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.
Uploaded
03/09/2024
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 41
Rated-M
M rating for blood, and language, and violence.
Music of the day
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption - Battle Space Pirates
Location / Planet Requiem
Approximately one week since arrival outside planet.
"The data pulled from the previous mission pointed to earlier reports of Covenant archeological teams working within Requiem. Apparently they found something big and have set up a dig site just south of our location…" Came the tired sigh of one Spartan Paul DeMarco, the super soldier hopping aboard the Pelican drop-ship as it came down from the sky.
"So that's why command is sending us to an active volcano, DeMarco?" Buck muttered dryly, moving past the man to take a seat on one of the many that lined the Pelican. "Couldn't they just send Crimson? Heard those guys were all about that…" He muttered, sinking into his seat.
"Apparently Crimson team is already there. We're just going in to back them up." The team leader smirked.
"What, Crimson can't pull their weight?" Madsen teased, joining in on the conversation as the Pelican took off into the air. "Thought those guys were supposed to be the best of the best?"
"Pipe down, will you? I don't want to hear you complaining anymore, it's all you've been doing all day." Grant snarked, crossing her arms over her chest in irritation.
"Careful Madsen, the redhead's getting upset."
"Don't even start with me, Hoya!" Said redhead snapped, thin visor staring dangerously at the other Spartan. "You weren't the one that had to go hand to hand with an Elite squad today, bite me."
"I'm just yanking your chain, Grant." The big man laughed nervously, sitting across from the irate Spartan.
''Majestic, do you copy?!'' The sudden and unexpected voice of Commander Palmer in the ears of everyone aboard made all snap to attention.
"Go ahead, Commander." Paul quickly spoke, deciding to get serious.
''Get ready to drop, Crimson team is in hell right now. We can't allow the Covenant to get their hands on whatever they found, you're going in to back them up. It's too hot to land, so you better be prepared to jump.'' The brunette said, clearly sounding upset.
"We were Helljumpers, Commander." Paul smirked. "I'd say this is just par for the course."
''Good, I don't like hearing complaining. Get ready to jump in three, you're going in hot. Palmer out.'' The coms suddenly shut as the Commander left.
"She's just a ray of sunshine, isn't she?" Buck cracked, unable to stop himself.
"Yeah? She made it to the top for a reason, I wouldn't discredit her skills." Madsen thought to add.
"Oh don't get me wrong, I respect her a lot. Don't mess with a woman in armor, that's something I learned a while ago, heh…" Buck quickly clarified, turning to glance at Grant from the corner of his eyes.
The redhead smirked. "I like him, can we keep him?" She asked, turning to Paul.
"Yeah, he's cool. I agree." Madsen smirked, glancing to his team leader.
"I feel like we're adopting a pet or something…" Hoya sighed.
"Hey!" Came the indignant cry from the Spartan veteran.
"Quiet! We're here!" Paul cut them off, grabbing his rifle as he moved to leap from the ship.
"Oi! Don't just brush past this!" Buck decidedly didn't whine.
Spartans don't whine.
"Cheer up big guy! You know we love you." Grant laughed, patting him on the back as she ran to leap with her leader. Madsen and Hoya laughed as they did the same.
Buck sighed. "You've got a funny way of showing it…" He murmured, grabbing his assault rifle as he leapt out the Pelican. "Jesus Christ, they weren't kidding about that volcano…" He muttered to himself as he fell, gazing out at the active volcano that oozed molten lava. The base where Crimson was located was just around the edge of said volcano, placed over a precarious cliffside.
His armors thrusters moved him throughout his descent, making minor adjustments to perfect the landing as he rapidly approached the ground. "Just like the simulations." He said to himself, throwing his feet out as he prepared to hit the ground, skipping off the rocks into a flying roll to break his fall. His suit's inertia dampeners absorbed most of the force, rapidly slowing him down as he kicked off another rock, forward facing thrusters decreasing his velocity rapidly.
And like that, he arrived at the base of the volcano.
