My first chapter to cross the three thousand-word line, "Preparations" is now ready for readers! Many thanks to G3Rain1 (whom I have bothered many times to read and reread the beginning parts) and to all my reviewers (reviewers from before I deleted my old story). Also, "/\/\/\" is a slight time break, give or take a few hours, while "--x--" is a flashback (or something similar).


Chapter III: Preparations

Daniel Exeter, captain of the GFMC Task Force Hercules, paced around his room uncomfortably. If the admiral deported his troops to the Tetra Galaxy, then he may as pray to God now. Daniel knew capturing Samus Aran would bring great rewards, but failure would result in a demotion, or even worse: death by the hands of one of the most merciless bounty hunters in the universe. Restless with the pessimistic thought, Daniel jumped when someone knocked on his door.

"Who's there?" Daniel inquired, nervous. His boots made a steady, squeaking staccato sound on the recently waxed floor.

A slight Spanish accent accompanied the reply. "It's just me, sir: Commander Samuel LeTania." Daniel breathed out a sigh of relief, and let the commander in. "I've come to bring you your cup of coffee and a message, sir. It's from Admiral Dane." The commander placed a scorching paper cup on the good captain's desk. "I didn't read it, alright? The baby's sealed up tight." Samuel handed a brown paper envelope to Daniel.

"Like you don't know how to open and reseal envelopes. We both went to Eastside on Tel-Vixto IV, remember?" Daniel sighed; Sam was a good friend and soldier, but sometimes he disobeyed orders. In fact, he did so quite frequently. "You're dismissed, Commander LeTania. Oh, tell Lieutenant Davis to come in."

"Which Davis, sir? Valerie Davis or Davis Knaw?"

"You know which one, Sam. Do I call people by their last names or first?"

"Is that a trick question, sir?" The commander grinned, amused at his captain's own mistake. "I'll certainly call her in, sir."

"Good. As I said, you're dismissed. Get outta here before you make me put you on probation."

Sam closed the door as he walked out, and Daniel settled his eyes on the brown envelope. It had a coarse texture, and the captain could see oil stains on it. Clearly written on the front of the packet were the words "Confidential: For Authorized Personnel Only." The captain proceeded to open the envelope, only to find its content a flat sheet of metal, about two centimeters thick. The metal piece had a card reader imbedded on its right side and a lock on its left. Captivated by what the device might hold, Daniel took out his Galactic Federation keycard and swiped it through the card reader. He heard inner locks unlocking for a few seconds, and then undid the exterior lock. Daniel lifted the covering of the "box" and picked up a packet of papers.

"When did the admiral's orders become a lecture? This'll take me days to finish reading." Wearily, Daniel scanned through the first page and sat upright instantly. It stated an anonymous report sent from a Galactic Federation ship patrolling the Tetra Galaxy had sighted Samus Aran's ship – Daniel knew this already – and that five companies would be sent to apprehend the bounty hunter. Three of the five would proceed on a direct chase and fire at will, while two companies would assess the situation and provide help as necessary. "Why is he expending so many forces just to capture a fugitive? Five companies seem too many to apprehend a single bounty hunter…"

"She's not just any hunter, Exeter."

Daniel looked up and stood up, saluting at the same time. "Sir! I didn't hear you come in," the captain explained.

"It's alright. I came in to tell you you'll be one of the two standby companies."

"Yes sir!" Daniel responded. In truth, he was relieved – he would be one of the passive groups. "Sir, if I may ask…"

"Ask away, Captain, but I believe I already know your question. Is it regarding the total number of companies?" The captain nodded, and Admiral Dane allowed a slight smile to light his face. "Very well, then. How much do you know about Samus Aran? Ever met her, Exeter?"

"No, sir, but I have heard he's a ruthless bounty hunter, capable of doing almost anything."

"Let's hope you don't meet her, then. She's a dangerous-"

"Sir, I hope you won't mind my interruption," Daniel wondered; at this, Dane harrumphed. "But I believe you said 'her.' Perhaps you meant…" Daniel trailed his sentence off on purpose.

"Damn it! It has slipped out again… I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but Aran is a woman. As a woman, inexperienced hunters often underestimate her, a grave mistake if they make it. It gives her an advantage in most cases."

"Sir, why can't you tell?"

Dane shook his head, but smiled. He will make a fine admiral when the time comes. "Asking too many questions now, are we? Look, telling the troops Aran is a woman is jeopardizing our mission. Most men here have huge egos, Daniel – you're one of the few men who can suppress his pride and get the damn job done. If truths are revealed to captains, they'll not only be amazed, they'll get cocky! Even with Aran's past record, her success won't mean shit if she's a woman. Yeah, humans like to pride themselves on being less prejudiced than most other races, but that doesn't mean it is entirely gone."

"Sir, I beg to differ. Don't you think you're underestimating the troopers?"

"It's not as simple as a matter of whether or not they're underestimated, Exeter; no, it's a matter of precautions. Like I explained just now, the men will get cocky, overconfident, and not even put their heart into it. To paraphrase, they would think it'd be as easy as 'taking candy from a baby.'"

