Journal Entry 32215: Day Six

I'm starting to lose it, starting to see things when there's nothing really there. Why do the shadows taunt me like this? Have I been here so long that even my own mind is not the sanctuary it once was? Where did I go wrong? What cataclysmic error in the very fabric of space and time brought me here, of all places? And as a test subject for their ungodly experiments? ... No matter. Existential questioning of the universe will get me nowhere. I may as well sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, no matter how disgusting it is. Sooner or later, they'll come, and when they do, I might as well say goodbye. Here's to hoping I'll see the Earth at least one last time.

-Tejed Jenal

The vessel was dark and gloomy, its shadow filled corners giving an air of derelict melancholy, yet Samus knew this ship was far from deserted. Its rusted gun metal exterior, though scuffed and pock marked by years of space borne debris, still bore the tell tale signs of daily use, and as the Hunter wandered its dreary halls in search of her prey she could see it all around. It was only a matter of time before her rude intrusion became evident to the vessel's inhabitants.

Old steel reinforcements creaked and groaned as she walked over them, curious sounds that filled the air with their muttered whispers. Old ships, especially ones as ancient as this, had a habit of becoming noise makers. 'Talkers', they were known as. Old tales littered the space ways, stories that if one listened hard enough, snippets of conversation could be heard in the creaking of old steel. Indeed, the sounds aboard this particular ship spoke of sorrow and dismay, and as Samus listened she could hear, faint at best but still there, scratching at the very edge of hearing, a low sonorous wail from the very bowels of the ship, interlaced with the same misery that set the rusted girders around her on edge. The ship was in pain and it was trying so desperately to tell someone.

Help me, it whispered. Save me, it groaned. Something is wrong, something is not right, it clanked, in a voice like escaping steam.

Something, be it natural or not, was in the process of creation, and that thought alone made the Hunter shiver. She hated Talkers, and this one was no exception. They always set the hairs on the back of her neck on edge and sent cold fingers down her spine. Undoubtedly there were illegal experiments on board, grotesque amalgams of nature and science, of pure life and tainted Phazon.

Typical space pirate affairs, she thought with a brief swell of righteous anger. Always intent on perverting life, even if those lives were their own.

Samus came to a stop at the end of a hallway, and as she stopped so did the ship's sad voice. Here, it hissed eagerly. Here's where it is. Save me, please… She surveyed the all too fortified door silently. Adorning its slick steel front like an distorted flower was a complicated fusion of locks and bolts and high tech security systems. Their purpose was easy enough to discern: keep intruders out. Or, maybe, it was to keep whatever was inside in. Either way, the Hunter was not one to let so arbitrary a feature stop her, and a quick, silent blast from a charged plasma beam left a clean hole in the center of the door. Defeated, it juddered to life and slid without fuss into the wall. She peered in.

The room was, like the rest of the vessel, dark and ominous, a faint chemical scent wafting on an unnatural breeze. She took a step into the room, arm cannon at the ready.

Harsh light erupted from unseen fixtures, temporarily blinding the Hunter and causing her to stagger back slightly, cannon in front of her face. It took her eyes, accustomed as they were to dreary darkness, a few seconds to adjust to the unnatural light now spilling into the room, at which time she beheld a room far removed from the lifeless halls she was just exploring.

Lining the walls were cells. Row upon row of them. Glass sealed fronts and heavy steel backs, each connected by snaking tubes and wires to holding tanks. And what did those secondary tanks hold? Phazon, of course. Samus felt close to retching but held the uneasy feeling down. It wasn't that the sight of the Phazon disgusted her, it was what the Pirates were doing with it. For each of those cells held living things. Some of those living things were suspended in clear fluid, helpless to save themselves, while others lay crumpled upon cold unforgiving steel. They were all different species, and as Samus began her slow walk down a worn foot path between the holding vats and the cells she silently documented the inhabitants of each cell.

Cell number twenty eight: a geemer suspended in clear gel. Tubes connected without care to the creature's well being to to its spiked shell. Blue veins arced through its body. It spasmed once, as though it sensed her, but just as quickly became still.

Cell number fifty six: a sidehopped laying crippled as far into the far corner as it could get. One of its legs was missing, in its place a broken mass of stunted veins and arteries. It was breathing quick, as if it was in pain. The Hunter averted her eyes and continued on.

