Part 3

Curin looked down to see a strange orange covering his naked body. He wiped some of it away to reveal a familiar flesh tone. Still dripping from the post-regeneration sanitation bath, Curin tracked slimy orange footprints across the deck of the Hunter.

"Curin, I thought you were..." Samus stopped to ponder the thought.

"Dead? Me too... I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do..."

"I suppose so. How'd you get off the derelict?"

"I didn't, Sam. I did die. You're not looking at the same Curin Nesmouth that you knew under an hour ago..."

Having been duped and double crossed many times before, Samus raised her gun arm exclaiming, "I knew it. I knew you were a trickster all along. And now I can see you're also a pervert!"

"No, Samus, let me explain. Thousands of years ago, my race adopted the ways of genetic engineering. Everything, down to eye color and intelligence factor is determined by genetic manipulation. We have rooted disease and weakness out of our culture and we have been living peaceful and utopian lives for centuries. Look at me. Do I look like an ordinary man to you Samus?"

She briefly glanced down for a moment, "I guess not," she said with a smirk.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, Samus, my race has been designed by it's ancestors as a sort of human experiment if you will. Trying to avoid sounding conceded, we are a nearly perfect breed."

"You still haven't told me how this relates to you getting off of that ship back there."

"Well, almost a century ago, a technology was developed to preserve our genetic structure. It was our ancestor's way of giving us a second chance at life. The device, called an enigma, monitors our genetic condition every few minutes. If something should happen such as the development of cancer cells or the expression of a genetic defect or disease, we are automatically alerted to the occurrence. We then have the choice to have a clone made using the information captured by the enigma. A new body is made for us with the defect removed and the old body is then destroyed. Knowing that I was about to die, I transmitted my information directly to your med bay. Your healing pod has enough proficiency to regenerate a reasonably accurate clone. I have sustained only mild memory loss but other than that, I am completely intact."

Samus stared in awe. Had she not been looking at his orange-gel covered, hairy, naked, body, she would never have believed it. She had encountered many strange races, herself raised by one of them, but she had never seen anything like this. After fighting bizarre space pirates, life devouring jelly fish, two story lizards, after meeting with enigmatic, mouthless, old-order alien bounty hunters, after conversing with four foot tall cloaked prophecy worshipping desert dwellers, she had never witnessed a race such as this.

"Put some clothes on, you pervert," She said lovingly.

"Good to have me back," Curin added with a smile. And they both suited up for battle, ready for anything that may lie on the other side of the jump node.

Chapter 042
Zela Port by CapCom

Chris and Kris's ship, The Blip, exited the spaceport leading into Zela spaceport. A bustling community of merchants, spacers, and wanderers from every corner of the galaxy, Zela spaceport offered the cheapest transit from star system to star system as well as one of the largest colonies in the known cosmos. 'If you want it, you can find it at Zela' was the motto.

Kris gazed out the side viewport of the Blip at Space Station Zela, a bright jewel surrounded by smaller flickers of light, endless strings of spaceships eager for a cheap jump to a distant star. Zela was covered with advertisements from all the big-shot companies, fast-food chains, and brand names of the cosmos, and floating billboards screamed of more products and services, countless credits to be made in sales. Even more bright lights flashed over major docking ports, Space Left for Fifty Craft!, SHINOBA'S SHIPPING, BEST PARKING IN THE COSMOS. Not exactly the greatest thing in the universe, but it would get them where they needed to go.

"Hey, Chris, you finished hacking into the station's computer terminal yet? I'm sure we can access the codes for the last jump to the Telese system."

Chris turned from his monitor. "Almost there. They've got some of the best security systems this side of the Fleet. But it's all by Masuhari; they make crappy computer systems. Easily predictable." When he turned back, he was inside Zela's mainframe.

It didn't take long for Chris to access the data for Telese's spaceport, and it took even less time for his eyebrows to shoot up. "Take a look at this."

Kris turned to look over her cohort's shoulder. "Samus Aran last used this jump node? But that's not her ship."

"Exactly. I don't know what this means, but it looks like she might have run into some trouble. I've never heard of her using a ship other than her trademark ol' yellow."

"It's got more of an orange tint to it."

"Whatever. But the good thing is, we've got the codes to open the node, so we can go any time we want. All we gotta do is fly past the security monitors and punch this in. You ready?"

Kris cracked her knuckles. "Let's do it."

The cloaked vessel maneuvered past the security monitors like a ghost, moving ever so slowly towards the Telese port. No one saw the Blip enter Zela, and no one would see her leave if Kris could pilot them without any trouble.

