Chapter 15:
Samus sprinted across the battlefield, charging her Plasma Beam in order to deal with any Marines or heavier forces that came to stop them from rendering aid to the crew of the transport. She noticed a tank off in the distance headed their way, firing its main energy cannon towards the fallen transport. It was a Landmaster. She could only hope that the Landmaster did not belong to the Star Fox Team. She targeted the tank with her Plasma Beam and let loose with a Charged Shot. The orange-red blast of energy crossed the distance between her and the tank at close to the speed of light. The blast struck the tank on its side, but the beam failed to penetrate. However, her sensors did indicate that the armor was weakened. Still, she did not want to waste any time dealing with the tank, so she quickly switched to her Power Beam and charged it in preparation of firing a Super Missile. Once it was charged, she locked onto the tank and unleashed her Super Missile upon said tank. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and rocketed towards the tank and struck it less than a second after its firing. The tank erupted in a tremendous display of fire and metal, sending out shrapnel and flame towards the Marines and Army Troopers that had been walking alongside the tank, sending them diving to the ground for cover. This gave Samus and the medics more than enough time to cross the battlefield and get to the transports, each combatant only having to lay down some covering fire against any Marine foolish enough to try to take a shot at them.
As they were nearing the transport, though, a figure descended from the sky and landed directly in front of them. Samus immediately recognized the figure as a Technoble. She grimaced as she scanned the warrior, confirming her suspicion that this was, indeed, a Technoble. This was one thing that she had not expected. She had initially expected the higher-ranking Techno Soldiers, such as Knights, Nobles, and Lords to be deployed in outer space where they could be used to tremendous effect against the superior starfighters of the Federation in Exile. The Technoble looked directly at Samus and said, "Since you are the daughter of Rodney and Virginia Aran, my friends, I will give you this one chance to surrender. If you do so, I will allow the medics to pass and aid the occupants of the downed transport. If you do not, though, I will destroy you here and now."
Samus considered the offer for a second before responding, "And what assurances to I have that you'll allow the medics to pass?"
"You have my word," Ma'Kar answered.
Samus sighed. "Once, that would have been good enough for me, considering the alliance between the Chozo and the N'Kren. However, since you have cast your lot in with a lunatic like Cyrus and his monsters for military commanders, your word does not carry much worth." She quickly switched to her Wave Beam, charged her cannon and said, "I cannot afford to surrender. The stakes are too high, not only for the Earth, but for the entire universe. Since you are a N'Kren, I will give you the offer you gave me. Only, my one request will be for you to either step aside or join me. You must see that Cyrus is out of control. He has thrown his entire fleet, and the fleets of sovereign members of the Galactic Federation at Earth in his need to capture it and find the Sinjoh Ruins so he can destroy this universe and create his own."
"That is merely Earth propaganda!" Ma'Kar blurted.
"You're wrong!" one of the Medical Marines cried in protest. "We know Cyrus! He's from our world! This isn't the first time he's tried something like this. He did it before he entered politics, using an organization called Team Galactic as his army. If you side with him, you're throwing away who you are. Don't let your fear of the Magic Lords control your actions," the Marine pleaded.
"I am not letting those monsters control my actions," Ma'Kar protested. It was clear, though, that his resolve was beginning to waver.
"Then you're letting those who are letting their fear control them control you," Samus retorted. She could tell that his resolve to fight her was beginning to waver, though. "You're different from the others. You still have your honor. Do the right thing."
"But the threat of the Magic Lords is true. And they have been taken to the brink of extinction before and returned, even stronger and more determined than ever. If Cyrus can eliminate them once and for all, should we not do everything we can to see the plan through?"
"At the cost of a planet with more than six billion people, and countless more other sentients?" Samus countered. "The Magic Lords are not the only evil in the universe," she said, walking towards him, lowering her arm cannon and switching to her Ice Beam to neutralize the charge. "Don't become another force for evil in your zeal to eliminate the Magic Lords. Too many have already fallen into that trap. Don't join them."
Ma'Kar then shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Samus Aran. But I cannot let you and the medics pass. To that end…"
He drew his staff and the sharp point at the end of the staff began to glow green. He pointed it at Samus and she immediately jumped into the air and somersaulted, performing a Screw Attack. A massive wave of energy erupted from Ma'Kar's staff and struck Samus's Screw Attack shield. The energy struck the shield, but was not powerful enough to breach, and thus, it flowed around her like a tidal wave. As she was deflecting the energy, she told the medics, "Now's your chance, go!"
The medics rushed past the battle, being careful to not get struck by any of Ma'Kar's energy wave and towards the fallen Assault Transport. Ma'Kar quickly turned to face them so he could stop them, raising the other point of his lance at them and causing it to glow, but in doing so, took his eyes off of Samus just as his attack against her ceased. This was a significant mistake, one that Samus was quick to take advantage of. The bounty hunter could scarcely believe her luck as she saw the warrior turn his back to her in order to deal with the medics as she curled into her Morph Ball form and proceeded to use the Spring Ball ability, combined with the Boost Ball to propel herself into Ma'Kar's back, and into one of his suit's engines. As she did so, she immediately dropped a Power Bomb, which instantly detonated inside the engine. Samus was propelled away from the explosion, which expanded about thirty meters outward from the center of the blast. Ma'Kar took much of the brunt of the impact with his engine wall redirecting the force of the bomb was focused on the engines of his back and the engines. This also protected the fleeing medics from the Power Bomb's blast as well. While the destruction field did eventually expand beyond the Noble, it only expanded out to around ten meters beyond Ma'Kar and did not threaten the medics in the slightest as they went over to help the occupants of the downed transport.
