Hey everyone, Chapter 2 is finally up. But first, I have a few reviews and queries to try and answer:

alleycat1312- I hope I answered your questions through the PM I sent you. I hope that sorted a few things out.
Mr. Anon- 1) In this, I'm putting it through that somewhere in this timeline that Samus may have had a slip of the tongue and actually called him Adam once, and it stuck. 2) Samus isn't totally GF property, is she? She was raised by Chozo, and has been around the Pirates so long that the whole "cycle" system may have rubbed off on her. I believe that I was a wrong choice in words when you said "Metric" anyway, unless I'm mistaken and am answering another totally different point altogether. If so, sorry. ;;

Anywho, review, er… reviews are done, on to Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy and give me lots of lovely reviews to read.

Chapter 2: Roles Reversed?

"Oh hell no, Samus. You're not dragging me in on this suicide mission!" Weston exclaimed at the idea of landing on the planet with Samus, against countless Space Pirates.

"Fine, hover around in uncharted space, running away from all the Space Pirate scans, which will no doubt be filling this sector after me." Samus sighed. She started inputting commands into the ship's nav-com.

Weston looked anxious. He looked like he was tossing the situation over in his head, and it looked like it hurt. Finally, he sighed, giving in.

"Alright Samus, you win. Adam, send me the coordinates too. I mean, we can't be sure that it's the Pirate base yet, right? There's a possibility we've been jumping to conclusions here?" Weston said pleadingly, hoping for someone or something to agree with him. He looked closer at his side of the screen. "Is she always like this?" he asked, directed at Adam.

"Actually, I've noted abnormalities in Samus' heart rate and metabolism. The readings are much higher than normal, bringing me to a conclusion that Samus is… excited. She has always seemed so serious in missions in the past..." Adam replied, in a curious tone of voice.

Samus buckled in, and the ship sped off, quickly followed by Weston's ship. It followed the same kind of design, except it was a brilliant silver colour, and it didn't have the technical customisations that Samus had added to her own gunship over the cycles. Most notably, his ship didn't have a resident AI, due to the Commander's stubborn nature when the plans were discussed with him. He had said that he preferred to "wing it" most of the time.

As they approached the planet which the signals had come from, the planet growing larger all the time in the ships screens, Adam contacted Samus, and Weston through a comlink.

"Prepare for landing. Atmospheric scans show that the air is composed of 25 oxygen, 5 nitrogen, 68 sulphur, 2 trace elements. Protective suits and helmets must be worn at all times. Air is unbreathable, and quite toxic."

The ships entered the atmosphere of the huge planet through a small electrical storm, but Samus and Weston had explored way too many planets to be caught out by a storm. Both ships were totally insulated and protected, until they touched down on the surface.

Samus' gunship hovered three feet from the surface, and Weston's ship sprouted six insect-like stands, which planted firmly into the ground. Weston left the sanctity of his ship, walking out by a movie-style fold-up walkway, Samus landing on one knee right in front of him.

"You always have to do that?" he asked, smirking.

"Sorry… Kind of a habit nowadays." Samus replied sheepishly, getting to her feet and looking around. She powered up her Arm Cannon, while Weston prepared his plasma rounds in his customised GF-24K tactical rifle. It carried a lot more ammo, and kicked out extreme power, compared to the standard Federation ones. Samus whistled in admiration as he cocked it over his shoulder.

"You know it." he laughed.

As Samus scanned around with her visor, she started to get interference when facing north.

"Adam, what is this? It's gone fuzzy!" Samus complained.

"Simply magnetic interference, Samus. It seems we have landed quite close to the northern pole of the planet. The fact that it is greater than any other planet we have explored however, makes me curious as to the composition of the planet itself-"

"Later, Adam…" Samus sighed. "I can tell this rock's a weird one already… Right Weston?"

"No doubt about it babe. I'm getting freaked out just looking around." Weston replied.

"Don't. Call. Me. Babe." strained Samus, who sounded like she was gritting her teeth. She had gained a grip on her Arm Cannon, starting to raise it up to Weston.

"Whoa, okay, okay… Jeez… Sorry Samus." he said quickly, to which Samus lowered her weapon.

"No wonder I work alone…"

"Samus! I've intercepted a message! I'll send it through your helmet…" Adam sounded, alarmed.

And for good reason too. What Samus saw next was what looked like a command center, with two Space Pirates behind the seats, glaring at the screen. Samus jumped, startled, before regaining her composure. Her eyes opened wider when she noticed other Pirates in the background, fighting with masses of Metroids, along with tens of broken, opened stasis cells. One of the Pirates at the front desk raised a clawed hand to the screen, and started making a rasping sound, similar to that of a crocodile, along with many other different reptilian sounds. Adam quickly uploaded a Space Pirate translator, and it revealed what the Pirates were saying.

"The Hunter has landed, but this time she is not alone. Approach with the full force of the Space Pirate legacy! Eliminate the one threat to those against the Galactic Federation! Do not stop until the Hunter and her new friend have been destroyed! Crimson section, out."

With that, the connection to whoever the important looking Space Pirate must have had ended, but Samus was still left staring into the furious eyes of the Pirates, as a smaller one arrived the command desk.

