Ghor and I arrived after sprinting through the halls at the main command deck. Admiral Dane was snug in a chair, exhausted. His face was tired, and his limbs were cushioned in funny positions as he lightly snoozed with open eyes. We tromped up the ramp, and both halted once we saw Gandrayda sitting on a stool a few meters away.

"What is she doing here?" Ghor asked me, staring at her as she picked at the bandages a nurse was wrapping around her arms and legs. "Did we all return unexpected?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. Gandrayda!" I called, her head snapping to me. "What happened to you?" Ghor and I approached, and the nurse was ordered snarly away by the purple girl.

"Got into a fight that was beyond belief. My boyfriend tried to kill me! Why in the world would he do that? I was only gone from Jovia XII for a few weeks!"

"More like a few months." I murmured to Ghor, who chuckled.

"Why aren't you in the infirmary? Shouldn't you have been healed there?" He asked her.

She snorted. "Why there? The last time I went to the infirmary some creep operated on my PED Suit thing. Why would I risk getting possibly raped? Besides, any human who works on aliens stares like you were something growing in their sink." She frowned, standing and brushing away neon indigo blood from her wrist. "So, why are you two here? I didn't know we got called back."

Ghor shrugged. "I don't think we all did, but our planets inhabitants attacked us, and we were forced to return to Olympus."

Her eyebrows raised. "Oh really? And you were both such chickens that you weren't able to fight back?"

I scowled. "You couldn't hurt your own boyfriend!"

Gandrayda's purple lips were pouty. "Hey, Semblent was absolutely crazy. Besides, he could transform into bigger things than I could. I tried you, Ghor's fighter 2, Samus, Berserker Lord, Space Pirate Militias and a bunch of other aliens that seemed powerful. But he ended up winning, and that's why I came to the Federation," her gaze trailed down towards the creature in my arms. "whatcha got there, Rundas?"

I held it up, hearing Dane snore. "Something that tried to eat me. Ghor got assaulted by it too, but-"

He finished my sentence for me. "I killed it."

Gandrayda shook her head, saying in a mock tone,"How bold you are to murder something that's only a foot long." She clapped her hands together, "Bravo, Ghor. Bravo."

He growled, clenching his fists and taking a step towards her, when Admiral Dane woke himself up when he sneezed. His eyes went wide as he stared around. "Rundas! Ghor! What are you two doing on the flagship?"

"We had to come back, sir. Something went terribly wrong on our planets." The robot responded, Gandrayda coming over and studying the creature. It hissed at her when she peered at its single red eye. "You see, I was assailed by the Wotans, as was Rundas with his fellow Phrygisians. Both have in common that the races each tried to execute us, saying we were inefficient and unstable. Now we think the onslaughts link to... uh... how do I put this frankly..." Ghor pondered, tapping his chin and bowing his head.

"Yes?" Dane urged after smacking his lips together.

"Dark Samus," Ghor finished insecurely. "We believe that Dark Samus has something to do with this."

The Admiral's facial expression didn't change from being drowsy. He merely turned around in his chair and typed on a console lazily, a screen lowering from the ceiling and facing us. The monitor was blue, but then it flickered to a video recording.

Noise came from speakers, and Admiral Dane turned up the volume so we could hear the screams of the Kriken that ran across the screen. Fires darted the area, and Federation soldiers lay dead or dying on the charcoaled ground. Aliens stumbled upon another, desperate to escape some oncoming force that plowed through the carnage. Several Kriken were caught, being dragged offscreen, while others who rebelled against the attack were shot cruelly. I watched in horror, and recognized glowing blue Phazon that covered the area. Some Kriken accidentally stepped in it and cried out as it crept up their legs, corrupting them and turning them into mindless soldiers that joined the battalion of mutated Space Pirates that were taking over the Kriken Empire.

An aerotrooper Pirate turned towards the camera, and with a crazed laugh, shot the screen, turning it black. The words No Signal were in the bottom left corner, flashing red.

"Does any of this ring a bell?" Dane asked as we all turned our attention towards him. "The reason I'm so tired is because calls like this were being sent to the Galactic Federation from all across the Universe. We've been trying to answer them, to give these planets help, but, we have failed with the Kriken Empire, along with almost each one as you have seen. We have no idea why or how the Space Pirates are doing this, or who their new leader is. We know however, that it is someone far powerful than Dark Samus."

"But-" Ghor said.
 "But nothing! Dark Samus was destroyed when Phaaze blew up, Ghor. Samus's memories tell us this. She couldn't have survived! That planet also eradicated all Phazon from the galaxies, but we still are seeing traces of it," he rubbed his forehead after shouting, and sighed. "I don't think we'll get so lucky with defeating the enemy this time. I just don't understand how they are making these attacks! The only thing we have that could be useful is something we can't study."

"Could we see it?" Gandrayda asked.

He turned and typed more on the keyboard, and the screen brought up a visual image of something I knew. "That's it, Gandrayda. That's all we've got."

Her eyes widened. "I know what that is! Rundas has one!"

All eyes shot towards the encased creature I held.