S1-87
Return to the Frontier
8:39 AM
05/04/3241
Approaching planet Vez-2
Music
none
City Hawk 723 headed out to see what happened to the Frontier, starting with the IMC HQ. "We are on approach to planet Vez-2."
"It's gonna take a while. The Frontier is so far away from Earth." Samus was right. The Milky Way was an exceptional distance away from the Frontier.
9:07 AM
05/04/3241
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Exterior
Music
Metroid Prime - Space Pirates Research Lab
They eventually reached the IMC HQ on the Frontier, but it was in ruins.
"No..." Michael couldn't believe his eyes. The place he had known as his home for so long... was destroyed.
The Shadow was let out to examine the area on his own as well, but he didn't like what it was reduced to. "⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟟⌇ ⏁⊑⟒ ⟟⋔c ⊑⍾?"
"[What's left of it.]" Jeeves replied sadly.
"What could've caused all this?" Jack asked.
"I don't know... but when I find out who or what did this..." Michael's eye began to glow a sharp blue. He meant business. "I'm gonna make... them... PAY."
The Fireteam set out to explore different sections of the ruins.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Michael's quarters
Michael went to what was left of his private quarters, seeing a few things on the collapsed shelf in the corner.
He took a very small white and blue box and opened it, revealing a dusty golden ring. He planned to ask Samus the big question, but never got the chance.
Then he saw the Time Lord Freddy plush his childhood friends had made for him on his 9th birthday... centuries ago. It was surprisingly intact, as was the cardboard TARDIS.
"⍙⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ g⍜⏁ ⏁⊑⟒⍀⟒?"
"It's a present I got on my 9th birthday."
"⋏⍜⏁ ⏁⊑⏃⏁. ⏁⊑⟒ ⍀⟟⋏g."
"Oh. That. I... wanted to ask Samus THE question at some point, but... the opportunity never came."
"{You love her, don't you?}" He simply nodded, still taking in what happened to his home.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Sim pod chamber
Over with Jack, he was looking at the Hammond Pilot Certification Simulators. All the Training Pods looked intact... on the inside anyway. The exterior of the Pods was like the rest of the HQ. Ravaged. Devastated. Destroyed.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Titan barracks
Sarah was examining the Titan barracks, seeing so many metal remains. No Datacores. Most of the decimated Titans were far from the barracks. Even they tried to run, but whatever came already got to them.
A Splitter Rifle, or what was left of one, lay on the ground, the magazine dead still instead of the constant rotation.
A destroyed Charge Rifle lay next to it, with the little battery spokes on the sides still. They normally move, but not this one.
A Simulacrum's head was nearby, exhibiting some strange damage signs. Claw marks. It might have been a Thrall, but... how would the Hive know about the Frontier? And worse, how did they get through the planetary defenses? That would be impossible. The defenses on every planet in the Frontier are indestructible... unsurpassable. Even the Taken or the Vex would be unable to get through it, no matter the numbers. But... the Hive? How?!
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Unit storage
Spyglass and his Ghost were scanning the remains of the IMC's automated infantry in the HQ. Mangled Marvins, destroyed Spectres, devastated Stalkers, and even decimated Reapers remained outside. There were strong explosion burn marks, suggesting the Reapers deployed Ticks, but there were no alien remains. Just... nothing.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Corridors
Samus was using her Power Suit's Scan Visor to search for anything that was intact and that could give her some info on what happened, finding nothing so far until she saw the remains of a Spectre with a Data-Knife in its head. She took the Data-Knife and scanned it, downloading the Spectre's most recent memories.
BRD-01 'Spectre' Combat Drone 91645718746892-N. That's what was on the side of the display. The Spectre's memory showed Samus something very unexpected. Fallen from the House of Kings.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Michael's quarters
Back with the 'two sides of one coin', Michael uncovered an old picture in a shattered frame. It was of him and Samus on their first date. Thankfully, there would be peace for quite a long time, but there'd need to be a lot of reconstruction to fix this place up, and that was just a single planet.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Exterior
A massive ship was laying nearby, exhibiting signs of Fallen Walker and Servitor blasts to the exhaust ports. It looked like they couldn't get inside anyway.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed to be the IMS Olympus. Aurora Unit 242 was undoubtedly onboard.
