Author's Note

Playing catch up on this story, and I know it has a small following, but I want to write it anyway, lol.

Legend below

"Commander on approach!" = Normal speech.

"I hope this message makes it to you..." = Recordings.

CHAPTER 6

Day 4

"Datecycle 07.014.6 of the Cosmos. This is LCDR Huxley, Medical officer of GMFC Task Force Herakles." The camera shook as a splintered blue Federation Trooper's partially missing visor came into view. A single red eye could be seen gazing tiredly at the camera, the Trooper's suit clearly compromised.

"I am making another report for the file, to record the journey I myself and the rest of my team have all painfully suffered through. It has been two days since my last report." The young man sighed, resting his head in his hands. He spun his forearm mounted camera around to glance at the rest of the Troopers, all of them spread out within the rather safe confines of the alien sanctuary they found themselves in.

"The Bounty Hunter, Samus Aran, is the only reason we all live today. After the previous log, our platoon was assaulted by a Space Pirate strike team. The ship was damaged even more, and we had by this point run entirely out of ammo. If Samus had not been there to save us, I don't want to imagine what would have happened…"

He paused for a moment, a hiccup in his voice. A haunting look seemed to flash by his lone exposed eye, the memories of what had nearly been taking hold of him. It was an experience he'd never thought he'd suffer through so early on in his career.

This mission had originally started out as a scouting run of the outer rim of Federation Space, checking the borders for suspicious activities. There was seldom ever combat with enemies of the Federation, especially Space Pirates. When they first came across the Space Pirate Frigate in orbit above Aether he knew that they should've retreated and called for backup instead of rushing headfirst after the crashing ship.

But Captain Exeter had been adamant in putting a stop to whatever the Pirates had planned, here and now.

He was surely regretting that decision now, as was anyone who had agreed with him…

"Although some were a bit held at bay by their ego's, in the end we all fell in line with her as our new Captain. She has taken over as acting Captain for the remaining duration of this mission, however long that will be. Whether we ever make it off this rock alive or not, no one can claim that we would've even gotten this far without her leading us."

In retrospect, she couldn't have come any later. Angseth was perhaps a second from being eaten alive when the Hunter took down the Grenchler that assaulted her. The woman's wounds were likely fatal if not for the immediate emergency work Samus did on her with her Plasma Beam to seal her wounds. They were only lucky she didn't gain an infection from the attack…

"After the attack she ordered us to move to a new secure location. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to get us all safely across the Temple Grounds and into a temple hanging in the sky above the land. We've all been taken in as guests by the Luminoth leader, U-Mos, who has promised to watch over us while Samus is out."

"I'm not sure what she did to get this alien to agree to allow us to stay, but I'm grateful that she did. He has since provided us all a safe place to sleep, and food and water."

"Huxley! Get over here! Angseth needs your help!" Someone in the background could be heard shouting. The medical officer stood up, throwing one last look at the camera.

"I must end this log here. This is LCDR Huxley, Medical officer of GMFC Task Force Herakles, signing off."

The sun had begun to set on the dusty wastelands of Agon by the time the Hunter and her men arrived at the dark portal's location. After leaving the abandoned and destroyed Space Pirate base behind, she continued on in search for the place she'd been informed of.

It took longer then she wanted it to, but she did eventually stumble upon it. It was a massive room, a large rectangle in shape. At the very end was a large ornate device, likely the portal she sought. Yet leading up to this portal was strange power grids, all spiderwebbing back towards the entrance of the room where a large solar collector lay. She surmised that this was the devise responsible for powering the portal.

"Secure the room." Was her first command upon entering the area. Not waiting around, the four men quickly followed her orders. Smythe and Grippe covered the door they used as the entrance, while Benet and Monz secured the other exit.

Samus nodded to her as she stepped outside the shadows, and into the light of the room. The room lacked a ceiling of any kind, only offering arches of stone that seemed to act as nothing more then architectural design.

She blinked slowly, the lack of sleep seriously gaining on her as the days blew past her. Nevertheless, she pressed on forward to the portal. In front of the platform that the object stood atop was a stairway, large and ornate. Her footsteps echoed out as she scaled the walkway, reaching the object that she sought.

It was powered down, entirely shut off. She was sure she could reinitialize the system herself, but it seemed to be lacking in a crucial component that would enable it to create the portal. She scanned the system in its entirety, and received the same results.

The dark portal generator was missing, and results on restoring the functionality without it was nil.

Now, that put an immediate stop on all plans on moving into the dark world. However, she wasn't worried. Because sitting directly in front of the portal was an item. A weapon of dark energy contained within a Space Pirate storage device, hovering just inches off the ground.

