Author's Note
I once again thank my reviewers for their help in offering me and endless list of ideas in keeping my brain functioning. I apologize for the delays in between posts, I do plan to keep writing this.
As for most of this story, it is usually written moments before I go to bed at night since it is the only time I have available to do so, so my sleep deprived brain is to blame for this story from start to finish, for better or for worse, lol.
Uploaded
05/07/2024
LEGEND BELOW
"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.
''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts/Receiving coms.
Chapter 42
Rated-M
M rating for blood, and language, and violence.
Music of the day
Halo 4 OST - Requiem
Locaion / Space Pirate Homeworld
Six months and one week since Samus departed from Infinity
He had become interested when learning that someone had managed to subdue the Zebesians before he'd the chance to set his plan in motion. It wasn't the first time a new ruler had been crowned over their people, so he had not given it much thought at the time.
That was before he learned that the new ruler had barely walked inside the palace and the Zebesians had surrendered willing with little resistance.
That, had peaked his interest.
Perhaps he should have done more investigating before launching into action, for he could not have foreseen the situation he'd walked right into.
He was the demon dragon, feared among the stars, even spoken of in awe by those of his own kind. He was unstoppable in one on one combat, and even outside of such circumstances, was a force to be reckoned with.
When landing planet-side, the Zebesians did not meet his gaze with fear, or perhaps, overwhelming fear, but instead cautionary measures.
They understood quite well who he was, what he could do, and just how serious his appearance that day was.
But they did not bow to him, nor retreat in fear.
Which meant one of two things.
They were supremely foolish as a species…
Or…
There was someone else on the world that stood to be an even larger threat than he, and they feared that thing's wrath over death itself.
That should've been his first warning to come at the situation with more level headed approach.
He was foolish, and his actions would soon and almost immediately come to a head when the Zebesian's newfound leader approached him completely bare of arms or armor, a long and thick bladed tail swaying back and forth behind her as she walked.
He was a fifteen foot tall intergalactic dragon, and he was being walked down by what appeared to be a humanoid that stood at a measly five foot eleven. His eyes widened in surprise when she walked towards him, deliberately ordering her soldier's to leave her side.
She approached him alone.
And when she finally stopped, she stood right underneath him, forcing him to crane his neck downward to even look her in the eyes.
His pride felt as if it had been soiled and tainted by that action alone, spit on by some power being who touted themselves as a god. It made his blood boil as much as it made his heart skip a beat, for reasons he didn't immediately understand.
Then she spoke, hands resting comfortably on her wide hips. "Explain your presence in my palace immediately, dragon." She spoke lowly, three blood red eyes staring right through him as if he was nothing.
As if he, the Cunning God of Death, was a mere pushover to her.
He snarled, but managed to maintain his composure. He grinned, convinced that her bluster was merely a false sense of bravado.
How wrong he would soon learn that he was…
"I've come to conquer this planet and it's pathetic race, and you seem to be standing in my way." He spoke, voice echoing and deep, dangerous and spine tingling.
She didn't even bat an eye.
"I have been… made aware." She drawled, eyes narrowing. "However, I am curious…" She drawled, a white light quickly enveloping her. Her body was covered in her evolved Chozo battle suit, the green plates and thick black material a true second skin by this point in her life. It was imposing and elegant, yet terrifyingly dangerous.
But this, he did not know.
The dragon's eyes widened in surprise at the almost magical creation of her armor, truly perplexed by the sight.
When she next spoke, her words carried a weight so heavy that it made his bones ache, and his muscles feel heavy. "Are you one hundred percent sure that you can best me in combat?" She spoke lowly, voice carrying a monotone that made his thick leathery skin prickly.
She took one step forward, slowly reaching up to him with her devilish claws, gently raking them over his dark purple skin. She seemed to take a sudden introspective mindset, head cocked to the side as if sizing him up. "How confident are you of your abilities, your skills in a battle?" She continued coldly, voice sending chills down the spines of the hundreds of her personal, fiercely loyal subordinates that stood on the wayside.
He didn't move, still as a statue as she neared far too close for comfort. She placed her open palm on his chest, before slowly walking around him, dragging her claws lightly across the surface of his body, a strange pink light radiating from the tips of her claws. Slowly, she circled him, her unblinking eyes staring half lidded holes through him, judging him, gauging his every breath. "If I was to, entertain this challenge in its entirety, would you accept it, knowing the consequences of failure in my presence?"
She stopped in front of him, her words ringing out like a nuclear explosion suffocating life out of him. He eyed her hand as it came up to cup the ridged lines of his beak, as if she were lovingly cupping the chin of a lowly pet.
"Here, allow me to make you an offer, one even you, the Cunning God of Death, cannot refuse." She offered, the use of his hidden title surprising him.
The only beings that knew of the name were either dead, or locked away in hiding.
