Chapter Four
The gunship was setting down at a clearing inside a canyon. This is where Samus Aran deploys. The Combat Deploy Boat returned to Corinth and circled around the planet. John deployed in another ravine. When he jumped out of the C.D.B., he made it inside a cavern.
There, 117 pulled out a bio-reader. Other than his signal, there were multiple small read-outs swarming all around him. He primed his arm cannon and slowly turned 360 degrees ad he looked for the creatures.
It must have been some interference, Master Chief reasoned with himself.
A split second before he was going to relax his weapon, a swarm of strange gastrodons with bizarre membranes around their bodies leaped at him. They kept trying to latch on to Master Chief's helmet and each time they tried they met with Chief's carbine in their mouth. The cytoplasm-like insides spewed from their membranes.
These are clearly the Metroids they were talking about, John thought as he struggled to get the jellyfish thing off his helmet.
He opened channel on his comlink, "I made contact with the life-form! Repeat—I made contact with life-form!"
"Good," the commanding officer confirmed. "Take out any you find."
"Affirmative," said Chief.
A Metroid lunged at him but he returned with a few bullets in the creature's mouth. Master Chief finished off the rest pretty easily.
"Where will I find the Metroid Queen in this area?" John asked.
"Word is afoot that it is in the claws of the Space Pirates—which is why they have an abundant supply of Metroids for their weapons division. I am sending the coordinates within the structure now."
"Affirmative, sir."
"But before you go," John was stopped. "The following order did not reach your ears and never existed once you carry it out: once you kill the Metroid Queen, it will lay one more egg—it hatches into an instant queen in order to preserve the species."
"So your telling me to kill this egg?"
"No!" the officer exclaimed calmly. "That would not serve our best interest."
"What would serve your best interest?"