Guild


Guildmaster Zillic was an interesting sight for Samus. She'd never seen his type before, and old combat instincts couldn't help but make her eyes follow the extraneous arms folded behind his stooped back whenever they moved slightly. He showed no sign of it on his sloped face, but she knew those brief involuntary movements of her eyes were amusing to him at best and useless at worst.

They both knew if he wanted the young human woman dead, then she would be dead. This meeting required that she place her trust in the Guildmaster, and come unarmed, wearing nothing but her standard skintight sky blue Zero suit, bearing not even her emergency stunner pistol with her. For his part, Zillic bore no weapons either. The two armored tholidian guards at the door to the room were all the protection he needed, easily three times as strong as the average human.

Beyond that, he seemed an unremarkable physical specimen, a mere five feet so that he had to crane his neck to look across his desk past the main viewport to fix a trio of cadaverous-looking beetle eyes on her, one of his front arms stroking the long wisp of green hair running down from his chin down to the desk. This one didn't express his power physically, Samus knew. He didn't need to.

Still, she would later come to recognize some of these small nuances as surprise. Her application request had clearly taken him off guard, and he was still trying to decide if this was a joke or something else entirely. The basic coming out of his fleshy vertical slit of a mouth was high-pitched and prone to hissing syllables, but perfectly understandable.

"I spoke with your commanding officer today", he began. "To ensure this wasn't some kind of entrapment scheme, of course. But no. Malkovich wouldn't lie. Not about this."

Resisting the urge to lean back in her chair, Samus shrugged casually. "Adam never lies. At least, not to me."

"Humans are very strange", he stated plainly, as if that fact were something new he discovered every day. "Some of you lie the way you breathe, while others like your commander wear their stark, unyielding honesty like it's a platinum medal. But you... I believe you are lying to yourself, cadet Aran."

"Not a cadet", she corrected him unflinchingly. "Not any more. Adam signed my release papers a week ago."

"Freeing you up to come and join us", Zillic nodded, shaking his head enough to make his slender beard swing like a pendulum. "I trust he also warned you of the track record we have with humans?"

She didn't pause. Of course he had. He'd been very concerned about her chosen course, though of course he never showed it openly, merely remarking that it was a stupid decision she was making. "In your history, only five humans have ever signed up with you to become bounty hunters. All of them were men."

"All dead men", Zillic pointed out calmly, his back arms unfolding and stretching. "This is not a profession for humans, Aran. Without meaning to offend, your species is simply too weak. Your bones break too easily. Your flesh takes far too long to heal from injury. You struggle to lift your own body weight. All of this would still be possible for a committed applicant to compensate for, but the worst of all..." He sighed. "Your kind balk at the kill. You hesitate. You are soft. And I'm told by my sources that the females of your species are even more fragile than the males."

Samus stared back into the triangle of eyes that searched her soul with practiced ease. It wasn't like she hadn't expected such a reaction. The real thing that she'd been working out during the long shuttle trip to the Guild embassy on Norion was how she would respond to it.

Zillic, she knew, hadn't always been an armchair leader. Despite his short stature, his paunch and his polite, merchant-like manners, his life had been scarred by combat from a young age, forcing him to learn to defend himself, and his people. Those tiny bead eyes had likely seen just as much fighting and death as she had, if not more. Only now, when he was in the august of his life, had he finally chosen to step down from his position and become the top authority of the bounty hunter's Guild instead.

Mentally composing the list as she went, she raised a finger. "Well, first off, the fact that Adam had to sign release papers tells you that I've served in the Federation star marines. We're a lot of things... but we're not 'soft'."

"For a year and a half, yes, I know", he acknowledged. "That's the only reason I even agreed to meet with you... but my point stands. Bounty hunters are sent to fight the battles that the marines can't handle. The marines are strong because of their numbers, but most of the time hunters must perform their missions alone, isolated."

Good, Samus thought to herself. It wasn't like she hadn't found some enjoyable things in her time in the service, it really wasn't. But... one thing she'd never quite been able to shake was the same habit that always drove her away from crowds of her own people. She didn't mingle with the others. She socialized only when forced to. Crowds made her itchy. They triggered instincts in her that warned of danger, instincts that had saved her life more than once.

To her, operating alone sounded like a dream come true.