In that moment, he again had to wonder just who this woman truly was, for she knew far more than she should've. She was unreal, unnatural, incorrect.
It felt as if she was misplaced, as if she didn't belong here, and she knew far too much.
And the way she stared at him, the way she spoke to him with a certain amount of familiarity, of respect, and…
Loathing.
She knew him. She didn't know of him, she knew him, truly, on the deepest levels that none alive could even boast to come close to. It was as if she had his entire mind within her own, as if she'd lived an entire life that he wasn't aware of.
The way she looked at him, gave him the impression that she was looking at a memory of her past, a memory she had already faced.
A ghost.
Yes…
Now he could see it.
He'd faced her before, faced her plenty of times in battle, duels that passed on for years and years, and he'd never truly won. She'd beaten him back every time, growing stronger and stronger with each encounter.
He'd…
He'd died, again and again at her hands. She'd left him riddled with holes from plasma beams, turned him to a corpse, even left him for dead for the Metroids to feast upon in his last moments.
Even when reborn from death itself, she had faced him down in battle, and proved victorious on every occasion.
She was no mere warrior, clad in green, armed with mysterious weapons and armor…
She was no stranger…
She was-
"Samus… Aran…" The name slipped from his maw before he could even stop it, eyes slowly widening as if seeing a familiar, horrifying face for the first time in a century, or a few seconds.
If possible, her face lit up in a dangerous glee, third eye shining with malicious intentions that made him shudder.
He tried to step back, but found that his legs wouldn't move. Even though he did not know her, the memories he'd suddenly found himself owning certainly did.
"Ah… So you do remember me, even in this form, even with this new body…" She muttered, pleased with herself.
"Even across the gaps in between dimensions." She added after a moment, as if it were an afterthought.
His jaw opened as shut, thousands of thoughts and memories flooding his mind as if from nowhere, the life of an alternate reality shoving his own memories to the side to make room for an entirely different life he didn't remember living.
And now, looking down at the abomination before him, the woman who dawned an armor so powerful, a body so devilishly lethal, a smile so cunning, a gaze in her eyes so dangerous…
He realized that this demon…
No…
This Devil, was a monster of his own creation.
One that he could've prevented from every existing.
"Y-You're Ridley?" A little girl had asked him, standing alone in the burning fields of a doomed world. She tightly clutched a white furred little creature to her chest, her pet.
She was a child, likely barely out of her toddler years.
And she approached him alone.
"I-I'm Samus… T-Three years old." She introduced herself, little tears poking at the corners of her eyes. She was clearly afraid, not of necessarily of him…
But…
But of the death and destruction that surrounded her, knowing that what was happening was bad, even though she was far too young to even properly comprehend it.
"Ridley, I'm not scared… It'll all be okay…" She tried to cheer him up, as if attempting to convince him that she'll be strong for him in this time of crisis. It was childish, innocent, human.
"Even though we look different… We're still friends… right?" She asked, walking up to him willingly.
His eyes widened when he snapped back to reality, memories of a different life, a different timeline taking place before his very eyes.
She was three years old when he came to her planet, razed the civilization to the ground, burned every single human to ashes, and dined on their corpses. He remembered feeling sad for the little girl that stood before him in that moment, her innocence cracking his ruthless heart for the briefest of moments.
And then he killed her parents…
In the wake of his genocidal war on her homeworld, K-2L, the child that had once tried to befriend him had survived the attack. And that girl had gone on to become the strongest woman in the galaxy, a monster of his own creation.
And now here she stood, having traveled to a mirror universe, and he had attempted a similar attack to a different world with a different people.
And he knew, knew it down in his bones, that she could end him sooner then he could even try to flee. The memories she'd implanted within his mind, the memories of his twin from another universe; Those memories feared her.
"Now you see, who I am." She muttered, voice growing distant. Her hand slowly lowered, coming to rest by her side once more. "What he created, what I have become, where I originated."
"But I am not so… heartless, so as to take my revenge on the likes of you. For as you look like my nemesis, carry his name and his spirit, but you are not yet guilty of his crimes." She muttered, turning to slowly walk back towards her throne. His eyes darted down to the wings that rested on her backside, folded up, the wings of a space dragon.
"However, I seem to understand that you are not so different in this world compared to my Ridley. So I am… willing, to grant you an offer." She added lowly, slowly slipping down into her oversized throne chair, one long armored leg coming up to rest over the other as she leveled a curious gaze at the mighty space dragon currently standing in the center of her palace chambers.
Her most loyal subordinates flanked her, the members of the House of Aran standing in single file line on either side of her throne. They were all adorned in heavily armed and armored suits of powered armor, designed to physically resemble her with the look of the plating and the color of green and black.
That said, their suits were not designed after her own Power-Suit, for that technology was still hers and hers alone.
