Part 3

Samus’ helmet computer detected the loss in station pressure, though it really didn’t bother her much. All she had to worry about was a major puncture in the suit; any smaller holes could be easily repaired. What she was really worried about was NODE’s self-defense systems. Right now, all she’d seen so far was a feedback charge and depressurization, neither of which threatened her. She turned quickly, checking the chamber for defense platforms. She was sure Levine could handle himself.

A jolt hit her from in the back of the head, sending her reeling. She quickly regained her composure and turned around quickly, scanning the area to see where the blast had come from.

Nothing. She couldn’t see a damn thing in the station, even with her torch which illuminated the back wall weakly. Another jolt, this time stronger.

“Intruder. I must warn you that any attempt to pirate this system will result in your undoing. Please do not make me hurt you.”

Samus turned quickly, searching for whatever the hell was shooting at her. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, only SHE was the fish. She switched her monitor to detect energy spikes. That should help her locate the defense platforms.

“Intruder,” NODE began again, in earnest. “Please report yourself to the nearest Galactic Federation patrol ship before you-”

There was the energy spike. Samus turned quickly to see an electric discharge conduit pointed at her face. She raised her gun and fired, the conduit exploding in a shower of blue.

“Very well.” NODE’s voice was stern. “You are a threat to my station and will therefore be eliminated as per Operation Order 41752. Prepare yourself for destruction.” The lights around NODE turned blood-red and the room gave off a reddish glow from all directions. Samus could feel the power emanating through the room.

Oh hell...

Samus tried to move, but was caught in mid-air by an energy blast. She remained there, held several feet above the ground, her magnetic grappling boots doing little good against the magnetic force that held her there.

“You pitiful being. You should realize that you are no match for my intellect and my superior energy power. I was NOT built without defense systems, nor the ability to modify them.”

If it had a face, Samus thought, it would be smiling.

“And I clearly do not possess any emotion that would inhibit my use of those defense systems.”

Lightning shot through Samus’ body, and she was pinned in place, unable to scream or think about anything but the pain. It intensified a little, then stopped.

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t have my fun enjoying your demise!”

Samus stopped in horror. NODE must have used its evolution program to give itself a wider arrange of emotions and personalities. Apparently, cruelty was one of them. Samus prepared herself for another blast, charging her arm cannon for another shot. She fired a missile out towards an energy station. It was vaporized before it even came close.

“Your weapons systems are useless. Did you think that projectile weapons would be able to stop me?”

Damn! There HAD to be a way to defeat this thing!

“Intruder alert, intruder alert.”

Samus stopped. That taunt didn’t come from NODE. There must be another computer terminal in the room, perhaps a sub-system NODE had created to communicate with.

“Unauthorized entry into Tal’eura communications station. Intruder is moving into Level B, sub-section 49 Green.”

The room suddenly flared green. A laser blast shot through the room and impacted against an energy platform. It exploded in a shower of sparks and was quickly joined by several other stations as they, too exploded as several other shots hit their mark. Samus remained floating in mid-air, the station’s artificial gravity turned off. Small pieces of shrapnel bounced off of her armor and shot out in odd vectors.

A voice came through the room, but not through the air, into Samus’ mind or over a com-link. A voice that was not computer-generated and was not human, yet was very familiar.

Chapter 042
revelations by nameless

There was no response from the NODE computer. Apparently the system did not know how to react to fear.

At length, NODE spoke. "You are... you are agent alpha... you are..."

...I am Shadow... the voice answered, gently mixing with the ozone saturated air.

"What is to become of..." NODE began.

I am sorry soulless one, Shadow spoke, this time more softly than before, as if he were speaking to an old friend. Gently he waved his hands over his cold smooth face in a fluid motion.

"I am... sorry... too, Shadow. I will... now... sleep for you. Sleep... for... you."

And with that, the red siren lights turned cold and the control terminal faded away. NODE existed no more.

"What have you done?"

Samus stared into his cold face. She had not seen his face before, it had always been shrouded by the shadows. She stared into his deep expressionless eyes. She examined his smooth bony visage, a face with no mouth, with no love, with no fear. It was impossible to read him. She could study his facial expressions no better than she could that of an animal or a fish of the deep oceans. Everything about him was alien.

"What have you done with my friend?" Samus asked after she realized she could not connect with him as two humans would. But she reasoned that he may have felt the same, staring into a dark green visor behind which any face or entity could hide.

His cold voice sent chills down Samus spine despite the internal environmental regulators of the suit. She did not know what he meant but she hoped Levine had not been sacrificed. He was a good soldier.

"Why have you come? Why now?"

"Why do you try to help us? This may lead to your own undoing. After all, didn't you create this mess? Aren't you the night stalker? Aren't you the evil from which my people flee?"

Becoming mildly frustrated, Samus said "Please stop speaking to me in these riddles! Who are you Shadow? What do you want? And are you good or evil?"

Good or evil? Are they both so different? It would be difficult to choose. I have seen the darkness. I have walked the dark ranks. These things I cannot escape. But I can live on their outermost boundaries. I have broken the laws of darkness by becoming good, but I have betrayed goodness by losing to evil. I am helpless now, and all of my power lies within what I can tell you..."

"You speak of the progression. What is this event force?"

She knew that Shadow's words had no meaning. It was all the lament of a cursed man. This was the only way he knew how to redeem his consciousness, and depending on what bizarre alien religion he harbored, to save his soul.

"I know you to be a creature of great power, Shadow. Tell me what needs to be done. Tell me now."

It was then and there that it hit her. She had been looking in the wrong place all along. The expansion on the spice trade and consequently the growth of the Tal'Alma colonies had driven back the boundaries of her people's land. Mercenaries such as Khan and Shadow had been illegally hired to destroy the original inhabitants of those lands.

Calmly, Samus reasoned, "Then I must continue with the transmission..."

Yes, but show THEM he said, once more motioning towards the green planet below. Enlighten the deceived, give the blind eyes to see...

