FSE

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Returning back to base, the majority of the Bane clan were kept under watch by the guards and separated into different parts of the compound with Lord Bane being given the strictest security in isolation. Despite their numerous wounds they were no worse for wear, allowing their captors to focus on the new enemy as Samus brought them up to speed in the meeting room after healing their own wounds.

"The space pirates kidnapped Vyse's friend to experiment on him."

"Wh-what?!" cried Jane. "H-how did they even find you?!"

"They must have registered his unusual readings."

"What? But he...I mean wait, what do you mean unusual readings? Is your friend not...human, Vyse?"

"Aaaactually no," said the rogue rubbing his neck, "he's an artificial life form. Basically a pet, but he's still my friend!"

"An...artificial-you can't mean a robot can you?!"

"Well, no he IS alive, he's not a machine. It's kinda hard to explain which is why I didn't give ya all the details when we first met, I just didn't wanna sidetrack you guys. His name's Cupil, he was created by this ancient civilisation called the Silvites from my world who were able to uh...artificially create life."

"Really?" replied Brightman with arms crossed raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how impressive that is, I should go fetch doctor Izquierda."

"No need!"

Kevin stood in the doorway clinking his feet against the frame before walking in.

"I didn't get much of a chance to say hi to you guys. I'm Kevin, I'm the medic, chief chemist, recycler, anything involving three different states whether it's blood, bones, whatever."

"I'm Vyse, nice to meetcha!"

"Samus Aran."

He shook both their hands simultaneously as he asked the rogue:

"Soooo this artificial life form is what exactly?"

"Yanno, I really can't tell ya," shrugged Vyse with apologetic grin, "not because I won't it's, cuz I kinda don't KNOW really, I mean he kinda looks like a silver wisp? He can change into a lot of forms and mainly his job is protecting my friend Fina by turning into weapons."

"Hah, so a living weapon?"

"Well, no he's not a weapon, he's just protecting her and us. But Lord Bane found this container in an old Silvite ruin that's able to trap Cupil, and so he took him away so he can sell him on the black market."

"Trafficking," stated Samus with invisible scowl. "Steal one's possessions then steal living beings."

"You had that happen before?" asked Vyse turning to her.

"Yes."

"Well let's make sure it don't happen again, right?!"

"Agreed."

He patted her shoulder despite having to reach up for it on his tiptoes before he asked:

"So lemme just ask, what WAS that creep who could split himself in half, like he just came off at the waist and gave me a real shiner!"

"Weavel," replied Samus. "Another bounty hunter. Cyborg, lost his entire body, except his brain and spinal cord inside a suit."

"Woah...jeez tha-...that's harsh, what happened to him?!"

"I did."

The look everyone gave her was palpable as their throats dried up in quiet fear of her ruthlessness.

"We fought on the planet Zebes, former general of the space pirates, they rebuilt him in admiration of his undying strength."

"Like, LITERALLY undying that is."

"So what's your plan?" said Thomas Brightman with hands splayed on the table. "You know these enemies well it seems Samus."

"Their mobile lab will be stationed whilst they repair," she explained, "at least two days before risking departure."

"That's one confident guess."

"I don't guess. I know their tech."

"So where is it hiding?" asked Oddclaw leaning his head far to the side.

"A place with an energy source. Geothermal most likely."

"What is jee-oh-thurrmull?"

"Heat from the earth, magma, molten rock."

"OH! OH LIKE U-UM, f-firesea!"

"Firesea?"

The raptor hopped forwards like a fanboy eager to please with his worldly knowledge as Samus turned fully to him.

"The um, u-u-um...m-mountain, makes, it makes fire but it goes out like a uh, a river of, f-fire-"

"A volcano?" chimed in Vyse.

"YES! Yes, that-a vole-kay-noh!"

"Where is it?" asked Samus.

"West, very far west, lots of fire under the earth."

"Perfect. Major-General, may we restock our supplies before leaving?"

"You can rest here long as you wish," said Brightman nodding, "Jareau gave me a satisfactory report on the situation so you can take her along as well."

"Thank you sir."

She gave a salute as Vyse followed suit. Kevin offered them some medical supplies such as a bandage-style gel and pliable resins that would act as blood clotting agents, extracted from the plants of Oddclaw's world. The raptor went up to Samus during a quiet moment in the halls to ask:

"Are you alright?"

The hunter turned and stared but did not answer back.

"I...I saw you were upset that they took Vyse's friend."

"I despise slavers," she said.

"Slay-vurrs? What is that?"

"Those who capture innocents and force them to work against their will."

"I...capture...Jeremy told me bad people do that. Are we bad too?"

"Only if we mistreat them."

"What?"

Aran leaned against the wall with her visor reflecting the fluorescent lights.

"The thieves from Bane's group. We captured them, but we healed them. We captured them to stop them from hurting others."

"Oh! ...ohhhhhhh-"

"But space pirates kill those they capture."

Oddclaw cocked his head trying to comprehend this logic as she rubbed her helm.

"Why...capture them, why not kill them before?"

"They kill those they capture through experiments. It is vital we leave soon as possible to this Firesea."

"I have been there, it is...um...word, the word dan, dayn, dane-"

"Dangerous?" she said moving from the wall.

"YES," he cried, "yes it is daynn-jerrus."

"Can you guide us?"

"I remember it yes. Are we walking to it or going by ship?"

"Ship is faster."

"Mmmmmnnnngh..."

Grimacing hard the raptor looked away as Samus hid her smirk. She bent her head down slightly and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Would you like some advice?"

"Hmm?"

"Next time we're on the ship, go to the bottom and lie down in the middle of the floor. You will feel less sick."

"Oh...r-really?"

"A friend taught me that. It helps until you get used to it."

"I...I will try, thank you Samus."

He walked off to find a place to sit, ruminating on her words before he heard the gentle snoring chirr of his senior in the library. Miss Kerkorian was reading to herself as usual, the place surprisingly absent as she saw Oddclaw enter before putting a finger to her lips. She pointed towards Eyeclaw who was sleeping on a large beanbag in the romance section, curled up like a huge scaly kitten. Nodding at the librarian, he walked over and made a normal greeting growl below the pitch of her hearing which woke the elder up.

"Mmmmmnnnwha...o-oh, ohhhh heh-hello Oddclaw, nice to see you."

"Are you well Eyeclaw?"

"Yeeees I am just...mmmmmhhh just, so exhausted from today, I took down two of those thieves and they never even saw me."

"You did well today. Better than me."

"HAH, do not try to flatter me, you are younger than me after all."

Yawning with a stretch of his limbs, the ancient raptor did not make any attempt to get up as Oddclaw sat against the bookcase.

"What were you and that hunter speaking of?" asked his elder.

"You...you heard us that far away?!"

"I did not live to be this old from being slow-witted Oddclaw."

"She wanted to know about the Firesea. The enemy is hiding there."

"What?! ...that...that is quite clever when no sane beast would think of going there."

"So why are you down here and not there?"

"WHA-H-HOW DARE YOU!"

He shot up his head with a look of mock insult that came with a playful shriek, the old beast swinging out his leg lazily to fake-scratch Oddclaw who simply cracked a smile and laughed.

"Hhhahahahahaaa...I am sorry, I had to."

"Hmph! Hhhhhmhmhmhmhm, you are fortunate I like you or else I would be putting my teeth in your neck."

"I hope that is the only thing you put inside me."

"HAH! Noooo no I am much too old for that...a shame your father and I did not have the chance to mate, I found him to be quite handsome."

"Really?" Oddclaw budged himself closer in a sitting stance. "Why did you not mate with him?"

"The stars were ruthless," muttered Eyeclaw with relenting sigh, "dragging me through suffering and back, that and your father always was frightened of things around him...almost as if he knew some part of him did not belong in our world."

"I think I understand him. But I wish I did not."

"Why?"

