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May 2023 It's been hectic this last year, but we are alive and celebrating our fifth year of adventure and tales. A lot has been worked on to help make the Monoverse one that everyone can enjoy and explore their story while becoming a part of the greater cosmos. All of you, new and long time players, stay safe, and see you in the Sea of Stars!
She strained against the pain as she slowly got back to her feet. There was a flicker around her scorched armor as the golden hexagonal grid came back to life and she could see her suit's systems finally rebooting after the drain surge merely a minute before. The metroid was screeching at Eresh as he fired nearly point blank at its eyes, then pulled back just in time as it lunged at him with mandibles snapping. "I've had enough of this shot," Samus growled under her breath, arming her cannon in missile mode and allowing a build up of energies in front of the barrel. As the charge built, it swirled inward and formed into a glowing green missile, her HUD locking onto the metroid while she waited for the right moment. "Hey! Buttface!"
It snarled, hissing at her as it crouched low, then rose up into the air and screeched while charging upward and then down at her.
"Big mistake."
The glowing emerald ballistic rocketed out, tearing through the space between the hunter and the metroid at supersonic speeds and impacted right into the membrane with a deafening roar. The metroid’s core ruptured into pulp and charred bits even as the horrifying screech resonated through the caverns, while the still barely alive creature all but torpedoed down and crashed into Samus before she could react. The metroid hissed as it struggled to rise up, but couldn't, yet it was still alive, and with a roar, it latched its maw on Samus' leg when she tried to kick it, teeth pushing through the osmium nanolaminated plating even as it tried in vain to drain her armor's energy to heal itself.
And when those fangs pushed through her armor layers and into her skin, Samus let out a horrific scream.
Just narrowly avoiding those mandibles, Eresh would put more distance between him and the creature. And it was a good thing he did so, for he was nearly knocked off his feet by the supercharged missile’s blast wave. He was able to stay on his feet, barely, and for a moment he let out a sigh of relief. Surely, the Metroid was dead now.
That relief was quickly snuffed out when he again heard Samus scream- only this time it was much sharper and more blood curdling. Snapping his head in her direction, he felt the feathers along his head attempt to ruffle in agitated outrage as he saw the Monster punch its fangs through the armor plating on her leg- the next thing he knew he was racing forward. With barely a dozen steps he was right beside Samus, and an instant later his blade plunged through one side of its head.. right through one set of eyes.. and out through the other.
“Die!”
There was hardly a squeal of pain from the Metroid, so sudden was Eresh’s attack: and the beasts mandibles went slack. He would pull the deceased creature away from Samus, flinging it aside as he knelt beside her. “Are you alright? Can you walk?” He asked, weapons resting beside him as a hand rest on her shoulder.
It took Samus a few minutes as her suit began injecting painkillers and medifoam to help her with the injuries. "Should be able to, just need a bit." She sighed as she breathed in, the painkillers quickly doing their work to minimize the ache in her leg. Her armor itself was a different matter, as there were a set of clean puncture holes in the plating and the black under layer around the knee joint. "How the hell did that bastard bite through osmium nanolaminate?" ask aloud, though not really expecting any kind of real answer.
And then she noticed just a couple feet away was the unmoving body of the hornoad that the metroid had been chasing. It had ceased breathing, eyes wide open in horror still while its mouth hung on the expression of asphyxiation. Samus took a breath before gingerly standing up and walking over to the creature's remains. "After all that, and you still dropped." The young woman knelt down and placed a hand on the creature's side, noticing the translucent yellow residue that came off on her hand like some mucus membrane. "Definitely need to wash up once we get back to the Thrush." Another pained breath as she stood, absently wiping her hand off on her leg plate, then walked over to pick up the aeion cube from where she had left it. "I wanna get back, get that data, then get the hell out of here before any more of those metroids show up."
Eresh would nod as he slowly stood, grimacing under his helmet as his muscles painfully spasmed again- a lingering discomfort thanks to that lightning breath. As he stood, his eyes would remain on her leg for a few moments as he then sighed. “I should’ve been faster, your injuries are in part because of me. I will do better next time.” He said as he picked his weapons up, sheathing his sword and reloading his now empty rifle.