A small alarm sounded on the sensor grid.

"Uh-oh." Chris frowned. We've got a Federation light cruiser, the Rhakhati, jumping into orbit. This could be trouble...

"I seriously don't think they would be looking for us. Not even the freighter we trailed in here knew where we were."

"But still..." He opened up a new window on the monitor and hacked his way into communications. "That's interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"The captain of the Rhakhati is trying to seize control of transit to Telese. Seems they've got 'important business' there."

"Seems like everybody's going to Telese these days... Anything else?"

"I can't tell. He's not giving out any information, but I've got a good bet that he's looking for the Ragnarok."

Another tone sounded, then another. Chris swore. "Ah hell, that's two heavy cruisers from the Shalam system. Last time I checked, they were there servicing for repairs. They must be really desperate."

Five more warships jumped in, along with an escort of destroyers. Several ships orbiting Zela space station panicked and ran for the jump nodes. Patrol ships trailed after them, trailing the offenders.

"Distance to Telese spaceport?"

Kris sweated. "A minute thirty."

"Can you speed us up without setting off the alarms?"

"Don't push it. Remember what happened to the Glitch?"

Chris sulked, not wanting to remember their unfortunate 'colleagues'. He looked back at his monitor.

"Looks like we won't have to open up the port using the codes. Fleet commander Hake has commandeered the port. He's opening it for us."

The space in front of the Telese node shimmered and yawned wide the mouth of subspace. Three light cruisers coasted up behind them, threatening to overtake them. "Ok, give it all she's worth!"

Kris slammed the craft to full acceleration, and the Blip thrashed her way into subspace, leaving the distant yet familiar stars of Zela behind for the confusing maw of subspace. Chris closed the main viewport before either of them puked.

"Thirty minutes till showtime!" Kris smiled.

· · ·

At the other end of the Zela/Telese spaceport, the Hunter IV emerged from subspace, cloaked and undetected, ready for battle.

Chapter 043
The Calm Before the Storm by Andy

The Talese system was quiet, as space is. But more than quiet, there was a curious peace in the system. It was an ominous peace - almost an oxymoron. "The calm before the storm," the great Admiral Scott once said, "is often more gut-wrenching than the battle itself."

Captain Car'arano Voletia slouched in his chair on the bridge of the Ark as he idly watched the main viewscreen. He had long ago given up brooding over the image of the Ragnarok filing the screen. Instead, he now wondered at the incredible peace. "Waiting," he thought, and remembered Admiral Scott's words. "Yet still peaceful." He mused on his thoughts and wondered how something such as the Ragnarok that was so big and had so many weapons of destruction could possibly seem peaceful.

He was the only one on the bridge, save for an ensign, who was manning the comm and sensors stations, and his purble, Hope. Hope was asleep on the arm of his chair, deepening the sense of peace on the bridge. Car'arano scratched his pet lovingly, and Hope stirred briefly in his sleep and then settled back down. "Are we not like this?" he wondered aloud. "Holed up in a den of our own making?"

"Sir?" the ensign asked, understandably confused.

The captain chuckled. Instead of answering, he stood up and pointed to the viewscreen. "What do you think of her, son? Is she ugly? Beautiful?"

"Uh.." The ensign looked surprised. "She's awfully big," he responded. "…Sir." he added quickly.

Car'arano smiled. "Ah yes she is. Almost as big as the Ark, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, uh, sir, I uh never thought of it that way before." He looked thoughtful. "But the ship out there has lots more weapons than we do."

"That it does, that it does," Car'arano replied, nodding in agreement. He thought for a moment and turned back to the ensign. "I'd say we probably have better shields than she does though."

"Sir? Really?"

"Oh, yes, definitely. Colony ships and the like usually can't fight worth a damn, but they sure are made strong! Yes, they sure are made strong." He turned back to the viewscreen and looked once again at the Ragnarok. He hoped to God he was right.

The comm unit beeped and the ensign jumped in his chair. "Ah! Umm, sir, there's an incoming message. Looks to be priority one.. routing it to your console."

"Interesting, interesting. I wonder who it could be from." He said thoughtfully as he walked back to his chair to check his console.

The message was plain text - not the standard priority one letterhead that would come from GFed. It was short, and he read it quickly and then one more time, slowly:

"Sir," the ensign piped up. "There's another transmission. Looks like a data file this time."

