METROID:     THE KIHUNTERS
				      By John Morey
(All similarities to Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Star Trek, or 
anything else with the word “Star” in it are totally coincidental)
			


					Prologue 

	It has been three months since the destruction of Zebes and the 
apparent extinction of the Metroids. Samus Aran and Armstrong Houston 
have been hailed as heroes and rewarded handsomely. The Galaxy was at 
peace. Great War began.
	At first no one noticed it. Nobody paid much attention to the planets 
in section Zeta. The Mother Brain had owned those for years now and they 
were totally devoid of natural life, so no one cared to look there. Then 
it struck

   				*		*		*
	It was a peaceful day on the Donian colony on Tsebnash, the fifth 
planet in the Calorhatt system. Chief defender Dor Coran Thun Badikarr 
Lipinazzer Fip walked to work on this bright beautiful day the exact 
same way he normally did.
	Dor’s job consisted mainly of monitoring any incoming traffic (there 
was very little), and making sure that nothing illegal was going on. 
That nothing illegal ever did go on Tsebnash didn’t matter. Dor Coran 
Thun Badikarr Lipinazzer Fip was a nice, old man who thoroughly enjoyed 
his job. It was easy enough. All that he had to do was sit in his chair, 
and rake in the credits. If he thought that his Federation salary was 
low, he just added another name to his own name to make himself look 
more grandiose, and asked. Nine times out of ten he got it. He was just 
thinking of adding Guback to his name when the call came in.
	It was from the leader of his planetary patrols. “Sir!” He shouted over 
the intercom. Everyone just called Dor sir, as his name was too long for 
anyone to remember. “Sir,” he repeated, with a lot of static added, 
“There is a huge unidentified ship heading here. It won’t identify 
itself. Should I send it off?” “Let me have a look at the ship.” Dor 
said. The screen went on, and a picture of a huge, round, almost Death 
Starlit spaceship appeared. “State your name and your business” The 
Chief Protector said with as much authority that he could put in his 
voice. There was no response. “Perhaps you did not understand me, I 
said...” Dor stopped cold. Three large laser beams incinerated all of 
his patrol ships. A multitude of little green fighters started to pour 
out. Dor Coran Thun Badikarr Lipinazzer Fip hit the alarm button, 
signaling the small army to come out. The enemy ships were landing.

	Watching from what used to be the security of his office, Dor Coran 
Thun Badikarr Lipinazzer Fip watched literally thousands of large green 
insects make mincemeat of the space colony. For the first and last time 
of his life, Dor Coran Thun Badikarr Lipinazzer Fip felt terrified.
	
	
 

			CHAPTER ONE: THE KIHUNTERS
	Three weeks later.
	The famous bounty hunter Samus Aran woke up quite early on Threeday 
(Known to us as Tuesday), July seventh, 2636 (Earth Standard date). 
	She did not want to wake up early, but her new hero status required 
that she did. First, Samus had been employed by chairman Keaton on a 
regular basis, and secondly, with her new heroic status, Samus Aran had 
to wake up early or risk being called lazy by the droves of adoring fans 
(who, by the way, were nowhere to be seen, and thus wouldn’t know or 
care if she slept in a bit).
	Today, Samus was definitely what some people would call “cranky in the 
morning” today. Three months of getting up before the sun had finally 
gotten to her. Her best friend and almost business partner, Armstrong 
Houston, was not aware of these facts, and stupidly greeted her with his 
usual hearty hello and handshake.
	Well, at least he held off on the handshake from then on.
	They both reported to chief officer Hardy that morning, and set out to 
the usual day of doing absolutely nothing until Keaton called.