"Because...because I do not want to just BE my father, I want to be myself but you and the tribe keep making me feel as if I am my father only and nothing else!"

"Th-that is not true!"

"Yes it is!"

"No no no Oddclaw you are your own hunter."

"That is NOT what you have been telling me all these cycles!"

"What?!"

The anthro stood up with brazen indignance flaring from his scent, startling the elder with a flinch as he stared down at him.

"You always tell me about how I am the saviour of this tribe, how I have a great destiny, I have my father's blood in me, and it was because of you badmouthing my mother's first mate that sent Sunscreech to a blind jealousy that he lured me to the Roaring Caves to try and kill me!"

"That......i-is that what happened?"

"YES!"

"He...h-he heard us?!"

"YES HE HEARD YOU! He thought that I was insulting his father, because of YOU!"

Oddclaw was rather surprised at his outburst, having not expected such a sudden vent of rage that he became rather taken aback at himself. His dominance wilted as he pressed himself against the bookcase to turn humble with muted whimpers.

"I-i-i am sorry. Eyeclaw I did not mean-"

"No. No you...you are right."

The elder sighed with a glib look as he laid his head back down.

"I always talk of your father and never I realise that I keep casting his shadow over you...I just thought you enjoyed hearing of his greatness."

"I do!" he stammered. "I-I love when you talk to me about him, I always love speaking with you."

"You, c-could have said something, I would not-"

"I...I-i-i did not want to make you feel...like I was tired of you, I am not, I admire you! But...I just want to be myself, not JUST the son of Oddscar."

"I understand. I am sorry Oddclaw. I did not realise how much I have wounded you. At least you will not have to suffer such from me...anymore, after this night."

"N-no, Eyeclaw please-"

"Just let me rest. Go, please."

He curled up to rest, leaving his young charge rather full of guilt as he rubbed his arms nervously and got up to walk out of the room. He needed to clear his head as Miss Kerkorian looked up to ask him:

"Are you alright dear?"

"Yes I...s-sorry I have to go."

"Did you and your friend have a little argument?"

"I...I need to be alone."

"Wait!"

She moved round her desk to grab his arm.

"Come to my room. No one but me goes in there, you have all the time you need."

"A-are you...is that alright?"

"Oh Oddie of course it is. I trust you, you're one of my most eager patrons now please. Come."

Her room was situated very close to the library, her own keycard opening the door to reveal a stylish room. With usual amenities of bed and bathroom, there was an entire bookcase full of volumes of varying thickness and age, along with an Mp3 player in its charging dock. The scent of the room was like dried flowers and musty papers.

"Is this alright, for you?" he asked.

"Of course dear," replied Kerkorian, "just sit down and calm yourself, why not read one of my books until you feel better?"

"A-alright...thank you miss Ker-korr-reean."

"Oho please Oddie just call me Anna, we're friends aren't we?"

"I...okay, Anna, thank you."

She bowed and left him be before heading back to the library as the raptor started perusing the bookcase. The shelves contained tomes of incredibly difficult words that Oddclaw struggled to think as he decided on the thinnest volume. It was titled " #Objection! A Study in Law and Social Media" as he opened to try and read what was a porous examination into the legal difficulties concerning abusive behaviour within the internet, versus to that of its intentions and affectations within the courtroom. Oddclaw flipped through many pages until he found one with actual pictures, detailing what appeared to be a phone screen and a series of tiny guns pointed at skulls and frightened yellow faces. He understood not a single word but it helped distract him from his struggle between guilt and upset concerning Eyeclaw's "divine" prophecies that had been fed to him all his life. He read to himself aloud to drown out his thoughts.

"Example eff-three. A reproh-duck-tin of the tex-tuh message sent to the friend of t-ter...uhhh t-terrrrr-rrroar-rist, Mar-kus Sah-linger. Sah-linger's intent came after a long dee-a-tribe between him and his friend Bradley Toh-res discussing how to get the high-est kill count in a shopping mall. Toh-res reported him to the police, who caught Sah-linger at the In-nergate Mall in U-ullll....ulll-lah-pool, Scot-land, and tes-stiff-fai-ed against him showing the thread of messah-ges that Sah-linger had sent him. Despite never saying with actual words his intent to kill, one can con-strew inten-shuns by the use of con-tex-tuh. Con-tex-tuh is vital when con-ker-ning soh-kee-ahl meh-dia.

"The difference between humour and inten-shun is almost entirely reliant by context. One must refer to such cases as Anton Brow-lard, who was sentenced for sending a death threat to his girlfriend consisting of gun ehmoh-jis, or even more egg-reh-jee-us, the bombing of the Kazah-no-sukee Mall in Soh-ten-bori, Ohsa-kah, which had been planned prehvious-lee by three students who met and conversed on Niconico. In this day and age, a message must never be considered by its own merit, but always by the con-tex-tuh and the nature of an in-divid-duel. So-kee-ahl meh-dia should be treated as an anah-lie-sis of...of pssyyyy...pssy-kol-logee, where the merit of a person must always be denoted by their philo-so-phee towards other people, their compre-hen-shun of reality, and above all, their respect towards others."

"Yer 'onour ah refer you to bein' a massive swot!"

"A-AH!"

Oddclaw yelped shutting the book on his lap, looking up towards Jeremy at the doorway cackling.

"Hmhmhahaha, howsit goin' mochyn bach?"

"U-u-um, f-fine thank you."

"Hahaha, awwww yer so easy to make blush."

The raptor stammered turning red at his cheeks, putting the book back on the shelf as Jeremy leaned up against the wall.

"That were pretty funny that, you callin' yerself James back thurr."

"You said not to use my name."

"Righ' but ah weren't expecting bloody mister Bond mister smooth spy!"

"Hhhmhm..."

"...you want to talk about it?"

The human walked over and sat down next to the raptor sensing his disquiet, wrapping an arm round his shoulders.

"Whut's happened? Summat wrong?"

"Um......I just...want to be myself."

"Huh? Whut you talkin' about?"

"I want to be myself, but..." Oddclaw fidgeted with his claws staring down at them. "My tribe they keep seeing me as my father. This body, these claws, they, they are not mine they...belong to my father and I do not WANT to be him!"

"Aaaaaah...ah see whut's 'appening."

"You...you do?"

"Oh aye," Jeremy nodded scrunching his stache, "bein' put up to sumbody else's expectations, feelin' like you livin' in yer father's shadow?"

"YES," he cried with eyes shining, "that is it!"

"Well...ah can't tell ya much on 'ow to deal with that."

He gave a firm squeeze of his shoulders to pull him close, kissing the raptor's snout.

"Fer whut it's worth though, ah never knew anythin' about whut yer father wuz like or whut yer tribe think of 'im, an' ah can tell you now that me, Jane, Kevin an' miss Kerkorian all love ya fer who YOU are. Especially me."

"I...I know, but-"

"So whut if yer tribe can't get past thinkin' about you as yer dad, you got plenty of time to prove who YOU are to them."

"But they're MY family Jeremy!" The raptor stood up with frustration building in shaking claws. "I live with them, they have seen me do all I can and STILL I am like my father, like, like I was not born but he left his shadow a-a-and I am his shadow!"

"Ey-ey now, just...just calm down remember whut Dr. Seuss said? There's no one that is you-er than you."

"Tell my family. Not me."

Feeling his mood start to slump even deeper, Jeremy stood up and gave him a hug, pressing the raptor's head against his older beating chest to try and comfort him. It helped somewhat, the smell of his soothing musk and warm heartbeat against his cheek as they said nothing for the next few minutes.

Three hours later they were ready for the next operation, Eyeclaw having rested with Oddclaw trying to shake his mood. Samus, Vyse, Brightman, Andrea, Jareau and Jeremy stood round the meeting table with its graphics screen covering the top. Samus had provided a map of the entire island by transferring her data to their PC, giving them a full perspective.

