History of the Space Pirates

Space Pirates have been responsible for some of the most disastrous events in Galactic history, such as the Phazon Crisis, and have been responsible for the raids of numerous planets, including Zebes, Bryyo, Norion, Elysia, Tallon IV, Naishii, Jigrad, and K-2L. The following is an account of their full history.

Pre-Zebes History
Space Pirates have been present since the early days of the Galactic Federation. They quickly established themselves as a fearsome force, necessiating the formation of the Galactic Federation Police. The pirates were notorious for attacking raiding vessels in one second, and disappearing the next. However, their bounty was not always just cargo. The pirates would also lay claim to planets, established the now-captured planet as their territory and its natives as their slaves. They were known to be so zealous of their right to rule that they would even refer to themselves as the rightful inhabitants of the planet.

The Federation Police charged the arrest of any affiliated with the pirates, but they were very mysterious and difficult to track in the vastness of space, so the Police were eventually forced to turn to Bounty Hunters, paying high prices in exchange for captured pirates.

The Invasion of Zebes
Zebes was the perfect candidate for a Pirate military base. The planet was the correct size, inhospitable to most life forms, yet similar to the climate on SR388, was far away from the ever-scrutining Federation's eyes, and was home to the Chozo, a peaceful race of bird-men, who were the most technologically advanced race in the history of the universe, and yet were largely defenseless due to their pacifistic nature. The Chozo had bulked up their defenses from an attempted Pirate raid years ago (in which they also had the assistance of the Federation), but did not anticipate the Pirates having stolen technology that allowed them to harness the gravitational field of a micro black hole to break through the Planetary Protection Shield. Most of the Chozo evacuated with the Metroid specimen for SR-388.

The team of Samus Aran, Mauk, and Kreatz were authorized 48 hours to attempt to handle the situation before a full strike would begin, where they discover what had occured. About a dozen Chozo remained as prisoners (including Platinum Chest) and Mother Brain voluntarily became the new "Master" of the Pirates, along with Grey Voice as a commander. Samus refused to join them and was promptly swept aside by Ridley, who thought that welcoming her to their ranks was a joke.

The Pirates made use of the Chozo bioengineering technology that was once used on Samus to adapt their own bodies to the planet. Kreatz and Mauk remotely commanded their ship to attack the biotech machines, which killed the Pirates in them and distracted Ridley from killing the prisoners, who escape with the team. Grey Voice then makes his attack on Mother Brain with an ancient Chozo weapon that was not in her databanks, revealing that the Chozo had planned to stay so she would not fall into Pirate hands. They had not anticipated the rescue party, however. Ridley interfered with the attack on Mother Brain, so Grey Voice escaped to assist the escaping party by destroying the persuing spacecrafts. The Space Pirate Mothership intercepted them, but Commander Adam Malkovich in the Federation Army Special Ops Battleship Vixin IV arrived to assist them.

The Ultimate Weapon
Prior to the battle of Zebes, a Federation's Planet Reclamation Devision team was dispatched to the uncharted planet, SR388. The team discovered that 80% of the planets native animals were dead, before discovering the Metroids, which killed them. Another team was sent to capture it. The creature was held in suspended animation, but after their findings were reported, the Pirates attacked the team and stole the Metroid. The Pirate Science Team began performing research on the captured Metroid and findings were a dream come true. The Metroid could leech life from victims, was impervious to most weaponry, and could be cheaply cloned by exposure to beta rays for 24 standard hours. A suggestion came that the Metroids could be used as bio-weapons, and this began the Pirates' greatest campaign yet.

The Remergance at Zebes
A three-way simulateous attack was launched by the Pirates was launched to test the power of the Metroids. No Pirate casualties occured; it was a success. An assasination attempt was then tried on Chairman Keaton with a Mimic. By now, the Federation Police had begun an investigation into the intercepted distress signal from the raided frigate. After a long and desperate search, the Federation Police managed to track the Space Pirates to Zebes. The Federation ordered an invasion but the Pirate resistance was strong, and the Federation army was unable to rescue the planet.

The situation was looking grim: the pirates now had access to a powerful new bio-weapon, and if left alone for too long, the pirates would launch a mass attack on the Federation capital worlds. Civilization would end. But then came deliverance in the form of Samus Aran. The mysterious bounty hunter had been orphaned in a previous pirate raid, was raised by the Chozo, infused with their blood, and was regularly hired by the Federation, succeeding in missions thought previously to be impossible. She appeared to be the galaxy's last hope. After much debate, Samus was then sent to Zebes, with the following objectives: Exterminate all Metroid specimens on Planet Zebes and Eradicate the Mechanical Life-Form Mother Brain.

