Scene #6336: Desecrated Ruins

Owner	Pose
Kalia	It would not be possible to make a list of every planet the Chozo have been to. Likely, even Mother Brain's database did not contain an accurate list of the countless worlds visited, settled on or even merely experimented on by the species. But, in a moment of meditation, or perhaps relaxation, or just looking for something to do, Samus might have recalled a planet by the inspired name of KP-151, which was being used as a staging grounds for a number of heat-related tests. Due to the planet's volcanic nature and complete absence of wildlife, it made for a perfect site to study extreme heat without disturbing anyone or anything. A trip there would not take long to arrange. The hope might ever linger that remote, isolated Chozo could have survived, or that they at least left something useful behind. Those who travel to the planet through space find nothing of interest along the way; it's an isolated planet, a literal hell viewed from space, glowing red and orange from the massive open oceans of lava, occasionally separated pitch black spots of land here and there. There is air, luckily, although to breathe it for too long would certainly scorch one's lungs unpleasantly. More than that, waves of hostile, hot air travel the planet at random, hot enough someone without protection - magical or otherwise - wouldn't last very long. The Chozo installations aren't hard to find. Not because the brown and beige temple sticks out, like an aztec construction in the middle of Detroit, but because there's an offensively neon purple and pink ship parked next to it, roughly the size of a baseball field. Despite the Space Pirate vessel standing out so glaringly, there's not a single one of the bug-men out in the open. The Chozo temple's gates weren't exactly forced open, so much as they were removed completely. In fact, the entire temple seems to be in a state of extremely intentional destruction and vandalism, to the point it's highly unlikely any of its life support systems still work, or that it could offer the slightest protection against the planet's heat. As for those who come in through a Warp Gate instead, conveniently, there's one by the temple. It is, unwisely, unguarded.
Samus Aran	Samus Aran finally returned to her home universe - and promptly went to the starbase to collect her payment from the bounty that she was returning from after solving the prior mission. She also tells them that she might be more scarce. The Federation was starting to get an idea of the Multiverse due to the warp gates. She tells them it might be a bad idea to explore them considering the problems. She was then given a job about Space Pirate activity in a desolate corner of Federation space. Planet KP-151. She has never been there. Nobody has. There was never any point. It's two parsecs from anywhere. She travels there, as the special sensor on her gunship that at all times scans for Chozo activity lights up. There are Chozo ruins - then an alarm klaxon sounds. Oh great. Space pirates. And... conveniently, there is a new warp gate by there. The volcanic heat might make things difficult - so - for the first time, made a decision not to go it alone. She has friends now. She moves right by the gate and sends a message to the Paladins' ship Ad Coelum.
Orchid	Among those answering the call is someone who is having some issues. Orchid likes archaeology, so the idea of alien ruins is up her alleyway. The good news is that she can deal with the extra heat reasonably easily. The also good news is that she can find the warpgate on the planet, from which she emerges. She's got a radiator pack on her back, and she's making a whirring noise. She's got a set of tools on poles over one shoulder, clearly hoping to make some measurements of these ruins.
Staren	Well, well, well. The Galactic Federation is looking for people to explore the Multiverse. Staren will take that opportunity to learn more about them and their world, and get paid for something he (or any member of Daedalus) would do for free anyway. Also, Gaonoir and Erika were looking for something to do so he brought them along. The initial scan data GalFed provided them said it would be a hot planet. Staren's able to provide some protection for that -- he has his own armor, and for Gaonoir he gives a magic charm that can keep the wearer feeling cool even in desert heat, and for Erika he has something like a heavy jumpsuit with an attached helmet and air supply -- the thing has a laundry list of neat features and a built-in computer. But the problem is, this is a lava planet. Desert planet? Sure. Sweltering jungle planet? Sure. But Staren's protections are no good against FREAKING LAVA. And they get overwhelmed if you get anywhere close. Still, places far away from the lava are cool enough to walk and such. ANYWAY. Staren steps out of the gate, and finds himself confronted by... "Orchid? What are you doing here? Whose ship is that?" He indicates the ... bright pink pirate ship. "Did the Federation hire you to explore this place too? Sheesh, they didn't trust my work already...?"