Daniel was about to interject, when his subconscious reminded him the admiral was still his superior. Moreover, Castor had his point: many of the other troops in his force were egotistical. Just because the GFMC Task Force Hercules had survived and won in the encounter with the Space Pirate company Urety a few years ago did not mean it was fit to take on anybody. Unfortunately for Daniel, his team acted like so. However, his men's egotism had never taken as far a turn as the admiral suggested, either; and they certainly had not shown any sexism. However, Daniel did not say that.

What he did say was "Point taken, sir. However, even if she's an amazing hunter, why do we need to apprehend her? It seems almost pointless – we let hundreds of them free, yet chase after a specific one. Why?"

"A lot of reasons, really, but mostly because she stole something from a BSL space station two days ago – or so I've been told."

"Yes, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually, you can, Captain. But from this point on, nothing is to be revealed to your peers, your team, or anyone lower than my rank. Understand?"

What is he going to say now? "Yes, sir!"

"Good. I have a secondary objective in the coming mission for you."


"Available records on planet Tivus, Adam?" Samus inquired. If she were going to land in a few minutes, she would need a thorough debriefing on the planet.

"Accessing the Galactic Federation central database…" was Adam's reply before a few seconds of beeping and whistling commenced. "I'm sorry, Samus, but it appears the Federation has sealed off those records. They are classified information – in other words, out of our reach. It seems the Federation may not be that stupid after all, Lady."

"I suppose not," Samus agreed. "Is there any public information they've released, though? I know much of the press under their territory can't do anything, but they always manage to get some info out."

"Well, we do know this: some Federation troopers are trained here, but mostly the planet is off-limits to people – G.F. without clearance included."

Why would the Federation require Tivus to be off-limits even to themselves? What are they hiding? "In that case, Adam, lock the ship when I get off, and only let me on if your bio scan readings are clear except for me for a twenty-meter radius. The passengers can run free in here – with what little room I have – but make sure Sylux doesn't do anything. Understand?" ordered Samus. Her command seemed secure enough, but maybe she should include a password. No, that would be too complicated. For all I know, Sylux could be conscious at the moment, and be listening…

After Adam indicated he had affirmed her order, Samus donned her Power Suit. In a few seconds, her ship landed on the surface of Tivus. Her goal was clear: sabotage the Tivus towers, learn the details of how/why the Federation plans to capture her (she was sure Tivus would have such information; after all, it was off-limits to people), and uncover Tivus' secrets. Watch out, Federation: Samus Aran is back.

/\/\/\

Samus had been exploring the landscape of Tivus for an hour, but so far, it seemed to be devoid of any life forms. As Samus cleared yet another five-foot-tall shrub, she sighed and frowned. When she first landed on the planet, there appeared to be only two viable landings - the rest were too near Galactic Federation outposts or at a range detectable by them – and Samus chose the one hidden by surrounding trees. Instead of having Adam take the ship into orbit, Samus left it at her landing site, something she did commonly in her missions. After being assured Adam had understood her orders, she had exited her ship and ventured east.

--x--

In the beginning, there were no apparent signs of alternate routes: in fact, the pathway to the west was strangely linear. Later, Samus did see what appeared to be four looming towers in the distance, and she assumed those were part of the Federation outpost on the west side of the planet – well, the west side of her view in space.

The land was barren, almost desert-like in appearance. What offset that appearance was the presence of various flora and intricately detailed stone bricks – not by the hundreds, but by the thousands. Samus had never thought a planet's environment could look so diverse: the shorter plants were scattered about randomly, but in small clumps of two or three. The taller plants – namely trees – grew within several inches of each other, creating a tight woodland that covered, so far, eighteen meters. If not for a messily made trail she found several meters from her ship, Samus would have had to incinerate most of the trees to make her own trail. Soon after following the trail, she found stone bricks on the ground, each one made with careful detail and consideration. There were swirls and loops on the sides of the bricks, and possibly ancient writing – Samus could not be sure – but were cracked and broken. Samus barely put her finger on it when the slight pressure caused the brick to give, and it crumbled onto the ground.

--x--

Samus took a quick gasp as she finally cleared the woods… and saw an enormous temple made out of rock. Towering at 110 yards, it seemed to be extremely old, and the bricks looked as if they were about to crumble, but Samus guessed the temple must have been tremendously durable. The stone bricks of the temple had the same patterns as the ones Samus had seen scattered on the ground in the woods, which led her to the conclusion either someone had been dismantling the temple brick-by-brick, or a destructive force had attacked but not destroyed the temple, just taking bricks off. Nevertheless, the temple retained as sense of wholeness, as if the bricks on the ground had not belonged to it.

There were signs of wear on four nine-foot pillars standing adjacent to the temple – one in front, another on the back, and two more on the sides – mostly likely from natural disasters. These pillars seemed minuscule compared to the actual temple, shaped like a pyramid from the front and flat on the back and two sides. According to Samus' scan, the temple most likely was an entryway to an underground dungeon, which could span from several yards across to several miles.