"Proceed," he said, and watched the file load. He looked at the first few lines of the file and a broad smile broke out on his face. On his screen was the complete data information sheet for the Ragnarok. "Aye," he said grinning. "We can hang in there."

Chapter 044
Omega Convergence by CapCom

The Hunter IV rippled out of the jump node in the Telese system unnoticed, the ship’s cloaking technology years older yet still more sophisticated than anything in service. The Hunter was a sleek war machine and Samus was not about to give away any advantages she had over the dreadnaught that lay almost one AU away from the node, now poised over Telese and making its way towards the red giant that loomed in the main viewscreen like a giant bull’s eye. All around them, evacuation craft sped for the portal. Oddly enough, the Ragnarok hadn’t concentrated any firepower on the escape vehicles. Perhaps if one escaped, then the rest wouldn’t matter. Either that, or they’d be destroyed in the explosion once the spaceport was destroyed and they were sucked back into realspace.

Samus wasted no time in finalizing preparations for the battle ahead. “Is the gear stowed away in the Living Section?” she turned to Curin as she rerouted a few wires while simultaneously configuring their speed and vector towards the Ragnarok. She could navigate the stars almost by instinct now, and her suit enhanced this ability.

Curin’s large head popped up from a maintenance hatch to the side. “Yeah. But do you really think this will work? That’s a LOT of myobium you have in there. Pretty unstable stuff.”

Samus twisted a wire around and connected it back to the main terminal. The bridge lit up like a casino at Bingo night. She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and rested her hand on her helmet lying on the terminal contemplatively. “We’re screwed if it fails and we’re screwed if we don’t try it. I say it’s the best chance we’ve got. Just make sure that we do this quickly and smoothly. We’ll be within range of the Ragnarok in less than a half hour and I want everything ready well before then.”

Large muscled arms hefted their owner up to the deck. Curin stood at his feet before Samus and put his hand on the navigation control panel. “Which section of the Hunter will you take? We can’t all control each one.”

“Don’t worry. I downloaded all the updated combat maneuvers into the ship’s computer, so those coupled with the old strategies that I had originally planned for the Hunter will be enough to let one section fly on autopilot. I know how this thing flies, so you should be flying the command module. You can run the subsystems from there. All you have to do is follow the instructions when you’re in position, and we’ll be all set to blow this thing. Then I’ll send the secondary craft over to pick you and the command module up. This is the only ship we have and I want it back in one piece. You’ll be fine, Curin.”

She laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder and he seemed to calm down a bit. Not a lot, but enough.

Deep inside the Ragnarok, the Hunter Droid neared its prey as it tore through whole sections of the ship. It left behind it a score of unfortunate Pirate guards that had been in the beast’s path, but its real task still remained before it. The droid could sense the creatures up ahead, their life signs highly erratic in its sensor grid. They were spreading out farther into the ship, followed by a wave of chlorine gas that masked their true numbers. It couldn’t be too sure as to how many there were, but it knew what it would do when it found them.

Now there was only a matter of time before its purpose was fulfilled...

Car’arano Voletia had long since finished reading over the data file sent in by the Fleet and was now nursing a mug of Alverian tea, Hope asleep on his lap. He glanced at the computer-generated display of the Ragnarok through the steam running off his tea, concentrating on several subsystems highlighted in red, standing out like air control beacons.

“Always a surprise to find that, eh?” He turned to his second who had just reentered the bridge, relieving the young ensign from his post. “They just don’t learn from their mistakes.”

“Pardon?”

“Did I ever tell you what I did in the Outer Rim?”

“I had known you piloted starships before this, but not out there.”

“It’s been over thirty years since I last set foot on a dreadnaught, thirty years since Carnal Cross. I’m sure you remember the vids.”

“Aye. That was what made me choose command school. I figured that I could do better.”

“There’s something about a fight like that which makes a man reconsider his career options. It’s quite one thing to take another’s life than to save one. I suppose I thought I could save lives to make up for those we took at the Cross. They never DID show you the entire video, did they?”

“Now that you mention it, I’m sure I would have remembered if you’d been a part of the battle.”

“Correct. They cut it out because the maneuver was so unorthodox. It also worked all too well. We not only made it out alive, but we also decimated the entire opposing fleet... The public never knew about it.”

The second blinked. “Then you...you can’t seriously be to blame -”

“Also correct. We never even knew what we were doing. It can get cold out here, sometimes...”

The sensors station chimed, bringing the two out from their reverie. First one GFed fleet ship popped on-screen, then two more, until there was finally over 20 ships on an attack vector towards the Ragnarok. “Ahh. There’s the fleet now. Lieutenant, sound general quarters and bring us to alert status. I want us to be ready when they are in position.”