They wore armor she designed specifically for them, taken by schematics procured during her assault on the Space Pirate Homeworld in her own dimension.
Either way, they all stood tall and proud before her, fifty of her most loyal and devoted soldiers.
They, along with her, were not to be trifled with.
The mighty space dragon lowered his head, leveling a gaze to her. "An offer?" He spoke lowly, testing the words on his tongue.
"Indeed. One I am confident will fit you well." She hummed, head tilted to the side.
Considering the situation he was in now, he realized that it was in his best interest to listen to her offer, and not make an enemy out of her, nor a quick decision. He felt humiliated at the prospect of bowing his head to one such as her, yet at the same time, there was something primal about encountering a being so devastatingly powerful that it compelled him to listen, placing his bloodlust on the wayside in leu of reasoning.
His patient silence was her prompt to continue speaking, and so she did. "I am offering you the position of a commander within my army, a high ranking place within my ever expanding military. It brings with it power and respect, and I can offer you a permanent place of residence for you and your species. I am aware that… mighty as you and your people are, there are but a scarce number left. I know how rarely your species procreate, how long your lives are. Deaths in the numbers of tens are devastating to your numbers." Her words rang out heavily, striking true in his mind.
His eyes widened slightly, too minimal for anyone to notice but her.
And she did.
Once again he was shocked to his core by the amount of knowledge she had on him.
"Submit yourself to me. Become mine, and everything you've ever wanted will be gifted to you as reward for your loyalty." She spoke again, reaching out her hand to him, palm facing upward, claws splayed out open.
She was offering both a metaphorical and quite literally physical hand to him, and all he had to do was take it.
Now came the question…
Would he?
Would he, lord Ridley, leader of the most feared species of intergalactic dragons in the know universe submit to this woman?
Would he bow to her like some lowly pet, going belly up to his master?
Or would he resist her temptations, refusing her offers in an attempt to take it all for himself?
If asked the same question ten minutes ago, his answer would've been simple.
No, he would never bow to anyone.
And yet, with the knowledge she'd so openly forced into his brain, the alternate reality he'd suddenly lived entirely through within the frame of seconds…
That changed him.
He could try and face her down for the throne she so easily sat upon, and very likely lose, dooming his entire race…
Or.
Bow to a new leader.
It felt as if the entire world was waiting with bated breath, the eyes of every Zebesian within her palace glued to her outstretched palm.
Ridley was quiet for a long, long time, seemingly weighing every single option available to him. He did not launch into one decision over another, but sat back and looked at the paths available to him.
Put aside his pride, the thing he was seemingly built around, and be given every he could ever want…
Or…
Lose it all and more if he made enemies out of the creature that stood before him.
He knew that Ridley, at least his clone from another dimension, wouldn't even dwell on the thought of siding with her…
But he was not his shadow.
He was smarter than his foolish counterpart.
Yes.
He had made his mind.
Finally having decided what it was he was going to do, he once again met the eyes of the mysterious and powerful Chozo Warrior. His claws clinked against the palace floors as he approached her, her guards tensing in preparation for battle. But from seeing their Queen's lack of tension, they stood down.
He stopped just before her, eyes still narrowed.
He had but one more question, this final inquiry that would make or break this deal she was offering him.
"Why?" He asked lowly, leaving no room for play. There was no formality, no beating around the proverbial bush.
He wanted honest to god answers, or he would refuse.
"Why would you offer me this? Why would you go out of your way to give your nemesis everything he ever wanted?" If there was some underlying reason, some cruel trick she was playing at. "How does this benefit you?"
The corners of her jet black lips quirked up in an amused smirk, as if she expected no less from him.
He wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Then she would give him such.
"I have already secured my vengeance, I have no reason to do so again. To me, you are better off alive under my hand then you are laying dead at my feet." She clarified quite nicely, voice not raised, but calm and relaxed. "Does that answer suffice?" She asked curiously, head tilted to the side ever so slightly.
His eyes narrowed.
He accepted her answer as it was, seeing the cold hard truth in her words, but…
Why was she, the Legendary lone Bounty Hunter now ruling as Queen over an entire heavily armed species? What were her goals, her ambitions, her drive? What had compelled her to take a more active role in the universe she found herself living in, instead of standing on the sidelines?
Perhaps she was something of a kind reader, for her eyes seemed to gain an inquisitive gleam to them. "You wonder why I have become their leader." She stated, did not ask.
His eyes widened.
"True… In the past, I would have never thought to take up the role as I have now. I would have preferred to… keep my distance from the universe until it managed to pull me back in." She explained lightly, heaving a sigh that made her shoulders slump. "However, it has been made clear to me that leaving fools to their devices will inevitably lead to trouble, and I find myself constantly fighting in the battle to make right what was set wrong."
