//------------------------------// // 30.5: Late Nights // Story: Metroid Equis // by Flammenwerfer //------------------------------// Metroid Equis Chapter 30.5 Late Nights [Time: Unknown] [Location: Northern Equestria] It was clear that the Space Pirates were in a full retreat, but nevertheless, they were ensuring that any attempts to destroy or disrupt their tactical maneuvers would be a hell of a price to pay. The Galactic Federation's fleet was doing what it could to assault the enemy's own ships and destroy ground fortifications while armor and infantry moved in. A combined army of Federation Troops, Equestrian regulars and Magickakorps, and even some Griffon expeditionary forces were taking part in the assault on the invaders. The day's battle had stagnated in the North where arctic conditions gave way into that of a standard desert, and come nightfall, trench warfare gave the attackers and defenders some time to rest. Samus, taking part in the assault with CV-Squad was currently in a natural trench leaning her back against a large boulder... listening, thinking. Her helmet was off but she kept the rest of her suit on in case something were to happen during the night. Samus enjoyed the dark, and the 'dark' in this case was the natural shadow of the trench wall while the moon shown brightly overhead. The distant sounds of sporadic exchanges of gunfire and explosions sounded and created a sense of white noise for her. Oddly enough, she felt at peace but in times when she was alone like this, she often thought about the situation she found herself in. Samus's thoughts were interrupted, however, when some steps on the rock above her alerted her to another presence. Knowing it was not an enemy, the Hunter turned her attention to the new figure, finding a Federation Marine with CV-Squad's insignia on the left arm and a sniper rifle in hand. "This seat taken?" Arianna's voice sounded through her helmet. Samus wordlessly gestured with her arm cannon to the spot on her right. The young marine nodded and stepped down into the slight-darkness, sitting next to the famed Hunter (with admittedly, some starstruck-ness) and removed her helmet, placing it on her left between the two. She laid her rifle against the rock wall on her right. Samus spared a glance at the young girl, who to her, did not look older than eighteen. Her shoulder-length black hair was perfectly straight, though with a few split ends and matted slightly with sweat, which was to be expected given the conditions, and her dark-brown eyes revealed one who had seen much in her battles. Arianna glanced at Samus when she felt she was being watched and the two awkwardly locked eyes, nodding to each other respectfully and leaning their heads back. Nothing was said for what felt like tens of minutes and quite frankly, Samus was quite impressed. Few marines could resist attempting to strike up a conversation with her while on duty (and occasionally get hit on by men and women alike)... but this one was as silent as a church mouse. Still, Samus admitted that she was a pretty girl, and silently wondered how someone like her ended up in the Marine Corps as a sniper no less. "You don't seem the talkative type," Samus remarked casually, the result being Ari turning towards her with a curious expression. "This coming from the famous bounty hunter notorious for stoicism and silence? I'm honored," the marine replied with mild sarcasm but genuinely was somewhat thankful for the underhanded compliment. Arianna silently idolized Samus and the fact that the latter willingly spoke to her made her giddy inside... though of course, that would never be let on to. "Fair point. You should be resting though," Samus remarked. "It's my turn to be on lookout. Besides, can't really sleep anyway. It's alright though, my weapon is built for this kind of job," Ari added. Samus glanced at the several-foot long sniper rifle. "Fifty-'hardlight'-caliber D74F Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle. Looks like you got a ZF-110 thermal optics on it too. It's a pretty good gun, I like it personally," Samus commented, listing the name and specs of Ari's rifle to boot. The marine was shocked and impressed. "All that from just a glance?" "I'm no stranger to Federation weaponry. I get to test things out when I want," Samus alluded without much detail. "I can see that," Arianna added open-ended-ly, turning back towards the opposite side of the trench and just staring. The silence reigned once more as a few shots from a machine gun about a mile away rang out. Above in the clear night sky, colorful explosions created a light-show as the two fleets battled for dominance. While there was a silent and somewhat morbid beauty to the scene, the young lady's idol was sitting next to her. She turned to find that the Hunter was gently resting her eyes, but she knew that she was not sleeping or attempting to do so. "S-Samus?" "Hmmm?" she replied, not opening her eyes or moving at all. "Can I ask you something?" Arianna inquired, her tone of voice being one of trepidation and carrying weight, like she had something on her mind. Samus, while never particularly caring when marines just waltzed up to her and tried to talk to her like they were friends, felt that if others genuinely wanted to talk and she was not being bothered, then so be it. She did not feel above others despite her fame and notoriety... they were all soldiers, after all. "Sure." "What gets you through it all?" she asked calmly. Samus was not entirely sure what that meant, though she had a few ideas. "Elaborate?" "You've done so many things... you've saved countless lives, been in countless fights for your own, you've killed necessarily and almost have been killed, not to mention, please excuse me, your rumored upbringing. How do you just... deal with it all?" That was an interesting question, but it seemed that Arianna was really looking for answers. Perhaps she just wanted to know how Samus did for her own edification... or perhaps she was having her own, unknown issues. Samus stayed silent as she collected her thoughts, considering her words before she answered: "I'm gonna tell you a story." "Alright." "About six years ago, I was working with the Federation Security Forces.