Nodding, the lieutenant left the bridge, leaving Captain Voletia to himself, at least for the time being.

Curin turned from his system stats monitor to his sensors and back again, rubbing the back of his right hand as he did so. It had started to itch only a few minutes ago, and now he could feel the irritant traveling up his hand to his wrist. After a few more minutes of this, he finally gave up and started to searching the bridge for a medical kit with something to stop the itch. There was no way he’d be able to pilot this ship if he kept on scratching his hand every five seconds.

As he was turning to check under the navigation control monitor, the sensor display went haywire as an entire fleet of very large ships materialized not too far away from their present position. He punched the communications button to the rest of the ship with his right hand. “Samus! The Fleet’s here!”

The reply came almost immediately, and closer than he had expected and in a different voice as well. “Right on schedule.” Curin turned to see Samus climbing up to the bridge in her Power Suit. The communications device on her helmet masked the sound her voice made as she spoke into it, making it impossible to tell whether the suit housed a man or a woman...or something else. “How many ships?”

A quick count, little more than a glance, told him the number. “Twenty-six.”

“The other half of the fleet must be on its way. GFed wouldn’t sent less than thirty heavily armed ships to take out the Ragnarok. How long until they reach maximum firing distance?”

“At the speed they’re going, they should be there ten minutes after we’re in range.”

“Good, good. We need the Ragnarok to be focused on the fleet and not us. Slow us down so we’ll arrive a little before they do. When we’re within range, I’ll uncloak the ship and start the detachment procedures. You’re on your own from there. Just remember the plan and stick to it unless something unexpected happens.”

“Of course.”

As Samus started to climb back down the hatch, Curin spoke up. “Watch your back, Samus.” She made no move inside her suit, at least none that he could tell of despite his enhanced sensory capabilities. Not even as little as a thumbs-up. But he could tell that she had acknowledged him. Silence could tell a lot. Rubbing the palm of his hand, Curin concentrated on assembling his new rifle while keeping an eye on the sensor grid at the cold quiet blips of light on the screen. Yes, it could tell a whole lot.

Chapter 045
The Hunt Begins... by billy chilly

The massive metal creature hobbled slowly down the halls of the Ragnarok, quietly and cautiously. It emerged from the thick fog of green to be greeted by shrieks of terror from the KI Mutants. In the blink of an eye the droid's foremost limb slashed through 3 of the mutants, spilling its greasy innards against the wall. The other mutants recoiled in horror and skittered into the foggy recess of the Ragnarok, the now frighteningly agile steel demon only a few paces behind. . .

Chapter 046
Trickery by billy chilly

The KI Mutants retreated into an immense room. The slimy black creatures skittered up the sheer walls, and hid in the rafters, perched high above the warm steel floor.

The monstrous mechanical beast burst into the great enclosure, and scanned through the thin chlorine mist, seeking out its prey. The mutants watched from above, and after communicating their thoughts through a series of nearly-inaudible clicks and sucking sounds, devised a plan.

The Hunter Droid slowly scanned up the walls only to see the mutants working frantically at the bolts holding up one of the heavy steal beams they were atop. It was a matter of seconds before the support beam came loose.

The gargantuan rafter bent, then swung down, smashing the hunter droid through the wall, and dropped 7 mutants to their grotesque deaths.

The remaining KI Mutants climbed down from their (still-standing) support beams, and skittered into their sanctuary. . . the engine room.

Chapter 047
"I might be down, but I ain't out!!" by billy chilly

As the filthy black mutants slithered into the engine room, whirring and clicking could be heard from the twisted steel wreckage in the cavernous room. Slowly, the Hunter Droid rose up, its spindly metallic limbs twitching and shuddering like a newborn deer learning to stand. The mechanical beast bumbled haphazardly out of the bent and broken shrapnel, and made its way to the engine room, its gears steaming and sensors buzzing and snapping. . .

Chapter 048
Out of The Darkness by Shabadage

Car’arano Voletia had always hated watching space combat from a distance. Capital ships seemed to stay still and just look at each other. Where as up close you would see the massive amount of single seat fighters swooping from above, cutting to the sides; you would also see the missiles flying from ship to ship. And if you were lucky, you might see the occasionally flash of light from an energy weapon. There were no beams in space, just flashes. Car’arano Voletia sighed, from this distance, he couldn't tell who was winning, the fleet or the Ragnarok.