Meanwhile, Ma'Kar was thrown to the ground by the blast of the Power Bomb. His engine walls were completely melted and the engines were gone. Burn marks marred his whole back and there were even cracks in the armor. Checking his readouts, he saw that his armor was compromised in several areas in the back; something that Samus's scans quickly told her as well. She responded by switching to her Wave Beam and preparing her Wave Buster. Since Ma'Kar was a Technoble, she knew that it would take more than a few Wave Beam shots to take him down. She also wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible without putting anyone else in danger.
Ma'Kar also felt the need to end this fight as quickly as possible, so he proceeded to power his chest and shoulder-mounted energy projectors and cannons. Samus could only grin as the projectors started to glow a deep emerald green, for she knew that she had him now. He would have a moment of vulnerability when he unleashed the power of his energy projectors and cannons on her. The glow of the energy projectors continued to brighten until they stopped getting brighter, indicating that they were about to fire. This was Samus's cue to unleash her Wavebuster upon Ma'Kar. Just as he was about to fire, Samus fired first. A stream of lightning erupted from her cannon and struck Ma'Kar in the chest. With the cracks of the armor on his back, he felt the tingling sensation of electricity, but he knew that the real damage was about to be done, as his energy projectors were about to open fire. The barriers on the projectors fell and the projectors opened for an instant so as to unleash the energy stored within them and in that instant, the weapons were overloaded by Samus's Wavebuster. The lightning blew out the energy projectors and shoulder-mounted cannons and the projectors and cannons exploded. The explosions rocked Ma'Kar and sent him flying through the air, spraying small pieces of metal in all directions as his armor was blown out. He landed about ten meters away and skidded to a halt along the ground, electricity surging from numerous breaches in his suit and arcing across his form. Samus knew that she had him, and that a single Wave Beam blast would be the end of this Technoble.
She charged her Wave Beam and took aim at the N'Kren soldier. While Ma'Kar's suit had sustained tremendous damage in the fighting and was barely functioning, he was not done yet. His staff was still intact. Checking it, he could see that it remained undamaged. He gripped his staff and proceeded to point it at the bounty hunter. After he leveled it at her, he opened fire at the same exact instant that Samus unleashed her Charged Wave Beam blast at him. Samus was already in the process of moving, though, so his blast went wide of the bounty hunter. Her shot, however, hit true due to the homing effects of the Wave Beam. The trio of purple undulating pulses struck Ma'Kar in the chest and electricity arced across his suit. As it did so, the suit shut down. His HUD went black and the only window he had to the outside world were two narrow tubes that were his suit's eyes. His suit weighed heavily on him and he fell to the ground, his suit now a useless deadweight. He undid the manual release of his suit and rose from the wreckage that had one been his Technoble suit of armor.
He stood up, devoid of his armor, and any defensive weapon, and stared at the bounty hunter. When Samus did not shoot him and end his threat permanently, he asked in a calm voice, "What are you waiting for, Hunter? Kill me and get it over with."
Samus raised her arm cannon to his head for an instant, but then lowered it just as quickly as she had raised it to him. She stared at him and said, "I will not murder you."
"What do you mean?" Ma'Kar asked curiously. He could not fathom why Samus had refused to finish him since he was still her enemy, and was quite dangerous, even without his armor. "We are enemies. You must finish it!"
"To kill you in the heat of battle is one thing," Samus called in response. "But to kill you now, when your threat is neutralized, would be wrong. I know that you are a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, but you have no ranged defensive side arm. Besides, you're not a Space Pirate, or a monster. You are a N'Kren warrior, and I was raised by the Chozo. Our people were allies once. They could still be again," she added quietly.
Ma'Kar, however, shook his head, looking downcast. "I doubt that that can happen," he said. "Too much has happened in the last year; heck, the last month, for that matter." The thoughts of the conquest of Earth entered into his mind, as he watched as Hi'Gor had ordered N'Kren ships to join in the tactical bombardment of Earth bases and even cities that were said to have large numbers of soldiers. However, for some countries, almost anyone who could walk could become a soldier at a moment's notice. As it was, several cities had been destroyed and millions of civilians: men, women, and children, were killed in the bombardments carried out by Cyrus and his forces, some of them even being carried out by the N'Kren fleet. Ma'Kar had objected to the strikes, so he had been relegated to guard duty while Hi'Gor had joined Cyrus on the attacks on important Earth targets.
He then thought about the Ylla. Even though they were still allied with the Galactic Federation, they had not participated in the bombardment of the Earth. In fact, the Ylla had nearly withdrawn their support from the war due to the very bombing of Earth being perpetrated by Cyrus's forces. Only the guarantee to stop the orbital strikes was enough to keep the Ylla from switching sides or, at the very least, becoming a neutral party. That had not stopped the Orbital Rings from launching attacks of their own, but the Rings had been taken care of by Samus. He gazed at the helmet of Samus and saw her eyes. Even through the helmet, he could see her mother's eyes gazing back at him. He told her, "I heard rumors that your parents were captured by Space Pirates."
"Those aren't rumors," Samus corrected. "It's true. Cyrus gave the Space Pirates my parents, likely as payment for any services they gave unto him, and they now serve him as Space Pirate Techno Lords under the command of Ridley, the one who put them in a state of clinical and near brain death in the massacre of K-2L when I was three years old.