And then came the cells with creatures she could not identify, alien animals from far off planets orbiting unknown stars, with strange appendages and soft, mewling cries like sobbing infants. And though they were strange and otherworldly they shared the same traits as their common neighbours: the Phazon. They were all treated to varying doses of the very same mutagenic substance that Samus was sure had been eliminated with the destruction of Phaaze. Though she did not know where the Pirates had procured the dangerous substance, the fact that, once again, they were tampering with it was more than enough reason for the hunter to put an end to it once and for all.

Evidently this vessel had been far beyond the influence of the Federation and deep in wild uncharted space. The wonders its crew must have seen. The horrors.

Samus had seen more than enough. She was ready to destroy this frigate and all its inhabitants once and for all. None of the Phazon destroyed abominations could be allowed to survive. None of them. It would be for the best that they were destroyed instead of allowed to live, put out of their misery and pain. So then it would forever be a mystery what had compelled her to keep walking instead of turning around and leaving, compelled her to look into each and every cell instead of destroying the frigate right then and there. For they all held the same things, right? They were all home to non-sentient species, creatures that held nothing more than primal instinct instead of intelligence. The perfect candidates for experimentation.

She was wrong.

She stopped dead in front of one of the last remaining cells, at the far end of the room. At an area where the lights flickered on and off, in dire need of maintenance. The cell she gazed with mixed emotions into was a bit more fortified than the rest, as though its occupant held more danger than even a frightened sidehopper. And when those sidehoppers decided to kick, they could break almost anything. No. The creature in here was apparently dangerous.

It lay shivering at the back of its cell, its facial features hidden in the dark ruddy light. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a Space Pirate. It had the features down, for sure. And Samus didn't really hold it past them; routinely they used their own for their twisted experiments. And yet something about the creature was off, was simply not right. Maybe it was that shock of whispy white hair, flecked with a filthy combination of blood and dirt to the point it was a miracle at all it was white instead of a dirty brown. Maybe it was the way that hair hung over that darkened face, bringing into stark relief solemn yellow eyes that long ago failed to register what it saw. And maybe it was simply the way the creature's body shuddered uncontrollably, as if wracked by unwanted and no doubt painful memories. Either way, there was something about this decrepit and sad looking Space Pirate that compelled the Hunter to access the cell's accompanying terminal, that forced her to convert the harsh Zebesian language into something she could understand.

And what she found filled her with a special sort of fury she reserved only for Ridley himself.

It was a log. And a short one at that:

Science Log 6523-8

Experimentation continues to go as planned, subject is now 75% infused with space pirate DNA and Phazon. High Command would be proud of our success; if we had botched our first human test subject, they would have had our heads.

The ship laughed playfully as she finished reading, its laughter fading into soft crying. Finally, someone who knew. Something who could stop it. Someone who could put it out of its misery.

It took a moment for the translated words to really sink in. If we had botched our first human test subject. Her teeth ground together and the frigate's sobs grew louder, a distinct rise in almost ethereal space bound noises. Human test subject. Samus glanced quickly behind herself. She was still alone, still all by herself in this room of white and sorrow and broken lives. Human. She looked back at the decrepit creature she had so easily written off as a Space Pirate.

Make the horrors stop, pleaded the frigate.

Samus did not stop to think of the repercussions of freeing what once had been a person. The consequences of saving this hybrid creature that most likely had Phazon for blood and radiation poisoning its thoughts. The simple fact remained: it was innocent and it had to be saved. For a moment, all the Hunter could do was stare. And now that she did, it was obvious that this filthy hybrid, clutching uselessly to her chest a tattered piece of fabric in a vain attempt to cover herself, was still clinging to her stolen life. Obvious that her dully shining yellow eyes still held, however dim it was, that fierce spark that refused to go out, though her dejected and malnourished state said otherwise.

"I will save you."

Somewhere down the hallways came the guttural, animalistic cry of Space Pirates, the sound working its way up through the floor and down through the ceiling and out of the vents in the walls. Whether or not the hybrid in the cell heard, she made no indication. She no longer cared. For all she knew, she was living a nightmare and waiting ever so patiently for it to end. Samus would end it.