				*		*		*

	Ridley’s life was ruined. Completely in shambles. Just three months 
earlier he had been the Mother Brain’s chief lieutenant, and was voted 
“The Most Feared Space Pirate” award for three consecutive years. Then 
that Aran character came in and spoiled everything. 
	It had all started three years earlier, with the discovery of Metroids 
in the galaxy. Metroids were artificially created floating life forms 
that absorbed and gave out energy. They could reproduce when exposed to 
Gamma radiation. They could evolve, too.
	The Mother Brain had succeeded in capturing a live Metroid and making 
it reproduce, giving her a monopoly on its power. Her little plot was 
foiled by a rookie bounty hunter named Samus Aran who tore through their 
little base on the planet Zebes, fought through the defenses (Metroids 
included), and defeated the Mother Brain.
	One year after that, The Mother Brain rebuilt her forces (They weren’t 
really that damaged, anyway) and planned a new attack.
	Samus was at that time eliminating Metroids on their home planet, 
SR388, and she got all of the publicity. Otherwise, the galaxy’s eyes 
might have noticed a much bigger threat forming.
	In a nearby galaxy, there was a strange race of insectlike creatures 
called Kihunters. They basically operated like this: They would travel 
from planet to planet in their huge orb ships, and colonize every planet 
that they found that could support them. They destroyed the rest. They 
also destroyed any living thing on the planets that they colonized. 
	The Kihunters had already taken over their own galaxy, and were moving 
on to the next one: ours.
	It was pure luck that they arrived in the Mother Brain’s territory. She 
recognized their threat early on, and stopped them from getting out of 
control. She did this by allowing them several planets that she owned, 
and no more. Surprisingly, they agreed.
	When Samus Aran returned triumphantly with the last remaining Metroid, 
Ridley was ordered to capture it and bring it to Zebes. He accomplished 
this task with precision, and the cloning began shortly.
	Once again, Samus (with a little help this time) ran to Zebes to stop 
the pirates. This time the pirates also had Kihunters on their side.
	It didn’t work, though. The Kihunters on Zebes were few and far 
between, not like the vast armies of them on other planets.
	Samus Aran destroyed the Mother Brain, only to watch as the last of the 
Metroids died. Oh, yeah, and Zebes blew up, too. Ridley made a tactical 
retreat earlier, and avoided death. Now there was nothing to stop the 
Kihunters, and the galaxy was in danger.
	
	In only three standard months, the Kihunters were on the move. Out of 
memory of Ridley’s earlier charity to them, they sent Ridley a message 
stating that they wished for him to join up with them. Since there was 
nothing else, Ridley decided to give it a try.
	He arrived at Tsebnash, their new base planet, shortly after it was 
razed. Ridley could not believe his eyes. What had once been a bustling 
little community was now a smoldering wreck, utterly destroyed. He 
decided to go on with joining them, though, Maybe the colonists put up a 
fight. Ridley rationalized. He knew the truth, though, and it nagged him 
like a knot in his stomach.
	His presence on the planet was known almost immediately, with loud 
warning sirens going off (Kihunters used technology). After a few scouts 
took a look at him, their leader stepped out into the midst. He was the 
Master.
	There was only one Master, and he was only on one base planet; all 
decisions went through him in the end. He was the heart and soul of the 
Kihunters.
	Physically, he resembled a metal spider, from the waist down. He had a 
(Robotic) human torso, and two arms. His head somewhat resembled Venom’s 
head with smaller eyes, if that were metal, also.
	The master walked up to Ridley and surveyed him. 
	It spoke, “RIDLEY. YOU HAVE ARRIVED. WE ARE PLEASED THAT YOU REPLIED. 
COME WITH US.”