Ma'Kar looked into the bounty hunter's eyes and when he saw that she was telling the truth, he seethed. The rumors were true. Cyrus had handed her parents, the ones that he had rescued on K-2L and taken back to their homeworld and nursed back to health, taught them how to fight and become N'Kren warriors, and even getting the Council to bestow on them the armor of Techno Lords, had been betrayed by Cyrus, and by extension, his own commanding officer as well; for he knew that Hi'Gor had to have known the rumors and suspected that they were more than rumors. Eventually, he told Samus, "Very well. You may pass."
The bounty hunter then charged past the N'Kren warrior. As she went past, she turned back to him and, for a second, removed her helmet, saying, "Thank you…"
"Ma'Kar," the N'Kren told her.
"Thank you Ma'Kar. You have shown the finest qualities of all N'Kren warriors. You are just as I was taught by Old Bird and Gray Voice."
Ma'Kar gave her a kind smile as he gazed into Samus's eyes and saw Virginia inside of Samus. Samus then put her helmet back on and she headed towards the shuttle. Ma'Kar then went to scour the field for any discarded weapon: Federation, Earth, Federation in Exile, or even N'Kren, and join in the fighting on the right side of the fight.
It did not take Samus long to reach the fallen transport. When she arrived, she saw the two medics working on a group of Marines in the rear part of the fallen half of the ship. None of the Marines looked to be in any serious danger of dying, and when she saw that they would be fine, she was relieved. She heard one of the Marines recount the downing of the craft. "If you didn't believe in miracles before, you will now," he said jovially. "I mean, all of the Marines that would have been in the back were already deployed on the battlefield, and the rest of them were up in the front half."
"Not only that, but the pilots were able to keep the nose up, so we suffered less damage on impact. I only got a couple of bruises," another Marine said.
"Still, it would be a good idea to get yourself checked out at a hospital," a third Marine said, "just incase there are any internal injuries that can't be diagnosed on the battlefield."
"We all were a little banged up," a fourth chimed in. "But the good news is we're all alive. Let's make sure we stay that way by taking that building out there."
The Marines then gave a battle cry and proceeded to depart the fallen transport. Samus went over to the two medics and asked, "Is everything alright here?"
"We're fine," the medics responded. "We'll be safe here. Most of the fighting has gone on to other areas surrounding the building, too. This may be your chance to infiltrate the building and retake it."
Samus nodded and departed. As she did so, she saw Ma'Kar standing outside the fallen transport, holding a Federation Marine's assault energy rifle. "You may be good, one of the best, even, but there are times when everyone could use a little help once in a while."
Samus smiled and said, "Thanks," as she accepted his offer to help. The two then made their way towards the Capitol Building.
Along the way, they came across a platoon of Federation in Exile Marines and Army Troopers that were pinned down by a massive mech off in the distance. The two went over to the Marines and the Marines were delighted to see them coming. One of them then told her, "We're pinned down by that stupid mech and we used up our anti-armor weapons earlier in the fight."
Samus had the solution, though, as she switched to her Power Beam and readied a Super Missile. Before shooting the mech, she scanned it, the scan reading, Object – Star Elf Mech Warrior: Level One. The first level of Mech Warrior is a gigantic humanoid robot standing at about thirty-six feet in height that is armed with a large energy sword, and an energy rifle for use in ranged combat against opposing ground vehicles and air and spacecraft. Despite its imposing size, its armor is relatively thin, due to the fact that it must be able to stand on the ground without sinking into it. It's greatest weaknesses lie in its joints, particularly the legs. Should the legs be taken out, the mech is effectively rendered impotent.
Samus finished the scan and could only smile. The mechs seemed to be significantly less dangerous than their appearance would have indicated. To confirm her theory, she charged her Power Beam and locked onto the mech. Once she had locked on, she launched a Super Missile at the behemoth. The large missile with a green warhead emerged from her arm cannon and flew towards the mech at a blistering pace. In less than a second, it struck the mech in the chest and blew a massive hole in it. The force of the explosion knocked the mech off of its feet and it fell backwards, onto a ground-based APC that was about to deploy troops to help support the mech, crushing the vehicle and killing the troopers onboard. There the mech lay, never to rise again. With the mech, as well as the reinforcements that were supposed to have engaged the Marines and Samus having been dealt with, she, Ma'Kar, and the others charged forward towards the Capitol Building.
About a few dozen meters away from the building, a ground-based hover APC came out in front of the group and fired a barrage of energy blasts into the group from the cannon on top of the craft. As it was firing on the Earth and Federation in Exile forces, the rear hatch of the craft opened and out came a dozen Federation Army Troopers. The Earth and Federation in Exile forces quickly took cover behind a piece of wreckage from a fallen mech and managed to avoid taking any fatalities in the attack. One of the Marines was equipped with a missile launcher and emerged from cover to take care of the vehicle. A missile rocketed away from his launcher and struck the APC in its side in less than a second. The Armored Personnel Carrier went up in a magnificent explosion, spraying debris and shrapnel in all directions. The Federation Army Troopers that emerged from the vehicle dove to the ground to avoid being skewered by the shrapnel.
The Earth and Federation in Exile forces quickly took advantage of the opportunity and opened fire on the Federation Army Troopers, felling eight of them in the opening volley. Samus joined in the firing, but she used her Light Beam to deal with the troopers, most of who were disintegrated by the Light Beam upon being hit by it. Those that did not die from the blasts were severely injured, showing that they were perilously close to falling into evil. Once the troopers had been dealt with, the force rushed past the scene and headed towards the Capitol Building.