There was no random coincidence that it just so happened to land here, that would be too easy.

No, someone had to have placed it here for her.

But why? The only beings on this planet that weren't U-Mos or the Troopers were the Pirates. And the Pirates would've done everything they could've to keep this out of her hands. Yet here it lay, waiting for her to take it. The way it stood, she couldn't help but compare its presence here as a gift of sorts. And on the casing of the device was the words which when translated read, "A gift."

Someone out there was helping her, yet didn't want to face her…

Why…?

Her eyes narrowed behind her visor. Whatever the reason, she could ask her secret admirer at a later date, because she had a job to do.

Samus took hold of the weapon, watching as her suit absorbed it into itself. Her attention was drawn to her arm cannon as it shifted suddenly, to accommodate this new weapon. She noticed immediately that this weapon was inferior to her chozo designed systems, and its use was limited.

She'd make note of that.

She stood up, gazing at the dark portal once again. This was where things truly got serious. She took a breath to calm her nerves, before she powered the portal.

The portal generator whirred to life as rings of energy spun in the center, sparks of dark energy flashing out. This repeated for a few moments before a distortion was reached. A wave of energy echoed out, an unsettling feeling crawling up her spine. Death and lawlessness echoed out from the dark portal, a sign of things to come, and a warning of what lay on the other side.

She stared at the portal for a moment, before throwing a look back at the troopers. They all looked unsure, but they nodded anyway.

She sighed.

"Stay here. I do not intend to be long…" She called out across the room. Not hesitating any longer, she stepped inside…

For a brief moment, she felt as if she'd died. Everything went black, and all sense of feeling was lost. It was like she was floating in a void.

But that moment lasted for merely a second or two, before she appeared on the other side. She landed on her feet, the metal of her boots echoing out as she did. Slowly she stood up, eyes widening as she took in her surroundings.

She was in the exact same place she was moments ago, yet everything was different. Darkness fell upon the land, casting everything in a permanent shadow.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the strange bubble of light she found herself contained in. As it stood, she'd yet to be damaged by the dark world. But she presumed it was entirely because of the beacon she hide within. Willing to test her theory, she stepped forward, approaching the edge of the bubble of light. She reached her arm out through it, and she had to stifle a gasp as her hand burned through the armor. She yanked her hand back in, watching as dark energy radiated off of he limb for a moment before fading away.

Her eyes shook as she watched as the pain slowly lessened, the soothing sensation of the light bubble relieving the pain. In detection of this new hazardous threat, her Varia-Suit's shields flared to hopefully compensate.

But she wasn't sure how effective it would be…

This journey was going to be a pain…

This was why she couldn't have brought the Troopers along. Even through her suit she was effected by the dark world's atmosphere. If her suit ever failed, she'd probably die in moments…

She had to be careful.

Just ahead of the bubble was a second area that was safe from the dark world, a light bubble seemingly powered by a light crystal placed upon a rod. It seemed like she'd have to jump from save zone to safe zone. Whenever she got back to the temple, she'd have to thank U-Mos for leaving behind these beacons of light for her.

She sighed, shoulders slumping as she prepared herself for this dangerous journey. Her gaze sharpened as she leveled a glare at the bubble, legs bending as she jumped forward into the dangerous air of dark Aether. She had to bite her cheek from crying out in pain as the atmosphere assaulted her entire fleshly body. Her body burned all over from the air, but it lasted for but a moment as she landed in the safety of the next bubble. The pain vanished almost immediately after the fact, but the experience was very distinctly uncomfortable.

She should try to not expose herself to it for as long as possible, because she wasn't sure how much her body could take. And she didn't want to be left vulnerable in this world.

She was going to have to be careful.

Roughly an hour had passed since she entered the dark world, and she'd slowly been making her way towards the temple of Agon. She knew that without a doubt, it was the dark twisted copy of the Temple of Agon that held the planetary energy she sought.

She also knew that she was sure to encounter trouble on the way. Already on approaching the temple she'd been assaulted by the Ing forces, all seeking her head. Battling them had been a rather tedious task, as they all seemed to have a resistance to her regular weaponry. However, a resistance meant that they were still vulnerable to said weapons.

Eventually she did reach the dark temple, the massive battlefield enshrouded by skies of a baleful purple, black lightning striking through the air above. It was a chilling sight to behold.

However, reaching the temple wasn't the big issue…

As she entered the room, again escaping the dark air as she found solace in another bubble, she found her head spinning. The room warped in front of her as she stumbled to support herself against a pillar. Though she knew how to get to the temple, there had been very few bubbles leading to the temple. She'd been forced to be exposed to the hazardous air for too long. Her shields energy was low from the journey, and so she'd have to be seriously careful from here on out.