Jaquze Teniero was sweating, his single fighter had just narrowly avoided being killed by a massive spinning chunk of broken armor. He had one missile left before he would have to dock with his flight crew's ship for refueling and rearming. Jaquze aimed for the Ragnarok, and punched the throttle, he swooped behind a massive cruiser, hoping to confuse the Pirate fighters heading towards the center of the fleet's location. "Pop out from behind here, and blast through that cloud of fighters." He thought. Jaquze swooped out from behind the Cruiser, just as it detonated. The shockwave slamming his ship around, and detonating the single missile he carried. He was dead before he even realized what had happened.

Chapter 049
Wolves in the Fray by CapCom

The Space Pirate captain hissed at its Second Fraaall Yusssgaa. They had been taken completely off guard by the Fleet, and someone was going to have to pay hell for it. He spat out acidic foam that sent two crewmen scuttling to their stations and slammed his fist onto the control console which buckled inward under pressure. He hated these soft GFed ships and how they crumbled under the slightest touch. He also hated his engineers for not completely replacing the Human computers with Zebesian electronics systems.

“Ssssirrrr...We launched the fighters as per your orderssss...”

“Why were you not at your STATION? Are there any MORE of these accursed pests out there?”

“Yessss.... We’ve tracked fifteen more battle cruisers breaking through subspace to our location. They are trying to sneak up on us from the back and strike us from behind.”

“Ensure that that doess not happen or I’ll have your head on my wall!”

Curin wiped the sweat off his brow and went back to watching his computer readouts and scratching the back of his hand as everything went to hell outside. The itch was spreading up his arm, and he was afraid it would interfere with his ability to fight. Cursing, he kicked at the bulkhead. The voice from Samus’ suit sounded over the com system.

“I’d appreciate it if you would stop beating up my ship. I’d like it to be intact when we get into the battle...figuratively speaking.” The Hunter swooped around an exploding cruiser. “That’s odd. Those are GFed ships that just blew up that cruiser!”

Curin twisted to check the computer readouts. A wing of L-6 Fighter-bombers was tearing up craft from their own side. “What the hell...” He hit his system’s short-range scanners and targeted one of the fighters. “Just as I thought! The Ragnarok must have had several wings of GFed fighters in her hangar, and they launched them to help take out the Fleet! Ahh hell. I don’t think anyone is noticing!”

Sure enough, a wing of G-6 bombers dropped in behind a formation of Fleet craft. It wasn’t long before over half the fighters were taken out.

Samus swore over the comm. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but if we don’t alert them to these internal enemies, there won’t BE a fleet left to help us take out this ship! Prepare to decloak and disconnect!”

Curin turned his chair and moved his hand over the master switch that would disconnect the Command module and the Needleship from the rest of the craft. Then, instead of having just one ship with the firepower of light cruiser, there would be three. Samus maneuvered the Hunter behind the L-6 squadron and with a surgeon’s precision, targeted each fighter with a string of missiles. “Decloaking...now!”

The Hunter IV shimmered back into existence, a shadow of a violent past. Like an avenging angel, it tore through the five gunmetal gray fighters before they even knew what was happening and split into three different ships, each taking its own unique vector, each packed to the teeth with firepower.

“You remember the drill!” Samus shouted as she fried two Space Pirate fighters. “I’ve sent a message to each of the command ships, so they’ll know about the turncoats.”

Curin gritted his teeth and maneuvered the command module around a cruiser and gunned it towards the Ragnarok. He hardly had enough time to react as a massive GFed cruiser suddenly jumped out of subspace in front of him.

Chapter 050
Glowing Idol in the Mist by bil-chil

In the epicenter of the engine room, lay the Ragnarok's power source itself, the metroid genetic material. An unearthly blue glow is cast about the room, refracting in bizarre patterns off of the thick green fog. In this chamber of illusions and mirages, the latest batch of KI Hunters were slumped in front of their god, the metroid genetic material. Their motionless bodies oozed and popped in front of the generator, as the survivors of the Hunter Droid came rushing in. Quickly the hid in the shadows, hoping their false god would protect them from the ancient automaton that was stalking their unnatural carcasses. Little did they know how wrong they were. . .