"We believe the Otomakas is here at the Firesea," she pointed at the far northwest, "they require a port with substantial energy output."

"There's no other place?" asked Andrea.

"Geothermal energy is one of their preferences, one of their largest bases was in the molten caverns of Zebes."

"Soooo we fly over an' bust their heads?" added Vyse.

"No, they have defence systems. We will fly past the Skylands here, then land in the sea out west, sailing towards the Firesea to ambush them."

"What child named all these places?" snorted Thomas.

"My tribe," retorted Oddclaw coldly, "and all who have lived here, before YOU came."

"We're using your terms for all these places then?"

"It is my home, you use my words."

"Hm, fair enough."

Crossing his arms in somewhat of a huff, Brightman leaned back in his seat as Samus continued her explanation.

"Space pirates' defences are activated by detecting propulsion streams not of their own. If my ship or Vyse's approached it from the air, we would be shot down."

"Ahhhh of course!" cried the rogue with finger raised. "So we sneak in under their radar! What should we expect inside?"

"A medium-sized garrison, most are scientists but all are capable of killing. I would rather do this alone and not endanger you, but I know you won't leave your friend."

"Damn right SO!" he clapped his hands rubbing them. "We're off then!?"

"Yes, if we are ready. Major-General, thank you again for assistance."

The meeting was adjourned with a courteous salute to Brightman, as Andrea walked up to Samus with a question.

"Miss Aran-"

"Samus."

"Right. You said you would let us have some of the parts from the space pirates?"

"For your portal, yes. I don't plan on taking them alive, so any parts of their ship are yours."

"Thank you...I'm uh, curious to see what we can find and I really appreciate your helping us."

"Yes, and I hope you return home soon."

They shook hands with respect as Samus left for the ship parked outside. Vyse walked between the two raptors noticing something was up in their avoiding eye contact before turning his head towards the anthro.

"Heeeey uh, are you two alright?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not speaking to each other like you guys do, is somethin' wrong?"

"We......it is nothing."

"Naaaaaah come on, that ain't nothing, did you guys fight or something?"

"It...I am sorry but I do not want to-"

"Isn't this supposed to be your elder's last journey? You really want to leave things unsaid cuz you're never gonna get a chance again before we move out."

"I-...h-hhhh..." Oddclaw slowed down his pace with the weight of his troubles. "My elder keeps saying I live to be like my father, but I want to be myself. I do not want to be my father, but I find it im...im...i-i-imposs-sibull when my tribe keep seeing me as my father and not ME."

"Hey."

He stopped and turned fully towards the raptor, with Eyeclaw stopping beside him. The sky rogue planted a hand on Oddclaw's shoulder as his mirthful cheer faded to pierce his gaze with a genuine look of severity.

"Let me tell you something. 'Impossible' is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit. If you can keep fighting, if you can keep running, then it's NOT impossible, now you wanna be your own self, you wanna be somebody that's NOT your father, then you go ahead and prove it."

"But, I-"

"You just fought alongside Vyse the LEGEND here, AND one of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy, taking out a whole buncha thugs when they outnumbered us, now did your dad ever do that?!"

"N-n-no."

"Then that's YOU Oddie, that is all you, THIS is your own story, you got this! You already made it possible becuase you're standing here talking to me, so who cares what your elder thinks?! You just gotta give 'em time and do more amazing stuff, by yourself cuz this ain't the last of it! I bet if any more trouble comes round here, you're gonna beat it back down, right?!"

"......yes. Yes, you...you are right, thank you Vyse."

"Heh, no prob dinoboy."

Vyse raised a hand diagonally towards him as Oddclaw tried to do the same, before the rogue grabbed it hard in a manly handshake with tight muscular grip to reassert themselves. Stirring with a small eagerness, the raptor smiled heartily with a warbling chitter of delight as he turned towards Eyeclaw and made his statement.

"I have decided."

"What?" said the elder.

"I do not want this left unspoken before you go. I do not want to be my father. I want to be as great as him. I want to be a saviour just as he was, but I will be a saviour as mySELF. Father never had to deal with thieves from another world, or cross the entire world to return home or protect his brother from being tortured by another, did he?"

"Heheh no...no he never did."

"Then that is what I am. I am his son, but I am not my father, I will do things my way, not to your prophecy. I am sorry but that is how I feel."

"I understand," chirred Eyeclaw smiling, "I have had time to think about what I said, and I realise I have been unfair to you in forcing expectations on you. You are Oddclaw, not Oddscar, and I should have learned that myself."

"Thank you."

The two raptors rubbed their snouts in friendly reunion, tails wagging slightly as Vyse smirked at their kiss-and-make-up routine. They headed off together to Vyse's ship, the hunter joined by Jareau and Jeremy as they took to the skies and tore across the earth. Since his first flight that day, Oddclaw decided to sit at the bottom of the cabin as per Samus' advice in the centre of the ship. It helped him greatly, feeling much less sick and fearful of the turbulence with Vyse at the helm and Eyeclaw embracing the wind along with Jareau scouting the land below. Samus and Jeremy stood either side of the captan.

"So uh yer dad also does this Vyse?" asked Jeremy.

"Yep," said the pilot, "clearing the skies of thieves and looting old ruins for sweet gold!"

"Hah, whut a life you must lead, wish ah were doin' that wi' mah dad."

"What's he do for a living?"

"School teacher, but used to be a soldier. Pushed me into the army to straighten me out."

"Ahhhh, I see, you were a rebel huh?"

"Ohohhhhh you know it lad. Whut about you Samus, whut's yer dad lahk?"

"I never knew him."

Even in the skies with the wind searing through their cheeks, her voice was a knife that slipped through their ears as she added:

"I lost my family as a child."

"Oh, jeez I'm sorry," said Vyse sideglancing from the wheel. "What happened?"

"Pirates."

"......wow. Well that explains why you acted like that when they took Cupil."

"So who raised ya pet?" asked Holt.

"The Chozo," she stated. "Trained me to be a warrior, never misjudged me. Their blood runs through me more than humans' ever did."

"Didn't you once say you were in a federation?"

"I had a commander. For a while."

"Whut's he like?"

"Controlling. Cold. Kept me in line."

"Yep," said Holt throwing his arms, "that's army men for ya, ah have that with Brightman."

"I learned discipline from him," she continued, "but also control and patience."

"If ya don't mind me saying," added Vyse turning the wheel slow, "this commander sounds a real tightwad."

"I'm not ungrateful. But he won't care if I don't thank him."

"Ooof...well what about the uh, chozo guys, you said they were family to ya."

"They're gone."

"...wait, wait you have no one left?"

"No. No one."

Throughout all of this she never moved, her head and arms remaining a statue against audacity and the elements. Vyse felt a hollowness from the suit of armour as he dared to ask:

"You got...a-any...friends, or kids even?"

She walked away from them to the starboard side, watching the world pass on by with a fleeting glimpse of the herds crossing the plains. There was an immense desert where life barely existed, a dry canvas of death yet past it was a whole new savannah sweltering with newborn life. She scanned her visor to try and catch a look at some of the beasts, strange yet familiar to her from odd-headed parasaurolophus to the plated backs of stegosaurus. Flying past were pteranodons of creaking leather wings and long-beaked heads that squawked with confusion at the presence in their skies. Their bodies reminded her of a deep hatred, resisting the urge to shoot as her hand steadied itself in the arm cannon before turning back towards the helm.

They soon flew over a lake, an inland sea south of the savannah and north of the huge mountain range, where long-necked gentle beasts waded slowly through the estuary. Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Brontosaurus, their heights and head shapes the only thing differing between them as they gazed towards the small ship with blank curiosity. Beyond that was the ocean itself as Vyse measured the wind on his readings.

"Sou'easterly," he said, "means we're gonna have to drop a little ways out more than we expected."

"That bad?" asked Holt.

