I followed Torr out of the hearing room and back into the hallway, raising my cannon and wrapping my left hand around it to steady my arm.

"If they're going to be entering, it will mostly likely be through the hangar bays, those areas aren't heavily guarded. Our forces are most likely scrambling to intercept, but in such a chaotic attack, I doubt we will be able to meet them with enough force," he said, dropping his visor down over his face.

"First thing's first, I'm going to need access to a station terminal, one with connections to the central mainframe," I scanned the hallway and saw a few people in suits and nicer clothes than I'd care for scrambling out of the rooms and fleeing, likely towards a safe room.

"Why's that?" Torr was skeptical, and I could see why. I was supposed to be under watch for possible treason, so gaining access to the central computer was a big risk for him, but there wasn't time to play games.

"My ship can wirelessly access computer systems, but he is unable to transmit to me directly, if I can get him access to even basic systems, it will be of great use, he can keep us appraised on everything in short order," my blunt response seemed to satisfy him. Torr didn't seem the kind to mistrust me. He was a soldier, not a bureaucrat, he knew what had to be done in battle, knew what choices were the most obvious. While the council that had come to meet me was scrutinizing every minute detail about me and how I operated, the only thing the man in front of me cared about was keeping people safe, doing his job, and getting the scum that was attacking us off the station. Torr nodded in the direction that the people I had seen scrambling had run off to.

"There's a computer station over there that has full admin permissions. I have to tell you, though, if you try anything funny, I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you."

I smirked under the mask, and hoped he could at least feel my expression. "I wouldn't have it any other way," I nodded.

The two of us went in the direction of the computer terminal, each taking a separate side of the hallway and checking down our respective corners for any motion. He waved his hand as we both relaxed at the sight of empty corridors, and I followed him down the path. A door ahead of us slid open when we approached, which was a little jarring, as the past several days had seen me opening doors with energy beams, and my mind was still stuck on that. But Torr didn't seem to notice and he led me down a side corridor. The hallway opened up into a room that was almost as wide as the conference room I had been having my meeting in, with a few computer terminals lining the outer edge of the walls. Many of them were flashing with warning signs or had blank screens altogether. I assumed each of these had a specific purpose, but I wasn't bothered by them. I made my way to the largest terminal in the center of all the others, and typed in my access code. The screen blinked and opened my personal file. At least they hadn't revoked that access.

My left hand flew across the keyboard as I punched in a series of codes, then I used the large cursor wheel to bring the arrow to an icon that represented my ship.

"Adam, you there?" There was silence for a moment, but the camera on the side of the terminal faded to a dark purple and turned to look at me.

"Need something already, Lady?" Adam asked, pensively. I ignored Torr's sounds of confusion at our interaction.

"I need full map schematics of the station, highlight damaged areas or areas with large amounts of Space Pirate signatures."

"So that's what's going on," Adam's voice held only a hint of emotion, but I could tell he was concerned. His memories may not be whole, but he certainly knew the dangers posed to a civilian station under attack by Pirates.

"I'll get that data downloaded for you immediately. I'll also engage the active camouflage on the ship. The weapon systems may be disengaged, but at the very least they won't be able to find it."

"I appreciate it. I'll be sure to keep in touch as often as possible, if something urgent is happening, flash the running lights on the floor and I'll make my way to a computer to find you."

"All right, the data is ready for you. You can access it from this computer here," a terminal down the row to my left lit up. "I'll try and keep you appraised of anything happening. And Samus?" I stopped only two steps from the map terminal and turned back to him, "Don't die out there."

His words sent chills up my spine. Of course I wouldn't die, I couldn't, but hearing his concern gave me pause. I responded with a thumb's up and I saw the camera eye go back to its blank red stare again. I stepped up to the terminal and a small port opened under the keyboard. I inserted my cannon and felt the clamps grab onto the metal. Pins inside the mechanism connected, and the computer on my suit downloaded the map data. I blinked to activate the map on my visor, and brought up all the information I could. Torr had been right about the Pirates using the hangars as entry points, three of the four had been accessed, save the one I had landed in near the bottom. I could see some damage to living areas, but it was minor, and no doubt there was already some evacuation occurring. There was a large congregation of Pirates in the central hallway, it seemed, making their way to the bridge, and a smaller detachment was nearing the engine room. If they could gain access to those two, they would have control of the station.

"We need to get to the engine room, there's light resistance, and if we can hold that, they won't be able to move us anywhere. Even if they take control of the main systems, without the ability to navigate, we can control the situation."

Torr nodded in agreement, and brought his hand up to the side of his helmet, activating his communicator. "Field team Echo 3, sending coordinates, rendezvous in the access tunnels." He brought his hand down and brought up his rifle, and I noticed the subtle shift of his hand that indicated he was flicking off the safety. He hadn't even done that already? He must have trusted me more than he let on.