The Hunter Droid, its circuits fizzling and popping from the massive blow it took, slowly stumbled into the KI Mutants house of worship. The blue light cast shadows of invisible demons and transparent gremlins about the room, confusing the Hunter Droid's horribly malfunctioning sensors. After ripping apart the slowly malforming KI Mutants strewn about the floor in front of the engine, the Hunter Droid slowly scanned up to the ceiling. After freezing with fear, a trio a KI Mutants screeched down from the ceiling and landed on top of the droid with a wet "Thud!" Its fried sensors noting that something was wrong, the mechanical beast began lashing about, in the hopes of shedding its assailants.

In its current state, the Hunter Droid had lost all control over its foremost limb. The 'droid had also lost the ability to calculate depth perception. This would led to the downfall of the beautiful killing machine, and eventually, the Ragnarok itself.

The Hunter Droid had inadvertently destroyed the engine.

The KI Hunter's god was dead.

The ensuing hurricane of fire would ensure that nearly everything else aboard the Ragnarok followed suit.

Evil begets evil.

Chapter 051
The Essence by Shabadage

The Hunter Droid's arm collided with the drive, and for just a moment, the DNA in the drive stayed alive, with the last ounce of energy, the DNA did exactly what it was supposed to do, send out a signal of sorts, to seek out other DNA compatible, and pass it's legacy on. The DNA, never having been part of a Metroid, sent out a signal unlike one that had ever been sent before. The signal was empty of memories, but full of instructions, instructions for the replication of DNA, and the creation of a Metroid. In the last instant of it's existence, the DNA received it's own signal, and started to construct, but ran out of energy before it could finish constructing even a second strand.

Chapter 052
Fusion by CapCom

Outside the Ragnarok, hell was breaking loose. The Space Pirate captain grinned at the destruction as the Galactic Federation's proud fleet destroyed itself in head-on space collisions. Hardly anything of that sort ever happened these days with such advanced navigation technology, so it was like watching the Pax Romana to see one GFed warship plow into another as it prematurely jumped out of hyperspace, leaving shards of debris to careen out in all directions. It was so delightful to see the prow of one mighty cruiser crumble as it smashed into the side of another.

Even the Mother Brain would have paid to see this sort of destruction.

The captain was suddenly and rudely broken away from his reverie as the ship shook about. The Ragnarok was huge, and only something very sizeable could make her shake so much. It was only then that the master alarm sounded, announcing the loosing of another hell deep inside the bowels of the dreadnaught.

Inside the engine room, the Metroid DNA pulsed weakly as it tried to get the energy needed to finish its replication process. Desperately, it snaked out long tendrils of power and genetic material, filaments of DNA that tried to latch on to anything that could give it energy. Though only a third of the way formed, it still had the one feature that made a Metroid what it was - the ability to drain the life force of anything within its hungry maw.

Reaching out towards the engine, it tried to sap away the powers that flowed through the Ragnarok, but it failed in that attempt for nothing but Metroid DNA powered the main engine. It would find no hope of finishing its task through self-cannibalism. So it reached out into the engine room itself where it snapped up the energy of the shivering, dying Ki Hunters that unknowingly sacrificed themselves for the good of their dead god. It sensed a strong power source that radiated energy like a well of immortality. And it grasped for that.

The Metroid DNA found the Hunter Droid and in a last gasp for survival, it became a part of the droid.

Chapter 053
The Dragon Awakes: Part 1 by CapCom

The Metroid DNA merged with the Hunter Droid and the Kihunter mutants flocked to their new god. The DNA affected the droid's programming, and it no longer knew what it had been designed to do. Once again, the Metroid DNA merged with the Ragnarok's engine, this time taking with it the Hunter Droid and its haywire program.

Ragnarok screamed and the Kihunters went insane.

The Space Pirate captain hissed at the bridge crew as they lost control over the ship. The Hunter Droid was rewiring the ship's electronics systems, replacing it with organic technology. Already the crew's attempts to regain control over the Ragnarok were failing. He had ordered his Second Fraaall to dismember the main technician's head when he had been...unsuccessful in reinstating order. It now stood behind him on a pike which oozed onto the bridge deck. The crew knew that the captain would not hesitate to dismember any other crewman who failed in his task.

"Why can't you get control back?!" The Pirate Captain's thick claw gripped the breastplate of his Second Fraaall and foam dribbled onto his exoskeleton.

"We can't get anywhere near engineering. The Kihunters are tearing the ship apart, and the engine core is trying to take over what's left!"

A tendril snaked out of the navigation console and gripped the Ragnarok's pilot by the head. The pirate foamed and squealed, then was reduced to sand. Several other nearby pirates fired at the console causing other subsystems to explode.

"Captain, we must evacuate!"

The Fraaall was thrown to the floor. "Do we still have control over the bomb?"