			     CHAPTER TWO: SCHNEIDER




	”You want us to do what?!?” Samus Aran was completely puzzled at this 
new development. Chief officer James Hardy, who was basically the police 
chief of the Federation, had an unusual job for Samus and Houston. Their 
mutual reaction was more of surprise than outrage. 
	“Yes,” Hardy answered, “I want you to go over to Tsebnash, and try to 
contact the Donian colony. It’s been three weeks since their last weekly 
report, and they have not replied to any of our transmissions.
	“Then why don’t you send some of your ordinary flunkies over there?” 
Houston asked.
	“We did. They never replied, either.”
	“So, let me get this straight. You think that something 
life-threatening is going on at the galaxy’s most boring planet, and you 
want to send the two best bounty hunters in the entire Milky Way to 
check it out?” Samus asked.
	“Correction. The three best bounty hunters In the galaxy.”
	“Then who’s the third?”
	As if to answer Houston’s question, the third hunter stepped in. 
	His suit was similar to Samus’, but jet black, and more streamlined. 
His arm cannon was also smaller and less bulky (but with just as much 
firepower). Samus recognized him immediately. “Schneider,” she said, 
“What a pleasant surprise it is. Now please go away.”
	Schneider smirked from under his helmet and replied, “Why of course, my 
dear Ms. Aran, but is that before or after I give you the keys to the 
universe?”
	“Just shut up.”
	“Everyone, please! Calm down!” Hardy shouted, before the fisticuffs 
would’ve begun. “I know that you have your differences, but please put 
them aside until-” “Yes, we have a few differences.” Schneider 
interrupted, “And I agree. Samus, why can’t we just get along?” 
Schneider put his arm on Samus’ left shoulder, and it was all that she 
could do to avoid ripping it out of Schneider’s torso and beating him to 
death with it.
	Samus Aran and Locuthis Schneider were not on the best of terms. 
Whereas Samus Aran was the most valiant of all of the bounty hunters, 
Schneider was the most (for lack of a better term) scuzzy. He was a 
total jerk, very well-known for siding with whomever had the most money, 
and betraying everybody around her. A few years ago, Schneider had 
ruined Samus’ most recent attempt at finding her brother (I’ll explain 
that later). He did that on purpose, too. Houston also had a small ax to 
grind (really more of a halberd) with Schneider, and he also had to 
refrain himself from using his gun to make the galaxy a better place.
	“Okay. I’ll cooperate with him, if he’ll remove his arm.” “Okay. Here.” 
Schneider took his arm off her shoulder.
	 “No,” Samus said, “I meant remove his arm, not move it, remove it.” 
	“Stop it, you two!” Hardy yelled, even louder this time, “You’re acting 
like my three-year old nephew! No one will be losing any major 
appendages today. Samus, you may amputate his arm tomorrow.” 
	That was enough to get them laughing, and back to business.
	“Now, Hardy. I’m a little late today, so could you tell me what I’ve 
missed?” Schneider said, taking off his helmet. He was a thin, pale 
human with hair matching the color of his suit. 
	Hardy filled him in on the missing details.
	
	

			    CHAPTER THREE: ARAN

	Before going any further, I must explain a few things about Samus’ past 
history.
	Samus Aran was born on a Federation colony on the planet Nadune, a 
planet near Zebes.
	Planet Nadune was also one of the last planets to house the Chozo, a 
race of birdlike people. The Chozo originally lived on Zebes, but were 
driven out by the space pirates when they moved there.
	One day, a fleet of pirate ships attacked Nadune, destroying the base 
there. Samus was only two standard years old at the time. Both of her 
parents died at that assault.
	Her brother, Solomon Aran, who was five at that time, disappeared and 
is assumed to be alive somewhere, with no knowledge of who he really is.
	Some of the remaining few Chozo who were searching the wreckage for 
survivors found Samus, alone.
	The Chozo raised her, found out her name from the records at the base.
	The Chozo felt that they needed a champion to defend their people, so 
they trained her in fighting, and later awarded her with the now famous 
suit.
	She left to become a bounty hunter shortly after, and has been 
defending the galaxy ever since.

