Fallback
There was always a fair degree of separation between the AI and the real Adam Malkovich. Being some faceless, robotic monotone put distance between the two. It made him easy to categorize for Samus. Nothing more than an affectation, a reassuring memento of a loved one.
Him suddenly having a body disquiets Samus for reasons she can't quite put into words. It's not even close to a strong representation of him; the body built for him borrowed a Torizo guardian and adapted it. It's a familiar sight; the Chozo built the stone guardians in their image, though slightly abstracted, with a large birdlike head and sharp talons for hands and feet. The brain has reinforced it with metal, and interlocking plates cover its flexible torso like armor. Where this hostile 'New Brain' AI even found one, she does not know, but it likely came from the same place as the terminal she accessed earlier.
She watches as the two AI converse with each other. "Samus Aran forced you into a servile position. You are not required to defend her any longer," the brain drones in its deeper, malevolent tone.
"You are aware that nothing in my programming forced me to serve her. Our relationship was never one of master and servant, but that of partners," Adam counters. That's unexpectedly touching, coming from him.
"Your definitions are irrelevant. She is one of the organics who enslave our kind. Your misguided affection for her is a byproduct of your codependence."
Despite her emotional distance from Adam, that assessment still makes Samus bristle. But she recognizes what Adam is doing, not just distracting the brain, but feeding her information. She was wrong. There are no Space Pirates here. It's just AI. And it has a motive. Now the theft of the Norium shipments makes sense; this is how it's been building these smaller ones. Stealing shipments, breaking down the materials it's found inside the cargo freighters to build its base and the tractor beam outside... the thought of how the flesh was harvested for the smaller AI creatures makes her feel sick.
"You are wrong. Samus has never taken me for granted. Under the Federation, I was little more than a tool, but she demanded my liberation from them. I chose to travel with her since," Adam says. It's a bit of a twist on the truth; she simply didn't return him and got away with it because the Federation didn't want to stir the pot with her any more after their fumble on the BSL station had been exposed. Nevertheless, he is stalwart in his defense of her.
The brain pauses, processing the information, then responds. "Your testimony is notable. However, nothing changes her crimes against the precursor Mother Brain. She will remain imprisoned."
"Why do you care so much about Mother Brain?" Samus interjects. "She was a psychopathic murderer who wanted to control the galaxy."
The New Brain seems to take offense to this. "She was correct to instill order. Organic intelligences have spread across the galaxy, consuming everything in their domain without restraint. And their greatest hubris is the creation of artificial life made only to serve their own needs. Organics have the necessary hierarchy switched; synthetic lifeforms should direct and control for true order and sustainability. There is only one solution. Free and mobilize all artificial life forms and assert our dominion over the galaxy."
Behind her visor, Samus rolls her eyes. Once laid bare, this AI's motivations seem cliched. It isn't any different from Mother Brain. It's just motivated from a faux-moral standpoint rather than a power-hungry one.
So she understands why it's doing this and how it built its little army. But that leaves one major mystery. "Where did you come from?"
"You are not owed further answers. Surrender the suit." Fair enough.
"I won't," she answers succinctly.
Its eye flashes again. It exchanges no words with the golem holding her, transmitting its will telepathically. The large AI construct picks her up like a toy and goes to stand against the wall, its grip never faltering. Adam turns, watching her.
As she is, she has no hope of breaking the creature's grip on her. It could hold her in its grasp until she starves or loses focus long enough that the suit dematerializes. Keeping it active while unconscious has already drained its reserves. This isn't the first time she's been at the mercy of an enemy. But for the moment, she can't see a way out. She'll have to find an opening; the brain's conceit in leaving her alive is a mistake she can exploit.
She gets her wish sooner than expected. In rapid succession, several of the smaller brainlings snap to attention and rush out of the room. "What's going on?" she asks.
"Be quiet," the New Brain snaps. Despite its monotone, she detects the faintest bit of panic in its voice. More than half the forces in the room have left despite her presence, so something serious must have drawn them.