"Buck, glad you decided to join the group." Paul said, motioning to the fight behind him. "Crimson team is held up at the site just ahead, Covies are pressing hard. Grant and Madsen are providing covering fire from range, that leaves us to get up close and personal."
The other two Spartans had landed somewhere higher up, sitting in behind a sandwich of rocky cover as they took aim at a gathering of rapidly approaching Grunts, creatures who suddenly found holes in their foreheads.
"DeMarco! Phantom on approach!" Hoya called out, the shotgun wielding Spartan moving for cover behind a Forerunner metal structure.
The Spartans scattered, rushing for cover as the flying vessel came down from above, raining plasma fire upon them. Buck slid into a crouch, taking cover behind the same wall Hoya did.
"Damnit! I don't have anything to down a Phantom." The other super soldier grunted lowly, looking around the corner as the ship took pot shots at them. "Shit! We're pinned." He sighed.
Buck swallowed, mind racing.
He had an idea.
"Hoya, can you draw their fire? Pull them closer to the ground?" He asked suddenly.
The other man snapped to him questioningly. "What? You got an idea in that head of yours?" The big man taunted.
Buck laughed. "You don't come out of the Human-Covenant war without at least a few." He added, slinging his assault rifle over his shoulder as he instead drew his shotgun.
Hoya laughed, shaking his head. "I've got you covered, you do your thing." He said, then turned as he broke from cover, drawing heavy attention towards himself. "Over this way, hinge-heads!"
''The bastard's crazy…'' Buck thought to himself, spinning around as he ran the other way, sneaking up behind the enemy drop ship. The Phantom was fully focused on trying to turn his teammate into a pile of molten slag, and didn't see him approaching from behind. The Helljumper leapt into the air, his short use jet pack armor upgrade propelling him skyward.
The poor Grunt manning the heavy plasma turret didn't notice him until he was standing beside him. "Hey there good looking." He snarked, thrusting his arm forward as he grasped the creature by its throat, before tossing it clear of the ship where it fell off into the chasm below the Forerunner facility.
It screamed the whole way down, vanishing into the depths as he instead tore the cannon from its mounts and turned it on the rest of the ship's occupants. "This thing used to be so much heavier as an ODST." He remarked to himself as he used the heavy plasma weapon the turn the rest of the Phantom's crew to slag.
A slurry of weapon fire later saw the control terminal of the vehicle blown to pieces, setting the ship on a collision course with the ground.
"Time to leave!" He exclaimed, leaping free from the doomed drop ship with his newfound toy in hand. His jet pack flared to compensate for his weight, landing him safely on the ground in front of his team leader.
Paul looked at him blankly behind his visor, before shaking his head. "Good going Buck, didn't think you still had it in you." He cracked, patting the older man on the shoulder.
"Oi! I'm beginning to think y'all think I'm an old man." Buck responded heatedly, but it was clearly all play. He turned his attention towards the rest of his squad, watching as they cleaned up the rest of the Covenant within the area. "Looks like they handled things pretty well."
"Yeah…" Paul muttered, turning to glance towards the second Spartan team. Heavy metallic thuds echoed out as a heavy assault mech moved towards them, the Mantis having seen better days.
That's when things began to go downhill.
Not long after having cleared out the area of Covenant oppressors, a new foe appeared.
It happened so fast, Buck barely had any time to respond.
A hissing sound echoed out as a Promethean strike force appeared out of thin air, a Knight Captain spawning between them and the Forerunner structure.
"Crimson!" Buck shouted, moving to fire upon the enemy, but the Knight's Incinerator Cannon came primed and ready. The Spartan manning the mech had enough time to try and turn to fire at the sudden enemy, before a giant ball of destruction slammed into him.
In an blinding explosion the Mantis was destroyed, the downed Spartan falling from the eviscerated vehicle in a heap.
He didn't get back up.