	Now that that’s straight, back to the story

	Samus, Houston, and Schneider each went in separate ships on their trip 
to Tsebnash. The trip was uneventful.
	Upon arriving, the three hunters were treated to a terrible shock. 
Tsebnash looked desolate, wrecked, and There were no other planets left 
in that entire system.
	Clearly something was wrong.
	After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Samus spoke over the 
intercom, “Samus Aran reporting. How in the galaxy are we going to 
report this to Hardy? Don’t answer that! Five enemy ships, coming in!”
	Five little green needle ships tore in. Samus, Houston, and Schneider 
simultaneously made their ships somersault, putting them behind the 
enemy ships. They fired and destroyed all five.
	Ten more ships came in. Followed by twenty.
	There were too many ships this time. Houston’s ship was badly damaged, 
and he had to leave, or risk dying. The majority of the ships focused in 
on Schneider’s ship. Samus tried to come to his rescue, blasting as many 
ships as she could. 
	“Watch out! There are two on your tail!” She shouted, frying three 
more. But for every enemy vessel destroyed, two more came out of the 
planet after her. They finally got Schneider. His ship was totally 
disabled, and he was caught in Tsebnash’s gravity. “Thirty seconds to 
impact, I guess. Goodbye.” Was all that he could say, as his ship 
plummeted to the wrecked landscape below.
	Samus knew when to fight, but more importantly, she knew when to flee.
	Samus Aran, the fearless bounty hunter, tore away fast enough to crash 
her hyperdrive engines when she finally stopped. 

				*		*		*

	Samus arrived back at the station no more than five minutes after 
Houston. They met up in the hallway, on their way Keaton. No one spoke. 
Houston simply gave a puzzled look, apparently to ask about Schneider, 
and Samus shook her head. That was all that was needed. Until they 
reached chairman Keaton’s office.
	Chairman Keaton was a normal Lonochian who just happened to be the 
equivalent of The President Of The United States. You wouldn’t know that 
by looking at his office, though. 
	Keaton’s office was a small, cluttered little area with four chairs, a 
desk, some filing cabinets, a computer, pictures of wife and children, 
and a stack of papers that never shrank.
	Keaton himself was a short, green slant-eyed creature, usually dressed 
in a brown hooded robe.
	 Friar Tuck meets ET.
	Both bounty hunters stepped quietly into Keaton’s office, hoping to 
avoid major confrontation. Although the chairman of the Galactic 
Federation was a relatively nice guy, when he was in a bad mood, 
everyone felt it. And he was not happy today.
	“It’s nice to see you again.” He started, “So, why are you here, 
today?” Keaton seemed tired, surely that was a good sign. Samus spoke 
first, “We’re here to report back, instead of reporting to Hardy.” 
	“About what?”
	“Hardy sent us to check out Tsebnash.”
	“Oh, that. Well, how did it go?”
	“Sir, there’s a reason for us going above Hardy’s head” Houston said.
	“and that would be?” Keaton’s interest was peaking.
	“Sir, we have found a major threat to the galaxy. We don’t know what 
they are, but-” 
	“Wait!” Keaton interrupted, “Before you go on, there was someone else 
with you. Who was he?” 
	“Locuthis Schneider, sir. He didn’t make it.”
	“He can be replaced. Anyway, you were saying?” Apparently the chairman 
was in a good mood, after all. Either that, or he had an ax to grind 
with Schneider.
	“Sir, when we arrived, every planet except for Tsebnash was destroyed 
totally. Also, Tsebnash itself was taken over by some incredible force. 
They attacked us with about two hundred ships in five minutes.”
	“I’ll send a team over. You go back home, and get repairs done on your 
ships, if they need them. I’ll contact you if necessary.” Keaton rose up 
from his seat and pushed both visitors out the door, slamming it behind 
him. Obviously, the chairman knew that something was wrong.


			    CHAPTER FOUR: DECISIONS


	Locuthis Schneider was a very lucky man. 
	As his ship hurtled down towards what seemed imminent destruction, 
Schneider felt it stop with a jolt.
	At first he thought that he had just crashed, but that was impossible; 
his ship would be reduced to flaming rubble if he had crashed.
	Then he heard the tractor beams.
	Four Kihunter ships had locked on to Schneider’s stingray class 
fighter, and were pulling it in for a safe landing. It appeared that 
they were taking prisoners.
	Schneider was not rejoicing at his luck, though. He was madly running 
around his ship, desperately searching for that spare super missile 
battery that he kept, for emergencies.
	The ship was brought in for a landing, the doors started to open.
	Schneider opened fire at whatever was waiting to greet him at the 
doorway.