Samus's "Zero Mission"
Upon arrival, Samus set out to kill the two Generals in charge of the base. Kraid was the first target, and was terminated upon their encounter, where the stress from the battle caused the floor to collapse, killing him. Ridley, who Samus had a personal vendetta against, him being personally responsible for the death of her parents, had just arrived at Zebes at the time of her arrival at his living quarters, and attacked her in a ferocious melee. But he was not enough for her and was defeated upon her missiles’ penetration of his chest, combusting him. However, Ridley was not dead and was eventually found by the search parties and resuscitated by the Pirate Science Team, leading his transformation into Meta Ridley.

The Destruction of Tourian
Samus, meanwhile, had made her way into Tourian to discover that the Pirates had underestimated the Metroids' intelligence. The Metroids had broken out and all pirate personnel present during the breakout were dead. Mother Brain, however, was fully protected by her Chozo-built facility and completely unharmed. As such, Metroid cloning had proceeded normally as though nothing happened and, as such, the Metroid population had grown to an astonishing level. Samus proceeded to exterminate all the Metroids she found and made her way to Mother Brain. Mother Brain was terminated upon her encounter with Samus, but just before she died, Mother Brain set off the countdown for self-destruct of the Tourian facility. Samus barely made it out alive. Unfortunately for her, Mother Brain had also managed to send a distress signal to the pirate frigates Orpheon, Siriacus, and Vol Paragom, which were in orbit at the time. Samus would not succeed in exterminating all the Metroids and the remaining survivors, including Ridley, Kraid, and Mother Brain herself, were found and given emergency resuscitation.

Crisis at the Mothership
Samus herself, was also tracked down following her escape, and was shot down by Space Pirate Fighters, crash-landing on Zebes's surface, the resulting explosion which destroyed her Power Suit. She was presumed to be dead, but had managed survive, and had sneaked into Ridley's flagship in hopes of hijacking a ship. Unfortunately, she was spotted several times during her stealth mission, but the pirates were unable to kill her, and she managed to escape into the now-ruined city of Chozodia. When they pirates saw her again, she was equipped in a new, more powerful, Power Suit! She invaded the Pirate Mother ship, killing all who tried to stop her, until she came face to face with Mecha Ridley, the great robot built in Ridley's likeness, which was overseeing the operations on the Mother ship. Samus destroyed the beast, but, as a last resort, it set off a countdown for the self-destruct of the Mothership! Samus managed to hijack a Pirate vessel, and escaped, while the Pirate Mother ship exploded violently in the valley it had landed in. The Pirate campaign at Zebes had failed. The galaxy was safe...for now.

Discovery at Tallon IV
The three frigates, Orpheon, Siriacus, and Vol Paragom, had managed to escape safely, having just been in orbit at the destruction of the base on Zebes. The remaining Metroids had been rescued, but were now on restricted feeding schedules, due to low supplies. Ridley was on the Orpheon, being refitted into his new cybernetic body. Orpheon headed out farther into the Zebes system, eventually settling on Tallon IV, while the other frigates went to unknown locations. While searching the planet for supplies, it was there that the pirates discovered another miraculous discovery: Phazon. The mysterious semi-sentient liquid had been brought to the planet, by a Leviathan 20 years earlier and had wrecked havoc on the Chozo community there until "The Cradle" had been built, a massive shield that prevented the Leviathan from spreading any more Phazon. Science Team's tests with the recovered Phazon opened up many possibilities with the mutagenic substance. Subjects who were exposed to it experienced increased muscle mass and incredible physical augmentation, as well as access to supernatural powers, such as energy beams and invisibility. However, they also experienced insanity, increased aggression, brain tissue deterioration, and eventually death.