* With a few other members, we were investigating Space Pirate activity on the planet Jigrad. Upon looking into it, the Pirates had taken over most of the civilized portions of the planet and intended to enslave the human population. They set up this system for the children that if they could not meet a certain height boundary, like an amusement park ride, they were to be executed while their parents or guardians watched," Samus began recounting her tale. "Oh, God..." Arianna remarked, her undivided attention being given to Samus. "Eeyup. We remained hidden to watch, but all the children were alright... save for one. One girl who had dark hair like yours came up short. She was taken out of the line and taunted before the Pirates were going to execute her. I watched this unfold and something snapped in me. So, I broke our element of surprise and rushed in, shielding the girl from certain death. There were dozens of Space Pirates and they refused to be reasoned with... they were after blood. Unfortunately, in front of the children, I had no choice but to slaughter the Pirates in my and their defense." "Wow..." "The one who ordered the execution, however wounded, survived and attempted to crawl away... through the contraption being used to measure height. In his prone form, he did not 'make the height requirement.' I taunted that fact as I rolled him over and aimed my cannon straight at his fuckin' face. He had the nerve to beg for mercy. I laughed in his face and right before I pulled the figurative trigger, someone stopped me: the girl who faced certain death. She begged me not to kill her former executioner, reasoning that if I did so, I would be no better than them," Samus continued, talking with her left hand. Arianna was completely enthralled by the story. "That's... deep for a kid." Samus nodded in agreement. "I told her that she was right, and had my squad-mates arrest the Pirates who survived. I personally took her back to her parents, hand in hand with the girl. Her name is Damara, and I saw her a few more times after that. She had a promising future in the Federation Academy studying engineering. I only hope she was able to move on and find peace, as well as a rewarding career," Samus mused out loud. Arianna wanted to say something once Samus named this girl she was talking about, but Samus continued before she could get a word out: "Point is, Arianna, to not lose your humanity. Don't ever lose your ability to care; to be kind and gentle to those who can do nothing for you. Knowing she and others were able to live their lives to their fullest potential because of me is what gets me through it all... all the memories, the loss, the trauma that we all have in varying degrees. It makes me feel like I've truly made a difference in the Galaxy," Samus concluded her little anecdote with little emotion, though the fact that Samus changed her inflection and actually displayed emotional capacity through her story dispelled many rumors for Arianna: the rumors of her being essentially inhuman and without feeling. "Now that you mention it, and it may be purely coincidental, there is a soldier stationed in our fleet that I've spoken with once or twice. Her name is Damara and she happens to be a combat engineer and a First Lieutenant," Arianna remarked. This piqued Samus's interest. "Really now? Well, if I may ask a favor..." "Anything, in return for picking your brain." "I want you to tell her something that only she would understand. Tell her that Samus says: 'You better be taking care of Pyonchi.' If she understands that completely, tell her to come find me down here when she has the time... I'd love to speak with her. If it's not her, then oh well," Samus asked before turning back to the opposite wall again, her ponytail and two locks of hair framing her blemish-less face swaying with the gentle breeze that picked up. Arianna nodded. "You bet, Samus. And thank you for the words." Samus huffed in affirmation. "What about you? What's your story?" the Hunter asked. The marine looked to her with a bout of confusion. "What do you mean?" "You're a pretty girl with a sharp head on her shoulders. How'd you end up in the Marines?" Samus asked. "I never planned on it, actually. I was studying risk management to learn how to run my own business on planet Sudaten. I'm sure you know that that planet fell to the Space Pirates when they attacked the Federation shipyard on it four years ago," she began. Samus could probably guess where this was going. "It was a damn massacre before the GF could dispatch a force to counterattack." Ari nodded. "Mhmm. When the bombs fell, half my family and friends were vaporized immediately. My father worked inside the shipyard and was killed there, along with two of my brothers. My mother was in the surrounding city that they carpet bombed and got gravely injured. She was rescued but despite all they could do, she passed not even a few days after that. A few of my friends survived, though, and I still talk with them... the rest, I haven't heard from and no bodies were found," Arianna recounted with some residual sadness, though it was clear that she had spent her tears long, long ago. "I'm sorry for your loss, if it means anything," Samus offered her sincere condolences. "Thank you, Samus, but yeah... there was nothing left for me there. One of my friends was in the Corps at the time so he survived... and now I have to put up with Nathan's shit every day." Samus gave an amused huff. "Oh really? You two got placed together?" "He never told me how he did it, but apparently word got around that he was one of my only surviving friends, or one of the only surviving people I knew anymore. Command granted a request to be placed with him in that sense, which is highly unusual and rarely ever honored, but I guess they made an exception. At any rate, I enlisted, my aim was well above average, and I became an elite sniper. The rest is history with those four, and now the extra four that joined us." "Thank you for sharing, Arianna." "You shared your stories and thoughts. It was only fair that I shared about me. Thank you, Samus," Arianna poured her gratitude into her words. Samus thought about this exchange with her and honestly, this quiet marine and her were not entirely different. While their upbringings were radically different, it was clearly seen that Samus's first impressions of the starstruck girl were quite wrong, just as she was able to dispel rumors about her own being. Silence continued to reign as the two looked forward and rested their eyes, waiting for the morning to come and renew their offensive drive against the Space Pirate remnant in Equestria. Humanity... Empathy... Never lose it. *In the Manga, Samus was apart of the Federation Police. Researching a bit, she being apart of the police was retconned.