Gaonoir	The Watch is always trying to keep tabs on new and unusual worlds that might or not pose threats. But such recon isn't always a very exciting job. So it falls on the overly curious to do so, to the annoyance of partners that would rather be out there in the fighting instead. That is to say, Gaonoir was being grumpy like usual about being dragged along on 'nerd' things, but it kept Erika doing something constructive so he relented. Especially when exiting the warp gate results in walking into hell, or some alien approximation to it. "Oh, what a lovely vacation spot this is," he snarks drly. "Hmm?" Erika is a few paces behind him, but her attention is immeadiately snatched up by the spaceships near by. "Look! UFOs!" "I don't think they count as UFOs when we're on their planet and not vice versa." Erika waves one hand dismissively. "Technicality.. And we don't know they're native, so they could still be!" She points at Samus' gunship. "That one is certainly shaped like a saucer!" Gaonoir just buries his face in a gloved paw. "How can you still be excited over this after seeing the rest of the Multiverse..."
Staren	"I doubt that it's native." Staren replies to Erika. "It's not parked on a purpose-built landing pad. Possible, of course, but more likely that they're /also/ explorers. Or something. Geeze, why is everyone exploring this planet at once?"
Orchid	"Staren! Hiya!" Orchid says, glad to see an oft friendly face. "Okay, here's what I can tell you. The yellow ship," she points, "Is owned by one Samus Auran. They are a Paladin, and they asked for some help with the space pirates," she points to the pink ship. "I came along so I could take a look at the ruins that Samus says are here." She hefts the devices. "I don't know how exploring ruins goes locally, but I'm hoping to take some good pictures at least."
Reyes	Reyes's Explorer Environmental Battle Armor is showing some wear and tear. It's taken a beating in places and needs a good cleaning. Some mild repairs are needed. He's carrying a rifle though. A pretty solid-looking machine-gun? He sort of stumbles through the warp gate and.. "Whoah." This palce is HOT. He's VERY glad he chose to wear this armor. The sky's basically aglow and the air is a scorching, punishing, dry and nearly inhospitable. "... Who went and built ANYTHING in a place like this...? Who can EVER live here...?"
Kalia	Perhaps the oddest thing by far is that the Space Pirate vessel isn't fighting. If it has turrets - it probably does - they weren't even left on any kind of auto-targetting or firing mode. The ship seems to be - and life sign scanners will confirm this - deserted. Without any signs of damage on it, though, and with how recent the tracks are... why would the entire crew of a massive space fighter suddenly head into ruins? Pre-emptively: it doesn't count if your entire crew is one person, Staren! The ruins, however, beckon. With nothing to stop entry of any kind, heading inside doesn't do much to attenuate the heat, though all the holes in the walls make lighting a non-issue. Judging by what pieces of technology ARE left, the temple definitely had an assortment of incredibly high-tech life support systems, concealed under the beige stone, as if to obscure the level of technology at play. The Chozo probably didn't like to present themselves as targets. A few busted rooms in, and it becomes obvious that this place has been stripped clean of its valuables and most functional technology. But more than that, it was trashed. With intent to trash, not just loot. Holes in the walls are present where they serve no purpose, and they don't look like the traces of a fight. There are bodies, though. Scorched Space Pirate bodies, odd, insect-like humanoids with hard armor. It's hard to tell where the armor ends and their natural body begins. Judging by the burns, they fried when they carelessly blew the walls open. Not only did the entire crew disembark, but even the ones without resistance to heat. Thoughts are interrupted by the distinct sound of beam weapons. Three Space Pirates, tinted and armored red, and glowing with an odd black aura, surge from a hallway to the side. Their claws "open" to reveal the barrels of their beam weapons, firing streaks of awful yellow light without mercy.
