Chapter 12 - The Source of the Goreas
"Alright, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it! These Goreas are starting to overrun the Alimbic Cluster. They'll have to spread to other areas of the Tetra Galaxy soon, and after that... Well, don't think about that. We have to search for where these things are coming fro-" Samus was explaining in the Alinos Gateway. Sylux had cut her off at the end, but he seemed like he had something important to say.
"Wait a minute. Even if we do find the source and destroy it, there's still more than a thousand Goreas to kill! How are we supposed to do that without getting killed first? We may be able to take down a lot at a time, but that's just too many!" Sylux told the others worriedly.
"We'll have to think of that later. First we have to find out what the source of these demons is. As soon as we find it, we'll decide how to attack. Remember, we still have the Ali-" Samus continued. As soon as she started to mention the Alimbic Cannon, though, Spire elbowed her in the side.
"Don't mention that to the others until a dire circumstance," Spire whispered sternly to Samus.
"Oh, right. Anyway, everyone, get into your ships, fire up your aerial weapons, and search the outskirts of the Alimbic Cluster for anything that may be the source of the Goreas!" She ordered to the others. The other hunters walked away, and headed to their ships immediately.
"Despite the fact that she saved our lives a couple times in this war, Samus really can be a bitch," Trace said to Noxus on their way to their ships.
Samus then jumped onto the top of her StarShip, stepped on the hatch, and walked into the cockpit of her ship. With one press of a button, the ship came to life. The three landing pads bent over, causing the ship to levitate slightly, and immediately flew away from Alinos. She stopped in mid-flight, like the other hunters, and stepped onto the hatch. From the top of the ship, she could observe where the Goreas were coming from. But it was no use. The Goreas seemed to be coming from all directions.
"Trace. Use your sniper to look farther into the distance. Look for an area with more Goreas coming from it!" Samus said into her ship's communication system. Almost immediately, Trace was standing on top of his ship as well, and set up his Imperialist sniper. He then headed back into his ship.
"I found it. Eighty-seven degrees to the left. There are several more Goreas coming from over there. Set your ships on autopilot!" Trace ordered. Seven ships soon headed in this direction, hoping to find something.
"Everyone. Keep a lookout for any kind of creature or machine launching Goreas. It has to be close, considering most of the Goreas landed in the Alimbic Cluster.
Several hours passed. There was still no sign of the source.
"This is hopeless. The Goreas must be spawned in deep space, without anything creating them," Weavel stated. But that's when he noticed it. An extremely fast Gorea was flying near them, looking for a landing! It flew past, but it didn't matter. Weavel knew what was happening.
"WAIT! Never mind! We found the source! Thirty-six degrees to the right! I just saw a Gorea fly by, and it was going faster than the others were!" Weavel transmitted to the others. He led the group to this direction, hoping he was right. The source had to be this way.
After some more Gorea sightings, and about another hour of space travel, Trace had found something with his sniper.
"Oh... my... God... What the hell is that...?" He said, breathless. There it was. The source of the Goreas. A giant spaceship was shooting Goreas out of a funnel-like object. And the object was half the size of the ship. An ominous feeling surrounded it. Everywhere the hunters could see on it was heavily armored. More and more Goreas came out every second. But how was a ship creating Goreas...?
All of the hunters felt a mixture of awe, shock, and horror. This was what they had been looking for throughout the entire war. Samus stepped onto the top of her ship and observed this machinery closely. On close observation, she soon learned the most horrifying part of this whole war.
"Samus. What did you find?" Kanden asked, still terrified.
"I know who this belongs to..." Samus stated gravely. There was no denying what it was.
"I also know," Weavel stated in the same tone. "It belongs to my people. It is a Space Pirate project..."
Everyone was in even deeper shock once he had said this. They had all heard rumors about the Space Pirates. Samus had fought them many a time. And Weavel is a cybernetic one of their species. These beings struck fear into the hearts of many, and the hunters were no exception. This couldn't be a normal Space Pirate objective, though. They only destroy to get rare objects and creatures (like Phazon, in Samus's previous mission on Tallon IV). But there was nothing to search for here, and nothing they would need Goreas for. But the hunters decided to worry about this later. They had to destroy the ship and everything in it.
