Legal Disclaimer: I do not own F-Zero or Donkey Kong, Nintendo does. They and all of their characters are the property of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and their respective creators.
Chapter 7:
Ridley arrived down on the Engineering Deck and proceeded to exit his turbolift car as the doors slid open. As he exited the lift, he found the Engineering Deck to be quite dark, with red lights lining the walls, flashing at a steady interval, indicating that there was an intruder onboard the station. Instead of the normal gray walls, the deck had black walls with small yellow and orange lights that were currently shut off due to the security alert. The corridor that Ridley had emerged into was lined with doors that led to rooms full of cloning tanks, hatcheries for his new Space Pirate army. Currently, these tanks were full of Urtragian Space Pirates. He had already taken many other cloning tanks that had once lined many of the corridors of the station and placed them onboard the troopship and the other ships that they had acquired. He did not want the Moreau to be the only base of the Space Pirates. For a second, he wondered if with all of the infighting that was going on in the Federation, if an attempt to retake Urtraghus was out of the question. He banished the thought as quickly as it entered his mind, though. He would consider it if he had to, but otherwise, he thought that it would be best just to take some unknown, but still inhabitable, world for the time being. No need to get too far ahead of himself.
Ridley then quickened his pace down the corridor, beginning to worry that Samus was coming for him and that he would need to get off this station with the altered genetic samples of Aurora Unit Zero before she intercepted him. As much as he may have wanted to fight her again, he knew that his survival, and the survival of the genetic samples of other Space Pirate leaders was far more important than killing one person, even if that person was his nemesis that had not only killed him numerous times before, but had also brought the Space Pirates to the verge of extinction several times in the past as well. It was not long before he reached the end of the corridor and saw a large blast door that separated the corridor from Main Engineering. He walked up to the door and stopped for a second as the doors separated with a clank and proceeded to slide open. Once the doors were open, Ridley walked on through.
Computer consoles lined the interior of Main Engineering of the space station. Ridley paid no heed to the numerous workers, mostly Zebesians, who were manning the consoles and making reports to their superior officers on the Control Deck, and checking up on the clone of Aurora Unit Zero, sitting in the stasis tank in the center of the room. Unlike many Federation Aurora Units, the clone of Aurora Unit Zero did not have its body encased in metal, but it was free, albeit protected by the tank. Ridley went over to the Aurora Unit and told it, "Samus Aran is present on this station. Should she come down here, your directive is to destroy her no matter what it takes. In addition, I want you release all of the locks on the data stored inside the station's computer."
"Understood, Lord Ridley," the Aurora clone responded. "But may I ask why you wish the Hunter to have access to all of our data?"
"It will keep her away from me and the other leaders while we evacuate, with our essential DNA and other pieces of vital information. It will also distract her from coming down here should she decide to take the lift up to the Control Deck before coming down here," the Space Dragon answered.
"And if Samus Aran decides to come here first?" the Aurora clone asked.
"Then you and the others will kill her," Ridley answered with a sinister grin.
"Understood," the Aurora responded almost mechanically.
Ridley grinned at the Aurora's sentiment. He then went over to a table with a small, brown box. There was a combination lock that prevented the box from opening. He input the code and the box's top flew open. Inside the box were several vials that contained liquid and genetic samples from various different lifeforms. Next to the box was a handheld scanner. He picked up the scanner and scanned the vials. Inside the vials were genetic samples of Aurora Unit Zero, Mother Brain, Kraid, Phantoon, and Crocomire. Ridley wanted to save these DNA samples so that when he evacuated the station, he would eventually be able to revive them, at least for Mother Brain, Kraid, Phantoon, and Crocomire. He did not care so much about Aurora Unit Zero save for the potential of integrating its DNA into Mother Brain and allowing her to control large numbers of Federation starships. Once he was certain that the DNA had not been tampered with and that there were no imperfections in the sample, he took the box and proceeded to leave Main Engineering, all of the Space Pirates present saluting him as he left.
Back on the N'Kren homeworld, Elric and the others were continuing to discuss the terms of the N'Kren and Ylla's assistance to the Federation in this time of crisis. The two sides had hit a snag when Elric had asked for military aid in pacifying Earth and dealing with any other rebels. The N'Kren and Ylla were not yet willing to commit themselves to a single side of an internal conflict without knowing the whole story. Elric, was doing his best to plead his case, "Gentlemen, and lady," he added, nodding towards Blaster, "the Federation is in peril in more ways than one. I have requested Earth…"
"You mean ordered, don't you?" Blaster interrupted. This drew a reproachful gaze from Ma'Kar. She did notice that U-Mos, the Luminoth representative was thinking along her lines as he nodded subtly towards her and the others present.
"I did what was necessary," Elric countered. "Earth refused to allow refugees to land on the planet and also limited the amount of refugees that could land on any of its colony worlds. In addition, those that did get to Earth before the decree to refuse any more refugees were subsequently kicked off of the planet."
"May I say that Earth did so because of the belief that you were sending Watchmen, Federation 'secret' police answerable only to Elric, to the planet disguised as refugees of Daiban," U-Mos said, raising his hand.
"Is this why they refused to offer any further assistance to the crisis?" Ma'Kar asked harshly.
Elric frowned. "That may have been the case, or at least part of it, but I did not authorize the Watchmen to take such actions at all. I only instructed them to make sure that neither side was taking advantage of the other. They were there for security reasons only."
