User blog:Piratehunter/Metroid: The Hunter Chronicles

Chapter I
"Samus! Welcome to the Vanguard. Please take a seat," Captain Zaeus directed. "Thank you, sir." Samus replied, taking a seat beside Conan (the only face she could really recognize). The room was packed with people. All Galactic Federation. Three doors allowed entry to the room, but only one was unlocked, most likely to help in keeping the oncoming meeting as private as possible. The other two doors were locked down, and guarded by two adjacent Federation troopers. "Well, well, if it isn't the infamous Conan Guille," exclaimed Samus. "...Talking to the great scourge of the galaxy, Samus Aran," joked Conan. "Haha come here you ol' gal you." He leans in and give Samus a friendly hug, awkward as it was with so much armor on both of them, save for their helmets. Conan was one of the galaxy's most infamous freelance bounty hunters. The two of them knew each other quite well, they had met first on a cooperative mission for the GF many years ago. "How long's it been? A year? Haha time certainly flies when you're having fun." Conan exclaimed. "Feels like it's been forever. I always like missions with you, Conan. I never have to do anything and I still get paid!"

"Well excuse me, lady. I tend to get a little serious, yes. But I take the utmost pride in the Hunt. Unlike our third teammate..." "What!? No. They aren't teaming us up with Houston are they?" "Hate to say it but..." "Damn. I don't have a problem with Houston, personally. It's just that he..." "...Gets a little too into it? "Yeah." "Well he docked in about 7 minutes ago, he should be here anytime." "You know I hate those damn things." "What? The implants?" "Yeah. Those things could go rogue on you one day." "Saying Luminoth tech could go rogue is like saying your Chozo blood could go rogue." "That makes absolutely no sense." "Exactly..."

"Armstrong! Welcome aboard..." Zaeus shouted. "There's our man," Conan whispered to Samus.

"Conan, Samus! Good to see you two again," "Feeling's mutual Armstrong," Conan exclaimed. "Alright everyone, if you would all take your seats, we can begin," commanded Zaeus. "Alright. First and foremost I would like to welcome everyone. And, I would like to introduce three of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy, and our, "employees" for this mission. Commanding the operation will be bounty hunter Conan Guille. Highly respected among both friend and foe, Conan is more than capable of this responsibility. Conan's ship also will play the role of the command ship in this operation. Second in command, will be bounty hunter Samus Aran. Her skills and techniques are unrivaled among the Galactic Federation. Third in command, will be bounty hunter Armstrong Houston. His skills are known for both their brutality and their effectiveness. Now, to the briefing. One galactic week ago, we received a distress call from GF Assault Frigate Principality. Intertwined in this call was also a number of intercepted Pirate transmissions..." "What exactly were these transmissions pertaining to?" asked Conan. "...The content of these transmissions is classified. Now as I was saying..." "Captain, let me just emphasize something. If you want my assistance in this matter, you will not withhold information from me." Frustrated with the feeling of insubordination, Zaeus gives in. "Very well. They spoke of a highly classified military project, pertaining to the forceful, forward evolution of Metroids. The transmissions are quite vague as to the true nature of this project. But we believe the Pirates are on the verge of discovering how to forcefully provoke a Metroids evolution into higher stages of maturity. A frightening thought. No doubt." "I take it you're sending us to the Principality then?" inquired Samus. "No," Zaeus clarified. "A team has already been sent to discover Principalities fate. And our hands are empty, save for a small set of coordinates. That is where you're going. We've calculated that it is located several parsecs outside FS-176, but that is all the knowledge we possess of it." "You've yet to tell us of our main purpose in all this." exclaimed Conan. "Yes of course. Countless Pirate transmissions have told us of a rogue Pirate Commander called Xi'ga E'shan. We have reason to believe he is the head of this project, he is your target. You are to capture him alive. Is that understood?" "Yes sir," all three of them spoke at once this time. "Very well, you are dismissed. Good hunting," the captain fittingly spoke. The three hunters made their way to the Vanguard's docking bay. "I gotta' see this," exclaimed Armstrong, randomly. "What?" Samus inquired, not knowing in the least what he was talking about. "Conan's ship, that's what," Armstrong clarified. Conan let out a slight chuckle. "Well, we're in the docking bay, try to find her, Armstrong." Conan laughingly spoke. "Wait, first of all, what about our ships? we can't just leave them here?" Armstrong added. "Haha, I can tell you've certainly never been aboard my ship." joked Conan. "And there she is," Conan pointed out his ship. "The Blinding Hierophant..." It was a massive yacht-class cruiser, bristling with high-velocity Missile cannons, Plasma batteries, and Wave turrets. "And to answer your question Armstrong, yours and Samus' ships have already been moved aboard," Conan proudly stated. "Well then..." Armstrong was speechless. He had been under the allusion that Conan's ship was nothing more than a mere fighter. "Well come on, we should get going," Conan directed. The hunters followed Conan to the ship. Conan projected a hologram from his left palm, an ability received from his neural implants, given to him by the Luminoth, this hologram was apparently the ships unlocking mechanism. He used his fingers to move parts of the hologram to the correct location. As he completed it, the doors of the ship slid open. Upon entering the ship the doors locked them inside a small chamber used for decontamination. This was a mandatory step for entering the ship, for the ships AI would not allow access otherwise. As the door behind them remained locked, the door to the front of them opened. "Wow... I have to say this isn't what I expected," Armstrong stated. "No worries, welcome aboard the Blinding Hierophant," Conan replied. As they entered the ship the hunters were greeted by a woman's voice over the PA system, "Welcome Commander," it said. "Hello ANNE," Conan replied. "ANNE?" Armstrong asked. "Artificial Neural Network Entity. She's the ship's AI. You could say she controls the entire thing," Conan explained. "Only by your command sir," ANNE interjected. "ANNE, you remember Samus, yes?" Conan asked.