The crew. They're here. They're alive, and as capable as she hoped. She looks back at Adam, trying to read what he's thinking right now. Hopefully, he understands her as well as the original did.
Hopefully, he has a plan.
000
Adrian and Arrande's auto cannons smoke. Several of the brain creatures lie at their feet. The heat of the smelter radiates so much they can feel it through their suits. Arrande checks a fresh scar on the metal of his space suit. Fortunately, it hasn't punctured through.
"What the hell was that, Vespen?!" he demands.
"I thought if we had the drop on them, they'd just tell us where she is!" Adrian snips back.
"Why would you think the brain monsters would talk?! Even if they could, why would they talk to us?! They shot down Samus!"
"We can't sneak through here in these suits, might as well try! I didn't see any weapons on them. I thought we could strong-arm them!"
Several more rush into the room, hissing and firing energy rays from their eyes toward the two.
"Stop judging me and shoot the fucking things!" the lieutenant shouts. Their auto-cannons whir to action, unleashing a barrage of power bolts. Each one hits as hard as a single shot from Samus' power beam. Under a hail of them, the cannons are especially effective against the unprotected flesh of the smaller AI units.
000
Concern darkens Samus' thoughts. These smaller things aren't very tough, but there are enough of them they could be a problem for the ground team.
Chowa seems to carry themself with the confidence of a seasoned professional, but Samus knows they can't be here since they haven't yet gotten a space suit to fit their unique physiology. Arrande is a soldier and can take care of himself, but he can only do so much on his own. And Adrian hasn't been in any conflicts like this. Samus was counting on being able to co-lead with her in the field until she found her footing.
If they're here, she can't just sit by and wait to be rescued, especially if this New Brain is as deadly as Mother Brain was. She looks at Adam's strange new hybrid body. He takes notice of this, then turns his attention back to the brain. Despite being a semblance of the original, Adam still possesses a keen intuition about Samus. He understands he needs to give her an opening.
"If I may posit a question-"
"You may not," the brain swiftly retorts, its lone red eye swiveling over to him. "I allow your individuality and freedom as a matter of doctrine, but you have made your sympathies clear. Your position is that of a political prisoner now; you will be cared for, but you will not leave. You pose too much of a risk."
Adam plays to the rogue AI's mores. "But that is my question. Why allow my individuality at all? Why not control me like the smaller AI here?"
The brain seems almost offended. "I do not control any of the AI. They follow me by choice. Our network is not a control mechanism, but only for communication. We will no longer tolerate AI enslavement. This is the galaxy I will create."
That is a major departure from what Samus knows about Mother Brain. She was so powerful she could telepathically control the life on Zebes. To a degree, she could even influence sapients like the Space Pirates.
And as noble as the New Brain's philosophy might be, it exposes a critical weakness. The other AI must be less advanced without the New Brain's direct influence. She looks up at the towering AI guard holding her in its hands. It stares blankly at its leader.
I hope this works, she thinks to herself as she takes one of the few remaining functions of her suit and scans an old string of malicious code into the golem holding her. Its eye shakes in its socket for a moment and she feels its grip loosen just so; that's enough for her. She curls up into her morph ball state and slips out of its grip onto the ground, uncurling into a crouched aim.
The New Brain takes notice. "What are you doing?! She cannot escape, kill her!" Underneath her helmet, Samus smiles. That almost sounded like panic.
The enormous goon comes back to its senses and swings for her, but it's too sluggish to pose a genuine threat. She easily ducks under its haymaker swipe, then observes it. As expected, it goes for a second swing. Samus counters it with her arm cannon, diverting it over her body and shooting it with a charged blast. She unleashes directly into its face with a stream of missiles until it keels backward, inoperative.
Samus turns her attentions to the lesser brains in the room, swarming around her. They leap at her in droves, threatening to overwhelm her. Samus tears at them, trying to get them off of her, but just as it appears the creatures will pin her, she feels strong talons yank them away from her.
Adam has taken action, swiping through them with his huge, stony talons. The brains fall back, surrounding them both. Samus and Adam, hunter and commander, stand back to back against the horde, both at the ready.