"Naaah it just means we're gonna have to deal with more of the ocean, HEY, SAMUS WE'RE LANDING!"

She nodded and stepped back to the helm waiting for the ship to land amidst the wide open blue safely. The shimmering volcanic coast of seething lava spilling out into the ocean stretched out southeast of them, covering a great expanse of seawater into a bubbling greyish goo that steamed to create a constant mist. They could barely see for where the rocks began as Vyse bit his lip, turning off the engines as a strong southeast wind started to pick up in the sails.

"This...couuuld be a problem getting through the fog."

"My visor can see through the fog," she replied.

"H-huh?"

"You steer, I guide you."

"Oh wow really?! Nice, alright you be my coxswain!"

"WOAH now," cried Holt, "if there's cocks in then ahm much more qualified fer that."

Vyse turned his head slowly with the perplexed sneer of someone who didn't get the dad joke but was too embarrassed to ask.

"...what?"

"...e-ehhh yanno whut never mind, jus' me bein' daft haha, alrigh' you two 'andle this ahm gonna go check on Oddie."

Holt went back down below deck as Samus stood in front of Vyse, clicking her visor on to a setting that would ignore the fog and see the world beneath in monochromatic detail. There was a rocky reef but it seemed wide enough to navigate through with caution as she guided him between the rocks. Eyeclaw peered over the side trying to bite at fish whilst Jareau pulled him in keeping guard, but much to Vyse's surprise the hunter gave accurate seafaring info on each incoming obstacle.

"Port twenty......starboard forty. Starboard ten......port fifty."

"Wow, you really did used to be on a ship huh?"

"Once. Starboard seventy."

"I'm sorry, by the way."

"For what?"

"Just, everything. No one deserves all the things you suffered."

"Port sixty."

"I mean you're risking your life to save my friend, I KNOW you're a good person Samus. You don't deserve what happened, I just want-"

"Port thirty."

"I just wish I could help you...you know?"

"I'm not completely alone," she said briefly.

"No?" he asked inquiring.

"Starboard thirty. I have a group of friends I have not seen sometime."

"Oh, good! Maybe you should catch up with them."

She glanced upwards briefly, tapping her arm with the cannon's tip in a pondering rememberance.

"Aether would be nice this time of year to go back to."

"What are these friends like?" asked Vyse.

"Luminoth. Like giant moths, very kind...they love human biscuits."

"HAH, biscuits huh?"

"They do not eat much, port seventy. Fills them up nicely."

"Hey yanno that uh base has a kitchen, I bet you they make biscuits there!"

"Hmm. Never made my own, usually went to colonies."

"We'll make biscuits altogether, you, me, Oddie...if he knows how to, I mean I dunno but we, yanno we're your friends too. I mean, we may not see each other ever again after this but, I don't want you to be COMPLETELY alone in existence...you have us, for today."

"Yes. It's good fighting alongside you."

"Wow...good, really?"

"It makes a change. Starboard seventy."

"Well...that's good I guess, soooo whatcha say, biscuits after this?"

She gave a thumbs up back at him in response, not taking her eyes off the incoming reef as directions came in for him to steer. Soon they managed to reach a large cavern hidden past the fog beneath the volcanic ridge, a yawning chasm that acted as a natural harbour as Oddclaw came up above deck. The coastal cavern gave a haunting look of a monstrous dark passage with whispering howling winds that crossed their faces like an ashen banshee, simmering traces of thick cleansing fire past their nostrils.

"Hohhh," stammered Odd, "I...n-never thought a cave would be here."

"Did you not come here before?" asked Samus.

"I was above the sea, where the vole-kay-nohs were, I did not come down here."

"Alright," said Vyse, "ready to disembark. How do we do this?"

"I go out in front," replied the hunter. "Jareau, you have night vision on your rifle?"

"Yes ma'am," said the sniper.

"Good, you're with me, Holt and Oddclaw take the rear, Vyse and Eyeclaw you stay in the middle."

"Uhhh, why?" asked Vyse.

"You're the only ones without a gun."

"...oh, right yeah that makes sense haha, good call."

"Any objections?"

"Nope, I'm good to go."

She stepped out in front with green steel cannon pointing down the great cave as she flicked her visor on to another setting for subterranean lands. Glinting rocks coated in silicate and deposits of an igneous nature surrounded them as they prepared their weapons. Oddclaw and Jeremy kept their shotguns pointed back the way they came, with Jareau using her scope now on night vision mode to keep a lookout forwards along with Samus cautiously. Vyse and Eyeclaw kept their eyes and ears alert, the elder raptor keeping silent despite sniffing the air for something treacherous. Something was burning, but it wasn't natural. The cavern soon reached its limit in the form of a giant inner sanctum, which in turn provided the perfect hiding spot for the space pirates' ship.

The Otomakas was a large vessel of smooth metallic violet, with green strip across its head for the navigation deck and a large rampway underneath its warped aerodynamic wings. Currently it was in the midst of repairs, shots scattered across its back and wings wounding it to a degree of smoking fires and crippled machinery. Wires and metal beams hung exposed whilst all around the place were space pirates checking their inventory, examining crates and refitting their ship for maintenance. The sounds of chortling beasts and barking orders filled the cavern as the hunter laid in wait behind the stalagmites.

"What now?" whispered Jareau.

"Infiltrate the ship," murmured Samus, "the main lab is there where the hostage and virus is."

"Orders ma'am?"

"The crates can provide cover. If any of them spot us they will raise the alarm, one of us run from one crate to the other, kill and hide the enemies quietly and make a path for us."

"Eyeclaw can do that," said Oddclaw proudly. "They will never know he is there."

"Are you certain?"

"I can tell him what to do, he will kill them without being seen."

"Good, tell him exactly what I say."

She relayed her instructions to the aged raptor with Oddclaw translating. He stepped out slowly, sensing the air with caution as the ancient hunter creaked his legs and snuck behind the first set of crates. The space pirates kept on chattering amidst themselves, without noticing the first one of them who had fallen to the beastly jaws within the dark. Tapping inventory into his wristheld computer, the victim soon-to-be was feeling his eyes tire out from staring at numbers on a tiny screen. His arms became sluggish, he yawned with the limits of his patience but the second he closed his eyes he felt teeth shank his throat. None of them heard him scream as he was dragged into darkness.

Eyeclaw had been briefed by Samus through Oddclaw on their most vulnerable points and how best to kill them. It worked perfectly, sneaking from crate to crate disposing of the grunts with little trouble whilst signalling to Oddclaw when it was safe to move. It would only be twelve minutes later that they finally touched the ship, creeping aboard its ramp and sliding into the cargo bay with muted success as the hunter ordered:

"Jareau, Holt, stay and cover the exit. If they find us out, close the ramp with that button and lock them out."

"Yessum ma'am."

The raptors headed further into the guts of the ship, along with the hunter and the rogue as Samus gave cautious directions. She knew the layout well, guiding them through corridors with layered walls reminiscent of an insect's hide, shining ripples and corrugated floorboards that gave a gentle clack amidst claws and boots. The hunter keeping her cannon forwards as she chased around corners and crept through passages. Eyeclaw paced himself alongside her using his own primal intiution to sense when an enemy was close, making a signal to alert with his tail stiffening up. The few enemies they did encounter inside the ship were swiftly silenced by a sword or fangs ripping their throat. Soon they reached the centre of the mobile science base.

A large oval-shaped room with dozens of computers wired into one ginormous mainframe that stood in the very centre. Space pirates dabbled back and forth between screens to process their data, all of them synchronising together into one digital pool. Iron walkways became like webbing above the room, circumnavigating the walls that contained more computer screens. Standing in the centre of it all was Weavel, the cyborg in faded green steel staring upon the small silver receptacle where Cupil was currently whimpering from inside of.

"So, the hunter arrives at last."