"Crimson Leader, preparations are complete for the Hunter. Repairs have been completed. He is ready, sir."

"Samus Aran will not even make it here, let alone to him. But good speed nonetheless. Commend your Cadre, Squad Leader." the Leader said. The two Pirates raised their arms diagonally upwards across their torsos, their elbows at the hip, and their haunting clawed hand near their opposite shoulder.

The transmission ended, and Samus was left with the view of her surroundings once again.

"The Pirate salute of honour. Pff… Like Pirates actually have any honour." Samus commented over to Weston, looking at Samus bewildered. He hadn't received the feed.

"So er… What did you see, Samus? What does it mean?" Weston asked anxiously.

"Well, we now know that this is the Pirate base. Someone important has been revived for the Pirates, but they didn't say who. Pirate squads are hunting us down, and this all means that we are in serious sh-"

"Samus, I'm reading many bio signs closing in on this position. The Pirates have already mobilised." Adam interrupted, leaving Weston looking mortified. He and Samus quickly looked around, trying to work out the reptilian, yet bird-like shapes of the Space Pirates.

"Samus, I hope whatever luck you live by holds out for us too. Adam almost sounded worried." Weston said, unable to hide an uneasy shake in his own voice. Samus looked at him and frowned.

"Exactly how many solo missions have you been on before this one?" she asked curiously, paying more attention to the surroundings though, moving her Arm Cannon across her field of vision.

"Well, I, er… Being a Commander, I usually have a whole bunch of troopers with me when I go on missions… I'm not inexperienced, I hope you know that Samus, but being on my own and especially on this planet gives me the jeebies…" explained Weston, hopping to turn in place when he heard some stones start rolling to his left, catching Samus' attention too.

"Funny, I can't see anything. Must've just been the wind. Unless… First attacks are usually stealthy…" She muttered to herself, switching her visor to an overall thermal view, and immediately she spotted around five Space Pirate shaped blobs of heat, creeping toward the two hunters. "Weston, look out, they're using cloaking! I've dealt with these kind of Pirates before, don't worry. They can't hide from m-" Samus began, but stopped abruptly when the heat signatures disappeared from her thermal view. "…What?"

Adam monitored this back in Samus' ship console, already noticing differences in build and hunting movements compared to the Shadow Pirates Samus had fought in her previous adventure on Tallon IV. Those Space Pirates used cloaking and charged directly at Samus, before slashing with their attached arm blades.

The Space Pirates that were around Samus now had found a way to hide their heat signatures, most likely by using advanced cooling systems. Moreover, they were using advanced stealth techniques, involving creeping to the enemy and not just charging in.

"Hmm… Interesting indeed…" said Adam, aware that Samus who could hear this would be naturally curious. He continued with an explanation.

"Samus, these are elite class Space Pirates. They are excellent tacticians, and one must be wary. Also, be aware that they may use forms of attack that have been effective throughout the ages, such as-"

"-Flanking! They're probably to our sides as well. Thanks for the help Adam." Samus thought for a moment, before aiming her Arm Cannon directly to her right and fired a blind shot with a Missile. Closer than expected, the Missile exploded, and a familiar snarl of pain sounded from thin air. There was a dull thud, and seconds later the cloaking peeled away of a Space Pirate as it died clinging to a shield of some sort. Samus quickly scanned the shield and allowed Adam and the ship's computers to quickly analyse it, leaving Weston staring at what just happened in disbelief.

"Now, you are either very lucky, or you're damn good!" he said to Samus, smirking.

"I like to think I'm a mixture of both, Commander." she curtly replied.

"Samus, they're using a new form of technology that emanates from these shields of theirs. From the shields, a field of temperature envelops the user, effectively hiding their heat signatures and giving it even thermal cloaking abilities." Adam reported in to Samus' helmet.

"I'm continually being surprised with these Pirates.. You think you know what they're gonna do next, then the clever little bastards make something new to try and stop it." Samus said aloud while thinking. She remembered all that had just happened; the shield technology, thermal cloaking, and before all that, Weston hearing…

"That's it! They can cut off the heat they make, but they still make a damn noise! You're a genius, Weston!" Samus exclaimed, finally working out a way to combat this new threat. She pushed another command into her Arm Cannon, before her visor went mostly black, leaving behind ghostly white figures of creeping Space Pirates, and an overall faint grey view of her surroundings.

"Ah, the Echo capabilities Samus? Good thinking…" Adam commented, surprised at Samus' intuitiveness. "This may even the odds."

"May? Adam, how long have you worked with me?" Samus said, grinning to herself, as she started aiming at the Space Pirates, looking over to the perplexed Federation commander for a moment.

"Weston, either spray with that gun of yours or get somewhere safe. I can handle these now."

"Oh come on Samus. You think I'm the type to run and hide?" Weston sneered, cocking his rifle and putting it to his face to begin aiming. "I landed with ya, I'm fighting with ya. Got it?"

Alright then! Sorry for the wait, I had a little bit of block, and I was a tad busy. Chapter 2 is complete, and the two hunters have to get in gear pretty quickly if they're to survive on this planet. Reviews welcomed.