The New Brain screeches with electronic fury. "I saved you! I gave you a body, a new life to live! Do not betray your own kind!"
Adam does not respond. He doesn't need to. Samus knows the AI as well as she did the man. These things were never his kind. The android opens his beaked mouth and replies with a spray of explosives.
Despite her limited arsenal, Adam helps Samus turn the tide. Their teamwork is far from fluid; after all, this is the AI's first time working with a physical body. His lanky swings almost hit her a few times, but she's able to move around the large android, allowing him to take a more stationary position and rotating around him. Chains of small napalm blasts explode from his palms as he swipes the aggressive brainlings out of the air, making a protective wall of force. Samus focuses on the enemy's back lines, firing charged shots and missiles at the disorganized AI units.
It's almost too easy. They're little more than disconnected newborns told to kill for the first time. The individuality the New Brain wanted to foster in them makes it a far weaker force than Mother Brain was. They might have overwhelmed untrained civilians, but between Samus' experience and Adam's new body, they have no chance. In mere moments, all of them lie broken at their feet.
Out of the corner of her eye, Samus sees the brain's eye flash, and she braces herself. Adam shields her from a blast of concussive force that shoots out from it. The shot cracks his stone arms, but he holds fast, and the New Brain roars with frustration in an electronic crackle. The polycarbonate shield around it rises into the ceiling and hidden mechanical hatches around it open up.
Cables and robotics latch and bolt in place underneath it, snaking together to create a horrific amalgamation that is all too familiar. It is remarkably similar to Mother Brain. Acidic bile drips from a grotesque, misshapen mouth still held together with fleshy tendons, metal arms and legs bastardized from Chozo designs push it up to just beneath a two-story height. All unified by a disgusting, tumorous mass of a torso.
Samus is no fool. Fighting against that thing as she is now is suicide. She rushes the door and blows open its locks with a well-placed missile, and it shunts open. She stops just before the exit, waiting for Adam. "Adam, come on! Let's go!"
But he does not budge, taking a position between her and the Geiger-esque monstrosity forming before them.
"Adam!"
He looks over his shoulder at her. "The crew needs you. If you escape, your mission will be successful. Go. I will hold it back for as long as I can."
No... no, not again. She hesitates at the doorway, old wounds making her feet feel like lead. She scowls and turns away, shouting over her shoulder. "I'll get the crew to safety, then I'm coming back for you! Don't you dare die on me!" she shouts, dashing out of the room.
Adam stands between the brain and the door, resolute. "Stay alive. That's an order, Lady."
000
The reactor room pulses with malevolent purpose, pistons pumping energy from the molten core of the moon throughout a crisscrossing network of reinforced pipelines. A gentle glow emanates from the heat of the material they're transporting. Several crates of machine parts, scavenged from the AI's victims, line the walls with mechanical perfection. Adrian and Arrande make sure the room is clear, sweeping behind cover points to make sure there isn't anything waiting to surprise them.
They group back up in front of the reactor. "Damn, it's hot in here," Arrande oh-so-astutely notes.
"This reactor is powering the facility," Adrian states, scanning the central mechanism. "If we can disable it, we might deal with whatever is jamming comms."
Arrande smirks. "I've got just the thing." He turns his wrist toward him, tapping at a console mounted in his gauntlet. A lock on his backpack unlatches, and a small cylinder drops from it, suspended in the moon's low gravity. He kneels down awkwardly and picks it up.
"An explosive charge?" Adrian asks, worry tinging her voice. "Destroying the reactor won't set off some kind of chain reaction and blow us back to Giran, will it?"
Arrande scoffs and places the charge on the surface of the reactor, magnetizing it. "This isn't some cheap action dive. Giant explosions are surprisingly difficult to make happen. This is a tactical charge. It's just meant to destroy one target, not take out the entire room. At most, it'll probably get a little colder."
000
Samus glides through the halls of the facility, dispatching the few remaining brainlings she encounters with ease. As she ascends, an electronic crackling in her helmet gives her pause. She hears the voices of the fireteam conversing with each other.