The Campaign at Tallon IV
Science Team was undeterred by these omens and asked for more cargoes of Phazon, as well as testing to see if there was any way to penetrate the Cradle's shield. The Pirates began building a base on the planet's surface, but their tests on the Impact Crater, the source of the Phazon and the location of the Cradle, revealed a bizarre creature living inside. The creature broke out and attempted to attack them, but was captured in a capsule and taken to the Science Team. All attempts to penetrate the Cradle's shield had failed, but here was something better, the beast that was the source of the Phazon itself. Tests on the beast revealed an astonishing discovery: the creature was a heavily Phazon-infected Metroid! The Pirates re-named it Metroid Prime and continued their tests on it. All the results were off the charts. The creature could absorb Phazon with absolutely no detriment to its health, it could assimilate the weaponry that it absorbed, and it could create Phazon whenever it wanted. With now greater supplies of Phazon than before, the Pirate Science team began initial testing with Parasites, creating  Parasite Queens. They also began work on Project Helix, a project to create Phazon-enhanced pirates. However, not everything went smoothly. Metroid Prime, sensing Phazon, smashed out of its capsule, assimilated Pirate weaponry and shielding, turning it nearly invincible, then escaped back to the Impact Crater. Project Helix came off to bad start, with few subjects managing to survive such intense mutations. Despite this, the Science managed to create a small force of Elite Pirates and a single Omega Pirate. And worst of all, one of the Parasite Queens broke out of its capsule and began wreaking havoc on the Orpheon. This damage became so severe that the ship was crippled in orbit and unable to land. The newly resurrected Meta-Ridley ordered an evacuation of the frigate and sent out a distress signal, which was picked up an unlikely candidate: Samus Aran.

The Cleansing of Tallon IV
Samus arrived in her newly restored Gunship, and upon investigating the frigate, found that the only pirates left were usually dead or badly maimed. She discovered the escaped Parasite Queen in the reactor core and fought it in an epic battle. Upon its death, the Parasite Queen fell into the reactor, causing the frigate to destroy it itself from the inside out. While searching for a way out, Samus encountered Meta-Ridley, who had chosen to stay behind. Meta-Ridley fled Orpheon, with Samus in pursuit. However, she soon fell behind and had to track him on foot. Meta-Ridley escaped to alert to the Pirates of her presence, and Science Team turned to an emergency project: reverse engineering her weaponry. Based on detailed accounts from witnesses, the Pirate Science Team managed to create weaker versions of her beam weapons. All attempts of reverse engineering the Morph Ball were discarded, as the test subjects simply ended up either horribly crushed or maimed. Yet all pirate attempts to stop her were useless. Samus blasted through all the traps and obstructions they had left for her, destroyed their Metroids, killed all the Elite Pirates, and even succeeded in killing their crown jewel of Project Helix: the Omega Pirate. Just before she could enter the Impact Crater and kill Metroid Prime, Meta-Ridley flew in to kill her personally. But his attempts were in vain. Samus managed to burn off his wings and then overload his life support, bringing him to near-death once more. The Chozo statues there then came to life and they shot lasers at him, causing him to miss his step and fall off the mountain. However, Ridley had survived and would return to lead the pirates in yet even greater assaults than before. At any rate, their mission of Tallon IV had failed. Metroid Prime was killed and all the Phazon on the planet was re-absorbed back into it. However, the discovery of Phazon was an important discovery for the Pirates and not all was over for them yet.

The Campaign at Aether
The presence of Phazon was discovered on Aether, a planet with a fragile dimensionality, which long ago, after an impact from a Leviathan, had split into two separate dimensions, Light Aether and Dark Aether, with the inhabitants of each, the Luminoth and the Ing, respectively, engaged in a great planetary war. The Ing were gaining the upper hand, and the Luminoth had long since retreated, having gone into suspended animation to use up less of the little energy that they had left. A Space Pirate militia was given permission by High Command to investigate and soon a frigate made its way to the Dasha region, where the Aether system was located. This would be a risky mission, as Aether was located on the fringe of Federation space, so the pirates made it their first priority to set up a stealth shield. After several days of searching, the pirates discovered the Dark Beam. The discovery of it was reported to High Command, where it was later discovered to that their purpose was to allow access to Dark Aether through Dark Portals, which allowed access from one dimension to another. Dark Aether, which housed the Leviathan, held great supplies of Phazon and the Space Pirates began mining there.

Dark Samus
However, progress was slow, impeded by Dark Aether’s poisonous atmosphere, the ferocity of the Ing, and by a mysterious shadowy being the Pirates called the ‘‘‘Dark Hunter’’’. It would conduct frequent raids on the Pirates seeking their Phazon not their destruction, exhibiting such cruelty, as the true Samus Aran had never shown. It also freed Metroids, rather than destroying them, having had a previous connection with them. The pirates mostly learned to ignore it, until it broke in again and destroyed the stealth shield. The pirates presence on Aether was now exposed. The pirates hurried to fix the shield but the damage was done.