Tel'Eura was a station designed to convert planetary radio waves into subspace frequencies to be transmitted across the galaxy. She had the ability to give her message to the 60 trillion intelligent life forms in the universe, but she was only going to show a small handful, those living on a tiny planet in the corner of the galaxy, the only ones who truly needed to know...

Chapter 043
Transmission by FireNexus

Samus got up. Her internal power systems were in severe disrepair. If she didn't get them fixed soon, well, she didn't want to think abot that. Time was of the essence. Tking the virus, Samus loaded into the computer system system of NODE. His program was disengaged, but most of his architecture, including transmitter protocols, were online. She had to access NODE's source code to allow fora wider radio band range, and enough power to transmit to only a small area. Refining a beam was doable, but not the usual way of transmitting. In fact, it cost so much power and was used so rarely, that NODE didn't even include programming for it. While she was at, Samus deleted a few lines of NODE's logic nd memory processing code, corrupting it's file. It would take months to reactivate NODE, but she was worried about him coming back online. She then re-pressurized the station, and waited for the transmitters to reactivate.

Chapter 044
A Planet In Turmoil by CapCom

Chairman Kimball was looking out over the dark city, towards the last few golden rays of light which stained the eastern sky a dark purple. Far below, the crowd that had been milling around the Spire Tower was now gone, and several guards had been stationed to keep out any rioters. By now, news of the attack by the Aran character had probably spread throughout the galaxy like wildfire, but beyond the members of his cabinet and a few military personnel, Kimball was satisfied that no one knew who did it. And if he had any say in the matter, no one would. He would be certain that this little incident would not spread further into the galaxy or it would be his commission.

“Chairman.”

Kimball turned to see his secretary holding a data pad. “What is it?”

“You asked me to tell you if there was any new news regarding the...incident,” she said.

“Yes, what is it?”

“That Aran character... We’ve found him.”

Samus hit her craft’s afterburners and went into a spin, then fired maneuvering thrusters to turn the nose of her craft back towards the perusing GFed fighter squadron, letting the forward momentum inch her closer to the planet below. A couple of the pursuing spacecraft exploded as she fired back towards them, their debris ballooning outward into the stars.

She was lucky she had made it off Tal’eura when she did. NODE must have relayed the blockade when it realized that it was in danger, but she hadn’t thought of it while she was preoccupied with setting up the transmitter. By the time she made it back to her ship, a troop transport was entering the docking area and quickly unloaded a group of zero-G combat-suited shock troops. She had activated her ship’s self-defense systems and climbed into the craft under their cover.

With little time to check on where Levine was, she climbed into the pilot seat and punched a few buttons, rocketing the craft out. After squeaking by a GFed dreadnaught, she finally made it into open space and set course for the planet. She was now being tailed by a squadron of fighters from that cap ship.

Samus switched command over to autopilot, turned on her boots’ gravity function, and plodded over to the back of the cockpit to find Levine. A few stray blasts hit the forward shields, but the ship quickly repaired the damage, draining power from life support. The craft returned fire and entered an evasive maneuver, the big blue of Tal'alma swinging wildly through the viewport.

She made her way over to her friend, taking little notice of the craft’s shudders as it entered Tal’alma’s atmosphere and into the planet’s airspace and rotated to achieve maximum forward thrust.

Chapter 045
The Brink of Revolution by nameless

"Samus? Is that you?"

She found him lying in an odd position in the back of the ship next to the engine firewall.

"It's ok, Levine, we made it off..."

"Someone was here Samus... a creature not of this world..."

She hesitated, "No, Levine, there was no one here. You must've been dreaming. You hit your head..."

"But, I saw him. He was standing right over there." He pointed towards the hatch.

"No, Levine," she said, "...it was probably only a shadow..."

"Ok, Samus." He smiled at her, his blood encrusted face shining in the dim cabin lights.

She thanked god that Shadow had not taken him. Knocking him unconscious was good enough to satisfy that dark, evil, side of the night stalker who had so long ago made it an obsession to kill.

Levine murmured some inaudible expression of drowsiness and drifted back into a deep slumber. She bandaged his head and hoisted him into a bunk as one might lower an infant into a crib.

A klaxon sounded indicating that the ship was preparing itself for planetary reentry. Samus drew her attention back to the controls of the ship.

Just below the outer blue halo of the planet was a massive armada. Waiting like a fisherman’s net for a hapless salmon, the crafts hovered in offensive formation preparing for a galactic game of tag. As was the usual procedure, once Samus' ship drew near to the impending blockade, the two end fighters as well as the center unit fired three synchronized warning shots which passed over Samus' view in a brilliant blue trail. They as much as said, "Surrender or be destroyed."

She continued towards the blockade drawing closer and closer to what might imply instant death. Suddenly four fighters commenced forward, rotating in steady formation, spiraling in on Samus' ship. She maintained her position. Then, just as it seemed she would collide with the oncoming craft, she pushed up hard on the control stick causing her fighter to do a near 90 degree drop. A brief alarm sounded indicating that the inertial dampening buffers had been warped, but it was a necessary move. The four crafts plummeted after her followed by the rest of the waiting blockade. The chase was on and the bright orange craft dove towards the planet surface as a fox being pursued by a thousand angry bloodhounds.

· · ·

"Excellent, I want Aran destroyed. He has already caused our operation enough damage."

"It is being executed, sir." The mindless secretary spoke, backing out of the door as if the chairman were a king from some primitive age.

The chairman turned his chair to look upon his city. The street lights stretched off into the distance until they were swallowed by the darkness that surrounded everything. He scanned the neat little corridors. Occasionally he would see a radio or microwave tower or a small private landing pad, small red lights blipping in the night to warn passing air craft. He had built that city and he marveled in his creation.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. The city streets closest to the Spire Tower itself seemed to be covered with thousands of tiny lights. The lights swarmed out of buildings and residential apartments and into the streets.

