I am very sorry for the delay, but finally, I give you Chapter four! This contains a lot more action. I also take full advantage of Morph Ball Mode and the GF soldiers.
Chapter 4: Would She Be Anywhere Else?
Silence prevailed in the cockpit of Samus's huntership, and the quiet was mirrored by the dark. Everything in the ship was turned off except a single, low-powered blinking red light.
Then, a word, "Creto?"
The computer's reply was instant, transmitted to Samus, but not spoken out loud.
"What is it my Lady?" it asked.
"Does HQ have sensors in the ventilation system?"
Creto used the scanners and found none.
"No, Samus, it appears not, but they are carrying heated air in an excess of 400 degrees kalvin and are only---"
"Only 1 and a half by 2 feet, yeah I know," came Samus from the other line.
"You aren't thinking of entering that way, are you?" asked a concerned Creto.
"We've been staking-out this place for almost two days, Creto. You and I both know there's no other way, and we're running out of time. Hack in their systems and send me the ventilation map," commanded Samus.
"Yes, my Lady," Creto said.
Outside the silence of the cockpit there was an even deeper silence. The ship was cloaked in invisibility and hovering softly besides the space station that was the Galactic Federation's Headquarters.
The space station was top of the line with special defenses against intruders, but no designer could have anticipated the morph ball mode of a certain Chozo made bio-suit.
So, nearly a mile away, drifting in space at the other end of the station, the Hunter made ready. As Creto uploaded the map to her suit, Samus studied the vent in front of her.
The vent quickly opened and spurts of toxins came out, floating as formless blobs into the nothing of space. Samus gave the propulsion unit she'd found on Aether to propel herself towards it. Then she went into morph ball and boosted herself in as the vent closed.
The sensation of being compressed and contorted into a sphere was something Samus found invigorating. Only the Chozo had technology for this, and she was now the only one to have it.
While in morph ball mode, Samus's senses were altered. Somehow she could still think and visualize in her mind, but she could not see. Her movements were ruled by vibrations and the gravity that every object gave off. The Chozo had taught her how to 'feel the world around you', and that teaching made navigating the morph ball possible.
The Galactic Federation Headquarters was a space station made of five levels layered into the shape of a ring. Where Samus needed to go was on the fifth level, the innermost ring.
After ten minutes of rolling through the vents Samus stopped. According to her map, this was her exit. She set a low-power bomb.
The bomb exploded softly and weakened the grate but did not destroy it. Samus pushed against it, and it gave in. Easier to just blow it up, but that's easier for soldiers to hear and for any other sensors to pick up.
Samus uncurled from Morph ball mode, her body tingling at the change. She stood upright and said to Creto, "let's get started."
"You have many tests up ahead," answered the computer, "you can still turn back."
"Like I would," snorted Samus.
"As you wish," said Creto, who had only mentioned the idea of aborting out of its primary instinct to keep Samus alive. But I know she would never back down, it's not her.
The halls of the GF HQ were extremely plush. Thick carpet lay on the floor, muffling Samus's footfalls. Looking up, Samus could see the expensive wood trim and ancient paintings that covered the walls. Every 10 feet or so there was a wall lamp; they were movement oriented and lit up as Samus approached, then almost extinguished themselves as she passed by.
There were no cameras here. The Council was entirely corrupted and so was most of the House. So they assumed everyone that reached level 5 was a friend because they would have passed all of the prior sercurity checks. Security was to protect the good from the bad, but at this level there was only the bad and the ignorant.
At the end of the hall was a door. The door was made in the same expensive tastes-mahogany wood carved with elaborate drawings. It was the entrance to level five, behind which Samus would find the answers she, and Maelos, needed.
A panel on the door's right lit up as Samus approached. 'Please enter the password' came up in text written in the Common Tongue; it was followed by the same message in many other languages.
Samus had preprogrammed the password into her suit, now it appeared on her visor, and she entered it in. Halfway through she stopped. Mixed in with the numbers and gibberish were several Chozian figures. Delicately drawn, they shamed the other letters in their beauty. And in meaning, remembered Samus. For the Chozo's language was far more expressive then any other tongue.
And then anger rose in Samus. They were using Chozian letters in disregard, and probably unknowingly. Using the words of a culture they had allowed to die, and, afterwards, had stolen and killed for their technology. How far does their arrogance and ignorance go?
She quieted her anger though and finished the password. The door opened.
The following room was alive with the buzz of monitors and uploading stations. The fabulous decorations of the former room were replaced by blue glass and alloy rods.
Level five had three compartments. The one Samus was in now held classified statistics of the numerous planets and their recent discoveries and inventions that could not be released to the public yet. A short metal staircase led to a green door that would take her to the second compartment, where potentially dangerous information lay. After that would be the third and final room, held in the center of the headquarters, a room that only the Council was allowed into…
Samus wasted no time and went to the green door. There she entered the secondary code Torim had given her. The door opened and she entered. This room was no different from the other.
To her right, Samus eyed the final door, so many doors.
This was the one Torim had told her about. This was where his access, and her help, ended.
She scanned the door's lock and tried to find a way in. After several unsuccessful minutes she relayed the task to Creto.
"Creto, can you hack into this?" she asked.
"Let me see," said Creto.
On Samus's visor the message 'requesting access' appeared. There was a slim chance Creto may be able to by-pass the required codes. If it couldn't then Samus would have to find an alternate route.
"I am sorry Samus, but this code is too complex; it would take me at least 2 weeks to find the correct access code," Creto said sadly.
"That's okay," Samus told it, "Now I need to know is the closest station of any GF soldiers here."
"The closest soldiers are on level 3, approximately 4 minutes away," said Creto.
"Nearest point of exit?"