"Spartan down!" Madsen exclaimed, rushing to grab the unmoving super soldier to move him from the battlefield, breaking free from cover. "Buck, Hoya, get me some cover! I'm getting him out of there!" He shouted as he slid to the ground, grabbing the body as he fled. He didn't even flinch at the hefty dead weight.
The Knight Captain growled at him, ready to fire another fully charged blast at the fleeing man.
That was, until a shotgun round rang out across battlefield, taking the Knight by surprise. The attack was enough to stun it, providing Hoya the opportunity to strike. The Spartan roared as he ran forward, pumping slugs into the Forerunner battle beast.
The Knight fell quickly.
"Hang on, more Prometheans!" Buck shouted, this time fully aware of the sound of Forerunner teleportation utilized by the white armored creatures. A slurry of hard light bullets came flying his way, tearing holes into the surface of the mountain behind him.
A plethora of Crawlers came up from the chasm, snarling like dogs as they began firing upon the trespassers.
The other members of Crimson team held their position inside the Forerunner structure, pinned down by a slurry of Promethean weapon fire.
Grant had to vacate her previous hiding place, suddenly overrun by Crawlers.
"Fall back, retreat to the Fortress floor!" Paul called out, ushering the other ranged Spartans back to him.
Madsen rushed for the fortress, the man still unconscious in his arms. He glanced down to the fallen member of Crimson team, the super soldier's armor badly damaged and major parts of it missing entirely. "Stay with me, we're going to get you out of here!" He muttered quickly, moving him into the building with the rest of Crimson team.
He found another of their members in the back of the building, suffering from plasma burns across his chest plate, a shoulder pauldron entirely missing. His left arm didn't seem to move anymore, and he'd resorted to using his sidearm.
The other two manned heavy turrets, and seemed relatively fine, despite the heavy scarring on their suits from continued plasma burns.
"Commander, we're in trouble down here!" DeMarco switched to Infinity coms, trying to reach Palmer. "We've got a Spartan down, Promethean's came out of nowhere, and we're pinned down inside the Forerunner structure!"
''Miller, when's that evac going to arrive?! My Spartans are getting slaughtered down there!'' Palmer hissed over the radio, her voice nearly drowned out by the unstopping sounds of gunfire.
''Working on it, Commander! The Promethean's have anti air cannons in the area, our ships are having a hard time-''
''I don't need to hear excuses, Miller! We've got a Spartan casualty, and she's not going to survive off of excuses!'' The irate brunette snapped, the image of her angry face appearing on the Spartans visors. ''DeMarco, find a way out of that hole! Evac is still a ways off, you've got to keep your Spartans alive!'' She snapped.
The team leader made a noise of irritation, glancing to the unconscious Spartan in Madsen's arms.
He had an idea.
He drew his assault rifle. "Madsen, I'm going to draw their fire, you take their heads!" He called out, kicking his thrusters into overdrive as he launched from the front of the facility.
"Paul!?" Grant shouted in disbelief, watching as her leader broke from all cover, drawing an army of Promethean's attention to himself. "Shit, Madsen, take them out!" She snapped, drawing her DMR as she traced her shots, taking off the heads of four crawlers.
"I'm not sitting around while Paul kills himself!" Hoya exclaimed, rushing out to join his team leader. He roared as he slid into action, pumping slug after slug into the robotic monsters, pasting the floors with their metallic orange blood.
"Hoya, watch out! Knight on your right!" Madsen ran up behind him, tackling the giant beast from behind, stabbing into it with his knife. It snarled at him, swinging its entire body around in an attempt to fling its attacker off.
But the Spartan didn't budge, wrapping his arm around the neck of the Forerunner defense A.I. as he stabbed into its head with his titanium knife.
It dropped like a rock, shattering into orange dust.
The Spartan stood up, glancing down to the dust that remained of the Knight. "These things just pop up wherever they want to, don't they?" He turned to Hoya, eyebrow raised. "I mean, how's that even fair?" He didn't have enough time to register why the black man was shouting at him, a Knight Commander instead appearing from his blind spot with a Scatter-Shot in its hands.