They made their way toward the tower as small ants returning home from a hard days work. Chairman Kimball, quickly opened a drawer which produced a small telescopic eyepiece. He brought it to his eye and peered through the cold green window of his office. Down below he could see hundreds of people swarming the streets carrying torches and firing off phaser shots. Many fell as his troops returned fire and others stumbled about throwing objects.

"Damn it! The chairman yelled." He had not ordered his troops to fire upon the crowd. Now there would be no way to restore peace.

He looked upon his city in horror as the tiny dots of light moved kinetically about. It would be impossible to put down yet another riot unless he made a public appearance.

"Prepare a speech for me!" He called into the com unit.

The secretary brought up the speech generator on the computer database. "What themewords should I use?" She asked.

The chairman pondered for a few seconds. "Try sympathy and deception."

Chapter 046
Kimball by CapCom

Chairman Kimball ascended the crystanium-lined stairwell leading up to the Spire Tower's speaking dome, a balcony wreathed in the green crystal. His skin glowed a pale green in the light reflecting off the windows and the only thing that set him apart from the tower was his uniform and the datapad that carried his speech. He glided past the two security guards at the base of the balcony and took a step out into the crisp night air. A light wind blew in from the west, bringing with it smells from the forest and the protests of the throng below.

He casually took a glance down into the streets far beneath him as he placed the datapad into the telecomputer. The entire population of Tal'alma must have been down there in front of the tower; they seemed to come out of the very earth themselves and even more were streaming in from the slums of downtown. The thin line of GFed police was all that was keeping the 4.3 million inhabitants of the city from storming the very heart of the colony.

The defenders brandished lightning prods and riot gear, as well as blast-proof crystanium shields. The puny sidearms they carried would be of little defense against the crowd, but if the people made it inside, they would be mowed down by the detatchment of GFed personnel stationed in the underground bunker.

There was a click as the datapad finished loading, and Chairman Kimball raised his hand to turn on the holo-projector. The entire tower glowed in a flash of white as the Chairman's image materialized on all of the Spire Tower's crystanium panels like a gigantic wall of video screens.

That seemed to get their attention.

"Citizens of Tal'alma!" he cried over the loudspeakers.

The crowd murmured.

"I come to you today to discuss the events that occurred here at the very life force of our wondrous city, the Spire Tower!"

Several news flyers circled around the building while Space Police craft lit the crowd below in bright blue spotlights. The Chairman continued.

"Early this morning, the Tower was attacked by a rogue bounty hunter who broke inside and endangered the lives of every citizen!"

There were rumblings in the crowd. Far off, the stars glittered in the night. Chairman Kimball could see the GFed blockade moving silently in the night.

"This criminal was quickly neutralized by the quick thinking and courageous actions of our brave police force and is now in custody. I inform you that YOU, the noble citizens of our esteemed city, are NO LONGER IN DANGER."

Several blockade ships converged on a distant target moving into the upper atmosphere.

"I repeat, the crisis is over and Tal'alma is safe."

The dots were larger now and were coming in, fast, towards the city.

"Chairman..." the Chairman heard a voice behind him and he raised his hand to silence it.

"You may now return back to your homes..."

The ships closed in on the tower like a swarm of sparrows converging on a hawk. It seemed that every craft available with atmospheric flight capabilities was in the air. And one lone hunter ship was in front, glinting orange in the lights of the city.

"You are ordered to..."

He could see laser fire. The craft was streaming in at full velocity, and dodging the attacks of what looked like Tal'alma's entire air force. Transports, fighter craft, low-level bombers, troop ships, and even a couple of frigates with atmospheric modifications, were arrayed behind. From the Chairman's viewpoint, it looked like a swarm of hornets or Zebs converging on a man who had thrown a rock at their nest.

"Oh hell."

The hunter ship rotated and fired reverse thrusters as well as maneuvering thrust. Half the fleet spun ahead of it and flew past the Tower, ruffling the Chairman's clothing. The hunter ship still closed in, red hot as it tried to slow to zero velocity; she looked like her structural integrity was on the verge of collapse.

Even before it came to a halt in front of the Tower, a lone figure in yellow and red armor jumped out of the hatch and came to a rolling stop on the balcony in front of the Chairman. It quickly rose to a standing position and raised an arm cannon at him.

"Chairman..." it said in a synthesized voice.

The hunter ship slowly came back to center as the rest of the GFed fleet maneuvered in behind it, forming a sphere around the tower and targeting their weapons systems on the rogue bounty hunter and his ship.

"We need to talk."

Chapter 047
Negotiations by nameless

Chairman Kimball tossed his artificially generated speech on a nearby table as he backed away from Samus.

One of the guards advanced, but withdrew as he saw the dark expressionless gaze of Samus' visor. The green gaze of death.

"So, Mr. Aran, we meet at last..."

An ironic feminine smile formed beneath the green visor of the space suit.

"Yes, Mr. Kimball," the deep electronic voice resounded in the small confines of the waiting lounge, "We have much to discuss."

"Certainly, the Tal'Alma commonwealth is not above negotiation with... should I say terrorists?"

The expression of the visor remained unchanged, but somehow, in it's silence, it seemed to assume a cast of anger to the chairman.

"Chairman," the voice deepened momentarily as a result of integrity loss between the translation from the female to the male expression of verbal anger, "there are a million angry citizens waiting out there for an answer. They would love to know who is responsible for what they have seen. Mr. Kimball, they will believe me now. Their trust is now open to the highest bidder, just like the loyalty of the mercenaries your government hired to destroy my people so many years ago."

Realizing immediately what she was talking about, he said, "Please, Mr. Aran, your naiveté disappoints me. You know things have moved far beyond all of that. I agree, the deeds of my predecessors were… morally questionable, but you must understand that that is in the past and we must be more practical now..."

"Morally questionable? Then, why does you government continue to suppress them? Why do you continue to live on your stolen land? After two centuries, why hasn't a treaty of compensation been signed?"

"Mr. Aran, come now," he laughed, "we allow them to subsist on fertile lands. Several reservations have even been established that are protected from further colonization. I am assuming that you are not Chozo, so why do you continue to refer to them as 'your people'?"

