Samus exited the decompression chamber with 1st Lieutenant Raymond Kotov, meditating on Executive Order 72364. A 'full scale invasion and culling of the Oflians' sure sounded like a lot like committing genocide, one of the charges the Federation accused them of. It seemed like overkill, and above that, hypocritical. She found herself wondering what the 'sufficient evidence' was, hoping that it really was something that would justify slaughtering them all. Her mind wandered to the bioweapons they'd already created, and she shuddered as she imagined what they could be made of, or what purpose they served. The Chozo explained to her that they'd dabbled in that science - and that it was a forbidden one, and rightly outlawed.
She entered the oblong passenger chamber, standing awkwardly between one of the two rows of military personnel. There were two rows along each wall, and a double-sided row between them. There were 54 soldiers under Commander Malkovich, which left only 6 empty seats. One of them was hers, but it was positioned between two people, and she didn't really feel like talking or being near them.
Lt. Kotov was outlining the nature of their new orders. Adam's unit was a branch of Elite Ops that specialized in combat and infiltration. They unclipped themselves from the seats now that they were going slow enough for artificial gravity. Atop the collective clattering, he was telling them that the unit would likely be on the front lines, but that was all she heard before she started to leave the room to the docking bays. Her specific orders for EO 72364 would be different than theirs, anyway.
"Corporal Aran, I have not dismissed the platoon," the lieutenant said sternly as she tried to pass him. He had positioned himself near the opposite door of the decompression chamber, where everyone could see him.
"You finished the general briefing," Samus replied absently as she pressed a small button near the door. It was metal as well, but not the clamping type. It glided into the ceiling.
"Corporal!" Lt. Kotov raised his voice slightly, embarrassed at her insubordination in front of the entire unit.
She turned and disabled the reflective glow on her visor so he could see her disinterested face. She raised an eyebrow at him and put her hand on her hip.
"Lieutenant Kotov, I assure you I heard the brief," she said in a low, even tone. She met his irritated glare with measured calmness. It was a facial expression and demeanor she'd been practicing, and she meant it to be intimidating. "Commander Malkovich ordered me to make my suit more battle-ready, which takes place on my personal ship. You know this, being his 1st Lieutenant," she switched the reflective visor back on. "At least, I would hope."
He cleared his throat quietly, thoroughly flustered, though he shoved it down where his soldiers couldn't see. "Yes, Corporal. Get to it. As for the rest of you!" He paused for emphasis, before filling them in on more specific orders.
Samus turned quickly on her heels and brusquely walked away, saving the eye-roll for when she had her back turned. The door closed behind her automatically. She followed the plain, narrow hallway down a short slope, where it came to another gliding door, then kept winding downward. It was lit by orange floodlights, which glinted softly off the grey metal doors and their accompanying consoles that dotted the path to the docking bay. The walls and floor were just more grey, only a darker shade.
The voices of her comrades soon started to echo from above, who were dispersing to do their assigned tasks. She hurried down the last stretch to a small lift. There was a hand-print scanner to access the docking bays, but it was programmed to read the end of her arm cannon with the missile launcher open. It was so that no one could try to use her suit to open any restricted areas, lest she become unconscious. The door was also of the clamping variety - the lift was a compression chamber as well, because the docking bays were frequently de- and re-pressurized when it was in use.
The clamps reopened, and more floodlights clicked to life as she entered, this time with blinding, white fluorescence. There were thirteen Galactic Federation ships, all sleekly designed in matte black with blue accents on the weapon systems and the small window on the front. The first of them was bigger than the rest, but similar in style - Adam's 'Commandeer'-class gunship, for when they were deployed in aerial conflicts. Samus did a scan of one of the smaller ones as she passed by, revealing they were 'Serpent'-class gunships; designed to be quick, precise, and deadly.
She could hear the lift going up again, so she jogged over to her 'Hunter'-class gunship to avoid any interactions with the unit. The ship was one the Chozo built for her before she departed. It was a distinct and distinguished gold colour, though the Federation had argued it was orange when she was forced to register it with them. They'd also classed it as 'Hunter' because it was the closest category it could fit into.
She jumped once, then let the twin jets on the back of her suit propel her onto the hull. The entrance wasn't obvious from the ground, but once on top of it, there was clearly a hatch. Samus pressed a button on her arm cannon, sending a signal to the ship to unlock the first hatch. It slid back, each of the four metal folds disappearing into the hull, revealing a hexagonal platform. If someone had managed to tear through the hatch, they'd be met with this nigh-indestructible metal and unable to pass. Samus neatly stepped onto it and entered a different code on the hidden buttons she'd used to remove her helmet earlier, and the platform activated and brought her down into the ship. Her ship.
She closed the hatch and blew out a long sigh. She felt at home among all the Chozo technology. The first thing she saw upon entering was her stasis chamber: a tall, tubular space that allowed her to add or remove the upgrades to her suit as she needed them. It was also a place to store the suit when she wasn't in it. It was connected to an energy recharge system to regenerate any lost shielding, and a micro-factory to replenish any lost missiles, super missiles, or power bombs.
Samus stepped inside, and automatically, glass slid from the left to the right, to seal her inside. A holographic interface appeared on the glass, asking her what she'd like to do. She had a few presets, and one of the quick-access options was just to take it off.
All the locks on her external armor disengaged, and she removed her right hand from the cannon to reveal that the black membrane beneath her armor extended all the way to her fingers. A robotic arm was there to hold the cannon for her, as were a couple more when she took off her helmet. Once all the armor pieces were removed, all she had was a neural connection to the black membrane through her zero suit. Using that, a part appeared at the neck and worked its way down to her waist. She stepped out of it, and more helpful arms held it in place for when she would return. Before she exited, she indicated to the stasis chamber to prepare the Gravity Suit and the four beams, and to equip power bombs, super missiles, and grapple beam.
Now just in the zero suit, she ruffled her short hair with both hands with a resigned sigh, and sat down in the captains chair. She wondered if she would personally 'cull' anyone herself on this mission, and noted just how close the words 'kill' and 'cull' sounded.
"There just had to be a political term," she mused to herself. "Just can't come out and say, let's kill these people."