The huntress reached an indecision: if she were to enter the glorious temple, she might find a suit upgrade (the building seemed similar to past antiquity designs by the Chozo); on the other hand, she might be wasting her time when she should be sabotaging the Galactic Federation outposts on Tivus while learning the details of her capture. Finally, her curiosity got the best of her. Samus approached the entrance of the temple, a stone slab as huge as the entrance blocking her. Preparing herself for what was to come, Samus shot the slab, which retracted upwards, creating an open passageway. Samus took one last glance at the temple's exterior, admiring its architectural design and exquisite patterns once again, and entered the sanctuary.


Being a commanding officer was difficult. Being a computer was even more difficult.

As a commanding officer, all you did was give orders and punish those who did not follow them, and do what your superiors told you to do. As a computer, you had to do dozens of things by computing arithmetic equations and decoding program instructions one-by-one, while doing several other tasks such as monitoring the ship's power usage and maintaining a state of equilibrium throughout the ship, meaning you had to change the temperature and possibly the constant pressure inside the ship.

At the moment, Adam had been trying to figure why he had not responded when Samus called for his help during Sylux's ambush while doing said tasks. After finding small leads and reaching dead ends, he decided to search the entire ship for a foreign program or contaminant. His hour-long search was interrupted when Sylux awoke; logical thinking dictated that Adam decided on fully concentrating on the captive.

"Hey," Sylux mumbled. At this state, he was most likely fully awake, but chose to pretend instead; Adam did not respond. "I… oh, anyone there? Aye… my head." Sylux pretended to lose consciousness again, and remained immobilized for a few minutes longer. Adam still did nothing, preferring to observe Sylux's next action. When he at last thought he was not monitored (save the Etecoons and Dachoras), Sylux became completely alert. "Well, well, well… it looks like the bounty hunter forgot to make sure my suit was out of power before leaving her ship." At that statement, Sylux rebooted his Shock Coil and tried short-circuiting the energy ropes he was bound by. Unfortunately for him, he remained a prisoner.

"Trying to escape, bounty hunter?"

Startled, Sylux looked around in surprise. "Ah, looks like you haven't left after all, Sammy. Nice voice distortion."

Not sure if he should play along, but did not want Sylux to know the truth either, Adam pretended temporarily. "Yeah, thanks. That was a nice ambush; too bad I thwarted it by capturing you. Now, enough of the niceties, Sylux."

"Ah, I'd do anything for you, milady. I suppose you'll question me now?" Sylux nonchalantly replied. He seemed to be enjoying the interrogation.

There was a slight hesitation before Adam answered, but Sylux did not seem to notice. "Yes. First off, who sent you? What is the name of your employer?"

"Now, Sammy, you know I'd never tell a fellow hunter anything about my hirers. I will tell you this, however: he's a Space Pirate."

"Very well; on to the next question." Adam decided he would come back to the subject later and instead probe for the question/answer that most piqued his curiosity. "So, during that ambush… how did you track down my ship? And more importantly, how'd you manage to land aboard?"

"I can't tell you that either, Samus. See, if I did, then-"

"I'm not asking you to tell me, I'm ordering you to! I don't really think you are in any position to negotiate right now. So, answer me."

"Well, finding your ship was actually your own doing. Sure, I was interested in finding you, but you suddenly popped onto my radar only seconds after I arrived at the Tetra Galaxy. As for landing on your ship, that was easy after I subdued your stupid AI. Did you know he has to maintain everything on this ship manually? I simply shot your thrusters and started an overheat. Then your AI goes to investigate, I trap him with a virus and wipe his memory of the last few minutes with the virus. While the bug traps your AI, I board your ship. I'd have thought you'd figured that out by now."

A few minutes of silence followed Sylux's last comment. As Adam processed this information – and made a mental note to upgrade his defenses – Sylux proceeded on cutting the energy ropes with his arm cannon, but it did not work either.

"You should stop doing that, Sylux. You cannot free yourself, period. However, if you insist on continuing this behavior, I will be forced to render you unconscious again. Understand?" Sylux gritted his teeth, then nodded his comprehension. "Good. Now, I'd like you to-"

There was suddenly a slight static on the intercom. "Adam, can you hear me? Get the ship off Tivus, now!" Another small burst of static trailed Samus' latest message before silence.

"You little rat! You were impersonating Samus?" Sylux demanded to know. If the AI was present, but not Samus, there was nothing to fear from it. Moreover, they should be going into orbit… which meant he could easily shut the AI down and take over the ship.

Meanwhile, Adam was silent: he decided that, under current circumstances, it was better to remain quiet rather than speak any more. Instead, he focused his attention on Samus' order, diverting as much energy as he could to the ship's thrusters to take them to orbit Tivus, and constructing a detailed report of what happened while she was gone.

When Sylux finally realized the AI was ignoring him, he decided to conserve his energy until Samus came back. As Sylux conceived his plan, his mouth twisted into a cruel smile. It was going to be fun.


I'd say, without a doubt, that this was one of my better chapters. Well, as always, any reviews (unsigned or signed) are welcome here, so please tell me how I'm doing! The next chapter should be finished within the next few weeks or so...