So, with all the subtly of a rampaging rhinoceros, the Hunter brought up her cannon and fired but once. Instead of a super heated blast of plasma, an ordinary power beam smashed through the glass. Which got the hybrid's attention but good. And as the thick shards of glass fell to the floor, making obscure music as they hit steel, the half-breed in the lonely cell looked up. She was frightened, of course. Why wouldn't she be? For an indeterminate amount of time this cell had been her home, her one place of reprieve from the horrors she had been subjected to. In here she could sleep and forget her pains. In here she could look out and pretend she didn't see her reflection. In here, she could talk and talk and answer in a language only she knew. In here, she liked to believe she was safe, even though it was obvious she wasn't.

A monster of orange steel had broken into her lonely sanctuary. Shattered the door and brought in the horrors of the outside. Terrified, the hybrid backed up, pushing herself as far into the corner as she possibly could. Her mechanical feet scraped loudly against the floor and she uttered a small stream of harsh Zebesian, one vicious clawed hand held shaking before her face. A weak action, for sure, but one that made the Hunter stop. She sighed softly. She kneeled down. She held her hand out gently. She spoke.

"It's alright. I'm here to help."

The hybrid perked up at the spoken English, a language that had not graced her overly large ears in far, far too long. Hesitantly she lowered her arm, staring. The spark grew but one iota and gingerly she accepted the outstretched hand. Samus grasped it in return and pulled the hybrid to her feet. She wobbled for a moment on unsteady double jointed legs but remained standing.

"My name is Samus," the Hunter said simply, ignoring the increasingly louder calls of the advancing Space Pirates. This moment in time deserved respect. "Samus Aran. Do you remember yours?"

The hybrid groped for the right words, her mouth opening and closing like a confused fish. English was something she had not spoken aloud for months.

"T-t-" she stuttered hoarsely, and the Hunter could not help but wince at that broken and distorted voice. "Tej-" She took an unsteady breath and composed herself for a moment, trying to get her mouth and tongue and voice box to work synonymously once more. "…Tejed. T-Tejed Jenal." And at that she smiled shyly. She still remembered how to speak. And she still remembered her name.

A single screech of rage cut through the still air; evidently the Pirates had found Samus' ship and were no doubt furious at her presence. They had to leave now or else face a horde of space pirates head on, and yet the way the hybrid trembled uncertainly on her too long legs meant their escape wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Samus glanced down the room, eyeing the doorway she had come through. They had been idle for too long.

Firmly she grasped Tejed's hand and motioned towards the open door.

"My ship is docked that way. As of now it's our only escape."

Tejed perked up at the word 'escape', a hopeful smile spreading across her malformed features. It was almost too good to be true. She had dreamed of something like this happening every time she managed some sleep, and now it was coming true. If she could remember what it was like when she had still been human, she would have squealed like the little girl she was. Instead she remained silent and followed her saviour, tripping and stumbling over her own legs before she somehow managed to get them to follow her brain's demands. Somehow, her extended mechanical legs giving her an awkward gait, she managed to keep pace with Samus. And yet the Hunter in question could not help but feel the tiniest little tinge of annoyance blossoming on the far reaches of her cool, calm mind.

Tejed was slowing her down, even though she clearly didn't mean to. She was a victim, yes. An innocent. And as a bounty hunter Samus had to save the innocents. But the Space Pirates getting ever closer behind them was beginning to make the sweat run down Samus' cleanly mopped brow. She said nothing and continued to run down the corridor, getting ever closer to her ship. To their escape.

And then the laser fire began to fly.

Tejed yelped as a beam clipped her leg, causing the frail muscle to lock up. She stumbled and fell, the cold hard floor rushing up to meet her all too fast. The Pirates jumped at this chance and for a moment ignored the Hunter, clustering as one around their terrified experiment. Whirling swiftly Samus cocked her cannon and fired. The plasma beam cut through the pirates, incinerating a few and injuring many. Tejed gasped as the beam shot by a little too close for comfort, setting her wispy white hair into a dry fray. Without a thought for her own survival Samus rushed into the furious group of Pirates and took a stand in front of the fallen hybrid. Tejed peered up at the armour clad Hunter, admiration welling in her chest. The hybrid did not think of herself as anything special, and had acknowledged the fact that she would most likely die in that cell a long tome ago. That someone like Samus would come and risk almost everything to get her out alive, even if she had stumbled upon her by accident, made Tejed feel at the same time both guilty and delighted.