"I prefer that", she stated, lifting another finger. "Just ask Adam. He had to bust me more than once for straying away from the group."

"So your service record indicates", Zillic admitted. "Still, the humans who have come to us before were all loners by trade as well. They believed that becoming hunters would make them 'tough', make them 'respected'. They were fools."

She wouldn't bother disputing him on that. The point was to prove that she was different from those others who had come before. That she wouldn't crack under the pressure, and that included mental pressure.

"I'm not here for the glory", she told him. "I'm not in it for the pay either. Which is good, since I heard you take huge cuts off all bounties paid."

"Fifty percent", Zillic snorted. "Ten percent once you leave. In exchange, we provide room and board, training facilities, instruction, equipment, intel on where to find your targets, and much more. It should be fifty five percent, but we are generous."

She wouldn't bother disputing him on that either. A good Guildmaster's talents weren't just on the battlefield, but on the bargaining table as well. Under him, the Guild had flourished, made enough honest money to be considered greater than the bank of any single planet.

"So", he continued, "if you aren't seeking to join us for the pay, or for the glory... what is it that you are after, Aran?" He made a disgusted face. "Please don't tell me it's for the thrill. Those types have no place here."

"No", she blinked. "If all I wanted was an adrenaline rush, the star marines would have been enough."

"What, then?"

Hesitating only a moment, she laid her hand on the table in both senses. "The space pirates. I want to destroy them."

Zillic emitted a warbling grunt that she couldn't quite classify. "Doubtless, most humans in the galaxy wish to destroy the space pirates of Zebes. Most sentient beings feels the same way."

She leaned in closer then, so that he could see the intensity behind her eyes. The fires that had been ignited from the ashes of the planet K2L and never gone out. "You don't understand. This is my purpose. This is my destiny. And if I can say so, I'm pretty damn good at it. I have eight pirate kills confirmed."

If he was impressed, she couldn't tell. He seemed to slump down, his rear arms going limp. "It's vengeance, then?"

"No", she countered. "It's not revenge. It's justice. They destroy people, families, entire worlds. It's only fitting that someone do the same to them... even if they won't be quite as hurt by it."

"Justice", the Guildmaster muttered, turning his bulbous head away. "Another imaginary human concept. Perhaps you may live long enough to understand that there is no justice in this galaxy."

"Only the justice that we create", she maintained before relenting, trying to think less like herself and more like the alien before him. "Besides, they're your main source of income."

A dry chuckle escaped him. "They are at that. Pirate bounties are always the best ones for credits, and I know your Federation is always good for it, unlike some."

"Give me a chance, Guildmaster", Samus demanded. "That's all that I ask. I'll show you what I'm made of."

"So that's why", he observed, giving no hint as to his final answer. "Still... you aren't the first human to come here seeking retribution on the space pirates either."

"Take my hand", Samus offered him, careful to keep anything out of her eyes that might be interpreted as a threat. "There's a world that I need to know. The world of the hunter."

There was no hesitation in the grip of his front right hand as he extended it, familiar with the ritual and well past any pretense of fear. No, she knew. What he fears is that I'll die like the others and become a very expensive lawsuit for the Guild. He doesn't think I'll make it.

Closing her eyes, she focused, all her movements and actions kept at a slow pace to avoid spooking the guards. The golden light began at her neck before spreading itself out into a more restrained glow covering her body up to the head, an aura of warmth that by itself would have been a welcome talent.

Before Zillic's eyes, the glow flattened out, clinging to her before shaping itself into bright yellow armor plating, the right arm cutting off with a gleaming gray stump of a beam cannon, the chest piece a bright red with thin green highlights for illumination. A power suit, Samus knew, like no other that existed in the galaxy. One that was meant for her, and her alone.

And now, with the faintest ghost of motion, she was lifting the Guildmaster up out of his chair by the single arm, raising him up to the window before placing him firmly on his desk. She had neglected to summon her helmet, so he could clearly see the unabashed pride in her expression.

And while the guards tensed up and moved in closer, the stooped merchant smiled, his narrow mouth tightening at her theatrics. "Very good. I've been to every armory in the civilized galaxy, and yet I don't recognize that model at all. Strength enhancing?"