"Space Pirates are methodical," I said, taking point and escorting us towards the tunnels he had ordered his team to meet us in. "They'll have patrols, probably multiple units, so keep your head on a swivel. They can, and will, use vents, ducts, or just crawl on walls and ceilings if they think they can get the drop on you." I didn't hear Torr's response, but I hoped it was one of affirmation. My mind was racing, and the hallways in front of us seemed to stretch out into infinity. Was it just dumb luck that they were attacking here right after I landed? Were they targeting me? And if so, how could they even know I was here? A million questions blew through my mind, and clouded my vision, so much so that I didn't see the Pirate almost run into me while rounding a corner.

The two of us almost collided, and I heard it hiss, but I don't remember what my thought process was. My body seemed to move on its own, instinctively. I struck the Pirate with my right elbow, knocking it back just a step or two, and swung my left arm at it. There was a sickening sound, and suddenly the Pirate was laying on the ground, the armour plating at its neck having been slashed open. I looked down at it, and observed its body for a moment. This one had mottled flesh covered in black armour, with large curved hooks extending past its hands. My eyes scanning over it happened to catch something and I looked down, but not at the body at my feet, but my left arm. The spikes that had come from my forearm, that I once assumed were somehow intended to assist in climbing, were longer than I remembered, and dripped with an odd coloured blood. I watched them shrink back down to their original size, knowing I wasn't imaging it, and then looked down at the corpse again.

"Come on," Torr pointed his rifle down the hallway it had come from, "there's got to be more, right? And that's where we're headed anyways." I nodded, the only response I could muster, and stepped over the fallen alien. It was gruesome, but I didn't mind. I had killed plenty of Space Pirates over my career, this was no different. But perhaps the method was. I was never a fan of melee combat, I knew I could do it, but I preferred to keep my foes at a distance. Yet the deadly precision my automatic response had presented was more than enough to confound me. In any other scenario, I surely would have backed off and fired my weapons, yet I didn't.

I tried to clear my head by focusing on what was in front of us, a darkened hallway with a few busted in doors. There had to be more Pirates ahead, and I readied my cannon. We started our trek through unfamiliar territory once again, my eyes darting from left to right and back again, searching for danger, or civilians, if any remained alive here. A natural curve in the hall came up and we rounded yet another corner, coming into a wider area with multiple paths branching off from it. A seating area and a few plants were in the center of the room, and a few Pirates were lingering in front of us.

They reacted almost immediately and turned, screeching in anger, one of them barking what were certainly orders to the others, and they opened fire with cannons mounted on the backs of their wrists. The two of us dove in separate directions, Torr taking cover behind a planter box and peeking out to fire a few shots. I rolled on my shoulder, coming up in a crouch and aimed my cannon, braving my left arm against it to steady, I fired off three shots. Each one was based on the Federation technology built into my new suit, three spinning, crystalline beams coming out with each shot and flying towards the enemies. One of them was struck twice, its entire right side freezing as it was sent flying back, the third shot hit a second Pirate in the head, and though it wasn't enough to freeze it solid, its face still showed signs of severe frostbite almost immediately. The frostbitten Pirate and another turned their attention to me, while the fourth was focusing on pinning Torr behind his cover.

I rolled my body down, but the sensation of my body being transmitted into energy didn't come, instead it was like my muscles and bones were stretched and folded over themselves, and I was no longer a conscious ball of armour and energy, but like an insect rolling away from danger. I didn't think much on it, my Morph Ball spun away from their shots, and I charged at them. They danced as I circled their feet, moving behind the cover of an overturned table and popping back out into my full size, I charged up a beam and popped out, launching it at the one Pirate that had been ignoring me. Its body was flash frozen instantly, and I readied my cannon to finish it off. I activated my missile launcher, and watched one burst from the end of my arm, and for a split moment, I had forgotten that the missile also had ice properties. It impacted the frozen Pirate, and its body was smashed, but the explosion also froze a large spot on the ground. I reminded myself that I had to be careful while using missiles here, especially with the implementation of those Ice Spreaders that could freeze an entire room.

The remaining Pirates screamed and came at me, but Torr was using my own plan on them now, he came out from his hiding spot and fired several shots at the charging Pirates' backs. The one nearest him fell, and when the second turned, he fired a single shot that pierced the Pirate's skull. The two collapsed at the ground, one sliding on the icy patch my missile had left behind.

"Your missions always this exciting?" Torr asked with a half-hearted grin, checking the ammo on his rifle.

I shrugged, "This is actually pretty tame," I said.

"Well, let's see if we can't change that, shall we? There should be plenty more to do in the engine room."

The two of us turned to the hallway that would take us towards our destination, and kept moving forward.