Samus Aran	After sending the message, she goes to land on the planet - hovering over the space pirate ship. With a sadistic grin she fires her ship's weapons, destroying the Pirate's engines. If they do find something, they'll never leave. She goes to land her ship by the entrance, as she steps out - immediately frowning at the temperature warnings on her HUD. She sighs as she goes in - it is rather warm in here. She walks in. Having one advantage nobody else does - knowing the language, she reads the plaque about a high-temperature laboratory. Then she hears weapons fire. Pirate weapons. The readouts say that the Ice Beam will be ineffeictive here so has her normal arm-cannon as she bursts into the hallway, immediately firing at the insectoid monsters. Fortunately, the Pirates, immediately recognizing The Hunter by the infamous armor, change theire focus to their hated enemy. "Anyone bring popcorn?" she calls, a manic tone to her voice (computer-synthesized to make it sound gender-neutral) as she headshots one of the pirates with a precision missile strike.
Orchid	Okay, the ruins are interesting, and the remains will likely give Orchid some idea of how Chozo technology was intended to work, at least when it came to heating and cooling systems. But mostly Orchid is looking at the pirate ship. She's got some projects of her own that could use the resources the ship represents. But she stays with the others for now, instead of instantly trying to break her way in. Which means she is with them when they're getting shot at. This... so far is something she can handle, at least as far as taking cover behind a bit of wall. "So what are they here for?" she asks. "And sorry, no popcorn."
Gaonoir	"Well if they were explorers they're not very good at it," Erika replies to Staren. At least by the time they actually get into the temple she's stopped fiddling with the suit's various settings. "This looks more like vandalism than anything else." She stops to poke at one of the holes. Likely trying to decide if it was to remove something, or just break things. Most signs indicate the later at this point, with the machinery inside the stone walls all busted up. And of course it's when they finally find something to examine that the inevitable trouble shows up. "Get down!" Gaonoir grabs the girl by the back of her suit and pulls her out of the way as laser shots stitch the walls. "How many times do I have to remind you to stay aware of your surroundings?!" "Then why would I have you?" Erika retorts. "That's not a logical argument and you know it." But after the snarky retorts Gaonoir's attention shifts fully to the ... again, do you call them aliens when you're technically the aliens? "Just stay down." Then Gaonoir gets back to his feet. Someone in armor storms into the room.. but starts shooting the shooters. Something something about enemy of the enemy and all that. "Hff." The digimon grabs a chunk of debris with his gloved paws, and flings it at the Space Pirates.
Staren	Once inside the ruins, Erika playing with vision modes may actually find something useful: The tech hidden in the walls! Staren confirms it: "Hmmmm. That's interesting. There's all kinds of tech hidden under the stone. I wonder if the builders were trying to conceal it, or if this is just their cultural asthetic?" A quick look around makes it clear that someone's already been here and started looting the place. But hey man, that's an adventurer's prerogative -- if someone leaves ruins lying around they don't care about their stuff being stolen, right? So Staren doesn't see anything amiss with this. The recently-dead alien explorers are a concern -- something in the ruins must have killed them. It sounds like the fight's still going! Staren heads that way, and comes into sight of... living alien explorers! of course, this is the Multiverse, so it doesn't really matter what species they are. "Oh! Hey there! Do you need any h--" Staren starts to offer, and then they shoot! The beams scorch and melt just a little of his chestplate. "HEY! RUDE!" Staren chastises them, his forcefield coming on while he ducks back behind a corner. "Erika! Do you know how to use a gun? No matter, this is pretty idiot-proof, point and shoot!" He pulls something out of his bag and tosses it to her. It LOOKS like some kind of futuristic pistol! It actually fires ultra-tiny anti-tank missiles the size of pens! And it interfaces with Erika's suit's HUD, displaying not only an ammo counter (8 shots) but an aiming reticle, indication of whether targets are allies or hostile, and it doesn't fire on allies. Technology! Staren, for his part, starts out with cover-fighting the Space Pirates -- his armor's arm has two beam cannons on it, so he hides behind corners and then sticks just his arm out from behind cover to fire, then waits for it to cool down. (Normally just a few seconds... longer, here). "Do you know who I am?! I'm Staren Wiremu, Hand of the Concord! Stand down and you will live!" Yes, he's making that demand while shooting at them. He's not going to WAIT for them to respond, it's on them to surrender before someone kills them, they did shoot first after all. Samus missiles one! "Stand down and the REST of you will live!" Staren amends.