"I've grown tired of waiting for someone else to take a stand, for another to attempt to bring about change, for someone else to finally reach that peace." She murmured, glancing up to the skies above her grand palace.
"Peace is what you're after?" He asked, surprised. He cast a glance to her heavily armored subordinates, soldiers of either gender armed to the teeth for lethal conflict. The Zebesians he was looking at right now would do anything their Queen demanded of them…
Hell…
She wouldn't even have to order them, they'd get down on their knees and do it if she so much as asked.
Having that sort of loyalty in such large numbers…
He wondered what she would be like if her plans were for galactic conquest, instead of this…
Dubious peace she was eluding to.
She stood up from her throne, boots clicking across the shined tile floors of her palace as she began to walk off, gaze set at the grand balcony off to either side of the throne room.
His head slowly turned to follow her as she walked, eyes widening when she paused, glancing back at him over her shoulder, as if beckoning him to follow.
He sucked in a little breath, then moved to follow after her. The members of the House of Arab watched him follow after her, but not a single one of them so much as twitched in her direction, staying put as she had requested.
That did not mean that it left them all with a sensation of unease as they watched her walk off unguarded.
As for the mighty queen in question, her footsteps echoed out lightly, yet were lost in the buzzing of noise that greeted them both as she stepped out onto the massive balcony that overlooked the city capital she called her own. Ships in the dozens flew overhead, going this way and that, her planet of Zebesians hard at work for her.
Seeing it now, how hard their entire population worked for her, how they worked together in harmony instead of the endless infighting they were once known for…
It made her wish she could have this bond with those off world as well, a universe that could coexist as well as she'd managed to make even the power hungry Space Pirates exist with each other.
If she could make such a species unite together… then she had hope she could spread that unity elsewhere. And for those who would so fervently reject her offers of peace would find out the hard way what it would be like to face her armada in war.
"The peace I am after…" She muttered softly, gazing out at her world, her people. "Is not something that can be achieved easily… nor without struggle. Mother Brain wanted to achieve universal order by resetting everything to zero…" She recalled distantly, gaze half lidded as she turned her tired eyes to the stars above.
"The order she sought would never come to fruition, not with the way she went about attempting to achieve it." She muttered softly, slowly coming to lean onto the energy railing that lined the edge of the balcony. Leaning on her arms, the windy breeze gliding over her armor, she almost forgot who she was talking to.
"And the way you plan to achieve such order?" The space dragon asked lowly, the low rumbling of his voice such a strange thing to hear.
She wasn't used to hearing it do anything but yell.
This was a pleasant experience, comparatively speaking.
"I am not so delusional so as to believe this order could be achieved through pretty words and a simple beliefs. Action is required." She snapped lightly, before her tone mellowed out once again. "Humanity has taken up the role of being responsible for trying to achieve that peace, while there are those out there that challenge them, and sometimes that includes themselves. As they stand now, they are well on their way to achieving that goal if left uninterrupted."
Ridley stepped forward. "And for those that wish to see humanity fall?" He inquired lowly, a gleam in his eye.
She frowned, a cold aura radiating off of her in waves. "This universe has no room for those who seek to sow chaos. The Covenant is one such stain. They have chosen their own path."
Silence rang out for a while, the space faring dragon taking in her words. Eventually she turned to face him once more, awaiting his answer. His eyes stared right into her own, and then he raised his arm, his hand completely enveloping her own relatively smaller limb.
She locked eyes with him, her firm silence speaking volumes as his claws wrapped around her limb in acceptance.
A wicked smirk graced his lips, the ground shaking as he felt to his knees in subservience, bowing his head lightly.
"I see now… how foolish my twin was to make an enemy out of you." He intoned lowly, eyes gleaming with a certain level of excitement. "I will not make that same mistake." He added after a moment.
Her lips twitched up in a delighted smirk. "I will hold you to your word…" She muttered, hand slipping free from his far larger limb. "Conflict is soon to come, I hope you are prepared to get your hands dirty, Commander…" She trailed off.
Her gaze once more fell to the stars above, allowing herself a moment to become lost in the infinite vastness. Getting lost in the sea of darkness, left pondering her past, the present, and her future, were things she was often seen doing by her most personal subordinates. To know that she was not a leader that made decisions on impulse, but spent time thinking before acting was calming.
As for the dragon in question, he could tell that his new leader was deep into her own mind, having seemingly withdrawn into herself for the time being. Perhaps, knowing that they'd come to a pleasing agreement between one another, this pause would give him all the time he desired to adjust to the newfound memories she'd implanted within his mind.
She'd, at the very least, given him much to think about. He needed to return to his people, for they would need to be informed of these new developments.
Left alone on the grand balcony, it would be some time before she was interrupted once more. This time, the news brought to her pertained to a developing situation of world.
"My Queen, we have intercepted a distress call from the UNSC Infinity…"
Chapter
42
End