He instinctively threw his hands up to try and mitigate the impending damage.
But at such a close range-
"Madsen!" Hoya shouted, watching as his companion ate the full brunt of the hard-light shotgun weapon with his face, the attack tearing through his shields as the Spartan stumbled backward, clutching at his neck. His eyes shot open wide behind his recon helmet, a pained gasp escaping his throat.
Red stained his fingers, holes in his under-suit struggling to compensate for the suit breach and heavy internal damage. The wounded Spartan fell back in retreat, stumbling blindly to the ground as the Knight prepared to finish the job.
Madsen stared wide eyed up at the barrel of the weapon that stood poised to end his life, shields flaring from system overload. He felt as if time slowed down, his life flashing before his eyes.
That was, until the Knight found itself shoulder tackled by an enraged super soldier, the robot A.I. slammed to the ground by Hoya.
An explosion rang out, blowing away the remaining Promethean forces in the area, another member of Crimson team standing at the facility entrance with a smoking rocket launcher in his hands.
"Commander Palmer, artifact secured, but we've got multiple wounded. Madsen is down, we need immediate evac! Where is our bird?!" Paul exclaimed over the radio, rushing to his team's resident sniper. "Madsen, talk to me! Hold on, don't you die on me!" He urged, kneeling down beside the super soldier.
The Spartan was conscious, but badly wounded around his throat. The hard-light rounds from the Scattershot had torn through his under-suit, but the suit's emergency bio foam injectors had sealed the wound and the suit.
"…I'm… a-alive…" The sniper hissed, voice scratchy. He struggled to his feet, red warning lights flashing all across his visor. "W-Where's our… ride home?" He grumbled, struggling to breathe.
Everything hurt, every breath he took sending stabbing pain to his neck.
"Almost here, Castle team had to take out some anti air units before picking us up." DeMarco sighed, holding the Spartan up to his feet, throwing Madsen's arm over his shoulder for support.
"Madsen, thank god you're alive!" Grant came running up them, throwing his other arm around her shoulder. "Come on, let's move you out of the open." She helped him shuffle over to the facility where the rest of Fireteam Crimson were, setting him down against the wall.
Hoya stood guard at the entrance, shotgun fully loaded and ready to unleash into anything that dared to get too close.
More Prometheans could appear at any time.
The sniper ignored his own injuries for the moment as he turned towards the downed member of the other Fireteam, the man's black armor destroyed. Unlike the rest of his own team, the members of Crimson all wore dark black armor, Class Wetwork.
It was a suit seldom seen on the battlefield, and seeing them all dawning the same armor in uniform certainly made them stand out more than their peers. The only difference between their suits were the minor color differences. All wore black, but each had a secondary color that lined the outer fringes of their helmets specifically. Red, blue, orange, and white respectively.
Red was the one that had been taken down…
"H-How's he doing?" He muttered, pointing towards the man in black armor. "Is C-Crimson going to be… fine..?" He asked lowly, voice growing hoarse with every word.
Despite his record as a self centered man who liked to boast about his own accomplishments, when it came down to it, and he was bleeding on the ground, he found his worry not on his own health, but that of another.
A distinctly feminine voice spoke back in response, the orange fringed Spartan leveling a worried gaze his way. "She is hurt, but she will survive. Thank you for protecting her." She said quietly, before glancing to his neck. "How are you? I saw that hole the Knight Captain tore in your throat." She said softly, moving over to him to check in on her fellow super soldier.
"You're lucky. An attack like that could've killed you if your shields had been down." The blue fringed Spartan added gently from across the room, brushing off a smoldering piece of metal that had found itself stuck to her breastplate. "I've been shot by them myself, wouldn't recommend it, really…"
"Thanks for the help, by the way." The white fringed Spartan drew his attention as she knelt down by his side, head tilted to the side as she inspected him. "Would've been sad if you died to defend us." She smiled lightly, glancing down at the red staining his neck. "Easy now, don't stress that wound, it may reopen before we return to Infinity. Wouldn't want to see a pretty boy like you die for our sake." She winked, moving to stand back up.
