Author's Notes: From here on out, you may read Adam as being referred to "Commander" quite often. While there is a "Commander" rank (O-5) within the US Navy, for the sake of simplicity, the two are not to be confused here. Basically, while Adam is a 4-star General, he is also the Commander of his particular unit. Get it? Okay! On with the story!

Chapter 3: The Shape of Things to Come

In the large hangar sat the Galactic Federation Military Transport vehicle code-named "Hygieia," an all-purpose patrol ship registered exclusively to the Army's 7th Squadron. Blue in color, its design looked very similar to another Anhur-class vessel known as the G.F.S. "Tyr" that Samus encountered during a mission to the Planet Aether. Several Army mechanics were busy running through their final checks of the ship before it was set to depart.

Adam's men reported to the hangar at exactly 1800 hours, each dressed in the standard-issue combat power suit of the Federation Army. Blue, black and dark gray in color, it appeared far less aggressive in design than the suits worn by Federation Marines. Each of the men stood with an P51 assault rifle held at an angle against their shoulder, the orange visors of their helmets up and revealing their serious expressions. In front of them stood Adam Malkovich, also dressed in full battle gear with the visor of his helmet raised. Standing off to the side from the team, Samus watched with a pang of fondness as Adam moved into his familiar stance: feet shoulder-length apart, arms behind his back; his posture was rigid and unflinching. There was an unmistakable aura of pride and authority resonating from him.

At that moment, she suddenly felt twenty again. But not quite so angry as she'd been at that age.

His voice boomed within the large hangar. "Seventh Squadron, sound off!"

"Hooah!" cried the soldiers in thunderous, proud unison.

Adam issued the soldiers one of his famous - but intimidating - pep talks. "Each one of you is here because you are the best. And I expect nothing but the best throughout this mission. Anything less than that is a waste of my time, and I do not waste my time on soldiers who do not put their best effort forth. Do I make myself clear?!"

Again, the soldiers issued the familiar Army War Cry, "Hooah!"

"Move out!"

One by one, the soldiers of the 7th squadron filed into the ship. The hot-head of the group, Lyle Smithsonian, sounded particularly eager to begin the mission, as Samus could hear him stirring his comrades into a frenzy about how they were going to "kick ass and take names" despite the fact that they hadn't even left yet.

Fool. It is your arrogance that will lead to your downfall. Samus thought to herself with slight disgust as the arrogant soldier continued to run his mouth.

Adam calmly approached Samus before stepping one foot inside the transport. His voice was calm, his question rhetorical. "Any objections, Lady?"

The acknowledgment of their trust. Hearing it again after so many years had awakened a long absent rush of...something - she wasn't quite sure what it was - within the hunter's heart. Saying nothing, Samus allowed her hand to speak for her: thumbs-down.

Adam grinned slightly before he lowered his visor and boarded the transport.

Samus opted to use her Gunship as opposed to traveling with Adam's men aboard the GFMT "Hygieia." Ever since becoming a bounty hunter, she had grown to enjoy (some would say preferred) being alone. But such solitude did have its drawbacks. Samus did sometimes find herself wishing she had someone to talk to on those rare occasions when the loneliness became a bit much.

As per her mission directive, she escorted the transport across hyperspace and into Cosmos Region A-47 where the Bottle Ship was located and took immediate note of the vessel's oddly-shaped exterior as it drifted amongst a sea of debris and space dust. True to its name, it looked just like a baby's bottle. Approaching the station, Samus carefully maneuvered her ship through giant pieces of debris and into one of the station's many docking bays.

The landing gear of her Hunter-class Gunship eased down slowly upon entering the large, deserted hangar; Samus felt a slight bump, then heard a sharp hiss of air as the gear depressurized. Having landed safely, Samus opened up a channel to the Hygieia and issued the command to land.

"Roger that. Commencing landing sequence." The pilot confirmed.