The armoured pirate turned with arms crossed at the intruders. His voice resonated with an electronic feed crackling underneath into perfect English as the scientists kept working undeterred.

"It is always a question of 'when' and not 'if' with you."

"Release the hostage," warned Samus.

"Or what, you will kill me? You already failed to do so last we met in the Alimbic Cluster."

"Your tenacity is the only thing I respect. So I will not hold back."

"Good." His voice resonated a cruel smile through its audio as he clasped his claws into a pyramid shape. "Only you can make me feel alive even when most of me is gone."

"HEY!" shouted Vyse with sword raised to him. "I don't care what beef you got with her, but that little guy in the tube is my FRIEND!"

"Friend?" Weavel turned back towards the shivering capsule with a small tap of his finger. "This is not a friend, it is a weapon, a tool that will serve our master greatly as his new form."

"How would you like it if someone took one of your friends huh?!"

"I have no friends. We are a unit, a hive with one cause so we are not friends here. All of us..." He spread his arms proudly. "Are but subjects to our fallen leader. No matter what form he takes, digital or physical, he shall never die."

"Wha-what?! What are you talkin' about?!"

"You shall see, human. But now..."

He swished out his right arm as a wicked scythe made of pure energy gleamed from his elbow, whilst half the science team turned and aimed their guns with extreme prejudice

"Let's see whose 'friends' are better at surviving."

The raptors and humans braced themselves for combat as Weavel came fast towards Samus, boosting into a vicious run to powerslam into her. Crushed aginst the wall, she gritted her teeth and bashed him across the face with arm cannon before firing a plasma shot point blank to force him back. The two stood each other down before he swung his scythe with horrendous strength, crushing it against walls and floor in multi-strike towards the dodging hunter. He striked in a cleaving motion as she evaded left, booting the side of his head with a roundhouse kick and firing a missile to blast against his waist.

"TAKE CARE OF THE PIRATES!" she shouted to her allies. "WEAVEL IS MINE!"

"YOURS?!" cried Weavel. "I will not let a filthy human claim such a thing!"

"This 'filthy human' destroyed your body thirty years ago. Even the worms claimed you as theirs."

"NNRRRRRRARGH!"

Charging at her once more, the armoured pirate tore with frenzy, swiping for her head as the blade sang a song of deadly energy, scarring across her chest twice in her evasion. She punched him in counterance with the cannon as he ducked to drive an uppercut against her skull, knocking her into a brief stagger as she fired a volley of missiles. Three of them hit, but two missed and blasted into one of the wall's computers. Returning fire, Weavel pulled something from his midriff shaped like a small hand cannon he gripped with both hands and fired a tremendous lob of green explosive plasma in an arc. Samus ran in circular strafe, keeping clear of the tremendous blasts that rocked the entire ship with a rumbling furore as she returned fire, charging up a purple beam to send electrifying volleys straight into the enemy's chest.

During all of this, Vyse and the raptors were forced to clash against the small garrison of space pirates firing down on them. Guarding with his swords, he blocked most of the shots with his tremendously sturdy cutlasses, reflecting energy shots with practiced precision as they waited for an opening. Soon as they had to reload, they charged en masse as Oddclaw skidded across the floor in a running slide before firing into one pirate's skull, both barrels shattering into his chitinous cranium to explode in a horrifying burst of goo.

Vyse knew there would be no prisoners, but he was more focused on freeing Cupil than anything else as he dodged a point-blank shot in a small pirouetting spin, before driving his sword behind him straight into a pirate's throat. His ally came to rescue him, but Vyse's other sword kept him at bay with a striking glance at his gun to knock it off-kilter, slashing across the second opponent's face. Eyeclaw kept close to both of them knowing he was most vulnerable, but his speed and strength were more than a match at close-range when he leapt upon a foe that was aiming at Oddclaw's back, crushing him hard beneath his ragged bulk and crushing down his jaws upon the little exposure of his neck he could purchase, claws raking down the smooth carapace as alien blood dripped thickly between his teeth. The taste was acidic as he was careful not to ingest it, twisting the muscles of the throat to render his life deceased.

Weavel's relentless assault scattered across the ground as Samus dodged and rolled into a ball to boost faster away from his cracking mortar shots, thick voluminous plasma bursting freely from large orbs like explosive bombs of pure energy until Samus charged straight towards his feet. She unrolled just before impact, half-cartwheeling into a scissor-kick to crunch her feet into his stomach as she knocked him down. Standing above, she powered up her beam ready to obliterate his face, but the pirate had another trick as he detached his body in half, legs pulling away to sweepkick at her knee and pull her down in a wrestling hold between his legs. His upper body stood up by his hands, slamming armoured fists across her face before a crushing elbow threatened to crack her visor. She countered with her cannon punching the elbow off-target to send Weavel's torso down before pulling herself on top of him, extricating her legs from Weavel's squeezing legs and balling up into an orb to escape his grasp.

The legs dismembered stood up as Weavel placed his mortar cannon upon them, like a half-turret of sorts as it began firing on automatic. Rolling and weaving away from the tremendous blasts hammering into the ship's floor, Samus readied herself into a boosting charge glowing with energy before slamming like a pinball straight into the legs. Knocking them down hard, she unrolled into a vicious double stomp whilst turning and firing a super missile straight into Weavel's face when he tried to lunge his arms towards her. Caught in mid-air, he was sent back to the floor crumpling hard in a crunching roll but he was not dissuaded. Soon as he gained his footing with his hands, he stomped towards his legs underneath her as she fired upon him, the torso surprisingly evasive in its handstanding run before he pushed himself up towards her eye level and swung his bladed energy scythe. She dodged like a boxer and gutpunched him in the stomach, but her feet moved just enough to allow his legs the freedom needed as Weavel's lower half kicked itself free with a foot to the back of her knee and rolled themselves towards his upper half. The two reconnected themselves harmlessly as he stood in battle pose with scythe out and ready, facing the hunter of the galaxy.

"Hmph...impressive," he said calmly. "You were the only opponent who ever made things fun for me."

"You call death fun?"

"And you do not? Why else do you keep doing this?"

"To keep scum like YOU dead."

"Hhhmhmhmhm...very well. Round two."

Whilst both bounty hunters stood each other off, the raptors kept each other's back, dodging the brazen shots of laser fire through their focus as they raked and tore at the enemy's throats, gnashing jaws and flensing teeth ripped apart their flesh and chitin with spraying blood across each other's faces. Oddclaw was having trouble keeping his gun reloaded, forced to resort to his primal instincts with claws and teeth as Eyeclaw assisted. Combining efforts with speed and diligence, they rushed and evaded, fighting the pirates who aimed at the other raptor in a perfect synchronisation.

Despite his age, Eyeclaw was faster and stronger than Oddclaw, but lacked the ferocity that came with the shotgun as he would lunge and disembowel the enemy's faces whilst Oddclaw reloaded. In counterance to this, Odd would prepare his shots for any that came rushing towards his elder with one shotgun shell, then another for someone aiming at him. If the buckshot didn't hit their face, then at the very least it would deter them from firing briefly.

Despite all of this, Vyse had managed to reach Cupil after tearing through the small garrison. Clutching swords in both hands he plunged into one space pirate's neck before polevaulting himself over from the frenzy of his momentum, spiralling over the pirate's tearing skull and pulling his sword free at the last minute to land fully behind his half-decapitated foe.

"CUPIL, CUPIL I'M HERE!"

"Kyuuu?!"

"I'm here buddy, we're gonna get you out! ODDIE, COVER ME!"

"EYECLAW!" shrieked Odd. "OVER HERE, PROTECT THE HAIRLESS!"

The two raptors teamed up keeping Vyse safe, firing and clawing back at the few pirates that remained as the rogue opened up the capsule. Spiriting from its confinement was a strange shimmering silver gleam that squealed with elation, a smiling beady-eyed wisp with fluid metallic body whose structure resembled that of saltwater taffy.