"Why do you continue to assume, Mr. Kimball? Have you not taken enough already but to take for granted my identity as well?"

"Hmmm… a man of wit, I like that. Tell me, Aran, what do you expect to tell MY people. Do you expect them to just leave the land that they have been born and raised on? Do you just expect them to throw up their arms in surrender and give back their land to those damnable freaks!"

Samus felt the fury of a lioness flood into her chest and legs. She raised her gun arm and charged her plasma tubes.

"Wrong answer, Mr. Kimball!"

· · ·

It took little time for the troops to secure and enter Samus’ ship. One of the soldiers found Levine in the bunk and quickly checked him for life signs.

"Call a MedVec now!" He cried as he held the wrist of his injured companion. "Lev, you ok?" He shouted, slapping Levine on the face, "Levine!"

Slowly Levine began to regain consciousness. At first, he wasn’t quite aware of it but eventually his mind began to recognize the fact that it was still functioning. As his awareness moved from the subconscious to the conscious, thoughts as well as pain began to flood his head. His eyes fluttered open and it took awhile for the images to make any sense and even longer for him to figure out where he was and what had happened. When he saw the smiling face of his old pal Less, the first emotion that entered his mind was fear. Had they found out that he had defected? Would he be executed for treason? Eventually he reasoned that he was still considered a hostage and decided to keep that status as long as possible.

"Hey, get someone in here, it looks like the intruder knocked him around a bit, possibly to keep him quiet." Turning to Levine, "You never could keep your mouth shut, could you old pal!" He joked, affectionately punching his dazed friend in the shoulder. Levine’s head screamed with pain.

Finally a MedVec team arrived with a hover stretcher and shipped Levine off for examination and treatment. He would be tried in front of the Tal’Alma Council tomorrow to determine his loyalty.

· · ·

Samus buried the green gun arm firmly into the chairman’s forehead. Her fingers grabbed the small metal handle. At this range his head would be reduced to mere molecules. Just as she began to pull back on the trigger, a voice flooded into her mind: "Preserve your enemy that you may profit from him later. Revenge is the final resort of an impatient mind." They were the words of her mentor.

"Samus, don’t do this, they’ll execute you for murder and treason." The chairman pleaded and threatened in the midst of what may very well be the end of his life.

"You’re right," Samus said, not to the chairman but to the wise words of the old bird. She lowered the cannon, sparing a vile life.

Chapter 048
by Kejardon

*beeep* *beeep* *beeep*

Levine woke up to the sounds of a machine checking his pulse. Opening his eyes, he found himelf in a bed, in a hospitable room.

What's going on? Do they know I defected? How long have I been here? Where's Samus?

Unanswered thoughts swarmed in his mind. Levine attempted to sit up, and a bolt of pain racked through his back and head, forcing him to lie down. Gritting his teeth and keeping quite, Levine looked around the room.

There was the machine checking his pulse to the left. Knowing a bit about the human body, Levine could tell from the machine that his pulse was normal. Looking around for anything else, Levine saw a TV, and his personal portable computer to his right. It was a normal square room, with a door at the far wall on the right.

Hesitating, Levine slowly lifted his right arm, but he found it was fine. He picked up the computer, and using the corner of his eye checked for a camera. Spotting one in the top left corner of the room, Levine positioned the computer with the screen and keyboard obstructed. Levine loads the computer up. Abruptly, an electronic note pops up, and a face pops up on the computer.

"Good morning. This message was recorded for when you woke up. Less advised leaving it on your computer, so I did. Apparently the intruder had hit your head with a bludgeon. Your skull was cracked, but it's being repaired right now. a few of your ribs broke too. You'll be fine in about 1 month or so. In the mean time," The message tells the bed/computer a command, and a TV remote pops up. "You can watch the TV for a while. Chances are there'll be news on the intruder. Well, have a nice day!"

The message disappears, and Levine stares at the computer. what if it's rigged? Will they watch every single thing I type in here? Levine checks quickly for a camera on the computer, while attempting to look normal to the camera.

Finally sure there is nothing on the computer, Levine turns the TV on to the news, while thinking of a way to check for some monitoring program on the computer without alerting it. Thinking about this for a while and watching some news about some hoverskier that nearly caused an avalanche, Levine suddenly notices some itching on his head. those must be the new nano-Bone Fixers... that's what the message meant about repairing my skull..

Again, Levine begins to wonder if anyone suspects him to be a traitor, when suddenly the TV mentions intruder and catches his attention.

"-intruder has done a suicidal jump off of his ship, but somehow managed to land and keep going. The recent reports say that Mr. Aran has managed to break into the Spire Tower, and holds the Chairman captive. Officer Greman, what do you have to say about this situation?"

"That intruder has shot down one of my best wingmen. All I can say is that he is not going to get out of that tower alive."

"But what about Chairman Kimball?

Before the officer could respond, Levine heard someone opening the door to his room. instinctively Levine started to turn off the computer, but realizing that he wasn't doing anything suspicious, turning the TV off because someone was coming in WOULD be suspicious. Halting his thumb before he turned the TV off, Levine 'calmly' put the TV remote down, and turned to the door to see Less.

"Are you okay Levine? The reports say you got hurt pretty bad!"

"I'm fine," Levine said, with about 10,000 thoughts going through his head. Is he here to spy on me? Should I tell him all I learned? Levine opened his mouth to say something, half closed it, then opened it again, but he didn't say anything.

Less laughed. "Maybe having Aran hit you made you think before talking. Don't worry, I don't have a sledgehammer!"

Less laughs again, and Levine thinks about how wrong Less is...

Chapter 049

“Yes, yes, you ARE right...” Samus echoed her words, thinking. Samus picked up the Chairman by his collar and pulled him up so he was face-to-face with her helmet. The man’s feet dangled several inches above the green floor. “But what makes you think that this isn’t a vendetta, you insolent fool? Did you think you could get away with wiping out an entire species from their homeland?”