A Pirate's head exploded in a blast of searing heat, breaking Tejed out of her reverie, and hastily she scrambled to get up. Without saying anything and with a liquid grace that can only come from the harshness of battle, Samus grabbed her hand and made a dash down the hall, breaking out of the circle the pirates had created. They hissed and shrieked in frustration, and as Tejed raced down the hall with the Hunter she heard and understood their furious cries.

"The Hunter is escaping!"

"She's taking Project TransFuse!"

"High Command will be furious!"

All too soon they ran out of ear shot, where all that could be heard was a furious off kilter wailing not dissimilar from the creaking of the ship. Samus knew the gunship was close; a few more turns and there it would be, bright orange against the dull grays and silvers that surrounded them. If she could just get to the ship, she could take the hybrid to the nearest space station and drop her off, then get back to business and destroy this research vessel once and for all. Despite herself she was beginning to dislike the hybrid, though her better judgement told her none of this was Tejed's fault. And yet she couldn't help but view the pirate/human mix as a mere hindrance, when she could be getting so much more done. If she was alone right now she wouldn't be in this situation. She would most likely be at the bridge, setting the vessel on a crash course with the nearest star, a trail of dead pirates in her wake. Ah well, she thought. We'll get to the gunship soon enough.

Fate had other plans. They had only just turned the last bend before laser fire once again flew through the air. Samus cursed silently; the pirates had set up a blockage. There was no way around the shrieking wall and Samus could see the triumph in their blazing eyes. She didn't stop, not even to think, and when she was close enough to the pirates where she could smell their rank odour she dashed into a side room. It was only then that she stopped, if only for a second, plasma beam welding the door shut. The pirates hollered with rage and began to pound on the door. It would hold, but only for so long, and they could not stay in one position for any length of time.

Samus scanned the room. On the far side was another door that would hopefully open behind the block, and setting a brisk yet slow pace she started across the room, Tejed close behind. The hybrid took this time to regain what little strength she had. She had been sitting in that little cell for so long her muscles had atrophied, leaving her a weak version of her former self. She was surprised she could even stand, let alone run. The Hunter had come to a stop near the middle of the room and curiously Tejed approached her. Anything that could make Samus stop and stare had to be important.

Samus found herself staring at what looked like a crude rendition of her suit. Whatever purpose it served, it borrowed distinct elements from her power suit, and she knew right away the pirates would do nothing but harm with it. She would have to steal it, take it back to Federation headquarters where they would put in it under heavy security then return to the vessel and destroy it.

The sound of grinding steal filled the air and Samus knew they had, once more, been idle for too long. A pirate shriek filled the room as the creature wormed its way in through the hole it had created. Its brethren looked on from the other side and shouted what passed as words of encouragement in their guttural pirate tongue, and without pausing the pirate aimed his weapon and fired. The beam passed over Samus' head and without hesitation she took off through the door, Tejed and, unfortunately, the pirate close on her heels. The bright shock of orange that signalled her ship had only just come into view when she was struck from behind by a single beam. She faltered, vision fluttering, and without a sound fell. It only took a second for the pirate to leap onto her still form and hold her down, weapon pushed into the side of her helmet.

"Any last words, Hunter?" he croaked.

Tejed watched from afar, anger welling in her mind, and in a momentary spurt of rage launched herself at the pirate, knocking the surprised creature from Samus' prone form. She simply could not sit back and watch as her one saviour was killed on the spot, and that one thought driving her fetched the pirate's weapon and aimed it at his head. The pirate's blazing eyes dimmed a little, and for a brief second registered one emotion: fear. Tejed pulled the trigger, and the pirate fell limp to the floor. She did not feel any guilt at killing the creature as she ran to Samus' side and helped her to her feet. The Hunter merely looked her over once.

"Thank you," she stated. It was a blunt response but Tejed glowed at the praise. The victim has spirit, Samus thought. She's not just an unlucky experiment, she's a survivor.

Angry growls signalled the advancing Pirates, prompting the Hunter and the hybrid to rush to the gunship. Samus immediately took up the controls, Tejed taking up residence in what little space there was in the back. The Pirates came into view as the gunship's engines roared to life, and with a smell of burning sulphur the ship took off.