Soon, the Hygieia entered the hangar and docked just a bit further ahead of where Samus had landed and from it came Anthony to perform a quick sweep of the area. Once he deemed it safe, the others came from within the transport in a tight formation and headed up the long ramp with their guns drawn. Samus followed close behind, keeping her Arm Cannon raised and eyes peeled for any "unseen" threats. If it was true what Adam had said about the ship, there was no telling what was lurking in the darkness.

Their progress was soon cut short, however, when it was discovered that a door leading further into the station had been secured with a thick blast shield.

"See what you can do with that door, Sgt. Smithsonian." Adam directed as he gestured toward the door.

Samus and the others waited as the Special Ops soldier wasted no time in rigging the blast door with an explosive charge. It was like clock work for the ballistics and explosives expert; within a matter of a few moments, he gave a thumbs-up. "Commander, we're all prepped, sir!"

"Understood. Everyone fall back now!"

Once they were a safe distance away, Lyle announced, "fire in the hole!" and proceeded to trigger the explosive device via remote control. After a thunderous booming sound, a large cloud of smoke shrouded the blast door.

The smoke cleared. Not even a dent had been made.

"Shit, no dice," he cursed and crossed his arms, his brown eyebrows furrowing together in deep thought. "Looks like explosives are useless. Our only other option is to burn our way through... This may take awhile, Commander Malkovich."

Anthony stepped forward. His voice was full of calm protest. "I disagree with Sgt. Smithsonian, Sir. What we need is a way to focus an explosive blast in a centralized location. For all we know, the detonation could have at least weakened the shield's integrity... Hey Samus?" he turned his attention from Adam to Samus, grinning, "Think you could lend a couple of old friends a hand?"

Samus felt a slight twinge of annoyance even despite the fact that Anthony was a good friend of hers. The Army Commandant had spoken of the 7th squadron as if they were damn near god-like. And yet, their so-called Special Ops soldier couldn't even blow a hole through a simple blast shield? The mission was only beginning, and Samus was already questioning her decision to accept it. Despite her best efforts to bite her tongue, the outspoken hunter couldn't help but voice her annoyance, "If this is the best you guys can do, then you may as well leave. You guys are on your own next time." Samus approached both Adam and the door "Permission to engage, Commander?" she asked.

"Be my guest." Adam replied before Samus locked on to the center with her Arm Cannon and readied her missile launcher.

Everyone but Lyle approached a safe distance away from Samus, skeptical that what she was about to do would even work. "This ought to be good." mumbled Lyle.

"Everyone back, that's an order!" Adam advised sternly.

Some distance away from Samus, the men could do nothing but watch as the Hunter shot a missile at the door.

The sheer impact of the potent weapon had blown a hole clean through the blast shield, thereby allowing access to the door.

Lyle looked at the female bounty hunter grudgingly. "Lucky shot." he could be heard mumbling under his breath.

Samus caught his glare. "I suggest you wipe that look off your face before I rearrange it with my fist, Smithsonian. Or, I can make you look just like that door - take your pick." Her tone was icy as her eyes locked with Lyle's in a tense stare-down.

Even within the large hangar, the air felt heavy with tension as Samus slowly approached Lyle, undaunted by his reputation as a gung-ho soldier. Once she was mere feet away from him, Samus' eyes filled with an intimidating, icy stare. "Well? What's it going to be, Hot Shot? Remember, you couldn't even blow a hole through that door..."

Lyle bit his tongue. Nobody talked to him like that and got away with it. Anyone that did usually got decked. But there was something about this woman clad in golden armor that absolutely terrified him. Her cold eyes? That sharp tongue of hers? Just what the hell was it about her that caused him to shrink so badly in her presence?

Anthony attempted to diffuse the situation with a chuckle from the pit of his stomach, "Looks like a match made in heaven to me."

Lyle looked at his burly comrade out of the corner of his eye and shot him a jab in the ribs. "Fuck off, Higgs." he mumbled as Anthony continued to laugh.

Adam grew impatient as he crossed his arms. "That's enough. Well, are you waiting for an invitation, Smithsonian? Hurry up and open that door."