"Very", she acknowledged, copying his mannerisms. "But even without it, I'm far stronger than any normal human. I just didn't know for sure that I would be able to lift you all the way up without it. And of course, full environmental protection once I summon the helmet."

"All power suits do that", he dismissed the boast, trying to hide his renewed interest in her. "That is their primary function. We provide rentals to hunters who lack them for a fee, but it seems you already have that covered. What about transportation?"

That point, she knew she would have to concede. "Not yet. I've been saving up my salary towards the materials necessary to build myself a gunship. I just never had the time or the room to actually do it."

"Of course", Zillic nodded to her sympathetically. "The Federation would never grant you the use of one of their hangar bays merely to build your own ship from scratch. Fortunately for you, we have bays to spare... assuming you are able to do it without the aid of our crews."

"I've studied up", Samus claimed with more confidence than she felt. Studying and building were two very different things, she knew. "And of course, once I'm settled in I'll be happy to stay on as an engineer as well, whenever I'm not on mission."

That, she knew, would be a potential deal-maker right there. She hadn't just studied up on gunship construction in preparation for this day, but on the strange aversion most of the Guild's currently-employed hunters had to doing their own tech support. Instead, they always relied on the Guild's hired maintenance crews to do it, not seeming to care about the overhead fees, as if the act of learning it would somehow diminish their renown as warriors. This never failed to come back to bite them if they ever were required to perform advanced field repairs on their suit or ship.

But here and now, she was offering him a hybrid of both.

She couldn't quite tell if it was that, her previous display of strength, or merely her suit itself that finished it. It didn't matter. What mattered was the way the Guildmaster tromped back down into his chair, folding all four of his arms over each other in a warding gesture she was sure indicated satisfaction.

"Very well, miss Aran. You've convinced me that you won't be a waste like those other human applicants. I'll begin transmitting the data to create your cadet license immediately."

The veneer of cold professionalism she'd brought in finally cracked, and she no longer fought to stop the triumphant smirk spreading into her lips. I did it. I did it. I got it. I'll be a hunter. Destiny. Everything else is just a matter of time.

Sensing her euphoria, he released another strange grunt, hitting a few buttons on his desk to bring up the scattered lights of the holo-interface. "Since you're so eager to begin, you may sign the necessary contracts and NDAs from here. Since humans seem to have an aversion to reading, I'll summarize it for you- under no circumstances is the Guild to be faulted for any injuries, including death, that you may suffer while making use of our facilities, or while on mission. And as we discussed, fifty percent of all bounties collected are to be given to us. Ten percent once you get your license and go independent, unless the Guild charter is changed before then."

"I read the charter", she acknowledged dismissively. It didn't matter. Even if the pay was zero, she would still have what she wanted.

She would finally become what Gray Voice and the others had raised her up to be.

The bane of the space pirates of Zebes.


Gandrayda was a bounty hunter who had learned to embrace surprises in more than one way. Her training had molded her to expect the unexpected, to enjoy them nearly as much as she did the reaction that others had when they were surprised. Nearly, but not quite. That instinct proved very useful to her today.

No one had said anything about new meat arriving. That, by itself, was a shocker, as everyone knew rumors in the Guild spread beyond lightspeed. At first it had just looked like their boss was paying them a rare visit, bringing with him a few supply ships that quickly transmitted their authorization codes to dock with the BHG station.

But no one had said anything about the fully-armored figure walking beside him and his guards out of the sleek black shuttle that had brought them in. Red helmet and chest piece, with the rest being form-fitting yellow plates, the green visor shaped like an upraised claw thwarting any attempts to guess the newcomer's type by face.

Naturally, there were already several others watching from the viewport. They were all no doubt just as curious as her, but they all hid it in different ways, which Gandrayda found amusing as well. The most common method was the same one the newbie used; one-way visors of various colors and shapes hiding their faces, leaving it up to their body language to convey what they were trying so desperately to hide.

Perhaps they did succeed in hiding it from some. Not from her. Body language was something any self-respecting Changeling had to learn all about early on.

And yet... from this distance, placing much about the yellow-clad figure proved difficult, even for her.

"Who in the stars is that?", Otka grumped through the reverberating vocoder of his diamond-shaped helmet, asking the obvious question on everyone's minds as usual. "Some old vet coming here to slum it?"