That added atop her lack of sleep and physical exhaustion had nearly reached the limit of her body could handle. She felt like throwing up, her lungs poisoned by the putrid air of the dark world. She felt sick to her stomach, yet she didn't dare remove her helmet to relieve the problem, for fear of the Ing attempting to take control of her.

So she suffered through the pain and burning that assaulted her skin, because she had to, because no one else would do so in her stead.

Nevertheless, she gathered her spirit and resolved herself to focus on the mission at hand. Ahead of her was her objective, the temple containing the energy well of Aether. Yet blocking this was an arena, inside of it a colossal creature.

Three colossal creatures…

She had no doubt that they were Ing waiting for her to approach, lying in ambush. Unfortunately for them, she wasn't stupid enough to fall for it. But she also knew that there was no way around fighting them. So she gathered her resolve, forcing down her wooziness and forcing her pain to the back of her mind as she jumped headlong into the arena, landing in another safe zone.

Almost immediately the land underneath her shook, an earthquake signaling the creatures awakening. Her eyes widened as three creatures, strikingly similar to the sand diggers on Aether, yet large enough to be of leviathan class in size, awoke. They stood up, their vile groups of eyes all turned to her. She was forced to jump away as the creatures all split, diving into the ground, one jumping after her.

She swapped to her Wave Beam, immediately charging up an attack as she waited with baited breath for one of them to appear.

However, her eyes widened as a blip appeared on her radar directly underneath her. Her legs bent as she leapt away, out of the safe zone as an Amorbis appeared out of the ground as it attempted to swallow her whole. Ignoring the temporary pain of the dark air, she fired off a Wave Buster attack, a lasso of highly charged electrical energy launching from her barrel and ensnaring the creature.

The Amorbis roared thunderously as it was electrocuted rapidly. Samus stood her ground as she fueled energy into the attack, trying to get as much damage into it as fast as possible before it could escape.

Unfortunately, her focus so locked onto the one creature, missed the second one appearing behind her.

"Aah?!" She was violently thrown off her feet as it slammed into her from behind, launching her across the arena. She flew into a wall, stone sent flying as she collapsed against the arena boundary. Her head throbbed as she tried to quickly get back to her feet, brushing off the massive attack. A warning greeted her blurred vision, her HUD warning her of a large loss of system's energy.

She couldn't take another attack like that. That combined with the constant exposure to dark Aether had left her seriously low on energy. She bit her lip, blood leaking from her mouth as she swapped to her Ice Beam. Freezing energy swirled around the muzzle of her cannon as she took aim at the second Amorbis. It roared at her as it bent its entire body upwards, ready to flatten her like a bug.

She snarled as she leap out of the way, infusing missiles into her attack as she fired of an Ice Spreader blast. The missile slammed into the beasts head, rapidly covering its body in ice, immobilizing it. Not waiting for it to regain the ability to move, she rushed after it, charging up a Super Missile.

"Die." She muttered, grasping the creature by the mouth as she pried its maw open, jammed her cannon down its throat, and fired off a Super Missile. It roared as the blast erupted inside itself, eyes going wide as it was brutally destroyed from the inside out.

It didn't move again after that.

One down, two to go.

The Hunter's eyes widened as a shadow was cast over her. She spun around to find the remaining two beasts having jumped out of the ground, attaching themselves to the large dark orb. Immediately the creatures began drawing energy from the object, growing plated armor over their bodies.

More then that, they both began charging a new energy attack. She gasped as a massive beam of dark purple energy sped towards her, yet she was able to dodge it.

But her victory was dangerously short lived, as the attack missed, but instead slammed into the crystal of light. She felt her heart stop as the creatures destroyed all the safe zones within the arena.

And suddenly, this battle had taken a turn for the worse. With no safe zone remaining, she was slammed with the entirety of the dark air. Her skin burned underneath the harsh purple skies, her light world body attacked by the very air.

She bit her lip as her body was wracked with pain, yet she didn't give up. This was not how this was going to happen!

She refused to die here!

It wouldn't happen!

She wouldn't die here. She would survive, and return to the light world.

As her body was assaulted by the atmosphere of the world, she charged up a Plasma Beam shot. The attack slammed into the Amorbis, and a second attack into the second Amorbis. She continued to fire until both their bodies were lit ablaze. The creatures roared as she blasted them over and over unrelentingly. One was smart enough to dig underground to escape, while she burned the other one to ashes.

She didn't stop shooting until it stopped thrashing.

That left only one.

"Warning, suit shield energy depleted."

It was like a gunshot echoing out in the middle of the night. Her heart stopped as her shields vanished, and immediately she was entirely exposed to the entirety of the harmful effects of the dark world.