He would then watch her as she knelt beside the deceased animal that the Metroid had been chasing, and he gave a soft vocalization of disgust at the yellow slime “Yes.. it almost makes one feel bad for the creature.” He said absently. Though as he continued to stare at the Hornoad, he couldn’t help but feel a faint sense of unease, as if something was off.. but he couldn’t articulate why- only that something tickled the back of his mind.. and he would unconsciously keep a bit of distance from the animal.
“Yes, I’d be sure to scrub yourself down after this.. that stuff looks pretty unattractive,” he said, attempting to make light of his unease. He would then collect the other cubes, skirting around the dead amphibian. “Let’s be off then, even though I was just starting to really enjoy myself.”
The trek back to the main labs was less eventful in comparison to their cross from. As Samus had surmised, the network data had finished compressing into the data sticks, allowing Samus a chance to pull them and pack them away.
"If you could pack the last bits up while I set up the network system purge?" Samus asked as she began tapping at the holographic keys. "I'll let the Anvil know that we're prepping to leave as well."
Once left to herself, even for a short bit, Samus felt her head slacken, her breathing a bit harder. A moment later, she unhooked her helmet and set it aside on the console. A few deep breaths seemed to help her, but she still felt an ache, just a little harder to breathe than normal. Was that from the metroid's bite actually getting to her skin and piercing? It was all she could assume after everything that had happened.
A few more minutes as she worked to set up the network purge, then picked her helmet up and locked it back in place as she could hear Eresh approach. "Two minutes and the system will root itself and wipe everything. From there. We just leave this place to itself." She took a step toward the doors to the hanger, noting that her leg still felt sore. She'd need to get actual treatment this time, considering the fact that a metroid had actually gotten to her skin instead of just her armor. It was probably just a side effect from its attempt to drain her directly.
"Lets get going and get this quarantine period they'll keep us in over with. I want to see my father."
Eresh would follow her back to the lab, and he would give a casual nod to her request. As he carried the cubes to the ship, he would then sigh as he secured them. Once that as done he would take the time to unsheath his blade and wipe it down with a cloth- wiping the monsters Ichor away from his father Silver Hands catalyst blade. “Thank you for your help.” He said as he returned the weapon to its wresting place. For a moment though.. he hesitated as he looked at the sullied cloth in his hand.
The Metroids.. had proven that they were a terrible foe, a highly dangerous super predator.. almost too dangerous. At the same time, he couldn’t deny the potential and the power that these creatures possessed. If the Mawkin were able to replicate and tame these creatures, it could be the key to securing ZDR.. possibly allowing them to truly rise to prominence as a powerful nation in the Sol Daiban Galaxy. Maybe.. the Metroids could be the weapon the Tribe needed to return home, bring the other Avia-Ra under their banner and truly reclaim the territory they lost. They could restore their honor.. honor the Oath: Hadar Sen Olmen. All he needed to do was hide this biomaterial, keep it safe and deliver it to the General, and bask in the knowledge that he had single handily been the one to ensure the Mawkin’s ascension. It was so simple. After all.. what were the odds that Samus would let him take anything they they found anyway? She was here for her tribe and her father’s benefit first and foremost- why shouldn’t Eresh do the same?
But, what would the cost be? Potentially burning all ties to the galactic community, presenting a target for potential enemies to attack the Tribe if the wider galaxy caught wind of the Mawkin breeding Metroids. On a more personal cost.. he’d be betraying Samus’s trust in him.. he’d be spitting in the face of their friendship.. and possibly would destroy the tentative alliance between his tribe and hers. But the idea that he would be stabbing Samus in the back- especially after what they had just gone through together and the the obvious conflict she felt about bringing him along.. the immensity of the gamble she had bet on to let him join on this mission..
He would pull the sword from its scabbard again and activate it. As the blade began to glow bright from the heat of its vibrations.. he then placed the cloth upon it. Within seconds the cloth ignited, burning quickly as Eresh watched. He made his choice, and he would stand by it: he would put his trust in Samus like she had done with him.
When he returned to the lab, he would give a faint chirp or surprise as he thought he saw something amiss.. but he dismissed it.