"KYUUUUU!"

"You alright li'l guy!?"

"Kyuu-kyuuuu!"

"Alright, what say you show these guys not to mess with the Blue Rogues?!"

"KyyyyuuuuuuUUUUUUU!"

Cupil furrowed his eyes in the most brazen fury he could muster which did nothing to strike fear into the hearts of the space pirates. The few that remained simply laughed their filthy cackles at the escaped hostage, who charged towards one of them whilst moulding his body into a much thicker flatter shape. The pirate stopped laughing when he was suddenly clanged on the head with a monstrously powerful blow like a baseball bat, with Cupil's body now wide and circular like a frying pan to smash his skull into unconsciousness. The other fiends soon realised his strength but before they could fire at the escaped beast, the little wisp fluttered across to give resounding blows to their heads, crunching flat purest steel on their faces to send them to the floor with severe concussions. The last of the regular space pirates almost scored a shot on Cupil, who dodged and swelled his mouth open wide with a deep inhaling force, sucking the enemy halfway into his gullet with flailing panic of the powerful vacuum. The wisp spat him out immediately after with the force of a backdraft, slamming him against the wall hard enough to crunch the spine as the final pirate had fallen.

"YEAHEHHH NICE WORK CUPIL!"

"Kyuuuu-YUUU!"

"What is that THING even saying?" asked Eyeclaw.

"I have no idea," replied Odd, "but it seems happy, and our work is done."

"Good. I am EXHAUSTED, this has been such a day for me."

"But it was a fun day, was it not?"

"Haha, it was!" The elder chirruped with a beaming joy. "Ohhhh I have missed the thrill of battle like this."

Samus walked towards Weavel with her cannon at his face, his scythe still out and ready to kill.

"It's over Weavel. Your hostage is free, and your team is decimated. Any last words?"

"...heh. Hhhhhahahahahaha...why do I care about either?"

He sheathed his scythe back into his suit.

"The hostage is a setback, but I always have a backup when concerning him."

"HE is not coming back. I will not allow it."

"Too bad. The process has already started. He just needs a new body, and if that hostage is not available...then I shall gladly offer myself."

She fired at his chest but he backflipped out of the way, racing to the terminal in the center of the room and grabbing a cable from it to plug to his own body. Guns and swords pointed at him in defiance as he pressed a few buttons initiating a new routine.

"It may not be the body my master wants...but it should be enough to kill ALL oF YoU."

His voice started to distort, twisting its pitch into a raspy bass that trembled through their skin, causing the raptors to back up from the sheer scent of alien dominance. Weavel's body flexed with a strange spasming as if his body was dying into violent seizures, his visor flickering a deep purple glint and cruel yellow eyes started to form briefly.

"Get back," warned Samus.

"H-huh?!"

"Get. Back."

"Wh-what is he doing?!" asked Vyse backing up.

"The A.I. is downloading itself into his body."

"What?! Th-this thing is sentient or something!?"

"I...aM...iMmOrTaL."

The voice crawled from the cyborg's husk as every terminal in the room began to flash with shrieking static, deafening them with horrendous screams of binary torture as eyes glared from every direction. Every single monitor in the room glimmered with evil golden eyes smiling upon them.

"Ss-s-sS_Sss-SSaMuS...hHhhow i L-L-L-L-LONG tO sTAiN mY fAcE wiTh yOuR bLoOD."

She replied without a word, aiming towards one of the screens and shooting it out to burst in glass sparks.

"UsSseLESS-I, aM eVeRywheRe-WHERE-wHerE iN tHiS sHiP-CaNnoT eSCAPE-YOU c-caNn_not ESCAPE fRoM mE."

"What kinda FREAK is this thing?!" shouted Vyse.

"sCaNnIng...HuMan uNkNowN...HuMan SaMuS...aRtiFicIaL LifE UnKnOwn...vELoCiRaPtOr......JaMeS? S-s-so-oooo fAmiLiaR a fAcE."

"What, what's he saying?!"

"Ignore him," she said coldly, "we have to destroy him here."

"How?!" asked Odd.

"I have a device to purge him with, but I must find the original terminal in this room where his base coding is."

"Wha-what does that mean?!"

"Fight him off, I have to find his source!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Eyeclaw's shriek alerted them to the sudden brutal sweep of Weavel's scythe carving a violent arc as his weapon now expanded to the size of seven feet glinting a sickly amethyst colour. Even more surprising were the multitude of loose cables pulling themselves up like a medley of serpents, grasping parts of machinery and metal walkways to crush and bend into lethal arms of destruction. Some of them formed into ginormous wings that reached to the ceiling, spiralling coils forming into thick visceral membranes. Upon the central terminal that Weavel had hooked himself to was the code R1D-73Y flashing constantly.

"i WiLL bEcOmE G_O_D uNtO yOu, paTHETIC morT_taL SCUM."

The entity swung its steel arm upon the intruders as they dodged in every direction. Weavel's body now possessed began firing upon them as they tried to evade the crushing machinery, aiming towards Samus who activated her scanning visor to try and detect the coding's source. Vyse and Cupil banded up to attack the cyborg, the cleaving blade of violet aura he slid underneath to strike upwards with both blades as the wisp crushed his head with a silver clang. But it barely reacted, deciding to separate its body with a heavy jump of its torso to suddenly doublepunch Cupil in a spinning lariat, knocking the creature hard across the room whilst Vyse was kicked straight in the stomach. The mortar cannon activated from its lower waist and fired upon him as he scrabbled back on his feet to evade the catastrophic explosions, trembling piercing shots of dark nebulous fury that sent scattering shockwaves across the floor. Cupil recovered with a whimpering folly, sweeping down back to Vyse's side as they avoided the crackling booms of Weavel's enhanced battle cannon.

Oddclaw knew that his gun would not work against the steel assault, trying his best to keep alive amidst the fury of this entity by ducking under looming beams and hopping over crushing walkways twisted into fearsome spikes. The barest of scrapes from sharp jagged metal came straight for his skin, scratching a thick welt of bloood across his back and tail as he tried to look for a weakness. Eyeclaw was getting weak, his evasion slowing down doing everything he could to focus on saving his strength. He struggled to leap over the sword-like razors formed from mutilated girders, diving underneath the colossal steel weights that swung with the strength of boulders with his eye lone and piercing at the wretched terminal cackling to itself. He could not smell anything from it alone, but there was a madness inherent to its voice. Then he spotted it.

"ODDCLAW! THERE! THE ARM ON YOUR LEFT, IT IS WEAK!"

Looking up at the central frame, he noticed one of the thick cables was looser than the others showing a small undercurrent of coloured wires exposing from beneath. He braced himself for the next double-sweep, running below the steel plates and jumping over the twisted girders before hopping onto a computer and leaping straight onto the mainframe's side near the exposed wiring. He was safe here for now as he readied his shotgun to aim.

"jAmEs...i rEmEmBeR YoUR fLeSh aGaiNsT MinE."

"SHUT UP YOU FREAK!"

"YeEeEssSss...hOw yOuR vOiCe wOuLd BEG mE tO KiLL yOu."

"ENOUGH!"

He fired one shot shattering through the veins of the cable arm seeing some of it weaken.

"EvEn AfTer tWeNtY-FIVE yEa_eA-EarS yOu sCrE-EEAA-E-E-E-E-A-SCREAM jUsT LiKE yOu DiD beFoRe i wRapP, WrAp -rape- wrAPpeD mY cLaWs arOuNd yOuR tHrOaT."

Oddclaw did his best to ignore him with the second shot deafening his ears as the cable fragmented, severeing free as one of the A.I's arms became disconnected, falling with a crash to the floor as he scrambled over to the other three arms.