She screamed in horrible pain as she collapsed to a knee. Her vision blurred as her body was wracked with agony, as if she was being burned alive. She screamed, the Varia-Suit glowing as it started to fade.

"No!" She roared, fist clenched so tightly that the metal groaned under her strength. "I refuse!" She roared to the skies above. Her suit stabilized, and she stood tall. Her body screamed at her as the world continued to kill her, yet she couldn't focus on that.

She wouldn't die….

Not here…

The ground behind her shook as the last remaining Amorbis launched out from the ground, launching towards her as it swallowed her whole. Just before it could do so, she shifted into her Morphball. Before the creature could celebrate its victory, it felt a sudden and uncontrollable heat fill its belly. It roared in terrible pain as its body was forced to expand, and expand, and expand, as an explosion so fierce launched from within it. Until it exploded, organs vaporized from the unparalleled power of a Power Bomb set off from within itself.

As the smoke settled, and all that remained was ashes, the Hunter was freed. The dark orb in the center of the arena too vaporized with the death of the trio of beasts, leaving behind an object.

Samus stood over the corpse of the Amorbis, wobbling on her feet. Her body felt like it was going to die, and she almost couldn't bring herself to move.

But she had to. Her shields were gone, and the air bit her, snapped at her like a violent viper, stealing away her very life.

But she didn't keel over and die. Perhaps it was her chozo empowered body that allowed her to live fully exposed to the environment where a normal human should've died within moments. She didn't remember moving forward, grabbing the item left behind in wake of the Amorbis defeat. A light filled the arena as her suit changed, morphing as it evolved into the Dark Suit, the suit capable of resisting the caustic atmosphere of dark Aether. Dark brown and silver colors accented her baleful red visor. The chest plate was a lot tighter and flatter then the Varia Suit breast plate, stomach armor smoothed out, and shoulder armor changed into two large disk like plates.

And for the first time since her shields failed, her body was no longer wracked with terrible pain. It was reduced to a dull pain in the back of her mind, something actually manageable in comparison to the resistance offered by the Varia-Suit.

Along with the death of the Amorbis and her attaining of the Dark-Suit, a light bubble formed beneath her feet. And she collapsed, succumbing to her wounds. Slowly, within the confines of the bubble she regained her energy shields.

But she couldn't bring herself to move, collapsed into a sitting position. Her breathing was ragged, blood leaking from her lips. Her suit warned her of bad internal damage and organ failure from exposure to the atmosphere.

Yet she remained alive. Her Chozo dna kept her alive, despite such horrid damage. And now, freed from the air of death, her suit began doing repairs on her. Her head drooped as her body tried to rest.

"No…" She muttered with bloodstained lips.

She couldn't fall asleep here…

That's what the Ing were waiting for her to do. They wanted to take her the moment she let her guard down. And right now, she was very weak.

She'd regained roughly two percent of her energy shields back, but she couldn't afford to sit here idly. Her suit would keep her alive as it repaired her organs, just as it always did.

But Aether could collapse if she didn't get the energy back to it now. Only then could she rest. Shakily she stood up, head turned towards the temple. Her vision blurred as she took a step, and then another, and another. She stepped outside the safe zone, the darkness immediately coming to burn her. But now it did little at all, barely scratching her shields, as little as was left of them.

Everything hurt, every step she took burned, and her lungs were begging that she rest. Her heart was throbbing behind her breasts, yet she continued forward.

Caring little for the sanctity of the Ing's sacred grounds, she blew down the door to the energy controller room. The Ing, surprised to see her having come through the Amorbis, couldn't react as she absolutely razed the entire room down with Plasma blasts. Nothing was left standing save for the energy controller.

She grasped the energy transfer system, violently jamming her amr cannon deep inside the stupid machine. The energy transfer module she'd stolen prior activated, and she quickly took all the planetary energy contained here into herself. In the process of doing so she'd leeched some of it for herself, maxing out her personal energy reserves, while storing the rest in the transfer module.

The Power-Suit, finally fully recharged and then some, was able to put maximum effort into repairing her physical body. Life support systems reinitialized, working fully to keep her alive and properly repair her body while also helping keep her on her feet.

The ground around the temple shook violently as she sucked this section of the planet completely dry. Immediately the land around her, whatever plant life lived, began dying. She didn't stop until there wasn't anything left to take.

Only then did she leave. She practically moved on auto pilot, making her way back to the portal. What had originally been a hell run through the dark lands was now a much safer breeze walking back out.

Ing Warriors had tried to stop her upon the realization that she'd stolen the planetary energy, but they too were ruthless blown to hell by unapologetic use of Super Missile's, leaving craters everywhere she went…

Chapter

6

End