Planet Vez-2 - IMS Olympus
Docking Bay 5
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Aboard the GFS Valhalla
With the help of the Ghosts, City Hawk 723 managed to get inside. The outside was in much worse condition than the inside, since it looked like the Fallen couldn't even get inside. Multiple mechanical units stood ready.
Spectres.
Stalkers.
It looked as if they all ran out of juice, and now they just looked plain creepy.
Jack looked closely at one of the offline Stalkers, and just staring at the thing freaked him out. "Yeah, that's gonna give me nightmares."
His Ghost looked closely at it as well, shaking a bit as if it had a back and had chills going through its shell. "{Not gonna argue with you on that one. This is just plain disturbing.}"
Planet Vez-2 - IMS Olympus
Aurora Chamber
Eventually, they reached the AU chamber, where Aurora Unit 242 remained. Still no sign of life. "Aurora Units are organic supercomputers, right? Maybe 242 is still rotting away?"
"Sarah!" Michael yelled.
Sarah was wrong. There were no signs of decay on the Aurora Unit. It was just... sunk to the bottom of the container.
Samus attempted to call to the AU with the console, but there was no power.
"{I'm detecting massive ruptures in the ship's power lines, and in the external plating.}" Michael's Ghost reported.
"Get your tool kit ready, Ghost. We need to get the IMS Olympus back online."
Michael's Ghost vanished as it headed for the wall, leaving the rest of the Fireteam as it looked for the power ruptures and sought to fix them. "{Whoa... Not only are they massive, but there are a lot of them! This is gonna take a while. Looks as if the damage is only on the exterior though, so it shouldn't be too hard to fix, right?}"
"[I'm detecting an incoming Ghost, but no Guardian ship.]" Jeeves reported.
"{OK. One down... ugh... twenty-three more to go...}" Dim red lights blinked on.
Michael's Ghost had just fixed the emergency power supply. Loud whirs could be heard echoing through the IMS Olympus, followed by creaks and clangs. Some hardware systems were coming back online!
"{Another one goes up.}" The consoles lit up. The primary systems were back online.
"Keep at it, Ghost!"
City Hawk 723 left the IMS Olympus to see about the Ghost that was inbound.
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ (destroyed)
Exterior
Music
Metroid Prime - Space Pirates Research Lab
Eventually, they saw it. A Ghost with a differently shaped shell. "{Guardians? Out here?}"
"Why would there be a Ghost without a Guardian all the way out here?"
"{Well, why would there be a Guardian Fireteam all the way out here?}"
"This was our home!" Michael stated.
The Ghost looked over the ruins. "{How long has it been since you've been here?}"
"Centuries." Jack replied.
"It looked like the Fallen House of Kings was here, and they've somehow gotten through the planetary defenses, and they've destroyed this place."
"This is what remains of the IMC HQ." Spyglass added.
"Where's your Guardian?" Michael asked.
"{I still haven't found my Guardian. I've looked all over the solar system, but I thought I'd follow you here, just in case my Guardian was here as well.}" The Ghost scanned around, looking for any clues as to the whereabouts of its Guardian.
"Ghosts bring back the dead as Guardians, right? Maybe your Guardian was a Pilot. Try the soldier cemetery, a few miles... that way." He pointed a direction almost southeast, recalling from memory. "Ghost, could you come back here please? Jeeves, you're with me."
"[I'm on my way.]"
Following the lone Ghost, Michael, followed by his Ghost and Jeeves, headed to the soldier cemetery.
Planet Vez-2
Soldier cemetery
"{Is it possible...?}" After a while of scanning the dead IMC Pilots, the Ghost stopped at one... and it was very familiar. "{There you are.}"
Music
none
It was the grave of Dane C Smithsonian.
Picking up on it fast, Michael grabbed a nearby shovel and began digging up the grave, eventually reaching a coffin. The Ghost opened its shell, the Light swirling around it.
The Ghost released a pulse of Light, closing its shell.. and a familiar voice was heard as Michael opened the coffin. "Ugh... My head... ~gasp~ What...?"
"{Eyes up, Guardian.}"
Music
Destiny - Guardian
"{It worked. You're alive! You don't know how long I've been looking for you.}"
It was then that Michael looked into the grave, and he could not believe his eyes. His old friend... brought back to life.