A map appeared on her visor as Creto highlighted the nearest exit. It required getting back into the ventilation and going to level 2 where there was a solitary window in a guest's bedroom.
"That's the best one?" asked Samus in dismay.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. Going back the way you came is too long. They'll realize where you've gone and close off the vents; you will get trapped. And the walls of this station are too fortified to break, even for the ship's blasters. This is the only way," said Creto slowly.
"Okay, be there and be ready for a quick getaway," Samus sighed.
This was it. She could turn back or go through with this. If she broke into this room, escape would be difficult, near impossible, to make without someone seeing and recognizing her. She was putting her entire relationship with the Federation on the line. But then again, they didn't really care for her. She was just a way of fixing their problems, an expensive solution. Did it matter what happened with them? I can always start over somewhere else; I've done it before. She had always been an outsider anyway.
Still, she thought, I can't believe I'm about to do this, but a part deep inside her, the place she couldn't reach asked-would you rather be anywhere else?
So, summing up her strength, Samus again scanned the door in front of her. It was made of a high quality alloy, but was susceptible to strong concussive blasts.
Samus began charging up her Power beam. She slowly backed away to a reasonable distance and then let the Power missile go.
The missile hit the door with a tremendous explosion of glass and fire. An alarm immediately went off. Samus charged into the room.
This room was small and circular with a single monitor and uploading station in the center.
Samus went to the station and hooked up her suit to it, 3 minutes 55 seconds.
She scanned through the file names and picked the one titled 'Sharjak'.
The next three minutes were a blur as Samus picked apart the information with an expert eye and downloaded them to her suit's database. The more she read the more serious it she realized it was and the more horrified she became. What evil is here?
"They're on the fifth level Samus!" shouted Creto into her helmet.
Samus turned to the hole that had been a door. There were faint noises coming from it.
Last file, she thought. She accessed the last file. It was untitled.
It was a strange blueprint. She couldn't tell at first glance what it was supposed to be.
"Samus!" screamed Creto.
"Upload file, now!" commanded Samus.
Seven GF soldiers were rushing at her. Samus twisted to face them and shot one before they all could enter the room. Don't break the line! She told herself.
The remaining six soldiers surrounded her. They fired a quick round, and Samus, who was stuck on a leash of sorts, was unable to dodge most of them. She aimed to shoot one when the opposite soldier blasted her square in the chest. Samus went flying back and had to grab the actual upload station to keep from severing the uploading link.
They were on her in a moment. Laser batons cut at her suit, and she screamed as they reached her skin. She heard the commander yell that they 'wanted her alive' as they continued to beat her. A brave but foolish soldier came close and brought his cannon back in a position to strike her.
Samus saw it coming and couldn't do anything, but that's the second she heard-"Upload com--"
She didn't wait for the rest.
Samus kicked low and the approaching soldier landed on his back. Two other soldiers grabbed her arms to restrain her as the others opened fire on her again.
Samus went into morph ball mode. The soldiers cried out in surprise as she rolled around their feet and out of the circle they had made around her.
Samus laid three bombs that exploded and threw the soldiers up against the blue glass walls. Coming out of morph ball, Samus fired a swift arc of beam shots. The wall panels shattered and flew on them. Before any of them could get up, Samus was on the move again.
Samus flew through the next two rooms and back into the plush hallway, the alarm blaring in the background.
"About 100 yards down the hall is the vent you need to take," said Creto, trying to remain calm. It had assisted its mistress through dozens of escapes, but each one was just as nerve racking.
Samus sprinted down the hall, pumping her arms and assisted by her bio-suit. At the end of the hall, the wall lights started to turn on and Samus knew someone was coming.
She saw the vent entrance and blasted it to bits with a missile. Quickly ducking into morph ball, she disappeared from the approaching soldiers.
PFC Fred Angseth was at his station on level 2. The space station was now on full alert; a break-in was happening. All soldiers were ordered to their posts, and all political guests were ordered into their rooms. It was now an offical lock-down, something that had never happened before.
So when Angseth heard a sound down the hallway, he took a knee and aimed his assult weapon down the hall.
There was a sudden fury of blasts as whoever was down that hallway blasted the wall lights to pieces. The hall went dark and Angseth's heartbeat started to race.
He had joined the military to get away from home, to explore the galaxy, and because of his older sister, SPC M. Angseth.
Brenda Angseth had loved the adventure and was even further inspired by the bounty hunter, Samus Aran. She had been part of the group that had been on Aether, a 'noble battle' Fred always called it. He was proud of his sister, and wanted to make her proud too.
And even when his heart was pounding and possible death hung in the air, Fred Angseth thought about how Brenda had been found by her own idol, and how much it would have meant to her. It would be quite an honor to meet Aran…
Through the dark hall came a rolling patch of light. Fred had no time at all to respond as a blue bomb exploded and knocked him unconscious.
"Almost there," said Creto as Samus came out of morph ball mode in front of a guest's bedroom.
She blasted it with a missile and entered.
A man was yelling and shooting at her with a beam gun. Samus side-stepped his shots and grabbed the gun from his hands. The politician cringed in fear and uttered requests of mercy. He crouched in the corner, avoiding her eyes and staring at her arm cannon in fear.
Samus glared at him harshly through her visor and then moved towards the window. He immediately ran for the door when she turned her back, and ran out into the hall screaming. She paid him no notice and advanced to the window at the end of the room.
She broke it, and the vacuum of space pulled her swiftly out of the room towards her awaiting ship.
I was debating on whether or not to include Angseth in this chapter. I always found her interesting in MP2:Echoes and I wanted to use her in some way. Please tell me if you agree with me using her brother. I have plans for him, but I want reader input.