“Oh. So the data transfer was successful? Good. Well then.. can’t say I’ll miss this place too much. Shame though.. I feel that there was more in the armory- ah well. I’m ready when you are.” He would then follow her back.. noticing that she was favoring her other leg ever so slightly.
She waved off his concern as she moved into the corridor that led to the hangar platform. "I'll be fine once I get it treated, that bastard managed to pierce through osmium plating." Which still bothered her. But considering that the larva metroids back in Tourian had done so as well, perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise. The question was more how they were doing it. Hopefully, with the samples and data they had salvaged, they'd have some answers soon.
It took her a few minutes to walk down the corridor, but once she and Eresh were aboard the Thrush, she was feeling more relaxed to be leaving. Yet something felt…off. She wasn't sure why. Samus glanced back to her passenger, feigning at making sure he was ready, then tapped at the control console and activated the launch cycle. The platform rumbled and rose up, panels above opening to allow the Thrush to lift off and rise upward toward the depths of space. It was then that Samus switched on the open network to the Anvil. "TCS Euclid's Anvil, this is Thrush Eterna. We got what we could, but had some trouble with local wildlife."
Why was she feeling like it was getting harder to breathe? Maybe she needed something to treat that bite wound sooner than she'd thought. "Understand that protocol requires…"
She was getting dizzy. Samus reached for her helmet, but stopped herself once rational thought caught up. If she had gotten some kind of infection while surfaceside, that was the exact reason for the enforced quarantine period. And she could hopefully get treatment either way. "Protocol requires quar…quarantine…"
The last thing she heard was the clatter of her suit crashing to the deck as she collapsed out of her seat, and a shocked squawk from her companion.
Eresh said nothing on the walk back, but he would stay close by just in case she did need assistance. Once inside the ship, Eresh would take his seat near the command console, his helmet’s lenses following Samus as she sat down and started up the take off sequence. Soon enough they were in the air and broke into orbit minutes later- and he noticed that Samus seemed to be sweating even as she made contact with the Anvil, and her breathing was growing more noticeably labored. This confused him.. she was largely only a few minutes earlier from what he could tell- not counting her limp.
“Ha’chidari? Are you alrig-“ he began, only to give that startled squawk as she fell from her chair, collapsing to the floor with a clanging thud!
“Samus-!”
He was on his feet immediately, about to scoop her up when he noticed that the Thrush Eterna was now listing in its trajectory- careening back towards the planet below.
“Damn it!” Eresh cursed as his hands would take to the controls, a sudden course correction nearly causing him to fall due to the gravity well of the planet. Fighting with the Thrush’s stubborn attempt to plunge back into the baleful green-yellow atmosphere of SR388.. he would ultimately regain control of the ship and resume a stable flight path. Seeing that the comm was still open, Eresh would speak out in a harsh, gravelly tone “Anvil this is Hunter Eresh Tarren aboard the Thrush Eterna, Samus Aran has just lost consciousness! Requesting immediate escort and an emergency medical and biohazard crew to be on standby - possible indigenous contagion,”
Half a dozen medical officers surrounded the red and yellow gunship, clad in full enviro sealed hazmat suits while all entrances were shut and the hanger lay open and depressurized. A pair pushed along a stasis field containment unit, making sure everything was prepared for their task.
"Get her in the unit, then make sure that you two and the Mawkin bounty hunter remain in quarantine inside that ship until we've cleared decon and arrive at Beta Five. Full protocol is in effect."
The pair of officers manning the stasis unit hurried into the gunship, noticing that the armored form of Samus Aran was still on the floor, though vital signs were still reading positive. The tall mawkin hunter was aside, his suit sealed and fully pressurized as he was watching them. The pair hurried with the needed precaution and equipment to lift her and place her in the unit before sealing it, making sure all containment systems were active, then engaging the stasis field to halt whatever was affecting her as much as possible. "Aran is in containment, stasis enacted, and quarantine is in effect for Hunter Eresh Tarren. He seems otherwise fine and no sign of contagion. Moving Aran to secure status in her ship, stasis containment is good."