As they approached, they encountered more resistance in the form of Missile Security Robots and Security Android Troopers. A dozen of each of the robot types came out to meet the Marines and Army Troopers and opened fire on them. Fortunately, the shields of the Marines and Army Troopers' armored suits managed to absorb the opening volley with only one Army Trooper getting his shields breached and his armor holding up against the rest of the energy fire and shrapnel produced by the missiles' explosions before managing to duck behind cover, suffering only a few bruises from the assault. As for Samus, she used her Screw Attack to deflect the energy bolts away from her and destroy the missiles that came into contact with her, suffering no damage in the process. She somersaulted her way towards the Missile Security Robots as they continued to fire on her, inflicting no damage upon the unstoppable bounty hunter. Seeing Samus as a greater threat than the Marines and Army Troopers, the SATs opened fire on her, despite the fact that her Screw Attack shield rendered her immune to their fire. The blue energy bolts fired from their rifles bounced off of her shield and into the ground, throwing up plumes of dirt and debris in the process. Meanwhile, the bounty hunter plowed through each of the Missile Security Robots in rapid succession, annihilating said robots with single hits. She continued her seemingly unsteady flight through the rest of the Missile Robot squad, destroying them all in less than a minute. She then turned her attention to the remaining SATs, who were divided between dealing with the invading Marines and Army Troopers, and trying to kill her. The division of their forces proved even more fatal to the robots than it would have been had they focused on one threat or the other, for with only six robots shooting at them, the Marines and Army Troopers were willing to take a hit or two to their shields as they mowed down the unshielded robots. Samus also continued her flight towards the robots, plowing through each of them on contact, shattering the robots. In less than a minute, the skirmish was over; twenty-four robots were destroyed with no casualties for the Earth and Federation in Exile forces.
The platoon continued towards the Capitol Building, dealing with any enemy Federation forces that came their way, be they Marines, Army Troopers, or robots. During their flight, they noticed a twin-rotored Federation atmospheric gunship approach. The flash of the muzzle on the nose-mounted energy cannons indicated that they were being targeted and fired upon. Explosions rang out all around them, managing to throw several Marines to the ground, though their shields had managed to protect the occupants inside the suits, and only a direct hit would be enough to inflict serious injury or death to the troopers. Samus wanted to make sure that this did not happen, though, so she step out and targeted the gunship. While she did so, she charged her Plasma Beam. Once the beam was charged, unleashed the Charged Shot at the gunship. Despite its armor being sufficient to block most small arms fire from Federation weapons, a shot from an Army Trooper's Plasma Cannon would be sufficient to inflict damage to the craft if it hit in the right area; and Samus's Charged Plasma Beam was stronger than the blasts from a Federation Army Trooper's Plasma Cannon, so her fire would be able to shoot it down. The plasma pulse struck the gunship in the left rotor and blew it off. The craft immediately listed to one side and smoke issued from the wound. The craft spun around as it attempted to remain aloft, but was involuntarily descending to the ground. The platoon continued making its way to the Capitol Building as the gunship crashed into the ground and deformed upon crashing. Just before it hit, the crew managed to eject from their doomed craft, but it was of little consolation, for they would fall right into the middle of a firefight between one of the few remaining defending platoons of Federation troopers, and the Federation in Exile and Earth Marines and Army soldiers.
Samus and the rest of the platoon that she had joined arrived at the steps of the Capitol Building and they encountered only light resistance in the form of six Federation Army Troopers. The Federation in Exile platoon commander called out to the six Army Troopers, yelling, "The building's surrounded. More of our forces are coming. Your armor has been destroyed and the Federation lines are crumbling. This is a lost battle for you. But you don't have to join far too many of your comrades in death. Surrender now and we will treat you humanely."
The only response the Federation in Exile platoon commander got was a volley of bullets, which managed to slightly dent his shields, but otherwise, did no harm. This prompted the other Marines and Army Troopers to open fire on the defenders. The six Army Troopers fell in a hail of energy fire, much to the sorrow of the Federation in Exile forces. "Fools," was the platoon commander's only comment as he shook his head at the events that had just unfolded. He selected six Marines and told them, "Check for any survivors. If you find any, take them into custody and see that their wounds are checked out. There has been too much death here, already, and it looks like this won't be the end of it."
The six Marines selected looked over each of the fallen Federation troopers, but found that none were still alive. They looked over at the commander and shook their heads. The commander then said, "Well, we have a job to do. Once we take the building, then we'll gather the dead and give them a proper burial."
A few seconds later, the platoon was joined by several more platoons of Earth and Federation in Exile Marine and Army Troopers, one of them being President Richardson and General Hastings' platoons. Once they had joined together, as one, they stormed into the Capitol Building.
Meanwhile, Samus had already made her way into the building in order to clear a path for the Earth and Federation in Exile forces. The first source of resistance came in the lobby, in the form of a dozen SATs. She mowed down the robots with her Power Beam before they had even managed to get off a single shot. Proceeding past the wreckage of the robots, she came across a squad of Federation Army Troopers. Switching to her Light Beam, she opened fire on the troopers as soon as they appeared. She felled four of the troopers in her initial barrage, each trooper being severely burned by the Light Beam, but not killed outright. She dove to the floor to avoid the return fire of the troopers and picked off a few more troopers from her prone position. Two troopers were disintegrated by the Light Beam while a third and fourth trooper were completely unfazed by the beam. Before dealing with those troopers, who promptly opened fire on her with their Freeze Guns, she dealt with the remaining troops, three of them being disintegrated by the Light Beam, two suffering severe burns but surviving the battle, and two more being completely unaffected by the beam. To deal with the troopers that were not affected by the Light Beam, she switched to her Wave Beam and opened fire on the troopers. The trios of small, purple undulating pulses struck the four troopers and electricity arced across their armor suits as they fell to the floor, unconscious, but not dead.