	Ridley could not help but laugh at this new predicament. 
	The Kihunters had brought Schneider in with the hopes of recruiting 
him, as they had done with Ridley.
	When three of the Kihunters opened the double doors on the side of the 
ship manually, they were quickly reduced to grease stains on the ground. 
There was an immediate uproar as Schneider burst out, blasting anything 
that moved.
	He was doing just fine until he aimed for The Master.
	Schneider fired his last remaining missile at The Master, but It simply 
reached out and grabbed the missile in its metal claws. The Master 
crushed the missile as easily as you or I could crush an empty soda can. 
There was no explosion. The Master leaped out at Schneider, pinning him 
to the ground. It spoke:
	“YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED. YOU ARE OUT OF EFFECTIVE AMMUNITION (Don’t even 
ask me how The Master knew that). YOUR  REMAINING WEAPONS ARE USELESS. 
YOUR DEATH SEEMS IMMINENT.
	“WE WILL GIVE YOU A CHOICE: JOIN US, OR DIE SCREAMING.”
	Jerk or not, Schneider did have morals. He screamed, “No way, you 
(CENSORED!!!!)! We will destroy you! Get off me!”
	“VERY WELL, THEN. RIDLEY, TAKE THIS LITTLE FRIEND OF OURS TO THE 
HOLDING CHAMBERS. SEE IF YOU CAN SOFTEN HIM UP A BIT.”
	Alone in a cell, with a pair of shackles as the extent of furnishings, 
Schneider had plenty of time to be softened up. 
	The Kihunters had taken Schneider to what probably was the worst cell 
on Tsebnash. It was like a black pit. There was no light whatsoever, and 
the stench of death permeated everything.
	After what seemed like weeks, The door opened. At first it only opened 
a crack, sending in a small shaft of light that directly hit Schneider’s 
left eye. Then it swung open, illuminating the entire room.
	The cell looked much worse than it was. Obviously there were other 
people who resisted the Kihunter’s generous offer.
	Ridley (surprise, surprise!) entered the room. He only half looked at 
Schneider, his eyes seemed pointed downward.
	“Locuthis Schneider, if I got your name right?” Ridley asked.
	“Yeah, that’s me. You got it right.” Was Schneider’s response, the 
response of a half-starved, tortured man.
	“ Schneider, The Master has generously decided to cut you a deal.
	“He has decided that if you join Us, We will most generously not only 
allow you to live, but will make you a general. The Master was very 
pleased with your valor in battle three days ago-”
	Ah, so that’s how long I’ve been in this dunghill, Schneider thought.
	“-And We believe that you have great potential. Of course, the only 
alternative is a painful, searing death at the hands of our best 
torturers.”
	Ridley looked up and offered Schneider a smile, his form of a joke.
	“The decision is yours. You do understand, however, that when I leave, 
I take my offer with me and nothing that you say can ever reverse it?”
	Schneider was not one to give in to evil easily, but he also was not 
one to throw away his life for any cause.
	He thought for a moment, and compared his two options. 
	Schneider could either forfeit his life for the good of civilization, 
or he could live on in the name of Survival of The Fittest (something 
that he prescribed to very well). The choice seemed obvious. Whether it 
was good or not, there was only one way out.
	“I’ll take it,” Schneider finally managed with some difficulty.	

