METROID: Vanguard

        Hot sand whipped across the desert landscape in places, made warmer by the sweltering heat from the two suns in the sky. As far as deserts went, this one had been just as unpleasant as the others she'd been to, her only saving grace being the cool air from her suit's internal atmosphere. If it wasn't for that, she'd be walking around in an expensive personal green house. Rechecking her coordinates with the onboard computer, she knew that it wasn't much farther to the structure that was detected upon descent to the planet's surface, having diverted to this barren world due to her starship's sensors picking up traces of Varia crystals somewhere on the surface of this dust bowl.
       Samus Aran continued on, heading straight for the structure her scanners said was there. After conquering one more large sand dune, she was rewarded with the sight of what looked to be a derelict base of some sort, half buried in the sand that whipped around it. As she got closer, she could make out some kind of alien script written on the side, some of it worn off from the sand.
      "Research station or defence installation?" she wondered aloud, trying to figure out what it was before she got there. The metallic structure looked beaten up, dents and burn marks all over it.
       Moments later, she was walking alongside it, finding an open entrance hatch with no door on it's hinges, having been probably lost some time ago. Samus carefully entered the facility, and saw a bank of computers and other technology up against the far wall, the monitors and controls charred from fire damage. Sand had blown in from the open hatch and spread across the floor as well, with whatever lighting long destroyed. It wasn't dark inside, as the walls had circular shaped window ports at even intervals, some smashed open, others still intact, albeit a little dirty. There was another hatch to her right, which she headed over to investigate. The door was half open, the hinges broken in place.
       "Hmm...." she mumbled to herself, before peeking through the open door. 
       A large glass dome in the ceiling provided light for the room, in which she saw some sort of ramp that lead down into a triangular shaped opening, descending into the unknown. It was down that dark precifice that the readings of the Varia crystals grew really strong, but she was hesitant to go down, not knowing how dangerous it really was. As much as she trusted her suit and technology, something unpredictable could very easily happen, trapping her with no way to get back out. 
       Suddenly, she heard very light footsteps from behind her, a moment before the sensors in her suit alerted her about an unknown entering the base. She whirled around and aimed her cannon at the open doorway, and prepared to fire. Just then, a dark green skinned humanoid with scaly skin and yellow eyes emerged, stopping in the doorway at the sight of the cannon trained on it. 
       "D-dont shoot me! Please!" said the being, hands up in the air as high as they could go. Samus pondered for a quick second, before lowering her cannon. The green man lowered his arms and let out a relieved sigh. 
       "I.....I thought you were a Valujan soldier looking for us, and was sent to investigate." he said calmly. 
       "I can see you are not from Valuja at all." he finished. 
       Samus raised an eyebrow inside her helmet. "I am Samus Aran." she started. "I am a bounty hunter by trade, but detected Varia crystals on my way through this system." she explained.
       The green man looked confused, his brow furrowing somewhat. 
       "Do you mean the flourescant green varaka?" he asked. Samus shrugged as best she could inside her power suit. 
       "I suppose. I guess we each have a different name for them." she explained. "What is this world called, anyways?" she asked of the desert world. The man blinked three times rapidly before answering. 
       "This ball of dust is known as Valuja Four. My name is Kesok. Me and my people are a working class, or 'sub-class' of Valujan society that primarily resides on Valuja Three, which orbits a little closer to our twin suns." he outlined, with Samus listening intently to learn as much as she could about this place for the time being.