She then went further into the building, heading into a corridor that led deeper into the building. Inside the corridor, she came across a Techno Power Suit. This surprised her, since she thought that the Techno Power Suits would have been much more useful outside the building assisting the troops, mechs, and tanks in repulsing the assault on the Capitol Building. This did present some problems, though, because she did not want to use her more powerful weapons, like her Power Bombs and Power Missiles inside the building. However, she still had other options for dealing with the mini-mech. She somersaulted towards the mech as it leveled the massive cannon on its right arm on her. The mech fired on her but her Screw Attack shield deflected the pulse of energy into one of the walls, where it continued out onto the battlefield and fell among a platoon of Federation Marines and exploded, engulfing them in a green sphere of energy, annihilating them. She then collided with the cannon and destroyed its barrel, rendering it useless to the Techno Power Suit soldier. She then landed and charged her Wave Beam, preparing to lash out at the suit with her Wavebuster. The Techno Power Suit tried to run towards her and pulverize her with his fist, but she was too quick for him and easily danced out of his way. Once the Wave Beam was charged, she unleashed a vicious stream of lightning on the Techno Power Suit via her Wavebuster. Electricity arced across its body and the suit writhed and backed away from Samus as her assault continued. The assault continued for eight seconds before she stopped. Once she cut off the stream of lightning, the Techno Power Suit was thrown down the corridor. The suit flew through the air and landed ten meters away, skidding to a halt, electricity still arcing across the its body. Once the soldier came to a halt, the suit of armor opened and revealed a Star Elf male, who rose from the wreckage and drew a pistol on Samus. She immediately fired a single pulse from her Wave Beam and felled the Star Elf. The Elf slumped down to his knees, and then fell to the floor face first. She approached him and scanned him to make sure that he was still alive. Her scans indicated that he was alive and in no danger of dying. She then walked past him, letting any soldiers that would later arrive take custody of him, and headed down the corridor and made her way to the rotunda so she could find the control chamber for the Planetary Defense Grid and the planetary shields.
It did not take long for her to find her way to the rotunda. On her way through the building, she encountered only a few Federation Army Troopers, which she quickly dealt with by using her Light Beam, which sadly disintegrated two of the troopers, and burned the rest of them. Once she arrived, she stepped out onto it, expecting to face stiff resistance. However, all she faced were a series of Halberd-class defense turrets. Using her Screw Attack, she somersaulted towards the nearest of the turrets and shattered it upon colliding with it. She then moved on to the next turret and spun into it as well, destroying it. She repeated the process twelve more times until each of the turrets were destroyed, their wreckage littering the floor.
After the final turret had been destroyed, she examined the area for any signs of further resistance. She quickly encountered several more SATs emerging from a corridor that led to the Old Senate Chamber. She switched to her Plasma Beam and mowed down the robots. After she defeated the robots, she did not stop to admire the once majestic paintings that lined the area, and it was probably good that she did not, for many of them had been damaged in the first Battle of Earth. It would have been the same had she gone to Statuary Hall, for the resistance faced by the invading Federation forces in the capture of the Capitol Building had been fierce. After having felled the robots, she entered the corridor and proceeded to make her way to a door to the right. There were still two Galactic Federation Marines standing outside what had once been the Old Senate Chamber, and when they saw the bounty hunter approach, they opened fire on her. Remembering from her first time meeting with President Richardson, she searched for the door that led the Old Senate Chamber and found it to her right. With no hesitation, she entered the chamber. Not having much cover to hide behind, Samus allowed them to take the shots at her suit and they launched a furious volley of energy blasts at her, hitting her suit a few times, inflicting minimal damage to her shields. Samus retaliated with several blasts of energy from her Wave Beam. Trios of purple, undulating pulses of electrical energy rocketed towards the Marines at nearly the speed of light and struck them, draining them of their shields and shorting out their suits and weapons. The electricity also inflicted damage to the Marines, themselves, but it was not fatal and they were merely stunned. The stunned Marines then fell onto the ground, where they would remain for the time being. Once she had brought down the Marines, she proceeded to make her way through the door.
Upon entering the Old Senate Chamber, now command center for the Earth's Planetary Defense Grid and planetary shields, she found that it was just as she had initially remembered it one year ago, minus the fact that Federation personnel were at the consoles. When she entered, the security forces, six guards wearing Federation Army Trooper power armor raised their weapons and took aim at her. As she rushed to take cover behind a pillar, she zeroed in on the group of Army Troopers and fired several uncharged blasts from her Wave Beam. The blasts struck three of the troopers, shorting out their weapons and armor, and stunning them, causing them to fall to the floor. The other troopers, however, opened fire on the hunter, spraying a volley of blue ice blasts her way. Samus took cover behind the pillar, which was peppered with the Freeze Gun blasts and had numerous sections covered in ice. Samus retaliated with a volley of three more Wave Beam shots. Each shot struck an Army Trooper and one went down and a second had suffered system damage to his suit. A second volley of Wave Beam fire was more than sufficient to take down the remaining troopers.