The man's jaw fell behind his visor slightly, but he was too injured to say anything.
"Look at you, Madsen! Making friends already." Grant teased, patting the super soldier on the shoulder gently.
He felt the urge to snap back at her die when the other woman's words surfaced in his mind.
She told him to relax, so he was going to do just that. He couldn't die now, not after that little encounter.
He could hold his tongue for a few hours, at least…
Space Pirate Homeworld
Same time
The sounds of water lightly lapping at her skin tickled her ears, steam filling the room. Her eyes were closed, bathing in the gentle silence of her personal chambers, the hot water of a large open pool made spacious enough for a large gathering, yet currently saw only a sparse few actively using it.
The room was dim, lit only by low level lights radiating a soft green color, turning the hot waters into a sea of alien colors.
She lay quietly at the back of the pool, arms splayed out to her sides, body entirely bare, no sign of her fearsome armor. Equally unclothed Zebesian females sat in the waters beside her, silently going about their tasks in servicing their Queen's tired overworked body.
As for the women in question, she was content to let them do as they pleased, having decided to allocate some time to herself for rest.
As it stood, she'd been doing nothing but fight or other similarly productive activities since arriving in this universe, and she felt that a day to herself was rightfully deserved.
Anyone that took issue with that…
Well…
That wasn't important.
Resting her tired mind and body was.
Something she learned rather quickly was the Zebesians level of loyalty to power was unrivaled. To those that they believed worthy of their respect and loyalty they gave themselves to in a reverence that rivaled worship on scale.
It was safe to say that Samus hadn't necessarily decided to take a day to herself, but her loyal subjects practically forced her to step back from her work.
Which was how she'd found herself in the depths of her innermost private chambers, behind closed doors with her servants tending to her every wish and command.
So laying there naked as the day she was born, her Pirates tending to their Queen in quiet yet comfortable silence, she found her mind once again wandering.
Her Zebesians were seemingly so far removed from her sworn enemies of the original Space Pirates that they might as well have not even been the same species.
Hell, the original Space Pirates couldn't trace their origins anywhere by the end of the war, their dna so far gone from decades of experiments and mutations.
By the end of the war, they had devolved into abominations that sought nothing but destruction and domination.
She was glad they were gone, and, she was more than a little pleased that she had captured her Zebesians long before they ever treaded that dreadful path.
These Zebesians were willing to do whatever they could for her, and went out of their way to bend to her every whim.
It made the private session that much more…
Enjoyable.
She sighed audibly, sinking just a tad lower into the water.
"Is something on your mind, Great Mother?" A gentle voice spoke in her ear, her attendant softly gaining her attention.
"Is our services thus far not satisfactory, my Queen?" Another asked in worry, afraid they had failed to deliver a suitable service to her queen. Their gentle paws slipped free from underneath the waters surface, coming up to tentatively massage her shoulders.
She sighed, eyes closing as her third eye opened slightly, half lidded. Her eye glanced down to the side, clearly deeply lost in thought.
Both Zebesians eyes widened in understanding, before a knowing look settled over their faces.
"Ah, we see now." One hummed lightly.
"You are afflicted with the affection for the human male…" The other added interestedly.
"Such an illness is common in our society. But… We do not know how to aid your desires…" The first sighed in disappointment.
Samus didn't speak on their words, feeling little desire to. Truth be told, they had pinned her rather easily, her desire to seek out the first man she met within this universe growing stronger by the day.
She had a great list of things still on her plate she had to attend to and taking time away from such things to meet in private with the man that had captured her heart was a selfish thing to pursue indeed.
More than that, now having two planets under her control and an ever growing, space faring army at her disposal, she could not up and leave them be for a week. Her Space Pirates required stern rule and a Queen to be present to command them, for without her they grew aimless.