Tejed smiled wide as she watched the vessel slowly grow smaller and smaller. At long last, freedom! The gunship gained speed, the research vessel growing yet smaller at an increasingly faster rate. The ship's sensors started beeping. Tejed's ear twitched as she turned to Samus. Though the Hunter's smooth, calm movements spoke of no danger Tejed knew otherwise. She glanced back at the vessel, euphoria fading into dread. Tiny little fighter ships were pouring from the frigate. They were small, like gnats, though large in number, and posed a real threat. Red beams sliced through the void with a sound like tinkling chimes.

Samus cranked the gunship hard left, narrowly avoiding the beams and throwing Tejed to the ground. She had just regained her balance when the ship careened again, this time to the right. Laser fire sounded from outside, though strangely muffled by the vacuum of space. The gunship's own weapons fire joined the battle, a deep bass rumble that vibrated the ship with every fire. Samus was calm at the controls, as if she had been through this a million times and more. The fighters went down easily, their thin metal covering as weak as they looked, and all too soon the frenzied dance was over as fast as it had started. Tejed let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked back, glad to see that the research vessel was too far away to be seen anymore. She looked back to Samus, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and remained silent, looking once again out to space.

Her breath caught in her throat. A single fighter was making a beeline from the side. Evidently Samus did not see it, nor did the ship sense it, for she made no inclination to move and the ship wasn't blaring its alarm. A stray shot from a fighter must have knocked out the sensors, and not stopping to think of the complications Tejed rushed forwards and roughly pushed the surprised Hunter out of her seat, the gunship whipping around. A muffled boom marked the firing of the ship's weapons, and as Samus watched the fighter exploded silently. She looked back to Tejed, catching a look of grim determination before gently nudging her out and reclaiming her seat.

Not everyone can not only survive capture by a race as belligerent as the Space Pirates, and live to avenge it. It takes a strong mind and body, a determination surpassing the norm, and a powerful will to do what has to be done. Begrudgingly Samus realized she was growing to respect the dishevelled hybrid that reminded her so much of herself, and with that made up her mind. She would procure that suit, not for the Federation, but for Tejed.

And the frigate, still deep in uncharted space and just as lonely as ever, uttered in its curious way two simple words that the Hunter heard anyway, regardless of the expanse of emptiness separating them: Thank you…

Tejed sighed as she stared out into deep space. Though the view was no doubt spectacular, littered as it was with all manner of beautiful cosmic phenomena, to Tejed it offered nothing more than a quiet respite from her surroundings. Though it wasn't the dingy cell block of a pirate ship she resided in, the truth was just as bad. And in many ways far worse. After escape Samus had dropped her off, quite hastily, on a space station at the very edge of Federation space. She vaguely remembered the station's name: Ceres II. Tejed's memory wasn't really what it used to be anymore and that simple thought saddened her something awful.

But the fact that Ceres II was populated solely by scientists with some sort of addiction to poking things with sharp objects was merely an annoyance, as Tejed found her mere presence tended to set them on edge.

"Have I become so alien that even my own species rejects me?" she muttered, fogging up the window in the process. Absently she brought up a three fingered hand and began drawing simple shapes in the fog. The act did not make her feel any better. A faint knock came from her door.

"Come in," she croaked, her voice for a moment catching in her throat as though it did not want to leave. She didn't really blame it. It wasn't exactly pretty to listen to. On cue a straggly little scientist popped his balding head into the room, buggy eyes surveying Tejed with fear and contempt. She sort of half turned to look at him and he sneered. Her mood dropped even lower.

"You're due for another round of tests, Ms. Jenal. West wing, room 365, three minutes."

Without hesitation he promptly withdrew, the patterings of his hard black shoes sounding hastily down the hall. With a sigh Tejed arose and exited the room. Walking the sterile white hallways she got the same responses, and deep down she really couldn't blame them. The first time she had seen herself in a mirror was quite a shock, indeed and she remembered it quite clearly. Samus had shown her her new room. Tejed had taken a hesitant step in, still nervous and shy. And the first thing to greet her had been the huge mirror inset into the far wall. Tejed remembered freezing and staring, caught almost hypnotically by the gaze of her own yellow eyes. It had taken Samus a few minutes to snap the hybrid out of it, and even then Tejed had sat on her bed and did nothing but stare into the mirror for hours.