       "Underneath the surface," said Kesok, using his arms to show the immediate sand dunes and such, his three fingers and thumb outstretched as well. "....is an area below that is rich in varaka. This part of the planet has been mined for some time, with all of it going to the home world." he explained. "Us workers did everything that was asked of us, and more." he said.
       "When the mining tallied three quarters of the varaka, the authorities back on the homeworld decided they didn't need us anymore, and prohibited us from heading home. We were forced to live in the temporary field residences, and left with food crates and supplies. Anyone caught leaving the surface would be shot down quickly." he finished.
        Samus was taken aback by this revelation, wondering why a society would do this to it's own people. 
       "So you've stayed here all this time?" she asked, trying to piece together the rest of the story. Kesok nodded. 
        "Yes." he replied. "There are several hundred of us here, all living underground near the varaka. We salvaged things from the residences and made dwellings below." he explained. Samus was about to ask another question, when her in-suit scanners picked up something approaching rapidly from behind. 
        "What the--" she said, cut off by the sound of aircraft streaking by close to the ground. Kesok dove to the sand, while Samus raised her cannon and trained it on the closest aircraft.
The two craft resembled primitive arrowheads, but were heavily armed, judging from her scans. The weapons were powered as they swung around for another pass. Kesok looked up at her for a brief second. 
       "You won't hurt those screamers. They are armoured." he mentioned, before putting his hands over his oddly-shaped ears and closing his eyes. Samus ignored him for a moment, and readied herself. Within a few seconds, both aircraft were in range. They fired a burst simultaneously at her and missed, before she let loose with a barrage from her cannon at one of them. Two plasma bursts struck the first aircraft, and she watched as it exploded into flaming wreckage that fell to the sand. The other one accelerated and left the area in a hurry, not wanting the same fate.
       Kesok looked up after hearing the explosion and watched some parts fall from the sky, smoke rising from the sand. He looked to Samus in shock and awe, his mouth wide open in amazement. 
       "You are powerful!" he said happily. "Come with me! I will bring you to the others! We will grant you some varaka for what you have done here today! Come!" he said, motioning ahead and starting to run. Samus decided to go along with this for now and see what was to come of it. At the very least, she would be able to acquire some Varia crystals, and that was quite all right with her for the time being.

        There were many of the green skinned humanoids lined up inside the underground dwellings, the ones before her just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Kesok was revelling them with the story of what had ocurred a short time ago on the surface with the aircraft, as some of the younger being seemed to smile at this. Upon arrival, Kesok has summoned someone to head deeper into the dark old mining corridors to fetch something, but as of yet had not returned. She couldn't help wonder what it was about, but put some of her apprehension aside for the time being. Answers would come forth soon enough.
        Samus wanted to take her helmet off so as not to scare the few Valujans that seemed on edge because of her imposing Power Suit, but the computer had scanned the air in the caves and determined it not that safe for her to breathe. 
        'Perhaps the people here have a natural immunity to it.' she thought to herself, trying to contemplate their whole situation, as had been told to her by Kesok. To leave one's own people on a desert world simply because they had finished their job seemed unfathomable to her. 'There must be more to this story, or the Valujans as a whole have some giant issues.' she thought, wondering what it was that stood at the root of all this crazyness.
        After a few more minutes had passed, and Kesok's account of the events were done being told, the individual sent off to retrieve something had reappeared with a well worn black case the size of a small bag. 
       "Ah, excellent!" said Kesok, taking possession of the case, and opening it to reveal a bright green glowing crystal familiar to Samus, looking like a miniature tree the way the crystalline substance spilt off in a few directions, branching out somewhat. "A sample of the varaka that still remains." he said. "We have more than enough to power what devices we do have. Take this as a sign of our gratitude for sending those ships packing." he mentioned, nodding in appreciation.
        A crystal this big could power her Varia suit for quite some time before she needed replenishment, and she still had a small container full of fragments she had collected from another world as well. She was about to accept the token and have her suit scan the crystal when all of a sudden, the walls of the underground structure shook heavily, throwing some of the Valujans to the ground. Samus almost lost her balance, but was able to shake it off. Another Valujan came running up to the rest of them, a worried look on his green face. 
       "Ships from homeworld's military, and LOTS of them!" he yelled, motioning to Kesok to follow. Samus fell in behind the two, and started to charge her hand cannon, wanting to be ready for anything once they got topside again.

