Samus Aran had been awake for nearly 52 hours when she finally made landfall. She had been keeping track of the time in her log books, as she did with nearly everything; plant and animal species, star charts, and, perhaps most importantly for this particular night, bounty details. The Atlantic Federation had been gunning for Ridley's crew for some time now, and the bounty he had accrued was sizable indeed. Yet Samus did not think highly of the money she would be paid. No, samus had all of the material goods she could ever need, especially for her line of work.
In the roomy cabin of her heavily modified personal sea sloop, referred to affectionately as the "Star Ship," she donned her sacred armor. The gold and copper plating of the suit was often scoffed at by members of the Federation, but few could deny its effectiveness, and even fewer dared to question the uncanny green glow which emanated from the openings in the armor's plates. That same glow also permeated Samus's single most vital piece of equipment: A rifle forged almost entirely of copper and adorned with strange symbols and mechanisms. The weapon had grown greenish with oxidation and wear, but it was more effective than any European-built firearm, and Samus Aran regularly trusted the gun with her life. As she took her first steps off of the Star Ship, the huntress thought only of putting a bullet between the pirate captain's jaundiced eyes.
The Atlantic Federation had a handful of expeditions scout the Isle Zebes over the past few months. Only one made it back, and even then three-fourths of the men were killed, and the rest were deemed insane because of what they said they had seen. Samus, however, knew that the "wild ramblings" about vast underground caves filled with strange animals had more truth to them than any Admiral would care to admit. She knew Zebes well, and she knew she was the only person left on Earth capable of navigating its unique perils and stopping the pirates holed up there. It was this unique experience, for example, which lead her to land on the northwestern shore of Zebes. On her long voyage there, she had not spotted Ridley's infamous Frigate Orpheon, and so it could be surmised he landed on the island's southern shore and found the caverns near there. The entrance Samus now searched for should be entirely unknown to the pirate crew.
Clad in her imposing armor and armed with her trusty hand-cannon, Samus Aran was about to delve back into a world she thought she'd left behind. As she pushed through the dense tropical foliage, searching for any sign of the entrance she remembered from so long ago, she started to feel an intense, melancholic nostalgia. The Huntress knew Zebes better than any other human being, and with that knowledge she found the entrance she was looking for. Though the foliage had overcome the passageway in the time since she had left, Samus found the entrance to Brinstar. A traditional Chozo bird-man carving adorned the entryway, and upon glimpsing the stone visage, Samus was forced to remember her time here on Zebes.
As she marched forward into the cavernous belly of the island, she recalled her early years in Brinstar. The Huntress was not merely familiar with the island, as she had told the Admiral in order to gain exclusive rights to the bounty. No, Samus had intimate knowledge with Zebes and all of its eccentricities. After all, she was raised upon this island, adopted by the Chozo themselves. Samus Aran was sneaking fully-armed into her childhood home, crawling with pirates lead by the man who killed her real parents, and this was the first bounty she had chosen to hunt without backup.