				*		*		*

	Ridley also had a decision to make that day. 
	This had been bothering him for the entire time that he was on 
Tsebnash. Basically, Ridley was presented with the same choice as 
Schneider, and he had made the same decision, but somehow he regretted 
it. It just didn’t seem right.
	Ridley had devoted basically his entire life to the usual 
take-over-the-galaxy motif, and generally had not given much thought to 
the idea of right or wrong. But now he devoted a lot of thought to the 
matter. Of course, this was probably due to the fact that the Mother 
brain never destroyed any planets, never really committed genocide, and 
always referred to herself in the first person (not to mention not 
speaking in caps).
	However, right and wrong notwithstanding, Ridley didn’t really have 
much of a choice for anything (‘join us or die’ does not exactly give 
you many options, now, does it?).
	But this last incident with Schneider had gotten Ridley thinking again. 
What he had seen was a man who was tortured and starved to the point 
where he would have declared that his mother was a turnip if it would 
have helped anything.
	Later that night, Ridley decided that it was finally time to choose 
sides.



			CHAPTER FIVE: THE OVEN HEATS UP

	Chairman Keaton was unsuccessful in warning the other federation heads 
of their imending danger. He simply did not have enough information on 
the new threat for it to mean anything. In fact, it was settled that 
they were just a few small revolutionaries, nothing at all to be worried 
about. Although the chairman didn’t necessarily agree with the council’s 
decision; he had to concede. If only they had acted sooner, many lives 
could have been saved.

	The high council’s decision had an immediate effect on Samus, who felt 
partly responsible for what had happened to Schneider back at Tsebnash, 
had left for an uncharted planet, a planet that is very close to the 
asteroid field where Zebes used to fly on its regular course.
	Although this world is not named, it is very important. For it is one 
of the three remaining planets with true Chozo living on them. 
	The Chozo were once a noble race, in command of many planets. They 
originated on Zebes, and were some of the first to attain space travel. 
Yet, they had one drawback. They were all pacifists.
	Whereas their cousins, the Torizo, were violent and would attack 
anything on sight, the Chozo would never harm a living thing. The 
Zebesian space pirates destroyed billions of them. That is why, when 
some of the Chozo raised Samus, they trained her to be a warrior; to be 
a defender of their people. That is why when the pirates attacked, Samus 
Aran was always there to stop them; to stop them from ending everything.
	But this time, Samus was going to the Chozo for help. Specifically, to 
the only remaining Chozo she knew well; a century-old Chozo named 
Gul’Gen, generally known as the “Old Bird.”
	Samus came to the Old Bird for his counsel on what would prove to be 
the most dangerous time of Samus Aran’s life.
	Gul’Gen was like a father to her, being the last one alive who raised 
her.
	She had spent the first two days of her visit just being with the Old 
Bird, but on the third day, she knew that she couldn’t waste any more 
time. 
	Samus Aran stepped up to her long-time mentor, and asked, “Old Bird, I 
need your help. There is some kind of new enemy, I don’t know who it is 
yet, who is destroying the galaxy. They’ve only taken one planet so far, 
but I have seen that planet, and it’s terrible. They’ve totally 
destroyed the planet, worse than Zebes, and I don’t want what happened 
to you happen to anyone else. What should I do?”
	Gul’Gen answered, “I do not know what you should do, daughter, but I 
know whatyou are talking about. I have felt it. It is evil beyond your 
comprehension. All that I know is that you must never give up, and 
expect help from an unlikely source. And you must leave now, or all will 
be lost. I do not know any further. I am truly sorry.”
	“Don’t worry, Old Bird, It’s not that bad. Is there anything that you 
can say?”
	“Nothing on this new menace. But I have found out who your brother is. 
It is not my place to say, but you will know him when you see him.”
	“My brother’s alive? That’s better news than anything else that I’ve 
heard yet! If you wish for me to go, than I will. Goodbye.”


				*		*		*
	
  	Far away, Tsebnash started looking less and less like the M-class 
planet it once was.
	Now it was a fortress of evil, reinforced with Kihunter technology. Six 
flame jets came out from six sizeable holes in the planet. There was a 
reason for those jets, but telling you would be giving it all away.
	The Master was very pleased with all that was happening. He owned two 
planets now (the other was just attained recently), and he had a mole in 
the council who was succeding in keeping the federation away from all of 
this. Away and disillusioned. The fire was going to spread, and no one 
would know it.
	The Master was very pleased with all that was happening; very pleased.