"[Dane...?]" Even Jeeves was lost for words.
Michael reached into the hole in the ground, helping Dane out of his grave.
"I can't believe it... I'm back! And what is this thing?"
"That is a Ghost. Actually, now it's YOUR Ghost."
"{And, well, you've been dead a long time. So, you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand.}"
"A lot has changed since you died. Let me shorten it for you." Oh boy... Here we go...
Music
Undertale - Bonetrousle
"ImadeSpyglassaTitan, ImetthefamousTonyStark, IrescuedanintergalacticBountyHunterfromacrash, weencounteredthisorganizationknownastheGalacticFederation, wegotbrandnewTitans, Ifellinlove, IencounteredoneoftheMilitia'sbest, wedestroyedtheGalacticFederation, IRegeneratedandsomehowkeptmymemories, weacquiredtheschematicsforaMilitia-createdTitan, wegotuniqueTitanupgrades, Iwentoutonadate, IgaveBliskhischancetokillBarker, Ikilledahigh-rankingMilitiacaptain, IkilledMarkusGraves, wereachedafull-onagreementwiththeMilitia, webandedtogetherandcreatedanewIMC, wepurgedourselvesofcorporatecorruption, wekilledoffaroguegroupcalledtheRemnantFleet, wemadeagreatdiscovery, butanancientevilfoundus, theGhostswerecreatedtoseekoutGuardiansandbringthemback, andnowhumanityneedsourhelp!"
Music
Metroid Prime - Space Pirates Research Lab
"Uh... Care to repeat all that?" Dane didn't catch... any of it. Michael spoke WAY too fast.
"[We'll brief you in at the IMS Olympus.]"
"IMS what?"
9:42 AM
05/04/3241
Planet Vez-2 - IMS Olympus
Aurora Chamber
Dane was brought back to the IMS Olympus, but he was devastated at what became of the IMC HQ. He was then caught up on everything that had transpired since his death. "I think I get it now."
"Good. Now then... Jeeves, transfer authorization to new Pilot."
This shocked Dane. "What?!"
"Link Charlie-Zulu Nine-Two-Four-Seven."
"Jeeves is YOUR Titan now, Michael. Not mine, not anymore. Authorization transfer denied."
"[Michael, please, Dane can create a new Titan back at the City. You don't need to relink me to him.]"
"I just wanted to give you back the authorization, Dane. You gave it to me just before you died. Now that you're back, I felt I should return it."
"I respect that, Michael, but Jeeves is right. I can make a new Titan."
While they were at the cemetery, the remaining Ghosts managed to patch up the IMS Olympus.
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Aboard the GFS Olympus
All systems were online, and the Aurora Unit was back up and running. "What has happened? Michael Johnson, how are you still alive?"
"My Ghost."
"{I am a Ghost. I've been searching for Michael for centuries. In the Cosmodrome on Earth, I came across a few other Ghosts, who were actually looking for the other Pilots that were with my Guardian.}"
"Fascinating. I am sure you can gather more info on Earth. And who might you be?"
"I-I'm Dane Smithsonian. And you are?"
"I am Aurora Unit 242. Aurora Units were built by the Galactic Federation long in the past. However, Samus's actions of bravery, courage, and justice have angered the Federation to the point where they were forced to adapt more... destructive means of doing their jobs. When the IMC arrived, I knew they were the better of the two organizations. Eventually, the IMC had attacked the Federation HQ, and I chose the correct side."
Michael turned back to his old friend. "We should get back to the City, so we can get you properly filled in there."
"Um... OK?"
10:17 AM
05/04/3241
Planet Earth - The last City
Tower Plaza
Music
Destiny - The Tower
They got back to the City, and Dane had so many questions. "I've been meaning to ask... What the heck was that humanoid skeleton thing?"
"Oh, that's just the Shadow. He calls himself Death, because of the whole 'robe and scythe' thing. He's the yin and I'm the yang. He's the General of a sort of 'species' of corrupted and blanked out aliens. They're called the Taken, and they were once against the Guardians... until we took out the Taken King." Michael explained.
"O... K...?"
It was then that Dane found where they made new Titans and maintained pre-existing ones in the City. After going through all the available Titan blueprints, he found one that might work out, and ordered it for construction.
Dane... he's back! How much did you guys miss him?
See you next time.