"Current protocol for unknown contagion is containment and transfer to Alpha Orionis Research Station Beta Five. We're transmitting an update to Trevelyan Station; they should be able to relay any information on this place that the Chozo on site have."
As soon as the hazard team had made sure Samus was secured in the gunship, a series of projected energy fields flickered into existence around the craft, sealing it and all its occupants off from the rest of the Anvil's hanger bay. Cold as it was, it was standard procedure for the quarantine, even without what had just happened. Confederation protocols aside, almost everyone who was on the Anvil and had been part of her original crew had been through the Flood. They knew the risks involved, every precaution to be taken.
"This is the hazard team. I'm looking Aran over right now on the pod monitors. There's a breach in her armor in the left leg, the breach goes all the way to her skin where she has sustained a puncture wound. The other hunter told us that some kind of mutated metroid did this to her, but there's also some kind of residue or discharge around the breach. Viscose material, yellow in color. Advise that contagion may or may not be related to metroid aberration."
As soon as everything was secure, the large vessel began to fire its repulsor drives, moving away from orbit around SR388c and making way to jump to slipspace. All the while, the stasis unit did its work, keeping Samus locked in "time", as well as whatever infection had taken hold of her. It was now just a matter of time, and if they had enough.
Once he was able to dock with the ship, Eresh would stand by and let the hazard team do its job. While he dearly wanted to do so, the Mawkin refrained from hovering over Samus. Whatever was afflicting her, getting infected by it also would’ve only complicated matters - possibly endangering both their lives far more badly than things already were. So he stood back, answering questions and generally staying out of the way while the Hazard Team did its work, though once they placed her in the stasis pod he would gently place a hand atop its surface.. something the team members didn’t dissuade.
“Don’t you dare die Ha’chidari, you carry the burden of your tribes future. A disease can’t defeat you Samus.” He quietly muttered, ignoring the puzzled expressions of the humans.
He would then sigh, and eventually would sit down in a corner of the ship. Occasionally he would make small talk, but for the most part he would silently sit- lost in thought. As the hours pressed on, the Chozo would get up and pace to the other side of the Thrush Eterna, sit, and return to his quiet introspection before doing it all over again.
He played the events over and over in his mind, trying determine what he could’ve done to prevent this .. but no matter what conclusion he came to, none of them brought him satisfaction. And try as he might, he couldn’t dismiss the thought that he was responsible for this… and it blackened his mood even more.
Confederation Research Outpost Beta Five Location: SR-α Orionis(Betelgeuse System)
A cloud of debris and dust floated in the regions surrounding the thirty kilometer wide singularity, a luminous disc of accreting materials spinning around it at breakneck relativistic speeds. The remains of what was left of the famous red supergiant once called "Betelgeuse" by Terran astronomers, having collapsed nearly a millennium before and even still consuming its own debris.
No planets remained in the system, just shattered rock and clouds of still cooling gas. Situated at a distance of only a fifth that between Sol and Terra was the carved out five kilometer wide asteroid that housed one of the Confederation's first lines of research and defense against stellar contagion and parasitic infestation: Beta Five.
The space further out from the station, further away from the feeding singularity, would crackle a moment before the opening into slipspace tore open, releasing the Euclid's Anvil back into normal space while the swirling portal would collapse back in itself. A momentary deceleration came before the large vessel continued on its way toward the asteroid base. Communications went back and forth, while on the Anvil, preparations to transfer all subjects in quarantine were under way.
And then just as the cruiser made to dock with the station, another slipstream exit portal would open, allowing the smaller vessel to emerge and hurry its course to meet with the asteroid as well. In less than an hour, a group made up of Admiral Castor Dane, a pair of Marines escorts, and two of the research doctors at Beta Five were waiting at the airlock opposite the station from the Anvil. Minutes later, the pressure seal doors hissed, a low cautionary tone sounded, and the doors unlocked to slide open and reveal the burnished yellow and red patterns that was the face of Maru.
"I wish this were under better circumstances, Maru. Doctor Kines can take any data you have and get it to the team working with Samus."
