Chapter 25: Priorities

I thought that's what death would be like. Helplessly grasping at yourself until things go black. I was pretty convinced that what was happening. For a long time I always figured my death would not be epic, would not be grand. It would not be valiant or honorable. It would not invoke awe. It would be plain. Pitiful, even. Like the battery dying out on a now-inanimate toy. It scared me, it made me uncomfortable, but I could accept that scenario. I could accept that, for the exciting life I had led, a quiet end would be sufficient.

Federation Vessel Ranger-Class 64-X – Unknown Sector

We'd been coasting adrift in this sector for some time now. Nobody was paying attention to the exterior of the ship nor its surroundings. The stray blobs of X parasite strewn across the windshield were no longer there, not even the smears of destroyed globules. Not far beyond us, the sight of Excolo's damaged ship slowly faded from view – as the X cloud began to reform itself.

I jolted awake. Apparently it had only been a few seconds. Excolo hadn't even readjusted himself yet after laying my down flat on my back. He went to swivel onto his knees just as I came to.

"Samus," Excolo began. But Adam interjected. "You're alright, Lady." Excolo leaned back, zipping his lip.

I was okay. Fine, actually. My heart beat as it ever did. My suit was already cycling out the damp pools of sweat that had collected under my limbs and arches. Assuredly my skin was hot and slick, but I felt a deep, cold pit in my chest. It felt as if I had inhaled an afternoon's worth of freezing wind, or if someone had vaporized an entire glacier and I breathed it in. It was practically paralyzing.

"There's no rush to move," Adam continued. "Whenever you feel alright."

With Excolo's help, I slumped back into my chair. I was never one to shrug help from someone, but that's something you tell yourself while you also do your best to keep your pride intact and be self-dependent. In the past, I probably would've jumped back into my seat before Excolo could help or Adam could even ask if I was alright. I had little energy left for small shows of ego like that.

I didn't feel weak, either. Well, not mentally anyway. My shoulders felt they were bearing a bit heftier of a load at times, but that was expected. I just didn't feel…beaten. Like something out of my control hadn't just came and almost took my life. Or did it? Was I really in a position to die right then and there? Or was it something else? I wasn't entirely sure. I didn't even feel the electrical pulses Adam send he was sending to my suit remotely. Did I crash and wake up before he got the chance?

But even if I was dying, I didn't feel helpless after the fact. It felt like…something I had felt before. Like I had an addiction to something, had overcome it, but then relapsed.

"Young child, it's been far too long. You've become an unparalleled illustration of life's potential. It's so nice to see you again."

That voice. I've heard it before. I could barely remember anything while I was out except that voice. Even if it was only a few moments that I was unconscious, it felt like decade had past. The more I tried to play that voice back in my head, the harder it was to hear it. I was trying to recall all the details of a dream I just had, but it felt real.

I never saw anything. Just blackness. Until I saw Excolo hovering over me once again.

Now back in my chair, things settled down. I saw several health and monitoring scripts up on the monitors – Adam's doing, of course – fade away as my vitals stayed normal and constant. Excolo took a deep breath, stepping back to give me some room. Thinking about it now, it never occurred to me to feel shame or anything like that when I realized I was meek and helpless in front of another hunter like Excolo.

But Excolo didn't seem to be bothered by others seeing them at their worst. Why should I?

I wiggled out of the chair and passed Excolo, maneuvering over to a Trooper suit station. Federation troopers didn't wear armor anything like mine, but it was still a process to get suited and de-suited. So much so that every Ranger-Class vessel in the Federation was outfitted with an automatic station that helped troopers get clad or unclad if need be. When you're in a rush, and have a limited crew or no crew at all, putting on even the lowest common denominator of external power suits welcomed a second hand.

It wasn't entirely suitable for my armor, but it would have to do. Taking off my new suit was still a bit foreign to me.

Not that it was entirely different from my previous suit. This "Omega Suit," Adam called it coyly, was identical to my state as I entered SR-388 that day with the Federation scientists. The X had copied my suit as it was at the time – Varia with upgrades and all, even the Gravity modifier despite not having it active at the time. When I assimilated the SA-X into my body, my suit regained its prior capacity and upgrade level while maintaining its newer texture, aesthetic, and build.

Functionally, it was like I received a light-weight version of my Varia-level Power Suit at the same strength, if not stronger. All it cost me were several life-endangering experiences and destroying the Federation's prized research vessel. Could've been worse.