While that answer did seem to satisfy Ma'Kar for the moment, it did little to satisfy Blaster or U-Mos, both of who stared at Elric, wondering what he was really planning, and why he was so intent on getting military aid from the N'Kren and the Ylla. U-Mos then looked over at the Ylla representative, who had been silent throughout the entire proceeding, and asked, "And what is your opinion on this subject, Kehlan?"
Kehlan answered, "I have already decided to send aid in the form of food and medicine to people on both sides of this conflict. In my opinion, though, I cannot justify the sending of military forces to aid either side of this impending conflict yet. We will need more information before being able to justify taking such actions."
"I agree," Ma'Kar said, nodding. "At this time, I see no reason to send the Federation any sort of military aid. After all, there is no open conflict within the Federation yet. Earth and the others colonies of interest have yet to secede and they may still be willing to talk. We will, of course, send aid in the form of food, medicine, and even some materiel for building shelters and hospitals to care for those who are still suffering injuries from the destruction of Daiban and the events leading up to it."
"Will that be satisfactory to both sides?" U-Mos asked, standing up.
Ma'Kar and Kehlan both nodded. Eventually, Elric nodded in agreement as well, giving a sigh. He had really wanted the N'Kren and Ylla to send military aid so that he could stop Earth's secession before it occurred and take it over directly. However, he figured that some aid was better than none. If nothing else, he could scan the ships or ask for a sample of N'Kren and/or Ylla technology.
Upon seeing that all sides were satisfied, Ma'Kar then declared, "Very well, then, I call for this meeting to adjourn. We will be sending a shipment of supplies and materiel along with your fleet."
With that, everyone rose and Elric, U-Mos, and Kehlan each went back to their respective ships. Ma'Kar then called out, "Blaster, Blade, I need to speak with you."
The two guards then went over to him and asked, "What is it?"
"I want you to go with the shipment of food and medicine. I need to know more about the issues between Earth and this Galactic Federation. I highly doubt that the destruction of Daiban is why Earth is suddenly so hostile towards the rest of the Federation, especially when it is such an important member of it."
They both nodded. "Yes, Ma'Kar. It troubles us as well," Blade answered. "And if there is something else going on, what would you have us do?"
"Leave and report back here immediately," Ma'Kar answered. "Fight only if you need to defend yourselves. But don't hesitate to defend yourselves with any and all necessary force if backed into a corner."
"Understood, sir," both of the humans replied. They then bowed and departed the room, leaving Ma'Kar alone with his thoughts. He could not help but be suspicious of Elric and his actions. Then, for some strange reason, his thoughts shifted to the Magic Lords, a long since defeated race. He then shook off the thought and proceeded to leave the room and get back to his normal work of running his homeworld.
Meanwhile, back on the Space Station Moreau, Samus rode the turbolift down to Main Engineering. As she descended to Main Engineering, she prepared herself for the likely defenses that she would encounter. She strongly suspected that Ridley would be there, or at the very least arrive there once she made her presence known to the Space Pirates inside Main Engineering. After a few seconds, Samus heard a chime and the elevator doors opened. Samus then stepped off of the turbolift and onto the Engineering Deck. The doors closed behind her, and the car began to rise.
As she emerged from the elevator, she saw the face of her nemesis, Ridley. She gritted her teeth at the sight of him and opened fire. Ridley suffered a direct hit to his chest, but the beam inflicted next to no damage since it was not charged. Ridley, knowing that he could not afford to be slowed down engaging Samus in a firefight, ran towards the cargo elevator a few meters away as Samus switched to her Ice Missiles and opened fire on him. Missile after missile leapt from her arm cannon and struck the fleeing beast in the back, inflicting noticeable, but not fatal, damage.
As Ridley neared the elevator, the doors slid open. He dove onboard the elevator after taking another Ice Missile to the back, grunting as he dove to the floor and crawled onto the lift. As the doors were closing, he stood erect and turned to face her, seeing that she was coming straight at him and that she might actually manage to get to the elevator and force a melee fight onboard the lift with him. Knowing that a fight was out of the question, he fired a single stream of Plasma towards her. Samus instinctively spin-jumped into a Screw Attack which deflected the plasma stream as it made contact with her Screw Attack field. Still, Ridley's attack had done its job. It had slowed her down until the elevator doors had closed and the lift ascended. She had hoped that she would get her chance to finish him off once and for all. For a second, she considered giving him chase, as he ascended to one of the Main Decks. She decided against it, though, deciding that it was better to neutralize the main Space Pirate threat, which was represented by this station, its fleet, and the clone of Aurora Unit Zero. She would get her chance to kill him one day.
She then marched forward down the corridor, seeing multiple doors on each wall. She checked her map and found that those doors led to research chambers and cloning chambers. The cloning and research chambers were of no real concern to her. Her primary concern was to neutralize the Aurora Unit Zero clone and blind the station to any threats that were about to arrive. It was not long before she arrived at the end of the corridor. Staring at her was a large set of double doors. The label on the doors read, Main Engineering. No entry to unauthorized personnel. Samus ignored the sign and stepped up to the doors. She quickly charged her stacked Plasma Beam, anticipating a firefight on the other side of the doors. She approached a keypad close to the doors and saw a large, green button on the bottom of the pad. She pressed the button and the doors clanked and then proceeded to slide open, gears grinding as the doors parted for the hunter. As the doors opened, Samus charged into Main Engineering, wishing to get the drop on any Space Pirates that may have been stationed inside.