“What can I say?” Chairman Kimball managed a desperate grin, sweat beginning to bead on his face. “The present is sacrificed for the good of the future.”

“That still doesn’t give you the excuse to do it. You won’t be able to get away with this forever.” She pulled the Chairman closer until his vision was filled with green.

“Ah, but Mr. Aran, it seems that we already have,” he said to his reflection.

“That will soon change.” She threw him back down onto the floor. “Call an emergency board meeting. NOW.”

“And if I don’t?”

Samus slowly leveled her gun arm at him, charged it until it glowed. “Well, I guess you won’t be able to live long enough to see what happens afterwards, now, will you?”

The Chairman turned a pale green in the lime lighting that trickled in through the walls of the Spire Tower. He hit a button on his watch. “This is Chairman Kimball. I am calling an emergency board meeting. I want you all there in ten minutes.”

“MAKE IT FIVE.”

The Chairman looked up. “Correction. That will be five minutes.”

As long as she had the Chairman’s fear on her side, she could manipulate him in any way she wanted. She only hoped that he wouldn’t realize that.

· · ·

Less paced around the room, studying his friend. “Well, you seem to have gone through a rough time.”

Levine was still cautious. “Yeah. I didn’t even see it coming. How’s the Chairman?” Levine motioned to the TV. Hopefully, he could make them think he was loyal by showing his concern for their leader.

“The intruder has him hostage on the 58th floor, right near the balcony. We can’t get a clear shot at him for fear he’ll shoot him. But we’ll get that Aran fellow. Traitors can’t hide in the Federation.” Less smiled. It sent shivers down Levine’s back. “I’ll make sure you’ll be there when they execute him.”

Levine stopped. Less was looking at him. “Anything wrong? I know I’d want to be there when the got the guy who did something like this to me.”

Who did this to me... Levine remembered his attack, the clawed hand reaching out from behind to grab him... Almost like the one in the virus about the fall of the Chozos...

Oh hell....

He tried to block the traitorous images, but they were too strong. His mind was flooded with pictures of the Chozos being slaughtered by the Hunters, hundreds of them, torn to shreds. The killing went on and on, and the Chozo fled to their origin to find shelter. They were tracked down there, their city leveled. By GFed troops. GFed. Then they killed the Hunters, so no one would know... My God...

“Lev? You alright?” Less was shaking his shoulder, trying to snap him out of hit. Fluid drained from his friend’s nose and mouth. He turned to check Levine’s life signs monitors. The neural waves were spiking.

From the back room, there was a bright green flash. And screaming.

My God...

Chapter 050
To fake or not to fake. That is the dilemma by Kejardon

In a lobby far from the Spire Tower, Calvin sat transfixed at the TV screen, along with 2 guards. Two more guards were outside the door, and it was the same for all the other members of the board. Nobody was talking.

Abruptly, a beeping sound interrupted the silence. Calvin glanced at his watch, and an instant later gave it his full attention. A guard just to his left noticed this, and also looked at the watch.

Suddenly realizing what it was, he yelled to the other guard in the room, "John, Quick! Call up Officer Greman! Tell him Chairman Kimball just called for an emergency meeting in.... 10 minutes! and Calvin, link that watch up to the holomonitor!"

· · ·

On a ship designed to flight in the atmosphere Officer Greman stared grimly at the tower through infra-red binoculars.

So far, nothing seemed to be happening.

"Still nothing going on. Keep circling." Greman called to the pilot. Glancing back through the binoculars, he noticed something was different....

Letting out a curse, Officer Greman yelled quickly, "Take that back! Go in close to the Spire Tower and switch to hover! Lock on 5 missiles on the intruder! If I give the word, fire!"

The pilot, slightly surprised, quickly flies near to the tower. "Locked on and ready to fire."

Suddenly, in the tense situation, Greman's videophone began to ring. Picking it up and keeping one eye on an energy build-up in the intruder's arm cannon, Greman said, "Officer Greman here. Speak quickly."

"Sir, John here. Chairman Kimball just called the members of the board for an emergency board meeting. It's in 9, er.... 4 1/2 minutes! We're linking you up to the message now!"

John's face was replaced by Kimball's, which said, "This is Chairman Kimball. I am calling an emergency board meeting. I want you all there in ten minutes.”

In the back ground, a voice said "MAKE IT FIVE!"

The pilot started typing in some things in the jet's computer while the message continued.

"Correction. That will be five minutes"

The recorded message stopped, and John's face reappeared. "We have 4 minutes and 15 seconds. What should we do?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Greman saw his pilot start up a timer program, starting at 4:15. He was still typing something into his computer.

Gritting his teeth, Greman thought over the dilemma in his head. If we send the other members, that d*** Aran fellow might kill them all... but if we don't, he's sure to kill the Chairman. Thinking about the issue a bit more, Greman said over the videophone, "Contact Mr. Aran, and ask if it's possible we might send guards with them." Thinking it all over again, he knew there was some obvious thing he was missing... something that wouldn't endanger the members, but satisfy Mr. Aran...

"4:00" Ringed the computer.

"Aran said no guards."

Hmmmm.... I wonder if we could fake him.... does he know who the board members are? Greman shouted into the videophone, "Fine, disguise 12 of the guards to look exactly like the board members! We can't just endanger the whole entire board. James, look up the databases. Check for a Mr. Aran, NOW."

Suddenly, to his complete surprise, John's face disappeared from the screen, and Aran's suit popped up on the screen.

"Fool. You yourself should know this suit can intercept and decode any message. You better send in the real members, or the Chairman won't be able to make it to the meeting either."

With that, the screen blacked out. The vidphone rang again, and hitting the answer button, John's face popped up again. "Sir, I got disconnected. What happened?"

Greman swore. "We underestimated that Aran fellow," Pausing for a bit, Greman thought back to a book every soldier was given. "Send in the real members. No bluffs, we have to do it."