Using the new suit was one thing. But getting it off and on was another. Since I assimilated with the SA-X, I tried my best to keep it on at all times – removing my helmet if need be – as to avoid more instances of de-suiting and re-suiting.

Partly, it was because the new suit just felt weird. The old suit came off in solid chunks and pieces. This suit came off in chunks and pieces, too, but it felt much different. Taking off the old suit felt like taking off a big suit of armor. Taking off the new suit was like peeling off another layer of skin.

Done with that, I scuttled back over to my chair, clad in my Zero Suit. Excolo gave me an once-over, but stayed silent. Adam hadn't spoken in the time I was at the station, either.

Alright, I'm tired of this. "So what's the plan?" I said abruptly.

Excolo looked at me, trying to figure out if I was seriously asking or just trying to break the silence. He shrugged in reply. Adam was still silent.

I threw my hands up. "Alright, then." I sat up and spun my chair a bit, so I could see and gesture toward Excolo, but also to Adam too, as if his control panel represented another person standing next to me. Excolo inched closer to join in the huddle.

"What have we got so far?" I said. "We've got a piece of Tallon lore that's encrypted. If we try to decrypt it on this ship, we'll have to access the Federation network databases, which would tip the Federation off to our location. But we still need the lore decrypted somehow."

I folded my hands together, resisting the urge to spin in my chair while thinking. I caught myself almost doing it without thinking, and stopped myself immediately. As much as things were changing, I couldn't get comfortable. I had to remain the constant in the group.

"The pirates are undoubtedly on their way. The Federation meanwhile could be right up their tails, way ahead of them, or have been completely left in the dust. One or both of them could be at Elex due to those destroyed Federation ships. It's the closest planet but we can't go back there. The next four or five planets are either Federation or pirate controlled. The second we get in their airspace, we'll be corralled or shot down."

"If only my calendar was a bit fuller this time of year. I wouldn't have been hanging about and roped into this," Excolo said with a sigh.

"Samus," Adam said. "I think it's time we consider an escape-and-hide option that does not involve this lore."

I turned back to Adam without hesitation. "That's not an option, Adam."

"It is an option, Lady. We have no idea if that lore is even worth anything. We should be finding a place to hide until we can get far enough away from both the Federation and pirates to properly decrypt and investigate the lore. If it even has any valuable information on it to begin with."

He was right, but he was wrong, too. He was right that realistically we should be focused entirely on evasion. But I was afraid of missing this opportunity. What if the lore did have something valuable, but if we waited too long, we could miss it? Then again, that lore was sitting in the Chozo Ruins for who knows how long. If it had anything valuable attached to it, that value could have been long gone before I ever even stepped foot on Tallon in the first place. But then again, maybe not.

Still, I had to weigh Adam's point. I couldn't become obsessed with learning the truth behind the lore at the cost of our lives, even if it had the potential to save us. But we still had nowhere to go, nowhere to run or hide, except empty sectors like these. The lore was supposed to give us that place to go, that place to hide. It had to give us something.

"Well, to decrypt the lore, you'll need databases. The Federation has one. The pirates likely have one," said Excolo.

I looked at him to continue. "Buuuuuuuuuut, there is the third option," Excolo said. "We find another hunter or mercenary with a suitable database of their own."

"A suitable database?" Adam questioned.

Excolo crossed his arms, as if Adam had disrespected him on his knowledge of other criminals and their ilk. An odd kind of pride. "Obviously. Hunters don't just will information into their heads like magicians. They need to get information and store it somewhere. Every hunter worth their salt either has a database of information of their own or an affiliation to someone, or something, who does."

I humored him. "Maybe we can find someone who has the right connections."

"Or," Excolo said. "We find the hunter who's hoarded all the best information money can buy."

"I'll defer to you then," I responded. Excolo rounded the chair and sprung his fingers upon the control panel. "Excusez moi," he said under his breath, as if Adam was standing next to him and Excolo had nudged him aside to go through Adam's things.

I figured I'd let Excolo do his thing instead of getting into the conversation that likely would've occurred – that Excolo knows much more about other hunters or mercenaries than I did. To be frank, I wasn't much of a "bounty hunter" at all. That's just the terminology the Federation used for whatever reason. I was more of a hired assailant than a wandering rogue looking to cash in on someone's head. Excolo fit the profile of the latter more than I did.

Once out of the Academy, and then into my current line of work - well former after what happened on the BSL - the only missions I had ever gone on were for the Federation. I was the voice on the other end of the number they tried not to call unless they really had to. I never found a wanted person and collected the bounty on them. The only bounties I pursued were mission objectives, not missing criminals.