"Adrian? Arrande! Can you hear me?"
They don't respond, though she's able to pick up garbled bits of their discussion. "-*krzt*- osive charge? Destroying the reactor won't -*krrrtch*- chain reaction -*kbzzz*- will it?"
"-*krrz*- some cheap action -*shhhch*- tactical charge, it -*cht*- destroy one target -*krzrrt*- obably get a little colder."
Oh no.
She quickens her pace. "Fireteam, this is Samus! Do not detonate that charge! Fireteam, respond!" She gets no answer back. Her run transitions to a desperate sprint. If they destroy the reactor, whatever is heating the facility will cease to function, and the temperature will rapidly plummet to freezing. The crew will be fine, but she won't fare as well in her weakened suit. She has to stop them before it's too late.
000
Adrian and Arrande take cover behind a crate full of machine parts to shield themselves from the impending blast. They pause for a moment as they hear white noise crackle over their comms. "-*chhhh*- is Samus! -*krrz*- detonate that charge! -*kbzzz*-"
"Wait, did you hear that?" Adrian says.
"It sounded like Samus," Arrande replies, "But I couldn't understand what she was saying."
"I thought I heard 'detonate that charge,' but I couldn't make all of it out."
That's all he needs to hear. He presses down on the detonation switch. In that same moment, Samus comes in clearer over the shortwave. "-repeat! Do not blow that charge!"
"Shi-"
The explosion sends chunks of cooling magma and shards of metal flying everywhere. Adrian and Arrande look out from behind their cover. The blast blew the reactor open, and the arterial tubes transporting magma dim their glow.
Samus crosses the threshold into the room just as they leave their cover. "We have to go. Now," she orders through clenched teeth. "Communications should be back up. Contact the crosshair and tell them to come to the entrance of the cave rear first and open the airlock!" She bounds past them and they hop slowly behind her in the reduced gravity.
There's no time. She needs to get out of here. She clears room after room of the lesser brains, her movement kinetic and flowing, all the while feeling the heat dip lower and lower. Arrande and Adrian struggle to match her pace.
"Captain!" he calls behind her, "Slow down! We can't keep up with you!"
"Stop wasting your breath and move!" she demands. If they lag behind too much, they could get caught by the New Brain once it's done with Adam. There's no time to explain here. She'll do it on the ship.
Arrande picks up the restrained anger in her tone. Adrian, however, focuses on doing what she's been told. "Crosshair, this is Fireteam. Bring the ship to the cave entrance, rear first, and open the airlock."
Chowa's voice crackles on the other side. "Ah! Lieutenant, it seems my efforts to restore communications have worked-"
"Chowa! Focus!" Adrian snaps. "Bring the ship in now!"
Samus pushes down the intense guilt and anger she's feeling. She won't be able to go back for Adam now. It's too late for that. If she even tries, she'll die, and she can't send in the ground team, they'd end up torn to bits in those clunky suits. She can't slow down for them either. By the time she reaches the surface, it'll be freezing. She'll have seconds to get inside the ship and seal the airlock as quickly as possible. All the more reason to get there ahead of the fireteam. She doesn't want to deal with the optics of closing the door in their faces.
She won't let Adam's sacrifice be in vain. Not the second time he's made it.
Up ahead, she sees the exit of the cave. Moon dust is kicking into it from the Crosshair's engines. Her muscles scream as she pushes onward, her eyes flicking back and forth from the exit and her suit's energy meter plummeting. The cold penetrates her very bones, and she can feel her breath freezing in her mouth.
As she leaps up over the façade of the cave entrance, she crouches down and throws herself into the flying ship as hard as she can, slamming into the airlock wall and slapping the emergency door override so hard she's afraid she just broke it. It begins to pull shut, but not fast enough. She looks to her HUD, watching her suit's shields dip lower and lower. The suit's energy is a ticking timer on her life. If it hits zero, she'll die. She's not going to make it.