It wasn't just the space pirate features that had been so disturbing. Her face wasn't all that nice, to start off. A pair of sharp maxillae framed her mouth and her chin had a very distinct split in it, a split that ran about halfway down her neck. A split bottom jaw, just like a Space Pirate. Second to the mouthparts was her chitinous skin, but even that wasn't really a big deal. The way it melded smoothly into supple flesh, on the other hand, was more than a little disturbing. In fact, Tejed mused, it was what lay just below the surface that seemed to disturb people the most. Her included. At first glance she was just another alien, a Space Pirate. Nothing really special. But on closer inspection, when one saw the strangely familiar facial features, hidden as they were, and with a shudder realized that she had been human at one time, that's when they started to get out of her way.

And then there were the few scientists who looked at her not with fear, but with pity. She was staring to think she hated them more. They did not avert her eyes when she walked by, instead they stared with solemn expressions and it was Tejed that hastily looked away, unable to take their looks without crying, herself.

And then there was the Hunter, reactions hidden behind that glossy visor. Emotions from such an entity can be hard, almost impossible to guess, but Tejed had felt not contempt, nor even pity from her armour clad saviour. She didn't know what she felt from Samus' presence, but whatever it was, it made her feel almost human again. Maybe it was the budding seeds of friendship. And maybe Tejed was just delusional, hoping dearly for someone to talk to, and the Hunter in reality hated every fibre of her mutated being.

That thought threatened to bring more tears to her eyes and Tejed quickly pushed it away. She would not allow herself to cry, not here in front of these scientists that hated her almost as much as she hated herself.

She came to a stop room 365 and after a hesitant moment walked in. The scientist therein was quick in his actions. He was one of the few that showed her utter disdain, and she hated every second of it. He treated her as no less than some animal, even as he promised her humanity. In one deft move he stuck her with a needle, drew her blood, and waved her out, as though the mere presence of her set his skin prickling.

"That'll be all, Ms. Jenal. You can go back to your room now."

He peered at her over his clipboard, a derisive sneer playing on his thin lips as she left. Tejed paid him no heed as she walked down the brightly lit halls back to her one respite from the contemptuous grins that seemed to follow her everywhere. This wasn't exactly what she had been expecting when the Hunter saved her all those weeks ago. But then, she figured it was better here than on Earth, where billions of people would do what only a few hundred here would. And on top of that, it was far better here than on that frigate. How long had she been on the frigate for? She didn't rightly know. She wasn't even sure of her age…

She entered her room and without a thought flopped down face first onto her bed, forcing herself to feel even a tiny bit of happiness. It was near impossible. Instead she closed her eyes and buried her face in her pillow, slipping quickly into blessed unconsciousness. She hadn't realized how tired she was…

Calls of pain and torment echoed down the red lit halls. Tejed held her hands to her ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound but it still came through. She curled up into a tight ball and started sobbing, hot tears instantly vaporizing in the steamy cell.

"Who are you?" she screamed into the surrounding darkness. No one answered, save the cacophonous screams that continued day and night, if day and night even existed anymore.

"Why won't you let me be?" A guttural growl came from outside the cell, and on looking up Tejed found herself staring into the grizzled face of a space pirate, all chitinous armour and dagger teeth.

"Who are you?" she sobbed. Suddenly the pirate lurched forward, its three clawed hand tightening around Tejed's neck, and with a shock she realized it was not a cell that she looked out of, but a mirror she looked into.

"I'm you."

The hybrid awoke with a start, crumpled blankets falling to the floor in a heap. She put a hand to her face, only to have it come away wet with tears. Her breath evened and her heart slowed as she glanced towards the window. A piece of space borne debris floated serenely past, oblivious to her torment.

"It was just a dream," she muttered, head falling back onto the pillow. "Just a dream...a nightmare..." Her eyes closed and with a sigh her breathing once again returned to normal. She tried to fall asleep again, this time hoping avidly for a normal dream. A knock came at the door, shattering her peaceful, if somewhat melancholy, mood.

"Come in," she snapped irritably. More of those pesky scientists, she thought with an air of disgust. They probably didn't even want anything this time. They probably just wanted to point and laugh at the local attraction and wonder how the poor thing managed to live knowing what it was. She didn't hold it past them to do such a thing.