"I'm assuming that she was somehow infected with the Erris parasite that my people were so concerned about on Ili Agár Nalíma," the chozo replied as his walking staff gave a thump against the metal deck while reaching out to hand the data tablet in his right hand to the doctor introduced by the Admiral. "I've been reviewing what data I was able to from the recovered Tourian files about the planet. It's frighteningly little, I'm afraid, but the Erris seem to have disturbed the Thé'nau tribe researchers enough to resort to creating the metroids and plan their release into the wild to eliminate them." A pause while Doctor Kines accepted the tablet. "What I was able to find the Erris Parasite is concerning, Admiral. It is transmitted via prolonged physical contact, assimilating the host's genetic material and attacking the central nervous system while reproducing itself at an exponential rate until it has consumed the host and takes its form."
That had Doctor Kines frowning as he looked at the tablet in his hand. "That sounds a little too much like certain records about the Flood, if I may say so."
"The Erris are not as rapid and all consuming as what I have read about the Flood, Doctor." The tiercel sighed and gestured for him to be led to where he would be staying. "We may yet have a chance to save my daughter, but we need to get her out of her powered armor and see how the metroid data I have can help."
The other doctor looked over as the group now began to walk down the hallway, Admiral Dane leading the way while the thumping of the Chozo's walking staff could be heard with their own footsteps. "The other bounty hunter who was with Miss Aran said they found and salvaged dissection samples and cryostasised live eggs along with the data server that they recovered at the facility on SR388c."
The tiercel chuffed at the mention of "the other bounty hunter". "Ironic that the so called 'exile' from the Mawkin would be the one to make sure my daughter was able to be recovered safely." Maru gave a sigh as they continued down the hall, while it clicked right then what the other doctor had said about what had been recovered from the Thé'nau research labs. "Did you say…live eggs?" he asked with an arched brow. "Unhatched metroids? And they're alive?"
A nod while the group turned a corner. Doctor Kines would hurry ahead while the rest of the group had slowed so that Maru could take in what he was learning. "Readings on the cryo tanks show that both eggs are intact and viable, just kept from completing their gestation and releasing the infant metroids inside."
"Maru, is there some way you think that these live metroids can help?"
Dane's question hung over him. The tiercel held his own beak as a human would their chin in deep contemplation. Something he was missing here. Maybe it was the lack of real information in what he had from the Tourian data servers regarding research on SR388c, but his intuition was telling him that there was some key to everything that they were missing. Maybe it was in the Thé'nau archives, the data they had kept there.
Something told him that there was some odd touch of fate at play in what they were dealing with.
"Get me those records and files," he chirped, noting the concerned expression in the remaining doctor's eyes. "She was not on Ili Agár Nalíma for your Advance Warfare division, doctor, she was there to recover my people's records and creations. I was told that your people would be there to prevent Kromus incursions, and that Samus would not be prevented from bringing all the Thé'nau research back to me."
"Doctor." The stern word from the admiral seemed to make the scientist relax himself. "We're here to help the Chozo and Miss Aran, not steal what she recovered and hide it away." A pause as Dane looked at Maru and nodded. "Get him all the recovered files, and an AI to help assist him with any decryption needed. And hurry, because Samus can't stay in that stasis tank forever if we plan to save her."
Eresh, to his credit, had been incredibly cooperative thus far. He answered whatever questions that were relevant to the events that transpired on SR388 and even.. extremely reluctantly allowed for the crew to confiscate his equipment so it could be properly sterilized, though he warned that he wouldn’t tolerate any damage to his tools: especially his sword.
So now here he was, confined to a medical suite until it was determined that he was in fact NOT a carrier of the contagion. He was leery of them taking blood samples from him, but didn’t fight it. He had no real choice on the matter, and the idea of causing any sort of complication seemed incredibly unwise. After what happened with Samus, he had to accept that he had to comply with their medical tests and the extended quarantine. Having said that, he hadn’t been treated particularly horribly, he was just incredibly stir crazy. But until someone told him otherwise, all he could do was .. wait.
The more that Maru dove deeper into the files from the Thé'nau research lab, the more he was becoming disgusted with the lies he had been told, the lies that the Chozo elders had been fed. And the weapons technology was merely the tip of the iceberg, as was the human idiom.