"I find that unlikely", Ghor remarked with less rancor, likely the least bothered of those assembled- he almost always was, despite his intimidating size and guttural voice, raising a spindly metal claw to point. "Notice that he entered the station through the Guildmaster's own shuttle. Meaning that they either do not possess their own gunship yet, or their ship has yet to be given the proper authorization codes. Thus, I calculate a 95.4 percent probability that this is the opposite- a hunter cadet coming here for the first time, to view our facilities."

"Whatever", Otka sulked, removing himself from the port and letting another hunter move past him to get a better look.

"New meat", Shiel remarked eagerly, rubbing his hands together before moving one of them to begin typing at something on his slender green power suit. Though his body was covered, the young tholidian hunter didn't bother wearing his helmet here, leaving his deathly-pale bald head exposed, along with the enthusiasm in his blood red eyes. "I'll let everyone know. Just running the odds now."

"Odds-klak?" Another hunter joked, this one fully-armored and by necessity, his voice a buzzing gargle that, combined with the unusual structure of his suit, suggested an insectoid species. Indeed that was the case; like several of the others, Yivayo had to wear his helmet most of the time in order to continue pumping methane into his system. "You do even know-klak- what species they are yet. For all you know, it could-klik-be another phrygisian. The Guildmaster loves those-klak."

"He's not another phrygisian", Gandrayda observed, her curiosity only growing as the boarding party made their way out of the hangar. "That suit's design is all kinds of weird, but I can already tell it isn't designed for cryogenics."

"As though you would know anything about power suits-klik."

Smirking, she folded her arms. "I know quite a lot about power suits, actually, Yiv. Like where their soft spots are. Wanna see?"

Yivayo released a cacophony of sharp buzzing. "Do not waste my time-klik- with games, Gandrayda. We have all had our fill of it already- klak. Save your energy-klik- for the newcomer."

The smile on her pink-lined face widened. "Oh believe me, I intend to."

"Gandrayda", Ghor warned without turning his glaring red optics away from the port. "Remember, the Guildmaster threatened to expel you after last time. I would advise against your usual mischief."

"Aw", she laughed. "And people say you're a cold machine. Don't worry about it, hon. Zillic won't kick me out." As she spoke, the neon pink energy suffusing her being shifted, heralding a physical transformation, a rearranging of molecules into a shape completely identical to their new guest's garish yellow and red power suit. The voice emitting from the helmet's vocoder did not change at all... and neither did her mind.

"I make him too much money for that."


Despite everything she'd seen and read about so far, Samus found herself impressed by the BHG's layout. The Federation had over a thousand times the funding and could build ships and stations far larger and better-equipped than this one... but she'd also come to believe that size was far from the only factor when it came to grandeur.

From the outside it looked plain enough. In order to achieve a comfortable orbit around its chosen planet, the cardinal rule for all space stations, no matter who built them, was for it to have a much greater vertical dimension than horizontal. A round, plated shaft of bleak duranium ran around the bottom, cast in a shade of bright blue by the light of the system's star, the largest opening being at the bottom where the engines were.

It was only above the shaft where things got interesting. The top third flared out suddenly, becoming a double-sided dome covered in lit viewports and small rectangular openings, the very apex covered in antennae for communications. That stylistic choice made the place look like some scepter wielded by some enormous, solar-sized ruler. The midline of the dome was where the openings were thickest, forming a near-continuous line of lights guiding the way.

From outside, she could also see the ring of satellites positioned in natural orbit around the BHG in turn, counting at least four of them. While barely the size of a gunship, each one carried enough in the way of missile and laser weaponry to threaten a star cruiser if it got too close and failed to transmit the authorization codes in time.

For additional defenses, there had been a scarcely-perceptible white haze around the station until they got close enough to transmit. A powerful energy shield projected from ground installation on the station's chosen planet, long ago blandly registered by Federation explorers as CR3827 based on its stellar coordinates.

"And of course the ground installation has its own defenses as well", one of the uniformed guards had explained to her, opening up now that she was going to become 'one of them'. "Both natural and manufactured."

The 'natural' defenses were obvious enough; CR3827 looked hostile even from orbit, a yellow haze surrounding it that wasn't so far off from the color of Samus' own armor, but she knew it indicated an atmosphere that was toxic to most life forms, and if she squinted, she could make out tiny white blemishes that translated into Olympic-sized pools of boiling acid. What natural fauna did manage to exist down there was always hostile, and always hungry.