       Weapons fire rained down on them, the assault from the enemy ships unrelenting in their strikes. From what she could see, there were at least eight fighter ships overhead making passes, the ground exploding from their attacks. 
      "Kesok, take cover in the old mining base!" she ordered, getting ready to fight back. It was too dangerous for anyone unarmed out here, and she wanted to face the attackers on her terms. Kesok nodded and ran for the structure, pausing briefly as it's entrance to look back at her before ducking inside. Samus was getting tired of being shot at, and brought her weapon to bear on the intruders.
       She let loose several bolts of plasma energy into the sky at the ships, destroying one immediately and damaging two more. The other five shot past and came about in an arc pattern, with Samus more than ready. She focused her weapons and fire two more bursts, followed by two mid-air explosions that let her know two more targets had been blown to pieces. Three remained and swung around for yet another pass. 
      "Not very bright." she remarked to herself, before having her computer send a coded signal to her starship, which was still landed and at the ready a few kilometers away. The three fighters conducted their high-speed u-turn and headed back towards her, ready to fire.
       A loud roaring sound started to make it's presence known in the air, as her personal starship flew overhead, making a direct run for the enemy ships. 
       "Fire!" she said to the computer, which relayed the command to the ship instantly. Twin blasts of plasma energy lanced out and tore apart two fighters instatly, while the third tried to make a hasty turn away from it's attacker, only to lose control and slam into a sand dune, exploding into a fireball. Samus lowered her hand cannon and instructed the computer to bring the ship to her and land it nearby. Within moments, the sleek and compact starship was landing a few metres away on the sand, and shutting down it's engines, Samus smiling inside her helmet.
       Kesok took this time to reappear, in awe of Samus and her starship, running up to it and pondering it carefully. 
      "Such a fine craft!" he said, looking it over before turning to look at Samus. "Again I am thanking you for your help! Most grateful we are to you!" he finished, happily. Samus nodded, but had some questions she wanted answered in the meantime. 
      "Kesok, I must know something." she mentioned, with the Valujan only nodding his approval. "Why do the homeworld forces keep attacking?" she queried. "The Varia Crystals aren't that valuable, and your people don't seem to pose a threat." she said. Kesok nodded again, then shrugged as if he wished he had more of an answer.
     "There is something about this planet, I think." he started. "Before we were sent here orginally, we had been told that there were unforseen dangers that a scout team had found. Dangers that might compromise our being here." he said. 
     "We have seen nothing of the sort ourselves, short of the crystals, that presents a big danger. Mind you, we haven't fully explored the inner caves that go deeper than the mines, but there doesn't seem to be anything else here. Just us." he finished. Samus pondered this for a moment, but had to agree with what the Valujan had said. Her scanners didn't pick up any other life signs when she was down there, and the only other signature registering was that of the crystals.
     "Strange indeed." she said aloud. "Kesok, I must be on my way soon." she said, pointing to her ship.
       Kesok nodded and smiled. "Very well. I shall get you a few more varaka for your troubles first, as thanks for your help. And don't worry about us, we'll be fine." he finished. Samus smiled inside her helmet. 
      "I'll leave you a small shield generator in return. You can use it to protect against those ships, should they return." she replied. 
      Kesok smiled. "Most kind!" he said, before heading off to the base to obtain some crystals. 'Strong-willed people.' she thought to herself, wishing them the best as she walked up to her ship and prepared for departure. There were after all, bounties to be hunted, and she was all to happy to be amongst the stars hunting them, no matter what. 

       The Valujan watched as the sleek red and orange starship rose into the air and blasted up into the sky before disappearing from view. He smiled to himself, before leaving to head back into the old base to rejoin his people. Once inside, a couple of younglings were there to greet him, both with questions about his new friend. 
      "All in good time, little ones, all in good time." he said. "We can breathe a little easier now. I doubt the homeworld forces will bother us as much." he said, putting down the shield enhancer that had been given to him by Samus. "We'll get this up and running, and then things will be much easier from here on in." he finished, patting both younglings on their heads.
      The twin suns started to set, and Kesok started to feel fatigued, heading off to begin another day's sleep cycle. When night well outside, everyone was down in the underground dwellings, having turned in for the night. All was quiet for a change, and nothing seemed to be stirring. Deep below the habitats however, was a different story. Well beyond the mines and shafts was a network of tunnels only partially explored by the expeditionary team many years earlier. Near the darkest part of the tunnels lay a circular chamber with several green pods almost the size of a person lining them. The organic pods sat undisturbed and motionless, except for one which started to tremble and shake.
       Without warning, it burst open and cracked, a single Metroid larva, it's mushroom like shape with downward pointing fangs squeaking as it began to hover around it's shell, new to the world and wanting to explore. One by one, the remaining pods started to shake and tremble as well, ready to crack and release their lifeforms one by one. No one in the planet's Valujan population knew what was about to happen, nor could they prevent it from happening whatsoever, as the rise of the Metroid was about to continue......

                                                             THE END?