"Of course commander. Welcome back Samus," "And I have a new guest as well, his name is Armstrong Houston." "Welcome aboard the Blinding Hierophant Armstrong."

Conan made his way to the flight deck and took his seat. The commander's seat was slightly elevated and located in the center of the flight deck. On its sides were two other slightly lower seats where Samus and Armstrong sat. "ANNE, I'm inputting coordinates. Get us out of dock then set them." "Yes commander." replied ANNE. "Strap yourselves in," directed Conan. The ship flew out of the Vanguard's docking bay, and made an immediate jump into the black void. Unknowing of what lie ahead...

Chapter II
"And... there. Alright, ship is stabilized," Conan informed, as the ship stabilized out of its hyperspace route. "Bumpy ride..." Armstrong announced. "It's only the entering and exiting that's bumpy. She'll ride nice and steady now," Conan clarified.

"Ship has reached destination commander." "Thank you ANNE."

The three hunters stared in awe at the light-blue sphere they slowly approached. It was a massive light-blue world, marbled with wisping white clouds, and scattered, shallow, archipelagos. "It's... beautiful." Samus stated in awe. "No, somethings amiss here." Conan contradicted.

"What do you mean?" "This world is obviously a marine world. Any landforms here would be tropical."

"Why is that a problem?" Armstrong joked. "Because an oceanic environment isn't a place for a Pirate. The humidity, they don't like it." "Wait," Samus interjected. "Metroids don't like it either, it's not their natural habitat." "My point exactly. Why would Pirates be breeding metroids on a planet neither prefer? ANNA, do you have the planet's information yet?"

"I am sorry commander." ANNE spoke, "Neither the Galactic Federation's or the Space Pirate databases have provided any archived information on this system." "Damn," Conan shouted, throwing his clinched fist down on his seat's armrest. "What have scans revealed then?" "Planetary surface scans reveal this system as 67% deuterium oxide, 21% hydrogen oxide, and 3.7% carbon-based, solid land." "3.7?" Armstrong questioned. "That's 101.7?" Samus added. "That explains it then. 1.7 percent of the planet is subterranean. My bet? That's where we need to go." Conan suggested. "We should get moving then," Armstrong added. "ANNE, bring us to those coordinates." Conan commanded. "Yes, commander."

The ship accelerated toward the planet's surface, its engines ablaze. "ANNE, cloak, now!" Conan quickly shouted. The ship entered the atmosphere and vanished into nothing. "There's a clearing up ahead," Samus pointed out. "Looks good, ANNE, take us down." Conan commanded. The ship sped toward the open area ahead. The hunters gazed at the landscape. It was a tropical place, thick with trees and grasses. It was seemingly untouched. Beautiful. "ANNE, wait," Conan commanded, "It's a docking area. ANNE, drop us off and return to orbit, and remain cloaked until I contact you, understood?" "Understood commander," ANNE clarified.

"You two ready?" Conan asked. "Yes, sir." both Samus and Armstrong clarified.

The ship dropped down to ground level and opened its boarding gates. The three hunters leaped from the ship to the ground below. Samus and Armstrong hit the ground. Conan, slowly descending with his jet-pack gear, soon hits the ground as well. "Show-off..." Samus joked. Conan smiled at Samus and laughed, "You should be used to it by now." Conan joked. "Oh really? Well if..." Armstrong interrupts Samus, "Ahem, can we please get on with this?" "Alright, alright. The console's right there." Conan informed.

"It looks Pirate-based, you sure your that good, Conan?" Armstrong asked. Conan turns to face Armstrong, "Armstrong, please. I think I can handle it..."