Samus was checking each and every terminal, her visor tracking for the entity's source coding which seemed to jump constantly between proxy servers, back and forth in an attempt to confuse the hunter as she strafed around the cleaving strength of monstrous arms. The wings caused even greater problems, for anyone who tried to clamber onto the ruined walkways up above, they would simply slice like giant blades ready to decapitate them. Firing off with super-charged missiles to crack and damage the integrity of the cables, the hunter dodged, rolled and boosted between sheer steel and bladed metals searching for the common root. Oddclaw cried out:

"SAMUS! I NEED HELP!"

She turned to see the raptor pointing at one of the arms' thickest joints.

"DESTROY THIS," he shouted, "I CAN RIP HIS ARM OFF!"

Samus ran in a loop to find the best shot she could, clicking her cannon to blast two supermissiles straight into the arm after Oddclaw swung himself onto the walkway. The arm cracked open like a shell, revealing the circuitry as Oddclaw grappled back down to blast with precision straight through, severing yet another limb. Still she could not find the true source of the A.I until she noticed something odd in its proxy patterning. One area of the room was constantly bouncing off a signal despite the fact that no computer was actually there. The floor directly in front of the central terminal as she flicked through her other visors, seeing a blinding multitude of wires and cables like digitised veins running throughout the entire ship. But there was only one that went underneath the floor to a hidden power source as she hurried over the one monitor that had the controls to unlock it.

Knowing the space pirate security system made it easy, hacking open with her suit's interface to reveal a single isolated small terminal that was hooked to the central terminal and its one access point. But through its power cable it would infiltrate and access all of the room itself.

"THAT'S IT!" she shouted. "DESTROY THAT TERMINAL!"

"I'LL BE WITH YA IN A MINUTE!" clamoured Vyse. "THIS GUY'S REAL CLINGY ON ME RIGHT NOW!"

The rogue was currently clashing hard crystalline blades against a wicked scythe of energy, the body of Weavel now pushing on top of him to try and push his scythe into the youth's face. Cupil hammered upon his head with whacking strikes of its flat-pan shape, solid silver steel that could normally bludgeon anyone unconscious now doing not a single thing to deter the possessed cyborg. Grinding their weapons viciously, Vyse sneered with epic struggle trying to push Weavel off him, his arms shaking with all his might as he barely resisted against its cybernetic strength. Out of nowhere came a flurry of brown as Eyeclaw's shriek rent the air, his claws flying as he slammed his body into Weavel and forced him off of Vyse. The raptor latched his jaws around its head, stomping clawed feet against its arms to trap its scythe underneath as Vyse stumbled back onto his feet. But the pirate still had his mortar cannon as he aimed it straight towards the elder's back. One shot penetrated his spine with a shattering crack, shrieking as he was blasted off from Weavel's body, falling to a crumple across the floor with crooked tail and legs now hanging loose from his broken pelvis.

"EYECLAWWWWW!"

Oddclaw came rushing down with shotgun firing both barrels into Weavel's form, doing nothing to deter the steel carapace who swung his scythe with horrendous shriek. Just before he struck, Vyse came between them with screeching blades of folded crystal, pushing him back with a heavy boot to the stomach before Samus came from the side and blasted another supermissile into the gut.

"SAMUS, GIMME A JOLT!"

She nodded after clicking her cannon settings to the wave beam, a purple glint trembling from the green barrel before firing up the dreaded wavebuster over Vyse's head. The stream of pure energy turned the air thick with frantic adrenaline, molecules excited almost ready to catch fire as the rogue raised his cutlass high and supercharged it with potent electrical energy. Standing with feet rooted to the ground like a lightning conductor, Vyse the Legend felt his hand shake with vigorous electroplasmic energy spiralling down into his blade which absorbed all it could. Once he felt it was full, he swung towards Weavel sending a shocking tornado strike of pure lightning from his sword, rippling across the floor to destroy part of the secret terminal's casing in passing. The cyborg became paralysed by grounded energy, devastating him with a vicious current that overrode any sentience the A.I would possess over him. Something screamed inside the suit as the pirate's mind became frenzied with insane suffering, torn conduits and crackling synapses destroyed through tremendous electrocution. The hunter and the rogue rushed from opposite sides, Vyse tearing towards his legs with two crossing strikes as Samus punched the back of his head with a horrendous explosion.

" HUNTERS' WRAAAAATH!"

The lower body of Weavel became severed in four pieces, legs crumpling into hot steel slices before the rogue whilst his head exploded. His brain shot out of the visor from Samus' explosive shot, hurtling towards Oddclaw who loaded up and fired only once. Weavel was dead, his memories and all he ever was now smearing in thick splatters of grey goo onto the consoles and floor. The raptor rushed over towards Eyeclaw whilst Samus hurried to the terminal revealed.

"A siMpLe SeTbAcK. yoU nEvER hAd tHe pOwEr tO eRaSe Me."

She hacked through its defences and found the base coding of the A.I locked away within the terminal's banks. There he was. Everything that she despised.

"yOu_oU-yOu f-FiGht fOR wHat? yOu hAvE nO FriEND, nO HomE, no Ch-chHhhh-CHILD tO cALL yOuRS."

"I have freedom. You don't."

"mY...eXiSTeNcE iS TiMeLEss, hUnTeR. YoUR LiFE iS nOt."

"If I keep you dead, then my life was worth it."

"HoW cAn yOU LIVE...wHeN aLL yOu sEe iS dEaTh?"

"Because I see a future. Without you."

She typed the erase command.

"Whether I'm in it or not doesn't matter, so long as you don't exist."

"H-h-WhY? wHaT...WhAt iS tHe pOiNt oF...bEiNg, ALivE iF...aLL yOu dO iS...dEnY, gReAtNeSs sUcH aS mE?"

"If you have to ask...that means you were never great to begin with."

The terminal beeped. The monitors shut down around them as the program R1D-73Y turned silent forever. She stepped back and fired a blasting shot at the terminal to destroy it completely, charred remains smoking out of wires and fragmented steel. The hunter turned towards Vyse, Cupil and Oddclaw gathering round the body of the eldest raptor, heaving deep breaths of choking fits. The silver wisp whimpered sadly at the event, the fallen creature breathing with laboured sounds and bleeding from his knees.

"E-eyeclaw, Eyeclaw say something!"

"A-a-aagh...this...this is what I wanted."

"Wh-what?!"

"I...did not want to lose my life in peace and quiet solitude. A true hunter...dies in battle."

"I...I-i-i understand but...is this truly it? I-i cannot help?!"

"Yes...I am thankful Oddclaw...you were like a grandson to me."

"I-i......yes. I...thank you Eyeclaw."

"My...my legs are gone."

"They...th-th-they...they are."

He looked towards the crippled limbs now hanging out of their joints, the remains of his pelvis floating in the sag of his skin with blood drooling from his charred wounds.

"Do you want...want me to do, anything for you?"

"No...you have done enough and I am thankful. Let me speak with the star hunter, please."

"...he wants to talk to you."

Oddclaw's tearstruck face turned to Samus as she nodded, kneeling down whilst he translated through his quavering voice.

"You were a brave warrior, Eyeclaw. I am honoured we fought together."

"H-haaah...hhhahahaha, that...what an odd thing to say."

"I will not forget you. None of us will."

"I am...s-sorry, about your child."

"What?"

"When they first attacked us...those beasts, when they took that one away...I sensed your fury. It was...one that only a mother could have."

Struggling to raise his head Eyeclaw nuzzled his snout against her steel helmet.

"When I cross to the stars...I will meet with your child...and tell them of your greatness."

"......thank you."

Samus wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, holding him close in a tender embrace as she took a deep breath to steady her voice.

"But that is......the past."

"Yes...you are right not to hold sorrows in your heart...carry...the memory but not...the pain."

"Always."

"Is this why you fight, hunter? To silence your suffering?"

"I fight to protect those who cannot protect themselves. LIke my child was, once. Not because I have to. That is my choice."