"Alright guys. We're going in. We must infiltrate this ship. They know about me, though. And Weavel, I'm sure they figured out by now that you are a rebel. Trace, you have cloaking abilities, and Noxus, you can freeze any guards. You two will go in there and find some information about it. The rest of us will stand by here. Remember, if necessary, use a freeze-and-headshot combination. Kill everything that finds you, and be careful in there. I've dealt with these guys before. Extremely dangerous," Samus finished. They had to find something about this place. What were they searching for, and how were they creating Goreas...?
Noxus and Trace finally reached the ship. They jumped out onto the surface, and instantly began searching for computers of any sort. According to Samus, Space Pirates held most of their data in high-tech computers. Before they started searching for the computers, though, they noticed something. There were metal crates all over this docking bay. But heavily hidden and disguised were some turrets; extremely strong turrets. Trace set up his Imperialist and started to cloak. He zoomed in with his sniper, and carefully aimed at the very bottom of the turret.
"Noxus. Be ready to run. Remember what happens with this. I fire, and it could be an instant kill. But it also reveals my location. If there are any guards nearby, they'll see where we are. So just be ready. I'll take out the turrets, and I'll meet up with you after. Hide behind that crate over there for now," Trace explained and ordered in a hoarse whisper.
Noxus ran behind the crate, as Trace had said to do. But unknown to either of them, one of the turrets was located nearby. Noxus noticed something on his radar, and looking at it, found the location of the turret. It was somewhere directly in front of him. But where...?
"Oh, crap," Noxus whispered to himself, frustrated. He knew what was about to happen.
Trace heard a huge explosion, like a bomb blasting through metal, and then a scream. Both sounds came from where Noxus was! Looking around, all he could see was a turret firing and blood gushing from something! Noxus!
"NOXUS!" Trace screamed. Without thinking, he started to fire his Imperialist everywhere. When he finally regained his self-control, he aimed carefully at the turret's weak point.
"I just need one shot at this..." Trace said to himself. With a deafening explosion, Trace destroyed the turret. But the other turrets were able to detect this, and started firing everywhere!
"JUST RUN! WE GOTTA GET INSIDE!" Noxus ordered. Luckily, he wasn't as injured as the incident in Arcterra, when Trace almost killed him. He would worry about his injuries later. Right now they had to find that data.
"Alright. So, Space Pirates are somehow creating Goreas, all with our abilities. That first one I fought must have had some Pirate technology in it that transferred whatever it sapped from us to this ship. Most of them probably have some kind of implant that does this, considering the Goreas have the Omega Cannon now. So, we are now in a more dangerous war. These beings are intelligent, much more advanced than the Goreas. They somehow discovered a way to create their own Goreas. The first one must have been a test of a new development," Samus was telling the others, while still waiting a mile away from the ship for Noxus and Trace to return with the data.
Weavel spoke up. "I am a Space Pirate. I know what we are facing from personal experience. Before I became a bounty hunter, I was a Pirate general. I have commanded many armies to victory. We are a highly advanced species. This will be a difficult battle. They know I have become a rebel, so get any plans of me going in posing as my former self out of your head. We need some pla-" But all of a sudden, a small ship, about half the size of his own, flew by overhead! It wasn't just any ship. It was a Space Pirate carrier. And something had just dropped from it.
"GET OFF MY SHIP YOU BASTARD!" Sylux screamed, not realizing his communicator was still on. The others heard this, and looking back, saw a Space Pirate trying to blast its way through Sylux's ship! Next thing they knew there were Pirates all over the tops of their ships!
Samus laughed to herself. "This is pathetic. Normal soldiers? The least they could do is send aerial troopers. Guys, just follow me, I know a way to shake em off. Watch out, though. This is gonna be a bumpy ride."