The Erris parasite had not been a problem until the Thé'nau had been mining deep into the planet, searching for the source of the seemingly self-replenishing energy that had been labeled as "Aeion" early on. It wasn't until the Thé'nau had penetrated into the lower caverns and discovered unsullied veins of what his people knew as Aetherite, the very mineral used by their ancestors to power their technologies and access the slipstream, that they encountered the Erris. The parasite was as terrible as what little he had gleaned from the Tourian data files suggested, and worse…they were able to absorb memories from their consumed hosts, allowing them to mimic the now dead victim.
But it was a hollow mimicry. Without experience, without emotion. Or at least, the Thé'nau had allowed those mimics time to gain that experience. That was where the metroids had come in. Engineered from a strange creature that the Thé'nau had found some decades ago, what they called a Komatsu, on a planet found in the globular clusters that orbited the galaxy. They had enhanced the creatures natural energy draining properties, attuning it to allow their creations to absorb the Erris and consume the parasites with no effect to the metroids. And it seemed to have been their solution.
A bioweapon. Made to commit genocide on the Erris parasite. But it didn't end there. The research was focused on using the aeion energy to power horrific new weapons, stealth technologies that were supposedly undetectable, short range translocation…
And that was merely what he had decrypted so far.
A chime came from the door of his quarters, causing Maru to close his tablet out for the time being and rising from a desk that was definitely not designed with a chozo in mind. "Enter."
The door responded as expected and slid open, revealing Admiral Dane's worn face. "Apologies for the late visit, Maru. I couldn't sleep."
"Nor could I," the tiercel replied, gesturing for the admiral to enter and take a seat. "I've been going through the files from Ili Agár Nalíma as quickly as the AI I was provided can decrypt them." He gave a sigh as he sank back into the desk seat, picking up the data tablet to put attention on it. "I'm going to be very blunt, Admiral. If I had a choice, we would delete all data here and now, and no one would have this. But my daughter's life may unfortunately depend on what the Thé'nau were researching on that planet."
The admiral looked perplexed as he listened to the chozo. "Maru, I know that I am not a friend to you as Captain Aran was, but I need you to be able to trust me."
"I trust you, Dane." But the chozo's beak curled into a frown, his brow creasing under his feathers. "It's the Confederation I have difficulty giving my faith to. Especially your Advanced Warfare division and your less scrupulous leaders who would no doubt wish to exploit a trove of data and designs such as this."
He wished he could rebuke that accusation. That he could tell Maru such things were just the paranoia and empty words of those in the Federation who wanted to see humanity kept on a leash.
But they both knew that he'd be lying.
"I'm already aware that everything I have access to now is being sent to your Advanced Warfare for archive and study, Admiral. I had hoped to avoid this, I won't lie, but it's a fact I must accept to save Samus, and I pray that it will not come back to haunt us all." Maru sighed as he looked at the tablet and set it back down to hold his head. "My people believed in yours, Admiral. That humanity could be a bright light to the galaxy, leading and carrying the mantles of responsibility and guidance that our ancestors once thought were ours by right." A pause as he looked over at the transparent aluminum viewport, gazing in space and the endless void of the cosmos. "Yet we were making the same mistakes again in this…the Erris, the metroids…these weapons that my fellow Chozo were creating…"
"Focus on Samus first, Maru." Dane breathed in heavily, his own worries mirroring the Chozo that was his senior by two centuries, but seemed otherwise as healthy and hale as a human in their late twenties. "I just want to save her, so that I can keep my promise to her father."
A faint chirp escaped Maru's beak. He sighed, knowing that Dane was right. "If we are to save the galaxy," he wistfully mused while reopening the tablet's screen, "we must do so one star at a time."
Separate from the conversations behind closed doors, there was another Chozo who couldn’t seem to fall asleep either. Silent Talon’s thoughts had once again drifted back to SR388 and to Samus. What condition was she in? Had she regained consciousness, and now making some unfortunate medical technicians’ life miserable with her insistence that she was fine and how she wanted to get back to her mission? Or had she deteriorated and was just barely hanging onto life, her body’s defenses desperately trying to fend off whatever alien pathogen that was ravaging her? Other, more dire thoughts drifted to the forefront of his mind: what if she fell victim to that parasite she had warned him about? He knew virtually nothing about the creatures.. but if that was true- what would happen to her?
