The thing that the pirates were staring at was a missile headed directly towards them.
A missile fired by Samus Aran herself.
By the time Bronlux had picked up his pistol and aimed it at the nearest pirates head the missile exploded, killing all the pirates.
Bronlux lied down on the ground. He also had taken the brunt of the explosion, but his armour had managed to protect him. Still alive as he was, he was fatally wounded. He coughed up some blood into the mask of his visor.
"Help..." he croaked. Then he passed out.
Samus picked him up and carried him over to her Hunter Gunship in the courtyard. She managed to wake Bronlux up.
"The pirates in that room. Was that all of them?"
"Think… so." He said.
"Good. Go back to sleep, good job, soldier." Samus opened up the first-aid kit the ship carried, took off the armour plating on Bronlux's arm and administered some painkillers into his system. She tapped in the coordinates to the nearest hospital and listened as the engines hummed into life and took them to their destination.
"Alright, what's this patient's status?"
"Not good, doctor. Samus Aran dropped him off here earlier today."
"Samus Aran, eh? Wow, wish I could have been there. I hear she-"
"Doctor?"
"Oh yes, the patient. Let's take a look at him then... ooh, that's nasty. Very nasty. 3rd degree burns, multiple fractures.. I don't think he's going to make it."
"Is there not a hope at all, doctor?"
"Well, there is something the boys down at R&D have been cooking up... take him down there immediately."
Bronlux was shown to the scientists down at the R&D section of the hospital. Professor Schmidt and his aide, Daniel Braun, discussed Bronluxs' fate.
"He's definitely not going to make it alright. But we have to try. There's always the S.Y armour..."
"Yes, it's pretty much a mobile life support/combat system. But very experimental…" the aide mused.
"It's this mans only hope. Anyway, he could be very useful to the federation. He took down 3 space pirate ships all on his own. If it wasn't for him quite a few planets could have fallen. And Braun..?"
"Yes?"
"Guess what he did it with."
"What?"
"The shock cannon."
"Wow, that brings back memories.."
"Indeed it does. Begin the operation now."
When Bronlux came to, something weird was going on. His vision had a strange, green tint.
"Sergeant Bronlux! You're awake! That means the experiment was a success!" an unfamiliar voice boomed through a microphone in the room he was in.
"Experiment? What do you mean?" Bronlux's limbs felt heavy as he walked round the room, almost mechanical.
"You were dying, Sergeant Bronlux," the voice echoed sadly. "Your only hope was our prototype of something we've been working on for years, the S.Y armour."
"S.Y armour?"
"Yes, let me explain.. I'm sure you've heard of the bounty hunter, Samus Aran. Of course you have, it's thanks to her that you're here. The federation has been working on a new suit of armour for the past few years, based on schematics, scans and videos of Samus Aran's famous Chozo power suit. Of course this research has been kept strictly secret from Samus herself, as undoubtedly she would probably object. The S.Y armour is incredibly fast, and with a built in life support system. That's how you're breathing right now."
Bronlux looked down at himself. He was, for lack of a better description, blue with green lines going down at random positions.
"The S.Y armour you're wearing has both of Samus' normal weapons, the chargeable power beam and missiles, with an added bonus. Remember the shock cannon you used? It wasn't just canned because of the overheating problem, that was easily fixed. It was canned because we wanted a more personalised version, for arm cannon compatibility. We call it the shock coil. You can change your weapons mentally, try it now."
"Bronlux looked at his right hand. It had been replaced with an arm cannon with a dagger at the end. He tried switching weapons mentally. First of all 2 parts of the dagger split apart and a missile appeared in the middle, spinning as he charged it. Second of all, the green lines on the dagger turned a bluish hue, much like the colour of the armour he was wearing.
"Good job, Bronlux. Now for an empyrical field test. Some targets are going to enter the room and I want you to drain their energy. Do you understand? Now I know you may still be groggy from the drugs, so just nod."
Bronlux nodded.
"Good. Then project Sylux can begin."