Disclaimer: I do not own Metroid or anything associated with it. Though I do wish I owned a Chozo Power Suit. That would be freaking sweet! I know the ideas for this story have probably been done at least a dozen times. But I still want to try my hand at this story. Besides, the ideas that I have just won't get out of my head unless I write them out. Please read and review and give me constructive (not abusive) critiques. This is just the first chapter to set the story. The action will heat up next chapter, I promise. Enjoy the story!

Metroid: Destiny

"Someone will understand. Someone must." These were the words that her computerized former CO had told her after the destruction of the Biological Space Laboratories station in orbit of planet

SR-388. The necessary destruction that prevented the lethal X Parasite from spreading throughout the galaxy.

However, reflected Samus Aran as she sat in the courtroom facing a military tribunal and being charged with dereliction of duty, if not borderline treason against the Galactic Federation. So far it seems we have not yet found someone who would understand. Instead we seem to be finding more and more people who are the exact opposite.

The general in charge of the tribunal sat down and brought his hammer down to signal silence in the courtroom. Clearing his throat gruffly, he fixed Samus with a glare and began.

"Samus Aran. You are hereby charged with treason against the Galactic Federation for the destruction of the BSL station and valuable research materials that would have greatly benefited the Federation had you not done so. How do you plead?"

Samus took a deep breath. This was new territory for her. And she briefly wondered why she had even let herself get cornered into this situation.

Because I didn't have much of a choice. She thought irritably. After the BSL incident, she had decided she needed to take a break. She had spent almost two days crawling around that station being an exterminator of the X parasite in its many nightmarish forms while playing cat and mouse with the SA-X. Then there was the whole revelation of the experiments the Federation were conducting with cloned Metroids, a sight she thought she would never see again. And their desires to use the X for military applications. After all that, yeah she needed a break.

But she had barely gotten three hours away from SR-388 when the Federation found her and ordered her to surrender quietly. She considered running, but since the ship she used for the BSL incident was a Federation ship, it apparently had a master code that the Federation used to usurp control of the ship from her. Something else she was unaware the Federation could do.

After they did that, Adam counseled her to surrender peacefully. If she didn't, things would just get uglier and things were already pretty hideous.

The only thing she had been allowed to do after she surrendered was go check in with the medical bay. She was curious as to how her condition was now that she had essentially absorbed herself as she was prior to her surgery. She shivered a little at the memory of her fight with the SA-X. It really was like fighting a mirror. And she thought Dark Samus was bad.

Fortunately, the scans showed she was back to normal. Which was a relief. Her power suit was even starting to regain its metal plating. It should also be back to normal in a day or two.

But for now, she stood up answered the general's glare with her own and curtly declared, "not guilty, sir."

She put as much disdain into the "sir" as she could. There were very few general's that she actually liked. None of which were here of course.

Over the next several hours, Samus defended herself from the accusations of several executives from BSL, from several military commanders and scientists who headed the project.

She almost laughed when one of the BSL scientists stated that the safeguards they had installed were "full proof and perfect." She then proceeded to remind everyone of how the SA-X completely demolished all of their precious safeguards. Citing how dangerous she herself was at full strength and reminding everyone of her record as a hunter. Apparently, some people need reminding of when you've blown entire planets up.

The general looked over some notes. "It says here that over the course of your assignment at BSL, you disengaged the lockdown in several sections of the station thus allowing, purposely allowing the X parasite to infest these new sections. How do you answer to this?"

Samus was unperturbed. Adam had mentioned that this might come up. "I needed to access those sections in order to download vital weapons data to my suit to continue my extermination of the X parasite. As well as to access some of the more deadly specimens and eliminate them."

"Hmm, I see. Well let's confirm that shall we? Bring Adam Malkovitch to the stand please."

Samus looked around. Two guards brought in what looked like a small hoversled with a computer core on it. It was rather odd to know that her former CO, someone she had greatly respected, was now essentially inside that core. After a minute, they hooked up the core to some new equipment and a holographic projection of Adam's head flickered into existence.

"Colonel Malkovitch, you are current on the proceedings of this tribunal?"

Even with only a head, Adam seemed to be able to have perfect military posture. "I am, sir."

"Then please confirm why Ms Aran allowed the X to infest the BSL station even further."

"At the time, her recovery of all the abilities she had lost was the mission's top priority. Those were my orders. Allowing the X to spread to sealed sections was unfortunate but necessary. Which is all rather moot at this point because the entire station was destroyed. May we get back to what this case is really about instead of having you try to make Samus look bad?"

The general looked like he had swallowed poison. Samus allowed herself a small smirk at the general's expense.

The general tried to recover some control. "No one is trying to make the defendant look bad. We are all just trying to get to the truth…"

"And the truth is," Adam interrupted. "Is that in a way Samus is guilty. She did ignore orders and she did go against the orders of the Federation."

There better be more Adam or I will drop you out an airlock. Samus thought.

"But in doing so, she saved all of us. The X were far too dangerous to let live. The risks they posed far outweighed any benefits they would have yielded. So in disobeying orders, she did her duty. To herself, to the military and to the people of the Federation. And that is why I also disobeyed my orders. So we can dispense with questioning me."

The general was livid. "You are out of line Colonel!"

Adam's holographic eyes glared at the general. "No we were out of line general!"

The tribunal went on for several more hours. The general, General Johnson, she later learned, seemed to want to wear everyone down using the stifling heat, boredom and stagnation that seemed to permeate the atmosphere of the courtroom.

But eventually, even General Johnson admitted that they needed to adjourn for the day. So he had guards escort her back to her cell and had Adam put into some sort of storage room.

Once in her cell, Samus let out a sigh. The trial had started early in the morning and ended around midnight. It was not the most tiring experience she ever had but it did seem mentally exhausting.

All those people in that courtroom seemed convinced that Samus had done the wrong thing. Were they all stupid? She wondered in frustration. Did they really think that studying the X could lead to great things? None of them even considered giving her the benefit of the doubt. Resigning herself she laid down on her cot and looked up at the blank ceiling. It wasn't a complete loss today. She decided. Despite never having been on trial before, she thought she presented herself rather well. And Adam may as well have been her lawyer with the speech he gave. It seemed impossible that they could imprison her after that.

But then again, it had also seemed impossible to ever encounter metroids again. That had been proven wrong, courtesy of the Federation.

Deciding to try and not worry about it. Samus closed her eyes. She needed to be rested for when they decided to give out her verdict. And hey, if worse came to worse and they did decide to imprison her, she could always escape and go on the run. Not an appealing option, spending her life on the run but possible.

Oddly enough, she thought back to the Phazon Crisis. Something a fellow bounty hunter, Rundus she remembered, said once.

"Hey, relax! We're the good guys. Justice will prevail and all that stuff…right Samus?"

She chuckled. She really wished she had gotten to know those hunters better instead of having to kill them all. On the other hand, in light of how she had to kill them, it really was good that she didn't know them that well. She shelved the thought for another time. She had mourned already, she didn't need to mourn for them any longer. All she needed to do was to fall asleep.

But as she fell asleep, she pondered over Rundus' words. Her last thought as she fell asleep was if only the galaxy really was that simple.