita's face as she ship rose to a hover.

Suddenly, plasma shots filled the air as humanoid creatures with pincer-like arms jumped from the foliage.

Out of nowhere, a body landed next to Lita. The creature had a greenish carapace and its head had nearly been torn from its body. She looked up to behold a group of the creatures attacking Cade.

He grabbed them one by one and was dashing them into the ground and tossing them into the air.

Lita's attention was diverted by a stray plasma blast. She turned her head to see Samus blasting holes into a plethora of creatures.

Samus screamed toward Lita, "Are we set to go?"

"Yeah! Should be! Let me open the cabin!" Lita returned.

"Get on with it! These pirates are eventually going to get to us!" Cade yelled.

Lita nodded as she pulled herself up from the ground and jumped onto the top of the ship. The cabin automatically opened and Lita gave a signal to Samus and Cade.

Both jumped from their positions to the top of the ship and disappeared inside the cabin of the ship.

"You know how to fly this thing?" Samus asked.

"Probably…" Lita answered.

"Probably?" Cade questioned.

"Yeah," Lita returned as the ship jerked and began to rise.

"I suppose we might fasten our belts then," Samus smirked.

Cade cocked an eyebrow as the ship slung itself into the sky. It sliced through the dense clouds overhead and soared into the atmosphere, and then into space.

"Where are we going?" Samus asked.

"To meet an old friend…" Lita said.

Lita checked the controls, and of course, there was a hyperdrive system. After a brief warning, she engaged it and the ship streaked out of the Rho Quadrant in the direction of Vhazon.

Within a few minutes, the planet came into view. The normally barren and docile surface of the planet was being marred with fire and explosions…it was under siege!

Lita recognized something amidst the chaos: the giant ship from the Alimbic Cluster. It was the one that had shot her down.

The ship stood in all of its organic grandeur in shallow geosynchronous orbit. Pieces of the ship were "detatching" and falling toward the Vhazonian surface.

"What IS that thing?" Samus asked.

"It's evidently the "bad guys"," Lita remarked, "but then again, if it were not for that ship, I never would have found you."

"What kind of ship would that be? It looks alive…" Samus said.

"My thought is that it IS alive. We've really got to get to the surface and find Adam," Lita explained.

"Whoa, wait. Adam? Adam Malkovich?" Samus inquired.

"None other," Lita responded as she took the ship in to land.

As the ship neared the surface, purple and green orbs flew past and struck several of the "detatchments", vaporizing them and sending any leftover globules back into the vacuum of space.

Upon landing, the three exited the ship to behold the sources of the green and purple orbs.

Several gun emplacements were scattered along the ground, and commanding officers were spouting orders to the troops and gunners.

"Don't let a single one get through! We can't have those things getting to the city!" one cried.

"Sir! Galactic Federation Captain 2nd Rank Lita Anjellis, and Vice General Samus Aran. We're here to help, sir, but first, we have to find Adam Malkovich," Lita shouted over the blasts.

"Good to have you Captain, Vice General. I'm Commander Jarrek Blantz. Malkovich is over on the third gun. Just don't distract him too much, we can't have any of those bugs make it to the surface!" Blantz said.

"Bugs?" Lita asked.

"X parasites. Those are some nasty things, but they hate Vilonium! We have plenty of that, so we're in luck, but if we miss, it won't exactly be a good day," Blantz explained.

"Yes, sir! We'll hurry," Samus said as they rushed to Adam's gun.

"Ah, you're back! And I see you've found Samus! Good job!" Adam commented.

"What's going on! How are the X here, and how did they take over that ship!" Lita yelled.

"Those aren't your everyday X. Something's different about them. Something tells me that they've got a little Metroid to them," Adam yelled back.

"How could that happen! The metroids feed on the X!" Lita was confused.

"All I can guess is that they must have had a little 'help' along the way, if you know what I mean!" Adam shook as his gun launched another orb.

"But how could that happen!" Lita asked, dumbfounded.

"Maybe a certain benefactor?" Adam suggested.

"You don't mean….but he's dead…" Lita's forehead scrunched as she looked toward the massive ship in the sky.