John acknowledged the order, "Yes sir-"

Abruptly realizing a key chapter in the standard military handouts, John attempted to look normal, at least for the situation, and continued. "We'll do it right away sir, no bluffs"

Greman grinned. John did remember the emergency transmission chapter, and the proper acknowledgement for such a transmission after all. And sicne he was sure the Aran fellow had listened to that message, he would assume that the real members WOULD come.

Or at least, that's what he thought until Aran's suit came back on the line, with one simple message. "I'm not that gullible 'officer'"

Frantic, Greman redialed John and said, "Cancel that last order, Send in the REAL members! He's on to us!"

Still, in the corner of his mind, a part of him told him there was an infinitely easier solution....

Chapter 051
Edge of the Abyss by CapCom

Samus watched the board members file in through the front door. She watched their eyes; wary, nervous, frightened. But still loyal to their Chairman. Still loyal to his cause. She would have to change that.

When the last official was in the room, Kimball turned to Samus and looked at her green faceplate. "Well, Mr. Aran, they're all here," he sneered, gaining confidence with more people in the room, more targets other than him to worry about. "What do you have to say now."

Samus turned her gaze back to the Chairman, gun arm still steadily aimed at him. "I have many things to say, Mr. Kimball; many, many things."

· · ·

Officer Greman gritted his teeth as he watched Samus on the video monitor. She knew they were looking and wasn't about to draw her gun arm away from the Chairman. All they could do now was sit and watch the board meeting. Greman could see that the board members looked scared, and nervously watched the intruder and the GFed police craft that floated around the building. Several news craft were taking positions around the Tower, much to the disappointment of the policemen who tried in vain to move them out of the way in case shooting started. If it did, Greman noted wryly, there wouldn't be enough left to pick up the pieces.

Blinking, Greman rubbed his eyes and looked out of the forward viewport of the cruiser at the tower. It cast a green glow from the office lights over the dark city which illuminated the crowd below in a brilliant lime shadow. He could see below him that the police force was desperately trying to keep the entire population of Tal'alma from storming the tower.

Something flashed, and Greman caught it out of the corner of his eye. It was a green flash, so he assumed it was from the inside of the Tower, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"What the hell...?" Albert Rodriguez, his sensors officer swore and shook his head.

"I believe it is against regulations to address a superior officer in that manner, Roddy."

"Sorry sir. Did you just see what I saw?"

"The green flash?"

"Yessir."

"Then why don't you use your sensors to see what it was?"

The sensors officer nodded, then turned back to his work station. A few seconds later, the communications officer turned to Greman and motioned for him to listen.

"Officer John Trumbull is on the line. He says it's very important...something's going on inside the Tower..."

"We all know that! Did he give any details?"

"No, sir. He wants to talk just with you, sir."

"Give me the video phone."

Greman snatched the phone out of the communications officer's hand and pulled it to his ear. "Yeah? Greman here."

"Sir...we just recieved word that there are technical problems down in the Medical Floor...Room 3491...near Levine's room... We've lost contact with the entire floor."

"What's the problem?"

"That's just it, sir...we don't know." On the video phone, another guard walked up to John and whispered into his ear. "My God... We are reading MASSIVE power failures throughout the Tower! We have just lost contact with floors 27 to 39 and it's spreading like wildfire!"

Greman turned to the Tower. He could see that that section of the Tower was indeed dark. There was another flash and the 26th floor went out. Any second now, John’s level would go dark.

"Alert all officers! How long before it reaches the Chairman's level?"

"I'd estimate we have about a minute, sir. What do you want us to do?"

"Grab emergency power failure devices. Put on environmental masks if necessary! Take-" The picture of Officer John Trumbull screamed and the video phone went black. What the hell was going on?

"Commander! I am reading a loss in power on deck 12, communications grid! We've lost contact with the rest of the fleet!" the sensors officer was red-faced and shouting, desperate.

"What?" Greman reeled. "Go to red alert, secure all decks! Tell everyone to put on environmental gear! Do we still have radio power?"

"Yes, sir."

"Contact anybody you can and inform them of the situation. Tell them that the Tower is suffering power failures and we've lost contact. Tell them-"

The main vid screen went black suddenly and was quickly replaced with a bright green flash. Greman screamed.

Chapter 052
A Ray of Hope by CapCom

Levine stumbled out of the medical bed, his mind screaming. Less was lying on the floor several feet away, twisting in odd contortions as the full impact of the Chozo message finally set in. Levine tried to step around him, but his friend grabbed at Levine’s leg, and he tripped and grabbed at the window blinds for support. They ripped off the wall in a long, low tearing sound, and Levine gasped when he saw the scene below.

The GFed Police cruisers that surrounded the building had began to emit bright green flashes. Craft plummeted from the sky by the dozens to crash into buildings and crush protestors. The crowd panicked, and stormed the building. He could hear laser fire and screams, faint through the crystanium window. The virus was spreading, and he’d have to stop it.

“Lev!” Less’s voice was weak as he raised himself onto one elbow. “I...had no idea about the...oh hell...” He choked, and vomited onto the tiled floor, the slick mass slowly spreading across the tiles.

“Less, are you okay? Can you walk?” Levine helped his friend to his feet.

“Yeah...I’m a bit weak, but I think I can make it.”

“Listen! We have to find the generator room for the Tower and shut down the city before the virus spreads any further! Do you know where we are?”

“Yeah. Thirty-fourth floor, section B. The generator is in basement two, but there’s a sub-generator a few floors up from here, I think on the fifty-seventh floor.”

“Damn. That’s right at the top... Samus is up there....”

“You mean the intruder? Didn’t he try to kill you?”

Levine looked out the window, then back at Less. Three more craft flashed green and fell, crashing into the pavement below. People were flooding into the tower to escape the fiery meteors. “Less, do you have your internal com link with you?”

“No, I’m off-duty. Why?” Less looked puzzled.

“Damn. What about a transmitter?”

“I think the guard outside has one. What’s it for?”

“We’re going to give a friend a call.” Levine ran for the door, leaving the puzzled Less behind him. Shaking his head, the older security officer followed, leaving the dark, empty room behind.”

