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Samus went to present her after-mission report to the Federation base outside Norion the moment she left Tanamaar.
Status of the artifact: Unknown.
Five Federation personnel were caught in the artifact’s teleportation wave and transported alongside her to Viewros.
Sergeant Ezra Duke: Missing in action.
Corporal Reger Tokabi: Missing in action.
Specialist Myles MacKenzie: Missing in action.
Private First Class Nora Armstrong: Missing in action.
Golem Pilot VUE-995: Missing in action.
Personnel were engaged in combat with the enemy commander, Sylux, at last sighting. Status of Sylux: Unknown.
She tried to explain the Lamorn, and what was told to her by their recordings, and the new Sacred Tree she had planted on Tanamaar, but every explanation came with it two more questions, and she ran out of answers.
They said they would be sending a team to investigate it. Samus wondered if it was a good idea to have told them.
A friend of hers came by to see her before she left.
His initial greeting was typical. “Hey, Princess, good to see you again!” Alongside a smile and wave.
But once they were alone, with a bottle of Daibanian whisky to share, he instantly shifted.
“How are you doing, Samus?”
Her heavily conflicted look as she downed a shot said all it needed to.
Anthony smiled, but it was a knowing smile, not a happy one. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”
The company was all she needed, and they shared a toast to fallen comrades of new and old.
Samus wanted to stay longer and catch up, but there was one last thing she needed to do.
As Ezra’s family was on Norion, she was the first to break the unfortunate news to his wife and daughter.
“He said the Tanamaar deployment was going to be his last assignment,” said Ezra’s wife.
His daughter looked off to the side, contemplative, but also forlorn. “I mean, how much different is this? He’s barely home to begin with!”
“Jackie!” Ezra’s wife snapped at her.
She sighed. “Well, it’s not like he’s dead, right?” she said, looking back up at Samus. “If you can find a way back there, then…?”
Samus didn’t know what to say.
The Tokabi family had their own family burial plot on the fourth moon of Soletine. He was the last of the family. His father had died two years ago, and he had no spouse or kids.
Following their traditions as best she could, Samus lay a Solentine sunflower atop the headstone, and uttered a short, silent prayer.
May Sollan guide you home.
Myles’ parents still lived on Earth, in Edinburgh. They took the news relatively well, as by the time Samus made it to Earth, they were already informed of what had transpired by a long-range Federation communique.
“He always just wanted to help others,” Myles’ father stated.
“No matter what he was doing, he was always thinking of others,” his mother added.
“He’d be glad to know you made it back safe.”
Samus thought about saying something encouraging, that they would all be trying to find a way back to Viewros or that Myles and the others might have survived the battle with Sylux, but she didn’t.
She left without another word.
Devon III was her last destination.
She’d seen in the Federation records that her only family left was an older sister, the rest had died in a Space Pirate attack over ten years ago.
Isabel Armstrong lived and worked out of a mechanic shop built into the garage of her family home, and she was working on a hoverbike inside with the door open when Samus arrived.
It had just begun to start raining lightly, Isabel caught a glance at Samus with her head under the hoverbike’s engine and pulled herself away to better look up.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said matter-of-factly as she wiped a small stain of grease from her forehead. She stood up from her mechanic stool and brushed off some loose specks from her coveralls as Samus walked close. “I had a feeling you might turn up,” she said while chewing on a piece of gum.
It made sense to Samus. If Isabel already knew what happened to her sister from her report, then she would have known that she was with Nora for over a week, so she probably knew of her ‘fascination’, so to speak.
And that it might have left an impression on her.
“So, are you here to pay your respects?” Isabel asked in an increasingly disparaging turn, still chewing her piece of gum.
Samus thought about what to say, but Isabel said it for her.
“Or, are you here to apologise for leaving her behind?”
Samus tilted her head down. She couldn’t look her in the eye.
“Some hero you turned out to be.”
Samus clenched her eyes shut. Every word hurt, but not undeservedly. She tried to think of something, anything to say, but she knew no words could adequately convey her feelings.
She dematerialized the Varia Suit, letting the increasing rain drip down her head, face, and body as she stood apart from Isabel, who remained under cover inside her garage. Samus looked up at her. Tears mixed with the rainfall, and guilt and regret stained her face.
Isabel looked hard at her back for several minutes.
Despite the tirade she put her through, or because of it, Isabel decided to let Samus see Nora’s room.
It was somewhat plainer than she expected. Small bed in the corner, a desk with a personal computer, weight lifting set and a workout bench on the other side of the room, small table with a hot water kettle, electric hot plate, and small microwave with a couple packets of instant noodles set on top, a corkboard on the wall covered with pictures of Nora with her family, her sister, her graduating class, and her squad, and a modest bookshelf filled with all kinds of novels, atop which a small figurine of Samus herself sat.
It looked hand carved from a piece of wood, and hand painted, too. A few details were wrong, or over exaggerated, like the size of her shoulder pauldrons, but she was still instantly recognizable.
It was also the only piece of ‘Samus Aran’ memorabilia that seemed to be in Nora’s room.
Samus took another look around. She knew posters, action figures, and even plushies, among other pieces of merchandise of hers existed all throughout the Federation, and all without her input, and yet the only piece Nora seemed to have was one she likely made herself, just for herself.
She carefully picked it up, it was the perfect size to rest in someone’s hand, and had just enough weight to be felt. She held it in her palm for a moment before putting it back on the bookshelf where she had found it.
For a brief moment, Samus imagined Nora there with her, excitedly showing and explaining every part of her room to her before the two sat down together on her bed, Nora still smiling, trying not to giggle.
“It’s not much, but, home is home, you know?”
She stared at the bed. She thought about sitting down on it, but decided not to. She sighed.
Then, suddenly feeling someone else’s presence, Samus turned around. Isabel was in the doorway, leaning against the frame on her shoulder.
She swallowed her guilt and gave her a determined look that said everything she wanted to.
I haven’t given up.
Isabel nodded.
Once back on her ship, Samus thought to herself, thought about how she might find a way to and from Viewros.
Twelve Lamorn had spread out across the galaxy to find her.
In a flash, she began to type wildly on her controls, setting a new course and composing a message to be sent to the Dasha region.
Please send someone knowledgeable about astronomical equipment and surveying to meet me at Elysia.
Samus Aran needs your assistance.
Send.
Course set.
Warp thrusters. Engage.