The endless void of space; peaceful, relaxing, yet undeniably dull. Samus could barely stand the rare moments of unemployment she was forced into. Day in and day out both the Galactic Federation, various civilizations, and private companies would contact her, wanting escorts, bounty contracts, and other services of such natures, yet there was occasionally a time when the galaxy seemed to have no need for her skills.

She sighed, reclining back into her pilot's chair, the soft padding feeling comfortable even with her Varia Suit equipped. A nap seemed eminent. Samus closed her eyes and let sleep overcome her senses. Perhaps a break wasn't so bad after all.

Incoming transmission.

Of course.

Samus irritably accepted the transmission, the frequency belonging to the Galactic Federation, and a voice immediately boomed from the console.

"Samus! Come in Samus!" the voice shouted, panic present in his tone.

"I read you," Samus replied. "What is it you require?"

"We've detected a Leviathan seed approaching a planet near your location!" he shouted. "It's dangerously close to impact, yet we don't have anyone stationed close enough to destroy it in time! We need you to get over there and intercept its course before it collides with the planet!"

"What are you talking about? Phaaze was destroyed and so was all phazon in the galaxy!" Samus said. "There's no way a Leviathan could have survived!"

"The scientists aren't sure how or why, but it is a Leviathan!" An alarm started buzzing in the background. "Dammit, we don't have time to discuss this! If you want to talk pay, we can do it afterwards, but we can't let that thing make impact! I'm uploading the coordinates to you now. Don't fail us, Samus."

The transmission shut off, and since she didn't seem to have a choice in the matter, Samus input the coordinates the Federation provided and set a flight course.

Destination set. Engaging warp-drive.

One bright flash of light later, Samus found herself close to a planet she did not recognize, though with its oceans and obvious plant life, it looked remarkably similar to Earth. To her disbelief, there was a large meteor nearby, tinged with blue and large tentacles emerging from its back; a Leviathan seed. "Impossible…" she whispered to herself. Samus herself had destroyed Phaaze and all phazon along with it… how could this have happened?

The seed was indeed on a collision course with the planet below, and Samus could clearly see that she hadn't much time. She quickly activated the ship's main engines to accelerate toward the Leviathan. Once she was directly behind the seed, Samus engaged the weapon systems and took aim. She couldn't let this happen again.

Target locked. Firing in three… two… on- BOOM!

Samus was knocked out of her seat as a mass of phazon hit the side of the ship.

Hull integrity at seventy-three percent. Corrosive agent detected; hull integrity at seventy-two point five percent and declining.

As the ship repeatedly announced the hull's condition, Samus leapt back into the pilot's seat and corrected the ship's course. As she approached the Leviathan once more, several phazon blobs were fired toward her, but she dodged each one of them swiftly.

Target Locked. Firing in three… two… one… firing.

A missile launched out from underneath her ship, making a beeline for the Leviathan seed. Just as it was about to make contact with the Leviathan, however, a blob of phazon was fired at the missile, detonating it before it could do any damage. Swearing to herself, Samus activated another lock-on sequence.

Entering atmosphere.

Time was running out. Samus opted to manually take control of the weapon's system for the sake of speed, and prepared to fire at the Leviathan.

Corrosive agent neutralized. Hull integrity remaining at sixty point seven percent. Warning: heat- shield damage on Engine A detected. Dispensing coolants.

Samus ignored the ship's messages as she bombarded the Leviathan with missiles. A few of them were intercepted by phazon blobs, but most were able to do significant damage to the seed.

Warning: Engine A cooling failed. Preparing to shutdown Engine A.

"Dammit!" Samus needed the engine's thrust if she were to keep up with the Leviathan. "Abort Engine A shutdown sequence," she barked, focusing her attention once more on the seed.

Shutdown aborted.

Samus had managed to damage the Leviathan to the point where she could easily seed the core. If she could just fire a single missile into that core, the Leviathan would be destroyed. Samus took aim at the core, locking onto her target.

Warning: Engine A overheat imminent. Shutdown advised.

Ignoring the ship once more, Samus prepared to fire the killing blow. She took aim, and fi-

BOOM!

The ship was rocked by a small explosion on its right side, sending the missile Samus fired into the planet's terrain.

Engine A integrity at fifty-eight point eight percent. Explosion imminent.

"No!" Samus attempted to correct her course, but the damage to the engine was too extensive. As she attempted to activate the ship's RCS thrusters to help straighten her path, another, much larger explosion hit the ship's right side.

Engine A destroyed. Engine B integrity at thirty point two percent. Engine C integrity at forty-three point eight percent. Prepare for crash landing.

"God dammit, no!" All of Samus' efforts to reactivate Engine A were in vain, and she found herself unable to control the thrust on both B and C. It was utterly hopeless.

As the ground came into view, Samus heard the sound of the Leviathan crash into the planet's surface. She had failed. The thought flashed over and over again as the ground hurtled toward her. She had failed her mission, and now she was going to die. The earth slammed into her ship, and then nothing.

First chapter of my first story. I'm quite proud of myself for actually getting the guts to upload this thing, and I'm especially proud that I finally figured out how to put in little notes like these at long last. Anyway, reviews are highly appreciated, and I would love to hear some criticism so I can make this story somewhat appealing.

***Update 12/25/14: Rewrote a few part of this chapter as part of an attempt to clean up some of the earlier entries of this story. Nothing major, just adjusting a few details and spelling fixes.