Federation Interception
A brigade of Federation Marines managed to intercept a pirate frigate headed to the Dasha region. A chase ensued and the frigate was badly crippled and eventually crashed. The pirates activities on Aether may have ended right then and there, except that the Marine’s ship suffered a malfunction due the stormy interdimensional atmosphere of Aether. After several weeks of scouting, the troopers were then killed by repeated assaults by Dark Splinters. Their own distress signal was intercepted by the true Samus who arrived to investigate Aether and discover any survivors. By then most of the pirates had fallen to possession by the Ing. Yet the remaining pirates managed to be witness to the fact that the two Samus' were enemies, which gave them the idea of recruiting Dark Samus to work for them: Phazon in exchange for the head of their common enemy.

The Seeds of Scheming
Unfortunately, they did not have time to execute this plan. Samus destroyed Dark Aether and all Phazon was purged from the planet. Dark Samus had been left for dead after a climatic battle. Samus left the planet and almost all the pirates that had come on the mission were dead. The mission at Aether may have been a complete disaster for the pirates had redemption not come in the form of a newly resurrected Dark Samus while gathering left over Phazon deposits. The corrupted clone warped their minds with promises of incredible riches, and power. With the pirates so suckered into her megalomaniacal schemes, a quasi-religion began to form around her, with the pirates following her every whim. Yet they did not get to celebrate for long. Dark Samus vanished mysteriously, with no clue as to her whereabouts. Some pirates suggested that she would never return, and to go back to their daily lives. Such naysayers were killed and any who doubted Dark Samus’s eventual return soon learned to keep their mouth shut. Indeed, when Dark Samus did return, she was with a gigantic Leviathan. Her faithful disciples accompanied her on it, and were the first to bear witness to the planet Phaaze, the homeworld and origin of all Phazon. Dark Samus revealed to them her scheme to harness the power of Phaaze and use it to spread Phazon across the universe. To do so, they needed to take control of Phaaze itself, to take control of the Genesis Chamber so that production of Leviathans could be speed up and Phazon would take control of the universe. How to do this was a dilemma, but an opportunity soon presented itself.

The Valhalla Crisis
Two months after the events at Aether, the crew of the GFS Valhalla were holding a training mission in the Klar Nebula. The Valhalla was an immense battleship, an incredible bounty even by Space Pirate standards. A raid such on a ship of this size would have been nearly impossible, had it not been for the pirates’ Metroids. The savagery of the attack here was astonishing. Normally, the pirates would have stolen all the valuable components of the ship, but unusually, only two things were stolen: the Energy Cells and, more importantly, the Aurora Unit 313.

The Pirate Homeworld
With the Aurora captured, the Pirates returned to Phaaze, where, through the influence of Phazon, the Aurora Unit became symbiotically one with the planet. With the entire planet now under their control, Dark Samus began her master plan. A Leviathan was sent to the Pirate Homeworld, though not with the pre-approval of the inhabitants there at the time. All attempts to stop it were futile, and the planet began to become corrupted. Meta-Ridley was chosen as its Guardian and he began to become a Phazon-enhanced being. The Phazon also had the side-effect of becoming the Pirates' life-force and ending up completely possessing their minds. The Leviathan’s impact, however, did not go unnoticed to the rest of the galaxy. Skytown’s Aurora Unit 247 picked up the impact and tracked its origins to Phaaze, realizing that this was the living planet they had been ordered to find centuries earlier. Dark Samus managed to realize this just in time and sent a mysterious virus through the Aurora Unit 313, poisoning the entire Aurora Unit network, to cover up the leak of information.

The Great Invasion
The Leviathans finished maturing and Dark Samus launched a mass Pirate invasion upon many Federation strongholds so that the Seeds could reach their intended destinations: Norion, to gain control to the Federation’s base there and cripple the fleet, Bryyo, to cut of the Federation’s supply of Fuel Gel, which was mined there, and Elysia, to gain control of Skytown, an important observatory which held a vast access of information and rare Chozo technology. The attack on Bryyo was successful, with the Seed firmly planted. A Mogenar war golem was corrupted and became its Guardian. Elysia’s Leviathan was initially successful, as it missed Skytown but succeeded in striking the planet itself. The sentient Elysian droids there were corrupted and their leader Helios became the Guardian. Norion was far more risky than the others because the Federation fleet was stationed there. A mass Pirate assault commenced, with Dark Samus and Meta-Ridley coming personally to ensure its arrival. The Federation attempted to hold them off but the pirates managed to shut down the planetary defense system. Howver, they were unaware of the fact that Samus Aran herself and three other bounty hunters, Rundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor, were present at the time of the attack. The three rushed to restore the generators to the cannon of the base, which would allow them to destroy the Leviathan. Just before they could do so, Dark Samus rushed in and knocked them unconscious with a powerful laser blast. Samus managed to activate the cannon in time, sending a powerful laser that destroyed the Leviathan.