The Federation wanted to keep it that way regardless of the nomenclature. Whatever they wanted to call us, the Federation made sure the line wasn't blurred between hunting for them and hunting for any other reason. Federation bounty hunters are not permitted to pursue non-Federation missions. Federation bounty hunters are not permitted to pursue an individual, or individuals, with bounties on their heads for personal gain or any other non-Federation-related reason. It's always been one or the other - them or everyone, anything, else.

Naturally, Excolo toed the line whenever he could, until the Federation found out he had been hunting and collecting bounties not only outside his Federation workload, but outside of Federation jurisdiction and territory. As far as the Federation was concerned, that made him a criminal, and that made him not fit to serve as a Federation bounty hunter.

Since then, he was practically forced to become very familiar with the new world he was living in, or he wouldn't survive. That meant getting to know the other hunters, their prey, where they stalked, and how.

"Here," Excolo said finally. "Would you look at that. My invite link hasn't expired yet. Lucky us."

Across the monitors – streams of information; endless logs and directories; lists of lobbies and chatrooms; and all of them condensed within and filtered through an incandescent-like user-interface. Branded multiple times throughout that UI were the words: BASSA'S HUB.

"Min Bassa, the man with the plan, the face with the database. Anybody who's anybody has access to this," Excolo said.

Adam quickly barked back. "What exactly are you running on my systems right now?"

"Relax, it's a private connection," Excolo said, cracking his knuckles obnoxiously.

"Doesn't mean it's a safe connection," Adam replied.

Adam shook his head. "Wouldn't worry about it. Nobody's sitting around and stealing our connection, nor are we connected to the Federation. Or so I'm told. Plus if anyone wanted to steal and sell our data, this is the guy that would get it anyway. He's the only one with enough paper to make deals like that."

I marveled over the ridiculous amount of information and hyperlinks to more information that filled the screen. It was like an infinite library of data that never ended.

"Bassa maintains the most intensive, in-depth database for bounty hunters in the galaxy. Marks, planets, asteroid belts, space debris, destroyed ships, Federation patrol routes, pirate systems, records and logs of successful and failed bounties, alerts for new bounties, alerts for completed bounties. There's almost too much for me to parse it down, really. It's pretty sick, not gonna lie," Excolo said.

"I'm assuming not just anybody can access this," I pointed out.

"Yup," Excolo said. "You must be given direct access. And that comes from nobody but Bassa himself. No invite, no dice."

"I'm struggling to figure out how the likes of you got in then," Adam said. Excolo laughed, recognizing Adam's slight. Was Adam insecure that Excolo had access to info Adam did not?

"Well, let's just say I've done the guy a few favors."

I tilted my head to the side in thought. Does Excolo really still believe that Adam is still in touch with the Federation, possibly still connected to them directly and keeping tabs on us as we speak? If he did, I don't think he would have accessed this hunter database when Adam could try to either tell the Federation or get them access, too. Unless Excolo has a solution to that…or wants it to happen.

"So you think we could decrypt this lore using this database somehow? Or that there's information on here that could help us?" I asked.

"I'm not sure if we can decrypt using this database. It probably couldn't decrypt Chozo lore even if it had that functionality anyway. Not exactly a standard kind of thing. Really, the only people I know who can decrypt Chozo runes are you and the Federation."

"The only reason I could decrypt lore while on any planet was because my suit was connected to my ship, which was connected to the Federation. Can't do that now."

"Right," Excolo said. "There might be information on here that could help us. But I'm more interested in going right to the source."

The source. Min Bassa. Whoever that might be. Maybe he could help us unlock this lore. Or, with all he knows and information he has, maybe he could help us if the lore cannot.

I turned back to Excolo. "Have you met this Min Bassa before?"

"Nope. But I'm sure he's an approachable fellow."

BOOOOM!

It felt like a meteor had struck the hull of the ship. But there wasn't a single sign of damage, nor indication that the ship had been affected.

"Bogey on the exterior," warned Adam.

Bassa's database petered out. In its place, video feeds from cameras on the outside of the ship. But only a few – Ranger-Class ships weren't exactly flush with detection devices, as much as you would think they would be. Nothing appeared in any of the feeds.

I sped over to the suit station and prepared myself to walk out into the vacuum. "I'm checking it out before we get hit again."

"I'll be right behind you," Excolo said, making no motion towards the suit station nor the airlock.

Now suited, I stepped up to the lock. "Adam, open up."

"Lady, are you sure-"

"Now, Adam."