Chapter 053
Mass confusion in the midst of hope by Kejardon

The virus spread throughout the city. Samus watched as building after building was 'infected'. Chairman Kimball, also having seen the virus began gaping.

"M.. Mr. Aran..."

Before the dumbfounded Chairmen could manage another coherent word, Samus said, "Well, now what will you say?

EVERYONE has seen what you've done. There's no way you're going to cover this up, 'sir'."

Chairman Kimball responded with the bright, "W... Where'd you find all this?!?!?"

Ignoring the Chairman, Samus hooked up a nearby computer terminal to her suit, and attempted to access the main government computer.

Samus hit the abort key, then looked out the window.

The ships were gone.

"Mr. Aran, what the hell is going on!" yelled one of the members. Still ignoring them, Samus ran a search program for data on the ships.

Samus ripped the cord out, then checked her own suit for data on the ships. Luckily, they were in the suit's database. However, none of them was compatible for an advanced cloak module.

Behind Samus, an annoying and annoyed voice called, "Sir, are you even listen-"

Samus spun around and aimed the cannon to the member. "Be quiet."

"This is a meeting of the board! Are you threaten-" Samus shot a blast off. The unfortunate member's chair abruptly lost three of it's legs.

"AHH-" The poor person got barely a millisecond of speech before he hit the ground, hard.

Samus ran the sensors, searching for the ships.

· · ·

Chapter 054
Mass confusion in the midst of hope (part 2) by Kejardon

Officer Greman stared dismayed at the results. "All the ships had malfunctioned, due to the mysterious virus. It had spread throughout the hospital, and then from the hospital to his ship via the videophone. And even worse yet, it had then gone to the other ships in the fleet when you tried to contact them. And, well sir, apparently one of the news ship was hacking our communications at the time, trying to get every little detail I suppose, and ended up sending the virus to every single apartment, house, and anything that was watching or monitoring the news. The virus is spreading like a fire." Reported his T.O. "In fact, possibly everything is or will be hit by the virus!"

"I told you these 'old, out-of-style' safety parachutes would be helpful" said another person on his crew. However, Officer Greman wasn't listening to either person. All his thoughts were on whether or not the virus could possibly have been true... even if it wasn't, the public was not going to simply accept this type of thing as fake. Many would probably believe what their eyes say, which meant riots, anti-Kimball campaigns, and even people that would support the intruder. As for now, he just wish he could have just been a janitor.

Chapter 055
The Abyss Stares Back by nameless

The plasma beam had not only knocked the chair out from under the board member, but it had also severed three of his own legs. He writhed on the floor for a moment until buds erupted from the gaping stumps left by Samus' laser fire. They quickly grew into new limbs and the member once again settled himself a chair, exhausted. Samus had known about the Madori and their unique ability to regenerate limbs, otherwise she would never have tried to cause real damage. She was pissed off, but she wasn't heartless.

Samus spun around and faced the council.

"So, you have seen what you have done to my people. At last, you know the pain and the suffering."

There was a murmur in the council; not one of surprise, not of fear, but of tacit agreement. They had seen it. They had seen what had been done and what had been covered up by a pile of charter papers and land acts.

Just then, as if the entire room had been swallowed into a massive abyss, all was dark. The members began to murmur and clamor about until they were silenced by the synthesized voice from the darkness.

NODE had been right, the program was a virus. It lay dormant spreading a message and then destroying its means of transmission. But who had cut the power?

The board room had its own generator which kicked on after several minutes of being starved of power. When the lights came up, the chairman was gone. Samus was far from pleased, but remained cool.

As if mocking the very foundation of the Tal'Alma government, Samus walked over to the empty throne of chairman Kimball and sat down. She was in command now, it was her call.

"We no longer need the chairman to make a decision," said the Madori who was now only slightly annoyed that Samus had removed three of his limbs. "We have seen your argument and we are willing to listen. We are willing to reapportion land settlements, to grant full citizenship to the Chozo peoples, anything to make right the wrong that has been done. But you must understand that decisions cannot be made overnight. We will need cooperation with the Chozo leaders. We will need cooperation with the Federation proper. Despite your unprofessional approach and use of force, Mr. Aran, we are willing to negotiate. But that is all. You could kill every one of us here but you will never return to the way it once was a hundred thousand years ago, or even a hundred, that is beyond the power of any man. We cannot turn back the clock, but we can patch up the wounds. And now you have our attention. I hope you understand."

Samus understood. That is all she had ever wanted she supposed, to get someone to recognize the wrong, and to listen. What was she doing there anyway? She looked back on her life to see where it had taken her. She was there now fighting a battle of men. Of politics. She felt ridiculous and ashamed, but she had done so much, and that made her feel triumphant.

"I understand, sirs," she said, "I will hold you no longer. I trust that you will do the right thing for my people and for yourselves."

And so the members all left the room with respectful nods, nods of acceptance and admiration, nods of peace and goodwill. And so it was, that there and then, an unspoken treaty was signed, one that opened the eyes of men a little wider.

· · ·

Samus sat in the room for quite a while after the board members left. She sat thinking over the strange events and the strange people she had met. She saw the innocent grin of Old Jimmy, she saw the dark smooth face of Shadow, she remembered the menacing voice of the NODE computer. She thought of her ship, and wondered how the hell she had ever learned to fly the thing, she thought about Khan and the spike in her side, and she remembered all of the wise words of her Chozo master. These things she would cherish forever.

As for Kimball, Samus didn't care anymore. She was sure he would get what was coming to him in time. It was that thing that Shadow had hinted at, the event force, the progression that let no man by. A balance would and always must be maintained.

It was only when her thoughts turned outward again that she heard the tone that indicated an incoming transmission. She was quick to answer it and was greeted by Levine.

"Sam, thank god you're still there. You've gotta get the hell out of the Spire Tower. It's set to blow in four minutes!"

Surprised, she said "Why the hell are you gonna blow it?"