The Zebesian space pirates were reckless and wanton. She knew that better than anyone. They pillaged any world they could find, stripping away any useful resources and either murdering or enslaving the inhabitants. But even they had never been greedy or stupid enough to try to attack the BHG or the rather useless planet CR3827, any more than they might launch an attack on the Federation's capital world, which was even more heavily defended than this place.

The problem was, with tens of thousands of inhabited worlds to protect, it was impossible for even the Federation to guard every world, every supply convoy, that way. Wherever the defenses were weak, the pirates struck, leaving death and despair in their wake. They were a plague on the galaxy that, as Zillic had freely admitted, were the enemy of nearly all civilization.

The station's interior seemed equally plain and utilitarian at first. Eighteen decks, but only the top six were part of the 'dome'. Everything below that was devoted to internal systems, including the main reactor. Most hunters never went below deck 6. There was no point, and the lack of heating discouraged exploration.

But even though it was only six decks, they were were spread out enough that corridor traffic was a trickle or nothing. She had learned that around forty trainee hunters lived here at any given time, and the instructors, guards and crew numbered that many again, which meant less an average of less than fifteen living beings on decks the size of shockball stadiums. Many of the guards were automated sentries as well, and only left their housings during an alert.

The closest thing to a 'center' the BHG had was the amphitheater, a circular room on deck 3 with gradating rows of seats positioned around an enormous holo-emitter for briefings, yet it was hardly ever used. For any real crowds, one had to go to the outer pavilions or the mess halls on decks 2 and 4, and even that was a pittance compared to the loud mobs she was used to seeing in the lunch rooms on a Federation barracks. This near solitude suited her just fine, of course.

After a brief tour, they brought her to deck 5, where the majority of the hunters had their private quarters- thankfully, not shared. Each had a small, individual room with little features except a bed, a cubbyhole for 'personal amenities', and a universal recharge station that could be adapted to any kind of power suit's systems, keeping it in top shape at all times. While some species had some special needs that required modifications to meet- in fact all of deck 6 was kept at a biting subzero temperature to provide comfortable quarters for the Guild's phrygisian hunters- humans required no such changes, and her room looked identical to the ones flanking it.

To others it might seem Spartan, but to her it was a sign that the Guild, like the marines, knew that there was no point to putting in much else. The quarters weren't designed to be homey. They were for hunters to rest when they weren't on duty, and that was all. Anything else was a luxury and a waste of space... and this was still an improvement from the marines, which put its privates into cramped rooms of four beds apiece.

"You'll begin your first training session on the next solar cycle", a guard advised her sternly. "Report to the southeast of deck 4 at 07300. You're welcome to explore the main decks however you wish, but do not interfere with other hunters' training sessions or maintenance."

Samus grimaced. She couldn't imagine anything she was less likely to do. "When do I get my hangar bay?"

Seeming momentarily doubtful, the guard straightened up. "The Guildmaster is arranging for that now. He will notify you when it's ready."

Satisfied with that, she was left in the comfort of near complete privacy-

For approximately thirty seconds. Then, a insistent knock on the blue metal of the round doorway hatch got her back up, annoyed.

It was another guard, identical to the first in all but voice and tone. They stood there, unmoving until Samus finally lost her patience. "...Well? Yes?"

Unfreezing, the guard began to laugh, nearly doubling over. The instinct came to call for a medic, but she knew this wasn't serious, and waited for it to subside. "So you're a human", the guard said finally, their jerky movements suggesting a lack of the training that had previously reminded her so much of the star marines. "A human... hah! And a female human as well. I don't think we've ever had one of those here before! Okay, maybe as a target held for transport, but that's it. Oh, this is gonna be great!"

"Samus Aran", she grunted, skating the edge of her patience. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm just glad you're not another phrygisian", the strange guard remarked, finally over their laughing fit. "Good hunters, sure, but they've got the humor of a rock. But humans are great for that. Must be in the name, right?"

"Enough", she demanded, reaching for her pistol. "Take that helmet off; I know you're not one of the guards. If you are, you should be fired. And if you're not, you should be reported for stealing a uniform."