Sure enough, upon entering, she found herself staring at no less than a dozen workers, most of them Zebesian Space Pirates. Samus immediately unleashed her charged Plasma Beam shot at the lead Zebesian and vaporized him with a single shot. Samus then took several shots at the other Zebesians, who were quickly returning fire on Samus, while simultaneously trying to find cover so that they would not get shot by her. Three Zebesians were unsuccessful in finding cover before Samus burned several large holes in their bodies with her Plasma Beam; the unfortunate Pirates falling over onto the ground, dead. The others, however, were fortunate enough to able to find some small amounts of cover and managed to hide while taking a few shots at Samus, themselves. The bounty hunter was too quick for them, though, and managed to dodge their aim so that when the Zebesians fired, their shots went wide. Samus's aim, though, was much more true and four more Zebesians fell, never to rise again.
Not long after she felled the second batch of Zebesians, a pair of Space Pirate Commandos arrived on the scene. Immediately upon spotting Samus, the Commandos opened fire on her; green plasma blasts sailing over her head. The hunter grimaced, knowing that these Pirates were far more formidable than the cannon fodder Zebesian grunts that she had been facing until the Commandos arrived. Even worse, though, was the fact that there were still Zebesians that had yet to be dealt with. Fortunately, she still had a way to deal with the Commandos and possibly the Zebesians at the same time. She continued to remain behind cover as she switched to her Ice Missiles and began to charge her cannon. As a bulge of blue energy formed around the opening of her cannon, she heard the Pirate Commandos grunt in their own language towards the Zebesians. Had she been watching them, she would have seen the eyes of the Zebesians go wide, for the Commandos had just ordered the surviving Zebesians to emerge from cover and draw Samus's fire. One of them had refused and was promptly shot dead by the Commando. Samus grimaced at the fact that her Omega Fusion Suit's translation software did not translate the Space Pirate language. Still, she did not let that bother her.
After a few moments, the other Zebesians hesitantly emerged from their cover and proceeded towards the bounty hunter. Samus then emerged from her own cover and targeted the two Commandos with her Diffusion Missile. The missile rocketed from her arm cannon and flew in a straight line right at the Space Pirates. The Commandos quickly dodged to one side, but the missile soon dipped and they realized all too late that Samus did not need to score a direct hit in order to freeze them. The missile soon struck the ground and detonated, a wave of freezing energy erupting from the epicenter of the explosion. The wave of energy washed over the Space Pirate Commandos and the Zebesians, freezing them solid. Given that the Commandos posed the greater threat, Samus charged her Plasma Beam and targeted the Commandos first. After two charged shots, one for each Commando, the Commandos were reduced to shards of ice. After the Commandos had been dealt with, she targeted the frozen Zebesians, who were already beginning to thaw. These Zebesians were reduced to ice shards after single uncharged shots. Once the Space Pirates had been dealt with, Samus proceeded forward.
Not too far ahead, Samus could see a large, glass-like stasis tank off in the distance. She stopped and then scanned the rest of the area. She found numerous consoles and other stations surrounding her as she scanned both the tank and the surrounding area. It was obvious that this was a secondary control center for the station. She also made note of the numerous energy turrets and Rinka projectors along the walls and on the ceiling. She focused her gaze on the stasis tank and noticed that no lights were shining on it. It was the only dark part of the room, only the edges being revealed. The lack of lighting was not hiding anything from Samus, though, for she knew that the clone of Aurora Unit Zero resided inside the tank. The fact that the tank was so heavily defended was evidence enough of that.
As she began to approach the tank, the lights surrounding the stasis tank lit up and revealed the large, mostly organic, brain inside that was the clone of Aurora Unit Zero. "Welcome, Samus Aran," the feminine sounding voice of Aurora Unit Zero's clone spoke. Samus could not help but notice the similarity between the clone's voice and Mother Brain's.
She did not respond. She merely activated her Scan Visor, which only provided shield and health information on the Aurora clone. She had been familiar enough with how to fight Aurora Units, having fought their predecessor, Mother Brain, twice, as well as having fought Aurora Unit 313 on Phaaze. Still, something was making her uneasy about the prospect of facing this clone of Aurora Unit Zero. Perhaps it was the fact that she was equipped with Ice Missiles, rather than normal missiles and/or Super Missiles and did not know how the Ice Missiles would affect the Aurora Unit clone. She knew that her energy weapons would be insufficient to destroy the stasis tank's outer covering. Aurora Unit Zero's clone then spoke again, "I am Aurora Clone Zero. You are not authorized to be present on this station. My directive is to kill you. Now die." Despite speaking in a perfectly even tone, Samus could tell that the Aurora Clone had all of the malice that Mother Brain and the other Space Pirates held towards her.
The Aurora Clone began the assault against Samus by ordering the turrets and the Rinka projectors to open fire on Samus. Blue energy pulses leapt from the many turrets inside of Main Engineering and rocketed right towards Samus. Golden energy rings then formed around the Rinka projectors and were soon unleashed towards her. She deftly dodged the targeting of the turrets and managed to avoid most of the energy pulses directed towards her. A few pulses managed to score a hit on her, though, and managed to drain most of an Energy Tank. The Rinkas were far easier to avoid, and she managed to dodge them with ease. The Rinkas bounced along the floor and off into the distance where they turned around and proceeded to home in on Samus. Samus switched back to her Plasma Beam and fired on the Rinkas. The energy rings sustained a couple of hits before they were dispersed by the plasma blasts of Samus's arm cannon. Still, every time, Samus managed to destroy a Rinka, another one appeared only a second or two later. Samus put that interval to good use, immediately switching back to her Ice Missiles and unleashed a volley of them against Aurora Clone Zero's stasis tank. Each missile erupted from her arm cannon and rocketed across the distance between Samus and the tank. The missiles struck the tank and exploded in an icy blast of freezing energy. Ice covered the covering of the tank with each explosion, which melted quickly. Samus examined the stasis tank's covering and noticed that the glass was beginning to crack. Good, Samus thought. The Ice Missiles are still effective against the glass.