Getting up, Eresh would begin pacing much like he had done while confined aboard the Thrush, muttering to himself as he tried to structure his thoughts and center himself. One thing he knew for certain, he had to have faith that Ha’chidari would persevere and beat whatever ailment she was struggling with. But he also felt as though he had to do.. something. What that was, he had no idea, but this confounded quarantine was doing nothing to ease his agitation.
“Is anyone monitoring this room currently?” He asked out loud in fluent, though heavily accented English- his lack of a translator forcing him to rely on his native linguistic acuity. “What is the situation with Ha’chidari, I mean, Samus Aran?”
It was an isolated and sterile chamber where the stasis unit now waited. Medical drones and holographic AI projections surrounded it, while the human medical staff waited on the other side of a thick and sealed observation window. Doctor Kines was among them, reading what he could on the data Maru had brought, and the decrypted data from the SR388 database.
"Primary concern is to maintain the isolated stasis field on the patient to halt the spread of this 'Erris' parasite as much as possible." Kines would look to one of the projected AI, giving a nod. "Gemma, proceed with pod release and prepare for stasis transit. I want this down to seconds that she and this thing are out of the field."
"Affirmative, Doctor." The viridian female form would turn her attentions to the stasis unit while a pair of drones moved in and readied to transfer Samus out. "Standby for pod deactivation…now."
The light in the pod that revealed the active stasis field flickered out, and the unit snapped open within seconds, allowing one drone access to lift Samus out while another moved the stasis pod and its movement platform away, allowing the armored young woman to be placed on the now extending biobed. She suddenly lurched, as if having a seizure, then halted as the same flicking glow of a stasis field established itself around her.
"Vitals are holding, doctor, but there was a definite spike in her nervous system, like it's being attacked directly."
A slow and cautious nod as Kines noted the concern in his fellows expressions. "That's why we have to keep her in stasis, we don't know how fast this thing can progress once it's given a chance."
A drone moved to remove her armor, scanning for any visible switches or such that would unlock it from around her. When it found none, it turned to the viewing port in confusion of what to do.
"Doctor, her armor is comprised of some kind of osmium based nanolaminate, not too dissimilar from Sangheili combat harnesses," came a report from one of the other AIs in attendance, a sienna brown colored male avatar that better resembled a university professor than a medical avatar. "While we can cut it off of her with minimal injury to her body, the armor itself may not be salvageable once we dissect it at the flexible joint sections."
Kines hesitated, looking to his fellow researchers and noting that they were nodding in agreement. "Get her out of that armor, Jerome. We need to be able to use the biolasers on her central nervous system if we're going to have a chance of saving her life." A pause as he considered who likely had made that armor for her, and was present on the station at that very moment. "Someone apologize to our Chozo guest for having to destroy her suit, but we can all agree, powered armor is replaceable, she is not."
A third drone moved it with a cutting tool attached to its arm, igniting the high intensity energy strand and carefully pressing it against the black under armor that acted as a sealing layer. Sparks shot out as the materials resisted the cutting tool, but eventually gave way, allowing the drone to use delicate precision and sever the material enough to begin pulling the helmet off of her head. There was a momentary flicker as the helmet was removed from the stasis field, and revealed a horrific sight that made the attending doctors react with disgust.
Yellow discharge seemed to be leaking from her eyes and mouth, trailing over her scars, though she was still alive and breathing according to all sensors. More of the viscous substance would have been oozing out of her collar if not for the stasis field keeping both her and the infestation locked in frozen time. The helmet was discarded into a biohazard materials containment, sealing as soon as it was deposited to prevent any further contamination.
"Doctor Kines, medical readings show that this infestation had been spreading rapidly prior to initial stasis lock," came the report from Gemma as she examined Samus carefully. "This parasite is already embedded in her central nervous system, we can't just use a biolaser on this and incinerate it like we normally would."