"Weapons control should be able to operate the doomsday device manually."

"Do it. If I can't have this ship, then nobody can!"

The Hunter Droid searched through its systems, growing new pieces of itself throughout the ship. It sensed a new series of controls and reached its tendrils into that. It followed the wiring from the weapons grid and back to the engine core. It sensed an engine of unbridled power, a device that screamed of anarchy and chaos, an un-harnessed dragon within. The great beast stirred. It sensed its soul.

Hunger. Destruction. Fire. Destruction. Death. Destruction. Destruction.

The droid powered up the doomsday device.

Oh to be a dragon!

Chapter 054
The Reckoning by Shabadage

As the Pirate entered the engine room he was greeted by a lance of Blue-White lightening, he dodged to the right as the bolt hit the door just as it closed. He hissed as he looked for the source of the electrical attack, then he saw it, the Hunter Droid, but what? It's appearance had changed drastically since he had last seen it. One thought ran through his head, "This threat must be destroyed."

At the same time as the pirate came to his conclusion the Hunter Droid came up with a new life goal, SURVIVAL. It had to make the new life it contained survive. As the computer fed it information, the Hunter Droid split the mass of Metroid DNA in half. With half of the mass embedded in the engine and the other half safely hidden in the many craters on the droid, the droid thought a single command to the ship's brain, "Eject the Core."

Chapter 055
That Which Is Not

The space pirate general peered out of the window into deep space. Just below, he could see the horizon of the great red giant. It seemed to pulsate calmly, almost imperceptibly. Low altitude flairs erupted sharply from the surface and the pirate could see a great dark spot that looked almost like an oasis of cold in the fiery hell which lay below. But he knew that what made the sunspot appear dark was the intense heat and brightness which surrounded it. It was this tendency for things to be defined by what they are not which perplexed him. He was evil because his enemies were good, he was cruel because his victims were merciful. He rubbed a sharp talon under his facial carapace in reflection.

Just then, he saw something cross his field of vision. Before he could focus his large insectiod eyes on the object, alarms blared wildly in the background.

A crew member approached him from the side, "Captain, the core has been ejected! It seems that the system has responded negatively to our commands..."

Still peering out of the viewport, the pirate general swiftly brought one of his massive claws up under the ensign’s chin, and with a swift movement, popped his insect-like head clean off of his insect-like body. The body lurched upward, straining almost as if the life inside of it were keeping it erect, and finally collapsed to the ground. Strange white and green fluids dripped from place where the head once was.

"Fools!" the general bellowed, "your incompetence has caused me great harm! You shall all see my wrath! Look into these eyes," he gestured at the head which was still securely mounted on his pincher, "A pirate's head, like an insect, remains alive for minutes after it is severed from the body. It looks at you, it hears me speak, it listens in horror and discomfort at the tragedy which as befallen it. Still not completely aware of its condition, it attempts to move that body with a loss of result. This will be the fate of all who fail me!!" And with that the pirate tossed the head amongst the crew where it rolled onto the floor, clearing a path of disgusted crew members as it bounced into a corner of the bridge.

Realizing that he may very well be the next to die, one of the technicians stepped forward. "Captain, it may still be possible to patch into the core remotely..."

In an upside down position, the head gazed across the bridge, laughing in its disoriented mind at the technician's stupidity. Soon he would have a disembodied companion to join him in his lonely corner on the bridge.

· · ·

Chapter 056
Time to Make Your Move by CapCom

Klaxons sounded on the bridge of the Ark as Captain Voletia surveyed the battle and made note of the obvious: Things were not going well for the fleet. The Ragnarok had activated a hyper disruptor that sucked the second half of the fleet out of subspace and now chaos reined. GFed cruisers collided with one another, orders were relayed to the wrong place giving the wrong commands, and there were hijacked GFed fighters flying about in the fray to boot. Then again, things didn't appear to be going well for the Ragnarok, too. According to the sensors, the Ragnarok had ejected its engine core and was now operating solely on the secondary drive engines. But what really frightened Voletia - and it took a LOT of doing to set him off balance - was that there was a power surge emanating from the Ragnarok's weapon systems, a power surge with the same frequency as predicted that the Metroid bomb would produce as it was charged up.

Voletia swore. "We need to coordinate the assault on the Ragnarok! Prepare to take us back to normal space and use our com beacon to transfer these attack plans to the fleet! We have to take out the Ragnarok's weapon systems before she launches that bomb!"

“Coordinates?”