Her satisfaction would be short-lived, though, as the Aurora Clone had her turrets and Rinka projectors zero in on Samus once more and fired. Again, Samus juked and jived around the energy pulses and Rinkas and managed to emerge from this barrage unscathed. The Aurora Clone then spoke again, "System access. Begin complete takeover of all linked Aurora Units. Directive: Initiate all self-destruct systems on all starship and space station facilities. Additional: Disable all escape pod launchers. Initiate!"
Samus's eyes went wide at the proclamation of the Aurora Clone. If what Aurora Clone Zero said was true, then all starships that had Aurora Units that had been linked to Aurora Unit Zero, and now to Aurora Clone Zero, had their self-destruct sequences activated. On most ships, that meant that the ships still had five minutes before the ships automatically self-destructed, usually given so that the entire crew would be able to evacuate the starships, though in some classes of ship and station, it varied from anywhere between one minute, and one hour. While the losses of the ships stations would be significant, the more significant cost would be in lives. With the escape pods no longer functioning due to Aurora Clone Zero's control, there was no way for the crews of the stranded ships to evacuate. Samus knew that she had to stop Aurora Clone Zero before it managed to initiate its final directive. Thousands, if not millions, of lives depended on it.
Samus then rushed close to the Aurora Clone and opened fire on the Clone with her Ice Missiles. Missile after missile erupted from her arm cannon as she unleashed a vicious assault on the Aurora Unit. Each explosion against the transparent covering of the stasis tank caused it to crack more and more. Shards of glass were ejected with each explosion as the tank cracked. Eventually, the tank's covering shattered and hole appeared in the stasis covering that Samus could fire through. All the while, though, the Aurora Clone unleashed a vicious volley of fire on Samus. Searing blue pulses of energy erupted from the turrets and zeroed in on the bounty hunter as she danced back and forth and managed to avoid some of the pulses of energy, thus avoiding some of the damage that the Aurora Clone was trying to inflict on her. However, the Rinkas were now becoming a little harder to avoid due to the volume of fire, and each Rinka that managed to hit, took off almost an entire Energy Tank off of Samus's reserve. As such, she knew that she had to take out the Aurora Clone not only before it managed to shut down a noticeable portion of the Galactic Federation fleet and other space forces, but also before she succumbed to the withering assault the Aurora Clone was unleashing on her.
Samus continued to unleash missile after missile upon the Aurora Clone. Each explosion bathed the Aurora Clone in a wave of freezing energy, but did not freeze the Aurora solid. Even with the combined might of the Ice Missile volley, the Aurora Clone remained unfrozen. However, the Clone did not escape the volley unscathed. With each hit, the Aurora Clone let out a sound that seemed to be cross between a grunt and a cry. It was almost identical to the sound Mother Brain let out when she was hit with missile fire when she had fought Mother Brain both times on Zebes. Samus continued to fire on the Aurora Clone, the tank's transparent covering shattering even further with each subsequent missile strike. Samus checked the red bar on the top part of her HUD that indicated that the Aurora Clone was losing health. Still, it was not decreasing at the rate she was hoping for, for she, too was suffering damage. She gave off a grunt as a Rinka struck her in the chest, taking off another Energy Tank. So far, due to the combined fire of the turrets and the Rinkas, she had lost eight Energy Tanks of her initial twenty. Given the rate that she was losing health, per hit, compared to the damage she was inflicting to the Aurora Clone, she did not know whether she would win the battle of attrition. However, she knew that she had to, for if she let up on the Aurora Clone, the clone would be able to disable almost every Aurora Unit equipped ship within a radius of ten thousand light-years.
The exchange continued for the next whole minute. Samus did nothing to avoid the enemy fire, save for moving to her right, left, forward, and backwards a few steps so as to avoid the energy pulses. She had lost seven more Energy Tanks, leaving only five left, and she then took a hit from a turret that took off more than forty units of energy. However, the Aurora Clone was in worse shape. She could see that it was already looking discolored, like an undead zombie version of its original form. It did not look like the Aurora Unit was going to last much longer. Samus pressed her attack, launching more missiles at the Aurora Clone. After a dozen more missiles struck the Clone and detonated, she heard the Aurora Clone give off a cry of pain and shock. The clone gave off short, disjointed phrases, saying, "Error…damage," and finally, "Abort."
Explosions then rocked the entire stasis tank, or what was left of it. The Aurora Clone convulsed and pulsated before it exploded into a shower of DNA. Samus then switched to her Plasma Beam and charged a single blast of plasma. She then unleashed the plasma on the remains of the Aurora Clone and let the fires produced from the plasma blast consume the entity's remains. After a few seconds, the remains of the Aurora Clone were consumed by flames and all traces of Aurora Clone Zero were gone.