They advanced into the station, traversing a long steel catwalk and various rooms until they reached the station's Control Center located within the Main Sector. In the Control Room, Samus, Adam, and the other men soon stood in a circle in the center of the room, their heads down as they examined the disembodied corpse of a Bottle Ship scientist.

Examining the corpse and its pool of dried blood and entrails, the bounty hunter bit her lip hard enough to draw blood in the hope that it would distract her long enough to gather her composure, having suddenly been fragmented by the sight of the researcher's corpse. With Zebes and the horrors she encountered there and during the war still very fresh in her mind, Samus felt herself starting down a path she feared there would be no coming back from at the sight of the decomposing husk before her.

James Pierce raised his visor as his eyes scanned the deceased. "Looks like someone - or something - attacked him." He gently moved the body with his foot. From beneath the body, a small purple insect crawled out and darted off towards the front of the room where the control terminals were. Samus quickly scanned it before it got away. The simple insect was called a Brug, and was usually harmless by itself. Its real threat came when assembled in large groups; as a swarm, the Brug had the ability to take down creatures much larger than itself.

Lyle, in his Entomophobia-induced rage, suddenly kicked the insect into the air. "Get the fuck away from me!" he growled before opening fire on the simple insect.

James quickly put his hand on Smithsonian's shoulder, causing him to cease fire. "Lyle! Enough! You're wasting ammo!"

Anthony and fellow squad member Maurice Favreau began to laugh at their nervous comrade. It wasn't often one came across a supposedly tough grunt with a paralyzing fear of insects.

Adam issued a stern warning. "You secure that shit, Sergeant. Do I make myself clear? Consider this your only warning." Adam's face was stern, and his glare dark as he trained it on Lyle. There was clearly no room for argument.

While the others were having fun at the expense of Lyle, Samus and Adam remained less than amused. Samus looked at Adam and attempted to search his stern and focused expression for any insight into what he was thinking and feeling. As usual, he was proving impossible to read. Adam could feel her eyes upon him and silently acknowledged her before she had time to look away. He had a knowing look on his face, as if he'd sensed the very same "presence" as she had.

Samus was used to tension when she was in a room, but something in here was not quite right, even by her standards. "Everyone shut up! Something's not right here. Look!" She gestured to the far back wall with her Arm Cannon.

The other soldiers fell silent and turned their attention to the walls. What had started with one little Brug had quickly become a seemingly infinite number of the tiny purple insects making their way up the wall and onto the ceiling.

"What the hell? They're coming outta the walls!" noted Lyle with disbelief and alarm.

Adam issued a defensive directive before drawing his modified P51 assault rifle, "Everyone take arms! Open fire!"

Suddenly, a gruesome, eyeball-like creature descended from the ceiling and quickly became overwhelmed with the small purple insects and transformed into a titanic creature. Purple in color and gelatinous in appearance, its slimy arms and body swung about the room and knocked over Lyle as he attempted to fire his rifle. The impact of the creature's whip attack sent him reeling to the steel surface where he lay motionless for a few moments. Samus quickly rushed over to him, all the while evading the creature's attempts to pummel her with its whip-like arm attacks. While the sergeant attempted to shake off the effects of being hit by the purple behemoth, Samus provided cover fire with rapid shots of her Power Beam.

"Hurry, move! And pay attention next time, Hot Shot!" she yelled, the shots bouncing off the creature's rubbery purple body.

Lyle rolled out of the way and clambered to his feet. He aimed his weapon and fired.

Even after a lengthy exchange of gun fire, the mass remained intact and unscathed. Frustration and fatigue were beginning to mount amongst the soldiers as nothing seemed to affect the impervious, whirling beast. It was nearly impossible to evade the creature's impossibly long reach as its arms whipped and lunged about the room, pummeling the weary men. With nothing working and those around her growing increasingly fatigued and discouraged, Samus activated her Scan Visor in hopes of detecting a weak point; scans indicated that the eyeball, named the Emperor Brug, was the weak point. The Emperor had the ability to summon the common Brugs around itself and form a giant creature known as a Brug Mass. Samus quickly relayed her newfound intel to her former CO. "Adam, listen! It's a Brug Mass! The eye of the Brug Mass is the weak point, but we need to eliminate its methods of attack first!"