Yet, despite all of this, she knew she was going to lose her mind if she put off visiting him for much longer. She sighed again…
Oh what the life of a ruler was…
"My Queen, perhaps we could… help… alleviate you of those pesky desires?" One muttered lightly in her ear, slender paw coming to rest on the Metroid Queen's inner thigh.
However, before anyone could say anything further, the door to her private chambers burst open.
"G-Great Mother! I come bearing urgent news!" Vespian burst into the room, distraught for reasons yet unclear. She took one moment to take in the sight of her great and powerful leader wedged in between her two servants, all three resting beneath the warmth of her private pool.
Her four eyes widened in surprise, before she bent over in a bow of respect, an act that doubled to hide her flushed complexion. "Forgive me, Great Mother. I did not know you were occupied." She exclaimed, shook to the spot, not daring to raise her head until ordered to.
Samus's eyes opened, gazing up at her Commander. "You are forgiven, Vespian." She spoke after a pause, curious as to what must have been so important so as to interrupt her private time. "Speak your mind. What is you have to tell me?" She asked.
The Space Pirate Commander straightened up, armored limbs clasped firmly behind her back as she stared into her great leader's eyes. "My Queen, an intruder has breached the defensive lines and has desecrated your palace. He has come demanding to meet you."
Samus's eyes widened slightly, before narrowing. "Who is it?" She asked, a mix of mild curiosity and irritation marring her voice. "And what does he want?"
"My Queen, he is the king of the Void Dragons, a terrible race of intergalactic lizards. The leader calls himself… Ridley." Vespian turned away, claws clenched into a dangerous fist, fury burning in her eyes. "I struggled to restrain my urge to place a kill order on the beast at the disgraceful actions he dared to take against you. However, I believed it proper to-" She trailed off when she turned back around, watching her Great Mother stand up from beneath the water.
The air in the room became heavy, making it hard to breathe. Her blood red eyes narrowed to slits, water rolling off of her body in waves.
She moved forward, stepping out of the bath, not even bothering to grab a towel to cover her naked form. She moved for the door, casting a glance at her right hand woman. "Vespian, come here." She ordered lowly, surprisingly imposing despite her current state of undress.
The Space Pirate's eyes all widened at her order, before loyally falling in line beside her.
The Ex-Bounty Hunter stalked her way through her palace halls, her soldiers and lesser commanders all stopping to salute her as she passed. Her body flashed white briefly as she summoned her skintight green body suit, the rubbery fabric clinging tightly to her like a second flesh.
Her closest warriors all fell in line behind her, the members of House Aran silently stalking behind their Queen. They, like Vespian herself were all adorned in green Power armor, suits she designed herself that mimicked the Red Phazite armor worn by a Space Pirate Commander she faced in her original universe.
They were green to signify their loyalty to her, and their role as her strongest soldiers.
They were not to be trifled with.
When she eventually made it to the palace floor, she saw the devilish creature standing in the center of the room, hundreds of her soldiers standing at attention with weapons drawn.
She waved her hand, and they all stood down, clearing a path for her towards the giant dragon.
It was a towering dark purple creature with massive wings, a tail that looked capable of sheering steal, and teeth large enough to tear a human in half with one bite.
The Zebesians all cleared the path for their Queen as she stalked right up to the dragon, standing underneath its imposing stature, the beast large enough to easily swallow her whole.
She stared unflinchingly up at the mighty dragon, hands casually on her hips.
The monster turned her direction once he'd detected her, a scowl on his draconic maw as a completely unarmored woman stalked right up to him. He was deeply offended at first, the sheer audacity of this female so brazen that it hurt to see.
But then she kept walking, slowly stalking him down with the most level expression he had ever seen. She did not stop a safe distance, surrounded by legions of her minions, nor did she display even an inch of fear in the face of such a threat.
He was capable of sensing the emotions of anyone he wished, and always knew how to play against their fears.
This woman before him now held no fear of him whatsoever.
And that…
That made him uncomfortable.
Chapter
41
End