Upon the Aurora Clone's destruction, the turrets and Rinka projectors abruptly ceased functioning. The Rinkas that were still floating around the room merely caromed off the wall until Samus shot and dispersed them with single shots from her beam. The battle against the Aurora Clone was over, however, Samus knew that her mission was not over yet. She heard no countdown clock or warning of imminent self-destruction, not yet, anyway. She hoped that the station would not automatically self-destruct, for if she managed to disable all of its defenses, Admiral Dane's forces could take it and use the information to try and track down any Space Pirate survivors. She then proceeded to scan the rest of the area. Her scans indicated that life support was still functioning onboard the station at full power. She went over to one of the computer consoles inside the room and attempted to find out the status of the computer. As she suspected, the main computer was down, but the backups had already taken over most functions. However, she knew that the station still had some problems, which were evident on the monitor. Without Aurora Clone Zero, the external sensors of the station were not functioning, rendering the station practically blind. Samus typed in a series of commands on the console and got a full report on the current condition of the station. The external sensors, internal and external communications were down, as were the shields. In addition, the secondary computers did not have strong anti-hacking measures and all of the data in the memory banks of the station was there for the picking.
Samus noticed a Rinka-shaped icon on the top right part of the screen. She pressed her finger against the icon on the screen. The screen quickly changed and Samus saw the image of Elric appeared on the screen. Sitting across from him was an Urtragian Space Pirate Trooper. The Chairman appeared to be sitting in a dark room on an unknown planet with a green sky, which was visible out the window. It appeared to be evening on the unknown world. "Is the data all there?" the Space Pirate Trooper asked Elric.
Elric nodded. "It is. This is everything you should need in order to launch your assault on Galactic Federation Headquarters. It also has the location of the transport ship, Putze. That ship should be able to hold enough troops for this assault to be successful and with the Federation registry, you should be able to jump in without setting off any early warning systems."
"Excellent," the Space Pirate responded. "Ridley will love this."
"Just remember the agreement," Elric warned sternly. "Don't kill me in your attack. Everyone else is fair game, but whatever you do, make sure that Councilman Colin Williams and Councilwoman Madeline Powell die in the attack. I have given you their dossiers so you and your troops should know what they look like."
"We will be sending Zebesians to launch the attack, so don't worry too much about targets."
"Zebesians?" Elric gasped. "Why them? They're the weakest and the least intelligent of all Space Pirate breeds!"
"Yet, they also make great cannon fodder," the Space Pirate responded with a smart tone. "After all, you were designing an elite Special Forces unit around them, weren't you?"
"That was because they had quickness, and were malleable," Elric retorted sharply. "They're great shock troops if you want everything in front of them dead. When there are other targets that you don't want harmed, they're an unknown factor."
"Well, I guess you'll have to learn that they might not be as stupid as you were making them out to be."
"But the troops you'll be using are Federation designed Zebesians," Elric countered, a little worried about how things were turning out.
The Space Pirate Trooper laughed at the Chairman's concern. "That's your problem," he responded. "We're working with what you gave us on the station. That is, of course, unless you wish to give us a little more information on the subject…" the Space Pirate gave a menacing smile.
Elric immediately backed down, admitting, "You have a point. But still, let the Zebesians know that I'm not a target."
"We will," the Space Pirate assured him, waving his hand off as if it should be of no concern. "But make certain of one thing, Elric. Don't betray us or sell us out, for we have information on all of your dirty little secrets." The Space Pirate then gave Elric a sinister grin. "All of them," he reiterated.
"I won't," Elric quickly assured him, fear evident on his face. His response seemed to satisfy the Pirate, for the Pirate then moved and departed from Elric's presence. However, as he left, he muttered in a sinister tone, "But don't be surprised if a few energy bolts come your way. We wouldn't want to make it look like you were in on it after all. Not that it will matter with what we really have in store for your capital. Though, maybe you'll thank us, eventually." With that, the Space Pirate departed from Elric's presence. It was there that the screen went blank. Samus, however, noticed that there was both a replay button, as well as a download icon on the screen.
She then looked for a disk or other device that she could download the data onto. She soon found a round, blank DVD-like disk on a table not too far away from the console. She grabbed the disk and plugged it into the drive. Then she pressed her finger against the "download" icon and waited for the data to be downloaded onto the disk. As the data was being downloaded, Samus opened a channel to Adam. "Adam, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Samus," Adam replied.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes. The ship has remained undetected."
"Good," Samus replied. "I need you to bring the ship to the station as quickly as possible. I've come across a data recording that I have downloaded onto a disk. It contains information vital to the survival of the Galactic Federation. It's about Elric and the events on Daiban. He gave the Space Pirates information on Galactic Federation Headquarters, as well as the location transport they used in order to launch their attack. I wouldn't be surprised if they used the information Elric gave them to plan their attack on Aurora Unit Zero as well.
"You have confirmation of that?" Adam asked, astounded.
"I have the data recording right here. Everything else is secondary right now. We need to get this information back to Earth and to the rest of the Federation as quickly as. Only the Radio Tower on Earth can broadcast a signal capable of reaching most of the known galaxy."
"I'll meet you in the main hangar bay," Adam replied. "From what I can tell, it's not too far away from your current location, just a few levels up." Adam was about to cut the channel when he noticed Ridley flying out from the main hangar bay and headed towards one of the Space Pirate ships. "Samus, I've spotted Ridley leaving the station and headed towards a frigate! According to my scans, its FTL engines have powered up and are ready to go. What are your orders?" he announced.