Reyes	Reyes is quick to meander towards the ruins, though he doesn't step INSIDE so carelessly. He takes a moment to look even if others rush in past him. Like Samus, for instance. "H-hey wait up!" With Orchid and Staren both here, he decides to stick near them, even though this means advancing much faster than he would've liked. Why does everyone always -rush- into operations? He's been taught to take things slow if he can... "Looks like these pirates really love shooting at stuff 'cuz they can." He mumbles out at the state of the walls and decorations and stuff he doesn't even immedaitely recognize the purpose of. And no sooner does the jaunt locates some dead... SOMETHING or another... "These are the Space Pirates? What race are they...? Looks like... alien bug people?" 'Space Pirate' is not a race in Reyes's parlance. it's a profession! And when it starts SHOOTING at you, it's a problem. "Gah!" He does the first thing that comes to mind and... Which means putting himself in front of Orchid and firing a few rapid shots from his rifle in return even as the bolts splash into his magical shielding that suddenly appears and absorbs most of the force. A few ripples, nearly invisible, fly from his rifle in return. Whatever these ripples are they travel just as quickly as the yellow bolts, but are like being punched by raw superhuman force. The kind that puts holes through people.
Kalia	Samus is a rude bounty hunter who doesn't take sass from an empty Space Pirate ship. Its engines die like they lived, being shot at by people. Many sections of the ship are now on fire. Droids wobble down hallways and try to put fires out at what can only be described as a snail's pace. But back to what matters! Samus' missile... halts. More specifically, the pirate catches it with his claws, and it seems that at the sight of the Hunter, their ghostly black aura became more... visible? Present? Tangible. The impact from Gaonoir's thrown rock causes the Pirate to flinch, and snap the missile in half. It explodes, sending the pirate crashing into a wall. The aura dissipates from that one. It is, surprisingly, still in one piece, but dead. Do they make missile-proof pirates now? Staren of course gets no answer. Space Pirates aren't known to be chatterboxes. His shots scorch the armor and chittin of one of the two remaining pirates, as if the aura had dampened the blasts before they even reached the armor. Reyes is able to capitalize on those weakened sections of armor to smash that pirate back, though. He too loses the aura and falls over dead, but still whole. Unnaturally sturdy - and yet, if tested for toughness NOW, they would be as squishy as Samus remembers them to be. The remaining pirate squawks, or at least emits a screech that's somewhat avian in nature. It runs back through the hallway it came from, in what is probably a very obvious trap, but one you'll have a hard time not springing. A new party member joins your cause, in the meantime. They don't announce themselves - one moment they aren't there, the next they are, a pale white figure in patchwork black and gray clothes, almost skeletal on looks, with a scarf covering their mouth and neck. Their clothes are on fire, as is the scarf. That's probably from the heat. "It's odd, isn't it? We think so too. Their hate doesn't feel right. It's impure. They hate this place. They hate the people who built this place. They hate the child of the people who built this place. But it isn't their hatred. It tastes funny," Kalia notes, hovering in the air harmlessly behind the party. "There's more of it in the air ever since you arrived, though. Please don't mind us. We'll just watch. The rest of them is further ahead, obviously."
Staren	"Pirates? What?" Staren gives Reyes a confused look mid-battle when he's behind cover. Then he remembers that note in the GalFed's briefing. "...Oh. I expected space pirates to be raiding shipping lanes, not exploring ruins!" Well, that's two down, and in one piece no less! Staren tags them for retrieval on any shared tacnet. There are questions to be asked, and dead is only a temporary state! Maybe. He's not sure if the ego bridge will work on them, but it's at least worth trying. In the mean time, last pirate leading them somewhere is suspicious! Staren sends a drone to chase after them, only starting at a slow walk himself... before he hears a new voice, and whirls. "You again! What do you WANT?" He aims the beam cannons at her. "You got a lot of people killed last time. Just because you give powers for OTHERS to kill with doesn't make you innocent. Take your power back and start explaining, or we're taking out the source." That's probably when he'll notice the rest of the party has no doubt run ahead after the pirate. "Dammit."