Samus immediately started flying away from the ship. The others were wondering why, even after hearing the transmission, but followed nonetheless. Samus was flying recklessly, though. Her ship was randomly turning, and a lot of times flipped upside-down. Kanden realized what was going on, and started to do the same thing. The Pirates were holding on for their lives, but it was no use. One by one, they started to fall off, screaming. They would have to stay in space, floating for the rest of eternity. The higher ranked Pirates wouldn't try to rescue them, either. They have stronger units, as they would say.
The other hunters saw what was going on, and repeated what Samus and Kanden had done. The attempt of an attack had failed miserably. Now the hunters had to wait here, fending off any more attacks, until Noxus and Trace got back... if they survived...
"Quiet, a guard's coming! I'll freeze, you headshot," Noxus whispered. He immediately started to charge his Judicator. The guard's footsteps sounded closer. As soon as he took one step into their vision, Noxus fired a sheet of ice, freezing the guard in his tracks!
"Hello, sir. And goodbye," Trace said to the guard's face while he was frozen. Trace immediately shot his Imperialist directly at the forehead of the guard, causing blood and ice to fly everywhere!
"Hurry, there'll be more coming!" Trace ordered. Both of them went into their alternate forms and ran down the pathway.
"Stop! Computer!" Noxus said excitedly, yet quietly. Trace stood in the middle of the pathway, cloaked with his Imperialist set up, ready to headshot any unfortunate guards to come by here. They may see Noxus, but not for long.
Noxus set up his own scanning system and scanned the computer. This one must be important. It's taking forever to scan it. High security system.
"Trace, be ready. This'll take a while," Noxus said, impatient.
Several headshots later, Noxus had finally finished scanning the computer. Noxus immediately started running back to their ships.
"Trace, hurry! We've hit the jackpot! I'll tell you what it says when we get back to the others!" Noxus said excitedly.
Soon enough, they arrived back at the turret-covered docking bay. Their ships were cloaked, floating next to it. They ran to the edge, avoiding turret fire, and immediately jumped into their ships. They received the data they had come for. Now to think of a plan.
"What took you guys so long? We were almost killed here! They brought over those Phazon Elite Pirates, and had them attack from the tops of ships!" Spire complained.
"The scan took forever, and there was an incident with one of those turrets. I'll heal myself later. But now, we gotta read this scan," Noxus was saying. He then started to read the scan.
"First there's some date and log number gibberish. Not important, so I'll skip to the good stuff.
'We have finally captured the legendary being known as the Gorea. It seems invincible, so we will use it as a weapon. Our cloning system must be completed soon. The hunter does not seem to be anywhere near here, so we are mostly safe. We will test our new weapons by sending one cloned Gorea to the Alimbic Cluster. If it can successfully destroy the life forms on this cluster, we may be able to use these as our primary soldiers.
The cloning system should, and will, be enhanced after it is successful. More than likely these clones will be weaker than the original. The Gorea has defeated many of our best troops in our capturing attempts. We will also attempt to create clones more like the original. We are planning on making one clone the same size of Gorea, but it will take longer than the others. Also, we must send some Goreas to the cluster to protect it from other creatures trying to obtain the Omega Cannon, the Alimbic Octoliths, and any other rare objects, weapons, and creatures we plan on claiming. There is much more we need to do before we reach our goal, though; to destroy Samus Aran.'
That's all it says. Apparently, this scan is a little old, but it tells everything we need to know. There is a cloning process going on here, there is only one real Gorea, and they are trying to destroy us," Noxus finally finished.
"Um, actually, they're just trying to destroy Samus," Sylux said, correcting Noxus.
"They know of us by now, you retard," Kanden replied.
"ENOUGH! This is worse than we thought. They're going to use cloned Goreas as their primary soldiers. Which means these are not real Goreas we've been fighting in the first place. Plus, that giant one back on Arcterra was the size of the only true Gorea. I've marked the coordinates of this ship. This is not a safe area to stay near. Everyone, return to Alinos Gateway," Samus explained.
The hunters all headed back to the Alinos Gateway, all thinking the same thought.
The war isn't over... nor has it ever started...