Samus's eyes went wide with surprise at the statement. Ridley running from the station, even though the Federation had not yet arrived? she thought. There was no way that he would run when there was no clear risk besides a potential fight with her. And she knew that he would be loath to run from a fight with her. He hated her almost as much as she hated him. He would not flee the station unless it was either set to self-destruct on a silent countdown, or he had an even more important mission. Samus thought about telling Adam to go after Ridley, but she decided against it. While her gunship was heavily armed, it was no match for the Space Pirate frigate, much less the fleet assembled at the station; and if she went after Ridley, the rest of the fleet would likely detect her ship due to its weapons fire. Eventually, Samus told Adam, "Adam, scan the station. Is there a self-destruct protocol that has been activated yet?"
"No, lady," Adam replied.
"Then continue to the hangar bay and meet me there," she told him. "Getting this information to Earth is more important than chasing down Ridley, or almost anything else for that matter. We can't risk losing this information."
"Are you sure it's wise to give this to Earth?" Adam asked. "The people of Earth are already angry enough at the Federation as is. This will merely add fuel to the fire of their hatred now that they have irrefutable proof that Elric is evil and that he was in on the attack on Galactic Federation Headquarters. This will prove that Earth was right and most of the rest of the Federation was wrong. This could easily result in a civil war."
"I know," Samus admitted quietly. "But Earth is the only planet with a transmitter that can reach the outer planets of the Federation. With Aurora Unit One, it can also transmit the data between any and all uninfected Aurora Units as well."
Adam could see Samus's point. She knew that this could either result in both sides in the Federation making peace, knowing that Elric was manipulating the situation the entire time. Adam then told Samus, "Hurry to the hangar bay, Samus, the fleet's arrived!"
Outside the Space Lab Moreau, thirty-six Galactic Federation warships emerged from warp merely a thousand kilometers away from the station. Leading the fleet was the G.F.S Olympus, under the command of Admiral Castor Dane. As the ships emerged from warp, they immediately opened fire on closest of the Space Pirate warships. The Kraken-class troopship and the Gehenna-class dreadnaught had been caught with their shields down and were the first to fall, red lances of energy erupting from the three Olympus-class battleships, and a couple Asgard-class heavy cruisers, and slicing into the unshielded ships like hot knives through soft butter. The unfortunate ships exploded within mere seconds of each other, unleashing huge clouds of shrapnel which destroyed several smaller Space Pirate fighters and transports in the process. The bright explosions nearly blinded those near the windows of the Space Pirate ships looking at the massacre in the making. Meanwhile, the other Federation ships focused on the other starships in the burgeoning Space Pirate fleet, managing to take out one of the Space Pirate controlled Asgard-class heavy cruisers before the rest of the Space Pirate ships managed to get their shields up and fight back, or attempt to flee. However, the Federation Admiral had sent a task force of six capital ships, one Olympus-class battleship, two Asgard-class heavy cruisers, and three Griffin-class frigates to cut off the escape routes for the Space Pirate forces. These ships were augmented by several Anhur-class patrol transports, Aries-class transports, and several squadrons of Stiletto-class starfighters and the newer Katana-class starfighters as well. Any realistic hopes for an escape were quickly dashed. The Space Pirates soon realized that they had to stand and fight, if for no other reason than to try to give the Federation a bloody nose.
The Space Pirate ships eventually managed to start fighting back, but by the time they did, it was far too late to do much of anything, already having lost almost a third of their fleet while inflicting no losses whatsoever to the Federation fleet. Their remaining Asgard-class heavy cruiser quickly fell to the withering fire of the Federation fleet, and the remaining starships in the now meager Space Pirate fleet would not do much to the vastly superior Federation starships. The Ba'al and Moloch-class cruisers and Unicorn-class destroyers were no match for the Olympus-class battleships and Asgard-class heavy cruisers that formed the core of the Federation armada. In addition, the Space Pirates also had to contend with the Anhur and Aries-class transports and the numerous starfighters that the Federation ships were launching at them. It took only a few minutes for the Federation fleet to wipe out the vast majority of the Space Pirate warships, with only half a dozen capital ships managing to escape the massacre, one of them being the Siriacus, the sole remaining Space Pirate frigate from the original Space Pirate fleet.
Ridley flew through space as the battle erupted around him, watching helplessly as the Federation fleet arrived and opened fire on the Space Pirate starships. He closed his eyes as the scarlet lances of energy burned through the Kraken-class transport and Gehenna-class battleship. Those ships had been so useful in the capture of other starships as well as in the annihilation of small Federation taskforces that had been disabled by Aurora Clone Zero's signal. He quickly noticed the Space Pirate frigate, one of the only remaining starships from the original Space Pirate Starfleet, coming over to the station in order to use it for cover. He knew that the frigate was his only chance out of here and he proceeded to fly straight towards the frigate. The frigate soon ducked behind the station for cover as the frigate lowered its shields and proceeded to allow Ridley to board. In a few seconds, Ridley approached the ship as Federation fighters were beginning to approach. Ridley flew through the hatch and it quickly closed, allowing the ship to raise its shields before the fighters could open fire on it. Just as the shields were raised, the fighters unleashed a barrage of missiles on the Space Pirate frigate, but the shields managed to absorb the blasts and the ship remained undamaged. The frigate, knowing that the rest of the Pirate fleet, and the station, would not last long, then jumped into warp, leaving the remaining Space Pirates behind, only six capital ships, with less than two thousand Space Pirates, escaping the massacre.