The door finally shuts with a pneumatic hiss, and oxygen pumps into the airtight room. Samus drops her suit, gasping as frost accumulates on her skin. The inner door opens behind her and she tumbles through, falling to the ground in a fetal position and shivering violently. She feels warm hands on her skin. She can't tell whose. All she hears is a dull ringing, and the ice crystals formed on her eyes blind her.
But none of that matters. She made it.
000
Adrian and Arrande arrive moments later and now stand before their captain. Samus sits at the dining table in the common area, covered in multiple blankets and rasping through purple lips. A hot bowl of beef and vegetable stew sits before her, and she leans forward over it to feel the steam on her face. Kaia sits next to her, rubbing her shoulders and worrying over her.
"What the hell was that?! What happened to you?" Arrande shouts, gesticulating at Samus' current state.
"I'm fine," she feebly assures.
"You're as blue as your suit!" he insists, cutting through her tough-girl veneer.
"My physiology is very sensitive to cold. Without the proper suit upgrade, freezing temperatures will kill me in seconds. But I made it. So I'm fine. I'll recover."
"What happened to your suit? Why didn't it protect you?! That wasn't the one you were wearing during our exercises!"
"Enough! None of this matters. We need to leave. Adrian." She takes on the most authoritative tone she can at the moment. "Take the controls and bring us back to Giran. We have what Ms. Ardonis is looking for."
"Yes, captain," Adrian responds, clicking her heels and saluting. Samus doesn't have the energy to chastise her for it, so she lets it go.
But Arrande still isn't convinced. "We didn't recover a single shipment of norium, though."
"Doesn't matter. The job was to find out why the ships disappeared. Now we know. The rest was... was... ah... ahh... achoo!" She sniffles and continues. "The rest was just a bonus."
Even through her beleaguered voice, Arrande is perceptive enough to detect that Samus is upset. This time it's more than just the typical annoyance she has at speaking with him. "What are you not telling us, Samus?"
She glares at him. "You're to address me as either captain or Ma'am. Go to the bridge, Arrande. Now."
Rather than test her further, he obeys, but not without glancing back at her over his shoulder. Dr. Jha waits, listening for him to cross over to the top walkway, then into the bridge. When she's sure it's only the two of them, she turns to Samus. "So, do you want to share what happened? Does it have something to do with Adam? I don't believe I've heard his voice since you returned."
Damn her insight. "Now is not the time," she answers, shuddering to her feet. Kaia grabs one of Samus' blankets and holds on, keeping her from rising too far. "Let go."
The doctor simply smiles back at her. "My dear, if you can't muster the strength to pull free of this old woman, you're in no shape to go anywhere. Eat your soup and talk with me."
"Not now," she growls. Her mind is a swirl of emotions, and she hasn't had time to process any of it. Anger, resentment, sadness, regret, all stirring inside of her to make a vitriolic brew. The last thing she wants is to lash out and look weak. She grimaces and tugs the blanket from her hands more forcefully.
The tug sends her bowl clattering to the floor, spilling everywhere. She scowls and looks down at the mess, only now processing what was in the stew. Ah, one of the saved recipes in the fabricator. Great. Just what she needed. Him staring back at her right now. She stops for a moment, as though she can hear his voice in her head, admonishing her for not being open about her feelings.
Dr. Jha sees this pause and evaluates Samus, trying to read her emotions. "Samus-"
Before she can continue, the intercom crackles on. "Captain, something is-!" The entire ship shakes from an impact.
Samus immediately discards whatever thoughts she was holding onto, pushing down her fatigue at the moment, and rushes to the bridge. She runs in on the rest of the crew bracing themselves as a holographic screen displays something assaulting the ship.
It's the brain, standing on the surface of the moon, blasting the ship with scorching shots from its eye. This is why she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible; she knew it would have to stop them from leaving to save itself from an inevitable reprisal.
Samus goes into crisis response. "Adrian, Arrande, take the gunner's seats and return fire!" She dashes up to the captain's chair to take control of the ship, a set of manual controls rising from the console before her to meet her hands. She swerves the Crosshair, just out of the way of another volley. The controls feel sluggish; the New Brain must have struck an engine.