"Listen up!" Adam shouted. "Activate freeze guns and concentrate your fire on the arms! Aran, see what you can do about the frozen spots!"

For a solitary hunter such as herself, Samus felt a strange sense of exhilaration coursing through her veins as she worked in conjunction with Adam and his team to bring down the Brug Mass piece by piece. She hadn't worked with anyone since her Federation Army days, and in that time she had formed the belief that working with others only served to complicate matters and slow her down. Oddly enough, however, she was finding her focus even more precise in working with Adam and his team. Perhaps, she reasoned, the added focus was due to the fact that she sought to protect the two people she cared about most, even though they both could take care of themselves. Or perhaps it was due to her lingering heartbreak over losing the infant Metroid; the urge to protect had, in fact, became rather strong ever since the incident.

As she destroyed the skittering Emperor Brug, she found herself wanting to protect those she cared about most. I won't lose them too…

"Status report!" asked Adam as the Brugs quickly dispersed.

"I'm good, but why'd it have to be bugs?" Lyle could be heard saying from across the room.

"All good over here, Commander!" yelled Anthony.

"Affirmative, sir!" shouted Maurice.

"Good to go, sir!" said James.

With his squad accounted for, General Malkovich approached Samus. "Samus," he said calmly, "Good work."

Samus nodded before Adam moved to the center of the room and commenced with his briefing. "As of now, consider this site to be extremely dangerous. Exercise extreme caution as you make your sweeps. Sergeant Smithsonian!" he shouted, and Lyle snapped to attention. "Investigate Sector One - and show a little restraint with the explosives. Secure the safety of any survivors."

Adam turned to the next man in line. "Sergeant First Class Favreau! Investigate the Control Bridge - repair any equipment you come across. Our earlier issues may be the result of electrical interference."

His eyes moved to the next one. "Captain Higgs! Head for Sector Three - Activate the magma eruption port."

And then the next one. "Specialist Pierce! Investigate Sector Two - secure the safety of any survivors you encounter and find out anything you can in relation to what occurred here; the more we know about what we're dealing with, the better I'll be able to plan our next move."

As she listened to his briefing, Samus couldn't help but wonder if Adam was saving the most dangerous, dirtiest objective for her simply because she was Samus Aran and her prior missions were a testament to her determination and precision.I shouldn't be surprised… it's the only reason I get paid like I do…

His eyes turned to Samus, "Aran, I'd like you to head for the System Management Room - do everything you can to restore the power to this station. Once you do that, report back to me. I'll give you your next mission then. Any questions?"

Samus gave a slight nod despite her misgivings.

Adam assumed his familiar position of putting his hands behind his back and pacing in front of his men. "And one more thing. Until Samus is able to restore power to this facility, I will have no way of tracking any of you as you execute your missions. What's more, due to the electrical interference, communication with each of you will be next to none existent. Samus, it looks like your comm system is unaffected, however, due to the capabilities of your Power sSuit." He looked back down the line. "SFC. Favreau, it is therefore imperative that you discover and eliminate the source of interference within the station ASAP. Once you are able to restore communications, meet up with SPC. Pierce in Sector Two. Remain frosty as you conduct your sweeps. Dismissed!"

Everyone saluted before quickly filing out of the Control Room to execute their specific mission. Everyone but Samus, who still stood in the middle of the room.

"Any objections, Lady?" Adam asked once his men left the room.

As he uttered the acknowledgment of their trust, Samus felt something she had not felt since her Federation days. Something she had long since learned to bury deep within her subconscious. And in some strange way, she couldn't help but feel both confused and excited by it.

She could only nod and head for the System Management Room.

"Lady." she heard Adam say behind her.

Samus turned to look at him standing in the center of the room.

"Stay safe." The General said simply.

Samus nodded slowly before making her way toward her objective.