"It's the virus, Samus. It's infected the whole building and now it's getting into the power grid. We have to blow the generators to keep it from spreading throughout the city. We already blew a secondary generator, but unfortunately, the main generators are in basement B!"

"What's in basement B?"

"The main support foundation!"

Samus jumped to her feet and raced for the stairwell. Descending as fast as she could, self destruct warnings blared in her ears; something that would become a familiar occurrence in her line of work. She raced past the dark reception desk, past an abandoned assault tank, and through the big revolving doors. She was out!

Awaiting her was a huge crowd, all eyes on the tower, as the crowd in Time Square stares at the massive ball just before midnight at the end of any year. She pushed into the crowd, hardly blending in with her massive body armor. And then all was silent, silent until the whole tower lit up like a brilliant Christmas tree, each pane radiating a beautiful green light. But after the flash, the panes shot outward spraying the crows with shards of indestructible crystanium. Each level exploded consecutively until it reached the top, leaving a glowing steel frame. And then the frame, too, collapsed, as if sinking into the ground just directly beneath it. It was a sight and an event which would be talked about at space stations and interstellar saloons for decades.

This did something to the crowd. It symbolized the fall of an old order and it seemed to relieve a massive weight from the onlookers. Some ran about, picking up bits of invaluable crystanium, others stared onward, as if looking at a shadow of the once grand monument. Others, still, turned to look at where Aran had stood, to congratulate him, but he was gone, gone to seek another bounty. Aran’s place was filled with a dark cloaked figure. No one saw him arrive, but he too stared on with the crowd. And far above them, they saw a small orange light disappearing into the awaiting clouds.

The End

Chapter 056
Aftermath by CapCom & nameless

The Chozo race was granted full citizenship and given back their tribal homelands on Tal'alma. Officials from the various tribes that lived around the city met with Federation board members to ratify the treaty. A small clause was added to the treaty by the Chozo granting their old enemies, the Torizo, their own rights. Both Chozo and Torizo monetary systems were recognized, though most shop owners still refused to accept them. They were promptly jailed and fined, in accordance to the law.

Though granted their lands back, most Chozo elected to remain as the nomadic people they once were, though a few still went to the city to trade. They are still rare throughout the galaxy, and no one really knows how many are left.

The Torizo's way of life was not affected by the Tal'alma events. They still practice the art of war and are fiercely territorial; they will attack any ship that enters their territory. For this reason, spacecraft are advised to steer clear of Torizo space, and any ship wishing to enter must be escorted by at least one GFed destroyer.

Chairman Kimball's body was never found. Most people assume that he was incinerated in the blast that destroyed the Spire Tower, meaning he 'went down with his ship,' no matter how evil it was. Should he be discovered alive somewhere, he will be placed on trial for crimes against intelligent life-forms and probably given the death penalty.

Old Jimmy and Ricardo still participate in the Spice Trade, despite Samus' warnings to them. Fortunately for them, they skipped right before crucial legislation was passed heightening the punishments of carrying and using spice and further illegalizing the substance. They now help out Samus

Citizens of the city were allowed to collect pieces to the Spire Tower, but almost all of the crystanium used for it was cut and used to build Tal'alma's new capitol building which was unveiled before officials of all races who have attained membership in the Trans-Galactic Charter, the building block of the Galactic Federation.

After being shut down, Federation officials attempted to reactivate NODE, but were unable to do so. The only thing that kept the Chozo Virus from spreading throughout the rest of the galaxy was that not only was the main generator for Tal'alma shut down, but the NODE computer's inability to transmit data from the planet to the interstellar network. Though only a prototype, the NODE station was redesigned and was manned by Less and Levine. It is unknown whether or not other computers such as NODE were designed. All further information on the NODE project is classified...

Samus' Master, the Old Bird, remained on Tal'alma for two years when he left along with most of the other Chozo in The Great Migration. Three days after the Spire Tower was destroyed, he was visited by Shadow. The Chozo's arch-nemesis arrived not as a show of force, but as a show of peace. Shadow entered the camp seen and unarmed. Afterwards, he left the way he came and has since returned to the bounty hunting business, but only follows certain hunts, ones that he finds his moral duty to complete. He has a high success rate and completes every single hunt he takes part in in under 24 Earth standard hours.

Shadow revisited Samus as well, after his visit with the Chozo. He arrived specifically to talk with Samus and gave her these ominous words:

You have done well, but I see that you are following the path of the Hunter. If that is your wish, then so be it. I pray that we do not meet again...for your sake.

And with that, he was gone.

The virus seemed to have been eradicated once it's path of destruction was cut short by the destruction of the Spire Tower and and NODE computer. Shadow had been right; if the virus had been allowed to leave Tal'Alma on a subspace frequency it would have caused a nearly instantaneous intergalactic blackout, one that would set the progression of mankind back nearly a hundred thousand years.

Because of it's destructive properties and unique ability to adapt, it's effects have been widely studied by Tal'Alma scientists. No such program has successfully been developed.

Realizing its destructive potential, the old chozo master traveled long through the wilderness to reach its source, The Origin. There he removed the file medium on which it was stored, a technology that had been developed by his ancestors nearly a millennia ago, and it has since disappeared from existence.

One day it may resurface, and it is an even that is feared by good and bad governments alike.

After the events at Tal'Alma, Samus Aran disappeared for quite some time. Tales of the resilient bounty hunter and his acute skill circulated throughout the galaxy, but his identity remained shrouded in mystery. Those who had witnessed the events at Tal'Alma were able to produce little information about the hunter and his whereabouts.

Once, while attempting to create a documentary on the life of the alleged cyborg, a reporter from earth had traveled to Tal'Alma, now a mecca for peace in the galaxy. He was able to procure only one close contact, Levine Andross.

Levine said little about Aran, but he told the reporter this:

"Aran is not what he seems. I have made a vow never to reveal his true identity, but it is my bet that one day, you will know. Everyone will know, and it will be an event that will change the face of mankind forever."