Samus Aran	Samus Aran just glances at the mysterious figure. "They hate everything. They hate the Chozo... and me the most." Ballistcs aren't working - and her armor's heat warning light is starting to flash. She's panting softly as she keeps blasting the pirates - her missile eventually kills the pirate and some others take out the other. As one flees, she immediately begins to pursue, chasing the final pirate, blasting at it with a mix of normal and ice beam blasts, trying to get through that weird aura, careless of a trap. Damn, it's faster than normal. Suddenly her HUD flashes an alert as she stops, a door opening for her rapidly. A message appears on her screen in Chozo script. "Welcome, Hatchling." In that mysterious language. She runs through the door quickly and it slams shut behind her. The room was cool. A welcome relief. Before her is a statue of one of the Chozo, and held in its hands is one of their technology modules. This room was sealed away - just waiting for her. She walks up to it, awe-struck, as she scans it. "The Varia..." she muses, making sure that nothing is a trap or amiss before taking it. The door suddenly slams open again as a brignt orange glow would come from that room - coming from Samus' formerly yellow armor as it starts transforming, augmenting itself. Orange plating is going over the yellow - enhanced shoulder-pad for some reasons, and other cosmetic changes. It's very likely that one might witness the augmentation. And... best of all, a welcome message. <<Varia Installed. Heat shields online.>> The temperature warning is gone, and she is cooling down.
Gaonoir	Gaonoir narrows his eyes for a moment at the new arrival. "The hell are you doing here?" And why does she keep showing up when he either has no time or no reason to punch her? That's probably more annoying. "Sounds like they just hate everything indiscriminately." That's the most Erika can make out of it. She awkwardly rubs at the visor of the spacesuit with one, since she can't take it off to adjust her glasses like she habitually does when thinking. "Maybe she's not the one doing it this time? What do you think Gaonoir?" She pauses, but gets no snarky response like usual. "Gaonoir?" He's too busy just glaring at Kalia to bother making any sass at the moment. And now the armored person ran off into the other room after the survivor and the doors are shutting. "Good grief. Apparently -that- person never watched movies, you never run off on your own when it's very obviously a trap!"
Kalia	Kalia looks at Samus for a few moments, gauging the massive woman's response. Her white eyes shine a bit brighter. "Oh. We understand now. It's not their hate we're sensing. You hate them. You hate them as much as they hate you. Maybe more. A lot more. That tastes a lot better. Thank you." A hollow thanks. Kalia turns towards Staren. "The only things we helped kill today was the architecture of this place. There was no one here. But they still hated it. Hated it so much I came. Hated it so much they threw away safety for the sake of defacing this place." A look towards one of the sorched bodies. "We don't think this universe will miss them, anyway. The Hunter seems to agree," Kalia responds to Staren, motioning towards Samus, even as she runs off. "You should worry about your friend. We made the ones left pretty strong. We think they might be pretty used to doing whatever it takes to get stronger. They're an odd species. We've never seen anything quite like them." Well, Kalia's making absolutely zero effort to stop anyone from going anywhere, so.
Orchid	Orchid does not instantly go in pursuit. Instead she's looking at Kalia.... Who she doesn't like. But on the other hand, talking about an interesting idea is better than getting shot at again. "So did someone else create the pirates as agents of the creator's hate?" she proposes. "After all, if the hate truly isn't their own..." She shrugs. "I don't know how the emotions of others might 'taste' so I'm kinda spitballing."
Gaonoir	"I don't know why you think hate is the only thing that matters, but one day, all this toying with it is going to bite you in the ass." That said, Gaonoir grabs Erika by the arm and starts in the direction the armored bounty hunter ran off. "Com'n, lets go find that hunter." Erika flails a little as she's dragged off. "But! But! What about finding out more about her?" Gaonoir doesn't even bother looking over his shoulder. "I wouldn't trust a damn thing she says." Nor does he really want to be near Kalia for very long. He's got enough pent up anger and frustration as it is.