"Good. You are a true hunter, and I am...honoured...to have met you. I ask one last thing."

The hunter carefully placed him back down onto the floor and leaned close to show she was paying attention to his request.

"When you leave our home...take me with you."

"...what?"

"Whether I am still alive or not, take my body with you...and send me into the stars so I may dance with them. I want to become part of them, both body and mind."

"I will. I will take you to the stars, Eyeclaw."

"Thank you. Let...let me sleep here for a bit. When you are ready to leave, carry me with you...hhhhmmmm..."

He closed his eyes but he did not pass away just yet. Vyse stood up to offer his arm around Oddclaw's shoulders.

"I'm...sorry, Oddclaw."

"He wanted this," said the raptor struggling to convince himself through tears. "H-h-he...wanted this."

"If he did, that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel bad."

"Does it? He wanted to fight,, t-to die in battle."

"Like a true soldier huh? Hey."

He turned his sullen face towards the human rogue who made an attempt of smiling.

"He's proud of you. I couldn't hear what he was saying to you but I saw the look on his face, and you couldn't have done that any better."

"I know. I know this day would come but...but I jus-"

"Don't think that you don't have the right to cry Oddie, you do cuz he was your friend. Come on. Come here."

Vyse insisted on pulling Oddclaw close for a hug, pulling him into a warm embrace as the raptor fully let himself go. Tears flowed into the blue jacket as he wrapped his arms and squeezed the human in comfort amidst shuddering breaths, small muted whimperings and bestial whines of bereavement as Vyse patted him on the back. Claws dug into his shoulders as he began to howl mournfully with sounds that trembled through Vyse's chest. Samus waited until he had composed himself before asking politely:

"Can you call your friends at the base? Whatever can be salvaged here should help with their projects."

"Y-y-yes...alright."

"I'm sorry about your friend."

"You...h-h-he admired you."

"He was a warrior true to your kind."

Smiling with moistened eyes at this, the raptor called on his radio for backup to send as many boats as they could to pick up whatever parts could be salvaged from the operation. Holt and Jareau had closed the bay preventing the other space pirates from coming in, before they re-emerged with en masse swords and guns aplenty to take down and kill the rest of the stragglers. None surrendered or pleaded mercy, fighting to the last drop as the T.E.A.R boats arrived to gather as much as they could, with Samus pointing out the exact machinery needed for their portal technology.

Sooner than expected, the space pirates' hyperdrive engines were hooked up to Dixon's Third Energy gate, with Samus helping to calculate any offsets by means of an added console as she explained:

"The terminal can reverse the last designation this gate has made."

"Really?" asked Andrea.

"Failsafe on all standard hyperdrives in my galaxy, in case one's ship ends up in an unstable region."

"So it slingshots you forth...then back?"

"Yes."

"Will it take your ships too?"

"I set its tracking to my ship and Vyse's, along with Bane's. The console can only reverse ONE hyperspace jump per session, but the number of ships it can revert is unlimited."

"Meaning we can't just undo back and back to the beginning, we only get to undo things once per portal opening?"

"Yes. It won't get you home for now, but it can help others like me who fall into this world."

"Well I'm hoping that only happens once," said Dixon crossing her arms.

"It will happen again," replied Samus pointing her finger. "Time should not be tampered with."

"Trust me, I never wanted to tamper with it, but for the sake of my world, I have to."

"Then I wish you the best, and hope you return home soon."

She gave a series of instructions to operate the various deficits and inputs of the space pirates' devices, readying for their first jump back. Vyse had rigged the Banes' ship to attach to his own smaller vessel with its previous crew now on board fully captured with ropes and gags. Samus stood in front of her now-repaired sleek steel gunship with Vyse and Cupil standing before their flying schooners whilst Oddclaw, Holt and Brightman stood alongside.

"Thank you for your assistance," said Thomas courteous.

"Hey, I oughta thank you!" chirped Vyse. "If it hadn't been fer you I woulda had a much harder time getting Cupil back!"

"Kyuuuuuu!"

"Glad it all worked out," added Holt giving his thumbs up. "Ah expect yer off back 'ome to turn them lot in?"

"You bet, I mean we ain't coming back but seriously, thank you for all your help. Can't forget you either!"

He offered his hand towards Samus who shook back in turn.

"Was a real honour fighting alongside ya Samus."

"The pleasure is mine, Vyse. Thank you for your assistance Major-General."

She saluted formally as Brightman did the same.

"I hope your people return home."

"Thank you," he replied, "your assistance was greatly appreciated, this new technology will make things far easier for us in our progress and living."

"Good."

Both hunter and rogue turned to Oddclaw last, standing between the four humans as Vyse gave him a hug and Cupil nuzzled his cheek.

"Hey. You alright?"

"Yes," said the raptor. "Thank you for...helping."

"You keep these people safe, ya hear? Eyeclaw's gonna be watching you from the stars every night so he'll know if you ain't."

"I know. I know he will be here above us."

Samus shook his hand, her eyes briefly glinting beneath the visor towards him.

"Samus...can I ask something about the...what we fought?"

"Yes?"

"...why did it call me James? It said your name but it called me something else."

"You reminded him...of someone he hurt."

"He...wh-who?"

"I rescued someone once, from him. He was like you, but shorter...different. His name was James, but that's it."

"James? ...I do not know anyone by that name."

"Then it doesn't matter. He was insane, and evil, that means nothing."

"I...a-alright then. Thank you for helping Eyeclaw."

The hunter nodded and soon went back to her ship, with Vyse heading to his own as doors closed and helms were grasped aloft. Once they gave the signal it was Oddclaw's turn to make the call on his radio.

"They're ready Andrea."

"Should I start it?"

"Yes. Do it."

Dixon was back in her lab, holding the radio as she put in the commands Samus had noted down for her. The engines vibrated to life, shimmering with fusion in its warp coils and injecting fuel into creating a tremendously-contained reaction. Channelling energy to the gate, the space pirates' engines took control of the portal and created a violent shockwave that ripped through space for a moment's longing. Invisible waves hit all three ships as they were wrapped within a roaring hyperdimensional void, crackling with darkness of the worlds between. Screeching shadows of wrapped round their vessels as both of them were consumed and vanished towards the sky without a single trace, leaving behind a flickering of existence that sounded like trembling guttural bass as the smallest tear of reality stitched itself into smoothness. It gave the disturbing image of the sky being like a cloth for an instant, but soon there came silence. Holt, Thomas and Oddie gasped with mouths agape as well as everyone else who had come out to attend behind them with universal awe and fear.

"What in God's name," mumbled Brightman.

"Ohhhh...o-ohhh that looked frightenin'," gasped Jeremy. "LIke one o' them EC comics ah read back in thuh day."

"Is this what you do?" asked Oddclaw. "You...this is how you came to my world?"

"Not...QUITE like that, but-"

"I...I hope they made it safe back home."

"I'm sure they did, mochyn bach."

Oddclaw blushed with nervous grin, wondering which of the stars he would see tonight would be Eyeclaw smiling down on his people.

In another galaxy, far from any dimension Oddclaw would know, a raptor aged and broken laid down in Samus' ship. His eyes opened on hearing her footsteps as he saw a human female in a blue space suit, aged around her 50s with clean blonde hair and small wrinkles starting to crease her cheeks.

"Look."

She smiled and pointed out towards the window. The smell of biscuits came from a box wrapped fresh with a label printed "From our friends to yours" as he saw something wondrous from a dream.

"You are a hunter now...like me, Eyeclaw."

The last thing he saw were the stars around him. Everywhere. Dancing and moving with his eyes as he smiled sweetly. The light consumed his vision as Samus waited until he passed fully. The sounds of the humming ship lulled him to an eternal sleep like the lullaby of aliens. She found a small moon where she buried the raptor's remains so that he would always find the stars whatever time of day. The hunter, and the galaxy, was at peace.