Chapter 7

Hello, Samus. Did you miss me? I missed you.

Samus stirred in her sleep, but did not wake. The shadow reappeared in her dream, just as menacing as before.

"What do you want from me?" She asked it.

Only what I've already asked for: your help.

"With what?"

You'll see.

Samus' dream self crossed her arms "What makes you think I'll do this?" She asked.

The information I'm about to show you. He replied dryly. He waved his hands and a map of the known galaxy presented itself. Near the galaxy's core was a small blinking blip. The shadow pointed at it and the point magnified, revealing a seed shaped ship with boomerang wings. A line pointed at it, displaying the name Aran's Pride in bright yellow letters.

Samus' eyes bulged, and her mouth gaped open.

You know this ship, don't you? asked the shadowSamus didn't answer. That's what I thought. he said smiling.

"I thought it had been sent to a scrap yard." She said quietly. "Who's the owner?"

I don't know, but I'm working on finding it.

"I wonder if they'd sell it..." She wondered.

There's more. The shadow told her. He pointed to a floating ring about two lightyears from the ship, magnifying it. The IBHA station from fifteen years ago. He explained.

"It looks pretty beat up." Samus commented.

From here, yes. Scans taken earlier, however, reported power flowing through several decks, and a mass amount of life forms on board. Most matching with readings that indicate sentient life.

"What about the others?"

Metroids. Omicron class.

Samus' blood froze. The last time she had run into the beasts they had killed her brother, and her husband. Now there was a ship full of them. "What's the purpose of showing me all of this, anyway?" She asked.

There's some data on the station I need for...a science experiment. He answered.

"What kind of experiment?"

That's irrelevent to you. You have two days to arrive at this point. the shadow pointed to a star three lightyears from the old IBHA station. I will await your arrival.

"How did I let myself get talked into doing this?" Samus asked IR6Y, donning her power-suit's helmet. She had just spent all morning taking him out of the power-suit, and searching for a new suitable body; she hadn't found one either. His head rested on a table near a vase filled with flowers. He had personally requested this position, so that he, "might contemplate why people enjoyed the presence of flowers", and to "ponder the meaning they often bring to others". But that was for later. Right now, his mind was replaying Samus' conversation with the shadow as she had remembered it.

"The way I see it, your desire for Renick's old ship is what convinced you." He told her "A single selfish desire amidst a grander endeavor. You saw his need as an excuse to reclaim family property."

Samus nodded. It could be true; IR6Y's philosophical explanation's usually were. But somehow that didn't seem right. She felt like there was something else that had made her take on the mission.

"Are you certain you have everything you need?" IR6Y asked.

"This suit and my ship are the only things I've ever needed for missions." Samus answered. She powered the suit up, and the familiar hum of it's Chozo technology buzzed in her ears. Electricity surged through her own veins as it fused with her body, making her and the suit as one. Readings on her vitals displayed at the top of her view, showing her how much damage the suit could take. Proximity detection and missle capacity were displayed on the left and right sides, respectively. There was something else though; a small tingling in the back of her neck. Samus ignored it, not wanting to remember where the tingling came from. But if the time came... No. Not again.

She turned to IR6Y, making sure that his lone eye could see her completely. "What do you think?" She asked.

IR6Y looked at her for a moment, trying to find an appropriate human response to such a question. "It suits you." he said at last. Samus nodded her agreement.

Samus sat in her ship, waiting. She was waiting for security clearance to leave the system in the civilian lane. Normally she wouldn't have had to do this, but her commision with the Galactic Federation had expired a few years ago; she no longer had instant clearance. Samus didn't mind, she wasn't in any particular hurry like she would've been several years ago. Waiting allowed her to run extra diagnostics on her ship's systems; which desperately needed them. She hadn't flown out of system in years, so it was overdue for even rudimentary maintenance. The only thing that didn't need maintenance, were the weapons; which were nonexistant now. Weapons weren't allowed on civilian ships, and had been stripped off four years ago.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Derek's voice whispered in her ear. Samus whipped around in her chair, only to face an empty seat. She sighed heavily. It had been a memory of him speaking, brought on by flying through space. Derek had loved flying. He had taken her out into the center of a nebula when he proposed to her. The simple beauty of the swirling clouds of color had made the moment eternal in her mind.

"Ship 238, you have clearance to leave the system." the flight controller told her over the comm. Samus snapped back to the present, and sent the ship surging foreward. Then she braked, hard. A fleet of ships had come out of hyperspace just in front of her, none of them bearing any recognizable markings or designs. All of them had blood stains splattered on them, and spikes sticking out from the fuselage; weapons maybe?

The commanders of the ships either didn't see Samus, or didn't care. The ships raced towards her at high speeds, red electricity spewing from the sharp protrusions at civilian and security ships alike. One knicked Samus' cockpit, blowing in the windshield and leaving vacuum in the once pressurizerd environment. Samus was glad to be in her power-suit as she would have suffocated without it. The red ships continued their advance on Earth, leaving debris and destruction in their path. Samus watched them dispatch smaller craft, single man fighters, which took the slaughter down to Earths surface. She was about to turn around and help when her comm unit chirped. Not the one in her ship, but the one built into her helmet. Samus opened a secure channel.

"Samus! Are you alright?" A familiar male voice asked.

"I little burned up, but alright. What's going on?"

"It's the Krikens, they've launched a surprise attack on Earth. You need to pull out of there, now!"

"What?" Samus asked unbelievingly "You want me to leave them here?"

"There's more important matters to attend to. Trust me."

Samus started turning her ship around, watching the battle as she rotated away from it.

"I'm reading some damage on your ship. Can you make hyperspace?" The voice asked.

"With a forcefield in place, the cockpit should remain safe. I'm good." Samus paused, then asked "Who, and where, are you?"

"I'll tell you once your at the coordinates." The voice informed her "I won't be able to meet in person, but I will be able to advise you over your comm unit."

Perfect. She pulled the lever, stars turned to lines, and lines into infinite swirling colors. Sighing heavily, Samus clenched her hands into fists. What were the Krikens doing in her galaxy? And why had they attacked Earth? She could remember meeting one Kriken in her lifetime, and that was Trace. Actually, it wasn't really a meeting, more like a passing by while trying to kill each other. She never did see Trace, or another Kriken since then. Until today that is. She tried to put it out of her head. Thinking about everything other than the mission at hand could get her killed, and that was the last thing she needed.