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Gifted bounty hunter Samus Aran had accomplished what many deemed impossible when she eradicated the Metroid population
of planet SR388. Now, several years later, the ecosystem of the planet is a subject of fascination. Biologic Space Labs (BSL)
has been hired to observe and investigate the shifting ecological hierarchy on this planet. The ecosystem seemed to be struggling
to establish a natural cycle that did not involve Metroids as the chief consumers.
Even without the threat of the
Metroid organism, SR388 was still an inhospitable planet and the Federation governor for its sector deemed it necessary for
the BSL teams to have mission support. Only one person would do. The governor sent in the only person known to survive the
harsh realities of SR388: Samus Aran. Finding herself once again drawn to the forsaken surface of SR388, Samus led the mission.
All was going according to plan when the unexpected and unthinkable happened: the hunter became the hunted.
Samus
was attacked by a life-form she had never before encountered. It was a parasitic life-form that was later named the X. Thinking
little of it at the time, she boarded her ship, headed for the next collection point. What she did not realize was the X moved
rapidly to infect the central nervous system of its host, and was already at work on her. On board her ship she felt her body
seize up uncontrollably and then lost consciousness. Her ship drifted off course, out of orbit, and toward an asteroid belt.
Luckily, the ship's emergency systems ejected the escape pod before impact could occur. The Biologic vessel recovered
the pod and moved quickly to transfer the unconscious bounty hunter to Galactic Federation Headquarters. As the X spread,
her blood pressure and breathing dropped and she fell into a deep coma. She was given a 0.873% prognosis for survival. In
the time it took to transfer her, the X continued multiplying rapidly, and had even begun to infect the biological components
of her Power Suit. The Suit, which was integrated with her body, had become so corrupted that it could not be removed while
she was unconscious.
Large portions of the infected Power Suit had to be surgically cut and removed from her body,
which drastically altered her physical appearance and abilities. The infected pieces were immediately transferred to the BSL
station in orbit around SR388 for research and analysis. But removing the infected portions of the Suit had not stopped the
X infection raging within Samus. It seemed hope was lost, as no one knew of any cure. At last, in a moment of desperation,
someone suggested using a cell culture preserved from the last Metroid to formulate a vaccine for the X. The vaccine was quickly
prepared and administered, and all symptoms of X infection disappeared. It seemed that the Metroid was the natural predator
of the X.
When she woke, the scientists explained how the Metroid hatchling had once again saved her. To quote Samus,
"As for me, one life ended... yet I survived, reborn as something different." This act had radically changed Samus Aran's
genetic makeup, intermingling the DNA of a Metroid with her own, in effect making her the ultimate X predator. Shortly after
she woke, a distress call from the BSL station orbiting SR388 was received: "Emergency! Explosion of unknown origin in the
Quarantine Bay!" Samus was able to hear the screams over the com receiver even in the infirmary. She knew something terrible
was happening; even in her weakened state she immediately boarded a ship provided by the Federation, bound for the BSL station,
prepared to find the worst...
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