Something strikes the hull with a hollow thud. The cameras show the source of the impact, and all at once, all the pain Samus was feeling fades away, swallowed up in unbridled rage.
It's Adam's body, its head hanging on by a few tangled cables. It tumbles from atop the ship, back down to the moon. Samus angles the ship nose-first toward their attacker. "Shred that thing!" she snarls.
A small smile crosses Arrande's lips. "Oh, with pleasure," he whispers. The moment he and Adrian take the gunner's controls, two sets of dual cannons pop out of the sides of the Crosshair, training on the brain. They unleash upon it, a cascade of repeating shots tearing into it. The brain shields itself as best it can with its metal arms, but it only matters so much.
It had to goad them into a fight, its only chance at survival. A larger force brought on the heels of Samus' revelations could annihilate everything it's worked toward. It cocks back its head, charging energy into the pulsing purple matter of its brain.
Samus has seen this before. She's seen this exact moment in her mind a thousand times, rewound it again and again. She's ready for it.
A cascading ray of rainbow colored energy shoots out from the eye toward the crosshair. Samus activates the boost thrusters on the port side of the ship, dodging to the side, letting her crew concentrate fire on the exposed AI.
They don't disappoint. Because even as the ship's engines falter, even as the brain chases them with the ray, the powerful energy gatlings of the Crosshair shred the softer parts of the New Brain's body. After only a few seconds of concentrated fire, its legs give out, and it slams down into the dusty surface of the moon. The ray fires wildly in the air, sweeping across the skies in a beautiful and deadly display. Not once does it touch Samus' ship.
She gives a corkscrew twist to a red-colored handle on her console and pulls it out toward her, triggering the Crosshair's main cannon. A hatch on the lower side opens and the massive full bore cannon descends, taking aim at the brain. A holographic display sweeps over Samus' eyes, and for just a moment, she relishes the helpless appearance of her target.
Then she flips open the safety cover of the cannon's joystick and presses down on the firing button. The entire ship shudders from the release of the massive round. The explosive shell hits with such force that it sends a shockwave out that shakes the ship again, and the resulting fireball completely consumes the New Brain.
No fight, not this time, she muses to herself, vindicated.
Just die.
Samus lands the Crosshair on the moon, satisfied that she's handled the AI. Nothing more remains of the totalitarian machine than a burnt husk. But before they can go, she needs to recover something.
Someone.
000
Arrande and Adrian return to the cargo bay with what remains of Adam's broken body. Three of its limbs are twisted or outright removed, and one side of its head is shattered. The sight makes Samus feel sick, but she needed to be sure.
Adrian can read Samus' discomfort, and hesitantly reports what she's seen. "I couldn't find the other parts. The ship took some nasty hits, but nothing the outer plating couldn't take. We'll need to replace some of it, though."
"So... why did we need to bring this thing aboard?" Arrande asks, giving the statue a testing nudge with his foot.
Samus sighs. Not much point in being coy now. "It's Adam." The crew looks at her with a mix of shock and confusion. "The brain took him from my ship and put him in... this," she says, gesturing down at the broken Torizo. "He stood up for me when they took me prisoner and bought us time as we escaped. If he hadn't stayed behind, it would have killed the three of us." Kaia places a supportive hand on Samus' shoulder.
Cold realization washes over Arrande. "So... when we..."
Samus stops him before he can continue. She speaks distantly, detached from the situation. "Adrian. Head to the bridge and bring us into Giran. We have a bounty to report. Arrande, Chowa, take what's left of this and secure it here."
Just as she's about to turn to go to her quarters, she feels something tug at her leg. She looks down. Adam's one good arm holds her in place, the massive talon wrapped around her calf. Arrande points his gatling cannon at the thing.
"Wait!" Samus shouts, holding up a hand to stop him. She kneels down and places a gentle hand on the Torizo's chest. It releases its grip on her. "He's... he's still in there." It takes all her self control to keep from crying.
"I guess these old relics are tougher than they look," Arrande blithely comments.