Meanwhile, back onboard the station, Samus quickly departed Main Engineering as she felt the station shudder from the impact of a Federation energy beam or missile strike. She realized that did not have a lot of time before the station was obliterated, studying her map as she ran down the corridor, back to the destroyed turbolift. She immediately boarded the lift and took it to the hangar level. She ascended the ten levels necessary and got off at the hangar level.
Once she arrived in the corridor, she found several Zebesian Space Pirates running around as if they had no force to guide them. Samus glanced out the view port and saw the Galactic Federation fleet slaughtering the Space Pirate fleet assembled at the station out of the corner of her eye, along with the Zebesians watching in horror as they realized that the fate of the Space Pirate ships would soon be their own fate as well. However, they made no attempt to flee the station, merely staring out into space as they witnessed one of the Ba'al-class medium cruisers explode, a bright light erupting from the center of the ship, a telltale sign that the reactor had breached. The debris flung from the center of the ship took out a large portion of the ship's fighter support in the process. Samus ran past the Zebesians, none of them taking the time to look behind them or turn to face her as they caught her reflection on the glass. The Zebesians seemed resigned to their fate with no attempt being made to deny her a chance to escape, a sharp contrast to every other Zebesian Space Pirate encounter she had under the same circumstances.
Samus continued down the corridor, making a beeline for the hangar bay. She saw on her map that she was fast approaching the doors. However, a couple of Super Zebesians jumped out in front of her. These were more eager to fight and take her down with the rest of the station. Her sensors indicated that a force field had activated a few meters behind her. It was fortuitous that it had, for the force field was now holding back a wave of flame, likely generated when one of the Federation ship's energy beams had pierced the shields and the hull of the station. Samus switched to her Ice Missiles and charged a Diffusion Missile. After a couple of seconds, the missile was charged and she unleashed it upon the Zebesians. The missile struck them and detonated, engulfing them in a wave of frigid energy. She did not bother to shatter the frozen Pirates, for she could not waste the time. The station was under attack and if the Federation fleet was not careful, they could end up destroying the station before managing to board it and capture it.
Making her way past the Zebesians, she approached the door to the hangar bay. As she ran towards it, the doors began to slide open. She saw several blue pulses flash past her helmet, as well as an impact to her back. She soon saw that she lost almost fifty energy units from an Energy Tank. Turning around, she saw a large number of Zebesian Space Pirates, as well as several Urtragian Space Pirate Troopers in hot pursuit of her. She did not bother to return fire and she merely fled the oncoming horde and entered the landing bay, hoping to reach her ship before a lucky, or unlucky, shot annihilated the station.
As she entered the hangar bay, she saw her ship a dozen meters in the distance, hovering off the ground, its engines already active. Samus heard Adam over the radio calling to her, "The ship's fired up and ready to go, Samus!"
Samus made no reply as she merely rushed down the walkway that led to her gunship. Twin energy cannon emerged from the front of the ship as Samus approached the ship and as she arrived underneath the boarding hatch to be taken onboard the ship, red pulses of energy erupted from the cannons. The pulses of energy fell among the Space Pirates and the explosions that resulted sent the Pirates, or what remained of them, flying in all directions. Once Samus was onboard, the gunship turned and rocketed out of the hangar bay and into outer space.
Once her ship was in space, Samus took her seat at the pilot's station. She watched as the Olympus and the rest of the fleet finished off the last Space Pirate starship, a captured Unicorn-class destroyer, and then focused its fire on the station. Samus was surprised that the damage to the station did not look nearly as bad on the outside as she had initially suspected when the station's emergency force fields had held back a raging firestorm in the corridor that she had been occupying. She turned away from the fleet, which had not suffered any losses during the attack, as ships began to surround the station and transports began to attach themselves to the hull, and other ships fly into the hangar bay. She knew that the Space Pirates would not stand a chance against the well-trained Marines that would spearhead the attack. It was only a matter of time before the station fell into Federation hands. With that thought, she powered up her warp drive and jumped into subspace.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Kreatz and Mauk flew inside their shuttle, along with two of their initial force of Watchmen, as well as a few reinforcements as well. Kreatz looked into the back of the shuttle and saw the tall blond-haired woman dressed in a black shirt and black pants named Cynthia and wondered why Elric had wanted her incarcerated so badly. Yes, she was the Sinnoh Pokémon League Champion, but the members of the Pokémon League were not generally involved in politics. She was also joined by several other humans, one of which was a human girl, approximately eleven years old with dark blue hair that came down just below her shoulders and blue eyes. She wore a short sleeveless black dress with pink outline on the skirt and pink boots that reached almost to her knees. He then examined the other prisoners, a teenaged boy with brown hair, tanned skin that was darker than that of the other prisoners, wearing a green shirt with an orange and brown vest over it, along with khaki pants. He constantly squinted, so Kreatz could not identify the prisoner's eye color. There were a few other prisoners as well that stood out. Among them was a man immediately recognized as Captain Douglass Jay Falcon, the famous bounty hunter and F-Zero racer. He was dressed in a blue flight suit with a red helmet and black visor. To the right of the captain, there was a large, brown ape that the dossiers identified as Donkey Kong. Kreatz looked at the dossiers and had trouble believing that a bunch of teenagers, preteens, an F-Zero racer, and an overgrown ape could pose so much trouble to Elric. He then went back to the cockpit and sat beside Mauk, who piloted the ship.
"Okay Mauk, who's next on the list?" he asked.