But the intruder's gray armor remained firmly where it was, even as they gyrated hyperactively in sheer amusement. "Samus Aran, huh? Nice name. Catchy. I like how humans keep their clan names, but their first names are unique. Riakorrans have to make their whole names into these crazy-long accolades to the everlasting glory of their birth-clans. Bit ridiculous if you ask me."

It was the mention of that other species that jarred Samus memory, finally making it click. "So you're a changeling. That's why. Changelings have one name, with no connection to their families except the first syllable, right?"

That seemed to calm the 'guard' down somewhat, merely observing her now. "...Huh. Didn't think you'd guess that. Yeah, you called it. My clan is 'Gan'. I'm Gandrayda. Can I come in?"

"Absolutely not", Samus scowled, gripping her pistol even tighter. She knew lots of other things about Changelings too. Energy beings that, with a few exceptions, had no sense of personal responsibility at all. Plenty of them liked to callously ghost through the lives of other communities, tricking people with their shifting abilities just so they could derive amusement from the chaos they could cause. They were just as dangerous in their true forms, the unstable transphasic energy that composed their bodies- and presumably, what made their minds so erratic- could be weaponised with just a bit of training.

"-Goodbye."

One arm shot out to block the door, but Samus was ready for that, firing her stunner pistol to dislodge it and allow the hatch to close fully. It failed, however, at keeping out the noise. "Awww, come on, Sammy! I just wanted to talk! Give you a nice BHG welcome!"

"Go away!"

"...Pretty please?"

Silence.

Good.


Out in the hall, Gandrayda maintained her disguise until she was back in her own quarters. The bed there always seemed superfluous, as energy beings hardly needed to sleep, and didn't need to lie down in the few times when they did. It had also been deemed too much effort to move it though. It wasn't like she could think of much to do with the empty space. The only other significant addition had been the installation of a mirror her own height.

"Sammy, huh...", she giggled to herself, plans for how to proceed already taking shape in her mind. "A human... Haven't had any of those for years. Have to let Shiel know... his betting pool's gonna be thrown all out of whack now, hehehe..."

But as always, the other hunters' reactions were mere secondary considerations. Background noise. What mattered was that she'd gotten a good look at the new meat. All she had to do was think, and the riotous pink energy around her crackled and coalesced, forming into a fascinatingly skintight blue bodysuit, her pale skin developing human pigmentation and the matching blond hair and eyes.

"And she came in here wearing something like that beneath her armor", Gandrayda chuckled to herself. "Maybe not so uptight as she wants everyone to believe, eh?" Carefully, she examined herself in the mirror making sure every detail was completely perfect. With new marks, it was important to double check. Sure enough, she'd managed to copy the hair and svelte body structure perfectly, along with the human lips and nose.

Finally, the hardest part- the voice. Adjusting her vocal chords to match was always a precise matter. The few words she'd been able to get out of the new meat were sparse and distorted by anger, but enough to work out a near-enough approximation. Turning the meat's thin lips into a cheery smile was all the incentive she needed to work extra hard on it, until it was nearly-perfect.

"Samus Aran", she tried out the newly copied human voice, trying on various poses as the same time as she talked into the mirror. "I'm Samus Aran. I'm Samus. I'm totally gonna be a bounty hunter. I'm gonna be a bounty hunter even though every human who ever tried it died horribly. But I'll make it... 'cause I'm Samus Aran."

She had to wait a few minutes for the involuntary laughter to subside before she could continue, stretching in the mirror to test out the new body's limber muscles.

"Yeah, I'm Samus Aran. I'm not like those other humans. 'Cause I'm practically naked under my power suit. Soon as all those nasty space pirates see me, they'll drop dead 'cause of me. 'Cause I'm Samus Aran."

Oh stars. This is gonna be so much fuuun...!


A/N: Happy New Year to all who read this, may it not suck as much as the previous one.

I thought I'd start this new year off right by posting the results of something I never thought I'd have the time or the energy to try: NaNoWriMo. That's right, I wrote this whole thing in one month and change. Everything is already done, all that's left for me to do is proofread and edit it, and as a result I should be able to update regularly every week. As you can see, this will be a prequel story about Samus applying and training to become a bounty hunter for the first time, but shorter than the epics I usually try to write, probably 8 chapters maximum. After that I will resume my Persona story, Emerald. Enjoy!