Maximus Kolan: Chapter 2

Maximus waited patiently as the starship traveled to SR388, after about twenty minutes they arrived, Jonson landed the ship in the Pirates general area of operations, but did his best to make the ship inconspicuous to the Pirates. After the vessel had shut down, Maximus rose to his feet, "All right everyone, we're going into Pirate central right now, our mission is to stay out of sight, gather as much Intel as possible, destroy the two generators, and then get out of there and return to the Olympus. Alright, let's move out." "Yes sir!" everyone replied. As they left the ship, Maximus turned to his best friend, Sergeant Lei, who was the newest member of the 31^st Squad, "Make me proud Jordan" Maximus told him, "Yes sir Maximus." He grinned at Lei before putting his helmet on. After few minutes, they made it to the Pirate base, there were Pirate Militia guarding the outside main hanger doors. Maximus motioned to Master Sergeant Curtson, the team's sniper, to dispose of the Militia troopers. Curtson took aim and shot at both of their heads, killing them with the silent C-37 MK II Federation Sniper Rifle.

After taking care of the guards, they picked up the bodies and dragged them out of sight. They then opened and then crawled into a vent right next to the hanger doors, which was about two meters in diameter; as they traveled through, they could hear the Pirates talking in their native language, They're planning something, but what? Thought Maximus. His question was about to be answered, however, as he and his team began to detect large amounts of radiation, they came to a stop next to another vent in the wall. Kolan scanned the area, there were no hostiles detected. "All clear" he whispered. He opened the vent and then got out, his team did the same. He then whispered to them, "Okay, here's the plan, we're going to split up into two groups: Lei, Anderson, and Jonson will come with me to sabotage the generators. Curtson, Myles, Daniels, and Thompson will be charged with gathering Intel. Alright people, we only have one shot at this, move out." With that, the team went their separate ways.

Curtson's group traversed through the corridors of the base, keeping out of sight and staying vigilant. Myles transmitted a text to Curtson, "Sir, I'm picking up large amounts of radiation again" "So am I" he broadcasted back. Soon they came into a large room with a few Pirate Scientists typing in coding and studying a substance within a cylindrical tank. The substance was a light blue, was glowing brightly in the dark room, and was the source of the radiation signs. Myles transmitted to Curtson again, "It appears, from how Samus described it, that's Phazon in that tank." He took a scan of it, and confirmed that it was INDEED Phazon, the same mutagenic substance that bounty hunter Samus Aran encountered on planets Tallon IV and Aether. Curtson texted Daniels, "Take a scan of that log computer, and then translate and send it to the commander" Daniels nodded, he scanned the computer on the far wall of the room, it took a few minutes to scan and even longer to translate, but Daniels' work was successful. He sent the data to Maximus; but soon after, no one in Curtson's group noticed the dual bladed melee weapon that materialized behind them.

Maximus received the logbook scan, and reviewed it, the translated text read: "The shipment of remaining Phazon our forces managed to scavenge from Aether has arrived at the Homeworld, as well as a small amount for our team here at Research Lab Tyra. Tests are going well, several of our volunteers have succumbed to Phazon Batch Vertigo II, and are beginning to transform into Phazon enhanced Alpha Pirates, hopefully they will be instrumental in destroying The Hunter, and tearing apart the Federation from the inside out. The Alpha Pirates will be fitted with concussion resistant armor, Quake Generators, an energy siphon shield to guard against beam attacks, dual bayonets, shoulder mounted missile launchers, and snare beams. With luck, several Alphas will be able to defeat Aran, and bring us conquest." Maximus paused for a moment before thinking, so, that's their plan, to make improved Elite Pirates like the ones Samus reported about, He looked up at Lei, who was staring at Kolan with concern, "Are you okay?" he whispered, "Yeah, I'm fine, but we just got the info we needed. I'm going to send it to the Olympus now." After he had done so, he texted Anderson, "Ready with those charges?" he asked, Anderson turned to Maximus and gave a thumbs up, "Okay, let's move on to the next generator", he texted to his group.