The door opened and closed. Tejed's eyes remained screwed shut, waiting the inevitable calls of disgust. She would never get used to them, regardless of the tough façade she tried and failed to put up.

"I'd think you'd be more excited…" came a soft female voice.

Tejed's eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, a smile creeping onto her normally sullen features. For a brief, brief moment, she wasn't a Space Pirate hybrid. She was a tiny little girl. And her best friend and just come back.

"You're back!" she exclaimed, at once curious as to the Hunter's arrival and full of joy. Samus waved a hand in dismissal and strode from the room, Tejed scrambling to follow. Suddenly she was a Pirate again, the looks brought on by the scientists they passed rekindling that hatred and disgust she still felt for herself. But… There was something else in their eyes, another emotion Tejed had never seen from them. Fear. Reverence. They respected the Hunter clad in orange, and by her side that emotion was transferred to her, as well. With a bit of effort, Tejed managed to stand straight, instead of hunched over. It felt good to be feared instead of hated and she smiled.

They came to a stop in front of the cargo bay doors and without a word Samus entered, Tejed close behind. Samus slowed to a stop by her gunship and turned to Tejed, who stood silent and unsure. Whatever the Hunter was thinking was a mystery, obscured as she was by helmet and suit.

"What do you feel about the space pirates?"

Tejed was taken aback by the abrupt question and sort of half cocked her head to the side, turning halfway to the cargo bay windows, mind reliving the time she spent in their research facility. She gazed at the myriad stars as she spoke, voice faraway and dull.

"They're a horrible race, after nothing except their own petty greeds, unfettered by 'weak' human emotions." She looked back to Samus, a dark gleam entering her eye even as one hand played nervously with her hair, twisting around and around a strand of stray white.

"They're thieves and murderers, and they stole the one thing I cherished the most: my humanity." Samus didn't respond. Tejed felt something, something far back at the very edge of her consciousness shift slightly at her emotions, something that had grown in silence since day one of her capture, and her anger and resentment grew.

"I would kill them if given the chance; make them suffer for their sins. I will destroy them."

Without a word Samus disappeared into her gunship, Tejed's anger vanishing almost as abruptly as it had come on. She shook her head slightly and promptly forgot about it, for it wasn't important. When Samus exited her ship after a moment, Tejed perked up. This was important. No words were spoken, for their was no need. Apparently whatever Samus had brought back, it was heavy, for the hover transport used to carry it was having minor problems of its own. It whined in protest and hissed in dismay but did its job anyway, and Samus brought the huge container around the a slow stop in front of Tejed. The Hunter reached up and fiddled with the locking apparatus: first on the left side, then on the right. Then in the back. And finally she came to the front and stopped, staring hard for a moment at the hybrid before simply walking to the side and nodding at it. The last lock, and it was Tejed's to open.

Hesitantly she approached it. The lock looked simple enough to disengage: nothing more than a hatch that needed pulling. So Tejed brought her arms up and pulled, hard, the lock for a moment sticking in place before falling noisily off. She jumped back, surprised. But the heavy steel contained remained immobile. The hover transport whined once more. Confused, Tejed cocked her head to the other side and stared.

With a hiss of rapidly escaping air the container fell apart. Its four walls simply fell loudly to the ground, and frightened Tejed brought her hands up and covered her ears, crying out in a surprised chitter exactly once. The abrupt noise was loud and it hurt her sensitive ears. Underneath her helmet, Samus smiled. When the hybrid finally pulled her hands away and looked up she found herself face to face with the suit from the frigate. Its burnished copper exterior glinted dully in the artificial light. She looked at Samus in confusion, mouth half open in preparation to ask the question: why?

"It's for you. I went back to the pirate vessel where you were captured. They made it especially for themselves."

She did not add how she had failed to destroy the vessel. Just as Samus Aran had a long running feud with Ridley, so she felt this hybrid would have the same relationship with the frigate she had been found on. It was her frigate to destroy, not Samus'. Just as Ridley we her foe to annihilate, and no one else's.