And the airlock opened. I thrust myself through the first doorway, and awaited the second to open once the one behind me closed shut.

In the exact moment the outer door opened, I was thrown back towards the inner air lock. Something filled my vision, bludgeoning me again and again in the head and chest.

I headbutted back and clocked the mass with my arm cannon, knocking it back towards the outer lock, but it held on to the edge and began to pull itself back in.

It was the same figure I had encountered before I saw Excolo. The same figure that attacked us when we encountered the X cloud. The same figure that had tried to tear me to shreds with hot plasma (author's note: Chapter 15)

It was the SA-X.

But…it wasn't. It had my figure. I could make out the shoulder pads, the arm cannon, its entire frame and build. It just didn't look like me. It didn't mimic the suit's look or exterior. It was as if a giant X blob had morphed itself into the shape of the Power Suit. Like a yellow, gelatinous copy of me. I had never seen the X mimic something without mimicking it entirely.

There was no mistake nonetheless. This was the SA-X. Although, for all I knew, it could have been the same individual SA-X from before or an entirely different copy. There were at least 10 SA-X on the GSL when it was destroyed. This cloud of X hanging in space could likely generate many more multiples of that as long as it had my DNA.

That X cloud was like a factory, ready to fill the assembly lines with endless copies of the deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy.

"Hold on!" Excolo rushed to the door.

I let several charge beam shots loose, which ripped through the SA-X yet didn't bother it at all. I snapped my head back at Excolo. "Don't touch anything!" I couldn't let the SA-X inside.

We continued to trade blows within that tiny chamber, barely any room for the two of us. I tried to stay calm and collected, calculating each shot and blow hoping to tear the SA-X apart and give myself time to eject it from the chamber. It thrashed at me relentlessly, like I had fallen into the cage of an enraged zoo animal. If it could bare its teeth and snap its jaws at me, it certainly would have. Its horrifying scream was unsettling, coming from its expressionless, faceless body.

The SA-X grabbed me by the armor with unexpected strength and slammed me back against the inner air lock, knocking the wind out of me.

"Unknown pressure on air lock detected. Emergency protocol activated. Resetting air lock." The ship was hoping to protect itself the best it could. The outer airlock snapped shot, locking me inside with the SA-X until the inner lock opened again.

Once it opened, Excolo immediately pulled me from the lock, sliding me against the floor past him as I caught my breath. This wasn't his head to take, though. I wanted to pulverize this SA-X until it was a pulsing pool of goo under my feet.

I got to my feet, dialing my cannon's aim right between where the SA-X's eyes should have been.

It roared, breaking into full sprint. Charge shots ripped through its body, ricocheting off the steel panels behind it. Each wound healed itself, but every one after healed slower and slower. The closer it got, the more riddled it was with burning plasma scars, and less able it was at recovering fast enough.

This didn't stop the SA-X, however. It almost seemed fueled by every shot plugged into it, picking up speed with every step.

Until it crashed directly into me, screeching right into my visor, and just like that, disappeared.

The SA-X had been absorbed by my body once again. I could hear its roar in the back of my mind before it faded deeper into some unreachable place. But I knew it was still there somewhere, screaming for me.

"What the hell was that?" Excolo was still figuring out what an X was let alone what had just happened.

I caught my breath again, I had to. "Just getting reacquainted with an old friend." As far in my cheek my tongue was though, my little quip fell flat. Even Excolo seemed to barely be on board. He had already turned back toward the outside monitors, watching the X cloud outside continue to wriggle and grow at the same, menacingly slow pace.

"We have to destroy it," I said to Excolo. "We can't leave without doing so."

Excolo nodded. He didn't need to be convinced. As much as I hated to let a new lead cool down, we couldn't let this X cloud linger here while it pumped out another SA-X, or 10 more, or 100 more.

"Samus, we don't have the resources or, to be blunt, the know-how to quarantine and destroy this mass of X parasites. Not in our current situation," Adam said. "Maybe we should give Excolo's best friend Bassa a call to see if he has any exterminators on speed dial."

"That's if the Federation doesn't call us first, letting us know they're at the door," Excolo said.

The Federation or the pirates could have been on their way if they knew where we were. If.

"We can't leave until these X are destroyed completely. Otherwise we risk more SA-X coming after us or these X getting into the wrong hands. Or worse, absorbing them, too."

Excolo didn't object. Neither did Adam. Although I'm sure Adam wanted to.

I walked back over to the monitors, examining the X cloud.

"Alright, it's settled then. Let's just hope we don't get any unwanted interruptions."