As they started off, Kolan texted Curtson, asking him how things were with his group... but there was no response. He waited a few moments, still nothing; Kolan felt uneasy about it, why isn't he replying? He always replies to his com. link no matter what's going on, he thought. Maximus' answer came quickly, as he and his teammates heard a low growl. They looked around everywhere, but couldn't see anything, it also didn't help that it was a dark room. Suddenly, a helmet fell from the ceiling, and hit the ground, it was Curtson's! Maximus looked at it in horror, they know we're here! He said to himself in fear, they looked up to see what looked like the ceiling being magnified by something in the shape of a Pirate. The cloaked object unveiled itself, and then dropped to the ground, along with two others, "Pirate Commandos! We have no choice men, attack!" Kolan yelled. The group activated their energy scythes, and then opened fire on the Pirates, who evaded the weapons fire; one of them made its way to Anderson and then stabbed him with its melee weapon, killing him. "NO!" Yelled Maximus, who then engaged Anderson's killer in hand-to-hand combat; Jonson was firing persistently at one of the Commandos, and was dealing damage quickly, but the Pirate pulled through and lunged Jonson, they skirmished briefly with their melee weapons before the Pirate killed Jonson with its dual blades. Lei took the opportunity to attack the Commando, both of them engaged in an equally matched firefight.

It didn't take long for Kolan to dispose of the Commando that killed Anderson; he shot the Pirate's weapon out of its hand, and then delivered the killing blow with his scythe. He turned around to see Jonson's corpse on the ground, "Jonson..." He watched as Lei valiantly fought against the Pirate Commando, he wanted to assist Lei, but he had to take care of the third Commando first. He fired at the Pirate, and then slowly began to move into melee range whilst dodging weapons fire, he readied his scythe, and was about to attack when he heard a cry of pain, it came from Lei. He turned around to see the horrific sight of Jordan being impaled by a Pirate's melee weapon, but this Pirate was different, it looked like a Commando but had a large head crest, and had a red color to its armor as compared to a regular Commando's armor, which had a Phazon blue tint. The being was a Pirate Commander. "Jordan!" Maximus exclaimed, he charged at the Commander, firing a barrage of plasma at it. The Pirate then teleported in front of Maximus and then grabbed him by the neck, then proceeded to lift him into the air. The Commander was about to kill Maximus with its melee weapon, but Maximus wasn't going to let himself die, the Pirates had to be stopped; he activated the detonator, causing a large explosion and sending Maximus and the Pirates slamming into the wall. Maximus painfully rose to his feet while the Pirates were dazed, he then ran out of the room; as he sprinted, he looked back to see not only the Pirates getting up, but that the generator was still intact! Blast! What's that thing protected by? He thought in amazement. He didn't have much time to escape, the base's security alarm was blaring and the Commander and the two remaining Commandos were gaining on him, he was near the exit when three Pirates Troopers dropped down from the ceiling, blocking his path. "Oh, come on!" Kolan exclaimed in frustration, he fired at two of the Pirates and took them out quickly and then took care of the third with his scythe.

Maximus charged out of the exit and ran with haste towards the ship, he made it, but not without the Commander and the other two Pirates lunging at him. Maximus stabbed the Commando that was right on him with his scythe and then killed the second with a few shots from his rifle. The Commander ran up to Maximus and, before he could react, tackled him. Kolan kicked the Commander off of him and then tossed a grenade at the Pirate, which exploded and sent the Space Pirate reeling. He then took the time he had to get into the ship, he started it and then began to lift off, the Pirate Commander watched in rage as Maximus escaped. Kolan breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart felt only anger and sorrow, he had lost his closest friends, and his mission was a partial failure. He knew that this course of events would have consequences, but he also knew that he had to be ready to face them.