Car’arano Voletia thought for a few moments, digging up tactical maneuvers he’d used in the past or considered using. He could materialize right by the Ragnarok and disrupt her targeting systems or engine subsystems, but would take a beating from the dreadnaughts guns and probably ram into a frigate. He could jump well enough away from the battle as to control the action from a safe distance, but that would be wasting the Ark’s surprise factor. He would have to rematerialize close enough so as to disrupt the Ragnarok safely and then take control of the battle.

Then he had it. He’d use the old strategy from the ancient days of naval warfare and wooden sailing vessels. Voletia was planning to ‘cross the T’, only this time, without guns and in outer space. He hit a few commands on his conn.

“Maneuver the Ark to this location and positioned thus. As soon as we’re back in normal space, I want you to hit full burn and patch me through to all GFed cruisers - just the battleships, mind, you, not the fighters. Triangulate the signal on a backup buffer with the two flagships so we can contact all craft that haven’t been hijacked. Tell the cruisers to patch in to their fighter squadrons directly and direct them from there.”

The navigator’s eyes bugged as he checked the coordinates. “Y..y...yessir.”

Voletia watched the computer projection of the Ragnarok in the middle of the battle, steepled his fingers and leaned forward to watch the light show.

· · ·

Curin slammed the ship’s navigation thrusters and looped under the GFed cruiser. He realized now that he was lucky it had jumped there when it did because otherwise he would have been pasted by the Ragnarok’s guns; already the warship was being burnt clear through by anti-cruiser beams. As it was now, the dreadnaught was occupied enough now with the GFed cruisers so as not to notice a rather small spacecraft make its way towards the ship’s docking bay. He certainly hoped that nobody would notice him; he had enough explosives onboard to reduce him and any ships close by to dust if he was hit.

“Curin!” Samus called over the com system. “You’re going to have to hurry up! My sensors indicate that the Ragnarok is preparing to launch the bomb. We’ve got to take her out before that happens!”

He added another word to the longs string of curses he’d been making since before the cruiser jumped in front of him. It was getting harder to concentrate with that itching spreading, especially since it was now up his arms and starting at his ankles, and then -

With a roar, Curin slammed on the thrusters to dodge a stray fighter craft, then maneuvered to make a beeline for the nearest docking bay. Just a little longer and he’d be rid of this volatile cargo...

· · ·

The Space Pirate Captain watched as GFed warships crashed into each other and were blasted to pieces by the Ragnarok’s guns. It was fun to watch the carnage of war, especially if you were winning. Unfortunately, the odds weren’t very good that they’d make it out, especially since the Ragnarok was being taken over by the ship itself. But the Space Pirate Captain had a way of putting things in his favor.

So this ship wants to go sentient on me, does it? No piece of technology is going to best me! “Prepare a foce-feedback power surge! If we can’t get control of the ship through the engine room, then we’ll burn that thing out of there this way!” Then, he could do something about that missing engine core.

“Captain! Large distortion field forming!” a nervous sensor’s officer called.

“WHAT?” the Captain foamed.

“There appears to be a ship materializing!” another Pirate called.

“It appearssss to be that Cradle-classss vesssel we sssaw when we jumped in!”

“Blast it out of my sight!”

The Ragnarok suddenly shook, and Pirates were thrown from their feet as the lights flickered and the artificial gravity systems weakened. The picture on the main viewscreen flickered and went out and several consoles exploded as their circuits overloaded.

“What the hell is going on?!” the Captain grabbed the nearest Pirate by the top of his head and pulled him up to meet eye-to-eye. The Pirate sniveled and foamed while gesticulating wildly.

The chief sensor’s officer spoke up - well, formerly third sensor’s officer, but after a beheading and an exploding console, he was now promoted. “The Ark has fired her main thrusters...right on top of our sensor grid! Ionized particles are scrambling the system. We can’t see a blasted thing and it’s interfering with nearby subsystems!”

“GRAAA!!!” The captain kicked the Pirate he was holding up in the chest, sending the lower half of the body skidding into the corner. He crushed the head in his hands and threw it aside.

“Shall we scuttle the ship, Captain? We ssssstill can’t get control over the doomsssssday device, and in any minute the processssssss will be irreverssssssable!”

The Pirate Captain thought about it for a good, long second before giving his reply.

· · ·

Deep inside the Ragnarok's engine room, what was left of the Hunter Droid reveled in anarchy as it prepared to unleash its ultimate power. The Ki Mutants drank in the hysteria and spread throughout the ship in a bloodlust.