After the security for the personnel inside the command center had fallen, Samus waved her arm cannon at each of them and said, "The building is surrounded and it won't be long before more Earth and Federation in Exile troops arrive. If you surrender now, I can see to it that you will be treated well. If not, then I cannot guarantee your safety once more troops come through that door." As if to echo her sentiment, the sounds voices and footfalls could be heard approaching.
Many of the officers and workers took her advice and surrendered their weapons and rose from their stations, showing that they were unarmed. One officer, however, was not so willing to surrender. General Korro was not willing to admit defeat just yet. He went over to a secret compartment and drew out a Plasma Cannon and took aim at Samus. Seeing his move, the bounty hunter dashed to her right and fired a single Wave Beam shot at Korro just as he fired his plasma blast. The blue plasma blast sailed past Samus and blew a hole in the wall not too far away from the door. Her Wave Beam blast, however, hit its mark and electricity sparked across the Star Elf's uniform. The general then fell to the ground, stunned but alive, his weapon rendered useless by the Wave Beam.
As if on cue, what looked like a legion of Earth and Federation in Exile Marines and Army Troopers stormed into the command center. As they did so, Samus called, "Clear!" in a loud, clear voice. Those who had surrendered were then taken by Marines and/or Army Troopers and led out of the center. Those who tried to resist, however, were unceremoniously knocked unconscious, or worse, with a strike to the head and then dragged out of the chamber. Out of courtesy, the soldiers would have the resisters looked at by a medical staff, but they were not treated with as much compassion as those who surrendered willingly. As soon as the previous occupants were led away, President Richardson, General Hastings, and the members of the platoon that not remained at the Radio Tower with Captain Falcon filed into the room. A group of engineers and computer experts followed them in and took the now vacant stations all around the room. Once they were situated, General Hastings called out to them, "Okay, first thing's first. Take control of the Planetary Defense Grid. We need to get those platforms under our control."
With hardly a word, the computer experts got to work. The President and general watched them work as they went about taking back control of the Planetary Defense Grid. After a couple minutes, one of the lead workers called out to the general, informing him, "We have reestablished control over the Defense Grid. We are ready to fire on the enemy fleet on your command."
"Good," General Hastings replied. "Now, take back control of the planetary shields. We need to open a hole in them so we can allow General Malkovich's ground troops through to the planet."
"Yes, sir," the computer workers replied as they went to work.
Meanwhile, up in orbit, Admiral Dane's fleet was engaged in a vicious battle with the Galactic Federation fleet that was supposed to protect the planet. The Federation fleet had sustained severe casualties in the earlier parts of the battle, but now, things were looking a little more even. Still, his fleet was giving better than it was receiving. His starfighter forces had decimated the ranks of the enemy starfighters and the overall superiority of the Federation in Exile starships was now more apparent. Still, the ships in orbit exchanged energy and missile fire with each other, though, Admiral Dane's fleet was beginning to wear down the enemy fleet even more. At this time, they now outnumbered the enemy forces and were using their other advantages to deal with the fleet.
Lieutenant Commander Bly glanced down at her console and noticed that the Planetary Defense Grid was online and had fired its missiles, but they were not targeting Dane's fleet. "Sir, the Defense Grid has launched a volley of missiles, but we're not the target!"
Admiral Dane glanced down at Bly and asked, "Can you tell whom the missiles are targeting?"
His question was answered when the viewscreen showed large numbers of red blips of the Federation fleet disappear. "Sir," Lieutenant Gates called to him, "I'm receiving word that Earth and Federation in Exile forces have retaken the Capitol Building in America! We're back in control of the Defense Grid."
The bridge crew looked out and saw red lances of energy erupt from the cannons of the Heavy Defense Platforms and turrets, cutting swaths of destruction through the Federation fleet. In the first few seconds of the fighting, two hundred ships had been annihilated, with another hundred having been heavily damaged. The bridge crew gave a cheer as the tide, which was already in their favor, was now tilted even more in their favor. He glanced over at Adam and said, "General Malkovich, get your troops ready. It's time for us to take back Earth."
Adam grinned as he tapped into the ship's internal speakers and said, "All Marines and Army Troopers, assemble in the landing bays. The time has come. We're about to reinforce the military and resistance forces on Earth." He then left the bridge so as to be able to brief his troops on the upcoming battle.
After a few moments, Admiral Dane shifted the screen to the battle and noticed that the lines in the center of the Federation fleet were thinning greatly. Opening a channel to the rest of the fleet, he commanded, "All ships, target the center lines of the Federation fleet. Once we punch a hole through, we surge through and achieve orbit over Earth! All starfighters, as we move through, target the flanks of the enemy fleet with your missiles and keep them focused on dealing with you."
A chorus of affirmatives rang in over the comm and after the other ships had acknowledged the order, he said, "Attack!"
The Federation in Exile fleet immediately concentrated its fire on the center of the fleet. Energy fire and missiles erupted from the weapons ports of the capital ships and targeted the weakened central ranks of the Federation fleet. As if the surface was coordinating the attack with the fleet, the Heavy Defense Platforms split their fire between the thinned lines in the center and the rest of the Federation fleet, keeping them honest and preventing them from being able to focus on the Federation in Exile starships. Federation ships in the center lines of the fleet exploded in magnificent displays of light and flame and soon, a hole appeared. Once the hole appeared, the surviving Federation in Exile starships surged through, with the defense platforms and starfighters providing covering fire for the fleet. More Federation ships were lost in the fighting and its fleet was whittled down to less than one thousand ships.