Reyes	"Ally called me out here to help deal with Space Pirates." Reyes answers Staren confusedly as the battle draws to a close... of sorts. Reyes isn't stupid enough to charge after a fleeing opponent. He might be naive about people things, but he seems to have a head for tactics and systematic approaches to anything! And with that, Reyes finally has a moment to check his scanners and review the brief interchange over his HUD... Which leaves him turning his visor to glare over at Kalia. Reyes shivers where he stands after getting a good long look at Kalia. "...You... really expect me to think you're here just to have a stroll or something? Who are you?"
Kalia	Samus pursues, and presumably has allies not far behind. The hallways are filled with scorched corpses. The average Space Pirate on a ship isn't made for heat. They were generic 'drones' and succumbed to the heat while angrily busting walls and tearing down Chozo artwork. Idly, Kalia asides to Orchid: "We're not sure. We've never encountered this before. They don't seem to hate for their own sake though. It feels mechanical. Not even like an animal's drive to survive." Then to Gaonoir: "We don't think that. There's a lot more to life than hate. There's sorrow. There's grief. There's jealousy. There's greed." The pattern is probably clear by then. And finally to Reyes: "We're Kalia. When people are at their lowest, or when they need that extra push, or just a friend to help them through hard times, we're there. We don't discriminate. That's all. We don't benefit from this at all. We just want to help." They're being honest, too! What a twisted view. While a detour holds unplundered treasures - a relic of her people, a new paint job and rad shoulderpads - the momentary pause to receive it gave the Space Pirates a bit of valuable time, enough to come up with a new plan. The trap ahead isn't ahead anymore. Outside the temple, crawling on the walls, six Space Pirates - five red, one silver - make a deliberate attempt to blast their way into the side-room Samus made a detour into. Glowing with that same black aura, and coming in from multiple directions. Beam weapons fire at Samus, and only Samus! The silver pirate is cooler than that, though. He smashes through the external wall, and then dropkicks his way down towards the Hunter, flying seamlessly through his allies' shots.
Samus Aran	Samus Aran finishes the upgrade. Yes. She is cooler now. More calm. She took a minute to calm her mind during the upgrade. Being physically and mentally cooler gives her the chance to plan her attack as she turns on the scan visor to find the pirates... but... uh-oh. They found her first. The Varia's powerup must've been detected. She shrieks as they all appear with that eerie black aura and start shooting at her - and as she manages to take one out - the silver one kicks her hard, knocking her back - but it didn't do as much damage as before. She sends off a brief sonic beacon, alerting everyone else to her location with an alarm as she tries to handle this situation... but even with the greater defenses it's not going well.
Staren	Kalia says something about the builders' 'child', and as Samus finds A SUIT UPGRADE ON SOME RANDOM PLANET, that makes it pretty clear that there is some connection between the builders -- the 'chozo' Samus mentioned -- and Samus themself. He can't ask how the suit works right now, though. Kalia's right there! And the party is split, with Samus and Gaonoir (and Erika) running ahead, and the others staying behind. Staren's not left alone! "You say that. But you only push people to violence. Sometimes, that might be helpful... but much of the time, you'll only get people senselessly killed. Now begone, or you'll move US to violence and be undone by it!" Through the drone that followed Samus, and Erika's suit, he can see the attack beginning. "Damn it." He starts to lower his weapon and turn... but then he notices the aura. Which means there's still something to be done here. He suddenly turns back and shoots at Kalia, then starts running for cover! If this turns into a running gun battle, he draws what looks like an assault rifle counterpart to the pistol he gave Erika -- it fires missiles magic-marker-sized, rather than pen-sized -- and supplements his beam cannons with that while they're on cooldown. The air around the cannons shimmers with heat. Inside the suit, Staren's sweating. Stupid fire planet!
Gaonoir	Erika finally manages to get her feet going so she's not stumbling after Gaonoir. "You -really- don't like her, do you?" "She reminds me of things I'd rather not be," is the digimon's dour response. Then he stops a moment, ears perking up the sounds of laser fire, and he turns off in that direction. "Sounds like the hunter found more trouble!" Sure enough they catch up to the side chamber just in time to see the Space Pirates barging in and a big silver one kicking Samus down. Erika eeps softly, and keeps to the doorway. "Looks like she's got her own problems. Keep those others off her!" "Finally. I could use the venting." They're not Kalia but they've been amped up by her, close enough for now. Gaonoir makes a knuckle cracking motion, then sprints for the wall. Jumps and then kicks off the surface to launch himself towards one of the Space Pirates and swinging a flying punch right for the vagely buglike face.