"The representative of Earth, Councilman Williams," Mauk answered. "We've been ordered to take him to Elric as soon as he returns.
A voice then cried out from the rear, demanding, "Tell us why we were arrested by the Galactic Federation." Kreatz turned and saw that it was the girl in the exceedingly risqué dress.
"I could think of a number of reasons, miss," Kreatz answered. "But suffice to say, you are in possession of bioweapons."
The girl recoiled in shock. "Bioweapons?"
Kreatz and the other Watchmen onboard nodded. "Yes. Those Pokémon, as you call them, have been classified as bioweapons and must be confiscated."
"You can't do that!" the girl protested. "They're my friends, not bioweapons!"
"Listen miss…Dawn," one of the officers then said, matching her face to a picture on one of the dossiers, "possession of bioweapons is illegal and Pokémon were originally developed as bioweapons."
"Maybe in the past, they were," Cynthia retorted. "But that was centuries ago, before the Earth unified and before it joined the Galactic Federation. Pokémon have since been incorporated into traditional biological taxonomies and now also have rights of their own. You most certainly did not have a problem with Pokémon when we joined the Galactic Federation three decades ago."
"Times change," Kreatz answered harshly.
"They do indeed," Cynthia agreed. "If I remember correctly, you used to be a police officer and a person to be respected and honored. I heard of your part in the averting of a disaster almost a year ago and the revelations brought to light about Elric's crimes. Now, you're nothing but a legalized criminal and a thug, serving the one man you had one exposed as a criminal. Without Elric, the Watchmen have no power or political support. Heck, even now, you're still being challenged. And that's what this is all about, isn't it? Elric is scared of what will come to light. For him, the attack on Galactic Federation Headquarters and the destruction of Daiban were blessings."
For a fleeting moment, Kreatz felt the urge to strike Cynthia across the face for her accusation of being nothing than a "legalized criminal", but he resisted. He then relaxed and frowned, since could not disagree with what the woman had said. Joining the Watchmen had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. He did not like the mandate of the Watchmen and deceiving the people of Earth, using their compassion for those who had lost their own world, just to get agents here so that any potential rebellion could be stopped before it began, but he knew that for the good of the Federation, it had to be done. But had it been for the good of the Federation? Earth, which had once been a very open world as long as no one brought any trouble to it, was now highly mistrustful of anyone who was non-human, Pokémon, or Cetacean. The people of Earth were even now beginning to be mistrustful of humans that were not from their own colonies, Aliehs III, or Corella 5.
After a few seconds, the image of Elric's face appeared on the screen. "Kreatz, Mauk, report in," Elric demanded curtly. "I have not heard anything from you for a while."
"Sir," Mauk began, "we have currently rounded up eight dissidents and enemies, according to the dossiers you gave us. One of the prisoners that you sent us to apprehend was killed while avoiding arrest and trying to flee. Civilians got involved and casualties were suffered on both sides."
"Who was killed?" Elric asked sternly.
"Pokémon Trainer Leaf," Kreatz answered in a melancholy tone. "She was only twelve," he continued.
The two of them then saw Elric's face light up on the screen as if this was the best news that he had heard in a long time. "Can you confirm this?" he asked in a tone that the others could not help but think was hopeful.
"We can," Kreatz said glumly. He stepped aside and then told one of the officers, "Bring the body and show it to the Chairman for confirmation."
"Yes, Commander," the Watchman replied as he went back into a cargo container and dragged the substitute of Leaf out to show Elric.
Elric gazed at the body and a grin began to twist his lips. Kreatz and Mauk were dumbfounded at Elric's glee. The other Watchmen, however, seemed to have no issues with Elric's behavior. "Were any of the other Priority One threats detained?" Elric asked.
"Yes," Mauk answered. "We also managed to get a hold of Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon as well. We are also on our way to apprehend Councilman Williams right now. We have tracked him to the Capitol Building in Washington D.C."
"Good. Once he is captured, make sure that all of the prisoners are executed immediately."
"All of them, sir?" Kreatz and Mauk stammered. They could hardly believe what had come from Elric's mouth. Most of the prisoners were only children. Merely capturing them on some trumped up charges had been hard enough as was.
"Yes," Elric roared in response. "All of them! They are menaces to the Galactic Federation and their threat must be neutralized permanently! You have your orders, officer! Carry them out! I am already on my way back to Earth along with some help and much needed supplies. I will be having a face-to-face meeting with Cyrus upon my return. I want the job done by then. Elric out." With that, the screen went blank.
Both Kreatz and Mauk slumped back into their seats. Both of the Watchmen leaders gazed at each other, then at the other officers, some of who were leering back at the prisoners, and then back at the prisoners. "This isn't what I signed up for," Kreatz said quietly to Mauk. "Is this really necessary?"
"We've come this far, Kreatz," Mauk replied. "We knew what we might have to do when we signed up to be Watchmen."
"I know," Kreatz lamented. "I just did not expect it to come down to killing children. Cynthia, I could possibly understand since she is a Pokémon League Champion and the League is speaking out against the Federation. Maybe Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon, but that would be stretching it. But Dawn? Brock? Lyra? Ethan? What have they done?"
"I agree with you," Mauk told him.
"But orders are orders, sir," one of the golden-armored soldiers interjected. "When the time comes, we will have to carry out our directives."
Kreatz and Mauk then nodded in a melancholy fashion and sat back down in their seats as they flew over a city in the Johto region of Japan and began their long flight to New York City.