As the Federation in Exile fleet surged through the hole, the rest of the Federation fleet retreated to beyond the moon, trying to stay outside of weapons range of the Federation in Exile fleet, knowing that there was little they could do to stop it. All they could do was call for reinforcements, and hope that enough ships arrived to allow them to take the planet.
Down on Earth, Cyrus stood inside his command post just outside of Goldenrod City along with Mercury and Alakazam. Things were looking grim. Many of the Team Galactic grunts and leaders had already gotten the idea to use psychic Pokémon in order to allow various forces to communicate with each other and share information. However, only Alakazams were able to communicate with the fleet in orbit. Cyrus glanced over at Mercury and asked, "What is the situation?"
"We have good news and bad news," Mercury replied. "The good news is that we have managed to take control of Goldenrod City, for the moment. Our forces in other areas of Johto and in Sinnoh are reporting similar progress. However, the bad news is that the Capitol Building has been captured, and General Korro is in the custody of the Federation in Exile."
Cyrus's eyes went wide. "The Capitol Building?"
Mercury nodded. "In addition, reports from the Pokémon indicate that the Defense Grid has opened fire on our fleet and is supporting Admiral Dane's forces. As a result, a hole in out fleet's lines opened and the Federation in Exile has orbital superiority over us. Not only that, but the planetary shields have opened over the Japan and over the East Coast of the United States of America. The remnants of Earth's military are about to get reinforcements."
"No!" Cyrus cried. He could not believe it. If he did not hurry, then there would be no chance of being able to get to the Sinjoh Ruins. He then told Mercury, "Tell Charon and Venus to hurry up with the research and energy scan. We know that the Sinjoh Ruins are somewhere north of Johto and is not part of Kanto."
"I'm on it," Mercury said and he relayed the order to Alakazam, who gave a grunt and nodded. Cyrus could only wait in dread as time was suddenly against him. If they did not manage to find the location of the Sinjoh Ruins soon, he would have to fall back on his plan to use Mount Coronet. He only hoped that the Hi'Gor and his Techno Knights had already dealt with the Space Pirates on the mountain.
Cyrus then called over to Mercury once more and said, "Send a transmission to the fleet and tell them to call in every ship we have."
Mercury's eyes flashed in shock. "Every ship?"
"Yes!" the Chairman roared. "Every ship we can muster! We need more time in order to accomplish our objective and there's no way that Admiral Dane is going to allow the remnants of our fleet to send down reinforcements to help us. If nothing else, the reinforcements in orbit will force Dane to keep his starfighters in orbit and force him to call up the transports once they deliver their troops, so the ground troops will come down here with little to no air support. Now call in everything we've got! And make sure that once the Star Fox Team arrives, that they get into the Earth's atmosphere. We'll need their help in dealing with Samus and anyone who gets too close to us."
"Understood, sir," Mercury said in an uncertain tone. While he could understand why Cyrus wanted to bring in every ship the Federation still had, he knew that such a call might be suspicious to many other members of the Federation. And the last thing that he needed was for the Federation to stop supporting him and view him the same way it did Elric. Cyrus could only look into the sky and wonder if the shooting stars that he was beginning to see in the sky were the transports coming to land the Federation in Exile army.
Back in orbit, Admiral Dane watched as his fleet assumed a standard orbit over Earth, forming a line ten thousand kilometers in front of the Heavy Defense Platforms and other planetary defenses. The remnants of the Federation fleet continued to sit just outside of weapons range and wait for Dane's fleet to make its move. Dane was staring at the viewscreen when Lieutenant Gates interrupted his thoughts, saying, "Sir, the rest of the fleet wants to know whether it should engage the remaining Federation starships."
Dane looked at the screen for a few moments before saying, "No. We'll give them the chance to surrender before we destroy them. We'll give them the mercy they did not give us in the first battle. Open a channel to the Federation flagship."
A beep sounded and Gates said, "Channel open." The image of a grizzled Simian with blond hair and beard appeared on the screen.
"Admiral Morg, this is Admiral Dane of the Galactic Federation in Exile. Your fleet is outnumbered, we have control of the planet's defense grid and we have achieved orbit over Earth. Surrender now or withdraw your forces. If you surrender, we will treat you and your crews well. If you withdraw, we will not pursue you. If you do not surrender, or withdraw, though, we will take that as you wishing to continue this fight. If you do so, we cannot guarantee your survival."
Morg grinned and replied, "You are in no position to be offering any chance for surrender."
"Sir, we're detecting numerous subspace windows opening a fifty thousand kilometers to the rear of the Federation fleet!" came the voice of Lieutenant Commander Bly.
"On screen!" Admiral Dane cried. The viewscreen was then filled with the image of dozens of subspace windows opening behind the fleet. Just then, dozens of Federation ships flooded from each window. The screen filled with ships, and some of them were massive, far larger than even the Gehenna-class dreadnaught, of which there were at least a dozen coming onto the scene. Those massive ships soon broke apart into several smaller ships the size of cruisers. Some broke off into as many as a dozen ships. Bly looked down at her sensors and reported, "Sir, sensors show six thousand new contacts appearing behind the Federation fleet. At least two hundred of them are N'Kren ships, with a hundred more being Ylla. At least a dozen are singularity dreadnaughts. And more ships are still coming." After a few moments, Bly reported once more, "Sir, among the new contacts are over three dozen Cornerian cruisers, battleships, and carriers; among them is the Great Fox Two!"