Orchid	"That probably tells us more about how these space pirates were created," Orchid muses... Then comes the blasting. "Hold that thought," she instructs Kalia, following the sound of the gunfire. She raises her blaster... then hesitates. Even if these creatures are little more than organic drones, can she kill one? Well, no, Orchid can't bring herself to shoot directly at one of the pirates. But she can shoot the wall above one, a spot likely to fall down on it.
Reyes	So for a while everything seems fine! Reyes is squinting HARD at Kalia (not that anyone can tell through that opaque visor of his suit) but he doesn't seem to be gearing up to pummel her or anything. "....." Not that he does more than look down a bit at her. Almost questioning. 'REEEAAAAAAAALLY.' He makes a grunt over his helmet's speakers, then shuffles on as if to just ignore Kalia instead of deal with that nonsense but... But then, Staren just randomly OPENS FIRE withoutout any warning or coordination. Reyes yelps in a PANIC and dive-rolls to the side with a clutter-thunk. "What the---"
Kalia	A missile explodes. A pirate with it. Are they weaker because there's more of them, or is it because Staren suddenly SHOOTS A GHOST? Kalia glances down, to inspect the hole in their chest. They aren't bleeding, and whatever's under that heavy, patchworked mess of a coat is just... skin and bones. Sometimes, not even skin. They don't seem very dead from the shot, although they make an effort to adjust their scarf, as if keeping it over their lower face was somehow important. "Well, okay. We might be different but we can tell when we're not wanted. Don't worry, we're not rude. If you need our help one day, we'll still answer the call. Even if it's to try to kill us. As long as you're willing to accept our help, we don't care what it's for." Kalia's form distorts, and they warp away unceremoniously. The pirates' auras don't... quite die down, but they're certainly lesser for it. And lesser means five pirates aren't going to threaten half a dozen of you. Gaonoir effortlessly punches a pirate clean in half (unless an effort is made to be nonlethal!), and Orchid traps two under debris. Their claws snap angrily at air. Or helplessly. Or both. The remaining Space Pirates attempt to flee to their ship! Yeah, you guys are totally screwed once they arm the turrets, that's for sure! Outside, the ship explodes violently from entirely too many uncontained fires, fuel leaks, and damaged engines. The pirates sink with their ship, more or less. That probably wasn't part of their plan. Luckily, there's plenty of Chozo salvage that survives the explosion, though how useful equipment meant to cool a building on a volcanic planet is is up for debate. Samus clearly got the better loot out of the place already.
Samus Aran	Samus Aran just shrugs as some of the Pirates flee. They have nowhere to go - their ship is crippled. She has some business to do. She walks over to the two trapped under the debris. At point-blank range, she blasts each of them with a missile, detonating their ugly heads into hamburger. She then laughs softly. "Well. I did promise a cut of the bounty..." A muffled boom caught her eears. Her visor turns yellow as she then laughs softly. "And all the Pirates are dead. Their own ship blew up. I kinda helped with that." She has no compunction about the cold-blooded murder she did. "So - hello again, Orchid. I don't think I've met the others here." She glances towards the others present. "I'm Samus Aran, bounty hunter. And... welcome to my home universe I guess."
Staren	Staren doesn't bother with the missiles after seeing what his beam shots did. Her reaction... actually makes her story more believable to him. That maybe she really thinks she IS helping. Slight respect up! Assuming things are what they seem, and she didn't just go invisible to shoot him. He heads towards where the fight is, wary of backstabs, and possibly gets there too late to help. Oh well. So, the pirate ship exploded and now they're just... there. Staren tries to get a sample of Chozo computer technology, or anything the workings of which he doesn't understand -- there may be neither, in which case he settles for just samples of the metal and stone for later analysis. And any pirates that are intact enough to try to raise. There are so many questions to ask them! And even if they can't be raised, their bodies can be studied. What's that armor? Is it cybernetically fused to their body? Are they some kind of bio-drones? Staren may not learn much about the Chozo today. But Concord R&D WILL learn about the Space Pirates. While they're here talking, Staren waves as Samus introduces themself. "We met on that world with the monster bounties; I was just out of my armor." HIS voice isn't disguised, and the armor IS shaped to accomodate the ears and tail, so the story checks out. He stares at Samus for a long moment. "...So, what happened to your armor?"
