Hunter's failure

[chozo_girl]

1

[Look at that, it's the unmistakable helmet shape of the Hunter-1 coming into the hangar. Samus is back in White Chalice!

And from the way she looks as she jumps out of her ship, however, she's not too pleased with this. she walks through the hangar with inhumanly fast steps. She needs to talk with Ayame and Dan urgently to know the results of their calculations about the incoming disaster. She doesn't think they have much time as is.

Intercept her?]

2

[If you didn't catch her right out of the ship, it's not hard to catch her later. She's atop the deck, looking at the sky. Can her Chozo senses perceive the thing she failed to stop yesterday? Who knows. But she looks like a statue there, and not of the nice, pretty sort. Rather more like the kind fearful primitives made sacrifices to.

If you want to have a conversation with her, though, this is probably your best chance]


-
[There might be a 3 coming depending on how the first two go]

Comments

[littleshortforanelemental]

It's a rattlesnake, which she may of course be able to sense with her Chozo senses. He turns the dull side toward it and is murmuring things at it: "You are alright...come out now...this is not your place." He's trying to coax it onto the dull side of the blade but it's stubborn and scared.

[chozo_girl]

[After th distinctive hiss is heard, Samus approaches with her usual light steps. She observes the scene for a second and crouches, putting her hand into the shaft slowly and then doing a sudden movement to startle and scare the snake into attacking.

Which it does, lunging blindingly fast with a hiss of desperate panic - but the hunter is faster, and with a cuttingly precise movement she catches it with two fingers around the mouth and delicately pulls it out, the reptile wiggling but unable to escape from her hands]

Where did you intend to take this?

[chozo_girl]

Yes.

[wardeninexile]

"What would you recommend?"

[saikyocivrobo]

I assume it was a fight to a standstill, because both of you are still alive. Which means it's at least as powerful as you, and has an army of Space Pirates crazed with Phazon and the Leviathan at its command.

Fighting this thing will be interesting. In the ancient Chinese way.

[emorangerpink]

[Laura reaches up to take off the pendant she's wearing and hold it out.]

You came back on your own, in the end. Does that mean we did all right, or I should have called you sooner?

[littleshortforanelemental]

"Ah to be so young and fast again..." Says the clanner, perhaps the first one she's ever seen with greying hair.

"Down to the surface. I believe it must have slithered up here to sun itself when we stopped last."

[chozo_girl]

That is what I am thinking about.

I will need more detailed scans before I am certain my plan will work.

[chozo_girl]

It is difficult to compare power. But it outsmarted me clearly in our first encounter. I was taken entirely by surprise and almost paid for it.

[Most people might have trouble admitting this kind of thing, but Samus definitely doesn't seem to be most people]

[chozo_girl]

[Samus takes it]

You should answer that question to yourself, Laura.

[chozo_girl]

[Nod. She hands it to him]

Do so, then. It is very far from home.

[littleshortforanelemental]

He takes the snake carefully, grasps it behind the head. He's more concerned about it biting others than himself really. He's had enough Necrosia over the decades to not seriously fear most venom. "Aff. I will do so now. Come now, let me take you to where you belong..."

He returns in a few minutes. "I did not get a chance to seriously thank you. From the speed with which you restrained it, I would think you had a little viper in you yourself." A basso chuckle and a bow. "Nikolai Djerassi, of Clan Goliath Scorpion."

[chozo_girl]

Samus Aran, bounty hunter.

[wardeninexile]

Ranna nods.

"I realise our technology must seem dated to you, but if you require any aid or resources that Clan Wolf can provide, do not hesitate to ask."

[saikyocivrobo]

It will be different next time. You're not someone who lets one enemy outsmart her twice. Neither will you be alone.

[chozo_girl]

If Chalice forces intend to accompany me, you need to begin Phazon proofing mechs. The Leviathan is likely to be composed of at least 50% pure solidified Phazite.

[emorangerpink]

I don't suppose things would have worked out any better if you'd been taken off the chase before it led you back.

I am glad you're back, though.

[saikyocivrobo]

I'm pretty sure some of them are protected already... But we should run tests to make sure everyone who fights is safe. Last thing we need is Phazon affecting our allies.

[curse_u_reflexes]

The other "you".

I'm hoping that you know of a way to stop it. Otherwise...

... I just don't want to believe some nobody with a motorized city sentenced us all to die.

[chozo_girl]

[Nod]

My suit can probably hold up for about an hour in that environment in normal combat conditions. Less if I take too much damage. If it comes to it, I can resist the Great Poison - it can only break my body.

But I do not think most pilots would. Tell Ayame to think carefully about who she sends.

[chozo_girl]

Given the circumstances that bring me, you should not be.

[chozo_girl]

It is not another me. It is a monster using my armor as its shell.

And I do not know. I intend to have Dan scan the Leviathan, and with that data I will think of a plan.

[emorangerpink]

Still, I am.

You know what things are like here. If I let circumstances dictate it, I'd never be glad to see any of my friends.

And given the circumstances, I'm glad you're here with us.

[saikyocivrobo]

I'll do that. Sometimes I feel like I'm White Chalice's unofficial science officer... And, being a chemist, Phazon certainly falls under my jurisdiction.

By the way... One more question. More private one.

[chozo_girl]

[Silence. Samus is probably waiting for what the question is]