Tejed had approached the suit, her malformed clawed hand running softly over its smooth exterior. It was like an ancient version of Samus' suit, what with its dials and levers and exposed piping running up the arms, through the plates of steel. It was apparent it was made for a Space Pirate and no one else. Its double jointed legs ended in a haphazard confusion of steel and Tejed glanced down at her legs, at where the flesh from her knees gave way to cold mechanical steel. She looked back up at the suit, eyes straying on the helmet. It stared back, cold and emotionless, its jet black visor framed by bulky steel rivets. It was, in many ways, more formidable then what Samus herself wore. Where the Hunter's power suit was streamlined and efficient, this one was exactly the opposite. It was a tank. It was meant to take massive damage and inflict even more. It was meant to go slow, not fast, and destroy anyone in its way.

As Tejed gazed into that visor it seemed to be speaking to her, its voice a gentle tide ebbing and flowing in her subconscious. It wanted her and its passenger. It was made for her. It would accept no one else.

"There's a regulation one-man research ship by the main doors with a few hundred credits inside. Take it, go to Earth, and go straight to Federation headquarters. They'll give you the job you want. The coordinates have already been set."

Tejed jerked awake, tearing her eyes from the suit. Samus had turned to leave, was already in the doorway to her gunship.

"Wait!" The hunter stopped and turned to Tejed, who for a moment forgot how to speak. "…Why are you helping me?"

Samus stared at her silently. When she finally spoke her voice was devoid of emotion.

"You remind me of myself."

And then she was gone, nothing to mark her presence but a faint vapour trail and a rapidly diminishing speck of light, and with time, that was gone, too. Tejed looked back at the suit, then at the tiny ship by the cargo doors. Once again she let her fingers drift over that burnished copper, lingering for a moment over the steel shoulder guards. Three bolts lined the guards and absently she felt her own shoulders, fingers straying over the three steel lined holes mirrored on herself. If anything, the pirates didn't make the suit for themselves, but for her. She shuddered and walked around to the back of the suit, inspecting the line of bolts that ran down the spine, dimly aware of the holes mirrored on her own back.

"What did they really want me for?" she muttered. Transparent tubing ran over and under the armour, and Tejed couldn't fathom its purpose. She let out a breath and approached the suit a last time. A glass port on its chest showed gears, gears that remained stubbornly immobile. She knocked on the glass front and it echoed hollowly inside the suit.

"Well, it's now or never."

Reaching up she unbuckled a pair of hatches on the chest piece, causing the whole front of the suit to swing open. She was greeted with nothing overly spectacular; the inside of the suit was just as dull and listless as the outside. Actually, it looked downright uncomfortable. There was no padding or anything to protect its occupant from the hard metal interior. The suit was built for purpose, not for comfort, and second thoughts flashed across Tejed's mind before she finally decided to climb in. She clambered awkwardly up the cumbersome suit before sliding smoothly in. Surprisingly it wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. The suit fit like a glove and once again Tejed couldn't help but wonder if the suit was indeed made just for her.

Something in the suit started to whir and without warning the chest piece snapped shut. Sudden panic fluttered in Tejed's mind. She gasped in pain and clutched at her shoulder as the bolts wound their way into their matching sockets. Red blood with a tinge of green oozed from her shoulders, hissing softly as it hit the steel, as the process repeated itself on her back, ending with a pressurized hiss and a sharp pain in the base of her neck. She fell to her knees and gasped for breath, body shuddering. Slowly, with a sound like grinding rocks, the gears started to turn, and with a pained grunt Tejed stood.

There was no doubt about it now, for some reason the pirates had fashioned a suit with her in mind. They had plans that didn't end with her escape, though what they were at this time was anyone's guess.

Tejed bent to retrieve the helmet then started towards the small ship, stumbling slightly at this new weight. It centered around her shoulders and legs and for a moment Tejed wondered if Samus had gone through this as well at one time. Gradually though her body adjusted, and growing more used to its cumbersome weight she slid the helmet on. She was at once greeted with an almost dizzying array of information ranging from the simple targeting reticule to the more advanced life support and danger notification systems. Though it looked like a piece of copper junk the suit was the most technologically complex thing Tejed had ever encountered, and as she crawled into the cramped interior of the ship she smiled.

Today was the dawning of a new life. She hadn't just been given a sparkly new suit, she had been given a respite from hate, a wall she could stay safely behind, a weapon of destruction she could unleash against the space pirates once and for all. The engines sputtered to life and the ship sped out into space. There was only one job she wanted from the Federation at this time, and it and only it would give her what she craved.

Revenge came with a simple title: bounty hunter.