Orchid	"Samus, maybe I should have tried to steal their ship earlier," Orchid says to the hunter. "As far as introductions go, this is Reyes, who is also a member of the Paladins, and this is Staren. Aaand I don't know who you are," she says, pointing at Erika and Gaonoir. "Hi, I'm Orchid!" As far as the bounty goes... Orchid will see if some of the equipment can be salvaged. She's building a place somewhere tropical, and good AC would be nice.
Gaonoir	Nonlethal methods have their time and place. This is not one of them. There's too many of the bastards crawling around to take the chances. Though after that and some constructive demolition by Orchid the survivors decide to bugger (hah) out. Gaonoir gives one of the halves a kick. "Pff. I've had chew toys that last longer." He does look like a dog so it's hard to tell if that's a joke, or Erika actually tried to use dog toys to calm him down. And the others are pinned... and that's no longer a problem when Samus finishes the job. And apparently already took care of their ship. "I like you. You're... thorough." From one hunter of sorts to another. "They call me Gaonoir." He wanders back over to grab the girl by the arm. "Erika her is my sidekick." Which gets a huffy sound out of the girl. "We're -partners-." Gaonoir rolls his eyes. "Fine. But I do most of the work." Then gives Erika a tug. "Com'n, this planet is worse than a sauna." Erika eeps, and partially pulls her arm free. "But the salvage..." Gaonoir stops, pulls an obviously damaged piece of machinery free, and hands it to her. "There." "Pff, that's just... Oooo." Erika must be playing with the visual settings again. "Air conditioning or not, that's -facinating-." Gaonoir just shakes his head and tugs her after him now that she's too occupied to resist. Nerds. Even if it's entirely useless the fact that it's alien will keep her occupied for hours.
Samus Aran	Samus Aran nods. "I am the legacy of the Chozo. The race that built this place -they all left this universe - they ascended to a higher plane. When I came here - there was a subroutine that detected me. Led me to this room... where the Varia armor upgrade was here. I'm toughter than before - oh, right, and the heat isn't bothering me a bit." She sighs as she looks at the statue - it got smashed by the fight. She kneels down by the bird head which was intact but lying on the floor - straightened it up, and murmurs what sounds like a prayer in a weird avian language. "Well - the warp gate is right outside - I guess you guys can return to the Multiverse... oh, right. I'll need to send a message to the Federation. I told the Paladins I'd split the bounty with whoever came. So - all of you will get a cut from this job. Ummm... I forgot to ask. What money is accepted in the Mutliverse?" she finally asks.
Staren	Staren rolls his eyes when Samus says the Chozo ascended to a higher plane. But like almost everyone else (for once...) he's wearing a helmet so it's hard to see. He tilts his head when she describes the functionality of the Varia Suit. "Nice." Money? "Credits. I'm sure the Multiverse's larger banks are already making contact and arranging deals -- if there's no interchange yet..." He stares at the Hunter for a moment. "...I'm sure they can find something valuable to sell for credits. Or perhaps information. I'll talk to them."
Orchid	Orchid nods at Staren's words, while she works on taking apart a wall. "The Concord and the Paladins don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but both see the value in easy exchange of currencies." She chuckles a little. "And Staren tends to be one of the better ones about explaining himself. Seriously, you could get him monologuing like a mad scientist."
Samus Aran	Samus Aran nods slowly. "I'll make sure everyone here gets a share of the bounty." With one final wave, she heads towards her ship - and then climbs aboard. She hovers in front of the ruined Space Pirate vessel - and blasts it some more. Before her ship rises up and takes off. Not using the Warp Gates, she's staying in her home universe for now.