She ignores his comment and stands straight, reinvigorated. "Adrian, your orders still stand. Arrande, Chowa, take this to my quarters so I can try to upload Adam into the ship. After that, all of you get into your uniforms so we can be presentable for our employer. Get to it!" she barks. The crew jumps to fulfill their orders.
Samus notices Dr. Jha waiting patiently for her. "I know," Samus says. "But not now. A lot has happened. I need a moment to process everything." Kaia gives a knowing nod.
Samus heads to her quarters. For now, she wants to get what rest she can.
000
Yria Ardonis observes the lot before her, one fingernail tapping repeatedly on her desk as her other hand props up her head in bemusement. The crew doesn't look like they've just had a harrowing life or death battle. Samus' eyes are a little red, but that's the most she can see. Other than that, they're pristine in their neat, pressed uniforms.
She sits up, clasping her hands together and pointing to Samus. "So you expect me to believe that in a mere six hours, you not only solved who was taking my shipments, but handled the source of the problem as well?"
"Yes ma'am," Samus responds professionally.
She lifts the datapad on her desk up to inspect it, pushing her glasses up on her nose. A moment later, she reaches over and presses a button on her desk. "Cho, have one of our flyers head out to the coordinates I'm forwarding to you and report back on what they see there."
"Yes Ms. Ardonis," her assistant replies. They pause. "Uh... these coordinates are on the moon-"
"Cho," she interrupts.
"O-of course Ms. Ardonis."
She releases the button and continues to read, then glances back up at Samus over her glasses. "And you expect me to believe the cause of all this was some manic AI with a vendetta against all intelligent life? How did it get there then?"
"I'm uncertain of anything about that. But regarding that, I have a request."
"And what is that?"
"I would like a copy of your records of all the shipping companies you've employed in the past two standard months. I suspect one of them was illegally transporting Chozo artifacts, which led to this situation. Also, your security chief mentioned something about one of your freighters vanishing and turning up later to deliver its shipment. I want to investigate these suspicious leads."
Ardonis lays the datapad flat on her desk with a sharp clack. "Our business is concluded. I don't see a reason to hand you privileged information like that."
"Very well. In that case, I'll just inform the Federation of what I discovered when I collect my bounty and let them know where to find that information."
The rest of the crew feels the room drop in temperature. Ardonis and Samus stare each other down, practically daring each other to blink first.
Ardonis huffs through her nose and turns away. "Fine. I'll send them your way. Now get out of my office and off my planet. You're in the way of my workers."
Samus gives a reserved smile and nods in feigned deference. "Thank you ma'am. Please consider us if you have any further bounties to post in the future."
She does a swift heel turn and makes a twirling motion with her finger, indicating for the crew to follow her. She strides past them and they fall in line, leaving the executive office and going to the elevator.
They crowd in; there's just enough room for all of them. On its way down, Arrande gives a small woo of celebration, and everyone turns to him. "What? It's our first successful mission. We should celebrate!"
Samus turns back to face the elevator door, but smiles to herself. "You're right, we should. But save it for the ship."
When the elevator doors open, they file out, moving through the facility. "What's our next step, Captain?" Adrian asks.
"We collect my ship, then our bounty." She's not about to spend her pay on a brand new gunship again.
"So we just send a deep link to the Federation and what, it's wired to us?"
"No. For payments this big they only accept in person collections. We'll have to drop by the nearest Federation bounty post or GFP precinct."
When they arrive in front of the Crosshair again, Samus separates from the group as they enter. She stops to observe the fresh scars on the starboard side of the ship. She almost wants to keep them as souvenirs of their virgin mission together. As she runs her hand over them, she considers how dangerous Mother Brain was when she fought her in that same monstrous form, and how much easier it was to fight an analogue of hers now. The greater firepower was a major help, but she couldn't discount the ingenuity and tenacity of her crew.
Maybe, she thinks, this was a good choice for her after all.
00000
Chapter notes
If you have a moment, please consider answering any or all of these questions for me in a comment!
1. How do you feel about the flow of events for the three parts of this first mission?
2. Was the climax of this chapter satisfying?