Dane looked over at the screen and saw the new blips appearing on the screen. "Darn it," he grumbled. Things were beginning to look worse. Cyrus was pulling out all the stops. With the singularity dreadnaughts, the Federation fleet and its allies would be able to open a hole in the shields of Earth's planetary shields and use that hole to send down reinforcements of their own. And if the Star Fox Team were among the reinforcements, then Earth's forces would have trouble. Still, he was not surprised at this recent turn of events. He had expected to see reinforcements coming in, and his spies indicated that the Federation had at least six thousand ships in reserve. Still, his problem was the fact that there were likely many more ships waiting in the wings or already on their way. "We better find Cyrus soon," Dane said to himself. It was then that Admiral Morg came in over the comm and bragged, "Who wants to surrender now?"
"We'll never surrender to criminals like you who distort the great alliance that is the Galactic Federation!" Admiral Dane declared proudly. He then made a throat-cutting gesture that was the signal to cut the transmission.
Turning to Gates, he ordered, "Send the signal now. Tell the rest of our forces that they're needed. Also, try to get the rest of our members to send us a few more ships. We'll need them for the upcoming battle."
"Aye sir," Gates responded. After carrying out the orders, she asked Dane, "Sir, what difference will a few dozen extra ships make against a fleet like that? Cyrus is bringing in everything, and it looks like the six thousand reserve ships may only be the tip of the iceberg."
"I know," Admiral Dane replied in a melancholy tone. "However, if we manage to hold out long enough to get our reinforcements down to Earth and find Cyrus and stop him, then the fighting will not need to continue, for a while at least."
Gates then nodded, understanding the Admiral's position. Dane could only hope that the fleet could hold out for long enough, or that a miracle occurred and the scales at least evened out as more subspace windows opened and hundreds of more ships entered the fray on the side of the Galactic Federation. The Planetary Defense Grid and shields would only hold out for so long against the singularity dreadnaughts of the N'Kren. Pushing a button on his chair, Dane opened a channel to General Malkovich and said, "You'd better be ready for takeoff, for the Federation's reinforcements have arrived."
"We're almost ready," came the voice of Adam Malkovich.
Dane then gave a sigh. Taking the Earth back from the Federation had been the easy part of the mission. Holding onto it would be the hard part.
Meanwhile, flying over the Sinnoh Region of Japan, Hi'Gor and his twelve Techno Knights made their way over to Mount Coronet as quickly as possible. They could see the mountain off in the distance, but they were still many miles away from it. He then called two of his Techno Knights forward and he said, "Scout the area in front of us and be on the lookout for anything that looks like an early warning sensor. Should you find anything that looks like a sensor, destroy it."
"Understood, sir," the two Techno Knights responded.
They surged ahead of the main force and scanned the area, using their suits' sensors to try to lock onto any radar or other type of scanning signal. Their sensors almost immediately detected a group of enemy sensors in the distance. Glancing at each other and nodding, they banked to their left and powered their weapons. Upon spying a suspicious-looking globe-like device that their sensors indicated was a sensor of some sort. Recognizing that the sensor design was one that was in use solely by the Space Pirates, they pointed their staves at the sensor and let loose with a relatively low-powered blast of energy. The blast of energy melted the sensor into a puddle of molten metal, destroying it. They continued to scout the way forward, and picked off a second sensor. They continued towards the mountain and picked off all of the sensors that they could find. After a few minutes, they had cleared a path towards the mountain, and hopefully remained below the enemy's sensors in the process.
Once they had cleared a path close to the mountain, they headed back to the main force. Upon their return, they reported, "The sensors of the Space Pirates have been destroyed. We are clear to launch our attack."
"Then let's go," Hi'Gor urged. "We have a Pirate force to slaughter." And with that, the Techno Knights followed Hi'Gor to Mount Coronet.
Beneath Mount Coronet, the destruction of the strategically placed sensors did not go unnoticed by the Space Pirates. In their makeshift command center beneath the mountain, the ten remaining Space Pirate Commanders of High Command watched as screen after screen went blank. The Space Pirate Troopers operating the sensor consoles turned back to High Command and reported, "My lords, our sensors are going blank."
"We can see that," one of the Space Pirate Commanders retorted indignantly. The screens continued to go dark second by second until each one showed nothing more than static.
"That's it," one of the Space Pirate Troopers said in a defeated tone. "We're totally blind now. What should we do?" the Trooper asked, turning back to the members of High Command.
"We get eyes up there immediately!" another of the Space Pirate Commanders roared in reply. Turning to one of the comm officers, he yelled, "Get the Golden Zebesians up to the surface of the mountain. They'll be our eyes so we can see what we're goin' up against."
"Understood, sir," the comm officer replied.
"Also, tell Ridley to get to the Heavy Freighter's remains and suit up. The armor we're designing for him should be finished. We may need him to fight should we fall under attack."
"Understood," the Pirate responded.
"Would it not be wiser to send up Kraid? Ridley's armor is still unproven and, despite the resources we have spent reviving him, Kraid is more expendable than Ridley," came the voice of Mother Brain just behind the figures of Space Pirate High Command.
"No," another Space Pirate Commander responded, shaking his head. We still have to test Kraid in his new form. The Golden Zebesians are also quite powerful, themselves, but still expendable. We can use them for now as sentries and lookouts for the time being."
"And if they are killed by an invading force?" came Mother Brain's response.
The Space Pirate Commanders each grinned. "Then we'll send out our ultimate weapons: our Techno Lords, Rodney and Virginia Aran."