The hunters managed to survive Dark Samus’s attack, but as a result, their bodies were now self-generating Phazon with no additional side effects. The Federation saw fit to install them with PEDs to take advantage of their condition. Samus remained unconscious for one month, but the three other hunters were dispatched to investigate the Pirates; Rundas to Bryyo, Ghor to Elysia, and Gandrayda to the Pirate Homeworld. But their corruption, thought to be benign, soon began to over power them. Ghor and Gandrayda succumbed and joined the pirates under Dark Samus’s influence. Meanwhile, the pirates took the liberty of setting up many security systems to protect the Leviathans from any possible attack.

The End of the Phaaze Catacylsm
Samus Aran arrived on Bryyo after regaining conscienceness (one week after the others ceased communications), now able to take full control of her Phazon. She then proceeded to destroy the Leviathans on Bryyo and Elysia. All Pirate attempts to stop her failed and she eventually arrived on the Pirate Homeworld, where she infiltrated the base to deactivate their planetary shield generator, allowing the Galactic Federation’s fleet to arrive. Samus herself led a team of Demolition Troopers into the base, allowing her access to the Pirate’s Leviathan seed. After defeating the Pirates at their homeworld, the Federation took control of their now-captured Leviathan battleship and warped to Phaaze. The Pirate fleet made one last stand at the Battle of Phaaze, but they were all ultimately destroyed when the planet exploded, wiping out all the Pirate ships that failed to reach the wormhole.

The 4th Zebes Campaign
What happened after this period of time is uncertain, but it is clear that things were not looking good for the Space Pirates. Their homeworld was in Federation hands. All Phazon had been destroyed. Worst of all, Samus Aran was still alive. All they had left was a remnant that was busy on restoring the base at Zebes. With this, the Pirates decided to return to their original plan of cloning Metroids. The base at Zebes was rebuilt and all their original leaders, Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain returned to its operations. The Pirates also made use of several new allies: the Ki-Hunter and three new generals: Crocomire, Draygon, and Phantoon. Chief Hardy neglected to have the Federation Police examine this planet due to having defeated the Pirates there already.

The Destruction of Ceres Space Colony
Samus had just returned from the homeworld of the Metroids, SR388, and had just finished exterminating all of them, except Metroid (character) which she had witnessed hatching and decided to spare. She entrusted in the care of the scientists at Ceres Space Colony, who believed they could harness its power for the good of mankind. But as soon Samus left the station, Ridley and the Space Pirates broke in and killed all the scientists, intending to steal the infant Metroid. Samus returned in time to attempt to fight off Ridley but he escaped with the Metroid and set off the self-destruct for the station. Samus barely made it out alive.

The Destruction of Zebes
Samus managed to follow the Pirates to Zebes, where she infiltrated the base in her search for the infant Metroid. By the time she arrived the Pirates were well into their plans for Metroid cloning. Unfortunately for the Pirates, the speed that this final stand required was too much for conventional beta-ray cloning, and so the Pirates began to turn to cheaper and faster methods, though they only ended up creating Mochtroids, weaker versions of Metroids. The infant Metroid itself was incredibly enhanced by unknown methods and became the Super Metroid. Ultimately, Samus ended killing all the Pirate leaders and made her way to Tourian. All the Metroids clones were killed, except for the Super Metroid, who recognized Samus and spared her life. Samus fought a revived Mother Brain, now in an enhanced mechanical body, who nearly killed her, but the Super Metroid sacrificed itself to save Samus’s life and giving her Mother Brain’s Hyper Beam, allowing her to defeat it. But Mother Brain’s final act was to set off the planetary self-destruct. Samus escaped but the Space Pirates were all destroyed in the explosion. The Space Pirates were gone, or so is hopefully believed.

BSL Mystery
Space Pirates were somehow present on Biologic Space Laboratory, which underwent a an epidemic by the X Parasite, which began running amok in the station, infecting everything it encountered. Samus Aran herself encountered X-infected Pirates and even encountering a X-infected Ridley. Why they were on the station was never discovered, though there are many unproven theories. It is also noted that all the Pirates were in forms never before seen, being taller than previously before, and featuring bizarre beaked faces. There was even an aquatic variant with a fish’s tail. Whether or not this was caused solely by X enhancement remains to be seen.