They stood before the pirate mercenary, their weapons at the ready. Ayame had heard about this guy from Samus. Weavel was feared the galaxy over for his ruthlessness and frightening efficiency. If this guy was as good as his reputation made him out to be, they might be in some serious trouble.
Weavel chuckled darkly. "Well, ain't this a surprise? To be honest, I never thought I'd run into the Hunter's little pet. Ridley told me about you, little girl."
Ayame's eyes narrowed at the cyborg pirate. He seemed to know a lot more than he was letting on. "You're a Space Pirate. Would you happen to know where Samus is?"
Weavel laughed like he had just heard a joke. "Of course I do, human. But it's not like I'm going to just tell you where she is." He raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist. An energy sword immediately appeared from his wrist. "Honestly, I'm just here to kill stuff."
Ayame glared at Weavel angrily. "I guess I'll just have to beat the answers out of you then."
"You can try, kid." Weavel charged with unprecedented speed toward the trio of humans, his energy sword ready to rip through flesh. Time seemed to slow down as the glowing blade came for Ayame's head. Her eyes widened in shock. There was no time to react. She was going to die.
WHAM!
Out of nowhere, a white and red blur slammed into the cyborg pirate, forcing him to the ground. Ayame, Connor, and Anthony stared wide-eyed at their savior.
"You shall not harm my comrades," said Garnak as he readied his own energy sword.
Weavel stood up and looked over at the Gorast. His helmet might've made his emotions impossible to discern, but he must've been slightly angered. He was close to killing something, but was slapped away by an overgrown cockroach. That was rather embarrassing to say the least.
"Garnak!" Ayame said with a welcoming and grateful smile.
"Didn't you say that you were trying to leave?" Connor pointed out.
"I did say that," Garnak replied somewhat regretfully. "But I could not simply leave you three here. I will stay and fight."
Weavel wished he could vomit. "Oh, gag me. You don't really think that you can beat me, do you, mosquito boy?"
"I shall," Garnak said with absolute determination. He faced Ayame and the others. "You go and board the pirate ship if you still feel the need. I will handle this." Connor and Anthony nodded, and Ayame reluctantly complied as well. The three headed off toward the pirate warship. Surprisingly, Weavel did nothing to stop them. "Why do you not go after them?"
"If they're going to the ship," Weavel explained, "then they're going to die anyway. Besides, I really feel like taking you head as a prize after you tackled me." Garnak glared at the pirate as they both readied their weapons. After several tense seconds, they charged.
-o-
Ayame, Connor, and Anthony finally arrived at one of the boarding pods. Since Ayame had the most technical know-how, Connor and Anthony stood guard at the entrance as Ayame made her way to the controls. There was a pirate militia soldier guarding the pilot's place. It was only too easy for Ayame to knock the pirate out with a good bash to the back of its head and make it to the controls.
She took one look at the layout of the control system and sweat-dropped. It was shockingly simple. A single steering mechanism, a speed shift that had a reverse function, and a screen for communications to the main warship, along with a few buttons for different actions, made up the entire control panel.
"Geez," Ayame muttered. "This was just lazy." It only took her a few seconds to figure out what did what. When she found something reminiscent to an intercom device, she turned it on. "Connor, Mr. Higgs, can you hear me?" She waited for a few moments before she got a response.
"Yeah, we hear you," Anthony's voice called back through the intercom. "What is it?"
"Mr. Higgs, do you think you can pilot the gunship over to the warship?"
"What? Why?"
"Because I don't think we'll be able to get to the warship and back in this thing. Can you do it?"
"I know the basics of how to work Samus's ship. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks, Mr. Higgs," Ayame said gratefully. "Connor can you come up here? I don't want you to get hurt if something happens down there."
"Be there soon," Connor replied.
With that done, Ayame cut off the intercom and took a deep breath. From what Samus had taught her about Space Pirate craft, the boarding pod that they were in right now was used to ram into enemy ships, not only allowing troops to board, but also significantly damaging the opposing force. However, this ship didn't come without its many flaws. For one, the hull could explode, exposing her and Connor to vacuum. Second, the pod might end up bouncing almost harmlessly off the hull of the pirate warship. It was no wonder these things earned the nickname "Space Coffin." But at this point, she couldn't think about what might go wrong. She needed to believe in what will go right.
Then, out of nowhere, something tackled her from behind. She panicked as she struggled against whatever was on her back. She caught a quick glimpse of what had jumped on her, and saw that it was the militia pirate she had knocked out earlier. She was grateful for the armor that was currently encasing her body. If not for that, it probably would've killed her with all those whacks to the head that the pirate tried to give her.
She hurriedly reached over her back and grabbed the pirate by the back of his neck, then, with the enhanced strength given to her by her Power Suit, she managed to pull him off of her back and toss him into a wall. But he wasn't finished. The militia pirate quickly recovered started firing its assault weapon at her. Ayame quickly jumped out of the way of the pirate's fire, and instinctively launched a missile at the alien.
BOOM!
The pirate's head was destroyed by the explosive projectile, allowing Ayame a brief moment of respite. Soon, Connor arrived, looking frantic.
"I heard an explosion!" he said. "What happened in here?" Ayame just pointed at the headless pirate corpse, and Connor understood immediately. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she said as she headed back to the control panel. "Hang on, Connor. These things are really crude, even by Space Pirate standards. It's going to be a bumpy ride." She flipped a switch that closed the boarding pod's entry, then set the shuttle to reverse. They slowly backed out of the mining cargo ship. When they were clear of the craft, Ayame turned their commandeered shuttle and made for the pirate warship. They were headed for their best clue to finding Samus.